Why Does God Allow Satan to Live?

00:00:00.000 | [intro music]

00:00:05.000 | Christ has triumphed over Satan and over every power and principality.

00:00:10.000 | He did this through his death and through his resurrection from the dead,

00:00:13.000 | and so why does Satan still exist to exert his rage?

00:00:17.000 | It's a question Pastor John addressed in a Q&A setting several years back.

00:00:21.000 | Here's what he said.

00:00:23.000 | "If God is sovereign, then it's clear that he could destroy Satan at any time.

00:00:31.000 | Why does God allow Satan to live?"

00:00:36.000 | Let's make sure that we agree that it's true,

00:00:40.000 | that God could take him out any time he chose,

00:00:45.000 | because I think there's some who would say

00:00:48.000 | he really can't because of rights or authority or independence or free will that Satan has.

00:01:04.000 | But the reason I know he can take him out

00:01:07.000 | without turning me into an automaton or breaking any rules is because he's going to take him out.

00:01:13.000 | He's going to throw him into the lake of fire.

00:01:16.000 | And the question is, why didn't he do it yesterday?

00:01:19.000 | If he had done it yesterday, I wouldn't be tempted the way I am today.

00:01:23.000 | And the Bible says, "Lead me not into temptation."

00:01:25.000 | Well, the best way not to be led into temptation is to take the tempter away.

00:01:28.000 | Isn't it? Take him out!

00:01:31.000 | I've got sin in my life of plenty to get me to have a struggle.

00:01:36.000 | I don't need Satan on top of this sin that I have to make my life miserable.

00:01:40.000 | So God, take him out because you have a right to take him out.

00:01:43.000 | You have the power to take him out.

00:01:44.000 | You're doing nobody wrong when you take him out.

00:01:46.000 | Take him out!

00:01:48.000 | And he doesn't do it.

00:01:49.000 | Why?

00:01:50.000 | Now, the Bible doesn't answer why directly.

00:01:53.000 | And so, it's kind of inferences that we go on.

00:01:56.000 | But here's my best shot.

00:01:58.000 | God has ordained that Satan have a long leash,

00:02:05.000 | with God holding on to the leash,

00:02:08.000 | because he knows that when we walk in and out of those temptations,

00:02:13.000 | struggling both with the physical effects that they bring and the moral effects that they bring,

00:02:19.000 | more of God's glory will shine in that battle than if he took him out yesterday.

00:02:28.000 | There will be evidences of God's patience with us as we struggle with sin,

00:02:35.000 | evidences of his mercy to us as we struggle with sin,

00:02:40.000 | evidences of his sustaining grace through horrific physical suffering

00:02:47.000 | that Satan was the immediate cause of.

00:02:50.000 | It says that in the Bible.

00:02:51.000 | This woman was struck by Satan.

00:02:54.000 | For, what, 18 years she had this bent over back.

00:02:57.000 | And Satan was doing it.

00:02:59.000 | God was ordaining that he be allowed to do it.

00:03:03.000 | And all of that, that the glory of God, his mercy, his justice, his grace, his wisdom,

00:03:10.000 | would shine more brightly.

00:03:12.000 | And we can argue with that.

00:03:13.000 | We can say, "I don't agree.

00:03:17.000 | I don't think God should run the world this way."

00:03:19.000 | And if we ultimately disagree, then we will reject God,

00:03:23.000 | we'll reject the biblical testimony, and we will perish forever in hell.

00:03:29.000 | And I choose to trust him that his way of managing the devil

00:03:35.000 | and managing evil that comes at me is wiser than the way I might choose to manage it.

00:03:43.000 | And perhaps the other thing I should say is that he sent his son

00:03:49.000 | right into the middle of this satanic warfare.

00:03:53.000 | And it was Satan that put it in the heart of Judas to betray him.

00:04:00.000 | So Jesus exposes himself to the horrors of Satan's deceit and lie and murder.

00:04:06.000 | He's a murderer from the beginning and a liar.

00:04:08.000 | And dies in order, it says in Colossians 2.15,

00:04:14.000 | to make a public display of the principalities and powers in his defeat of them.

00:04:22.000 | There is more glory that will come to Jesus Christ

00:04:25.000 | because of suffering to destroy Satan than powerfully shooting Satan in the head.

00:04:34.000 | And there's more glory that will come to Jesus Christ

00:04:37.000 | by our sharing in the sufferings of Christ,

00:04:40.000 | holding onto his supreme value,

00:04:42.000 | than if we had been able to say, "Satan, depart!"

00:04:45.000 | and never have another problem.

00:04:49.000 | And I think the reason for that, this is my ultimate final answer,

00:04:53.000 | I think the reason for that is the glory of God shines most brightly,

00:04:58.000 | the glory of Christ shines most brightly

00:05:01.000 | when we are seen to be supremely satisfied in Christ

00:05:09.000 | in spite of Satan's torments, which exist,

00:05:14.000 | rather than having those torments removed and liking Jesus because of it.

00:05:20.000 | It's when you love Jesus in spite of it and through it

00:05:24.000 | that his glory shines the most brightly,

00:05:28.000 | rather than when we have life made easier for us by his removal

00:05:33.000 | and we like Jesus because of it.

00:05:35.000 | That was Pastor John in a Q&A setting several years back.

00:05:39.000 | And related to this, two other Ask Pastor John episodes

00:05:41.000 | deal with the nature and existence of Satan.

00:05:43.000 | See episode #204, "Does it make God evil to ordain evil?"

00:05:47.000 | and episode #280, "Does God cause all sickness?"

00:05:51.000 | You can find these episodes in the Ask Pastor John archive.

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00:06:05.000 | because we have very faithful and generous financial donors like you.

00:06:10.000 | So thank you for supporting the ministry of Desiring God.

00:06:12.000 | Thank you for listening to this podcast.

00:06:14.000 | Thank you for engaging the content.

00:06:16.000 | And thank you for sharing it with your friends.

00:06:18.000 | And, of course, thank you for asking wonderful questions.

00:06:21.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Have a great weekend.

00:06:24.000 | [end]

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Why Does God Allow Satan to Live?

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