The Alternative

Guest (Male): The devil can give you power. The devil can give you prestige. The devil can give you fun. The devil can give you all of that. And those deals may seem free, but Dr. Tony Evans says watch out for the hidden cost.

Dr. Tony Evans: Satan will give you buying power, but always with interest in mind that he collects.

Guest (Male): This is the Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

The idea of buy now, pay later may sound modern, but Dr. Evans says the principle has been around since the beginning of time. Let's join him as he talks about how this mindset works in the spiritual realm and why the consequences are greater than we may realize.

Dr. Tony Evans: Today we want to look more specifically at the character of this rebel, the character of Satan. Now you will recall when we looked at Ezekiel 28, that this was the showpiece of God. He was the anointed cherub. He was full of wisdom. He was, according to the scriptures, perfect in every detail.

I think the impression of the passage is that that was the best that God could do. The very best that God could do in a creature was reflected in Lucifer. That is, until unrighteousness was found in him. And unrighteousness of rebellion based on pride that grew out of jealousy that led to lawlessness.

I want to look at three things. One: the curse of Satan's character, the curse of his character. Turn with me to Luke chapter 10, verse 18. And he said to them—Jesus, talking to his disciples—"I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning."

Let me ask a question. Who was living in heaven? What was his name? Lucifer. But Jesus says in this verse, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven." So the boy got a name change before he got a boot. And his name was changed to adversary or opposer, which is the definition of the word Satan. Satan means adversary or opposer.

When you rebel against God, it will affect your character. He is no longer the shining one; he lost his brilliance. Not only that, but look at what the sentence was in Matthew chapter 25, verse 41. Pretty severe sentence, I would say.

Matthew 25:41 says, "Then he will say unto those to his left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angelic followers.'" So he not only has a change in character, because of the change, he is cursed. And he is cursed by God creating a place for him to call his eternal home.

That place, according to verse 41, is called eternal fire. In Revelation, it is called the lake of fire. It was a specially prepared place that according to Revelation chapter 20, verse 10, the devil will be cast into along with his followers as the place of their abode.

Men only go there because of their allegiance to the devil. That is the only reason men go there. Because according to verse 41, Hell was not prepared with people in mind. Hell was prepared with Satan and his angelic host in mind.

The angelic conflict comes up because fundamentally Satan says, "Unfair. Not fair." He challenges God's judgment. He challenges God's justice. Enter man. For you and I were put on the earth to show it is fair. It is not only fair for angels, it is fair for men.

So God puts a parallel on earth that will parallel exactly what Satan went through in heaven. Satan was located in a place called Eden; man is put in a place called Eden. Satan was created with volition, the ability to choose; man was created with volition, the ability to choose.

On and on, God creates a parallel in order to demonstrate that God can take a lesser creature, man, and do more than the greater creature, angel, when man will subject himself to God. However, when man follows the devil, he gets the same curse as the devil.

It is completely parallel to Satan's situation, with one exception. God would do for man what he would not do for angels, and that was provide salvation. Looked at the curse of his character; let's look at the content of his character. Turn to Revelation.

We will use that as our leaping section here because you could go throughout the whole New Testament to talk about the content of it. But this angelic being was completely transformed by his rebellion. "And I saw a great sign appearing in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth."

"And there was another sign appearing in heaven: behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars," or angels, "of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child."

Verse 7: "And there was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war. And they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him."

When you really understand the name or the names in scripture given to the devil, then you really understand his character because names in the Bible are tied to character. So when you read a name, it is not just the name; it is a description, it is a title, it is something that goes a lot deeper than just a name.

In St. John chapter 10, we read in verse 10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly." What he says here is that Satan is a destroyer. He wants to destroy you. He wants to destroy me.

He is not your friend. He is not out for any good. And even when he does you good, he does you good with bad in mind. The devil can give you money. The devil can give you power. The devil can give you prestige. The devil can give you friends. The devil can give you fun.

The devil can give you all of that, okay? But just like the credit cards you got in the mail, read my lips: they are not out to do you a favor. They have one overriding concern and it is not your fun; it is their interest. They want to be able to charge you for the right to use your card by charging you interest on anything that you purchase.

That is what they are in this for. Satan will give you buying power, fun power, but always with interest in mind that he collects. He seeks to rob, he seeks to steal, he seeks to kill, he seeks to destroy. Satan was charged with rebellion. He was found guilty.

A lake of fire was his sentence. A period of time between his sentence and the carry-out of his sentence was allowed, sort of a prisoner on death row kind of thing. A period of time was allowed during which period God would demonstrate his glory against his opposer. It is a court.

He has been in God's court before and he knows what kind of judge runs that court. And he knows that God is so righteous and so perfect that he has to deal with sin. And because he has to deal with sin, he then goes to the courtroom to lay a charge against you just like a charge was laid against him.

He knows that God must judge sin; his nature can't help it. And that is why many Christians stay out of fellowship because in this passage in Ephesians 4, he says, "Don't give the devil an opportunity to do what? To accuse you." Because once he breaks fellowship between you and God, he now has freedom to operate in your life directly or through his demonic host.

It is where he takes over. You open up the door for an accusation, unaddressed, undealt with. God can't help you because you've broken fellowship with him, and now he can step into the vacuum and control things. That is the name devil. And that is why we are told in 1 Peter chapter 5 to resist the devil. Don't let him bring you under his accusing control.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will return in a moment with more on the character of Satan as he continues this lesson from his two-volume series, Angels: Good, Bad, and Ugly. This complete 12-message collection is packed with biblical insight into angels, demons, spiritual warfare, and the unseen forces influencing our world and our everyday lives.

It is an insightful resource for personal study or small group discussions. And right now, when you support Tony's ministry, we would like to send you the entire two-volume series along with the powerful companion book, Warfare: Winning the Spiritual Battle. In it, Dr. Evans explains why many of the struggles we face on the surface are actually spiritual battles underneath and how believers can learn to stand firm in God's authority and power.

This special double offer will only be available for a few more days now. So visit tonyevans.org as soon as you can to take advantage of it. Or if it's more convenient, call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 where team members are ready to help get this package sent out to you. That is 1-800-800-3222. We will return with the second part of today's lesson right after this.

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Well, Dr. Evans has more for us now on the character of Satan.

Third point: the conquest of his character. We looked at the curse, we looked at the content; let's look at Revelation 12, the conquest. Verse 10 talked about him accusing us. Verse 11 gives you the solution: "And they overcame him," the devil, "because of the blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death."

You need three things to keep the character of the devil from ruining you. You need the cross, you need the confession, and you need the commitment. You need the cross, you need the confession, and you need the commitment. The first thing you need is the cross. He calls it the blood of Christ.

What the death of Christ did was it rendered Satan powerless when believers are operating out of the spiritual realm. Please note my caveat. It did not render Satan powerless in that he cannot do anything anymore, because then there would be no evil in the world.

It rendered him powerless to believers when they are operating out of the spiritual resources that God has provided. So he is not a powerless individual ipso facto; he is powerless to believers who are operating out of their spiritual resources.

Romans chapter 8, look at verse 31: "What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" So do not focus on the devil; focus on God. "He who did not spare his own son and delivered him up for us all," the death of Christ, "how will he not also with him freely give us all things?"

Now that is heavy. That is saying if you know Christ because of his death, then you got a lot of freebies that you haven't picked up yet. "How will he not with him freely give us all things?" If he gave you the harder thing, anything else is easy.

Watch this. Verse 33: "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies." Now look at verse 34: "Who is he who condemns?" Okay, it is the accuser, it is Satan or one of his servants. Now watch this. "Christ Jesus is he who died."

Please understand, he is raising this in light of condemnation. You are being condemned. Christ Jesus is the one who died. In other words, anybody who condemns you, Satan or people, have to overcome first what Jesus did when he died.

Now watch this. He not only died, rather—and I like how he says, "Yes, rather"—who was raised. So they not only have to overcome the death of Christ, they have got to overcome the resurrection of Christ. But not only that. Who is at the right hand of God?

They now have to not only overcome the death of Christ, they not only have to overcome the resurrection of Christ, they now have to overcome the ascension of Christ. That he is now not only up from the grave, but he is now in heaven with the Father.

But not only that. Not only do they have to overcome the death of Christ, not only do they have to overcome the resurrection of Christ, not only do they have to overcome the ascension of Christ, but notice the end of verse 34: "who also intercedes for us."

Christ is not up in heaven twiddling his thumbs, tip-toeing through the tulips, wondering what's next on the agenda. Let me show you what Jesus Christ is doing right now in 1 John chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, relative to the condemnation that comes from the devil when you sin and he accuses you before a holy God.

Let me show you what Jesus Christ does: "My children, I am writing unto you these things that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have a lawyer." The word advocate means legal counsel, because this is a courtroom, "with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, but not for our sins only, for the sins of the whole world."

When Satan says, "Look at what your child did, look at what your child thought, look at what your child said," when you implement chapter 1 verse 9—if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness—your lawyer, who the Father picked, who is related to the judge because he is the son of the judge, stands in for his brother.

Because if you know Jesus Christ, you are part of his family, you are one of his siblings. He stands in and says, "Yep, Satan is right; he accuses accurately. But Your Honor, Your Honor, point of order at this point in the courtroom, I just wanted to let you know that that accusation has already been covered by me. I have already covered that."

Then why does Satan keep coming? Because he knows we are going to skip 1 John 1:9. He knows we are not going to confess, and because he knows we are not going to confess, we are just going to keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. We break fellowship with the Father. He has an opportunity; he can build a stronghold. That is why he keeps coming, because he wants to keep coming until he can get in.

Secondly, confession: the word of the testimony. What does that mean? It means authority is never experienced until it is exercised; that is what it means. Or to put it another way, if you are ashamed of Jesus Christ, he is ashamed of you.

Testimony has to do with your public reflection of your belonging to Christ. If you are not reflecting it, if you are ashamed for other people to know you are a Christian, you have no power over the devil. Why? Because Matthew 10 says, "If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father." So if you deny me before men, do not be calling on my daddy asking him to do nothing for you.

Finally, they did not love their lives even to death. That is commitment. I am crucified with Christ; I am dead, nevertheless I live. I am alive, yet not I, it is Christ who lives in me. Luke chapter 10: he saw Satan falling from heaven. Now look at verse 19 and 20: "Behold, I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you."

Now the word serpent and scorpion has to do with the devil, not reptiles. Has to do with the devil. The devil is the serpent, the serpent of old. They were excited, verse 17, that the demons were subject to them. Now watch this.

Verse 20: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the demons are subject to you, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your name is in the recorded in heaven." Now why is he saying that? Because your authority does not come from your power; your authority comes from your relationship.

It is your relationship with Christ that gives you authority. You do not go power hunting; you go Jesus hunting. And the closer you get to Jesus, the more authority you have, and the more authority you have, the more power you can exercise.

Let's put it all together. Zechariah chapter 3: "Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him." So you got the whole thing: you got the throne of God, you got Jesus Christ the intercessor, you got a man with sin, you got Satan as the accuser, you got a courtroom case.

Verse 2: "And the Lord said to Satan: 'The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?'" Is this not one of mine? "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again, he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festive robes."

This is sweet. He comes dirty, Satan comes to accuse him, God says, "Don't worry, we are going to change your clothes because you have come in my presence with the help of my angel," angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ pre-incarnate.

"Then I said, 'Let them put a clean turban on his head.' So they put a clean turban on his head, clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord"—guess what?—"was standing by." The lawyer was in the courtroom. And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua saying, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: if you will walk in my way when you leave here, try to live for me; and if you will perform my service, serve me; then you will govern my house." I will continue to use you. That is it, the whole thing: a courtroom scene, God still uses this priest, he changes his clothes in the temple.

In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Slaves were now free. Only one problem: you can have an emancipation that is legal, but you can still think like a slave, walk like a slave, act like a slave, and be treated like a slave because what's on the paper is not yet your experience.

When you met Jesus, he set you free. It is still possible to be obeying the devil, following the devil, living for the devil, coming under his control, because what's on your legal paper in heaven hasn't become your experience on earth.

If you ever want to let the Emancipation Proclamation become your experience, you have to live today in light of what was signed yesterday. You must let yesterday's signature become today's decisions. When you and I learn to use the blood of Christ rather than just relating to it as something that happened years ago, then we will be free at last. Truly free at last. Thank God Almighty, I really am free at last.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans with advice today on standing up to the devil's accusations and attacks, part of his two-volume collection called Angels: Good, Bad, and Ugly. The messages in this series offer biblical insight into the unseen spiritual realm and the role that plays in everyday life.

Remember, when you make a donation to help support this ministry, we will send you the complete 12-message collection along with the insightful companion book I told you about earlier, Warfare: Winning the Spiritual Battle. This special double offer ends later this week, so don't wait.

Make your request today at tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 where resource team members are available around the clock to help you. That is 1-800-800-3222. And a quick reminder that you can hear Dr. Evans in a completely different setting on his Unbound podcast.

Those in-depth conversations between Tony and his guests can be listened to anytime, wherever you get your podcasts. Con artists rely on distraction and deception to keep people from seeing the truth. And since the devil is the ultimate deceiver, Dr. Evans says our best defense is a clear understanding of God's truth. He will tell us more about that tomorrow. Be sure to tune in.