Alright, would you turn with
me to the book of Revelation chapter 12 and I'd like to read
verses 6 through 17 and cover some of the principles that are
found in this chapter. I will be the first to admit
there are some things in here I don't know the time element
but I think just as all of the other scriptures These things
are applicable in any generation, in any age. They were applicable
in the times of Cain and Abel. They were applicable all through
the Old Testament and they're applicable today. The principles
that we find here and the great providence of God when it comes
to His church, He has a lot invested in His church. He has a lot invested
in the church, the blood of Christ. is invested in the church and
the security of the church is in the blood of Christ and the
longevity of the church is in the hand of God. So there's a
lot invested and we're going to find in this chapter that
there are a number of things said with regard to God protecting
his church even though there's a lot of sand being kicked up
by the adversary, by the devil, by the hearts of men that have
no agreement with the gospel. It is very wrong, I think, on
our part to blame any of our nature on the devil and our actions
on the devil. He has never been able to get
anybody to do anything. He may lay a temptation out as God allows,
but he is never allowed to push beyond that. So we just can't
blame it on the devil and we find that religion so often does
as a scapegoat for our own heart. All right, verse six, and the
woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared
of God. And I really appreciate what
it says there, has a place prepared of God. This church, this woman
is so valuable that God's going to take care of every entity
of her, every child of hers, every member of hers. that they should feed her there
a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days. And there was
war in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon, and the dragon fought in his angels, and prevailed
not, neither was there place found any more in heaven. And
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 has 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 accuseth 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, unto the death therefore
rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them woe to the inhabitants
of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you
having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time now in that verse 12 there's an interesting statement read
therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them and
over there in verse Verse 7 it says there was a war in heaven
the citizens of heaven There's a war there was a war and there
is a warfare there and the protection is for the citizens of heaven
Whether that's another name for the church in this passage of
scripture, or whether it's the citizens of heaven, those that
are preparing for their citizenship on this earth, whether it's those
that are there and those that are preparing, I don't know.
But there's something about those that are in heaven, as it says
there in verse 12, Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that
dwell in them. But woe to the other side, woe
to the earth, And when the dragon saw that
he was cast onto the earth, and he persecuted the woman which
had brought forth the man-child, to the woman were given two wings
of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into
her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half
a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the
woman, and the earth opened up her mouth, and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon
was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ." Now, it's been said, and I have to just concur,
that this whole world is is just here. Everybody that is without
Christ, everybody that's non-elect, everybody, every system of the
world, every dollar and every peso is here for the God's protection
of His church. The earth is used to take care
of God's church. It's just another way of Him
doing that. And it says here that the earth
swallowed up that great flood. Now I want to get to that point
about what that flood is. I'm just convinced that that
flood as it proceeded out of the devil is every heresy that's
ever been thrown out to try to change the heart and core of
the body of Christ. And it's been here. It's ongoing
now. It's been ongoing. It was here
at the time of Cain and Abel. There was a flood of the blood
of Christ is not necessary. All right, there's some things
I'd like to look at as we look at this passage of scripture
and God's protection of his church And I'd like you to go back with
me to the book of Joshua We alluded to some of this in a couple of
messages couple of times we were speaking but I just wanted to
go back here and pick out several passages where the Old Testament
and we find here what the the This passage of scripture in
the book of Joshua and it's it's the same in all of the other
books Joshua just gives us some verses to look at but we could
go anywhere else in the Old Testament and see that it is typical of
how God has taken care of his body in the book of Revelation
he prepared a place he gave two wings he has swallowed up the
flood this is just time and time again statements of how the Lord
is protecting his body how he's protecting his church and it
is a conscious effort on God's part. It is a purposed effort
on God's part to protect the truth, to protect His people,
to protect His church, to protect His body, to protect His sheep. We're just talking about, you
know, Mike and I and Marilyn, how sometimes we do things that
are foolish and we probably should have been dead over that. Well,
the Lord protects his lost sheep, those who shall be heirs of salvation. He sends forth his messengers
to protect them. And here in the Old Testament,
in the book of Joshua, as the children of Israel came out of
Egypt, and if we just looked at the ten plagues, we could
say there was something special about this group of people. And
we can say they were special because God was watching over
them. They had no control over those plagues. They had no control
over the darkness. They had no control over the
flies. They had no control over any of those things. But there's
a difference between the world and those that represent the
church. They had light when everybody
else had darkness. They didn't have all of these
plagues spill over where they were. Go through Genesis. That's
the way it is. God protected his people. He
brought a man out of Ur of the Chaldees. He brought him out
of Ur of the Chaldees. He protected his people down
in Egypt. Now, some people would say, why
did he let them go into slavery? Well, why did he permit the fall? For his glory. That's all I can
say. For His glory He did that. He
brought them out with a high hand and opened up the Red Sea,
provided them food. Coming into the Promised Land
40 years later, here in the book of Joshua chapter 6, verses 1
and 2, this is just after Joshua has met this There was a man that had his
sword drawn, and he is the captain of the Lord's hosts. Now in chapter
6 verse 1, Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children
of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said
unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the
king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. I've given it to
you." Now this is a principle that we find throughout the Old
Testament. And I think that's one of the reasons that Jesus
said to Nicodemus, Are you a master of Israel and you don't know
that things have to be done by God? Let's just turn just a little
bit further here in the book of Joshua, chapter 8, verses
1 and 2. Chapter 8, verses 1 and 2. Now Ai had been Well, we got
religion mixed in with righteousness. We had obedience disobeyed. And that Aiken, and I think it was
Greg Elmquist that brought out some of the meaning and significance
of that Midianitish garment. It was a religious garment, and
the gold was religious, and it was just... You don't mix this. You can't mix this. God's not
going to allow it to be mixed. He's going to intervene. And
He'll do that with His church, and even if He has to swallow
up the flood with the earth. Alright, and they went through
that, lost some men, came back with their tails between their
legs. Joshua was just at wit's end. The Lord said unto Joshua,
Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of the war
with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy
hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his
land. and thou shalt do to Ai and her
king as thou didst to Jericho and her king, only the spoil
thereof and the cattle thereof shalt thou take for a prey unto
thyselves, lay thee an ambush for the city behind it." I've
given you the city, a principle that we find throughout the scriptures
that God does the work. This is something is so hard
for religion to to to even consider because we're so Involved in
doing something. All right chapter 10 of the book
of Joshua verse 5 Chapter 10. These are just some Very basic
examples found throughout the scriptures, but if you go to
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you're going to
find the same thing. And from Joshua through the Kings,
it's always the Lord displaying His glory by the mighty works
that He did so that the people could get used to. The Lord does
the work. And only the church has ever
realized that completely. It is they that rest in the finished
work of Christ. It is not to say that we don't
serve Him, but when it comes to our relationship to God, when
it comes to our righteousness, when it comes to our eternal
life, The church is the only group on the face of the earth
that has learned by revelation that that work, that work was
done by Christ. The Old Testament is filled with
examples, typical and pictorial, but when it comes to redemption,
Christ finished his own work and he gives it to us. All right,
in Joshua chapter 10, verse 5, Joshua 10 verse 5 therefore the
five kings of the Amorites and the king of Jerusalem the king
of Hebron the king of Jarmuth the king of Lachish the king
of Eglon gathered themselves together and one up and they
and all their hosts and camped before Gibeon and made war against
it and the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp of Gilgal
saying slack not thy hand from thy servants come up to us quickly
and save us and help us and 4 For all the kings of the Amorites
that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
5 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war
with him, and all the mighty men of valor. Verse 8 And the
LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them
into thy hand. There shall not a man of them
stand before thee. the promise of God one more time.
Typical and pictorial. Here it actually happened physically. But the value of God doing this
spiritually. that he is the victor, he is
the winner of the battles. In that same chapter, verse 30,
it says, And the Lord delivered also the king thereof into the
hand of Israel, and he smote it with the edge of the sword,
and all the souls that were therein. He let none remain in it, but
did unto the king thereof, as he did to the king of Jericho.
The Lord left no enemies behind. You don't have to watch the back
if all the enemies are destroyed. And here, it was a physical process,
but it shares with us a spiritual blessing for the church. And
that's brought out in the book of Revelation chapter 12. The
church is given a place of protection. The church is given wings to
flee there. The church is given time to be
taken care of. The church is fed and nourished,
physically speaking, by this world. And it's the world that
God used to swallow up. There's a whole bunch of people
that are going to take what that great red dragon spews out, and
they're going to say hallelujah, but the church is protected from
it, and will not succumb to it. And if someone that portrays
the feeling that they're in the church, except that before you
know it, they're kicking up sand and they're leaving. That's just
the way it happens. All right, turn with me if you
would over to Joshua 23. Joshua 23. In this chapter of
Joshua, we find a recount of what the Lord, or part of a recount,
what the Lord did. And it's so typical, God's wonderful
protection of His church, as we witness here in Joshua, as
it's carried out in the book of Revelation. And the people
that this letter was written to, they are really having some
serious persecution. John had some serious persecution.
He's exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Now, those people that are having
that persecution did not realize what a blessing it was to get
that persecution because John is giving this book of Revelation,
the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and they are the recipients of
it. and they're going to be counseled
through this persecution. God hasn't forgotten you. The
Holy Spirit hasn't forgotten you. The Lord Jesus Christ hasn't
forgotten you. You are in protective care and
protective custody as a result of God's eternal everlasting
purpose for the church. You cannot be overthrown. Now,
He may have taken some of them and put them to sleep so they
can enter into glory, That's what he does. This whole
life is in preparation for that. That the Lord would put us to
sleep and enter us into glory. Alright, notice here in Joshua
chapter 23 verses 1, 2, and 3. And it came to pass a long time
after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel. Just think
about that. The Lord had given rest. to Israel from all their enemies
round about them, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
And Joshua called for all the Israel, and for their elders,
and their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers,
and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age, and ye have
seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations
because of you. For the Lord your God is he that
hath fought for you, Let's just recount. Let's just go down the
times. And if we sit and visited about
this, we'd find out the times that the Lord has protected us,
even though at the time it doesn't look like it. I cannot thank
the Lord enough for that group of people that I was in when
the Lord revealed himself to me, being upset and kicking me
out. I can't thank the Lord enough.
There would be nothing worse than to have Christ and be stuck
into religion and there settle for a while and say, what am
I doing here? They says, hit the high road. Well, at the time it really pinched. It chafed hard and it was really
hard. but in time to look back and
be thankful that it was the Lord that was protecting. He had his
eye out. He was doing what he needed to
do and was going to do. And then in that same chapter,
in verse 14, it says this, chapter 23, verse 14, And behold, this
day I am going the way of all the earth. That's one thing that
the people in the church, just because of the fall, don't pass
by. I'm going the way of all the
earth. And ye know in your hearts and in your souls... What a double emphasis. Joshua
said to the people, You know in your hearts and in your souls
that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which
the Lord your God spake concerning you. All are come to pass unto
you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Now this is the last
closing days of Joshua's life, and he's recounting, and after
all the business that he was about, not one regret. This the Lord gave us. Chapter
24 of that same book, it says here, verse 2, And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus saith the Lord your God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the
father of Abraham, the father of Nacor, and they served other
gods. And the Lord says, I took your
father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him
throughout all the land of Canaan. Why did he bring up, he worshipped
other gods, he served other gods? He's a man born after Adam and
I did the difference. I made the difference. I brought
him out. And I'm not gonna read all of
this, but just look in verse four. And I gave unto Isaac,
this is the Lord speaking, Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. Verse five,
I sent Moses. Verse six, and I brought your
fathers out of Egypt. And on and on it goes. Verse eight, and I brought you
into the land of the Amorites. Verse 10 and I would not hearken
them to Balaam Step by step he goes through it and it's no wonder
that the Lord said to Nicodemus Are you a teacher in Israel and
you don't know these things? That it's been God that did it
all from the very beginning He instructed Abel on what to bring
and He didn't leave it to chance. If you leave it to chance, you're
going to get Cain's offering. Well, let's see here. Well, let's just go back to what
I've been doing and go out and get some garden vegetables. He
didn't leave it to chance. He determined what it would be. All right, there has ever been
a war. There's always been a war. It's
always constant, a war between the Lord and the Lord's people
and the earth. They are not compatible. They
can't sit together. They can't eat together. They
can't feed together. They can't pray together. There
is just so much difference that they just are incompatible. And that's why we read over there,
you that dwell in heaven, here's the earth's portion. The earth's
portion, you get the devil. The earth's portion, you get
Satan. The earth's portion, you get him. Heaven's portion, you
get Christ. You walk in Christ. You're led
by Christ. You have the message of Christ.
You have the gospel. The difference, the total difference
there. Now, the church has been persecuted
from the beginning with the water of heresy. We find there that
it was Cain that persecuted the truth. I kind of believe if,
you know, this is just speculation because we don't have a lot about
it, but Abel would have been just happy to present his sacrifice
and go on with his sheep herding. He wasn't going to get in his
brother's face. He understood this is of God. I need blood. I need a substitute. I need a
sacrifice. If it doesn't apply to him, I'm
going to leave him alone. But the other brother, he got
in his brother's face. He was upset. He knew that he
was doing wrong. And he's the one that did the
wrong. Now, turn with me if you would
over to the book of Galatians as this great flood came out.
The first statement in scripture that I find with regard to the
human beings, human beings, and this heresy is Cain himself by
his sacrifice said blood is not necessary. Works is necessary. Blood is not necessary. I don't
need a sacrifice. I'll sacrifice my own vegetables,
fruit of the ground, whatever he brought." It was a statement
there. The warfare is on. I don't need. Abel said, I do need. I need
a substitute. I'm a sinner and I need a substitute. I need blood. All this is typical
and pictorial. And the Lord Jesus brings out
a number of times that Abel's relationship with God. His blood
cries out to me. By faith, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. There was a unity, a unanimity
there between God and this man, Abel. Faith was given to him. He understood what this was about.
It's not just an animal sacrifice. This is a pictorial sacrifice
of his desperate need if he's going to approach God. Now, there
has been throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament and years
after the New Testament was completed and through the Dark Ages, there
has been heresies coming out and the goal of the spewers out
of this great flood is to convert the church. Convert the church. We don't
care what they believe, but we want them practicing like we
do. And they proved it when they came to the New World. They'd
take hundreds of thousands, get a conversion out of them, and
send them to glory immediately before they could recant. That's
how they did it. All right. Now, some of the first
heresy, right after the apostles were gone, And we see it during
the times of the Apostle Paul, but some of the first heresy
was to deny that God had a Christ. I mean, it's in history. They
had great meetings over it. And their great meeting organizer
said, Christ isn't divine. He's not God. Well the church
is over here being lamb blasted by this flood and God protects
them and all through this time they're in the arc of safety
and they come out of every one of these bomb blasts of heresy
holding forth the word of truth. Jesus said, my church, I've raised
it up, I've established it, and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. Now that doesn't necessarily
mean that there won't be trouble, but they will declare the gospel
to the end. Someone will be. There was a
denial of original sin. Well, that's what came. It's not all that bad. Life's
not all that bad. There wasn't that big a wreck
in the garden, even though I can just see Adam talking to his
sons with tears. And one of them, God opened his
heart and understood. And the other one says, well,
it's not that bad. Dad's still alive. He's right
over there. And then he could live to be
900 years old. It's not that bad. They denied the deity and
the humanity of Christ. Denied the deity of the Holy
Spirit. Denied the necessity of the Holy
Spirit. And on and on these great wise groups of people got together,
denied these things that are so pertinent and so vital to
the gospel message. Well, turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Galatians chapter 1. You know where I'm going.
You know what I'm going to read. The Apostle Paul had this problem
during his ministry, and he's led by the Holy Spirit to say
this. Now, he's been dealing with people who were Jews, They're not the children of Abraham. They're Jews. One lady in the Bible is called
the daughter of Abraham. I think she's a Syrophoenician woman,
called the daughter of Abraham. And Zacchaeus, called the child
of Abraham. I mean, there's a spiritual relationship
he's talking about here. And the rest of the people didn't
understand what he had to say. But those who have the truth
in their soul will not say, except you be circumcised, you cannot
be saved. and anything else that is similar. They're going to say, the Old
Testament is filled with, God did it's, the New Testament is
filled with, God did it's, today is filled with, God did it's,
and I am just going to rest in Christ. Alright, Galatians chapter
1, verse 6, Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit,
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." You just
hear the flood coming out, this water of heresy being spewed
forth. And by God's grace, it stops. Jesus Christ said, if it be possible,
the tests of the end will turn the very elect, but it's not
possible. The heresy may come right to here. I mean, it's so close. But God's
people say, you know, there's a verse of scripture about that.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." My goodness! That deals with that subject
was Christ divine. Now, somebody's going to come
along with their little Bible and say, well, it says, A God.
Well, tell that to Thomas. They left it alone there. My Lord and my God. You know,
we just have to... The Bible speaks for itself.
All right, going on here, it says, which is not another. But there
be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we say before, so
say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that which is received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men, or God? Or do I speak to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation
in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the
church of God and wasted it. And it goes on and talks about
what his relationship was before the Lord came and touched him.
But I am just so marveled that you are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. Now, the real issue here is being
removed from him. That's the issue. Well, over there in the book
of Revelation chapter 12, whatever it is, whatever is spewed out
of the mouth, out of the mouth of the great red dragon, out
of the mouth of the devil, out of the mouth of his servants,
out of this, it will Any of that will be protected from entering
into the body of Christ. He will. Now, if it takes away
some, then that's just where they stood. There is a man mentioned
in the book of Corinthians, and he's carried away. But then we
read in 2 Corinthians, the Lord works on his people. They may
get a little whiff of the water on the side, but after they're
out, they want to be back. They want to be back. They want
to be part of because that's so shallow. There's so much chaff. that I want to be back I want
to be back and that's what that man did now he committed a great
sin against God against the church and against his family and everything
else but he wanted back and that just tells us a whole lot about
that man so going back over here to the book of Revelation The Lord shares with us in this,
I'm not going through it just verse by verse as we have in
other places, but verse 6, the woman fled into the wilderness
where she hath a place prepared of God. And then it tells us
here that the confession I heard a loud voice and saying in heaven
now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and
the power of his Christ and Then it tells us in here in verse
12 therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them Woe
to the inhabitants of the earth! And then it tells us here in
verse 14, And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,
that she might fly into where she is nourished for a time,
and times, and half a time. That's as long as God wants it
taken care of. And then the serpent cast out of his mouth water as
a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried
away of that flood. And the earth helped the woman
and the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed up the flood which
the dragon cast out of his mouth. And so many people fell for it. Oh
yeah, that's not hard to take. Christ is not divine. We'll call
him, we'll call him little Jesus. And the religious world today,
they've got little Jesuses all over. Jesus said, you will hear
in the last days. Here's Christ. There's Christ. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. So there's this popping up all
over, this heresy popping up. People fall for it, but in falling
for it, it protects the church. The church is going to be protected.
The dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with
the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. I don't think that there's
any more peace-loving people in the Church of the Living God.
Just leave us alone. We won't bother you. We just want to be left alone.
And then, oh, here comes this word, and that word, and this
word, and that word. And things are said, things are
done, but God is going to protect His body, going to protect His
church. It will overcome. It will not
be flooded over. It will not be plowed under.
It will not be destroyed. It will be protected by God,
just as we see throughout the Old Testament. The principles
are there, carried out through the New Testament, and declared
in the book of Revelation. God did it. And that's it. And he's continuing
to do his work. And that's it. And the church
rests on that. The finished work of Christ. Well, we're going to stop there
tonight.