[0:00] and turn to Revelation chapter 12. We looked last week at the first six verses in chapter 12.
[0:15] The revelation of a celestial woman and the revelation of the dragon who is behind the scenes. And remember in this book, it is a revelation.
[0:28] It is uncovering. It is revealing things that we don't see with our natural eyes. And so we see in this chapter really some remarkable things.
[0:41] There's a war going on. An incredibly deep struggle both in heaven and on earth and they affect each other.
[0:56] And so that's what we're looking at today. We're taking a second look. We'll be focusing on the middle of chapter 12, verses 7 through 12. But I'd like to read the whole chapter so that we have the context of it.
[1:10] I was planning to finish the chapter today. But we're going to try to get through verse 12 today.
[1:21] So if you're able, please stand. Let's get to it. Revelation 12, John says, A great sign appeared in heaven.
[1:34] A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head, a crown of 12 stars.
[1:45] She was pregnant and crying out in birth, in birth pains, and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems.
[2:05] His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.
[2:20] She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
[2:34] And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
[2:47] Now war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back. But he, the dragon, was defeated.
[3:00] And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.
[3:25] And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
[3:36] For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God.
[3:48] And they, they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. For they love not their lives even unto death.
[4:01] Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows his time is short.
[4:25] And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time.
[4:53] The serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.
[5:10] Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
[5:25] And he stood on the sand of the sea. So it reads, let us pray. Father, grant us the insight to see how this relates to us today.
[5:43] Help us to see that this dragon, this devil, this Satan, this accuser, this deceiver is in our world and seeking to devour.
[6:00] Help us to see that we are those whom he pursues, that we are the offspring of this woman, that we are those who hold to the testimony of Jesus, that this is our war.
[6:15] This is not some future war. This is not some past war, but this is today. grant us eyes to see that we might be alert, that we might be awake, that we might ready ourselves to do battle.
[6:33] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Amen. Martin Luther, the great reformer, the one who recovered the gospel, he was accused of heresy because his views from scripture were different than the organized Roman Catholic church at the time, though not all Roman Catholics held that view.
[7:20] Luther was surprised to find the Pope didn't agree with him or with the scriptures. But God gave him courage to stand, to stand on the word and let it fall wherever it fell.
[7:43] He exposed many abuses of the church. He recovered the gospel of Christ, the gospel of salvation by faith alone, through grace alone, on Christ alone.
[8:00] as a price for what Luther did, he had many battles, not only with the church and with other people, but he had battles with the devil himself.
[8:16] You see, he was a major target of the devil because of what he was doing. And in his biography, the book called Here I Stand, Luther describes one of these bouts, he had many bouts, but he described one with some fervor.
[8:37] He said, when I go to bed, the devil's always waiting for me. When he begins to plague me, I give him this answer, devil, I must sleep. That's God's command, work by day, sleep by night, so go away.
[8:51] If that doesn't work, and he brings out a catalog of my sins, I say, yes, old fellow, I know all about my sins, and I know some more that you didn't bring up.
[9:12] Here are a few extra. Add them to your list. If he still won't quit and presses me hard, and accuses me as a sinner, I scorn him and say, Saint Satan, pray for me.
[9:33] Of course, you have never done anything wrong. You alone are holy. Go to God and get grace for yourself.
[9:46] If you want to get me all straightened out, I say, physician, heal thyself. see, Luther was not afraid of Satan.
[9:58] He was annoyed by him, he was pestered by him, he was accused by him, he was slandered by him, he suffered greatly, but he was not afraid.
[10:12] He learned to talk to him. He later would describe, don't argue with him, so he made many mistakes along the way.
[10:26] But it was shortly after that, in fact, in the year of his deepest depression, he suffered a lot from depression, about 1527 he began to compose this song that we know as a mighty fortress is our God.
[10:46] God. Now, keep in mind, this is in the year of his deepest depression, he wrote these words. Now, the words as we have them today are not as he originally composed them.
[10:58] In 27, they took a few years to work out the kinks to what we have today. But basically he wrote, a mighty fortress is our God.
[11:16] Yes? Yes? Above work never failing Our helper he amid the flood Yeah?
[11:35] In the flood? The man, oh, excuse me, of mortal ills prevailing for still our ancient foe!
[11:48] Doth seek to work us woe! His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate.
[12:01] on earth is not his equal. I believe Revelation 12 was in his mind writing these words.
[12:13] And then he said, he wrote, Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing?
[12:24] losing? Were not the right men on our side the men of God's own choosing?
[12:39] Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is he, Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.
[13:04] Not Martin, not Bill. Jesus has won the battle. He goes on, and though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us, through us.
[13:33] The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage, we can endure. For lo, his doom is sure.
[13:49] One little word, one little word shall fail him. What's that word? Jesus.
[14:01] You talk to him. Jesus, you rebuke him. I love that song, it has lasted so long.
[14:17] What are we going on, 500 years? How does a hymn last that long? It's true.
[14:27] still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. He threatens to undo us. We tremble not for him.
[14:38] His rage we can't endure, for lo, his doom is sure. And he knows that. That's what Revelation 12 tells us. Knowing his time is short.
[14:53] Something happened. dramatic that caused him to be thrown down out of heaven. He loses his place.
[15:07] What could happen? So Revelation 12 is revealing and uncovering for us this war of the dragon against the Messiah and then the dragon against the Messiah's offspring.
[15:21] That's us. this chapter opened with two signs, two visions in the sky. One, this picture of this celestial woman, a woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, and 12 stars on her head.
[15:39] Who could she be? Who is the sun, the moon, the stars? Of course we see that she is the mother of Messiah. Verse 5 tells us she births the Messiah, the one who will rule an iron staff.
[15:54] 12 stars, 12 tribes, Messiah. This is the Messiah who not only brings in the 12 tribes, but then unites the 12 tribes with the 12 apostles and the church.
[16:08] It becomes one body. Then we see the second sign, the great red dragon. This one with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems.
[16:21] What's all that about? We find out later that the seven is representative of all time and then the heads representative of nations, kingdoms, empires that Satan has used to rule through.
[16:39] And at that time the great nation was Rome. But Peter calls Rome of the first century Babylon. Thursday night, those that were with us, we just read that in Peter.
[16:54] Peter says, she who is in Babylon greets you. Babylon? Yeah, she, the church, who is in Rome, the Babylon of the day, greets you. And we'll see that at the end of Revelation, Babylon becomes the name, the symbol, the catch word, the code word for the evil nation of the day and has been all along.
[17:16] Just called by different names throughout history, whether it's Rome or Babylon or Persia, whether it's Greece, or the Huns, whoever.
[17:30] I don't know who it is today. Who is it? There's no one. Maybe now we're in the ten king era of all the united.
[17:47] I don't know. I'm not going to try to figure that out. So here we go. Here's this red dragon. This woman is introduced who gives birth to Messiah.
[17:58] Here's this great red dragon. He's introduced, but we find out in verse nine, he's always been around. He's not new. He is the source of evil kingdoms and the source of spiritual warfare.
[18:10] He seeks to kill the Messiah. He fails. Well, he does kill him, but he is risen and ascending to heaven. And so now he goes after the woman who is both Israel and the church.
[18:28] Those that Christ brings. So she goes to a desert where she grows and is nourished. We talked about that last time. So here now in verse seven, now we see a second scene.
[18:40] So we see this scene between the woman and the dragon. Okay, dragon loses. Woman secure. Her son becomes the ruler and is on his throne.
[18:53] So now in verse seven, we see a second scene. Now there's war in heaven. See, with signs first, John saw the signs in heaven, but it was related to earth.
[19:07] Now, the scene shifts again to heaven, but now the war stays there. So what is going on? There's a great battle, a fight in heaven that is the result of a victory on earth.
[19:26] I'll show you that in a minute. Two battles, in fact, ensue. Verses seven through nine talk about a battle that's in heaven. There's war in heaven, Michael and his angels, dragon and his angels, which then leads to another battle, verse 10 through 12, on earth.
[19:48] So there's a battle in heaven that leads to a battle on earth between the dragon who gets thrown out of heaven and the saints that he pursues. That's the one going on today.
[20:01] But both of those got caused by a previous battle on earth that affected the battle taking place in heaven. Because something changed.
[20:13] All of a sudden there's a war in heaven and the dragon's thrown out. Why? Something happened. Something changed everything. It is Jesus.
[20:25] It is this Messiah that he could not kill who he did, well he did kill but only temporarily because on the third day he rose from the grave because his death accomplished something, actually disarmed the dragon, destroyed the works of the dragon, and then Jesus ascends to earth, takes his throne and guess who's no longer welcome up there?
[20:54] Guess who loses his place in heaven? Because now there's a new king. There's a one who has disarmed and defeated this dragon and he's cast out.
[21:08] So, first battle in heaven, there's a conquering first of the dragon, the accuser of God's people, is cast out of heaven. That's how he's described in verse 7, 8, and 9.
[21:23] He's the accuser. So we see a war, a defeated dragon, a war. In verse 7, a fight, a battle, a war arose in heaven, Michael.
[21:36] Michael starts it. Not the dragon, Michael starts it. I bet he's been waiting for that day. Now, Lord, that as Jesus ascends, you're on, Michael.
[21:52] Take him out. Michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels. The dragon and his angels are what? Are defeated.
[22:03] Actually, the Greek says the dragon and his angels were not strong enough. They were not able. They were disabled.
[22:15] killed and cast down. He was defeated and there was no longer any place for him.
[22:26] So when did all this happen? What is this place that he had? We go down to verse 10. At the end of verse 10, it says this accuser who's thrown down, the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.
[22:40] This accuser who accuses them day and night before God. What was his place? His place was before God, accusing the brothers. He did that with Job.
[22:52] Remember that? Look at Job starts that way. Satan is about roaming around and he comes before God and God says, remember who started this in Job?
[23:04] be honest. God says, have you seen my servant Job? And Satan says, yes, you protect him.
[23:20] He would curse you and die if you did not keep a hedge around him. I accuse him of failure and I accuse you of overprotecting him.
[23:33] he's no big deal, you're protecting him. God says, in your hands. Right? Scene 2, chapter 2, same thing.
[23:45] Oh, if it, if, you know, if I take his health then he'll curse you and die. He's an accuser. So, after, so when does this happen that he's cast out?
[24:03] Well, we'll find out in verse 5 that the birth of the woman is this Messiah who goes and ascends to earth. So, he has ascended. How do we know that this war in heaven happened after that?
[24:14] We'll go down to verse 13. So, it talks about the war in heaven between verses 7 to 12. Verse 13, consequence, and when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, what does he do?
[24:31] Now he's going to pursue the woman who had already given birth to the son who ascended. When does he get cast down?
[24:42] He gets cast down after Jesus' death, his resurrection, his ascension, that's when he's cast down. Not sometime in the future. He's been cast down.
[24:54] The event that changed everything is Jesus' death. Remember the promise that went all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15? The war, the hostility between the serpent and the woman.
[25:09] The serpent shall have war against the offspring of the woman, shall bruise the heel of the woman's offspring. The woman's offspring, on the other hand, shall crush the head of the serpent.
[25:22] So the serpent did bruise the heel of Jesus, did trip him up, did cause his death, but of course, Jesus intended to die. Jesus rose from the dead and crushed the head of the serpent, because now the serpent is demoted, disarmed, disbarred, from his place before God.
[25:54] That's now our place, by the way. I'll show you in a minute. So who's this dragon? Well, he's identified, we already know, verse 9. He has several descriptions.
[26:05] He is the serpent of old. He's the ancient serpent, the one back in the Garden of Eden, who was cunning and devious to trick and deceive Eve. he is called the devil, which is diabolos, which means a slanderer.
[26:21] He likes to throw accusations. He likes to throw lies. If you trace devil through the New Testament, the devil is one who tempted Jesus in the desert.
[26:34] He is the one who, Jesus said, sows tares among the weak. So Jesus says that we live in the kingdom of God, there are tares and wheat.
[26:47] In this kingdom that we live in, in every church, there are wheat and tares. We can't tell the difference, but the devil plants, sows, tares in every church.
[27:04] Okay? That's what the devil does. He also, remember the parable of the sower? Remember the first seed that goes out by the road and the birds take it up? Jesus said, oh, who's the bird? The bird is the devil.
[27:15] The devil takes that one, that seed that gets in the heart of the hearer, he takes it from the heart out of his heart so he won't believe. That's what the devil does.
[27:29] He's the one, as Peter said, is like a roaring lion who seeks to devour. On and on, that's the devil. devil. That's actually the Greek term devil, diabolos, is the Greek term for the Hebrew title of the devil, which is called Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, which means adversary, enemy.
[27:54] So we have the Greek and the Hebrew for the devil. And then he adds, he's the deceiver of the whole world. he leads people astray by his lies, by trickery, by cunning, by telling half-truths to tell Eve, you will not die.
[28:15] Well, it's half right, not die right away in physical form, but you will die right away in spiritual form because you're immediately separated from God.
[28:29] Tells half-truths. Or blatant lies. Jesus says he's the liar, father of lies, he's a murderer from the beginning. So he's identified. So what does all this mean?
[28:40] So the dragon is defeated, he's thrown down, he's identified as, yes, that same dragon, not a new one, the ancient one, the devil, Satan, whatever you want to call him, the accuser, the deceiver of the world.
[28:53] What does all that mean? Verse 10 tells us there's a voice in heaven. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, often when in heaven as a response to the vision, they're interpreting the vision, they're actually telling us what it meant, what is the result, what is the significance of this.
[29:11] And so a voice declares in heaven, here's what just happened. Now the salvation and power in the kingdom of God, of our God, and the authority of his Christ, his Messiah, have come, not will come someday, have come.
[29:31] Now that the devil has been thrown down and the Messiah has taken his throne, his kingdom has come. We pray thy kingdom come.
[29:44] It has. We're praying that, we're supposed to pray that because we want it to keep coming to us by means of the work of the Holy Spirit. That his kingdom has already begun.
[30:00] Remember, Jesus came to earth and he said, repent, believe the gospel for the kingdom is at hand. It's here. It's near. When he dies and raises and sits on his throne, it has begun.
[30:15] He's taken his throne. It has begun. It's not just anticipated, it is launched. He is reigning.
[30:26] He is putting his enemies under his feet. feet. He said this the day or just days before he died.
[30:36] In John chapter 12, this is what he refers to. He's thinking about his death, he's thinking about why he came, and he says, now is the judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
[30:53] Right before he dies, he says, now will the ruler of this world be cast out. How? Out of heaven. Out from before his place before God.
[31:05] The ruler of this world, he's still called the prince of the power of the air. His angels are called those who are spiritual forces in the heavenlies.
[31:16] So it's not that they're cast out of the heavenlies. They are cast out from their place before God. they still work in the realm of the heavenlies.
[31:30] Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities, principalities, powers of the air. Okay?
[31:43] He's not cast out of the heavenly sphere. That's where he exists. He's a spirit being. But he's cast out from this privileged position before God himself.
[31:56] He can no longer accuse believers. That's a big blow. I was his number one go-to. Now he can't.
[32:12] Jesus said, now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to himself. He connects these two things. What will cast out the ruler of this world when I am lifted up?
[32:26] And John tells us he's referring to the very kind of death that he died, lifted up on a cross. When I am lifted up and put in the ground, I will draw all men to myself and the ruler of this world will be cast out.
[32:43] He will be disarmed. As an accuser, he's disbarred. See, there's a sense where that was his position before God that he could bring the accusations.
[32:57] And Jesus is actually called by John our defense attorney, right? He's our advocate. And so the picture was, well, here's Satan on one side of God and here's Jesus on the other. And they're arguing.
[33:08] Well, no argument anymore because the accuser is disbarred. He's expelled. He is out. And Jesus isn't standing before God.
[33:20] Jesus is sitting at the right hand, ruling every day. Okay? Why is Satan expelled from heaven?
[33:33] Because he has no more place to accuse. Jesus comes and has crushed Satan. Here's how Hebrews puts it. Hebrews 10, 12.
[33:43] When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, in other words, his death on the cross, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
[34:00] So he's already ruling. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. What a great description of believers.
[34:12] One, you're perfected for all time those who are continually still being sanctified. We're perfected in one sense, no more condemnation, we are righteous before God.
[34:24] In another sense, on earth, we're still being sanctified. He's still working on us. But in God's eyes, we're in Christ, we're done, we're good. On earth, we're still working on it.
[34:37] And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to this. He says, for after saying this is the covenant I will make with them after these days, declares the Lord.
[34:48] Speaking of the new covenant, I will put my laws on their hearts, I will write them on their minds. Then he says, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
[34:59] Because of that one sacrifice of Christ, I will no longer remember their sins or their lawless deeds. Not only their past ones, but their present ones and their future ones.
[35:12] I won't remember them. It's not that he can't remember them, he chooses to not remember, not bring them to mind. Where there is forgiveness of these, there's no longer any offering for sin.
[35:25] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, actually we're going into the very presence of God, where the dragon used to go, we now go, to the very presence before God.
[35:41] Isn't this a remarkable? I did not see that until this week. We replace him, not as an accuser. He loses his place so we can gain a place before God.
[35:55] Because of Christ we now go. He says, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, the veil, which is through his flesh, Jesus was actually the veil of the temple.
[36:09] His flesh was cut open by that spear and by those nails and now we can enter through the very place where the devil used to think he had a place.
[36:24] I haven't seen that. Now we can draw near. So Satan has been expelled. He's removed from accusing us before God. Now we can draw near.
[36:36] He's expelled by Jesus laying down his life in our place. The holy for the unholy and we are forgiven for all time. Therefore the accuser has no job anymore.
[36:50] There's nothing to accuse. If we're forgiven, if now the gospel says there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, then what can he say?
[37:04] Oh, Bill's guilty. Sorry, no, I already took care of that. He's good. Yeah, but have you seen him lately? Yeah. He's still good. Yeah, but no, it's not about him.
[37:17] It's about Jesus. He covered him. So why are you here? You're not here. You don't get to be here anymore because you got nothing.
[37:30] you got nothing. So battle number one, the accuser is cast down to earth. That affects now battle number two, verse 10 through 12.
[37:49] Because of what Jesus did on earth, that led to a war in heaven that casts out the dragon from heaven. Okay? Now that the dragon is cast down to heaven, that now leads to another thing.
[38:02] Now he has still the nature to devour, but he's no longer able to do that, but in one place. And so who will he seek to devour?
[38:15] the ones he hates the most. Those who know Jesus, that's who he wants to hurt the most.
[38:33] This one who kicked him out, that's the one he will go after. Now I can't touch him, I can get his people. I can cause as much trouble as I can.
[38:46] I'm going to deceive them, I'm going to hurt them, I'm going to go after them. And so we're going to have pictures of that in the rest of chapter 12 here. But here's simply what's described. We have a second battle.
[38:58] Believers on earth now conquer the devil through Christ. The believers on earth now conquer. They conquer the devil himself through Christ.
[39:11] What has changed? Verse 10, we have an accuser who's disbarred. Before Christ he could go before God and accuse people of guilt, now he cannot.
[39:24] He can go and demand before the Father that Peter be sifted. Right? Remember that? Jesus said, Satan has demanded Peter that you be sifted like wheat.
[39:37] But I've prayed for you. And now that Jesus is in heaven, it's like, yeah, I'll handle that personally myself now. So what does that mean?
[39:49] What difference does that mean? Well, we have a defeated adversary. Our enemy is defeated. Our enemy is disarmed. He's robbed of his power. So verse 11 tells us, and they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb.
[40:06] They. Who's they? Well, we go back to the verse before. He's just been talking about the accuser of our brothers who accuses them day and night before God.
[40:18] And they, the brothers, our brothers, those who are related to Jesus, those who are in the family of God, those are our brothers. They have defeated, they have conquered him.
[40:30] Who's him? The accuser. not only did Michael and his angels conquer the dragon, not only did Jesus conquer the dragon, but as an impact to both of those, every believer in Christ now conquers the dragon.
[40:52] They have conquered him. They have conquered him. They have conquered him. That's the word that's the theme of this book, by the way. Remember we saw to each of the seven churches to the one who conquers to the one who conquers to the one who conquers.
[41:05] In other words, overcomes I've left my first love, overcomes my fear of suffering, overcomes what? False teaching of Jezebel going on in our church.
[41:19] We overcome, we overcome, we conquer by taking care of what Christ said matters. And so now it says that we the brothers conquer!
[41:32] The devil. How do you do that? Peter says resist him, be firm in your faith.
[41:42] And that means talks about be alert, be sober, the devil is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but resist him, firm in your faith. James says it a little bit more boldly.
[41:56] Resist him, flee. And the devil will flee. Imagine that. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. I thought when we see the devil, we should just flee, right?
[42:08] Don't even mess with him. That's not what the Bible teaches us. There are certain temptations we're to flee, yes. Flee immorality, flee idolatry, don't even mess with it.
[42:21] But when the devil is coming, he does not say flee, he says stand and resist and he will flee. You conquer him.
[42:36] I mean, we just heard the song, his craft and power are great. I mean, he's taken down so many.
[42:48] He's taken me down before. How am I supposed to stand? He's going to laugh. Right. Yeah, you're going to come on. Got your little twig there.
[43:01] Like Goliath speaking to David, you know, right? What do you come out to swat a dog? What do you what's going on there? They conquer.
[43:13] They resist him. They prevail against him. They overcome him. They defeat him. They're able to stand against him. How? Well, what does it say?
[43:25] Verse 11. They have conquered him by two things. One, by the blood of the lamb and two, by the word of their testimony.
[43:36] Two weapons. By the blood of the lamb. Well, how do I conquer the dragon by the blood of the lamb? Well, the blood of the lamb's already been spent.
[43:50] It's already been paid. So in other words, the very basis, the very reason you can stand against him is because the blood of the lamb. The blood of the lamb has washed you clean.
[44:00] The blood of the lamb has destroyed his work. The blood of the lamb has disarmed his power. He can't accuse you. Oh, he can accuse you. He can threaten, you know, like he did to Luther. He can bother you.
[44:11] And he'll work through your mind. He'll work through your thoughts. He'll work through whatever. Sometimes he doesn't have to work on you at all because your own baggage works on you enough. Right? But he has no power.
[44:29] Because you take the sword of the spirit and you say, he says, you are guilty. You are a failure. You are such a poor sinner.
[44:42] You're such a poor excuse for a Christian. You take the sword and you say, it is written, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. That's it.
[44:57] Christ has died for me. God so loves, I can quote an easy one, God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
[45:11] He did not come to condemn me. Go. Our victory is because of the blood of the lamb.
[45:24] My debt has been paid. I have been set free. I am forgiven. Do I feel forgiven? Maybe not. Do I feel like there's no condemnation?
[45:36] No, because I got lots of condemnation for myself. love. And there's other people that. But what does God say? That's the only thing that matters. So because of the blood of the lamb.
[45:50] And then he says because of the word of their testimony. In other words, there are times that Jesus is the whole basis of my victory. Because of the blood of the lamb.
[46:01] But then as I walk in life, there's times for me to speak a word. It might be in the midst of a battle.
[46:14] How did Jesus, when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, how did Jesus stop him? He quoted scripture.
[46:25] It is written, shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is written, you shall not test the Lord your God. It is written, worship God and serve him only. That's it.
[46:37] That's all he said. He just quoted scripture. When the devil tempts you, what do you do? Quote scripture. No, it is written, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
[46:52] No, I will not get angry, because it is written, be angry, but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger. It's not my word, it's God's word.
[47:05] God's word is really powerful. You ever spoken to the devil? Does it feel dumb? Feel silly? I don't see him, I mean, you know. Well, don't you speak to God and you don't see him?
[47:19] Aren't you comfortable praying out loud? No? Yeah? I do. It's that, I can't, it's the only way I can keep myself on track, right? I gotta talk, I gotta actually have to walk and talk.
[47:34] Why would we not do the same thing with the devil? He doesn't read your mind. He is not God. He is not omniscient. So you can't just think it, you say it.
[47:48] That's why Jesus said it. It is written, it is written, it is written, be gone. Three strikes, you're out. Jesus played baseball apparently because three temptations, three strikes, said go.
[48:05] Do not pass go. So I think part of this because of the word of their witness, part of the word of our witness is when we're tempted by the devil, the word of our witness is no, I'm safe.
[48:22] I'm not condemned. Now Luther played with the devil a little bit more. I think that's probably wise to do that. But it just simply showed that he had a lot of track record there and he's not afraid.
[48:38] He gets it. And he doesn't accept the accusations of the evil one. He says I've got a whole list of stuff for you. I got more, Luther says.
[48:50] That doesn't matter. I'm good. So, word of the salvation, the word of our testament, of course, that means we share our word with others, of course.
[49:05] That means we witness of what has happened. So, our defeated enemy. So is he gone? No more worries?
[49:16] He's thrown down to earth. Wait a minute, I live on earth. verse 10 said, he said, no, I'm sorry, verse 12 said, therefore rejoice, O heavens, you who dwell in them.
[49:29] That's great, he's gone. Everybody's good in heaven. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short.
[49:42] So, Jesus defeated him, but he also made him mad. He also made him angry. He says he has wrath. Which is, there's different words in Greek for wrath.
[49:56] This one means the boiling fury kind. This means the temper tantrum kind. This means the hot temper, outburst, rage.
[50:07] He is angry. Somehow, he didn't see it coming. Even though he was told way at the beginning, he still didn't see it.
[50:19] angry. He's angry. All of sudden, he's on earth. What happened? He's angry.
[50:32] And why is he angry? Because it says, because he knows that his time is short. He knows this is the beginning of the end for him.
[50:44] If I'm out of heaven, my doom is sure. My end is coming. And so, then, verse 13 goes through the end, talking about now he's going to seek the woman, he's going to seek her offspring.
[51:06] He's going to do as much damage as he can. I'm going to take out as many as I can. If I'm going down, they're going down with me. Kind of, I'm angry. His time is short.
[51:17] The word for time there is kairos, it means season. His season is short. Season, how long is a season? We know what chronos is, we have days and months and years.
[51:30] What's a season? Well, season could be months, season could be years, right? Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will lift you up at the proper, not chronos, kairos.
[51:44] He'll lift you up at the proper kairos, proper season. In other words, when he says, now, that.
[51:57] So in other words, the devil knows he has a season. He just has one season left. That's it. My season's short because I don't, he can say now, at any moment.
[52:10] and we know, as we look at prophecy, what's left to do? According to Matthew 24, Jesus said, the end will be just like the time of Noah.
[52:25] They'll be partying, they'll be thinking everything's good, and then the end will come just like a lightning strike. I know there's people out there that are supposed experts in prophecy, and they'll say, well, this has to happen, this, you know, Israel has to rebuild the temple, this and this and this, well, maybe they will rebuild the temple, but they don't need to.
[52:49] Why? The temple's gone backwards. See, now I always figured, in the theology that I came out of, well, yeah, God has to do that, he has to fulfill all his promises to the Israel nation, and I read back in Joshua, well, he fulfilled the promised land thing, okay, that's good, I read in the prophets, and now he's fulfilled all that, what's he got left?
[53:15] Well, the coming of the Messiah, okay, he came, what's left? Now, it's possible, God could rebuild the temple, and maybe have some mysterious purpose related to the Jews, I'm fine with that, but it doesn't make any sense theologically to re-sacrifice animals, doesn't make any sense, in other words, I don't think we're waiting for anything, except for Jesus to say, yeah, we're already in the seals, we're already in the trumpets, except for the very last one, the bulls may come, when the bulls come, they come, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, is that seven, boom, boom, no delay in that one, then it's over, then it's judgment scene, that's it, so I think for our perspective, just as Satan's perspective is, the time is short, this book started with this must take place soon, this book ends with this will take place soon, okay, what are we waiting for, it's not in my notes,
[54:30] I hope, I hope the Lord gave that, I do pray that he restrains my words from going off, so how do believers conquer Satan's attacks, says this is the battle, we now conquer the devil, how do we do that, we do that by the blood of the lamb, by our witness, but I need a little bit more, so how do believers conquer Satan's attacks, we stand in faith, we resist, right, I think Paul explains this in Romans 8, maybe this helps us understand this, Romans 8, Paul says, what then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us, just ration, right there, logic, if God is for us, who can be against us, God's for us, you know, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things, who shall bring a charge against
[55:35] God's elect, who can bring an accusation against God's elect, is what he's saying, who, who, the answer Paul expects is nobody, it is God who justifies, who can condemn, no one can condemn us, God has justified us, nobody can overrule God, nobody can bring a charge, see what he's saying here, Jesus Christ is the one, who died, more than that, who was raised, more than that, who is now at the right hand of God, who also indeed is interceding for us, so who can separate us from the love of God in Christ, shall, then he makes a big list, shall tribulation, no, distress, no, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sore, in other words, death, no, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered, that doesn't sound like victory, does it?
[56:47] No, but that's our life, we are regarded as sheep to be, we are the sheep of God, we are vulnerable to physical harm, but he says, in all these things, in all of these things, famine, nakedness, persecution, tribulation, in all these things, we are barely getting by, right, in all these things, we kind of, you know, doing okay, fair in the middling, somebody here likes to say, Paul said, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, we're not just conquerors, we're more than conquerors, how, how, through him who loved us, by the blood of the land, for I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else of all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
[58:00] Christ Jesus our Lord, nothing, you are invincible in relation to your relationship to Jesus, nothing, can I get persecuted yet, will I be hated yet, will I be slandered yet, will I suffer temptation and trial, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, will anything separate you from the love of Jesus for you, and what he has done, absolutely not, you've already won, and don't let the devil tempt you to think any different, don't let him deceive you because of your feelings, that's where I struggle so much, I'm a feeler, and I buy into my feelings, and I have to battle there,
[59:04] I have to know, it doesn't matter how I feel, this is what's true, we walk by faith, not by sight or feelings, or any other senses, we walk by faith, faith in what he has said, are you being attacked, likely, are you being tempted, probably, are you being oppressed, beaten, you feel defeated, see we're talking about victor here, but I imagine there's people here that feel very defeated, it, are you discouraged, are you weary, we're going to sing in a moment, a mighty fortress is our God, our helper he amid the flood, did we in our own strength abide, our striving would be losing, that's when I'm defeated, when I abide in my own strength, we do not need to fear the dragon, we do not need to worry about his rage, his rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure, so we stand in faith, so what does that mean, well what do you believe, do you believe that you're saved from sin and guilt, do you believe that, okay, stand on that, do you believe that your debt has been forgiven, that you are no longer condemned, stand on that, do you still sin, yeah, we got to deal with that, it's the elephant in the room,
[61:03] I still sin, I'm still a sinner, what do I do when I do that, do I need to start all over, do I need to go back and, man, what do I do, Jesus says, confess, that's it, just confess, just say it out loud, that's it, and he is faithful and just to forgive us, he's not just faithful to forgive us, when I confess, that I've just rebelled against him again, he is just to forgive me, it is right for him to forgive me, because he already paid for it, don't let the devil tell you, okay, you got to, okay, you did that again, okay, come on, okay, you're going to have to go through this and then this, you're going to have to do,
[62:10] I mean, don't even try, it's going to, you're not going to, and you're just going to fail again, isn't that what he says, that's what he says to me, why even bother, you're going to fail again, you can't stand, so, stand in faith, put on your armor, thank you Diane for your prayer, that was appropriate, it must have been a coincidence, put on your armor, the belt of his truth, remember, it's not your armor, it's put on the armor of God, the armor that belongs to God, so the belt of truth is his truth, not mine, the breastplate of righteousness is his righteousness, not mine, because mine's not going to protect me, the shoes are gospel shoes of peace, let me go with joy, the shield, that big, big shield that I can actually hide behind, it's not my faith, it's the faith, it's should read the shield of the faith, that content of truth that we trust in, that says,
[63:31] I will never leave you or forsake you, you are not condemned, I work out all things for good, truth after truth, that's what we believe, that's what we stand behind, and then we take the helmet of salvation, right, which is, okay, here comes a battle, I put my helmet on now, because I got to remember, long, big picture, he's got me, okay, and then, then I can take the sword, because here he comes, now I take the sword, my only weapon, my only, only weapon, it's the sword of Bill's thoughts, right, it's the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, not my words, don't play like Luther, oh, now, you know, just use God's words, that's what Jesus did, it is written, it is written, it is written, it is written, you will not live by bread alone, worship the
[64:38] Lord your God only, it is written, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, it is written, I will never leave you or forsake you, it is written, God works all things together for good, it is written, seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, it is written, just speak it, try it, see what happens, see what power there is, not your words, his words, if you're dealing with certain sin, why don't you grab a handful of verses, maybe just two or three, deal with that, and then when it comes, you got it, no big rigor, you know, thing, I got a witness, I got a witness for you devil, not that I'm all proud against him, just, you know, maybe it's,
[65:40] I got a witness, it is written, because it, I don't matter, it's the word that matters, and James says, resist him and he will flee, that's just amazing, big powerful red dragon, running away, kind of cool, isn't it, oh, drag your tail there, no, sorry, I think that was one of those ones he was supposed to hold that, resist the devil and he will flee from you, let's move on in our service to sing, our prayer and our praise, here, a mighty fortress is our God, our worship team will come and lead us.