Thank you. Good to be back with
you. Thankful to be here. It's an
honor. Good to see you. And a privilege. I always enjoy coming here and
I'm thankful when I do. Mindy, I speak on behalf of her
also. And Brother Gabe, when he called
me, he said, I hope you're not dreading
this call. He said, you know, I heard you're
coming and so I'm going to ask you to preach. And I said, no,
I don't dread it at all. I knew you would and I was prepared. I used to do the same thing.
In fact, don't even think you're coming to Rocky Mountain without
preaching. But I can't tell you how often
my father has preached for us, filled in, without cost, for
years now, 20 some years, he has agreed to come and preach.
As you know, he doesn't preach anymore, and I sure miss that.
But I'm delighted to be here. But let me remind you about visiting
preachers. I need to say this. My father taught me this to strengthen
the hands of the pastor of the church where you go. But you esteem visiting preachers
highly. I know you do. And I suppose
you should, but not too highly. Visiting preachers come and go,
and they go home. But it's the man who labors here
who's losing sleep over you and crying and praying and laboring
for you. That's the man God has put here
and the man you're to And I know you do, I know you do. Pray for
him and I'm thankful for him, thankful you have him. All right,
go back to Revelation 12 with me. Revelation 12, we're not
going to look at the whole chapter. Just a few verses that really
blessed me and I hope will be a blessing to you. Look at verses
9 through 11 with me again. Revelation 12, 9 through 11.
The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil
and Satan. which deceiveth the whole world.
He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out
with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is
come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And
they loved not their lives unto death. They overcame him by the
blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. The accuser
of the brethren, the accused. Now, Satan is his name. That old serpent he's called
here. And he's not a fairy tale character. He's real. The people of this
world scoff and mock and laugh at any mention of such a one
as this. And anytime that they do that,
anytime that men and women scoff or mock the truth of God's word,
they're calling the Lord Jesus Christ a liar. Christ spoke of
Satan as much or more than anyone. He did. He spoke several times
of Satan. He said, one time, I beheld Satan
fall from heaven. I beheld him fall. He's a real
person. A real powerful adversary. He's known by many names in scriptures. That old serpent here, the devil,
Satan. The adversary, the accuser. Peter says he's like a roaring
lion. He's called the dragon here.
He's called that wicked one, the evil one, and so on. A real
person. And Paul said also that many
people are taken captive by him at his will. They are under the
captivity of Satan. The very ones that scoff and
mock at him are actually in his grip. He has them under his control. Now that's what the scripture
said. A real foe, a real adversary, a ruler. Scripture says in Ephesians
6, he's called principality and power, rulers of the darkness
of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. And we're not
wrestling with flesh and blood, but with powerful foe. Powerful foe. But let me say
this, and we're very careful when we deal with him, when we
talk about him, we should be very fearful. Even Michael, the
archangel in the book of Jude, would not contend with him. Remember
that? He said, the Lord rebuked thee,
Satan. And he also said that some of these false prophets
whom he called filthy dreamers speak evil of dignities and those
things that they don't understand. They pretend to have some kind
of power over Satan when in fact they're under his dominion and
power. So we don't do that. devil bashing tonight. He's a
very real foe, a very fearful one, and we're no match for him.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were absolutely no match. One of the old writers said that
Satan in the garden was a young devil. And even as a young devil,
he overcame our first parents who were stronger than we are.
And now he's called that old serpent who has been practicing
his craft for 6,000 years now in humanity. He's a master at
it. He's a master at the art of deception,
who deceiveth the whole world. That's what we read there, didn't
we? Darkness, leaving them in darkness. And it says here in
verse 9, now look at it, in verse 9 that he is cast out into the
earth and his angels, demons, were cast out with him. I don't
know when this happened, no one does. And there's much speculation,
and that's all it is among men who try to understand it. We don't. The Lord hasn't made
this perfectly clear to us. We can only speculate. But He
is, His dominion is here in this earth. He's called the God of
this world in small g. Now He's not God. He is not sovereign. He has no dominion over anything.
God is sovereign over all. Satan can only do what God allows
him to do. I'm saying all this for our comfort.
our company. He is not omniscient. He doesn't
know all things. He is not omnipresent. He's one
person. He's not everywhere at the same
time. No, he's not. He doesn't know your heart. He
cannot look on the heart. Only God does that. He doesn't
know who's a child of God and who's not. He doesn't. All he
knows is that who's not under his absolute dominion when God
takes captivity captive, his people. So for our comfort, he
is not sovereign. God is sovereign. He is God's
devil. May I say that? Oh yeah, I'm
going to say that. He only does what God allows
him to do and gives him the freedom to do. And I'm so thankful. And
we should be. We should be. Well, look at this
in verse 10, it says, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and
the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
A loud voice, someone spoke with a loud voice and said, now is
come salvation. Now's the time of salvation.
I do believe I know when this took place. Go with me to John's
Gospel chapter 12. The Gospel of John chapter 12. Our Lord spoke of this hour,
of this time, several times through the Gospel of John. John chapter
12, look at verse 27. Our Lord said in John 12, 27,
Now is my soul troubled And what shall I say, father
saved me from this hour? No, but for this cause came I
unto this hour. Christ came to this world to
defeat our foe. He came to this world to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He came, the woman seed
came. of whom our Lord spoke in the
garden. The woman's seed would come and crush the serpent's
head, and the serpent would bruise his heel. That took place at
Calvary. What happened at Calvary's tree
was Christ took Satan's power away from him. that Christ took
his people away from him, led captivity captive, that Christ
destroyed the power of sin, Satan, and hell and death. The Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary
Tree. That loud voice that we just read about there could have
been when Christ on the cross cried out, it is finished. Salvation accomplished. And that's
what happened, that Calvary tree. And read on, in verse 28, he
said, Father, glorify thy name. And there came a voice from heaven,
and I'm sure it was loud as the sound of many waters. I have
both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. And the people
therefore that stood by heard it, said that it thundered. Others
said an angel spake unto him. Read on. And Jesus answered and
said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Right now, a loud voice. The
father said it, the son said it. Now look at chapter 14. He
speaks of him again. In verse 30 of chapter 14, he's
leaving his disciples to go to the cross. And he said in verse
30, hereafter I'll not talk much with you, For the prince of this
world cometh, and he hath nothing in me. He's come. And this is
not a fairy tale. This is not an allegory. This
is a real story that Christ met with our foe. And he met with
our foe on Calvary's tree, and he defeated him, a stronger than
day. We're no match, but a greater than he was, and I'm glad. And then he spoke of him in chapter
16 and verse 11 where he said, the prince of this world is judged. Satan, now go back to the text,
Satan is not only clearly spoken of in the scriptures, revealed
in scriptures to his people. But he's a very real adversary
in the experience of God's people. God's people feel this adversary. They do. They do battle with
him, albeit not directly, because the Lord won't let that happen.
But our Lord did say that. Of Peter, he said, Satan desired
thee, didn't he? To sift thee like wheat. The
woman spoken of here that I'm not going to deal much with,
that woman clothed with the sun and the dragon came to persecute
her and she found a place in the wilderness prepared for her
where she would be fed. That's the church. That's not
Mary the Virgin. That's the church of God. All
of God's people. All of God's people are persecuted
by the adversary. And our Lord has promised them
protection from Him. And all of them are persecuted
by Him whom He seeks to devour. It talks about a child being
born of the church. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
who was chosen from amongst His people. Christ came from the
very midst of His church. The Lord Jesus Christ, who's
this man who was the rule with a rod of iron and caught up to
the throne of God, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he came
out of the midst of his church. Okay? And so this woman is the
church, all of whom, all of God's people are persecuted by the
adversary. Persecuted. Whom Satan seeks
to devour. and sift like wheat. And there's
so much more to be said here of this story. But Christ came,
our captain, he's called the captain of our salvation. The
truth is stranger than fiction. Our Lord Jesus Christ really
did come and do battle with our great adversary, he really did.
And who did he deal with when he first turned 30 years old? When our Lord first turned 30
years old, that's the age of a man. covenant head, our representative,
our substitute, the captain of our salvation, the one whom God
gave us to accomplish salvation. What did he do when he first
came here? When he first came publicly as a man, the very first
thing, Chris, that he did was face Satan, didn't he? Tempted
by him in all points like as we are yet without sin for 40
days and 40 nights He met our adversary tempted with the lust
of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life Which we're
no match for which we fall to all of them, but Christ did not
He did not as our covenant hand and he met him head-on for 40
days It's significant there. Most believers spend about 40
years battling with it. But we read
that it's a very real battle or struggle. It really
is. God's people know it. They feel
it. Martin Luther, who wrote this
hymn, if you want a blessing, read something, a good biography
of Martin Luther and the story of Martin Luther. You'll get
a great blessing. But Martin Luther, it's amazing what the
Lord did through that one man to destroy false religion, to
bring the truth to us. We have a Bible indirectly as
a result of Brother Martin Luther standing, as it were, alone against
the whole world of corruption, of false religion. I love Martin
Luther. The more I read about him, the
more thankful I am for him. He stood up against all those
cardinals and popes and defied them all in the name of God,
and God used him mightily. And we have this gospel, I believe,
as a result of men like that standing for him. God undergirded
it. But Martin Luther had a real foe to battle with. They sought
to kill him and they couldn't do it. He died of old age. died
of old age. But they wanted to kill him and
they couldn't. They couldn't. But he's the one that wrote this
hymn that we sung. A mighty fortress is our God.
And he spoke of our adversary. He said, did we in our own strength
confide, our striving would be losing. We're no match for him,
for our adversary. We're no match for the least
temptation that he brings our way. No match whatsoever. We'll
fall to the least. If we in our own strength confided,
our striving would be losing. We're not the right man, capital
M on our side, the man of God's own choosing. And he says, do
you ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he. Lord
Sabbath is his name. From age to age, the same. God's people's captain from the
beginning. He must win the battle, he said.
And though this world with devil's field should threaten to undo
us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph
through us. What a hymn. What a hymn. A real adversary though. And
he's called, and when Christ came, verse 10 says, now is come. When Christ was crucified, now
is salvation come. And strength. We don't have any
strength. Christ is our strength. And we're
gonna see in a moment, Christ and him crucified. This is all
our strength to deal with our adversary. And the kingdom of
our God and the power of his cry. And it says in verse 10,
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. Who accused them
before our God day and night. The accuser. I want you to go
with me now to the book of Job. The book of Job, and this is
significant. The book of Job, most Bible,
most men believe is the oldest recorded book in the scripture.
Job lived during the time of Abraham. Moses could have had
a copy of the book of Job. It's the oldest recorded book.
But, and some of Moses' writings sound like Job. But the oldest
book in the Bible, how fitting In the very first chapter, Job
is a man who is set forth by God, whom Satan came to accuse. Isn't that fitting? Very fitting. Stay with me now. And Job, because
he said, it said there in our text, he's the accuser of the
brethren. He's been accusing God's people from the beginning.
from the very outset. He faced our parents and Job,
our Lord. Well, look at this in the book
of Job, verse 6, chapter 1, verse 6. It came a day, it was a day
when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
Lord and Satan came also among them. That was not some kind
of mystical spiritual meeting in heaven. No, no. This is the
sons of God like they're spoken of in the book of Genesis who
married the daughters of men. Those are just believers. This
was a worship service, like we're having here tonight, whom Satan
wants to do nothing more than to keep God's people from worshiping
Christ. He's called the one who has blinded
the minds of men, rulers of the darkness of this world, who deceiveth
the whole world. His realm of his work, the place
where he works the most is in religion. religion. His great ploy or work is to
blind the minds of men and women lest they should hear the glorious
gospel of Christ and they be delivered from his captivity.
He knows that the gospel is the power of God, he's seen it work.
He knows that the truth is the power of God that sets men free,
he's seen it work. And he wants nothing more than
to keep people in darkness, to keep them from hearing this gospel.
Tell me, when is this struggle greater than when you sit in
this place and try to listen to God's word, pray? We can sit
and read a magazine. We can sit and watch a television
show or read a book and our minds be totally engrossed in it. But
when it comes to reading God's word or comes to sitting here
and hearing a man proclaim it, it's the greatest struggle we
know in. That's proof, isn't it? That
our adversary is very real. That's proof that this is the
thing that he does not want us to do. And he came to accuse
Job. Now look at this. Job is a great,
have you ever thought of Job as a picture of Christ? He's gotta be. He's gotta be
a type of Christ. First book, Christ has to have
the preeminent. Our Lord said of Job, he's perfect. There's none like him in the
earth. Who could he represent but the Lord Jesus Christ? None
like him in the air, perfect and upright man, one that fears
God and does not choose evil. And when it was all over, Job
sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. He represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, Job does, doesn't he? Like every other great man in
Scripture. But Job was a real man, like
you and me. A real man. Whom Satan said,
now here's what Satan said about Job. Look at it, in verse 9,
after the Lord said that about Job, Satan answered, He fears
you for nothing. Doth not Job fear you for naught?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, about all his house, about
all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he
will curse you to your fate. His accusation was, Job, he's
not real. You've got him hedged about.
If you take that hedge down, he'll deny you. Now, Satan accuses all of God's
people before God, and he accuses us in our own hearts and minds.
And he says things like this. You're nothing but a sinner.
That's all you are. And much of what he says is true.
And we have a hard time answering. You're a hypocrite. Now, let me say this about that.
One time, people use that excuse sometimes for not coming to church.
They say, I'm not going to go down there. They're a bunch of
hypocrites. You ever heard somebody say that? A bunch of hypocrites.
Heard a believer say one time to a fellow that said that, said,
well, one more won't hurt. Come on down. But the fact is, God's people
are not hypocrites. No, they're not. A hypocrite
is somebody who's playing a part, playing a game, acting like something
they're not, trying to be somebody they're not. God's people are
not like that. They're not phony. We do act hypocritically at times. God's people do act. All of us
do, don't we? We act a fool. We put on a show
sometimes. But for the greatest part, God's
people are real, are sincere, because they've got a real work
in them. They got a real person dwelling
in them. They got a real new creature created in Christ Jesus
in them. When God said this about Job,
he meant it, didn't he? Christ in us is the hope of glory. Let me ask you this, before the
Lord revealed himself to you, you didn't have any struggle
with these things. Before there were two creatures, two men inside
you, you didn't have any struggle. But you do now, don't you? Paul
said, I see two laws warring in my member, flesh and spirit. And is it not so with you? And
when some of you that were in religion before and are self-righteous,
didn't know the Lord, you didn't have the struggles then that
you have now. Didn't do it, but you do now.
Do now. It's a real struggle. And Satan
brings these accusations and he says, how can you be a child
of God and think thoughts like that? How could you, you call
yourself a child of God, a Christian, how could you do what you do?
How could you think what you do? You're no better than anybody
else. There's nothing you haven't thought, nothing you won't do.
The only reason you don't run hog wild is because God's got
a hedge about you. And if he lets that down, you'd
be another devil. And you know something? It's
partly true. It's partly true. But I'm thankful
for that hedge, aren't you? I'm thankful, and I know it's
so. But here's the fact of the matter. God said to Satan, take
him. He let him have him. Let's see
if this is so. Let's see if he'll deny me. This
gives me hope. This gives me courage. Let's
see if you'll deny. Have him! And God let Satan have
him. He let Satan have Peter, didn't
he? Didn't he? He said he desires to sift you,
and he let him have him. And he did, and he was no match.
But did Peter finally fall away? Did he? Did he leave? No. What'd Job do? He says, in all
this, Job sinned not. The Lord put Job through every
single thing that every child of God will go through for all
their life. One man went through everything
that every child of God could possibly go through. One man
to prove to us God's grace really is sufficient. That this is real. A real God undergirds us. A real
Christ has control over us. A real person lives in us. It's
real. He's real. That's right, Job,
by the grace of God, by the power of God, by this new man in him,
he didn't fall. He withstood. How? In his own strength. Was this
Job? No, it was Christ in him. Christ
in it. In all this, Job sinned not. Even his wife. And how many people
are married to unbelieving mates who tell them, who call them,
who see them at their weakest time, who see them act hypocritically
and say, how could you be a Christian and act like that? And their
own conscience are convicted. And Job's wife said of him, you
said, why don't you just curse God and die? And he said, you speak like one
of the foolish women. I don't know what the Lord did
for Job's wife. I think he might've saved her.
Job had seven more children later by somebody. I'd like to believe
that it was that unbelieving wife of his that just cursed
you, God. I'd like to think that, wouldn't
you? There's hope for the worst. God, Christ, this is a real adversary
and God does a real work in His people. Well, I've got to hurry. Let's go back to Revelation 12.
Revelation 12. I've got to hurry. Revelation 12, Peter knew about
this struggle, as I said, Lord let him have him just briefly.
One time, you remember, Peter tried to keep, Satan entered
Peter briefly to try to keep Christ from going to the crawl.
Remember that? Our Lord said, I'm going to the
crawl, and Peter rebuked him and said, oh, don't be it far
from thee, Lord. And the Lord turned and said,
get behind me, Satan. Thou savorest not the things
be of God, but of man. Christ crucified. That's the
things of God, and that's our hope, that's our salvation. It
all has to do with Christ and Him crucified. Now look at this.
All right, he's the accuser of the brethren. Accuses them before
God day and night. And look at what it says in verse
11. It says, they overcame him two ways. There's only two ways
to answer the accusations of the accuser. There's only two
things to say. Two things to say when these
accusations come up. When our conscience convicts
us. When the law convicts us. When Satan accuses us. There are only two ways to answer
him. The blood of the lamb and the
word of the testimony. Hang with me now. This is good.
The blood of the lamb. says they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb. All through the revelation, all
the churches end with this. Who is he that overcometh? Who
is he that overcometh? First John 5 says, who is he
that overcome? Who overcomes? We don't overcome
Satan, but one way, one way. Peter said then, whom resists,
speaking of the devil, whom resists steadfast how? In the faith. In the faith. What's the faith?
What's the faith of God's elect? What is our hope? What is our
plea? What is our answer to all that
the law says today, that all that Satan accuses us? What is
our answer? It better be one thing, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood answers to every accusation. The blood of Christ, God's lamb
cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Christ, our Passover,
who was killed for us. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. It is the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. The blood answers to all the
accusations, all the charges against us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? Christ dies. It's the blood. It's the blood. When Satan accuses
us to God, Christ's blood answers all those charges. He's a sinner,
yes, but Christ died. His blood says acquitted. I had
a clever title for what it's worth. It's not clever, it's
just scriptural. The accuser, the accused, and
the acquittal. The acquittal, justified. We're
justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man's justified
by the law. Oh no, it cannot be. No one can
be. But we're justified from all
things by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, paid in full. God
will not, yea, cannot punish a man for the same sins that
Christ died for. That's good news. In Isaiah 53
verse 11, the scripture says, he, God, shall see the travail
of his soul, his son's soul. He put his soul to grief, made
his soul an offering for sin. He put him to grief. He pleased
the Lord to bruise him. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. And when God saw his son suffering
on our behalf for our sins, it said he saw the travail of his
soul and what? Was satisfied. Two words are
the gospel. Substitution, that's Christ,
and satisfaction. God satisfy. Good enough for
me. Satisfy. When Satan accuses our
conscience, when Satan accuses us, we say the blood. The blood, we plead the blood.
And the word of their testimony, look at that. The word of their
testimony. How did our Lord deal with Satan? Satan tempted him and how did
our Lord answer him? Every time, how? The word, it
is written. It is written. And we dare not
plead anything but what God said. The word of their testimony.
The word of our testimony. It's not our word. It's His word. It's not our testimony. Well,
it is our testimony. But God's testimony is our testimony. The word that God declares concerning
His Son, the testimony of God concerning His Son is my testimony. What God says of Christ, that's
what I say. That's what I say. That's who
I plead. So the word of our testimony
is this. Listen to it. When Satan comes
and he says things like this, and he uses Scripture. You're
a sinner and Scripture says, The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. God's people must say, yes, it's
true, I'm a sinner. But Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Christ died, scripture said.
And scripture says he made his soul an offering for sin. When
Satan says, you have forsaken the Lord many times and probably
will again, tell him, yes, that's true. That accusation is true,
but it is written, he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. He hath said, he cannot deny
himself. So if I'm in Christ, if I'm his,
he cannot deny himself. When Satan says you're full of
sin, that's true. But it is written, of his fullness
have we received grace for grace. When Satan says, your iniquities
testify against you, say, that's true. But scripture says, there
are sins and iniquity, I will remember no more. And God hath
laid on him the iniquity of them all. When Satan says, you're
unrighteous, say, that's true. That's true, but. Scripture says,
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth,
his faith is counted for righteousness. So that's the word of our testimony. And in closing, just turn real
quickly to 1 John 5, in closing, talking about overcoming our
adversary by the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony.
This is it, 1 John 5. Who is he that overcometh the
world? Verse 4. This is a new creature. Like
we were speaking of, it was in Job and enabled him to do what
he did, and to withstand what he did, and to not fail. And
God was with him, and God was in him, Christ was in him. Verse
4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. This is
what he's talking about when it says, sinneth not. That new
creature can't sin. Committeth no sin. That old man
can't do anything but sin. The new man can't sin. That's
good news. New creature. Who is he that
overcometh the world? Verse 5. That he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. This is he, Christ, that came
by water and blood. Now go on down and it says in
verse 10, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. The witness is that God testified
of His Son. This is the record. God hath
given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath the love for the
Son hath life. He that hath faith in Christ hath life. He that
hath all his hope in Christ hath life. That's God's testimony,
and that's mine, that's ours. And you know, in the last line
of Revelation 12, it says they have the testimony of Jesus Christ,
the remnant. And one more thing, let me close
with this, okay? In our text back there in Revelation
12, it says, they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb, by
the word of their testimony, And they loved not their lives
unto death. They loved not their lives unto
death. And Paul wrote, I think it's
Paul, in the Hebrews, how that we have a great cloud of witnesses. In Hebrews 11, of people, it
says things like this about them, that they quenched the violence
of fire, that means they were burned. The sword and they were
tortured and trial of cruel mockings and scourgings and bonds and
imprisonment were stoned and sawn asunder, slain with the
sword. How could anybody do that? How could anybody go through
that? How? Because greater is He that is
in them than he that is in the world. They're adversaries. That's how. Because the Lord
is stronger. Without Him, we can do nothing.
We're nothing. With man, this is impossible.
But with God, all things are possible. And He gave us this
great cloud of witnesses to show that. And He said, they love
not their lives unto death. Let me ask you something. If somebody came to you and threatened
to kill you, if the authorities came right now, and this happened
for thousands of years, came in places like this where people
were meeting and actually took them away and killed them for
Christ's sake. If they came to you, and Brother
Tony, this happened to so many, I just read it to you. They came
to you and said, if you don't renounce Jesus Christ, you're
going to die. What would you do? If you belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ, I know what you would do. You'd do what they did. You'd love not your life unto
death. Our Lord said, if any man loved father or mother or
husband or wife or son or daughter, his own life also, more than
me, can't be my disciple. And it's real. These people,
were they afraid? Yes. Was this a terrible thing? Yes. Were there strong cries
and tears? Yes. But did they endure to the
death? Yes. That's proof. You won't die for
something you don't really believe from your heart. Let me close with this illustration. It's true. Some of you have the
book, Fox's Book of Martyrs. If you don't have it, get it.
There were two men, two preachers of the gospel, Nicholas Ridley
and Hugh Latimer in 1555. And I remember the date well
because they died in October of 1555, the very month I was
born and 400 years before I was born, 1555. October 1555, Hugh Latimer and
Nicholas Ridley were two preachers in England, greatly loved and
esteemed by the people they preached to, preachers of the truth, at
a time when Bloody Mary, Queen Mary, was persecuting everyone
that preached and believed the truth, hauling them off and burning
them at the stake and killing them. And so many, there were
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds killed by that wicked queen for
the truth sake. Well, those two men were hauled
off and were scheduled to go and be burned at the stake side
by side. They were close friends. And
now they're going to die together, burned at the stake. True story.
And so they were tied to those stakes and put that wood around them.
And they lit that fire. And they had family. Can you imagine? Can you? We
can't imagine, can we? And while those flames were flaming,
they were roaring around them, Mr. Latimer, Brother Latimer
said, He hollered at his friend beside
him, said, Brother Ridley, play the man. He said, today, by God's
grace, we're going to light a candle that they're never going to put
out. Living candle. And it hadn't been put out. The Reformation and all that
came from that. One man that was being burned
at the stake, I forget who he was. King Edward was the daughter,
I believe, of Mary, of Bloody Mary. King Edward was raised
up the heir to the throne. I believe I've got it right.
And one man was being burned at the stake, and his dying words
were, Lord, open the eyes of the King of England. And he did. A few years later, King Edward
said, we're going to let everybody It's not against the law anymore.
And then the word spread, and we have it. We have it now, because
men like that were burned at the stake for it. Oh, they love
not their lives unto death. They overcame the accuser. Two
ways, the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
And they love not their lives unto death, and neither do we. We would lay down our lives.
When it came to that, yes, we would. May the Lord use his word
for your good and his glory.