Polls consistently show the majority of church-going Christians reject the idea that Satan is real. In part, this is the result of preachers moving away from fire and brimstone sermons so as to not scare away any potential church members and the tithes they bring with them. Many pastors today are afraid to push their members to the point of decision. They meekly ask their members to commit their lives to Jesus but they don’t put any pressure on them. I can’t watch the made for television preachers who only talk up the good things of God and leave out our responsibilities and the consequences of our actions if we don’t repent and continue to sin. God isn’t a slot machine that continually pays out whenever we want something. There is no free lunch.
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mostly though, it’s people not wanting to face the consequences and the reality of their sins. If we deny the existence of Satan we don’t have to come to grips with our failures. We can continue to enjoy our sinning ways without any threat of penalty. We won’t reach the point of decision if we never face God and respond to the question, “What must I do?” We can run, hide, procrastinate and otherwise avoid God on this issue of our eternal souls but eventually God will get his answer. God put us on this earth to seek him out and make the free will decision to serve God or Satan. God is patiently waiting on the answer from each person. God considers no answer to be same as an outright rejection of God. One last thing about our, “testing time,” on earth. It ends when we die. Sticking our heads in the sand won’t cut it. We need to develop a backbone and obey the commands of God that are in the Bible because the truth of God will save our souls unto eternal life. We need to act quickly before our opportunity passes.
Luke 19:10 – (Jesus speaking) – For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Romans 10:9 – That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
I haven’t heard a good sermon on the devil since the 1960’s when I was twelve years old. I want to thank my old pastor at the First Baptist Church in my hometown for literally scaring the hell out of me and pushing me to the point of decision about what it is I believe and what options I had with that knowledge. I gave my life to Christ at age twelve and even though I was a back slider for many years I never once stopped believing in God and I never doubted the reality of Satan. I can understand how someone might not believe in God and Satan if they never read the Bible and never received the gospel message from anyone. Satan is the god of this world and often steals the gospel message from the hearts of men. God calls those who do not believe in him fools, and so they are. What I can’t fathom is people who believe in God but say Satan doesn’t exist. God and Satan, good and evil, are like bookends, you can’t have one without the other. You can’t just have the good and ignore the bad. Life doesn’t work that way.
John 10:10 – (Jesus speaking) – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 8:32 – (Jesus speaking) – And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If you believe in God then you must also believe that God’s Word is without error. If you read the Bible you’ll notice Satan is mentioned in seven Old Testament books: Genesis, Job, 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. Satan is found in 19 of the 27 books of the New Testament. Every writer in the New Testament wrote as he was moved by the Holy Spirit and they all, without exception, wrote about Satan. Is God (the Holy Spirit) then a liar? You can’t have that kind of consistency unless it’s the truth. Below I’m listing some scriptures from giants of the Christian faith and they all attest to the existence of Satan and the fact he is after your eternal soul:
Matthew 4:1 – Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Luke 22:3 – Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.
Romans 16:20 – And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
1 John 3:8 – He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1 Peter 5:8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
James 4:7 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Jude 9 – Yet Michael the archangel, in contention with the devil, when he disputed the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”