He must win the battle. Let me tell you the secret of
this whole message. Secret. If Christ didn't fight
for us, if He didn't win, we're all goners. He's told you the whole key to
understanding. Armageddon or whatever. We're not the right man on our
side, the man of God's own choosing, the Lord Jesus Christ. He must
win the battle. And one little word from Him
shall fail the foe. As said Sunday, if I announced
that I was going to deal with Armageddon, we'd have an overflowing
crowd. But what they would hear upon
coming here, they'd be disappointed. Because I'm going to preach Christ
crucified. That's what Armageddon is about. Arma means a mount or a hill. Geden means a gathering or a
meeting place. A mount or a hill where there's
a gathering. What say we gather together at
Mount Calvary tonight? Okay. Our Lord said in the next
verse, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men out of every kindred
nation tongue unto heaven. That's my very last words. I've
already got to the end of the message. Our Lord plainly said,
John 12. Go to John 12. This is our text.
John chapter 12. I wrestled with this Perhaps
more than any message in a long time. Three or four days or more.
Examine my motives for dealing with it. They're pure. They're
true because I'm dealing faithfully with God's Word. This came up
in John 12. And this is a vital, vital, vital
message. This is a key to understanding
the Gospel. Okay? Our Lord in verse 31 says,
Now is the judgment of this world. Now. Not some future ten. He's about to go to Calvary's
tree. He's headed to Calvary's tree, okay? And he says, now
is the judgment of this world. Read on. Now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. Not some future place in time. Right now. Three questions. Three questions,
and we can understand the truth. What happened in the garden?
What happened on the cross? What happens in salvation? That's
key, understanding the truth. What happened in the garden?
Man died. Man became a captive to the godless world. What happened
on Calvary's tree? He led captivity captive. He
removed that power from him over men, except those he keeps, leaves
them in his power. But now they are stronger than
he. Bound him at Calvary. This is
Genesis 3.15. The woman's seed shall bruise
the serpent's head. This is what happened to Calvary.
Now is the God of this world cast out. This is good news, God's people. He said in verse 32, if I be
lifted up from the earth, that's crucified, I will draw all men
unto me. And this he spake by signifying
what death he should die. I'll draw all to him, the gathering
of the people shall be Christ crucified. We preach the gospel
of Christ crucified and that's what we, that's what gathers
us, called by the gospel. Now, it's at Calvary that the
captain of our salvation fought the great battle for us. You
understand? Paul said he abolished death
and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. He
defeated at Calvary. Our captain defeated Satan, sin,
death, and hell by himself. And it's all over but the shouting. We're going to read 2 Chronicles
20 to end this message. The story of Jehoshaphat. Joel
3 talks about Jehoshaphat twice. And we're going to see what all
that means. This battle is not some future battle in Israel
in a valley between good and evil, between the world and Christians. What are they fighting for? What are they fighting for? Land?
This is not our city, this is not our place. Huh? Is it us fighting against the
forces of evil? If it is, we're no match. Okay? Our Lord said, now is the
judgment of this world. Now is the God of this world
cast out, didn't He? There's some key verses along
with what you just read. That's a key verse to understanding
what Christ did on that cross. He said, right now, I judge this
world. You're either justified or condemned
by Christ crucified. That's it. Acts 17. God will, as appointed today,
will judge all men in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained.
Judgment. John 16, talking about sin, righteousness,
and judgment. Look at John 16, I just alluded
to. Look at John 16. This is a key
verse, key verses in understanding. John 16, verse 8. John 16, 8. When He, the Holy Spirit, has
come, Oh, there's so much that goes by the name of Holy Spirit. If you want to be sickened, watch
some of this stuff that goes under Holy Spirit Revival on
YouTube or something. It's an evil spirit. When He comes, the Holy Spirit,
here's what He does through the preaching of the Word. He'll
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, Do you ever hear
anybody talking about righteousness? Have you ever heard a modern
preacher, other than a grace preacher, even use the word righteousness? Ever? What about sin? As far as most preachers go,
there is no sin. Judgment. Alright, what does
all that have to do with Christ? Of sin. Here's the sin that God
holds the world accountable for. They believe not on me. and all that that means. They
don't believe that He's their only hope. They don't believe
that He's God. They don't believe He is their
righteousness. That's the next thing, of righteousness.
Because I go to my Father and you see me no more. You've got
to be a righteous and holiest God to get into heaven. It's
not some holiness that you produce by quitting this and quitting
that. Clean hands, a pure heart, never lift up your soul, sworn
deceitfully, or lift up your soul into vanity. Psalm 24. Who's
going to enter those gates? The King of Glory. And some people
with Him, by virtue of Him. And it says there in that Psalm
24, the King of Glory, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in
battle. John 16. So here's another key
verse. Go back to John 12. John 12. Here's another key verse.
Our Lord said in John 18, He said, My kingdom is not of this
world. If it were, My servants wouldn't. What more do we need? Battle? No, we're not, you're not battling
for this place. We're not fighting this battle
for planet Earth. He said that, didn't he? My kingdom
is not of this earth. If it were, we would fight. You
got all these people, you know, stopped piling guns and all that.
Christian militia, you know. We're going to have to, the government's
going to Turn on us, take our guns away from us, so what? There's a sword that comes out
of my Lord's mouth. One time the disciples in the
garden, you know, Simon Peter took out a sword and said, put
your sword away. Be that taketh, liveth by the
sword, or die by the sword. He said, don't you know I could
call my Heavenly Father right now and send twelve legions of
angels? 144,000 angels. One of them said, here's two swords against Satan. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood. Principalities of power, spiritual wickedness,
and high places, rulers of the darkness. We can't win that battle. If Christ doesn't win, we're
gone. Our Lord has been saying in Acts,
John 12, look up at verse, John 12, look at verse 27. He said, what shall I say? Father
saved me from this hour for this cause. Came I unto this hour. And I brought this up Sunday.
Remember David and Goliath. That whole story took place because
it's a picture of Christ facing our foe for us. And David went out, and all his
brethren were nomads for this giant. David's the chosen of
God. David's the man after God's own
heart. David's the king of Israel. People don't know it, but he
is. That's Christ. And David went out in front of
him, and nobody saw that there was no man. He looked, and he
saw there's no man. None of his brethren with him.
None stood with him. He said, is there not a cause? God's glory? The salvation of Israel was at
stake. David said, is there not a cause?
What happened? One man cut the head off of that
giant and Israel prevailed. Is that not right? He took his
own sword, cut his head off. Satan deceived and thought he
had destroyed God's kingdom through a man. Through Adam. He thought he destroyed God's
kingdom through a man, Adam. So God took a man and destroyed
him. His own sword. So David represents our Lord
Jesus Christ who came for the glory of God. Is there not a
cause? Christ said, for this cause came
I into the world. And he stopped and said, Father,
glorify thy name. David did what he did for the
glory of God, because the foe was mocking the God of Israel. Oh
my, Satan is mocking, and he has everybody, mostly religion,
mocking God too. Is there not a cause? I'll tell
you why I'm bringing this message. The cause of God and truth. Because
of all the errors going on today. Because Because the glory of God is at
stake, isn't it? And God thundered from heaven
and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. God's greatest glory, John Davis,
is Christ crucified. God's greatest glory was seen
at Calvary. His name was glorified at Calvary. Holy, holy, holy. God is holy. Sin was laid on Christ, so God
forsook him. You'll see the holiness of God.
Look at Calvary and not see it anywhere else like that. Holy. God is merciful. You'll never
see the mercy of God like you see it at Calvary. God sparing guilty sinners, the
very ones that killed his son, letting them go free. Sparing
not his own son. Gracious grace, oh, the unspeakable
gift of God in sending His Son to Capernaum. Love. Oh, you know,
for some, a good man, a righteous man, some might die, but God,
hearing His love, He committed His love toward us while we were
yet sinners. Christ died. God will by no means clear the
guilty. That's his name. Just. I'm a
just God. He'll by no means clear the guilty.
Well, how can God be just and justified? How can God condemn
and God punish us and yet forgive us? How? Calvary. Christ. So his name was glorified
there. And he said, I've glorified it
and I will glorify it again. He keeps glorifying his name.
Right now, his name is being glorified in our midst. We're
blessed to be here right now. There's so many blaspheming his
name. I thought about this on the way
over here. The only time most people in
the world use his name is to curse with. Their mouths are
full of cursing and bitterness. Well, who makes us the difference?
We fear his name. We don't want to use his name
except in honor and glory and worship, do we? How blessed we
are, how privileged we are, how honored we are. David said, unite
my heart and our hearts to fear thy name. And we do that. God's
name has been glorified and will glorify it again and keep glorifying
it. Every time the gospel is preached, Christ said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. Every time the gospel
is preached, we're drawn to Him. We're drawn to Him. Look at Colossians
2, verse 15. Oh, I have so many scriptures
that I wanted to read and look at, but just a few will suffice. And we don't have the capacity
to receive. I wrote K-I-S-S again at the
top of every page. But look at this. What further
need have we of anything? Colossians 2.14 speaks of Christ
on the cross. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way and nailed it to His cross. I thought
they nailed Him to the cross. He willingly was nailed, but
being nailed, so he nailed the handwriting of the ordinances
to the cross and paid in full. Look at the next verse. And having
spoiled principalities and power, not shall, not shall spoil. What's he saying? Having spoiled
principalities and power, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it, or in himself. Did you read that? Does it sound
like Christ had captivity captive and bound the strong man and
defeated him and set his people free? Does that sound like it?
Why does it sound like it? Because that's what he did. That
was the battle that was fought. And in Psalm 2, I want to read
Psalm 2, the rulers of the world, the kings and rulers of the world
and the people gathered together against the Lord and His anointing,
cry out. Acts chapter 4, the people came
back and said, of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, both Herod
and Pontius Pilate and the Jews and the Gentiles, and everybody
was gathered together against Him. That's the battle, the whole
world against one man. And I'll tell you who won. He did. Won. He tells me to comfort God's
people in Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Comfort ye my people, speak to
their heart. Tell them, what's the first thing?
Her warfare is accomplished. What does that mean? It's over. Well, what about this battle?
Just hang on, I'm going to get to that. What about these wars? Hang on. It says the warfare
is accomplished. Iniquity's pardoned. Isn't that
what it said? That's our enemy. And Paul said
the last enemy that would be destroyed is death. Christ demolished
death. Well, warfare is accomplished. You remember when Moses and Elijah
met with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration? You remember
what they discussed? You remember what they talked
about? What does it say? They spake of the decease that
he should accomplish. Accomplish. We had accomplished means it's
over. That is one thought. It's over. There's a victor and there's
a vanquished. It's over. We had a president years ago
that I liked, George W. Bush. I liked him. I don't know
what you think about him, but I think he was a man of integrity.
He did what he thought was right and went over and attacked Iran,
was it? Iraq? Saddam Hussein, you know. Anyway, Desert Storm and went
after him and all that. And all of that, after a while,
then he said, Mr. President said, mission accomplished. And he wasn't. He fought for
another 10 or 15 years. Still fighting. Right? When scripture says that Christ
accomplished it, it means just that. Isaiah said in chapter 42, he
shall not fail. He's going to bring judgment
in the earth. And our Lord says now, right
now, is the judgment of this world and the God of this world
cast out. What about Armageddon? That's
in Revelation 16, if you want to know where it is. There's
one mention, that word is used one time in scripture, Armageddon.
And just go over there so you'll know where it is. You have it, John, Revelation
16, and it says in verse 14, the spirits of devils working
miracles go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. What great day? The great day
of the Lord that's spoken of all through the Old Testaments
when Christ came and did that great work on Calvary's tree
for his people. against him whom the whole world
was gathered. He said, I come as a thief. Blessed
is he that watcheth and keepeth his garment, lest he walk naked. When did Christ cover us? In
Calvary's tree. He was stripped and covered us
with his righteousness. They gathered them together in
a place, and you've got to understand the revelations. Telling and
retelling. The relic of going back here and going here and
being back there. And it's such a mystery. There's so much symbolism
here. If people don't understand what
happened in Genesis 1 or Genesis 3, they sure don't understand
what happened to John in the river as he's dead. Just forget
it. It's a closed book. They gathered
them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.
And I told you what that means. It means a mount of meeting on
a mount. Well, people say they're going
to meet in the valley, in Megiddo. That's a meeting place in the
valley, the valley of Jehoshaphat. Well, that's another story. We're
going to see it at the end of this message. But there's one
mention of Armageddon. And like John 3.16, the whole
world, all of their eschatological... That means study of future events.
I looked it up. All of their eschatological teaching
is based on one verse. There's going to be a big battle
over there in the Middle East. Just like John 3.16, all of their
theology is based on one verse. The whole world. He loves everybody in the world.
John 3.16 says so. There's going to be a battle
over there. Revelation 16.16 says so. My dad used to say, set a scripture
up and throw scripture at it. If it falls, it doesn't mean
what you think it means. Martin Luther knew more than
Martin. He said, he shall win the battle. The battle on Calvary's
tree. Matthew 24, don't turn there. Matthew 24, the disciples ask
the Lord, when shall these things be? When shall your coming be? When are you coming back? What's
going to happen leading up to your coming back? Matthew 24.
Have you read it? You've read it. Matthew 25. Matthew 24 goes into, you know,
it's short and it sums everything up, but there's a lot said there.
There's no mention of hell. It looks like the Lord would
have said something about this great battle to end all battles.
No mention. Paul wrote 14 books in the New
Testament. No mention of a battle. John wrote three, counting the
Gospel four, no mention. Peter, no mention. James, no
mention. But every one of them speak of
a great battle that took place on Calvary's tree. I just read
to you from Colossians 2. Right there he spoiled principalities
in power, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them
in himself. That was the battle that Christ
fought for us. The cause that he fought was
the cause of our salvation, God's glory. And he won. Not something
future. Not we shall be saved. Saved. Saved by Christ on Calvary's
trip. Now, you know, we had a herd. We cannot speak of
the freedom of our nation without mentioning decisive battles.
There have been some decisive battles in this nation that gave
us our freedom, right? The Revolutionary War, the battle
of Lexington and Concord, they say that was the most decisive
battle of the Revolutionary War. If we hadn't won that, we'd all
still be talking like this. We'd have a keynote, which would
be okay. We'd still be okay. They are. But anyway, we got some freedom,
religious freedom. There's a battle of the Civil
War, Gettysburg. If the North hadn't won that. World War II, D-Day. Battle of
the Bulge. If that hadn't taken place, we'd
be talking German. It's a decisive battle. Decisive
battles. Scripture speaks of one decisive
battle that we owe all our freedom to. And it happened on Calvary's
tree. And one man won. I've already
said that ten times tonight. I can't say it enough. See, here's
the point, people. This is a satanic deception to
have people looking for some battle going on. It's satanic. What the unbelieving world and
religion is taking up with is some kind of future battle, not
Christ crucified. This is how you know the difference
between God's people and the people of this world. He said
of Satan, thou carest not for the things of God, but the things
of man. You can draw a crowd and you talk about Doomsday,
and apocalypse, and all these signs and wonders and all that.
Christ said one sign, didn't he? Didn't he? What was it? Jonah. What's that? Christ crucified.
He said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men. All men everywhere? Every single man and woman drawn
to Christ? No, no. All of His men. His chosen people. Every man for whom Christ died.
Out of every tribe, country, nation, and tongue. That's what
draws his people to him, where the carcass is that eagles gather.
This is how you know the difference. You want to talk about battle
and talk about all these things, phenomena, and you'll get the
whole world to come in. Talk about Christ crucified,
you'll get his people. This is separate the sheep from
the goats, the wheat from the tares. True Christians, Now that Joe Tara once wisely
said, he said, the Antichrist is leading the search for the
Antichrist. Think about that. The Antichrist
is leading the search for the Antichrist. There's an old ploy
by a thief, you know, a thief steals and he stays right there.
Don't run, just stay right there and make up with the crowd. And the thief would go, and they'd
say, where'd he go, where'd he go? And the thief would say,
he went that way. The thief said that. He's here,
he's there. What did Christ say? Don't go
there. Well, they're going to have a seminar and they're going
to talk about all the beast and all that. Don't go there. I'm
going to talk about Christ crucified. Come here. If I be lifted up, When Christ was lifted up, Satan
was cast down. When Christ was lifted up, His
people are drawn to Him. They read that Psalm 46, that
the Lord is our refuge, our strength, and our salvation. A mighty fortress
is our God. To have you lifted up, Christ
crucified. This really is the way that you
know God's people from those that pretend to be. We preach Christ. Isn't that
what Paul said? I'm determined not to know anything
among you. Didn't he? Paul tell us about the end time. Here's what I want to tell you,
Paul said. Christ ended the transgression. Daniel prophesied that. He ended
it. He made an end of the law. He made an end of death. That's where it ended, on Calvary. Satan was cast down and his people
drawn to him when Christ was lifted up. Armageddon, Mount of Meeting,
Mount Calvary. Psalm 2, he said, I've set my
king on my holy hill of Zion. To him the people come. Christ
crucified. Now, what about these Fights
that scripture talks about us having. There's a lot said about
it. Fight. What is the fight we're
fighting for? To get to heaven. We're fighting
for our souls. Brothers and sisters, we haven't
resisted under blood fighting against sin. Christ did though,
and John, he won. How many times do we have to
say that? He won. He said, sin shall not have dominion over
you. Why? Because if you toughen up and
get after it and bite the bullet, you can defeat it. No, no. Christ
said, I did. That gives me joy. He told Timothy, fight the good
fight of what? Faith. We're battling this thing of
unbelief. We're fighting against apocalyptic
preaching. We're fighting against apocalyptic
preaching. False doctrine. Error. The error of the wicked.
This is what Peter said. Beware lest you be carried away
with the error of the wicked. We're fighting against error.
We're fighting against lies. We're fighting against deception.
And yes, we're fighting against inward corruption, but the only
way that can be defeated is looking to Christ on the cross. That's it. Overcome by the blood
of the Lamb. Isn't that what it says? The only way. And Paul said, he didn't say
we're battling a great battle in order to get to heaven. He
didn't say that. He said, we're wrestling. We're not wrestling
with flesh and blood, with principalities. Wrestling's different than a
battle. Isn't it? We're assaulted. You know, we're
only assaulted as the Lord allows us to be assaulted. You hear
me? You think Satan's unleashing
it. No, he's not. No, he's not. Uh-uh. He said to Simon Peter,
Simon, Satan hath desired thee to sit with thee like wings.
Like Job. The Lord taunted and mocked Satan,
didn't He? Have you considered myself a
Job? He said, yeah, I have, but you can put a hedge around it.
I can't do it. And He let him only go so far. He's on a chain. He's on a chain. He's bound. Where'd he do that?
Calvary. Isn't that good news? Thank God we're not the right
men on our side. For us, if God be for us. He
doesn't say, if you try your hardest, who can be against you?
He says, if God be for us. Christ. Alright, let me close. 2 Chronicles. 20. This is the
valley of Jehoshaphat. This is what happened in the
valley. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. This is what happened in
the valley of Jehoshaphat, spoken of in Joel 3. And Megiddo, and
this is what happened. It's just another wonderful picture
of Christ's crucifixion. And you know the story. 2 Chronicles
20, verse 12, Jehoshaphat stood out there. He's the king of Israel.
Verse 1, Moab, Ammonites were against Jehoshaphat. Assyrians,
they all came against Israel, against Judah. Alright? Verse
12, Jehoshaphat stands out and prays, Our God, wilt thou not
judge them We have no might against this
great company that cometh against us. We don't know what to do. Our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the
Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children.
Don't you love that picture? And that's what we do. That's
what we're doing right now. Standing before the Lord. We
have no might against our foe. Our eyes are upon them. Then the Lord raised up a preacher.
As far as I know, it's the only message you ever preach. Boy,
he could quit after this one. Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah,
verse 14, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jehiel, the son of
Mataniah. I'm glad my dad's name was Henry.
A Levite, a man called, preached, the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit
of the Lord. Well, I thought the Holy Spirit
hadn't been given until... Would you read with me? Here
the Lord came on in the midst of, where was he? In the midst
of congregation. And he said, listen to me, hearken
all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thou King Jehoshaphat,
thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude. The battle is not yours, but
God's. In verse 17 he says, you will
not need to fight the battle. And he said, stand still. How many times have you heard
that? Stand still and see the salvation below. Stand at the
foot of Mount Calvary. Stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus of Nazareth. and see that he won the battle. Amen? Amen. Stand with me.