Psalm 91 – a Psalm that tells us about Satan

 

1.    Ancient Jewish scholars had a logical way of trying to identify who wrote the various Psalms.

2.    Some Psalms have names attached to them and some do not.

3.    If a Psalm did not have a name attached to it, Jewish scholars looked at the previous Psalms.

4.     It was there belief that the previous Psalm with a name must be the same person who wrote an unnamed Psalm.

5.    Ps. 91 has no name attached to it.

6.    Since the previous Psalm is attributed to Moses, it is thought Ps. 91 was also written by Moses.

 

THIS IS THE BEST GUESS ABOUT WHO AUTHORED PSALM 91, BUT IT IS ONLY AN EDUCATED GUESS.

    

1.      Ps. 91 is important  because it has a role in the life of Jesus.

2.      Rather than be a general type of statement of the Messiah, it is related to Jesus’ temptations.

3.      Tonight we want to use the information from Ps. 91 to talk about the devil.

 

4.      As announced, we want to begin by comparing two passages—Mt. 4:6 and Ps. 91:11-12.

5.      Let’s start with Mt. 4:6 – READ

6.      Satan cited Ps. 91 and made three basic points:

7.      “He shall give his angels charge over thee.”

8.      “On the hands of angels Jesus would be “borne up.”

9.      Jesus would also be protected from injury.

 

10.  Let’s compare these three points with Ps. 91:11-12 (I am going to read those verses now) – READ

11.  The first point matches – the Father would give angels “charge” over the Lord.

12.  In verse 12 we have a reference to “hands” sustaining the Lord (this was Satan’s second point).

13.  Point three about not being hurt is also found in Ps. 91:12.

 

14.  For all intents and purposes, Satan quoted the Bible correctly.

15.  He did not, however, apply this Old Testament Psalm in the right way.

16.  In Jn. 8:44 we are told that Satan is a “liar.”

17.  We see that point demonstrated so well in Jesus’ temptation to jump off the temple.

18.  Satan told a very skillful lie.  He appealed to the word of God.  He cited the passage correctly.

19.  On the surface, Satan was apparently telling the truth.

20.  Jesus knew that Satan’s application of this passage was completely wrong.

21.  Lies can come in many forms and ways. 

22.  Here we see that Satan really is a liar.

 

23.  This is just one of his many tricks.

24.  It is often said that man “learns from experience.”

25.  Satan has had a lot of experience at deceiving people.

26.  The whole world is Satan’s kingdom (1 Jn. 5:19).

27.  Satan is the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4).

 

28.  Plenty of people have been available for Satan to practice on; the devil has also had plenty of time.

29.  If we use the Bible to date the world and man, the entire creation is about 6,000 years old.

30.  Satan has been working in the world for more than 5,000 years.

31.  He has had plenty of time to learn what works and what does not.

32.  He has learned to refine his skills so he is the best possible tempter.

33.  There are the old temptations such as murder, theft, covetousness, and adultery.

34.  He has come up with some newer things that also work extremely well.

35.  In his bag of tricks is the idea that many gods exist.

36.  Or, it is true there is only God, but there are many different ways to serve and worship Him.

37.  Others have bought into Satan’s  lie of agnosticism (we cannot know if God exists).

38.  Atheism is not all that popular, but it is believed by perhaps 1% of the entire population.

 

39.  Satan has sold people on the lie that they can be religious, but not religiously committed.

40.  Many live as if we are our own authority (we set the rules and determine what is right and wrong).

41.  Satan does not want people to believe Jn. 1:17 (truth comes through Jesus Christ).

42.  The devil would like us to believe we control our own destiny.

43.  An old prophet said, “it is not in man that walks to direct his own steps.”

44.  Satan has convinced people to believe that most will go to heaven; we do not need to worry about it.

45.  Jesus said the way to heaven is difficult and only a “few” will find it (Mt. 7:14).

46.  Happiness comes from a “good life” is what the devil says.

47.  “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” is what God says (Acts 14:22).

48.  Satan has said that sexual activity outside of marriage is not a bad thing.

49.  In fact, in many circumstances it is a good thing.

50.  Sexual activity outside of marriage will keep people from heaven (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

51.  Lie, after lie, after lie has come from the devil.  He is an expert liar.

52.  Satan does more than lie.  He excels at planning and timing his lies.

53.  He chose the perfect time for Eve.  He also chose the perfect time for the Lord in Mt. 4.

54.  He let Jesus be tempted for 40 days (Mk. 1:13) and then came to tempt the Lord in 3 powerful ways.

 

55.  I have heard that a military sniper might hide for days or weeks to take a shot at someone.

56.  Snipers must be very, very patient in their line of work.

57.  Satan is also willing to wait for just the right time.

58.  When he strikes, it can be fast and hard.

59.  He is not above questioning the “reasonableness” of God’s word.

60.  Gen. 3:1 has Satan asking, “Did God tell you not to eat of this fruit”?

61.  Satan was questioning the fairness of that command.

62.  He still does it today.

63.  People know what the Bible says, but they think, “Well, it is probably not that important.”

64.  “We can get by with doing what it says not to do or not doing what it says to do.”

65.  In all of these cases Satan has won the battle.

 

66.  Satan also excels at minimizing the consequence of disobedience.

67.  Our society often reassures people.

68.  If we call up a business with a problem, we may be reassured.

69.  “Don’t worry; we will take care of the problem.  This is an easy thing to fix.  We do this all the time.”

70.  At some future point we find that we should have been concerned.  Something was not easy to fix.

71.  A person forget to take care of a problem.  A company does not do something all the time.

72.  Satan is in the business of helping people think that disobedience is not all that serious.

 

73.  God is a loving God - He will not really mind if we fail to obey.

74.  We can disobey this once, but next time, we can choose obedience.

75.  Life is long; we can live in rebellion now and repent in our “old age.”

76.  Satan also knows the power in focusing on the flesh.

77.  He used a fleshly appeal with Eve and she accepted his offer.

78.  He tried to appeal to the flesh with Jesus.

79.  When a person falls due to accepting the will of the devil, Satan disappears.

 

80.  It will be “us” who is “holding the bag.”  We will be the one responsible for picking up the pieces.

81.  No scheme is too evil for the devil.

82.  He is so brazen he will mock God as well as God’s promises.

83.  In various parts of the Bible we are told that Jesus will return.

84.  We have good evidence to believe that promise.

85.  God said He would make a great nation; that promise came true through Israel.

86.  God said a savior would be sent into the world and told us many things about Him.

87.  All that information was all true.  God said this same Savior will one day return.

 

88.  That is the very type of promise Satan would like people to question.

89.  Listen to what Peter said in 2 Pet. 3:3-4 – READ

90.  These beliefs did not come from the Lord; they came from the way of error (Satan).

91.  One of Satan’s greatest lies is that God is not going to do anything in the future.

92.  Rather than be concerned about spiritual things, we need to concern ourselves with physical things.

93.  We need to be worried about “global warming” – that is man’s greatest fear.

94.  We need to be concerned about running out of oil.

95.  These are the types of things Satan would like the world to focus on, not God and eternity.

 

96.  Did you see the article less than a week ago about a new “seed bank” in Norway?

97.  It is called the “Global Seed Vault.”

98.  Millions of seeds are being stored in the middle of an arctic mountain.

99.  The costs for this effort are near 50 million dollars.

100.          This see bank is not the only one.

101.          Others are located in Peru, Columbia, Syria, India, Ethiopia, and the Philippines.

 

102.Don’t worry about Christ coming back and the world being burned up, worry about not having marigold seeds.

103.          Satan has got to be laughing himself silly at man’s foolishness.

104.          If we boil things down in to very simple terms, the devil wants man to trust in himself.

105.          When man feels a need for God, Satan’s lies tell him to create whatever type of god works for him.

106.          We may need a little religion to be happy, but what really works for people is a good life.

107.          For many, this means wealth.

108.          Have enough wealth, and life will be good.  Money brings happiness.

109.          Satan tried this lie on the Lord (Mt. 4:8-9); he said he would “give” earthly wealth to the Lord.

110.          Satan still wants people today to trade their eternal spirit for some type of earthly gain or pleasure.

111.          If all his offers fail (i.e. a faithful Christian withstands them), Satan still refuses to quit.

112.          He will turn to some other tricks to snare people.

113.          How many of us have met Christians who have said, “I will never forgive him/her?”

114.          That type of attitude can be traced back to only one of two sources.

115.          It is either attributable to God or Satan.  Who do we think it comes from?

 

116.          Based on all this information it is no wonder to find Paul writing what he did in Eph. 6:13-19.

117.          I want to close with this passage, and look at some things point by point.

118.          We will start with Eph. 6:13 – READ

119.          In lieu of what we have studied tonight, we do need “the whole armor of God.”

120.          Satan is as crafty as they come, and he is not deterred.

121.          Our goal as a Christian is to “stand.”  Satan wants us to fall and stay on the ground.

122.          God wants us to be upright (to win against our adversary).

 

123.          To do that we need the things in verse 14 – READ

124.          Truth needs to guard us.  Satan says truth does not matter.  We cannot know it.

125.          The world says we all believe something different.  If that is true, we all belong to the devil.

126.          When we know and obey the truth, we can have “righteousness.”

127.          We need the gospel of peace (for ourselves and to deliver others from Satan) – verse 15 – READ

128.          Satan will come after us if we apply verses 13-15 so verse 16 says – READ

129.          All these resources come from God’s word – verse 17 – READ

130.          If Satan thought he could take on the Son of God, he knows he can surely take on you and me.

131.          Satan wants us; God wants us; we decide who we will be with for eternity.

132.          Tonight we ask who would be the master of our eternal inheritance.