If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Revelation. Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. My text
will be found in verse 7 to verse 9. And we will see many other
things out of this chapter. I've entitled this message, The
Comfort of the Saints in Satan's Little Season. Comfort for the saints. When? In Satan's little season. The
Scripture says, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan
shall be loosed out of his prison, and he shall go out to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog
and Magog, to gather them together to battle the number of whom is as of the
sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth
of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and
the beloved city." But notice their end, a sure end, a sure
battle, a sure time of darkness, but notice this, a sure victory.
And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Now, in this book of Revelation,
I give you this as a preface. The book of Revelation is a book
given by God to show what God has done, what God is doing,
and what God shall do. And in this book, there are seven
visions. Seven visions given to us in
this book concerning that. And every vision starts with
the coming of Christ, the gospel dispensation of grace, and it
ends with the second advent. Every vision in this book. There are seven of them. And
chapter 20 begins the seventh of the seven visions. And we
see this in the first few verses, verses 1 through 3. We read of
the triumph of Jesus Christ in His first advent. Look at that.
He said He saw an angel came down from heaven having the key
to the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand. And he laid
hold on the dragon, the 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 on 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."
We see this, that Jesus Christ, when He came in the flesh, by
His death and by His righteousness, He bound Satan. He had received
of God the keys to the kingdom, and in His hand was a great chain."
Now, we do not imagine this to be a literal set of keys. We
do not imagine this to be a literal chain that Jesus is hauling around,
nor is it a literal pit that Satan has been cast into. This
is figurative language. But we see this, that Jesus Christ
is victorious, that He has bound Satan. And having the keys of death
and hell, having a great chain in His hand, the picture is the
authority and power of Christ that is given to Him of God.
Isn't that what He said? He said, All power is given unto
Me in heaven and on earth. For what purpose? That I should
give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Me. He has authority. He has power
over all things. And so the reign of Christ has
taken place at Calvary, and when did that take place? Well, for
us, that was 2,000 years ago. More than 2,000 years had taken
place. Since that time, he had bound
Satan. Since that time, he had received
authority of his father. Since that time, he sat on the
throne of God. It has been over 2,000 years,
and yet what does the Scripture say? That this should take place
over 1,000 years. The gospel today is preached,
the elect are called, they obey the gospel, they believe on Christ,
they're born again of the Spirit of God, and they continue into
the faith until Christ brings them to Himself. Therefore, this
thousand years. What is this? It's not a literal
thousand years. Just as there are no literal
keys, there are no literal chains, there are no literal pit, this
is not a literal thousand years. It is a figurative language.
It has reference to the whole dispensation of grace. The whole
time when Christ rose again until He comes back. That is the dispensation
of the thousand years mentioned in verse 4. But the Word of God is very clear.
Now listen to me very carefully. This time will come to an end. This time will come to an end.
Satan must be loosed a little season. Now you are believers
in Christ. Listen to this. We don't know
when this little season will come. Matter of fact, we don't
know if it's already come. We don't know how long this little
season will last. But we know this, it's inevitable. It will come. If it has not already
begun, it will come. It will come. And what is his
scope? What is the scope of his work
that he is allowed to do? It is seen in verse 8 that he
was to deceive the nations. That's what his work is. to deceive
the nations. Now before the Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled His salvation and was ascended to the throne, Satan
had dominion, was given dominion over all the kingdoms of the
earth save the Jews, and very limited influence inside of that
kingdom. And so he did deceive the nations
of the earth to worship false gods. And this will again take
place when Satan is loosed. He will go about deceiving the
nations again. And this is pictured, if you
see, in verse eight, he goes about to deceive the nations,
which are called what Gog and Magog, Gog and Magog. What what is that? We don't know
anybody in the nation named Gog or Magog. Well, this is taken
from Ezekiel chapter 38. If you want to go back over there,
look at that. See if this is not the same prophecy. It's the
same prophecy. Look at Ezekiel chapter 38. Look
at verses 1 through 4. Scripture says, The word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against
Gog in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Mesha and Tubal,
and prophesy against them, and say, Thus saith the Lord God.
Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince chief of Meshach and
Tubal. And I will turn thee back and
put hooks in thy jaws, and will bring thee forth, and thine army,
horses and horsemen, and all them that clothe with all sorts
of armor, even a great company, with buckler and shields, all
of them handling swords." Now Gog and Magog, these nations
that were against God, it represents all nations that are against
God, against Christ. At one time, these nations rose
up against Jerusalem, against God's people in the Old Testament. And what did God do? He put a
hook in their mouth and He pulled them away. He did this with many
nations, sparing that small nation so that Christ should come from
it. But look in verse 8. He said, But after many days
thou shalt be visited, and in the latter years thou shalt come
into the land that is brought back from the sword. You see,
He's promised that He's going to be able to come back again. Gog and Magog will come again
against the nation of Israel. Not the literal nation, but the
church of God, the elect. And that's what's mentioned,
brought back from the sword, is gathered out of many people
against the mountains of Israel, which have always been wasted. But it is brought forth out of
the nations, and they that shall dwell safely in them. What is
that? It's talking about the church. You've been brought back
from the sword. You who were wasted. You were
wasted. And what did He do? He brought
you into a land to dwell safely. You came into Christ, the refuge
for your soul, and you're dwelling right now in safety. Perfect
safety. But notice this. Thou shalt ascend
and come like a storm. Thou shalt be like a cloud and
cover the land. Thou and all thy bands and many
people with thee. Look at verse 18, and it says,
"...shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come
against the land of Israel, saith the Lord, that my fury shall
come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the
fire of my wrath I have spoken it. Surely in that day there
shall be a great shakening in the land of Israel." And verse
23 gives us the reason for this. He promises to destroy them.
He pulled them away once. But now they say there's coming
again, and there are going to be so many of them. And God said this, and that day
I'm going to send fire out of my mouth. Isn't that exactly
what John sees in this vision? He said, I'm going to send fire
from heaven. And why is he doing this? Look at verse 23 of Ezekiel
38. You see the reason. Thus I will
magnify myself. What does God do anything for?
For His own glory. for his own glory. I magnify
him, I sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many
nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." You see
Gog and Magog, they're just certain, they're
not certain nations, but rather they're all nations. Anyone who
is against Christ, those who are deceived and deluded by false
religion, that's who Gog and Magog are. And when Satan is
loosed, he's going to deceive these nations to believe a lie
of false religion. False religion. And in vile hatred,
they will raise themselves in opposition to God and His church. This, friends, is inevitable. There's nothing to stop this.
It will take place. Look at verse 9 and see it again.
And when they went up the breadth of the earth and compassed the
camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, which are the
elect, and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them,
these nations and peoples will come as a storm, as a thick cloud
to cover the whole earth. This will be the final assault
against the church, the final offensive against Christ. And let us be warned. I want
you to be warned. This time is at hand. This time is at hand. When Satan
will be loosed on the world, and wicked men will be deceived,
and they will assault the church. And this assault will be in the
guise of religion. Isn't that what he told them
in John 16? He said, they're going to put you out of the synagogue,
and when they kill you, They think they do God a service. When Satan is loosed, he will
try to mimic, he's always tried to mimic the gospel. He himself
wants to be God. And in order to be worshipped,
he has to have a religion. And so when he deceives them,
these people will kill you and think they do God a service.
But let the saints of God be comforted, for these deceived
men shall not harm the church." Listen, if they kill our bodies,
what if they harm the church? They haven't harmed the church
at all. Have they removed you from Christ
by taking your life? No. They cannot harm the church. Why? Because the church is in
Christ. The church is in Christ. The
church, though very small at this time and very few, shall
not be deceived." This is a comforting thing, isn't it? The church,
though small and hated, will not be deceived. Isn't that what
the Lord said? They shall have many signs and
wonders, and if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.
They cannot deceive the elect. The elect will not be deceived.
But we know this. We know whom we have believed. If you know what, somebody else
can come along and show you another what. They can't show me another
who. They can show me another what,
but they can't show me another who. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able,
not me, not you, I'm persuaded He is able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. So, though the church,
like the prophets of old, The prophets in Revelation 11, at
this time, the prophets will be raised. It is as though the
church had died. In Revelation 11, you see in
this part of the vision, there's dead prophets. They drag them
in the middle of the streets. You know what happens? They think,
yay, we've done it! And what does God do? He gives
life to those prophets again. They go out and preach the gospel.
That's what we do. The church, though seemingly
dead, God says, at this time, I'm going to still raise up men
to preach the gospel. Though they stretch from the
breadth of the whole earth and encompass the camp of the saints,
God sends fire down from heaven and destroys them." Notice who
wins the victory. Not the church. God. Not the
saints. We don't do anything. It's God
that wins the victory. And He takes the devil in verse
10 that deceived the nations and cast him into the lake of
fire and brimstone, and the beast and the prophets, the false prophets.
and shall be tormented day and night." This battle will be swift.
When the end comes, it will be so swift, you blink your eye,
you missed it. That's how swift this is. The
Scripture says, when Christ shall come, He shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel. And I think
it says that, and the end. The end. That's just it. Paul says, the end! It's over
when He comes. Immediate victory. And listen, at the end of this
chapter, we reveal that God's going to have judgment. God's
going to have judgment. And listen, there are books.
Books and books of sin. Books and books and books of
sin that are going to be opened. I'm really not concerned about
those books. It's this other book that's opened. There's another
book opened, the Scripture says, which is the Lamb's Book of Life. And only those whose names were
not written in that book were cast into the lake of fire. But
those whose names were written in there, they were received
into glory. You sons of Adam's race. Listen,
is your name there? Does it really matter Satan will
be loose for a season if your name is written there? Is your
name written there? Seeing only the elect will be
saved, only they, the elect are redeemed. Are you in that number? Or are you deceived? Sinner, today is a day of grace. Today is a day of grace. How
do I know that? Because I'm preaching Christ to you today. There may
come a time where I'm not able. There may come a time where they
come in and haul us away. But right now I'm preaching.
Today is a day of grace. Sinner, are you dead, unable
and unwilling to come to Christ alone? That's a natural condition. You cannot merit God's favor.
You cannot give yourself life. Only God can do this. Only the
blood of Christ can cleanse you. Only the righteousness of Christ
can robe you. Therefore, seeing the end is
near, seeing that Satan must be loosed, seeing the nations
must be deceived. All you who believe, I tell you
this, call on him and you shall be saved. Whosoever calleth,
for the name of the Lord shall be saved. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Sue God for mercy today and cast
your soul upon Christ. Cast off this vain imagination
of self-righteousness. Cast off your false dreams of
ever earning God's favor. Cast off the lust of your flesh. Cast off this world, why it's
going to be consumed. Flee to Christ. Forsake the things of this world.
Forsake them. Forsake your sin. And flee to
Christ in faith and love and all who believe on Him. We have
this confidence, not in ourselves, but we have confidence in Christ
that we shall be saved. See, I'm going to be saved because
of Christ. You see, all my eggs are in that
basket. All my hope is in Him. If He failed, then I won't be
saved. He didn't fail. Scripture says
He shall not fail. Why? He cannot fail. He cannot
fail. How confident was Christ when
He said this? Of all that the Father had given
me, I should lose nothing. Can any one of us say that about
anything? Are you confident you can keep
everything you've got? We can't. Only He can say that. And He did say that. And so if
you're in Christ, look at what it says in verse 6 of our text.
Go back to verse 6 and listen to this. Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in the first resurrection. What is that? Being
born again. That's the first resurrection,
isn't it? People want to talk about, man, there's going to
be 10 resurrections. There'll be a resurrection this time.
If you follow this book and try to put it in a timeline, you've
got to have at least that many resurrections. Now, there's two. There's a resurrection
at the new birth. And then there's a resurrection
of the dead when Christ comes. Part in the first resurrection.
Why? Because everybody's going to have part in the second one.
Everybody's going to be raised up from the dead and sent before
the judgment seat of Christ. But blessed and holy is He that
hath part in the first resurrection. You have part in that? Well,
you're blessed. You're blessed. So when this
time comes, and it will, when the dark times come, know this, That's the point of this. That's
the point Christ is making by this. He's saying it doesn't
matter if the whole world is against you. I was talking to a man the other
day about marriage, and he said, don't you know your views are
against most everything men believe? I said, yes, I do. But my views
are not mine. They're God's. That's why they
don't change. You see, our views are God's
views. Our view don't matter, does it?
Our opinion doesn't matter. Now, I've got limited time now,
but I want to give you seven things. Seven lessons that we
can learn concerning this little season. First of all, I want
you to understand that we are now living in an apostate age. We are now living in an age of
apostasy. The Word of God is very clear
that before Jesus Christ comes, there must be a great apostasy. There must be a time where many
willingly depart from the faith. They will depart from the true
gospel, turning to a false gospel. They will turn toward the love
of this present world and the lust of their flesh, denying
the Lord Jesus Christ. This must take place before He
comes. This was even seen in the first
century, wasn't it? John said there are many antichrists.
We always think of an antichrist as that last one. There's just
some person out there, one antichrist. John said there are many antichrists.
There are many antichrists. And they've started in the first
century. And yet in our day, we have never before seen in
the history of the church such a complete and utter forsaking
of the true gospel of God's grace and the universal embracing of
free will works religion. Never. And the more we go in
time, the more their congregations grow. And you know this, have you ever
noticed this at Free Will Works Religion? Anybody who tries to
cling to the law, that their people become less moral. I mean, they do, they become
more immoral. You'd think that that'd be the
opposite, right? Even our human reasoning would think, well,
if they're trying to obey the law, they'd be better people.
No. Law only stirs up sin. If you're trying to obey the
law, you're going to be worse than before. Now, the Roman church we know
has always been anti-Christ, but I've noticed this, that even
the churches are embracing their doctrines. I mean, covenant theology,
infant baptism, the need to confess your sins before the church.
Matter of fact, I know some that are demanding that people that
they know have sinned come before the church and confess. No, we confess our sins to Christ.
We repent and turn to Christ. You don't need to confess your
sins to me. Never before we've seen this as we see it in our
day. And as I've told you, there are only two gospels. I mean,
only two religions in all the world. Grace and works. Grace
and works. Only two. Salvation is either
by grace through the perfect work of Christ, or it is by the
work of man and the will of man. There is no in-between. It cannot be of both, friends. Now, what Paul said in Romans
11, he said, if it's of grace, it is no more of what? Work. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it's of work, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. And so the Scriptures, we know
this, are plain and clear. That salvation in its planning,
its purpose, accomplishment and application is all by the grace
of God. Salvation in its preservation
and perseverance is all of God. It's all by grace. It's all done
by Jesus Christ. It is applied and kept by the
Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Scriptures
are clear. We can go through many of these Scriptures. You
can read them later. Ephesians 1, 3-6. 10 verses 14, that's the accomplishment,
isn't it? Verses of planning, that we were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. The accomplishment
is that Christ has perfected them that are sanctified by His
one offering. The application is the Spirit
of God comes and quickens them from the dead. And Peter says
we are kept by the power of God under salvation ready. Don't
you see the salvation of the Lord? That's our message. And
yet, what is a so-called church? Those who claim to be Christians,
they utterly deny these doctrines. They deny the election of grace. They deny the successful work
of Christ. They refuse to believe in the
irresistible power of the Spirit, but instead assert the sovereign
will of man and the works of man as merit to obtain salvation. They believe that their will
and their work somehow makes Christ's work effectual. This is what the masses believe.
This is what the masses believe. What is this but a deception?
Isn't that what Satan is sent to do? Deceive the nation? What
is he deceiving with? A false gospel. A false Christ. A false security. There are very few in our day
that believe the truth. That's sad, but that's true.
Salvation is of the Lord. So many go to church just to
feel good about themselves. In our day, they receive only
God for temporal blessings. They believe their works and
their religious exercise in the flesh, some outward actions,
merit God's favor. This is a deception. Free will
works religion. I can't tell you for sure if
this little season is coming, has already come. I don't know
if Satan's already loose, but it sure seems that way. But it does appear that he's
gathering his forces by the acceptance of this false
free will religion. But we must not be discouraged.
I don't want you to be discouraged, and neither does the Word of
God discourage you. Again, remember, this must take
place. This must take place. We must
continue in faith and preach the gospel to our dying breath
until Christ comes again. But before His coming, we should
expect this falling away. Go to 1 Timothy. Go to 1 Timothy. Look at this with me. See if
this is not so, that there must be a falling away. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Scripture
says, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter
times some shall, listen, depart from the faith. In other words,
they had to be among us to depart from us, right? He's not talking
about the world. He's not talking about those
outside of the church. He's talking about those inside
the church. They must depart from the faith.
How are they departing? Giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy. Having
their conscience seared with hot irons. They leave the gospel,
they don't feel any guilt for it. They go out into the world,
while the world's doing it, they have no conscience of it. Their
conscience is seared. And then they start putting laws
on you, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meat
what God had created to receive with thanksgiving of them that
know, believe, and know the truth. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and
look at this one. Same thing here. 2 Timothy 3
and verse 1. This, know also, that in the
last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers
of their own selves. Isn't that true? Do what feels
good. Isn't that the mantra of our
day? If it makes you happy, do that. Whatever makes you happy. Scripture says they should be
lovers of themselves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection.
Man, can you not see this? There's never been a more time
in any generation where natural affection, you think that mothers
leaving their own children, leaving their own homes, the husbands
leaving their wives, this is happening in a vast scale, friends. Why? There's no natural affection.
No natural affection. Truce breakers. false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God. And listen, again, I'm not talking about people out there.
I'm talking about in the church. Look what this says, having a
form of godliness. They're in the church. These
aren't people in the world. denying the power thereof from
such turn away, for of this sort are they which creep into houses
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away by
divers' lusts, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth." You know what's going to happen to them? Same
thing happened to those men that withstood Moses. What happened
to those men? The earth opened up and swallowed
them. You see, they didn't even know they were deceived until
the earth opened up and swallowed them. And when these people,
they go about their lives like this, and one day, when God comes,
the earth will open up and swallow them, and they won't know it
until that day, that they were deceived. One thing about being
deceived is this, you don't know you're deceived. Isn't that right? You talk to one you see is deceived,
and they think you're crazy. Why? They're deceived. They're
deceived. Listen, Jesus said it's going
to happen. Jesus told us it would happen. He told us they would
reject the gospel, that they would reject Him. They reject
Him for a false Christ. They reject Him for the lust
and pleasures of their flesh. They reject Him and His Word,
His people. They embrace the signs and wonders,
lying wonders of false prophets. But this is to be expected. So
when it happens, when we see people that we believe to be
believers in Christ turn away from the gospel, listen, God
said it would come. God said it would come. Secondly,
this. This reprobation and judgment
is a just reward for apostasy. Listen, reprobation, I want you
to understand this, is a work of God. Reprobation is a work, and doesn't
it say it? God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. It's a work of God. But it's
a work of God upon people who have no love for Christ. It is
a work of God on those who only desire to please themselves.
What is reprobation? It is God giving them exactly
what they want. What does an apostate want? Leave me alone. I don't want to hear it. And
you know what God does? He gives them what they want.
That's what reprobation is. In Hosea 4, verse 7, it says,
Ephraim joined the idols. Let him alone. Let him alone. When men hear the truth and openly
reject it for the lie and false religion and pleasures of this
world, God says this, leave them alone. What a fearful thing then is
reprobation. Is it not? Are you a believer who has abandoned
the gospel? And listen, believers can and
do forsake Christ. But they always have this thing.
They always repent. They will always be turned. And
so if you have, what's the message then? Is there hope for you? Repent and believe the gospel. Isn't that what it says? If we confess our sins, what?
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And thirdly, this
divine reprobation is God fixing it so they cannot receive the
truth. Over in Proverbs, when wisdom
cries out, see if I can find it, it's in Proverbs chapter
1. Proverbs chapter 1 and verse
23. It says this, turn you at my
reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will
make known my words to you. What gracious thing is that?
Isn't that not wonderful? Because I have called and you
refused. I have stretched out my hand
and no man regarded. But you have said it not my counsel.
You have none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
shall they call upon me, and I will not answer. They will
seek me early, but they will not find me. Why? For they that hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would none of
my counsel. They despise my reproof. Therefore
they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with
their own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whosoever hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall
be quiet from all fear of evil. Satan will be turned loose. We will deceive the nations,
but one thing is this. If these people are deceived,
they are willingly deceived. They don't want to hear it. And
God says, when that day comes and you cry out in anguish, then
I'll laugh at your calamity. Why? You would not have my reproof.
You would not. God says, I will not always strive
with man. Now listen, I don't know when
this point is. I don't know when this point
of reprobation happens. I don't know when this point
of apostasy takes place, but there is a point. There is a
time where God refuses to stretch forth His hands anymore. And when Satan is loose for a
little season, this is exactly what's going to take place. It is God who allowed Satan to
be loosed. Satan didn't loose himself, did
he? God did it. For what? For the reprobation
of the lost. Those who would not hear His
word. Scripture says in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 11, it says, For this cause God shall send them strong
delusions that they should believe a lie. that they all might be
damned who believed not the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now, what is this for? This is
for the sanctification of His great name. This is for the praise of the
glory of His grace when He shall save His people and destroy His
enemies. In the end, God will be magnified. Fourthly, this, because Satan
will be loosed and many shall depart and be deceived, how shall
we know the message of his false prophets? That's a reasonable
question, isn't it? How should you know the message
of his false prophets? First of all, it doesn't matter
if they perform miracles. It doesn't matter if their message
is smooth and enticing. Many false prophets will have
powers. They will have the ability to
speak. But one thing false prophets
can't escape from is this, they all have a common message. I
don't care if it's the Pope or the Baptist preacher down the
street. They both have a common message. What is it? Salvation
by what you do. There's the common message. Now,
one may have a longer list than the other. One may say, well,
all you need to do is make a decision. Well, he only has one thing to
do, and the Pope may have a hundred things to do, but they all have
something to do. But the message of the true church
is this. Salvation is by grace. It is by a work that has already
been done. You see, I believe in a work
that's already been accomplished, and I had nothing to do with
it. This is the gospel message of the Scriptures. So it doesn't
matter what message they preach. We know this, if their message
is salvation by what you do, that's the message of Satan and
his messengers. The true gospel of Christ is
salvation by grace, by the perfect work of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit
quickening and keeping us, and all who are saved will continue
in this message, they will continue to believe this until Christ
comes again. The next thing is this, even
those in these dark days, listen, you have great cause to give
thanks. Even if Satan is loose, even if the world is against
you, even if there are many that apostate, If there are many that
are reprobate, listen, you who are in Christ, you still have
reason to give thanks. Why? We should rejoice because God
chose you. Why did God choose you? You can't find any reason, can
you? It is the grace of God alone. God put you in Christ. But of
God are you in Christ, who of God has made into us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's the whole
thing. God made Him that for you. And
in time, God revealed that to you. He gave you life. He gave you faith. And listen. If He gave you life
and faith, He will keep you. Why are you still here? Look around. How many have left? How many have left? I weep for them. And hopefully,
we don't know, maybe the Lord be gracious. Maybe they're not,
I don't know. But I know many have left. Why
are you here? Why do you still, you know what
Christ said to his disciples? He said, will you go away also?
He said, we've got no place to go. I know this, you are the
Christ, the Son of the Living God, I don't know anything else.
And I can't go anywhere else. Why is that? Why would you not
go away? Because you're kept. You're kept. So even in the darkness, you
have great cause to give thanks. Christ has redeemed you. Your
sins are gone. Your sins are gone. Even the ones you haven't committed
yet, they're gone. You know, I love that picture,
I always say it, of that scapegoat, and taking that scapegoat away,
is watching him go off in the distance. There go my sins! There
go my sins! Where are they? I can't even
see them. They're gone. That's how far Christ took them
away. He did that by His death. And God can't demand twice payment.
That's good news, isn't it? I'm glad God's just. I'm glad
God's holy, because if He killed my substitute, He cannot kill
me. Isn't that good? You've got cause to give thanks.
Rejoice and give thanks. And the next thing is this, in
dark times, let us be faithful to Christ. Let us be faithful. Satan will be loosed, apostasy
will come. In dark times, we have great
cause to give thanks that God has not allowed us to be deceived,
but keeps us from deception, keeps our eyes fixed on Christ.
Therefore, if we believe in Christ, let us be faithful to Christ. I'm telling you, there are influences
all around us trying to pull us away from this faithfulness. And you know the worst enemy
is sitting in your chair. You can't get rid of him. He's that corpse that hangs about
your neck. You would serve Christ. You would
love Christ. And you can't do what you want
to. That shouldn't stop us from striving
to serve Christ. Paul says in 2 Timothy 1, he
says, Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou hast heard of me. How we hold them, Paul? In faith
and love. What is that but the law of Christ?
Faith and love is our law. Let us hold fast these words
in faith and love. Love to Christ. Love to one another. Believe in Christ. Not what we
feel. Not what we think. not your circumstance. If we based our faithfulness
on how we feel or what's happening to us, we would never be faithful. Hold fast those formless, sound
words. What the Gospel. Hold fast to
it. Let us be faithful to Christ,
no matter the cost. Isn't that just reasonable? Is that unreasonable to ask? To give your life for Christ. Not if you know Christ. Paul said, that's just your reasonable,
sir. Give your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God, which
is reasonable. And the last thing is this, there
is no cause for despair. No matter if Satan be loosed
and the whole world be against you, there is no cause for despair. Why? Because Christ will always
deliver His people. I have thousands of years and
many witnesses laid out before us here, in every case, when
His people were in despair, He delivered them. Find one where
He didn't. Challenge you, find one. Tell
me about it. And I'll tell people that God
fails. You won't find one here. You say, well, God hasn't delivered
me yet. There's a word, yet. Wait a minute. Just because He
delays doesn't mean He won't deliver you. He will. You have no cause to despair.
Look back at your text. Look at this. Look at the situation. They're innumerable as the sand
of the sea. They're surrounding this little
bitty Jerusalem, this little bitty place. And the whole world's
against it. What does God do? Fire comes
down out of heaven and devours them all. All of them. They have no cause for despair.
Listen, believers, we cannot be deceived. In this company, you who are
true believers cannot be deceived. You can be confused. We're often
confused. Many of us fall into sin. We may even at times forsake
Christ. But if we are His, He will never
forsake you. I'm going to close with this. Go to Hosea. Close with this. Hosea. Hosea chapter 14. Israel had rejected God. They
had turned from God, turned to idols. And you read through this
book, it is a dark book up until chapter 14. It's just really,
I mean, Israel and Ephraim are in a bad condition. I already
told you, God said, leave him alone, right? In chapter 4, Hosea
said, just leave him alone. But God says this, I cannot forsake
you. He's my son. I can't forsake
him. Look what he says. Therefore he cries, O Israel,
return unto the Lord thy God. Have your back slidden I'll tell
you this, you should hear that. That's a good word to you. Who
have fallen, return unto the Lord, for thou hast fallen by
thine iniquity. How do you return? Take with
you words and turn to the Lord. Say unto Him, take away all iniquity. And receive us, how? By our works? No, by grace, graciously. So will we render the calves
of our lips. In verse 4, he says, then I will
heal their backsliding. That's a promise, isn't it? He
says, return. And what do they do? They take
with them words. What word? Take away my sin. How's that? By Christ. Take away
my sin by the blood of Christ. And God says, I'm going to do
this. I'm going to heal you. I will love you freely and my
neighbor will be turned away from Him. Then in verse 5 through
80, He promises growth. He promises you're going to be
like a tree. You're so beautiful and full of fruit. And so He concludes in verse
9, who is wise. And she shall understand these
things prudent, and He shall know them. For the ways of the
Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors
shall fall Therein, listen, the Word of God is plain. There is
a time when Satan will be loosed. It will be a dark time for the
church. Apostasy will abound. We will
have enemies as many as the sands of the sea. But even in these
dark times, we have cause to rejoice. We have cause to praise
God. We are His chosen. We are His
redeemed. We are His called. We are kept by Him. We cannot
be deceived. And even if we fall, He calls
us. And what? We come. I pray that God would give us
comfort in times of darkness. In every time of darkness. What is our comfort? It's Christ. Jesus Christ is
my refuge. Jesus Christ is my hope. Jesus Christ is my foundation. And I'll tell you this. All Israel
shall be saved. Not one shall be left. I pray God would comfort you
with this. Strengthen you in the times of trouble. Gracious Father, be merciful. Be gracious to your church. Keep
us in faith and in love to Christ and to one another. I pray, Father,
you'd keep the enemy from us Hedge us about by your grace
and mercy. Though he may deceive the world,
Father, I know this, your people shall not be deceived. We continue
to believe the gospel of Christ because of your great power and
mercy. Thank you for your love. We pray
you'd bless it upon us even today in Jesus' name. Amen.