I want to call your attention to John chapter 12. I know we're in Matthew 12, so you're probably thinking, Chris has lost it again, he meant Matthew 12. You'd be well within your rights to think that. But no, John chapter 12, let's look at this verse. We talked about the strong man and how the stronger came along. And cast out the strong man, bound him, cast him out. And I want us to see where that passage would cause us to look, the way that happens. Of course, the Lord is the stronger. He's almighty. He rules over principalities and powers and he's the king of kings in this world and Lord of lords.

But listen to the way that he does his powerful work for sinners like us in driving our enemies out, destroying our enemies. Verse 31, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you what, verse 12, 31 of John, and I just got through telling you, you'd be right to think I'm losing it. Oh, I'm in Luke. Here we go. I told you. If you think Chris is losing it, you're right. John 12, 31, you're in the right place, but I'm not. Okay, John 12, 31, listen to this now.

Remember our text, the Lord, the strong man has been cast out by the stronger. John 12 31 now is the judgment of this world now Shall the prince of this world be cast out? Now we know there's a time when the Lord will cast Satan into the bottomless pit and he won't come out of there again But he's saying now now shall the prince of this world be cast out and he references a specific event and This is how the Lord wins the victory for us. This is how victory over all of our enemies, including ourself, our own evil nature, is won by the Savior.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. Satan is cast out. Isn't that what happened to us in the garden? Cast out. and we deserved it, cast out of the presence in favor of God. But because of Calvary, because of what happened on Calvary, some are drawn, some are brought, some are embraced, some are welcomed into favor and communion. If I be lifted up, I will draw all unto me. You see, men, is in italics because he's not gonna draw every man to himself. He's gonna draw everyone that he was lifted up for to himself.

And this he said, look at verse 33, this he said, signifying what death, he should die. That's how Satan is cast out. That's the way the stronger overcomes the strong one and gives us life. gives us life, gives us peace, gives us freedom, freedom from the bondage of the law, freedom from the power of Satan. He says, sin shall not have dominion over you. The one who, he said, sinneth from the beginning, Satan. He has no dominion over us now. He's cast out, and that casting out is attributed to Christ being lifted up. And he said that signifying what death he should die. And here we are remembering what he did for us on Calvary in this context.

Satan was there in the garden, wasn't he? We can't blame him for what happened there. And we can't blame him for whatever influence he may have over us as lost sinners. But there he is, yet an enemy. The enemy of our soul, the accuser. He's called the accuser of the brethren. And you remember what Paul said in Romans chapter eight, nobody can accuse me. Who can lay any charge against me and why? It is Christ that died because the son of man was lifted up for me. May we rejoice in that glorious truth.

Two things accomplished here by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by him and what he did as represented at this table. This is the death that our Lord died, signifying the death that he died. What signifies it? All his people are drawn. Satan, who represents all of our, the enemy of our soul, the great enemy of our soul, is gone. He's gone. He's sent away.

Turn with me to Colossians chapter two. When he talks about the strong man being overcome by the stronger who comes along and spoils the strong man, this is what he's talking about, Colossians 2.13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, that's Satan, that's wickedness in high places, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

In what? In his death, in the cross, in what he accomplished on Calvary, nailing it to his cross. You see how it's Christ crucified that delivers us from Satan. When he's talking about that strong man and the stronger, he's making reference to what he accomplished on Calvary. That's what happened on the cross. He triumphed openly over our enemies on the cross. And that's what happened in our text. No more power, no more authority over us. No more bound, no more taken captive by Satan at his will.

But now we're possessed and indwelt by the Son of God. Satan is on God's chain. We need to always remember that. We don't fear Satan in the sense of being worried about what he might do, because we know that God has used him. God controls him. God not only conquers Satan, but he uses what Satan does to conquer him. He flat out humiliates him. He openly triumphed over Satan in the very thing that Satan thought he could finally get rid of this Nazarene. And yet it was an open triumph for the Lord Jesus Christ.

the shedding of his precious blood. Remember, all of his enemies, all of the satanic humanity rose up, the Gentiles, the Jews, all of the powers of this earth rose up against thy holy child, Jesus, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. So, he doesn't only defy what Satan does. And when you think of Satan, don't think of the red man with a forked tail. The Lord said to Simon Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. It's anti-Christ. And I want to talk about that a little bit too.

But think of how he triumphed over him. Not only did he defy what Satan was trying to do, he used it. He used it for his purpose. That's what it's talking about by openly triumphing over them. He prepares a table for his people in the very presence of their enemies. He deliberately humiliates those that hate us by preparing a table for us. And every table that he prepares for us is signified in this one because without this one, There's no table for me. If the Lord Jesus doesn't come down here and become who I am, yet without sin, and shed his precious blood for me on Calvary, I have no seat at his table. I have no seat at his table. I have no seat at any table worth sitting at.

But also, think about this, Satan is called anti-Christ. He's not called anti... smoking and drinking. He's not called anti-cussing. He's not called anti-R-rated mood. When religion talks about sin, that's what they talk about. No, no. Sin is anti-Christ. Satan doesn't care whether you smoke or don't smoke. He doesn't care about anything about you, about your behavior, about your attitude. He doesn't care about any of that. He hates the Son of God. And if you have anything to do with the Son of God, He hates you. And He hates anything that glorifies Christ. He is anti-Christ, and there's a reason why that is His name. because it's the person of Christ that he defies, despises, and is deluded enough to think that he might be victorious over.

But Satan, look at the way the Lord uses Satan as he did in Job's case for the good of his people and his own glory. He took Satan, Satan took Job and he did. He was hard on him, wasn't he? The Lord allowed him a length of chain, didn't he? He allowed him some little slack to get to Job. And you talk about tough. It's one thing when they come, when messengers come and tell you that, you know, your estate has been sacked and everything you have is gone. But when they keep coming, wave upon wave, and saying, all your servants are dead, and all your cattle are stolen, all your houses are burned. And two of them came talking about that. And then the third one came and said, your children, your sons and your daughters, they're gone. They're gone. And Job was on the ash heap. He spent some time on the ash heap. I don't think I've spent much time on the ash heap. But I'll tell you what God taught Job there. And whatever heap we've been on, whatever troubles that he brings the way of his children will have all the same effect.

I know now, Lord, that you can do anything. And that when you set about to do it, nobody can stop you. That's what Job learned. He learned who God is. He learned who Christ is. He'd heard about him before. But God used Satan for that purpose. He used him for that. but he's on God's chain. And when God gets done with Satan, he'll cast him into the lake of fire for good, along with everybody that he, as he said in our text, is not with me. He said, he that's not with me is against me. You know, you're part of that. You know, Revelation chapter 20 deals a lot with that. Let's turn over there and maybe Maybe we won't read the whole chapter, but Revelation 20 talks about how that the Lord will deal with Satan and all those who are in league with him. And again, it doesn't matter what you do or don't do, it's who you're affiliated with. It's who's God and who's not. It's what we always talk about. It's who's, you're either Christ or you're anti-Christ. There's nothing else. You can call yourself Methodist or Presbyterian or all that. There's Christ and there's anti-Christ or against Christ.

And John said in verse one of chapter 20, I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them. And judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads. And you remember what the mark is. The number six in the scripture is the number of man. And that's not speculation. That's not some weird, you know, something that we figured out. No, no, it says it's the number of man. And his number is 666. Man, man, man. Have you received that mark? Is that the side you're on? Is it man's will? Man's word? Man's way? Or God's? Or Christ? It's Christ or Antichrist. And Antichrist is just man. It's man.

They had the mark, neither had received His mark or in their hands, not up here nor here. We're not going to trust our thoughts or our deeds. We renounce our so-called wisdom, the wisdom of this world. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. Christ is the wisdom of God.

And what we do, we've renounced all of our works as being wretched and evil. Paul said, I count them but dung that I may win Christ. That is refusing to take the mark in your hand right there. This is not some literal weirdness that's gonna go on. I'm telling you, it's Christ and antichrist and it's happening right now. It's not gonna happen in the end times. This is the end time. This is the battle of Armageddon. It's happening in the souls of men. It always has.

But it talks about the end times here because there's going to be a wrapping of it up. It's going to be wrapped up. And time is running out. They lived and reigned with Christ. Thousand years. You see, what's the alternative to trusting man, the wisdom of man, the religion of man, and the works of man? Christ on his throne. That's the alternative. Which one is it? Which one is it?

By the grace of God, Moses chose the reproach of Christ. over the throne. Over the throne. He'd have been on the throne. He didn't want that. He refused to take the mark in his forehead or his hand. And all of God's people do, by his grace. By his grace. They lived and reigned with Christ, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. And this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath far in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

And when the thousand years are expired, 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." And like I said, we won't read this whole chapter. But listen, he saw a great white throne in verse 11, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great. This is the one that they cast out the strong man. The stronger is the almighty, the infinitely strong. There was no place found for anybody but Him on that throne.

The books were opened, middle of verse 12, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. Why? Because Christ redeemed us from death and hell. from death in the grave. He redeemed his body and soul. He's gonna have us, body and soul. This is the victory, you see. We see a glimpse of that in our texts, how that Christ won the victory over Satan when he saved us. And this is where all this culminates.

The dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works. Notice that, the books were opened. The books were opened. and they have something to say about you and about me, our works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, thus is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book. When the books are opened, we're gonna be judged according to our works in the sense that We're responsible. We're responsible before God. You don't have to be as holy as God or you're not getting in. You're not going to ever see God. And those books are open and we're judged according to our works. But there's another book. There's another book, the book of life. The book of life, Christ. In him was life. and that life was the light of men. The Lamb's Book of Life, it's not, here it's just called the Book of Life, but elsewhere, the Lamb's Book of Life.

What's significant about the lamb? What's unique about the lamb? The lamb that was slain. He's the one, I saw one sitting on a throne as a lamb, that looked like a lamb as it had been slain. In that book, there's some names too. And you notice it doesn't say that you're gonna be judged according to your works and whoever, you know, didn't measure up, whoever didn't measure up to the, you know, the righteousness of God, whoever was found wanting from the record of those books was cast into the lake of fire. No, no, it's whoever's not written in the one book. that's cast into the lake of fire.

We're all responsible for our works. That's why we need a savior. That's why we need Christ and his precious blood. Because we're responsible before God for everything. Nothing's forgotten. Nothing's hidden from God. But it was those who he didn't write, in the Lamb's Book of Life that were cast out, not the ones that had some unresolved sin in the books. No, no. It's everybody except those who the Lamb wrote down.

When the Eternal Covenant of Grace was formed and ratified by Christ in eternity, Whoever's not among that number, that's who, every one of them, all of them, except, except. Ephesians 2, 1, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein time passed, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. The strong man had moved in. He had moved in. And this parable our Lord told about the house and the strong man and the stronger and all of that, the spiritual truth of that is horrible. There are those that we love, that walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, they're satanic.

But you see, we don't understand what satanic is, I don't think. It's very difficult for us to understand because this world and the religion of this world makes it something it's not. If you don't go to church, if you don't do this, you know, if you, Blaspheme God. If you blaspheme, say you say bad words about Christ or something. No, did you know that saying God loves everybody is blaspheming God? God loves everybody is satanic language. Christ died for everybody is satanic language. You see what I mean by I don't know if we know what satanic is. And there's those that we love that are just steeped in it, steeped in it. The mark is in their head and it's in their hand.

That's not something you're going to have to show down at the TGNY so you can purchase. Religion has made up these nonsensical things that nobody could ever even know whether that was the truth or not. No, the Lord makes it pretty clear. Antichrist. Man, man, man. It's not difficult to understand. Taking the mark in your head is to think like this world, to think your thoughts about God. Your thoughts are not His thoughts. Your ways are not His ways. And what are they? Oh, well, the poor sinner just doesn't understand. No, he understands. He's antichrist. He despises God's son, that's his problem. And we love him, and we'd do anything for him, but you can't candy coat it. They hate God's son. And all of these benign little religious sayings are satanic language, because they're anti-Christ. To say that Christ died for everybody, even people that go to hell, you think about the blasphemy of that. The blasphemy of that.

For a man to sit in a little booth and say, I absolve you of your sins, you know. Think of the blasphemy of it. That's the religion of this world. It's not the horrible stuff they show on TV where somebody's head is spinning around and throwing up everywhere and saying horrible cuss words. That's not demonic. That's not what the scriptures are talking about. It's the priest that holds his hands like this and has that disgusting grin on his face and says, bless you, my son. Who are you to bless me? You disgusting, satanic, evil devil. Who are you to bless me?

We're gonna have to figure, the Lord's gonna have to show us, Edney, what it is, what demonism is, because our children are caught up in it. Our loved ones are caught up in it. Our dear friends are caught up in it. They're taken captive by Satan at Satan's will and talking about their free will the whole time. God help them. Pray to God for them. Lord, you're the one who's strong enough to cast him out. You're the one that can take over. You're the one that can ascend the throne of their hearts. You're the one that can, by your precious blood shed on Calvary, win the victory over every enemy they have. So may we look to him according to the prince of the power of the air."

Oh, one of these days, you know, the devil's going to cut...no, no. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Those who disobey the gospel of Christ are satanic. They're taken by Satan at his will. They have no free will. They have a satanic antichrist will just like we do in our flesh, just like we did before the stronger came along.

Among whom, and that's what he says here, among whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's what Satan very easily, by the way, talked us into in the garden. I know what God said, but here's what I want. I want to determine good and evil. I want to think for myself. And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but God. Oh, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.

Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. You see how this whole thing is not seen clearly unless we look at the cross. God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, he saw us, hopeless, desperate. He saw Satan ripping us apart. Do you have any loved ones that Satan is just destroying them? Just absolutely tearing them up. And the Lord couldn't let us go. He couldn't let us go. Even when we were dead in sins, and dead in sins now, That's not just an unfortunate position. That's a Christ-hating, God-hating, spitting in the face of God's Son, nailing Him to a cross condition. That's what that is. And yet He loved us. He loved us. And He quickened us together with Christ. By grace, you were saved. Amen.