Isaiah 14: Lucifer's 5 "I Will" Statements

Brethren, today we want to continue our journey through the Book of Isaiah. As you all are well aware, we've been trying to go through—not always successfully, but trying to go through—a sermon once a month on the book. It's a very large book, 66 chapters, but today I want to be very focused in my comments for you. And I know that I will be going overtime, looking at my watch right now. So as opposed to us leaving at 3 o'clock, we'll probably be closer to 3.30 before I'm done here. So just pace yourself time-wise and understand that. But today we want to look at a section of Isaiah chapter 14. Now, there are a number of things of interest, a number of ideas and comments we can make in that chapter that are of great interest, but I want to narrow my focus down to just a few verses. So if you would, let's turn to Isaiah chapter 14. There are just three verses here I want to use as the foundation of my remarks today. Isaiah chapter 14.

Okay, Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations? For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Here we have, remember on August the 1st, I gave a sermon entitled, Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks. And that's a quotation from Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What do we see here in Lucifer's heart? We see five phrases that start with, I will. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit in this mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. For I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Five, I will be like the Most High. Why do you and I want to focus on this? We want to focus on this because, in essence, this is sin in its embryonic state. This is the beginning of sin. And this is something that is coming out of Lucifer's heart. Out of the abundance of his heart, he's got these five statements.

These mean everything to him. And because they mean everything to him, we realize, brethren, that Satan walks about as a roaring lion, seeing whom he may destroy. We realize he hates God's people. He hates God. And he will be coming after us, you and I, as individuals. And with these five statements, we see what's in his heart. And what's in his heart is going to be translated into action on his part to try to shipwreck our salvation. So it's important for us to understand these five phrases and all that they mean.

Now, Lucifer was created a tremendous being. Let's take a look at Ezekiel chapter 28. He was a tremendous creation of Almighty God. He lived in a perfect atmosphere. He lived under perfect government. He lived under a perfect God. He had a perfect opportunity to serve. He was placed very high in the government of God in terms of an angelic creation. Notice what we see here in Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 12. Ezekiel 28 verse 12. Thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty.

Now, just like in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, they start talking about a human being, but it quickly switches to talking about Lucifer. Because no human being was the seal of perfection, other than Jesus Christ who was also God in the flesh. But here we see the creation was perfect, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. That doesn't describe mankind. Dropping down to verse 15 of Ezekiel 28. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created.

We don't know how long Lucifer served God in perfection. It could have been billions of years for all we know. We just simply don't know. We'll find out after the resurrection. We can ask God that question. Now, look at verse 14 of Ezekiel 28. You were the anointed carob who covers. I will establish you, or I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.

So here we see God Himself established Lucifer's position, one of the highest positions any angel had. He was an archangel. He's a very special creation of God. God Himself established or placed Lucifer in a very high and very visible position in His holy government. But again, Ezekiel 28, verse 15. Let's look at the end of that. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

Iniquity was found. Those five phrases, the five I-wills of Lucifer. Now the spiritual curtain rises, and we see the heart of Lucifer, which I call in this sermon the heart of evil. The heart of evil. And this great sin of Lucifer, of Satan, was a sin of being self-willed. And as we go through these five phrases, we're going to see a lot of self-will. And the reason, brethren, I want to go through this is because we, each of us, need to ask ourselves, How self-willed are we?

How self-willed are we? It wasn't Lucifer's purpose to be different from God. It was Lucifer's purpose to be God. That's how proud and vain he was. And we know what's happened in this world since his rebellion, taking one-third of the holy righteous angels. And think about it for a second. These holy righteous angels were probably brilliant creations, brilliant minds. What did Lucifer do to sell them on the idea of walking away from a perfect God, a perfect environment, perfect job opportunities? What did he do? Did he have a plan? Did Lucifer have a plan?

We're going to talk about that as the sermon goes along. So I've got a title for the sermon. I gave that to Mr. Morrison so he could put this online. But my purpose statement is different than my title. My purpose statement is this. What is the heart of evil and what does that have to do with you? What is the heart of evil and what does that have to do with you? You know, brother, we don't want to look at the scriptures today, look at these five I Will statements of Lucifer, and treat them as an exercise in theory.

We don't want to expound on historical fact. We want to take a look at what he's saying here, what's coming out of his heart, and how does that affect you and I in our daily living? That's what we want to study today. That's what we want to appreciate today. Let's take a before we go back into Isaiah, let's look at James chapter 4 and verse 7.

James chapter 4 and verse 7, James being the half-brother of Jesus Christ, an apostle, the leader, the pastor of the headquarters church in Jerusalem. James chapter 4 and verse 7, therefore submit to God. Did Lucifer submit to God? No. Look what it did for him. Therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So today, as we go through and take a look at these five I Will statements, we want to remember that as you and I mount a resistance movement, a spiritual resistance movement, that Satan will flee from us. We've got God's word on that. We've got God's power on that. We're God's kids, and he'll back up his children as we do those things that are pleasing in his sight. Okay, so Isaiah chapter 14 verse 13. You might want to put a marker there. We'll go there time and again. The very first statement. Isaiah chapter 14 verse 13. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. This is coming from his heart, from the innermost part of who and what he was. It shows his pride. It shows his haughtiness. It shows his self-will. Now, I'm not going to turn here, but in your notes you might want to jot down Proverbs 16 verse 18. Proverbs 16 verse 18. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Of course, we know that Lucifer fell from heaven after he tried to take God off of his throne. So, let's take a look at this phrase here. I will ascend into heaven and understand that is Satan's ultimate goal. He didn't want God's heaven. Understand that. He didn't want God's heaven. He wanted Satan's heaven. He didn't want anything having to do with God. He wanted his own will. He wanted to fashion heaven after his own heart and mind. What he thought was right. He wanted his own desire and his own will. But I want to turn to something, look at something. This phrase, or this word, ascend. As I was doing my research, I thought this was very interesting. The word ascend is the Hebrew word Allah. A-L-A-H. It's Strong's number 5927. Strong's number 5927. And what's interesting about that particular word, it has a number of different meanings, depending upon the context. But I want to read to you from Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words defines Allah and how it can be used. I quote, the word can also be used passively to denote mixing two kinds of garments together, causing one to lie upon or be placed upon the other. So, in other words, when Lucifer was saying, I want to ascend into heaven, he was saying something more than, I just want to knock God off his throne. As one of the spirit beings who was closest, I mean, he was a part of the throne room of God, right there at the very throne of God, he must have heard God and Jesus Christ talking about the plan of salvation they were in half for humankind. We know that Satan is a great imitator, a great counterfeiter. Now, think about this phrase. He wants to Allah. He wants to take his plan and put it over overlay God's plan.

So, in that sense, we see the great imposter, we see the great imitator, I should say, the great counterfeiter wanting to overlay his plan over God's.

It's an aspect of imitating. It's an aspect of counterfeiting. Now, in a few minutes, I'm going to quote two sermons, parts of two sermons given by Dr. Ward. As I did my research, I listened to two sermons that bear on the subject. I'll give you those quotations and the citations in a couple minutes. The Lucifer must have had some idea of what God had planned, and he established his own plan. What else did he sell to all those angels that made him want to follow him? Let's turn now to Ephesians 6, verse 11. Ephesians 6, verse 11.

Ephesians 6, verse 11, in the New King James reads this way, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The wiles of the devil. The word wiles is what we want to focus in on here. It's strong as number 3180. It can mean the tactics of the devil. It can mean the schemes of the devil. It can mean the strategies of the devil. The word here in the Greek is methodia, from which we get our word, method. Satan has methods. Let me read to you again from this is a the complete word study bible and a complete word study dictionary, New Testament, the definition of methodia. To work by method, the following or pursuing of an orderly and technical procedure in the handling of a subject. Now think about Lucifer and what he's trying to do here. Lucifer is working a method. He's got a plan. He wants to overlay his plan over God's. He wants to ascend to the heavens, not God off his throne before God has an opportunity to initiate his plan of salvation for mankind. Now I promised you I'd give you a couple of citations from Dr. Ward.

Let me give you the date first because that's easier to get down. Sometimes it's harder to get down the sermon title, but on August 11, 2018, Dr. Ward gave a sermon entitled, How Dialectics Shape Our World.

And he goes through and discusses what dialectics are and so on and so forth. It's quite interesting.

We place a sermon online, we put the title and we put a summary statement. Here's the summary statement for that sermon. And I quote, Is there a philosophical system behind the seeming contradictions that permeate our world? Does Satan have a grand master plan for deceiving the nations into worshiping him? Dr. Ward's words, not mine. Does Satan have a grand master plan? He goes through and discusses that. Another citation from Dr. Ward. This was a sermon was given on July 27, 2019. July 27, 2019. The name of the sermon is Satan's Organization.

Satan's Organization. And again, I will quote the summary statement from Dr. Ward.

And I quote, How have people of the world come to the point that they are willing to die to kill another person made in the image of God? Could there be a great spirit and mind behind all the evil in the world today? Satan has developed an invisible governmental structure in order to achieve his plan to destroy mankind in hopes of forwarding God's plan of salvation.

Notice the idea of overlaying his plan over God's. Satan has developed an invisible governmental structure. I'll pause there. When we went through the book of Daniel, we saw that invisible governmental structure. We saw how there were the kings of Persia and the kings of Greece, and they were fighting against Michael. There we were talking about angelic beings, demons, fighting against God's true and righteous angels. So Satan has developed an invisible governmental structure in order to achieve his plan, Dr. Ward says, to destroy mankind in hopes of forwarding God's plan of salvation. Now, let's turn to Matthew 6 for a moment. I think this is interesting because we're going to take a look at the first several words of the model prayer. When Jesus was asked, how should we pray, he began to discuss various points in a model prayer. Not that we should just repeat this by rote, but every section of this prayer has deep meaning. Matthew 6, verse 9. In this manner, therefore, pray, our Father in heaven. Now, Lucifer should have remembered something, which he didn't want to recall or remember, as a created being. His Father was God. But he didn't want to think about that.

Going on, hallowed be your name. Stand in awe of God. Reverence, respect, worship.

Was that what Lucifer was doing? So, if we don't remember—you and I, if we don't remember—that we have a Father in heaven. If we don't properly hallow God's name, we can drift. Just as Lucifer drifted. We don't want to do that.

Verse 10. Your kingdom come. Lucifer didn't want any part of God's kingdom.

Do we? How fervently do we want it? Are we drifting away from what? Are we enticed by our society? We have to ask ourselves, what is our prayer life like? What is our study life like? How often do we fast? How much do we meditate? Your kingdom come. And then notice the last part I want to emphasize here in verse 10. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That goes right contrary to what we saw there in Isaiah chapter 14. Lucifer was full of his own self-will. Look what it has done to the universe.

So some thoughts for your consideration on this first point.

Lucifer wanted to set himself up as supreme. We need to ask ourselves, are we in the proper habit of always asking, what is God's will? What is God's will?

Satan, Lucifer, wasn't concerned about God's will. We need to be asking yourself, what is God's will? Do we tend to default to just doing things on our own? Or do we ask, I wonder what God's will is on this particular course of action? Satan wanted all the other angels to pay homage to him.

Brethren, we need to make sure that we are people of humility. The greatest trials our church, present era, have gone through is because we had too many people in too many positions, high in authority, who lacked humility. They were self-willed. They wanted their own way, and they were going to start their own church to do it.

Self-will. Here in these verses 9 and 10 of Matthew 6, we need to acknowledge God's ultimate authority.

Lucifer wanted his own kingdom. Do we want our own little kingdom? Our own little fiefdom. Lucifer was guilty of self-promotion. I've discussed with you on a number of occasions a motto that I see in John the Baptist said in John chapter 3 and verse 30. I won't turn there, but I'll quote it for you. It's a very short little verse. John the Baptist said, referring to Christ, he must increase, but I must decrease.

So let's keep those thoughts in mind, because those are thoughts —the proper ones I've gone through— that God wants us to have. The improper thoughts come right from the heart of Lucifer, and we don't want that heart of evil dictating to us how we are going to live our lives. Okay, the second phrase there in Isaiah 14, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Let's start in Exodus chapter 25. God the Father already, in one sense, elevated Lucifer to one of the highest positions in his government. Let's take a look at this by typology here. Exodus 25 verses 18, 19, and 20. Exodus 25 verses 18 through 20. And you shall make two carabum of gold, of hammered work you shall make them, at the two ends of the mercy seat. So here you have a representation that God tells the people of Israel to make on earth, which is a type of what is in heaven. In heaven, you've got the throne of God. On earth, it's called the mercy seat. Verse 19, make one carab at one end and the other carab at the other end. Lucifer was one of those, too. You don't get any closer to God than that. You shall make the carabum at the two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. And the carabum shall stretch out their wings, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another. The faces of the carabum shall be toward the mercy seat. So here you've got, as it says here, if we go up, I'll just quote it for you in Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 14, you were the anointed carab who covers. I established you, God said. God put Lucifer in that very high position.

The awesome distinction of serving at the very throne of God himself. There were millions of angels who did not have that opportunity. Lucifer did. He was one of the carabum who covered. He accompanied and served God when God was on God's throne. He had a position of high honor and distinction. But that wasn't good enough for him. So again, let's consider this heart of evil and how Satan wants to broadcast those thoughts to us.

And I'd like you to turn, by way of contrast, to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Here we're going to see a contrast between the mindset of the Apostle Paul and the mindset of Lucifer. We don't want to go Lucifer's way. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7.

And lest I should be exalted above measure. Was Lucifer exalted above measure? Yes, he was. By the abundance of the revelations a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan above me, lest I be exalted above measure. Something we need to be very concerned about. Self-exaltation, self-promotion. Verse 8, concerning this thing I plead with the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And he said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most glad I'd rather boast of my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake for what I am worth. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Now, Satan wants us to self-aggrandize ourselves. And yet, look at the example of the Apostle Paul.

He didn't want to be exalted. Brethren, do we want to be exalted?

For Lucifer, the position God gave him wasn't good enough for him. But, brethren, let's ask ourselves, the position you have today in the Beloit Church, is that good enough for you? Is that good enough for you?

You've got a position in God's Church. You're positioned as a faithful member. Your position as one who is close to God. Your position as one who has the very ear of God. Is that good enough for us? Sometimes people in the Church squabble over position.

Thankfully, I've not seen that here. But let's never see that here. Let's never see that here.

Lucifer was not content with the position of high service that was given to him. What position of service do you have here in the Beloit congregation? Are you satisfied with your position of service?

Do you want more?

Well, there may be fighting among you that I'm not aware of, but I've not seen it. I've been here four years. But again, we don't ever want to see that.

Lucifer wanted his own throne to rule over the stars of of God, the angels.

Now here, and I've said this on a number of occasions, we've had a number of people leave us in years gone by. You know, I was there in Indianapolis for the founding of the United Church of God back in 1995. We've had a number of couples. We've had a few major splits since 1995. And I can tell you, one of the great reasons for those people leaving us is because they wanted power. They had to be in charge. They knew what was best. What mindset is that? Well, it's not the mindset of Jesus Christ or the Apostle Paul.

Moving on to number three.

Lucifer says, I will sit on the sides of the mountain of the of the Mount of the congregation and the sides of the North.

I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation and the sides of the North. What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that?

Lucifer desired to sit or be enthroned in the highest place, having all the angelic assemblies in submission to him. He wanted to be the center of attention. He wanted to be idolized by everybody. Now, let's take a look at Psalm 75 verse 6.

Where does promotion come from? I'm going to read this from the King James Version, from the Authorized Version. Psalm 75 verse 6.

Verse 6, for promotion comes neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South. What direction is not mentioned? By process of elimination, promotion comes from the North. Lucifer wanted to be in a position where he can be a prince-maker. I was going to say king-maker, but he wanted to be the king. He wants to be one who can set people up, you know, put angels in authority and this and that and the other.

The word for promotion here in Psalm 75 verse 6 is the same word that we see for exalt in Isaiah 14 verse 13, where it says, For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. So he was wanting to be in a position as one who could make princes and have his own rulership under him.

Now, the phrase here, where it talks about, I will also sit on the Mount of the Congregation and far the sides of the North. I will also sit is the Hebrew word, yashab, which means to sit as a judge. So when you take this all together, he wanted to be where power was brokered in the North. He wanted to be exalted. He wanted to be able to sit as judge.

He wanted to be in a place of judgment, to be able to govern.

Now, we know when we take a look at God's way of life, John 10 10, I'm not going to turn there, but in John 10 10, what does it say? The Christ came to give us the abundant life.

But Satan has his own laws. And let's turn to Romans chapter 6 and see what happens when we obey his laws. Romans chapter 6 verses 20 and 21. I'm going to read this out of the New Living Translation. It's a very good translation, very colorful. New Living, Romans 6, 20 and 21. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things that you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. So Satan's laws end in eternal doom. Again, thoughts for your consideration. Why this heart of evil is something we don't want to be a part of. What are Satan's prime directives in terms of judgment?

And we've got to ask ourselves, where do we fall with these prime directives, with Satan's prime directives? I've got just two here for you to consider. I've got just two here for you to consider. Satan would have you lean to your own understanding.

He would have you lean to your own understanding. You're bright. You've been around. You've seen a lot of things.

In Dr. Ward's sermon, How Dialectics Shape Our World, he used the example of Adam and Eve. Well, God said this, but what do you think? What are your eyes telling you? What are your senses telling you? Is that really the case? And so Satan presented his case. He was using a dialectic approach. Brethren, again, do we ask what God's will is in our life? Do we lean to our own understanding? Let me read for you Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7.

Let's keep in mind Lucifer as I read this section of Scripture. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lucifer, do that? Nope. Lean not to your own understanding. He did do that. In all your ways, acknowledge him. Lucifer didn't do that. And he shall direct your path. Well, obviously, his paths weren't directed properly. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. That section of Scripture is so important for us as Christians. But when we see what happened with Lucifer, and we see why God inspired some of these Scriptures as God watched how things unfolded with Lucifer. So one of Satan's prime directives is to lean to your own understanding. A second one, and I'm going to give you two here, I'm sure there are many, many more. The second prime directive of Satan is to take matters into your own hands. Take matters into your own hands. Be self-reliant! Now, some of that's good. You know, we don't want people doing for us what we can do for ourselves, right? But there comes a point where being self-reliant can be going too far in one direction.

One woman wrote this. I quote, We don't want Lucifer or Satan's judgment. We want to walk away from that heart of evil. You know, in Exodus 16, God told his people he would feed them. They were talking about how they were not getting enough to eat. So God gave them manna. God gave them the quail. But he told them in Exodus 16 to just go out and gather as much as you need for a day. And on the sixth day, gather twice as much so you don't have to gather any on the seventh day or the Sabbath day. Now, people wanted to be self-reliant. They wanted to think they knew more than God. And so, in some cases, they went out and gathered more on the days where they should have just gathered enough for one day. They gathered more. What was the result?

Exodus 16, verse 20. Let me read that for you. Exodus 16, 20. Not withstanding they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until the morning, and they bred worms and stank.

They were self-reliant. They were going to do what they thought was best.

Let's take a look. Let's turn to this one, Ephesians 6, verse 10. Ephesians 6, verse 10.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might.

Not being self-reliant over and above what we should be. Again, there's a place for us to do for ourselves what we can do for ourselves, and we should do, but we don't want to just look to ourselves and put everything on our shoulders and not look to God.

Okay, we go down to the fourth of these five statements, where it says, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

Lucifer said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Now, clouds in Scripture are often speaking about the glory of God.

I'll give you some examples. In Exodus chapter 13, we see the pillar of cloud leading the Israelites.

In Exodus 19, we see God coming down to Mount Sinai to give the law in a tremendous cloud. In 1 Kings chapter 8, we see a cloud filling the temple, representing God and His power. In Revelation chapter 1, we see the second coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds. So clouds do represent the glory of God. Lucifer wanted to be above all of that.

He coveted glory. Not just any glory. He wanted preeminent status.

Of course, we see that today, don't we?

You know, back when sports was more a part of our world, you know, with the COVID thing, sports has been largely curtailed. But, you know, as I follow the sports pages and I see this fellow getting, you know, these tremendous contracts, multi-million dollar contracts, and I'm wondering to myself, how does a sports organization stay afloat economically when you're putting out these kind of dollars? Well, of course, a lot of that's deferred over the next 20 years. You know, they don't, they'll get a signing bonus. They get to keep that immediately. But the rest of these big things, you know, they might get 10% for the next 10 years or next 15 years or whatever. But they want to have the best contract that is given at their position. You've got entertainers who want to be preeminent. You've got politicians who want to be preeminent. We've got business leaders who want to be preeminent. Satan wants to be preeminent, and he wants to broadcast those thoughts to us. Let's turn to Isaiah 42 in verse 8.

Isaiah 42 in verse 8. Isaiah 42 in verse 8. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images.

God will not give his glory to another, because all glory, honor, and praise belong to him alone.

So what does this have to do with us?

What, you know, some thoughts for our consideration. You know, Satan said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Well, how does that relate to you and I?

Brethren, have we taken credit for things that really, or the credit really goes to God?

Have we done that? Or have we not properly directed credit to God for his accomplishments? Maybe we've been silent. Something magnificent happens in our life, and we just say, that's great. But we don't say, well, you know, to those we love and those we talk to, well, you know, that's really, that's all result as to what God has done in my life.

You've got the example where God told Moses and Aaron to go to the rock, speak to it, because the children of Israel needed water.

I'm not going to turn there. You might jot down the citation Numbers, chapter 20, verses 8 through 12. Numbers, chapter 20, verses 8 through 12.

And so what happens? So Moses takes the rod like God had commanded him. He and his brother went to the rock, and he said, here now, O you rebels, must we bring water to you out of this rock? He's taking God's credit. Then he lifted his hand and struck the rod twice, once for him, probably, and once for his brother. He was told only to speak to the rock. He smacked it twice. Now you might think, well, that's no big deal. Well, it was a big enough deal, or that man of God was not allowed to go into the Holy Land with God's people.

He took credit for himself, or he didn't direct credit properly to God.

Have we been guilty of that?

Do we have another area here for consideration? You know, Lucifer said, I will send above the heights of the clouds. Do we have a higher view of ourself than is warranted?

Do we have a higher view of ourself than is warranted?

Bible has a lot to say about that. Romans 12 and verse 3. Romans 12 and verse 3.

For I say, through the grace given to me, through everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

So those are things we need to keep in mind for our own consideration.

Not to think of ourselves higher than is warranted, and make sure we always give God the credit. Lastly, number five, the I Will statements. Lucifer says, I will be like the most high.

In essence, that last statement is a summary statement. Lucifer wants to be God.

Through his rebellion, he wanted to remove God from his throne, take God's place, have his plan, and so on and so forth, be a completely independent creature, responsible to no one.

Of course, he had corrupt and erroneous, he had insane spiritual thinking, thinking that his power was supreme, thinking that he can knock God off of his throne, which is truly insane. Some thoughts for our consideration here. Lucifer was not grounded in spiritual reality. He was not grounded in spiritual reality. He was blinded by self-pride, self-will. He couldn't see things clearly because his vision was corrupt because of that. C.S. Lewis, as again, I was putting my thoughts together for the message and doing my research, C.S. Lewis has a couple of quotes I think are very good. He said, pride is spiritual cancer. It is a complete anti-God state of mind.

A lot of thought can go into that. You and I can ask ourselves, to the degree we are prideful, we have an anti-God state of mind. Another quote from C.S. Lewis, for pride is spiritual cancer eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense. Two very good quotes from C.S. Lewis. Pride is spiritual cancer eats up the very possibility of love. If you're prideful, we are prideful. We're thinking we love ourselves too much. We won't be content if we're prideful people. In our common sense, we'll falter.

Just a couple more thoughts before we conclude. Lucifer, as I said, was full of self-will.

How do you know if you or I are full of self-will? Jeremiah 5, verse 3. Jeremiah 5, verse 3. O LORD, are not your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to return.

One of the symptoms of self-will, brethren, is stubbornness.

Stubbornness. Wanting to avoid correction.

You and I can ask ourselves in our heart of hearts where we stand with that. Are we stubborn people? Do people come to us over and again saying, you know, you really need to change this in your life, and those changes never come? Now, are we stubborn? Are we avoiding correction? One last idea here. Let's go to Jeremiah 7, verse 24. Jeremiah 7, verse 24.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward.

In our spiritual lives, brethren, where are we going? Are we moving forward? Are we staying in neutral, which is not good? Or are we actually regressing?

In the world, they call that backsliding. Where are we? Today, we've covered the five I Will statements of Lucifer. We didn't cover them as an exercise in theory. We didn't cover them as an exercise in historical fact. We cover them. We study them because we want to make sure that Satan, who believes so strongly in those five statements and who will use the principles contained, that's how he's coming at us. And we need to know how he's going to do that, and we need to know how to defend ourselves. Last scripture today. I'll read it to you. Before earlier in the sermon, James 4, verse 7, Therefore submit to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.