Tis not that I did choose thee Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niber. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. In Romans chapter 16, verse 20,
Paul makes, through the Spirit of God, makes this promise to
every believer. Romans chapter 16, verse 20,
and the God of peace, what a name for God, the God of peace, shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly. I've entitled this message,
Satan Crushed Under Your Feet. Now this is a promise for the
future for every believer. This is something God's going
to do. He is going to crush Satan under the feet of every single
believer. Now it's with some fear that
I deal with a subject like this because I don't want to have
any personal dealings with this being called Satan. I'm no match for him. When I
hear preachers talk about rebuking the devil and so on, it makes
me cringe. They have no idea what they're
saying. It's not for no reason that the
Lord taught us to pray on a daily basis, deliver us from the evil
one. We're no match for Him. Listen to what Jude said in Jude
chapter, well there's only one chapter in Jude, but It says
concerning Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil,
he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring him against
him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee. He
didn't even want to rebuke the devil. He said, the Lord rebuke
thee. Now, I have no interest in trying
to delve into finding out all I can about the devil. and about demons and demonology
and Satan possession. All I want to say is the Lord
rebuke thee. Now who is Satan? Satan is a
fallen angel. He's a created being just like
Adam was created. The angels were created and Satan
led a revolt in heaven. The Lord said in Luke chapter
10 verse 18, I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven. The
revolt is described in Revelation chapter 12 when the great dragon
drew a third of the stars down from heaven with him, which is
the demons. A third of the angel population
revolted. I think it's interesting in 1
Timothy 5 how the angels that did not fall are called the elect
angels. The only reason they didn't fall is because God prevented
it. He elected them to not fall.
But Satan is a fallen being He's depicted also in Isaiah 14 under
Lucifer, the angel of the morning, who said, I'll exalt my throne
above the stars of heaven. And he was cast down to hell.
Now, although he is a very powerful being, me and you are no match
for him. He's very smart. He's very deceptive. He knows the Scripture better
than anybody you know. He even tried to use the Scripture
when he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ. He always comes as a
very religious person. Although he's a powerful being,
he's God's devil. on God's chain, doing God's will,
accomplishing God's purposes. Understand that about Satan.
While he's a mighty being, the Lord is omnipotent. It's not
like there's a struggle going on between the two of them. No,
he is God's devil. I love it when the Lord said
to the devil, he said, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. He
said to the devil, he's your God. You're under his thumb.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.
He's a mighty being, but all he is is a servant of God. He doesn't mean to be, He doesn't
want to be, he intends differently, but everything he does is used
by God for the accomplishments of his purpose. Let me give you
an example of this. We read in John chapter 13 that the devil
entered into Judas. And Judas was the betrayer of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And no doubt Satan thought, I'm
going to have Christ destroyed through doing this. He didn't
have any intention of doing any good out of this, but he didn't
realize that the reason he entered in to Judas was because God purposed
for him to do that, to bring about the cross. This was the
will of God. So while Satan thought he was
destroying Christ, all he was doing was serving the purposes
of God. He is completely under the control
of God. Powerful, yes, but nothing compared
to omnipotence. It's not like there's a fight
and a battle going on between the devil and the God, and we're
going to find out who's going to win. No, he is under God's
thumb, God's devil on God's chain. Now, his ultimate end is destruction
in the lake of fire to be tormented eternally under the wrath of
God. I think it's interesting how
people kind of present the devil as tormenting people in hell.
No, the devil will be tormented by the wrath of God in the lake
of fire. That's what the Scripture says
his end is in Revelation chapter 20. Now all that being said,
he hates Jesus Christ. He hates God. He hates everything
that's associated with God, and he does not want anybody to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he doesn't know infallibly
who the elect are. He has no way of knowing. Therefore,
when someone looks to Christ, he's going to do everything he
can to drive him away from looking to Christ. He's going to tempt
him in every way to try to get him to apostatize, because he's
seen many who began well who didn't finish. It's only he that
endures to the end that shall be saved. And he's seen many
who begin well who didn't finish, so his desire is to tempt everybody
who claims to look to Christ to not look to Christ. That is his agenda. But we have this promise, and
I have no doubt that every believer has had to deal in some way with
the temptations of Satan or his emissaries, the demons. I have
no doubt that every believer has experienced that, but we
have this promise. The God of peace shall crush
Satan under your feet shortly. Now this is something God will
do. We can't do this. Christ crushed his head on the
cross in answer to the ancient prophecy, the seed of woman. Speaking of the virgin born Christ,
the seed of woman shall crush the serpent's head. But here
it says, he will be crushed under our feet. This is a gospel promise
given by the God of peace, who is at complete peace with every
believer because Christ made their peace. Now, Satan. Does he have any effect on a
true child of God? Ask Peter. Do you remember when
Christ said, Peter, Satan hath desired to have thee? that he
may sift thee as wheat. But I prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not. And Satan did indeed sift Peter
as wheat. He turned him inside out. He denied that he even knew the
Lord. Oh, how he sifted him as wheat. Do you remember after Peter made
that great confession in Matthew chapter 16? Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I'll build my church. After Peter said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock, this confession of me, I'll build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I suppose
Peter felt pretty good about himself at that time when the
Lord used his name. But later on in that chapter,
The Lord says to this same Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, for
thou savorest not the things that be of God, but the things
that be of men. It was Peter who wrote, your
adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom
he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith. The Apostle Paul
warned us in Ephesians chapter 6 about the wiles of the devil,
and put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. He spoke in 2 Timothy 2.25 of
those who are taken captive by him, the devil, at his will.
But he talked about telling them the truth so that perventure
they may be recovered from the snare of the devil. And that
seems to imply that a real believer can be tripped up terribly by
Satan. Paul spoke of Satan getting the
advantage of us by us not forgiving. And he said, we're not ignorant
of his devices, Satan's devices. He said, neither give place to
the devil. Don't give him a foothold. So
here are a lot of scriptures warning us about this being called
Satan. And yet we have this promise.
This is a promise to every believer. God will crush Satan under your
feet shortly. Now I have found Twelve names
for the devil in the scriptures that give us some idea of how
he operates. Now, like I said, I want to preach
the gospel in preaching this. I don't want to just talk about
the devil. I want to preach the gospel in bringing this message. But let me give you these names
the Bible gives for this being called Satan or the devil. First, he's called the Prince
of this world and the God of this world. And when he was tempting
the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke chapter 4, we read beginning
in verse 8 or verse 5, and the devil taking him up into a high
mountain showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in
a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,
all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that
is delivered unto me. God gave him this, and to whomsoever
will, I give it. If thou therefore will worship
me, all shall be thine. And you know what that tells
me? That tells me that all the kingdoms of this world are under
the control of the devil. Now, I love the United States
of America, and I will die by the grace of God for my country.
I love the United States of America. I am a loyal patriot. But does that mean I believe
that the United States of America is a Christian nation? Never
has been, never will be. The devil runs all the kingdoms
of this world. This is a world that has no love
for God, no love for the gospel. And the devil says, I've got
the power to give all these kingdoms to whomsoever I want to give
it to. Now, of course, the Lord rebuffed
him, and he would not do what he said. The Lord cannot sin.
He said, Thou shalt worship the Lord God, and Him only shalt
thou serve. But that lets me know of the
power of the devil in this world, in this country, in this city,
anywhere you go. There he is. He is under God's
control, and he is doing God's will. He doesn't know it. He's
just bringing about God's purposes, but he is called the God of this
world and the prince of this world. He's called in Ephesians
chapter 2, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. It was the Lord
who said to the Pharisees, you are of your father, the devil,
and the lusts of your father you will do. He has complete
domination and control over every unbeliever alive. Remember the
parable of the tares when the Lord said the tares were sowed
there by the wicked one, the devil. Now the devil means the
accuser. the slanderer. He's called in
Revelation 12 10, the accuser of the brethren who accused them
before God day and night. And indeed he does that. He accuses
you do something. I do something. He lets the Lord
know about it. It's not like the Lord doesn't
already know, but he accuses him. You say, they're your children.
Look what they've done. Look what they thought. Look
what they've been guilty of. He's the accuser of the brethren.
The scripture says he accuses them before God night and day.
Now, here's the glory. All of his accusations are answered
by the blood of Christ. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that's risen again who's even
at the right hand of God. He can accuse, but all of those
accusations are not valid because Christ died for my sins. That's
my victory. But even, here's how he deals
with the believer. He whispers in their ear, how
can you be a Christian? To think the things that you
think? To desire the things that you desire? To do the things
that you do? How can you be a Christian? To
commit that same sin over and over again repetitively? How
can you be a Christian? He makes these accusations in
order to make us not look to Christ, but look to our own works
and our own lack of sinfulness or something, or our own victory
over sin to give us some kind of assurance that we're saved.
And if He's done that, He's got the victory. You see, his great
desire is to keep men from looking to Christ only as everything
in their salvation. Therefore, he'll make these accusations. You, how could you be a Christian? But how thankful we are that
the Lord answers for us as our representative if we're believers.
He's called in John 8 by the Lord a liar. a liar. You know where lies originated?
With Satan. He's a liar and the father of
it, and he lied to our first parents in the garden. You shall
not surely die. What God has told you is not
the truth. The lie originated with him,
and he is called several times in the scripture the serpent
and the old serpent. How did he come to Eve? as a
serpent, and he deceived her. As a serpent, he is a deceiver,
and this lets us know something about his deceptive nature. Now
you think of the way he dealt with Eve. God knows when you
eat of this fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you'll know
good and evil just like he does. And you'll make a choice of the
good over the evil. Right now, you don't have any
choice. You're just obeying your nature. You've got these innocent
natures. And there's no moral virtue in what you do. But if
you eat of this fruit, it's going to make you like God. You're
going to know good and evil and choose the good over the evil.
And that's what's going to give you moral virtue. And you know,
that sounded reasonable to Eve. She thought, well, That sounds
right. He was saying, God's holding
out on you. He's, he doesn't want you to become like he is.
And if you eat of this fruit, you'll become like he is. Now,
obviously she should have known better than that, but he deceived
her. That is the way he works. He
works through deception. In second Corinthians chapter
11, beginning in verse two, we read these words. Paul says,
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ, but I fear, lest by any means as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now what does that mean,
the simplicity that's in Christ? The word simplicity means the
onlyness, the singularity, simple as opposed to compound, one as
opposed to two, only, the onlyness of Christ. I have Christ only. I don't have Christ and. I look
to Christ only. I don't look to Christ and my
good works, Christ and my baptism, Christ and my good intentions.
I look to Christ only. All I have is the Bible, Scriptures
only. My only salvation is by grace,
grace only. From election to glorification
and everything in between, salvation is by grace only. I look to Christ
only. His glory is the only motive. Now what Satan tries to do is
introduce the word and. Scriptures and, Christ and, grace
and, faith and. He doesn't want anyone to rest
in the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. Now listen to this statement
real carefully. Somebody once said, if all you
have is Christ, is that enough? And the man replied, It is if
He's all you got. It is if all you have is Christ,
He's enough. Now, if you have something else,
it won't work. Now, Satan's desire is to corrupt
us from the simplicity of Christ. Look back in 2 Corinthians 11,
beginning in verse 13. Paul says, For such are false
apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed
as an angel of light. Therefore it's no great things
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works." You know where
Satan's main sphere of operation is? The pulpit. He comes as an
angel of light. He doesn't come red with a pitchfork
and a pointy tail. He comes as an angel of light,
speaking of light. His ministers, ministers of righteousness,
human righteousness, not the righteousness of God, not the
righteousness of God imputed to every body for whom Christ
died. It's always human righteousness. He is deceptive. That's how he
is as a serpent. His name is Satan. That means
the adversary, the enemy, the enemy of God and the enemy of
all who worship God. Your adversary, the devil, as
a roaring lion seeketh whom he may devour. He's called the tempter
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Now he can't not make me and
you sin. Someone says the devil made me
do it. He can't do that. He can't make us sin, but He
can sure tempt us to sin in every way imaginable. He can tempt
us to self-righteousness, where we can't look to Christ. He can
tempt us to debauchery, to where we give ourselves to wickedness.
And He's got plenty to work with. in tempting us. Is there any
wonder the Lord taught us to pray on a daily basis, lead us
not into temptation? Oh, don't let me even be tempted.
I know what happens when I'm tempted, so don't even let me
be tempted. He is called the Tempter, and
He's called Lucifer, the Light Bearer. Remember, He comes as
an angel of light. He's called the Wicked One, and
oh how desperately wicked and evil he is. He hates God. He hates him who is altogether
lovely. He hates the Lord Jesus Christ.
He hates all that's associated with God. And if it were in his
power, he'd put God out of business because he hates him and he's
a desperately wicked being. And he's called the dragon and
the great dragon. And that lets us know, I don't
want to have hand-to-hand combat with a dragon, do you? Oh, I
say with Michael the archangel, the Lord rebuke thee. I don't
want to have anything to do with Satan in that sense. Now here's
something that is very interesting. He is also called Beelzebul. Beelzebul. The Lord calls him
that several times. The Pharisees even mention Beelzebul. Do you know what that word means?
That means the dung god. The dung god. Now why would he
be called the Dung God? You know what dung is. Why would
Satan be called the Dung God? Now I know the answer to that
question. I'm going to read a passage of scripture from Philippians,
the third chapter. Paul was talking about his pedigree. And he says in verse four, though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcise the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, I thought these things were to my advantage, those I counted
loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now what the dung God is going
to do is make you think that that dung counts for something. Your works, your righteousness,
your religion, your experience, your intentions, the things you've
done, the things that you've refrained from doing. The dung
God is going to make you look to that dung as your salvation. He doesn't want you to be like
Paul who counts all things but dung for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. Now the prince of this
world, the God of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, the accuser, the slanderer, the father of lies, the serpent,
Satan, the tempter, Lucifer, the wicked one, the dragon, Beelzebul. He's very powerful, but he is
simply a part of God's creation, fulfilling God's will and doing
God's bidding to make God's purposes come to pass. I'm so thankful. And how thankful I am for this
promise, the God of peace. shall crush Satan under your
feet shortly. You see, the time is coming when
he'll have nothing to work with with me. He's got plenty to work
with now, but the time is coming. You remember when the Lord said
the prince of this world's coming has found nothing in me? Nothing
to work with? Well, when I'm glorified in glory,
just like Christ, He'll be in the lake of fire, and there'll
be nothing for Him to work with. Thank God for this gospel promise.
This is Todd Nyberg, amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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