And again, we are thankful for
another time that we can come together and be together. This is the day the Scripture
reveals that the Lord has made. He's made it exactly in that way which is going to
bring honor to Himself. He has ordered all things that
have and shall take place today. Whatever transpires, transpires
by the sovereign grace and order of Almighty God. We have assembled ourselves together
for the purpose of worshiping Him. I would encourage all of
us, starting especially with this pulpit, if you have yet
not asked the Lord to bless, number one, you. The preaching of the gospel,
the ministry, the calling out of His elect, the comfort of
His people. Ask Him now. before the Word
is preached, ask God to bless it. Ask the Spirit of God to
move in this service. I pray He will. May He be pleased
to do so. May the Lord bless that which
shall be preached to His honor and to the good of His people.
Amen. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation chapter 20. I'd like to read one verse of
Scripture. Verse 3. I pray I can remember this. Let's
see before we pray. Before we speak to the Lord,
let us hear what God has to say to us first. Verse 20, picking
up from the first two verses, verse 3 says, And cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him,
that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years
should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed. a little season. Let's pray together. Our Father, how wonderful it
is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, He who is our great High
Priest, whoever liveth to make intercession for us, that we
can approach You in Him and by Him because of We ask You this
morning, admitting that we do not know what to pray, thank
You that by Your Spirit You help us. Lord, we ask this morning,
knowing that our blessed Savior is here, and we pray that we
might recognize and realize in His presence by Him standing
by us, for us, in us, and we in Him. Lord, we can hear. We pray that You would quiet
all distractions, that there would be nothing that would cause
a disturbance in this service, that Lord, You would bless. For
Christ's sake, we ask these things. John saw, verse 1 said, an angel. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. An angel come down from heaven.
I know that it's the Lord Jesus Christ because this angel, the
angel of the covenant, the Scripture says, had a key. The key. the only key to the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. This angel, Christ himself, possesses,
holds all power in heaven and earth. He has power to give life. He has power to withhold life. He is the Lord. And He laid whole,
verse 2, on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Now, that's what we looked
at last week. Now, this morning I'd like to
look at a few things concerning Satan being bound that God's
saints might be delivered. This binding is of great comfort
to the saints of God because they themselves are bound in
trespasses and sins. And unless Satan be bound, you
can't be loosed. What does the Scripture say about
Satan being bound? Well, first of all, I know that
he is in a state of spiritual death and darkness. Now, I know
this, that he himself is bound. The Scripture says
in verse 3 that the angel, the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
took a laid hold on him and he cast him into the bottomless
pit and shut him up and set a seal on him. What does that mean? How is Satan himself bound, first
of all? The Lord cast him, the Scripture
says, into the bottomless pit. Bottomless pit. That's mentioned
seven times in the Scripture. A bottomless pit. Now, let me
just correct what we're thinking right now. It didn't say the
lake of fire. What it said was the bottomless
pit. And already, you've already pictured
something in your mind of little pictures that you've seen of
something. It's like the lower depths of the abyss. And already,
you put like a floor. It was like something that if
you're like me, I think in pictures. And I hate that sometimes because
I just quickly, I think of something. And it's like this mountainous
abyss. And it's got like a floor to
it. It's like the place of the... The unbounded depth of judgment
and confinement. There is no bottom to it. How
bound to Him. One of the things that
was said about it was that out of it came the locusts Remember
when we talked about the locusts that came back? I think it was
Revelation 7, I think. These locusts that came out,
the smoke, the deception. Let me tell you who else you
find in this bottomless pit. Those false preachers. The locusts that sting. These preachers Romans 9, verse 22. How bound is one that God has
left to himself in unbelief? How bound is he in the depth
of confinement, judgment, darkness, spiritual blindness? How bound
is he? Well, Romans 9, verse 22 says,
What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction." Made up! How bound are they? There is
no depth to it. There is no bottom to it. The
bottomless pit. cast him into the bottomless
pit and shut him up, cut off all ability to escape this state. How is one going to remove himself
where God has put him and left him there? Bottomless pit. And set a seal
upon him. The seal of authority. That's
what that means. The seal. Whenever I called back one time,
I had to have a copy of my birth certificate. They told me, they
said, a certified copy. Couldn't just take a copy and
put it on a Xerox machine if they have Xerox machines anymore.
Couldn't just have it. I'd have a certified copy. What
does that mean? Somebody took one of those seal
things and I brought it up right over here in Marion County and
I handed it to the lady and this is all she did. She said, yeah, that's right. How
do you know? I feel the seal. I feel the imprint. There is the authority. I can
feel, I feel the impression of it. Right here, He took Satan,
the devil, the dragon, serpent. He cast him into the bottomless
pit and shut him up and set a seal on him. Authority, power. Satan is God's Satan. The devil
is God's devil. And Almighty God does as He will. in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And no man, nobody, not even
Satan himself, stays God. No man. No devil. He, that is, Satan and all the
angels that sinned in rebellion against God, they were cast out,
cast out of heaven and delivered, the Scripture says, into chains
of darkness. not chains of steel or chains
of brass, chains of darkness, bound up, bonds of gloom, thick
darkness, the Scripture says, that may be felt. Oh, if God Almighty does not
deliver one from the bottomless pit of darkness, Men say they
have light and they preach not according to this gospel. Lord
willing, in the next message, I'm going to preach on men that
are deceivers and what we're to do with them. How do you handle those that
preach not the gospel? But the Scripture says that if
the light that is in you, what you say is light, If the light
that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? The bottomless
pit. How is Satan bound? Well, first
of all, he is bound in a state of spiritual darkness with no
hope of redemption. You see, we are dealing with
God. This is the God that we serve. He who is God. Secondly, the Scripture says
that Satan is bound that he should deceive the nations no more.
He cast him into a bottomless pit, shut him up, set a seal
on him, that he should deceive the nations no more. But he is bound that he should
deceive the nations no more. Well, based on that statement,
I know that he is the deceiver, that he should deceive the nations
no more. Revelation 12 and 9 says, ìAnd
the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the
devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.î So I know that
he is the deceiver. Spiritual. He is the one. All like Him that fell with Him
is who we wrestle against. We wrestle not with flesh and
blood, but against powers, principalities, the prince of the rulers of darkness. I know that every man, every
woman born in this world since the fall fell in Adam. I know that every one that fell
in Adam has fallen and is in a state of death, spiritual death. Even God's elect, that's the
way they're born. All of them are born that way. Dead in trespasses and sins,
and the Scripture says, walked according to the prince of the
power of the air. All of God's elect were born
just like Every other man. Now, God has an elect. God has
a sheep. And their sheep, even before
they're called out of darkness, they're still sheep. Lost sheep. But those sheep, He's going to
have. Who are the sheep? It's all that
the Father has given Him. My sheep. They hear my voice. They follow me. Or the sheep
I have, he told some Jews that are not of this fold. They are
not Jews, they are Gentiles. Them I must bring. They are sheep. But I am telling you, when they
are born in this world, they are born dead in trespasses and sins. But the Scripture says that Satan
is bound by God, that he should not deceive the nations no more. Within all the nations that are
born in this world, born in Adam, even within those nations, God
has a people. Out of thy blood, by thy blood,
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, God has
a remnant according to the election of grace. Now, you know this.
Satan is the deceiver. All men born in Adam are deceived. They're blind, you know. I told
you this before. I came up in false religion. I came up in false religion.
I thought that there was a time when I truly believed that my
acceptance before God was based upon my ability to be able to
accept or reject whatever God was offering to me. And I made
my profession of faith, baptized. I went through all of that and
found great comfort in what I had done. But here is the way that
it is. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. So here's the question that I
ask myself. Though sincere, and Jeff, I was
sincere. Don't get me wrong. I was sincere.
I came down and I mean, in fact, I really tried to work it up,
Neil. I mean, when that preacher asked me, you know, now you pray
this and you mean it now. You mean it, you know. Lord Jesus,
I have sinned. Lord Jesus, I have sinned. And
I have fallen short of the glory. Are we deceived when we are born?
Yes, we are. How deceived are we? We are dead
in trespasses and sins. What kind of ability do we have
to get ourselves out of it? None. How dead would we stay if the
Lord didn't intervene? Dead. You'd die in your trespasses
if God didn't intervene. He's not offering. He's not offering. I'm telling you, God Almighty
takes what's His. He binds the strong man and spoils
his house. How can one spoil a man's goods
unless he binds a strong man, unless one stronger than he."
That's what the Lord said. I'm telling you, this is how
Satan is bound. He's bound in darkness himself,
no hope of redemption. And he's bound in his ability
to keep God from doing what God Almighty has said he's going
to do. People say, well, they're dead. They're dead. And what
are you going to get a man that's dead to do for you? Well, offer him the gospel. He's
dead. Come out of that casket. I command
you in Jesus' name to come out of that casket. He ain't coming. Why? He's dead. He can't do it. What's going to have to happen?
Something apart from Himself. Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came
into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am. And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ. You're the Messiah. You're who God has promised would
come. You're God. You're the one that
the Father chose a people in before the foundation of the
world. You're the Word Himself. You are God in the flesh. That's who you are. The Son of
the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed, blessed, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, one
blessed by grace, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee,
Thou art Peter, a stone laid upon the foundation, and upon
this rock that I am the cross." shall not prevail against it. Why? Because I've bound Satan. Not going to prevail. Not going
to prevail. Not going to overpower. That's
what prevailed me. Not going to overpower. Listen
to 2 Corinthians 4, 6 and 7. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, but we have this treasure." What treasure? The light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's a treasure. And it's in earthen vessels.
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
Satan is bound. He is bound in darkness himself,
and he is bound in his ability to keep God from calling his
elect out of darkness. He can't stop him. Almighty God says to those that
I have everlastingly loved, that their bondage to Satan but I
bind him. And I give them a new heart.
And I write my law on their heart. And they love it. I love them.
They love me. I call them out of darkness.
I give them faith. They believe me. And he cannot
be stopped. God cannot be stopped. Thirdly,
let me ask you this. How long is he bound? Well, the Scripture says, well,
verse 2 said He bound him a thousand years. Verse 3 says He is bound that
he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years
should be fulfilled. Now let me ask you something. According to the Scriptures,
how long is a thousand years to God? 2 Peter 3 says, But beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing. I thought that scripture stuck
in there that we might understand something. Be not ignorant of
this one thing. That one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. To him who inhabits eternity. All calculations of time lose their meaning. To the I
am, past, present, future is now. That's why the scripture
says there is therefore now. No condemnation. How long have
God's people been in condemnation? They've never been in condemnation.
You mean even when they were dead in trespasses and sin? No.
They've never been under condemnation. Because if they were ever under
condemnation, you remember this, God never changes. And if God
ever looked upon you in condemnation, and then looked upon you not
in condemnation, then God changed in His attitude. And as Brother
Scott said, wherein you insinuate that God changed at any point,
attitude, thought, you know, at what point God changed in
His attitude toward you. If God looked upon you in wrath,
Bob, and then looked upon you not in wrath, then He changed
His attitude. And at that point that you say
God changed, therein you err. Not God. We were chosen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Before the foundation of the
world, chosen in Him. At what point did God look upon
you, chosen in Christ, and look on you, Sammy, in wrath? Never. Never. Never. Scripture does
say that we were children of wrath even as others. That was
our attitude toward God. We were children of wrath. We
were wrathful children, despisers of God, just like everybody else,
but God. You showed me one point. You
showed me one Scripture where God's children were ever under
the wrath of God. And then they weren't under the
wrath of God. And I'm telling you, you have
absolutely shown me something that will destroy the immutability
of God. It's not there. You say, well,
I thought it was. Well, you just didn't understand
it. How do you know? Because God says, I don't change.
That's why you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because I don't
change. I never change. No shadow of
turning with God. Didn't even appear as there was
a turn. No. We're just ignorant people. would be a whole lot better off
to believe God and quit trying to disprove God. He said, I don't
change. Satan is bound a thousand years.
A thousand years. How long? A thousand years. The
ordered period, I know this, that must be fulfilled. Satan
should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years
be fulfilled. Now, as we said a moment ago,
has God chosen a people unto salvation? Yes. Are all those
chosen in Christ, are they going to come to the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith? Yes. Yes. He said that. All that
my Father giveth me. So this thousand year period
of Satan being bound, when did it start? Now let me just share
it with you. It started at the fall when there
were two human beings on this earth, Adam and Eve. God made Adam and then He brought
Eve out of him. Beautiful picture of Christ in
the church. But if God was pleased to save
Adam. I think he did. I think the first
time we ever see the gospel, redemption, substitution, priests
in the garden, God killed an animal. Adam and Eve tried to
hide themselves, their nakedness, before God, took a fig leaf,
stuck it out there, and you know, the Lord said, who told you you're
naked? They were going to try to hide
themselves before God, and the Lord killed an animal. And in
that death, a covering was made for Adam and Eve. If the Lord
did save them, did Satan have to be bound at
that point? Yes, he did. Sure he did. They
had fallen and died spiritually. The Lord told Adam, in the day
you eat, you're going to die. And when he died, He died just
like we are born, dead spiritually. What was it going to take for
God Almighty to save Adam? Satan was going to have to be
bound. Let me ask you this. How about Abel,
Cain and Abel? How about Noah? Did Satan have
to be bound for God Almighty to call Noah out of darkness? How about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses? Satan has been bound from the
fall. Satan could not keep God Almighty
from saving His people from the time that man fell. He has not
been able to stop him. Do you think the Lord has ever
saved anyone any differently than He saves them right now?
Salvation is by the grace of God. There is one way. He saves
them in Christ. They said, but Christ was not
even slain yet. Oh, yes, He was. Slain from the
foundation of the world. God Almighty that saw Him and
trusted Him. The Scripture says that the Father
was the first one to ever trust in Christ. Who trusted Him first. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into an everlasting covenant. I will stand. I will redeem. I will be made flesh. And Almighty
God trusted Him and justified His people upon Him. God is eternal. We deal in time. God doesn't deal in time. He
is the I Am. You say, but that happened to... When was before the foundation
of the world with God? Right now, Carl. When is the second coming of
Christ? We deal in time. Right now. It's now. We just don't have the ability
to figure this out. We deal in minutes. God is eternal
and bound. Well, let me ask you this then.
If that thousand years started literally at the fall, and it
was a thousand years literally, then where are we today? It's
been more than a thousand literal years. A thousand years with
God is one day. One day is a thousand years with
God. God's eternal. I know how men try to take this
thousand years from the fall of Constantine until the Roman
Empire. But here the Scripture says he's
bound until the thousand years should be fulfilled. God's going to fulfill this thousand
years. Until all of God's elect are finally regenerated by power
and grace this thousand years. A thousand years that you and
I don't bother yourself trying to... Satan is bound. bound in his ability to be able
to stop God from doing anything that God has purposed to do until
God is pleased to fulfill all that God has purposed to do.
That's what he's saying. And after that, after that thousand
years should be fulfilled, he must be loosed a little season. Well, I started to say what men
say about that thousand years and then being loosed for a little
season. Let's don't take up time with saying what it don't mean.
Let me just tell you what I truly believe it does mean, and based
upon Scripture. That'd be a challenge that I'd
have men to say. If you're going to make a statement,
prove it. Show me in the Scriptures where
that says that. If you can't prove it, then it's
not so. Let me tell you what I truly
believe, based upon the Scripture. This little season is right here.
Satan, the Scripture says, is bound in his ability to stop
God from doing whatever God is pleased to do. If there's one
here this morning that God's pleased to call out of darkness,
I'm going to tell you something, that spiritual death and the
binding of Satan and being in his stronghouse and stuff like
that, if God's willing to call you out of darkness, let me tell
you something, you're coming. No man can come to Me unless
the Father with whom he has sent Me draw him. Take him. But after this thousand years
is fulfilled, after God has called out those that He shall, Satan
is going to be loosed. Now, right now, if what I've
said is so, and he's bound in his ability to be able to call
out God's elect, if he's loosed, And God gives him free reign
for a little season. Boy, that was a comforting two
words. Verse 7 and 8 of this Scripture
that the Lord will and will deal with in a few weeks gives us
some insight into what this means. Look at 7 and 8. And when the
thousand years are expired, okay, this should give us an indication.
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to
deceive the nations. which are in the four quarters
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle,
the number of whom is the sand of the sea." So let me just say
this and this will suffice. Just before the second coming
of Christ, which what we know of is going to be Armageddon
and the judgment, just before this, Satan will be loosed. God
will remove his bound upon restraining him, hindering him. And He shall. What's He doing? He's going out
to deceive and to gather the nations. Let me back this up
with Scripture. This little season, I believe,
Matthew 24. Turn there. Matthew 24. Let's
see what the Word of God has to say and we'll, by the grace
of God, let's try to stay away from speculations. Matthew 24,
verse 21. The scripture says the Lord is
speaking just preceding Christ's second coming. That's what he's
talking about, just before the Lord returns. There shall be
great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, nor ever shall be, and except those days
should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake Those days shall be shortened. Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there,
believe it not. For there shall rise false Christs,
false prophets, shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as
if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." I want
you to turn to Amos chapter 8 verse 11. Amos 8 verse 11. Behold, the days come. saith
the Lord." Now, I want you to read something with me, and I
want you to read exactly what is said. Because this right here
gives us, I believe, the clearest indication of Satan being loosed
and God not withholding Him. For a short season. How short? How long is it? An hour? A day? A week? I don't know. I don't
know how long it is. But it's short. And thankfully
it's short. Because it's going to be great
tribulation. What is great tribulation? I believe this is here. I believe
this is what it is. Behold, the day shall come, saith the Lord
God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of
bread or thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
Now, let me ask you something before I read this next verse.
How extensive, how extensive is this famine going to be? They
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east. They shall run to and fro, and seek the word of the Lord, and it's not going to be there, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins
and young men faint for thirst. Let me ask you something. What would it mean to you if
you traveled this world over and there was no gospel to be
found? It's not there. They'll say, Christ is here.
I heard Christ is over in England over there. I heard Christ is
being preached over in South America. Don't believe them. How great would the tribulation
be if Satan had no holes barred on him for just a short season
and there was no gospel to be heard? You're here this morning
and you can hear the freedom of the gospel of Christ, the
gospel of God's grace. But if God sends a famine for
just a short period of time, just preceding His second coming,
and there is nothing to be heard, what would you do? Except those
days be short. They that swear by the sin of
Samaria say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Beersheba
liveth, even they shall fall and shall never rise again."
Listen, I want to read Hebrews 3, and then we'll stop. Listen to me. You have the greatest privilege
that this world has ever heard, has ever afforded, has the greatest
privilege, you're sitting and hearing a
message that declares the glory of God in the salvation of His
people. That God Almighty is going to
save His people. That God Almighty binds Satan
and calls out His own. But the Lord said, there will
be a season that the nations may be gathered. Can you imagine
if the restraining grace of God did not hold back rebellion right
now? If God didn't hold back, restrain
Satan working through men that hated God and hated you, If God
didn't hold them back, what would happen? The Lord says there's going to
be great tribulation such as this world has never seen. You
think you know something about it. He said you ain't never imagined
what it's going to be. I've heard men say, well, there
won't be any believers here at the great tribulation. You want
to bet? Because when the second coming
of Christ is here, the dead in Christ are going to rise first.
Armageddon is going to be over that quick. And we which remain,
Paul said, on this earth shall be caught up together with them.
And if it wasn't for the grace of God that made that season
a short, there would be no flesh. No flesh. Nobody would endure. Hebrews 3 verse 6, But Christ as a Son over His own house,
whose house are we if we hold fast to confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm to the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith today, if you will hear His voice. Harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
where your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, saw My works forty
years. Wherefore, I was grieved when
that generation said, They do always err in their heart, and
they have not known My way. So I swear in My wrath, they
shall not enter into My rest. Take heed, brethren, Lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God, but exhort one another daily what is called
today. Lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Listen, I've got some good news. God Almighty withholds Satan
in the salvation of his elect. I've got some good news. We're
here this morning, and the gospel is still here. Obviously, Satan has not been
loosed. Today is the day of salvation. Harden not your heart against
God. Harden not your heart against
God. If you hear His voice, you are
a blessed person. God's going to have His own.
God's going to save His own. And for that, I am thankful.
I pray that He doesn't leave me to myself. But there will come a day. And oh, I tell you, if I knew
how long it was going to be, I'd tell you. But the Lord hadn't
revealed it. Nobody knows the Lord Himself.
But there's going to be a short season in which Satan is not
going to be bound. That's what the Lord said. He
shall be loosed. Let's look the Word up. Unhindered. You think of him, he's hindered
now from doing what he wants to do. But if he is unhindered,
except those days be shortened." Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God. You say, well, I didn't think
any man could. If you have a heart to do so, you will. And I'll
tell you this, it was the Lord that gave you the heart to do
it. I'm telling you, you didn't do it yourself. I pray God save
somebody today. I pray God comfort His people
today. I pray He calls somebody out of darkness today. I pray
He blesses this message through the glory of God in Christ. Amen.