It's the great quest.
It's overcoming the monster.
! It's rags to riches.
! It's love lost and then found.
! It's tragedy turned to comedy.
And the happily ever after.
Perhaps these stories thrill our hearts
because they echo a true story.
Perhaps there really is an ultimate hero
who came on a mission to fight evil.
To give up his life to rise again
and to be one with his people forever.
What if the fairy tale is true?
What if Jesus is the hero of heroes?
That's Glenn Scrivener.
I'm preaching four slightly eccentric sermons
on the theme of story.
And we began this morning
with the beginning of every story
once upon a time.
In the beginning, if you missed it,
you can go on YouTube
and kill half an hour with that.
Tonight, we look at the second part
of a fairy story.
And what's the second part of a fairy story?
It all goes wrong.
Evil enters in.
And then next Sunday night,
we're going to look at a rescuer.
And then the following Sunday night,
we're going to look at happily ever after.
It all goes wrong.
Every story has a villain.
The big bad wolf.
The troll under the bridge.
Darth Vader.
Darth Maul.
Darth Sidious.
The wicked witch of the west.
Sauron.
Voldemort.
Cruella de Vil.
Every story has a villain
because yours does.
But you don't live like that.
Most people
don't live as if
the story has a villain.
How have we missed that?
All the stories that we tell
have evil in them.
They tell us of
the presence of an evil power.
All the dark characters
that send chills down our spine
and give us sleepless nights.
Why are they given to us?
They are given to us as a warning.
There's an evil cast around us.
War.
Famine.
Betrayal.
Murder.
Violence.
We know, don't we,
that there's evil in this world.
But where did it come from?
What's its motive?
How are we to find refuge
from it?
So this morning
we began at the beginning
and I want us to go back there tonight.
In the beginning
something happened.
Something happened
before our moment
on the stage.
Before mankind
came angels.
We talked about it
last Sunday, didn't we?
But angels,
if we asked people
what are angels like,
they would think
of cherubs, wouldn't they?
They would think of
rosy-cheeked,
little chubby children
wearing white.
Often seen as soft
and cuddly.
But in nearly
every record
that we have
in the Bible
of angelic visitations,
their first words are
fear not.
Why?
Because angels are terrifying.
Let me give you some verses.
2 Chronicles 32
verse 21.
Let me read this to you.
2 Chronicles 32
21.
And the Lord sent an angel
who cut off
all the mighty warriors
and commanders
and officers
in the camp
of the king
of the Assyria.
So he returned
with shame of faith
to his own land.
2 Samuel 24
15 and 16.
So the Lord
sent a pestilence
on Israel
from the morning
until the appointed time
and there died
of the people
from Dan to Beersheba
70,000 men.
And when the angel
stretched out his hand
toward Jerusalem
to destroy it,
the Lord relented
from the calamity
and said to the angel
who was working destruction
among the people,
it's enough.
Now stay your hand.
Revelation 9
verses 14 to 15
says to the sixth angel
with the trumpet
release the four angels
who are bound
to the great river
Euphrates.
So the four angels
who have been prepared
for the hour,
the day,
the month and the year
were released
to kill a third
of mankind.
And God says
there are
10,000 times
10,000 of them.
The Bible
is unashamed
about angels.
The Bible
is unashamedly
supernaturalistic.
Francis Schaeffer
who founded
our denomination
and founded
this congregation
and when he went
to a university mission
you know they'd have
a week of events
where they kind of
speak to people
who are not Christians
about the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ
and they kind of
put their best foot forward
and you put your
best speakers on
you try to be
as appealing as you can.
Francis Schaeffer
always began
on the first night
by speaking about angels.
Such a strange thing
isn't it?
Why did he begin
speaking about angels
and the reason he said
he did that
was because
he wanted the students
to know that he was
speaking about something
supernatural.
That Christianity
is unashamedly
supernaturalistic.
And as you come to
the Bible
particularly the gospels
I don't know whether
you realise
there are angels
everywhere.
At every crucial point
of the Lord Jesus'
career
there are angels.
angels.
In fact
the word angel
appears more often
in the New Testament
than the word sin
or the word love.
The word angel
occurs more frequently
than any
either of those words.
Arthur Sproul said
you can no more
cut the angels
out of the gospel record
than you can the miracles
without being guilty
of biblical vandalism.
They are everywhere
in the gospel accounts
not like some kind
of varnish
or gloss
that has been sprayed
on by some pious believers
but they are deeply
embedded in the story.
And so we need to
speak about angels
more than we do.
Number one
point number one
evil
enters the stage.
Evil
enters the stage.
It seems to me
that the Bible
indicates
the origin
of the devil
and the origin
of evil
more by hints
than by direct
statements.
and we see
that he was
one of the
sons of the
angels of God.
And apparently
he was the brightest
of them
or one of the
brightest of them
and the reason
that that angel
has fallen
is because he was
preoccupied with
his own beauty
and his own glory
and with his
ambition to
unseat God
the God of glory
from his throne.
So let's go to
a couple of passages
that we don't
often go to.
Let's go to
Isaiah chapter 14.
All right?
Isaiah chapter 14.
I'll shout out
the pages.
It's on page
577.
Isaiah chapter
14.
It's on page
578.
And the prophet
Isaiah there
is describing
the king of
Babylon.
But he's
describing him
in highly
symbolic language.
There's a
double meaning
to these words.
Isaiah 14
verses 12
to 15.
How you are
fallen
from heaven.
O day star,
sun of dawn.
How you are
cut down to the
ground,
you who laid
the nations low.
You said in
your heart,
I will ascend
to heaven above
the stars of God.
I will set my
throne on high.
I will sit on
the mount of
assembly in the
far reaches of
the north.
I will ascend
above the heights
of the clouds.
I will make
myself
the most
high.
It's speaking
of the
king.
And yet,
it's also
symbolic.
Come with me
to Ezekiel
chapter 28.
And these
are the two
passages
which describe
to us in
veiled terms
the origin
of the devil.
And Ezekiel
28 is on
page 715.
There's a
description of
the king of
Tyre.
And again,
it's taunting
language.
It's prophetic
language.
It's highly
symbolic.
Ezekiel 28
and verse 12
on page 715.
Son of man,
raise a
lamentation
over the
king of
Tyre and
say to him,
thus says the
Lord God,
here it is,
you were the
signet of
perfection,
full of
wisdom,
perfect and
beauty.
You were in
Eden,
the garden of
God.
Every precious
stone was
your covering.
Sardius,
topaz,
diamond,
beryl,
onyx,
jasper,
sapphire,
emerald,
carbuncle.
And crafted in
gold,
gold were
your settings
and your
engravings.
On the day
that you were
created,
they were
prepared.
You were an
anointed guardian
cherub.
I placed you
there on the
holy mountain
of God,
in the midst
of the stones
of fire you
walked.
You were
blameless in
your ways
from the day
you were
created,
till unrighteousness
was found in
you.
Standing at
the head of
the vast
legion of
angels was a
captain,
the most
beautiful,
the most
powerful of
them all,
the commander
of the armies
of God,
the guardian
of the glory
of God,
the sun
of the
morning,
as glorious
as the sun
unequaled.
C.S. Lewis
writes this,
of all
bad men,
religious bad
men are the
worst.
Of all
created beings,
the wickedest
is the one
who originally
stood in the
immediate presence
of God.
And so pride
enters the
devil's heart.
Now,
admittedly,
these passages,
they raise as
many questions
as they answer.
but they
are telling
us something
of immense
importance
and significance.
But pride
and self
was at the
heart of the
devil's fall.
Ezekiel
is telling
us that
the devil
was unwilling
to take
his place
as created.
He grasped
at glory
which was
not his
but belonged
to God
alone.
He sought
to exalt
himself over
God.
the devil
wanted
God's
authority.
It was
flagrant
ambition
but fundamentally
pride.
This
excellent
being
believed
that somehow
he was
being cheated.
He was
missing out.
He didn't
just want
to play
a role
in the
noble story.
He wanted
the story
to be about
him.
He coveted
the throne.
He wanted
to be the
star.
He was
desperate
to be the
main character.
He wanted
the worship
and the
adoration
which was
due to
God
to be
for
himself.
And so
in Ezekiel
28
verse 17
your heart
was proud
because of
your beauty.
You
corrupted
your wisdom
for the
sake of
your
splendor.
I
cast
you
to
the
ground.
I
exposed
you
before
kings
to
feast
their
eyes
on you.
Think of
the stories
that we
tell.
Think of
the echoes
that we
tell.
The witch
in
Snow White
who
cannot
cope
with
not
being
the
most
beautiful.
Anakin
Skywalker
turning
to the
dark
side
becomes
Darth
Vader.
Saruman
the wizard
in
Lord of
the
Rings
lust
for
power
and
glory
brings
himself
to
ruin.
Think of
the Joker
in Batman
turned
in on
himself.
Every
story
has
a
villain.
And
there in
the palaces
of
heaven
in
the
courtyards
of
happiness
and
glory
unstained
the
devil
turns
on
his
maker.
Through
treachery
and deceit
one third
of the
angels
rise up
against
their
sovereign
law
and
war
is
declared.
And
so
evil
enters
the
story.
And
it is
staggering
the
naivety
people
live with
regarding
evil.
They
don't
take it
seriously.
And
they
live
all
their
life
as if
there
is
no
villain.
And
so
when
people
think
of
the
devil
they
think
of
him
what?
Prancing
around
in
red
tights
carrying
a
pitchfork
at
the
Tour de
France.
But
he
is
the
incarnation
of
the
worst
enemy
you've
ever
met
in
every
story.
The
scripture
says
he
has
blinded
the
minds
of
unbelievers
so
they
do
not
take
evil
seriously.
What
will
it
take
for
evil
to be
taken
seriously?
The
Holocaust?
Child
prostitution?
Gang
rape?
People
trafficking?
Life
is very
very
confusing
isn't
it?
If
you
will
not
take
into
account
that
there
is
a
villain
that
you
have
an
enemy?
It's
not a
nice
thing
to
think
about
is it?
It's
one of
the
reasons
why
preachers
don't
preach
on
the
devil.
C.S.
Lewis
writes
this
one of
the
things
that
surprised
me
when I
first
read
the
New
Testament
seriously
was
that
it
talked
so
much
about
the
dark
power
in
the
universe.
A
mighty
evil
spirit
who
was
held
to be
the
power
behind
death
disease
and
sin.
Christianity
thinks this
dark
power
was
created
by
God
and
was
good
when
he
was
created
and
went
wrong.
Christianity
agrees
this
is a
universe
at
war.
Evil
enters
the
stage.
Point
number
two
evil
enters
the
world.
Evil
enters
the
world
in
time.
Genesis
1 and
2
you know
the
story
don't
you?
It's
a
beautiful
world.
It
was
good.
It
good.
It
was
good.
It
was
good.
It's
a
world
without
shame.
A
world
without
sin.
A
world
without
arguments.
A
world
without
sorrow.
A
world
of
joy
and
harmony.
That's
Genesis
1 and
2.
You're
in
Genesis
4
and
it's
a
world
of
murder
and
death
of
division
and
exile.
You're
in
Genesis
5
it's
death
and
more
death
and
more
death.
chapter 6
you have
rebellion
on a
scale
unparalleled
that every
inclination of
man's heart
was only
evil all
the time.
Genesis 7
and 8
there is a
cataclysmic
flood and
Genesis 9
you have
drunkenness
and incest.
Chapter 10
is ever
spreading evil
and in
chapter 11
is outright
rebellion
a hostile
bid to take
over the
world.
But where does
it start?
it starts
in Genesis
chapter 3
so can you
come there
with me?
Genesis
chapter 3
we're on
familiar
ground
aren't
we?
It
starts
by saying
that the
serpent
was more
crafty
than any
other
beast
of the
field
that the
Lord God
had made.
The
serpent
is a
created
being.
Genesis
chapter 12
and verse 9
sorry
Revelation 12
and verse 9
and 20
verse 2
John describes
the devil
as that
old serpent
the devil.
And so
how does
evil enter
in?
Verse 1
did
God
really say
did God
really say
you shall
not eat
of any
tree
in the
garden?
First of all
he overstates
doesn't he?
You shall
not eat
of any
tree.
What God
had said
to Adam
and Eve
is you
can eat
of all
the trees
except one.
Eve
responds
and she
quotes
God
back to
the devil
but she
misquotes
him.
She says
we may
eat
of the
fruit of
the trees
in the
garden
but God
said you
shall not
eat of
the fruit
of the
tree
that is
in the
midst
of the
garden.
That's
right.
Neither
shall you
touch it.
That's
not right.
lest you
die.
God
had not
said
anything
about
touching
it.
She
kind
of
draws
God's
commands
more
restrictive
than God
had made
them.
Verse
four is
the
outright
lie.
You
will
not
surely
die.
First
he creates
doubt
and then
he lies.
God
and then
in
verse
five
the
serpent
appeals
to
Adam
and
Eve
in
exactly
the
same
way
that
he
fell.
Then
verse
five
God
knows
that
when
you
eat
of
it
your
eyes
will
be
opened
and
you
will
be
like
God
knowing
good
and
evil.
What's
behind
that?
God
is
keeping
you
back.
God
is
holding
out
on
you.
You
can
be
like
God.
You
can
be
wiser
than
God.
You
can
be
God.
And
you
cannot
minimise
the
enormity
of
Adam
and
Eve's
sin.
You
cannot
minimise
the
sheer
ingratitude.
How
had
God
treated
them
in
chapter
one
and
two?
He
had
given
them
everything
they
could
need,
everything
they
could
want.
He
held
nothing
back
from
them.
One
of the
things I
find about
Genesis 3
is the
madness
of sin.
When you
go back
to it,
you can
look at
ideology
and that's
the right
thing to
do,
but there's
a madness
to Eve
and Adam's
sin in
Genesis 3.
William
Still
says this,
this parent
sin is the
sin of
all sins,
equaled
only by
that
primal
sin
of
Lucifer
which
stands
out like
a blot
against
the
light
of
what
God
has
made
him.
It's
important
that we
hold two
things
together
here.
These
two things
together,
one is
this
essential
deceiving
nature
of the
devil
who's
always
scheming,
always
plotting,
his
wiles
always
must be
taken
into
account.
So we
sinners,
we never
bear the
blame alone
for our
sin.
The other
is the
full
responsibility
of human
beings
for
listening to
voices which
are completely
contrary to
knowledge and
experience of
God.
Satan's
responsibility
and man's
responsibility
go hand
in hand.
And this
first sin
of Adam
and Eve
is engineered
by the
devil with
great
ingenuity.
Evil
enters the
stage,
evil
enters the
world,
and then
lastly evil
enters you.
And the
truth is
this,
that the
problem of
evil is
not just
out there
on a
macro
level.
We can
see it
really
clearly
there,
can't
we?
That evil
is not
only a
problem
in the
world
around us,
but it's
a problem
in us.
And the
reason I
want to say
that is
because the
essence of
the sin
that the
devil fell
for and
the essence
of the
sin that
Adam and
Eve fell
for in
the garden
is exactly
what you
and I
fall for
every day.
That you
can be
the centre
of your
world.
You can
grasp at
it.
You can
reach out
and take
it.
And that
God is
holding out
on you.
He's keeping
you back.
you need
to be the
main
character.
You need
to be the
main
story.
And to
follow God
means that
you'll
actually
miss out.
And so
we become
preoccupied
with
ourselves.
And our
story,
and our
glory,
and our
beauty.
And sin
is to be
caught up
in oneself.
when you
look at
group
photographs,
who is
the first
person you
look for?
Alice
Roosevelt
Longworth
describes
her father,
the US
president,
Theodore
Roosevelt.
She
described him
as someone
who needed
to be the
centre of
attention in
any situation,
whether joyous
or sombre.
She wrote,
my father
wanted to be
the corpse
at every
funeral,
the bride
at every
wedding,
and the
baby at
every
christening.
That was
actually used
to describe
a minister
to me this
week.
But there's
an element
of all of
us in
that,
isn't
there?
The corpse
at every
funeral,
the bride
at every
wedding,
the baby
at every
baptism.
And so
in this
story,
this great
story,
we are
caught up
into
something
bigger
than our
own
rebellion.
And that
is what
Genesis 4
to 11
teaches us,
isn't it?
It is a
death spiral
where sin
is not
under
control,
but
wonderfully,
that is
not the
end of
the story.
I think
in preparing
this and
trying to
think about
the origin
of the
devil,
we are
at the
very limit
of our
understanding.
There is
a reason
why the
Bible isn't
crystal clear
on it,
and that is
because we are
not meant
to know.
We are
trying to
grasp the
ungraspable,
we are
trying to
know the
unknowable,
and there
are many
questions,
aren't there,
in your
heart and
in my
heart,
about why
does God
allow the
devil to
exist?
Why did
God create
a world
knowing that
it would
fall into
sin?
What we
do know
is this,
with the
advent of
sin and
the devil,
you are
able to
grasp and
understand
something more
of the
love and
the grace
and the
mercy and
the holiness
of God
in a way
that you
would not
have been
had you
stayed in
that state
of perfection.
Adam knew
that God
was loving,
but he
didn't know
how loving.
Adam knew
that God
was holy,
but he
didn't know
how holy
God is.
Adam knew
that God
was gracious,
but he
didn't know
how gracious.
We don't
fully know
the reasons
for those
questions.
We are
creatures that
cannot fathom
the ways of
our creator,
but we
must humbly
accept that
this isn't
the end of
the story.
in Genesis
3,
there's a
lovely game
of hide
and seek.
Answer me
this,
who is
hiding
and who
is seeking?
Is it
God who's
hiding?
It's not,
is it?
Adam and
Eve,
in their
shame and
in their
rebellion and
in their
embarrassment,
they are
the ones
that so
fig leaves
on themselves,
they hide.
And God
is the
one who
comes
seeking.
And he
says,
where are
you?
It's one
of the
great
questions in
the Bible
that God
asks you,
where are
you?
Wonderfully,
the story of
the Bible
tells us,
as we'll
see in a
couple of
weeks,
that there
was one
who came
into this
world who
was not
like Adam,
was not
like the
devil,
who was
not proud,
who did
not consider
equality with
God something
to be grasped,
but made
himself nothing,
taking the
very nature
of a servant,
who did
not grasp,
but willingly
gave up.
And we're
told gloriously,
aren't we,
in 1 John
chapter 3
and verse 8,
that the
Son of
God
appeared to
destroy
the works
of the
devil.
And so
tonight,
as the
people of
God
living in
this story,
we know
that because
of the
cross of
Jesus
Christ,
the devil
is
defeated,
he is
chained,
the authority
that he does
have is
very limited
and his
time is
nearly up.
And
ultimately,
evil will
be defeated
and sin
will be no
more.
Let's pray.