Spiritual Gifts part 164: What was he (satan) thinking?

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Thursday,
September 8, 2011

Spiritual Gifts Part 164: What was he (satan) thinking?

The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts

Point 3: What is a “Spiritual Gift”?

Discernment from spiritual growth is part of being equipped to function effectively in your spiritual gift.

What is discernment?

Discernment is being able to determine what is coming from the thinking of Christ and what is coming from doctrines of demons, 1TI 4:1.

Sin and evil originated inside the soul of one angel.

REV 12:9
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;
 

2CO 2:11
so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

The Bible tells us that angelic sin is along the lines of three closely related evils:
 

1. Ambitious pride
2. Anti-God
3. Untruth
 
This captures the essential character of satan.

1TI 3:6
and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.

1 Timothy 3:6 tells us that satan’s primary sin was pride.

τυΦόω
aor-pass -part of tuphoo
to envelop with smoke, i.e. (figuratively) to inflate with self-conceit

to blind with pride or conceit, to render foolish or stupid; to be so arrogant as to be practically demented.

It is very dangerous for creatures to spend too much time admiring themselves, or in fact keeping your eyes on yourself for any reason!

We were created to bring glory to God.
 
Our eyes are supposed to be on the Lord Jesus Christ.
 

PSA 25:15
My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
For He will pluck my feet out of the net.

When we instead keep our eyes on ourselves too long, we burn up with self-admiration, or else self-loathing and guilt and fear.
 

Self-absorption
(pride)
leads to self-justification
(anti-God)
leads to self-deception
(lying).

satan was the most wonderful, powerful, intelligent, beautiful creature ever to come forth from the hand of God.

God created satan. Satan is a creature.

Satan was given the job of protecting the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ.

EZE 28:15
“You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.”

The suggestion is that a secret sin was uncovered.

PSA 90:8
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

satan went about his business among the angels of slandering God in order to secure their allegiance to his program of rebellion against God.

EZE 28:17
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

By the degenerating power of sin, satan, like Adam, became an entirely different being from that which God created.

He is using his abilities for evil.
His great intellect is dedicated to churning out lies, deceptions, snares, and wiles.

When blinded by pride, the creature can end up undertaking the very opposite line of action from that which God’s perfect plan ordained.

God intended our spiritual gift for others ,but pride will try to exploit it for selfish gain.

1. The root sin is ferocious pride.
 

2. Pride by its nature is a slow burning, consuming fire that corrupts blessings from God.

3. One of the biggest signs that a person is proud is that he or she has no respect for the authorities in his or her life.

4. Pride makes creatures blind and stupid, and if left unchecked, eventually it drives them to insanity.

5. Pride is a secret sin and the arrogant person will usually attempt to disguise his arrogance to look like something good.

6. God sees all of our secret sins.

7. Someone who is proud and self-centered will sooner or later lash out against the things of God: Christ, the cross, the word of God, the Holy Spirit, the church.

8. A person under the control of arrogance will become an entirely different person, and will be the exact opposite of how they are when under the control of the Spirit.

9. The strategy of the kingdom of darkness is deception. They develop lies to trap other creatures into following them.

10. The arrogant will appeal to arrogance in you. They will use flattery and try to stimulate your selfishness and lust.

11. They can use beauty, power, and intellect to deceive.

12. The outcome of these things will always be death, not life.