Understanding God's Message to Satan

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

Understanding God's Message to Satan. I want to start off with you fairly in the beginning of the entire scriptures as we know them today. We're going to start in Genesis 3. We're going to read verses 1 to 5 and then verses 9 to 15 later as well. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?"And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’"Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The snake gets them to consider. The snake gets them to eat. And we start in verse 9: Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself."And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this,You are cursed more than all cattle,And more than every beast of the field.On your belly you shall go,And you shall eat dust all the days of your life.And I will put enmity between you and the woman,And between your seed and her Seed;He shall bruise your head,And you shall bruise His heel." Here we have this very early story in the scriptures—a snake showing up on the scene in the garden. He begins to speak to the woman and convinces her that it’s a good idea to consider that not trusting God may get her ahead in life—may further her situation. So she eats of the fruit of the tree and also offers it to her husband. He doesn’t hesitate—he takes it and eats it as well. And then God turns to this snake and tells him: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

Now, this is old language. If I were to translate it today, it would sound something like this:

"He's going to kick you so hard in the face, He's going to kick your skull in. You’re not going to recover from this one. And while He’s doing it, He’s going to hurt His foot a little bit—that’s how hard He’s going to stamp in your face." "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." So the question arises—and most of us have this association with that snake being the devil. You’re not wrong. But we get this idea that the snake, if you will, has been claimed by the devil—to where we almost forget that the Word says the Lord God made that snake. It almost feels at times that the devil kind of made that snake, that the devil kind of owns that snake, and that snake is now devil territory. Anytime we read about a snake in the Word, we so easily get reminded of Satan—of how he deceives, how he accesses what God had for people and destroys it, how he gets people off God’s plan, and how he becomes such a seemingly successful enemy of the people that God made in His own likeness. I want to remind you that the Word says God made that snake—more cunning than all the other animals. But let’s let the Word tell us who this snake really is so that we understand who God is sending this message to.

Revelation 12:7-9 And war broke out in heaven. This is from before creation. And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. The Word tells us that about one-third of the angels were fighting alongside the devil.

Verse 8: But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out—that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Here we have this incredible story of Michael, another angel of the Lord, leading the armies of the Living God and going to war with the dragon—going to war with the serpent, going to war with the Devil, Satan. One-third of the angels rising up, Michael leading the charge against them. Michael and the angels of the Lord win this battle. Jesus doesn’t lift a finger. The Father doesn’t lift a finger. It’s—if you can say it this way—just another angel that won this battle against the enemy. And there’s no room found anymore for Satan in heaven. He’s kicked out. He’s no longer welcome. He can’t come before the throne room of the Lord to accuse the saints anymore. He is now cast on the earth, him and all of his fallen angels with him.

There’s a great reason, church, that after the armies of the Living God already conquered Satan, God decides to cast Satan onto the earth. Why would He do that? Why would He cause that kind of trouble for His own children, His own people? Why not lock the devil up right then and there? Why not destroy him right then and there? The Word tells us that one day, Jesus is going to lift a finger, so to speak, and by the breath of His mouth—the moment He says anything—He will destroy Satan and He will put him in prison, in a lake of fire for eternity. But right here, ever since the history of humanity, all we know is the devil is around, and he’s around here on earth, and he seeks to deceive all people. This snake, this serpent of old, coming to the very first people created in God’s image, walking in God’s perfect will, in their perfect call, perfect unity with God. And here comes this snake—possessed, embodied, whatever it may be—that old serpent, the Devil, coming into the garden to deceive mankind. To deceive Adam. To deceive Eve.

To believe that shifting their trust from what God has said to what Satan says may just be a good idea. And that story is burned into our minds. We may not know many stories of the Bible, but you’re probably going to know this one story. That is arguably close to as popular as knowing the story of the cross—that Jesus died on the cross. Most people also know that the Devil came as a snake in the garden, deceiving humankind. But God has a message to Satan. And when we understand God’s message to Satan, church, something begins to happen in your life. After this event in Genesis, story after story in the Bible begins to involve snakes. And some of those stories can be confusing because we very easily associate snakes with Satan. But what is really happening is that in all of these stories, God is sending, if you will, a subliminal message to the Devil. In all reality, God is taunting the Devil. He sent him, bound him to be on this earth, no longer welcome in heaven, not free to go where he pleases. He tries to make you believe he is, but he is not.

God throws him on earth, and then God starts journeys on earth, stories on earth, to taunt the Devil—to already torment him. But to a greater degree, God is going to involve you. You—who used to be a puppet to the Devil. He used to be able to control you, play the boss over you, get you to do whatever he wanted—deceive you, sweep you off your feet, and take you out of what God had for you. God is going to use you on the earth where you live—that he bound the Devil to at this time. He’s going to use you to deliver a message. And I pray that you may see it today. Because when you understand—that’s the title of this message—when you understand God’s message to Satan, joy breaks out in the house of the Lord. But even more so—joy breaks out in your heart. You won’t be able to contain it. Let me take you to one of these snake stories. And I pray to God that you may understand God’s message to Satan.

I’m going to take you to just two today. The first one Exodus 7:8-12: Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’" Now, church, you’ve heard this many times. The New Testament refers to it all the time. We know that Pharaoh was symbolic for the enemy—for Satan. Under Pharaoh, the people of God were in bondage. Pharaoh was lording over them until God sent somebody into their situation that would deliver them and set them free. The people of God never fought their own battle. And here, God begins to send the Devil a message. The Devil’s watching. And here, Pharaoh is sitting on the throne. He has all the people of God under bondage and slavery. And God sends Moses in—with a stick, with a piece of wood. And God says, "When you stand before Pharaoh, let that piece of wood turn into a snake." And so, God is sending this message to Satan, who’s been watching this all this time. He’s bound to earth.

Moses is sent to the people of God. And Moses, before Pharaoh, turns that stick—miraculously, by the power of God—into a serpent. Verse 10: So Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. So the magicians of Egypt—they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. Here you have this response where now, not one snake is trying to make the difference in the lives of the people of God. It’s almost as if the enemy gets upset with the fact that God would begin to fight fire with fire. And every man—now, this was the court of Pharaoh. He didn’t have three wise men and three magicians. The courtroom of Pharaoh was full of his wise men and full of his sorcerers and full of his magicians. And the Word says every man took his staff—every man took his pole, his stick—and cast it on the ground, and they likewise turned them into serpents. The place was crawling with serpents. The enemy acting out, and the enemy saying, "I can do this. This serpent work—this deadly work—belongs to me. I’m now coming with multiple snakes to keep God’s people in bondage. By a snake, I brought them into bondage. By snakes, I will keep them in bondage." And here, God is taunting Satan.

Because He doesn’t come to him any other way.

He brings one piece of wood, and that piece of wood turns into a snake, and the Word tells us Aaron's rod—it doesn't say the snake—Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Satan is doubling up on the attack. God is subliminally the devil, new referencing the garden—you come up with a snake? I'll come up with a snake too. Except what I need you to understand is what God is going to bring into this world. Satan, Jesus is going to swallow you whole. That is what the enemy needs to understand. That is the message that God began to send already there in Egypt. God sent one piece of wood with Moses, who was a foreshadowing in many ways of the Christ that would be sent into your life. He sent Moses into the lives of God's people with a piece of wood, and that piece of wood delivered a message. It'll swallow up everything the enemy is doing. It'll swallow up all that the enemy sends at God's people as if God is saying: Satan, you can't claim any of my creation. You can't just use a snake once and now think that snakes somehow belong to you.

You're not the Creator. Jesus—the one by whom and through whom all things were made—he's in charge. The cross will destroy the work of Satan. Whatever he believes he has accomplished, the cross is going to come into this situation and just swallow all of it up. Let me take you to another snake story—Numbers 21:5-9: "And the people of God spoke against God and against Moses: 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.'" Let me remind you of what was happening. God was sending miraculous bread each morning—it would literally rain from heaven. God was making sure that none of their clothing, none of their shoes grew old while they walked in the wilderness. They were constantly walking in miracle after miracle after miracle. But they became a little bit blind to it.

They got so used to the supernatural in their life that they started to remember what it was like in Egypt. And in many ways, they began to say, "A life in bondage was easier for me. A life in bondage was better for me. Following Jesus is a little bit hard, costs a little bit much. It's better for me not to be saved." Nobody says it like that, but that's what the feeling is like. "It's better for me not to follow Jesus with all of my heart. It's hard for me to give up things to follow Jesus. I would rather not have these things." The people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt—out of bondage—to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." Here's the serpents from the court of Pharaoh coming in. "So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." The people complain, and instantly God says, "I want you to remember. I'm going to help you remember why I set you free. I'm going to help you remember what the king of your bondage was like. You want to go back to sin? I'll give you a momentary experience where you are reminded of what it is like to be under that king. I'll help you remember what it feels like to have the devil rule and reign in your life." Right there in the court of Pharaoh, swarming with snakes, God showed, "I'm bringing in this piece of wood—it's going to swallow all of this power whole." And the people forget. So they get to see these snakes again because God wants them to remember why He set them free. And in the midst of that process—again, the devil's watching, bound to Earth—God knows. He wants to make sure the devil gets the message. There's a point—God made the devil a promise: "I'm going to send someone into this world that is going to crush—kick your head in."

So God sent snakes who would do their life-destroying works. And then God again sends another snake to bring to nothing the work of these evil serpents. And the people that get bitten by the head of those snakes—the people that get bitten by those evil snakes—Jesus, He heals them. The moment that they glance up to this bronze serpent, He destroys the work of the devil. He crushes the head with one blow. And church, you need to understand the message that God is sending to Satan—because you become a part of that message. You become a part of the message that God is sending to Satan today. As if God is saying: "The moment he glances up to me, the moment she glances up to me, everything you worked for, devil—you bit him, you had poison—yet they're not going to be affected by your poison anymore." As if God is saying: "Satan, the moment anyone glances up at me, everything you worked for will be gone. I'll crush your head. I'll destroy you." And God is seeking to rub that message into Satan's face through you.

He bound him to Earth—not so that you would have an enemy, not so that you would be hunted down, not so that you would always have trouble. You're supposed to be the enemy's trouble.

God doesn't give Satan any claim to anything in creation. Satan has no tools to work with in this world. God is making fun of him. "You think you can use snakes? Watch me use snakes."

He gives him no tools to work with in this world. All he can do is lie. All he can do is whisper to your heart, hoping that maybe you'll believe some of his words—because he has no power. He has no resources. There's nothing anymore that he can do. Even the snakes have been reclaimed by God. There's nothing left. The Lord is making sure that Satan gets the message.

You use the body of a snake, but I take it from you. You'll have nothing to work with. No weapon formed against my children will prosper. I'm taking everything away from you, and I want you to be reminded of it continually by the weakest of vessels that I could possibly send to you to remind you of this. The moment you and I, Church, glance up to Jesus with the eyes of our heart, the moment you turn your heart to Him and say with all of your heart, "Lord, I believe on You, save me," the moment you turn the eyes of your heart on Jesus, instantly everything the devil's worked for will be destroyed. It'll be removed out of your life. The instant you turn to Jesus with the eyes of your heart, the poison stops working. You're not dying anymore. The poison does not work on you. Verse 8: "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived."

The instant you and I turn the eyes of our heart, the poison stops working. You got to understand this—you’re not dying anymore. You're still exchanging this body for a new one one day, but there's no dying for you anymore. Satan ultimately seeks your death—that's what he wants. He wants to rob, kill, and destroy. He wants to kill you, and instead, while he's watching, even though you were bitten, even though the poison was running in your veins, even though the enemy had worked so hard and thought he accomplished something by being a snake—Jesus just gives to you eternal life. No more poison for you. Do you understand God's message to Satan, Church? It is you. You're the message. None of the devil's weapons will work on you.

God took everything away from the devil—everything he thought he had. And the devil's reminded every time he runs into you. Every time he runs into you, he's reminded—"My weapons don't work. I want him dead, yet he's going to live forever. Even when this body runs out, God is just going to give him or her a new one."

Every time he runs into you, every time he hears your voice, he's reminded—tortured already on this side of eternity, on this Earth, tortured by the weakest of people that used to be under his grip. And God says, "You think you can work with my creation? Let me show you what I do. None of the poison will work on them. None of the biting will work on them." Church, everything that you have caused in your life by your own fault—like the people of God here, complaining, doing bad things in their heart or even with their mouth towards the Lord—caused by your own faults, you rightfully earned the devil's victory over your life in many ways. Yet instead, God sends redemption. He redeemed the snake, took it back, and He placed that brass serpent high over the evil works of the devil.

That brass serpent was placed on a piece of wood, on a pole, and anybody that will look up to what God has done on a piece of wood, anyone who looks up to what God has placed on a piece of wood, will be free from all the devil thought he had accomplished. They will be free from the deadly poison, and they’ll receive eternal life. It's just the Lord foreshadowing the story of the Cross, constantly pounding the enemy, reminding him—none of your plans will work. The devil desires your death, and God, who redeems by giving you, out of all people, eternal life, sends an everlasting message through someone like you. Satan, your weapons don’t work. Satan, your poison is rendered powerless. And Satan, your heart’s desire over people will never come to pass. They will live. They’re going to live in the name of Jesus Christ.

Let me read to you John 3:14-15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Church, it's going to take one glance of looking up. In other words, God is not putting any work in your corner. God is not putting a battle in your corner. God is carrying something into your situation. God is carrying His Son into your situation. He’s also placed on a piece of wood, and anyone that will look up, anyone that believes that God is able, anyone that believes that Jesus was sent by God to nullify the poison, that Jesus was sent by God for you—to bring to nothing what the enemy thinks he has accomplished over you, holds over your head, accuses you with, tries to make you believe you’re still guilty—anything. The moment we look up with the eyes of our heart to what God placed on a piece of wood, everything will be broken. Freedom will be yours. Poison won’t work on you anymore.

Would you stand with me for a moment? Whoever this is for—online or here in person—Satan has targeted you. He’s been seeking to build something into your life. He’s been seeking to poison you. And the Father cries out to you today—Would you just look up? You don’t have to fight the poison. You don’t have to fight the devil. You don’t have to deal with the ramifications. You don’t have to try and make up for it. You don’t have to work the poison out of your life.

Would you look up to what I placed on a piece of wood—way higher than your situation, towering over everything the enemy thought he had accomplished? The Lord cries into our hearts—Would you turn? Would you turn from your sins? That means also—would you turn from looking at them? Would you turn from believing that those sins still have power over you? Would you turn from believing that those sins are a reason for Me to not favor you, not love you, not let you into heaven, not answer you when you pray?

Would you turn from these things? Would you turn and would you look up to what I have placed on a piece of wood and cared—sent into your situations? Would you turn your eyes wholeheartedly unto Christ Jesus? Because when you do, whatever the devil’s been building will be miraculously removed instantly. The shackles will be gone, and the poison of death will not have power over you ever again. If that’s what you need today, if you say, "I need that—what the devil’s been building in my life—I need it to be miraculously removed today. Can’t carry it anymore. Can’t fight it. I don’t get anywhere." If you need the poison of death to have no power over you anymore, the fear of death to have no power over you anymore, I want to invite you to come to Jesus in prayer. I want to invite you to come forward to the altar so that we can pray with you and that we can come to Jesus and say: "Jesus, this is exactly what I need. I need to learn to look up daily. I need to learn to stop fighting the serpent in my life. I need to learn to stop. I need to learn to see that You always send a piece of wood into a situation where the enemy thinks he can do anything. That wood will swallow up everything the enemy brings into my life. And that piece of wood will tower over my situation and render all of the poison powerless. Jesus, that is what I need. Would You teach the eyes of my heart to look up to You?" If that is you today, I want to invite you to come to the front so that we can pray together. Sometimes we need that reminder. It’s a renewal.

You’ve given your life to the Lord before, but just like the people in the desert—they’d been set free out of Egypt, but something had gotten into their heart, and they needed a renewal. They had to be reminded that when those serpents come back into their life, they can’t fight them on their own. They needed that renewal, another time for that piece of wood to come in and to eradicate out of their life everything that their own sins had seemed to start to collect again. Sometimes we need the rod of Jesus Christ, the cross of Jesus Christ, to swallow all of the serpents in our life. You see, the devil—he operates still like a snake. And he tries to crawl into your life. He tries to wiggle around. And sometimes he comes, as it were, like in Egypt, with many snakes. And there’s no keeping track of it. There’s no fighting it. There’s no killing it. And you need the cross to swallow all of it up. Today, we want to pray with you. The prayer team is going to come around. They’re going to lay hands on you. They are going to pray for you as I lead you into prayer. And as we make sure that we render ourselves available to God—to send a message, to send the message to Satan—to remind him that none of his poison has power anymore. None of his weapons. No resources for him on this Earth. This Earth—Jesus came to this Earth. It has tasted the blood of Jesus Christ as He was crucified, and that blood has broken the power, the dominion, the dignity of Satan. All of it—destroyed. Our Jesus beat in his head, and there’s no recovering from it.

-Pastor Stan Mons