The Case for Satan
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Carlos in Austin, Texas writes in,
00:00:07.600 | "Dear Pastor John, Calvinists are usually
00:00:10.180 | "on the more intellectual spectrum of Christianity.
00:00:13.500 | "Do Calvinists believe there is a role for demons
00:00:16.980 | "and dark spiritual forces in modern times?"
00:00:20.680 | - I won't speak for all Calvinists,
00:00:24.820 | though I am pretty sure that what I say
00:00:29.220 | will be representative of what Calvinists believe,
00:00:33.700 | even if we might put emphases in different places.
00:00:38.700 | I would say that the, quote, intellectual bent,
00:00:43.340 | and I think he's right about that,
00:00:45.040 | intellectual bent that leads many to become Calvinists
00:00:51.180 | is the bent to read the Bible with rigorous care
00:00:57.380 | and take all of it with blood earnest seriousness.
00:01:01.980 | That's what I take intellectual to mean.
00:01:04.820 | It's not generally Calvinists who use their intellects
00:01:09.820 | to contradict hard things in the Bible.
00:01:13.700 | Calvinists are more often the ones who use their intellects
00:01:17.500 | to see what is inescapably real in the Bible
00:01:21.980 | and teach it no matter who likes it or not.
00:01:26.220 | Calvinism in general cuts against the grain.
00:01:29.540 | It teaches things that cut against the grain
00:01:34.380 | of a human inclination.
00:01:36.540 | So it's not the Calvinists who throw away
00:01:39.980 | the biblical teachings because they are contrary
00:01:43.780 | to the spirit of the times.
00:01:46.220 | So when Carlos asks, "Do Calvinists believe
00:01:49.840 | "that there is a role for demons
00:01:52.000 | "and dark spiritual forces in the modern world?"
00:01:56.100 | My answer is yes, because the Bible teaches
00:02:00.940 | that Satan and his demons are real
00:02:04.500 | and massively influential.
00:02:08.140 | He is supernatural, and therefore he's stronger
00:02:13.140 | than any mere human power.
00:02:15.020 | He is a monster in terrible ways.
00:02:20.020 | He's the supernatural monster who orchestrates
00:02:25.860 | for example, the kidnapping and enslaving
00:02:28.580 | and thousand-fold drugging and selling and raping
00:02:32.740 | and killing of girls around the globe.
00:02:36.180 | He's masterminded that kind of wickedness
00:02:40.220 | and evil and many others.
00:02:42.500 | In Revelation 12, nine, he's called the great dragon,
00:02:47.500 | that ancient serpent who was called the devil
00:02:51.100 | and Satan, the deceiver of the world.
00:02:54.020 | And the scope of the horror of that dragon-like being
00:02:59.020 | is hinted at with images.
00:03:02.340 | He's not just a garden snake.
00:03:04.620 | We just got back from Georgia,
00:03:06.780 | and there were snakes in Georgia,
00:03:09.900 | and they're no big deal.
00:03:11.980 | This dragon, it says, his tail sweeps down
00:03:16.980 | a third of the stars.
00:03:22.520 | Now, what's the point of that image?
00:03:23.900 | He crouches at Bethlehem to devour the Son of God.
00:03:28.900 | And failing that, it says in verse 17 of chapter 12,
00:03:33.020 | the dragon became furious and went off to make war
00:03:35.860 | on those who keep the commandments of God
00:03:37.820 | and hold the testimony of Jesus.
00:03:39.260 | So this is the monster who sweeps down a third of the stars,
00:03:43.600 | wants to eat the Son of God,
00:03:44.940 | and failing that, he wants to eat us.
00:03:46.780 | And he's marauding through the world
00:03:49.340 | for those who bear the testimony of Jesus.
00:03:52.900 | And the way he makes war is by delusion and murder.
00:03:57.740 | He's a liar and a murderer.
00:04:00.420 | John 8, 44, "He was a murderer from the beginning
00:04:04.900 | "and does not stand in the truth
00:04:06.820 | "because there is no truth in him.
00:04:08.880 | "When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,
00:04:12.100 | "for he's a liar and the father of lies."
00:04:16.740 | So he's a liar and he's a murderer.
00:04:19.100 | Peter says he's a lion who goes around devouring,
00:04:22.540 | trying to devour Christians.
00:04:24.980 | He's not local, he's not a tribal deity.
00:04:28.660 | He's global.
00:04:30.900 | I mean, his tale is sweeping down stars.
00:04:33.940 | It says in 1 John 5,
00:04:36.380 | "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one."
00:04:40.540 | That is absolutely stunning.
00:04:42.300 | The whole world lies under or in the evil one.
00:04:47.300 | He was not bluffing when he said to Jesus,
00:04:51.420 | "To you, I will give all this authority and their glory,
00:04:55.900 | "for it has been delivered to me."
00:04:59.380 | This is why Jesus says he's the ruler of this world.
00:05:02.900 | And Paul calls him the God of this world, 2 Corinthians 4, 4.
00:05:07.460 | It's why this age is called the present evil age
00:05:10.720 | or the dominion of darkness.
00:05:14.420 | The devil is destined for the lake of fire,
00:05:19.060 | along with the beast and the prophet
00:05:21.500 | and all those who follow them.
00:05:23.740 | It says in Revelation 20, 10,
00:05:25.500 | "The devil was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur,
00:05:29.100 | "where the beast and the false prophet were,
00:05:31.480 | "and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
00:05:36.180 | But for now, this devil is on a long chain
00:05:41.180 | and loose in the world.
00:05:43.020 | He's the God of this world
00:05:44.500 | and the whole world lies under him.
00:05:46.260 | And so we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
00:05:50.420 | but against cosmic powers of this present darkness.
00:05:54.620 | He is wreaking havoc in families and churches.
00:05:59.120 | I mean, this is my answer to Carl.
00:06:00.660 | He's wreaking havoc in families and churches
00:06:05.360 | and cultures and nations.
00:06:07.620 | He's behind the bloody carnage of abortion,
00:06:10.620 | and he's behind the destructive insanity
00:06:13.740 | of so-called same-sex marriage.
00:06:16.260 | And he's behind the intractable racial,
00:06:19.260 | ethnic hatreds in the world.
00:06:21.700 | He's behind the industrial and political structures
00:06:25.540 | of corruption that fatten the pockets of the rich
00:06:28.700 | and powerful with no concern for the poor and the weak.
00:06:33.100 | He's behind the horrors of Islamic terrorism
00:06:36.380 | and the blows that they wreak against innocent people
00:06:41.080 | almost every day.
00:06:42.340 | I've just been blown away recently
00:06:43.880 | by some suicidal bomber in Afghanistan or Iraq
00:06:48.180 | or Saudi Arabia, just blowing up innocent people.
00:06:51.920 | He's behind the kidnapping and enslaving of young girls
00:06:55.920 | in the trafficking industry.
00:06:58.500 | And he's behind the multi-billion dollar porn industry
00:07:02.160 | that rips souls to shreds and ruins families.
00:07:07.340 | The carnage that Satan is causing
00:07:11.040 | is literally indescribable, but he is a fool.
00:07:16.040 | He brought Jesus to the cross through Judas,
00:07:23.080 | and that was his suicide.
00:07:25.520 | It was his undoing, because at the cross,
00:07:29.320 | he was, Colossians 2:15, disarmed.
00:07:33.520 | He was disarmed in this sense.
00:07:36.040 | All those who trust in Christ,
00:07:38.600 | he was stripped of his eternally, he only has one,
00:07:43.400 | his eternally lethal weapon,
00:07:47.200 | because the only thing that can condemn us
00:07:49.960 | in God's courtroom at the end of the age,
00:07:52.280 | the only thing, it's not green apparitions
00:07:55.080 | on the ceiling of our bedroom in a demonic attack.
00:07:58.120 | That's not gonna condemn anybody.
00:08:00.320 | We can laugh at that.
00:08:02.640 | But what will condemn us is unforgiven sin.
00:08:07.080 | That's the one thing Satan can use
00:08:09.480 | to destroy a person forever,
00:08:11.220 | the accusation that they have sin that is unforgiven.
00:08:15.120 | But in Christ, there is no unforgiven sin.
00:08:20.080 | Those who are in Christ through faith in Jesus
00:08:23.240 | have their sins, all of them, all of them forgiven.
00:08:27.540 | And so Satan's accusations against Christians
00:08:30.200 | come to nothing.
00:08:31.680 | Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
00:08:34.600 | Answer, nobody will be able to,
00:08:37.340 | because in Christ, he was disarmed.
00:08:40.040 | He was stripped of his one eternally lethal weapon,
00:08:45.040 | namely the accusation of unforgiven sin.
00:08:48.160 | So yes, Carlos, yes, Christians, including Calvinists,
00:08:53.160 | have the happiest and the most horrible news in the world.
00:08:59.000 | Outside of Christ, there is darkness and bondage and death,
00:09:03.240 | and behind it all, a monster of supernatural power,
00:09:06.600 | and you don't have a snowball's chance in hell
00:09:09.200 | of resisting him outside of Jesus.
00:09:12.000 | But Christ has conquered him,
00:09:15.520 | and in Christ, there is light and freedom
00:09:18.880 | and life and joy forever.
00:09:22.920 | Wow, that is strong and sobering.
00:09:25.160 | Thank you, Carlos, for the question.
00:09:26.860 | Thank you, Pastor John, for the response.
00:09:29.240 | Well, it is time for us to break for the weekend,
00:09:31.800 | and you can catch up on all the episodes from the week
00:09:34.680 | at our landing page, and really,
00:09:36.680 | for everything you need to know about this podcast,
00:09:38.320 | you can find it there as well.
00:09:39.880 | You can send John Piper a question,
00:09:41.320 | download the apps, all of that at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn
00:09:46.320 | And on Monday, we're gonna return to talk about forgiveness.
00:09:50.880 | Jesus says if we don't forgive,
00:09:53.160 | we will not be forgiven by God.
00:09:56.000 | The stakes are very high.
00:09:57.860 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:09:58.700 | We'll see you on Monday on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:10:01.500 | (upbeat music)
00:10:04.100 | (upbeat music)
00:10:06.680 | [BLANK_AUDIO]