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Bill Parker

Satan's War Against Christ's Church

Revelation 12:1-11
Bill Parker February, 26 2012 Audio
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Bill Parker
Bill Parker February, 26 2012

Sermon Transcript

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All right, let's return to Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. Now, over
the past few months, I've been preaching quite a bit through
the scriptures on the subject of true Christian warfare. the life of a believer here on
earth is a warfare it's a daily warfare constant warfare and
in that warfare we have three great enemies and uh... this is scriptural but you probably
heard a lot about this in literature too but the three great enemies
of the church the three great enemies of christ in the church
that that reflect this warfare, that we as the people of God,
as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our three great enemies
are the world and the flesh and the devil. And the world represents
this fallen, sinful world in any of its manifestations of
government, religion, whatever, philosophy, theology, that stands
in opposition. to Christ and His church and
His truth, the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Salvation by grace. That salvation
is of the Lord. And anything in the world, any
organization, any institution, any way of life or thinking that
denies the truth of God's word concerning who God is, and who
we are. God is holy and just and righteous. Yes, he's merciful and gracious,
but we're sinners. And we cannot save ourselves.
Even our best works are not good enough to save us or to make
us righteous. And then the truth of who Christ
is and the salvation that God freely provides in him and by
him, by his work on the cross of Calvary, shedding his blood
is the complete payment for all the sins of his sheep. and setting
forth life through himself, his resurrection. He is our life
and he gives life by his spirit to his people. Anything in the
world that opposes that is worldly. Now, and I preach several messages
on that, but the only way that we as believers, as a church,
can overcome the world is through Christ. We can't do it. We're
not going to defeat the world. Christ is all ready. He told
his disciples before he ascended unto glory or when he was getting
ready to go to the cross and before he ascended unto glory,
he said, in the world you will have tribulation, trouble, trouble. But be of good cheer for I have
overcome the world. Christ overcame the world. In
his obedience unto death, he overcame the world. And so therefore,
by God's grace, even though we're born into this world, dead in
trespasses and sins, and bound to this world by nature, by God's
grace, we're redeemed from sin, redeemed from the world, and
given life by the Holy Spirit from Christ to rise above this
world, not in the way of religion and piety now. When I say rise
above it, I'm not talking about looking down on everybody. But
I'm just saying it this way, as sinners saved by the grace
of God. And that's our victory. But we're
still in the world now. We're not of the world, but we're
in it. And we have to deal with it every
day. And it's a warfare, it's a battle. Secondly is the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. And that's basically a warfare
that we're engaged in every day against ourselves. Against ourselves. The flesh, remaining sin and
corruption and contamination that just plagues our thoughts
and our minds and our hearts that we have to fight it every
day. We haven't reached a point of
sinless perfection in ourselves. We are sinlessly perfect in Christ. We sang about that earlier. What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, we stand
before God whole and perfect, complete in Christ, the scripture
says, Colossians chapter two. Washed clean, God's law books
has no matter against the people of God. But in ourselves, we're
still contaminated with the remaining motives, ideas, thoughts of sin. And it keeps us, Paul wrote in
Romans chapter 7, from being totally, perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. Well, and it's a daily battle. Now the only way we're going
to win the warfare of the flesh and the spirit is through Christ.
You can't win it on your own. Paul said he didn't even know
how to. He said, when I would do good, evil's present with
me. And then he went on to say, I don't even know how to do good.
I don't know, I cannot tell you, as a preacher standing before
you, I can't tell you how to be perfect in your thoughts and
in your motives, sinlessly perfect in your, I can't, because I can't
do it. I know one who is sinlessly perfect, always has been, always
will be in his thoughts and motives, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we stand in Him perfect, but in ourselves, we're still
sinners. One day we will be delivered,
we'll all be changed. But see, the only way we're gonna
do that, the only way we're gonna win that battle, that warfare,
is through Christ. That's what Paul said. Who shall
deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7, 24. I thank
God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Now, the third great enemy is
the devil. And that's why I wanted to begin
with Revelation 12 and preach several messages on this subject.
I want to preach to you on Satan's war against Christ's church. Satan's war against Christ's
church. And I'm going to focus mainly
today on verses 9 through 11. I know as Joe read that chapter,
now you who have been attending our Sunday morning Bible study,
we've been going through Revelation. We just finished up chapter 12.
In fact, I noticed on television this morning I preached from
Revelation chapter 12. Last week I preached from Revelation
chapter 12. I ought to know this chapter once I get through here. The issues of the warfare of
the believer against Satan, Satan's warfare against Christ and his
church, are brought forth here in chapter 12 in a most comprehensive
way. Now there are other passages
we'll look at and I'll preach from. But Revelation chapter
12 is the most comprehensive, full revelation as far as the
issues of that warfare. Someone said one time that Satan's
greatest triumph is when he convinced people that he doesn't exist.
Well let me tell you something, he does exist. Satan is a fallen
angel. He's a created being. And he
does exist. He's a person, he's not just
an influence. A lot of people, you know what
most people believe about Satan is mainly based upon myth and
movies and not the scripture. In fact, I told the class this
morning, I said, you know, when I go through these things, I'm
constantly reminded that what is really brought out about Satan
in the Bible, the truth about Satan, the devil, are things
that we don't really want to know, but things we need to know. Because when you see the reality
of it, it's a scary thought. Now that doesn't mean that there's
no way out. There is. There is victory. In
fact, you can read about that victory in verse 11 there. Look
at Revelation 12, 11. You can cut to the chase on that
one. Overcame him. It says they overcame
him. Overcame whom? The devil. Now
how did you do it? By calling in an exorcist? By
throwing holy water on him? By genuflecting or what? Praying? No, look at it. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. That's how you overcome Satan,
by the blood of the Lamb. What can wash away my sins? If
anything but the blood of Christ can do it, Satan has you. You see what I'm saying? And
the word of their testimony. What is the word of our testimony?
Well, you could state it in several different ways. Paul said it
this way in Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the word
of my testimony. I have nothing to boast in but
Christ and him crucified. His blood and righteousness alone.
That's how you overcome Satan. You could say it this way, we
are the circumcision which worship God in spirit. And we rejoice
in Christ Jesus. We have confidence in Christ
Jesus, is what that means literally. And no confidence in the flesh. If you have confidence in the
flesh, that's satanic. You see what I'm saying? John
the Baptist said it very simply. He said, Christ must increase,
I must decrease. That's how you overcome Satan.
Christ must increase, I must decrease. The more I increase,
the more satanic I am. But Christ must increase. He must have the preeminence
and the glory and all things in salvation and in life. I say this, Satan's greatest
triumph is when he deceives people about himself, his goals and
his methods. Satan is a person. He's not an
influence. He's an evil person. He's a created
being. He's stronger than me and you.
He is. But he is not the evil counterpart
to God. He's not the evil, the inequality,
as somebody said. He's not the counterpart to God.
Satan is not a god. Satan is not everywhere. Only
God is omnipresent. You know, most people think Satan
has that same power. He doesn't. He has his ministers. And they cover a wide territory.
And the Bible says he's got the whole world deceived. But he
himself is limited. He's not an evil God. He's called
the God of this world, but it's little g God, and I'm glad the
King James translators did it that way because that's what
it means. He is a usurped authority of
an evil being that aspires to be God. You remember he told
Adam and Eve, he said in the day, or he told Eve, he said,
when you eat of the fruit that God has forbidden, he knows you
shall be as gods. You know what that means, really?
It means this. It means man is exalting himself
to take a place that he doesn't deserve and cannot work and cannot
earn. And what it in essence means
is Adam, in his fall, saying, I am the captain of my own fate,
the determiner of my own destiny. I can set my own standards of
good and evil. I don't have to go by what God
says. Satanic. The Bible says that one of the
characteristics of fallen, sinful, deceived men is that he does
that which is right in his own eyes, rather than what's right
according to God's truth. That's satanic. Satan, he doesn't
have horns and a pointed tail and carry a pitchfork. Does that disappoint you? I hope
not. That's not how he appears. I'll
show you that from scripture now. I'm not just giving you
my opinion today on this issue. If you're going to fight Satan,
you've got to know the enemy, don't you? Now, if you're fighting
a little demon on your shoulder, you're not fighting Satan. I'll
tell you who you're fighting there. You're fighting yourself. That's just totally
depraved human nature acting out itself. And I'll tell you
what, when we come to see the reality of Satan, if you really
want to delve into this in scripture, and I do, we can see why the
gospel of God's grace in Christ is so offensive to the natural
man. Paul called it the offense of the cross. Think about it. You know, that phrase comes from
Galatians 5 and verse 11. And what he was talking about
is religious men and women who had entered into the Galatian
churches who were founded on the gospel of God's grace in
Christ, and they were saying that Christ basically, now I
don't know how exactly they say it other than what we've got
recorded from the book of Galatians itself, but I'll tell you, here's
what the essence of it was. Christ is really not enough.
You've got to do your part. You gotta be circumcised. You
gotta keep a day. You gotta do this, that, and
the other in order to be really safe, really holy, really righteous. Christ is just not enough. Oh,
He's the main thing. He's really it, but... And then
it starts, see? Paul came in and he preached
Christ alone. Salvation by Christ alone. Again,
what can wash away my sins? What's the first, next line?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So now if I tell you baptism
in water back here can wash away your sins, I couldn't sing really
from the heart nothing but the blood of Jesus. I'd say nothing
but the blood of Jesus and water baptism. If you can fit that
into the chorus. And you know what that is? That's
satanic. I'm telling you. Well, you know,
we just want to say, well, they just believe a little different
than we do. Now that's the way we want to
think. See what I'm talking about? It's things we don't really want
to hear, but need to hear. Oh, they just, you know, they're
all Christian, but they just believe a little differently.
Paul didn't say that as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit in
the book of Galatians. They were saying, well, you gotta
be circumcised. Well, you know, somebody comes
along and says, well, they believe in Christ, but they just add
circumcision. Paul wrote, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
if you be circumcised for that reason, Christ will profit you
nothing. That's the offense of the cross.
Well, Paul, you're just being too hard, too dogmatic, too mean. Remember John wrote in John chapter
3 and verse 19 that men by nature hate the light and love darkness
because their deeds are evil. The deeds are their efforts to
keep the law aimed at establishing a righteousness of their own.
Who inspires men to do that? Satan does. Why do men cooperate? Because by nature we're fallen,
self-righteous creatures, dead in trespasses and sin. That's
why it takes the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit to
bring us out of that. So prepare yourself, the Bible
says, to do battle. Prepare yourself to battle with
Satan. You know, in the Lord's Prayer,
what's called the Lord's Prayer, Matthew chapter six and verse
13, one of the lines of that is, lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Literally, it would read this
way, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one, Satan. So our Lord recognized him as
a real problem, even though our Lord defeated him. In the book
of Luke, chapter 22 and verse 31, when the Lord was speaking
to Simon Peter, and it was right before, you remember Peter, he
was talking about that, how he was going to the cross, and how
he would be alone, and how everybody would run away, and Peter, you
know, in his boldness, later on, it was after this, actually,
he stood up and he said, I'll not deny you, I won't leave you,
I'll die with you. Remember, the Lord said, he said,
Peter, before the cock crows thrice, you'll deny me three
times. Well, listen to what he said
to Peter before that. In Luke chapter 22, verse 31,
listen to this. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
that's Peter's Greek name. And he says, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. So what do you gotta do, Peter?
Well, you better get ready, buddy. You better get your guns loaded.
No, he says, but I have prayed for you. You know our only preservation
as believers against Satan is the mediatorial work of Christ,
the intercessor, our advocate. I have prayed for thee, and that
thy faith fail not. Look into Christ. That's what
he's saying. Let me put it to you this way. Now here's the way most people
think now. And I know because I was there. I'm not telling
you something I haven't gone through by experience. When he
says, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, he's
not saying, but I prayed for you, Peter, that you believe
hard enough. And never doubt. When he says, thy faith fail
not, he's talking about looking to Christ. That you'll continually
look to Christ. Don't look to yourself. Don't
look within. Don't look to the church. Don't
look to ceremony. Look to Christ. Because that's
your only safety. That's your only salvation and
your only safety against Satan. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
about forgiving one another. Now listen to this. He wrote,
the issue was forgiveness. You know, we have a hard time
with that, don't deny it now. I have a hard time with it, you
do too. It doesn't come easy. Forgiveness. Because we want
people to jump through our hoops before we forgive them. Isn't
that right? Aren't you glad that Christ didn't say, you jump through
these hoops before I forgive you? But we want people to do that.
Because we feel like they owe it to us. But the Lord said that
our forgiveness, our forgiving one another, is to be a reflection
of His forgiving us. And He forgave me freely, unconditionally,
when I was an enemy. He didn't forgive me of my sins
based upon my pleading or doing anything. Because if He had,
there'd be no forgiveness. And so when he's talking to the
Corinthian church about that very issue, because they were
being so unforgiving, here's what he says, here's how he relates
that unforgiving spirit. He says, put it away, in 2 Corinthians
2, verse 11, he says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us,
for we're not ignorant of his devices. That unforgiving spirit
is satanic. And you know how Satan works
that unforgiving spirit? He puts it in your mind that
they don't deserve it. That's right, they don't. And
let me tell you something, they don't. You see why Satan works there
in his deception? He's right. None of us deserve it. But deserving
it isn't the issue in forgiveness. How do we know that? The cross
of Christ. That's how we know that. the
cross of Christ. There's my forgiveness when I
was an enemy of Christ. He died for sinners. Now why
do I have so much problem forgiving sinners when he died for sinners
and gave himself for me? He didn't have a problem with
that at all. Oh, I know he suffered now. He bore our sins to Calvary
on the tree. And he suffered, and he bled,
and he died. But I'm gonna tell you something, he did it willingly.
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. He opened not his
mouth. He did it, he loved his own, John 13, unto the end, the
finishing of that work. No wonder you look at that as
the defeat of Satan, isn't it? The cross. In Ephesians chapter
6 and verse 10, Paul wrote, finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord. The Lord is our strength. We don't have any. When I'm weak,
I'm strong because I'm looking to Christ. And in the power of
his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. And then he said this,
he said, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. This
is a spiritual battle, even with Satan. It's not a physical battle.
It's not a situation where Satan comes in and possesses you and
makes you like a monster. In fact, it's just the opposite. He comes in and dresses you up
pretty good. makes you religious and self-righteous and denying
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he does. Read the
Bible. Hollywood will tell you differently.
And much religion will tell you differently. But read the Bible.
Read what God's Word says. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8,
listen to this. Be sober. That means be in your
right mind. Be right judgment. Be vigilant,
that means be proactive. Because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom
resists steadfast in the faith, looking to Christ again. See,
anytime you see that word, that phrase in the faith, just interpret
it, looking to Christ, resting in Christ, believing in him. knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. In other
words, this issue of the devil, it's not just your problem, it's
mine too. It's all, if we're in Christ, if we're his people,
it's a universal problem with the people of God. And then 1
John 5 and verse 19, listen to this. John wrote, by inspiration
of the Spirit, he said, and we know that we are of God. Now
how do I know that? Because I'm looking to Christ.
Look anywhere else, that's not of God. But when you look to
him and rest in him and plead his blood and righteousness alone,
that's a person who is of God. The Holy Spirit has done that
great, marvelous work of grace in his heart. So we know we're
of God, but the whole world lieth in wickedness, literally the
wicked one, Satan. Now as I said, Christ is the
only one who can defeat and has defeated Satan. Now look back
at Revelation 12, look at verse 9. He says there, and the great
dragon was cast out. Now I want to caution you something
on this right now. When it talks about that Satan,
the great dragon, and he identifies him here, that old serpent that
reaches all the way back to Genesis, the devil, Satan, all that. The
great dragon. And he was cast out. Now immediately
your mind goes to Satan being cast out of heaven. That's not
what that's talking about. But don't think in terms of geography
here. It's not Satan was here and now
he's over here. And I'll show you that from scripture.
But this great dragon. Now look back at verse 1. Now
there's a lot of symbols here. And they have a historical reference,
but they have a symbolic reference. It says in verse 1, there appeared
a great wonder. That word wonder is a sign. There's
a sign in heaven. It comes from God. And it says
a woman clothed with the sun. Now that woman is a symbol of
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are historical
references here. I'll show you that in just a
moment. But that's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. She's
clothed with the Son. She's clothed with Christ. She's
clothed with the Son of righteousness. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's her garment. We could go to Revelation chapter
19. We could go all the way back
to the Old Testament in Isaiah. We can see that's her garment.
Now he's not talking literal language here like a robe you
put on. He's talking about the merit
of Christ's work on the cross that's charged, accounted to
her, to the church. Now the church is made up of
individuals, sinners saved by the grace of God, redeemed by
the blood of Christ, regenerated and called out by the Holy Spirit.
And what do they do? They look to Christ and they
repent of dead works and idolatry. They trust Christ. They have
confidence in Christ. And they have no confidence in
the flesh. They can sing from the heart what we sang earlier.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Do you really believe that? That's the woman clothed with
the sun. And it says, the moon was under her feet. Now, why
is the moon significant? Well, let me tell you something.
The moon, if you didn't know this before, I think you probably
did, the moon doesn't shine with its own light, does it? It shines
with a reflective light, the light of the sun on the moon.
And that's the way the church is. We don't shine with our own
light. Christ is our light. We reflect him. That's when it
says, let your light so shine before men that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. In
other words, those works aren't intended to draw attention to
you and to me. They're intended to draw attention to Christ. And the moon, why is it under
her feet? Because we're to be shod with the gospel, carrying
forth the gospel throughout the world. We carry forth the light
of Christ throughout the world. We preach to every creature.
And it says, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Upon
her head. Now what is her head? What is
the head of the church? Who is the head of the church?
Christ is. Where's this crown? It's on his
head. What are the twelve stars? That's the ministers of Christ
preaching the gospel. Why is it twelve? Because in
the Old Testament, the church was represented in its complete
entity and in its message with the twelve patriarchs. In the
New Testament, the twelve apostles. That's the completed message
of God, of Christ, preaching Christ. And it's a crown upon
His head. He's the head of the church.
And then it says, "...and she being with child," verse 2, "...cried,
travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." Now, there's
two historical references here. Obviously, you can think of one,
that's Mary, the mother of Jesus, the human mother of Jesus. She's
the virgin in whom her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
the humanity of Christ was formed. And then you can think of Israel.
Many times in the Old Testament, the nation Israel was described
as a woman travailing in childbirth looking forward to the Messiah
coming. Now Israel back then was a type
of the church. And this woman travailing in
birth, even though there's a historical reference to Mary, All right? She's a symbol of the church.
Now you know what the Catholic Church does with this. They take
it and they elevate Mary to a deity. They call her the Queen of Heaven
and they say pray through her. That's not what this is teaching.
Listen, Mary was blessed among women, not above women, and she
is a sinner saved by the grace of God. That's what she is, her
personally. But here's a symbol of the church.
Christ came forth from the church in the sense that he was made
like unto his brethren, Hebrews chapter 2. So he comes forth from the church.
And then it says in verse 3, look here, and there appeared
another wonder, another sign in heaven, and behold a great
red dragon. Now that's the dragon that verse
9 identifies as Satan. Having seven heads, I'm not going
to go into all the historical references here. I don't have
time. But that represents his complete domination of the fallen
sinful world. Seven heads. Ten horns represents
his power. His power. And seven crowns upon
his head. That represents his power too.
That he is a ruler in a sense. And again, that's that usurped
authority that God has allowed him. Now, listen to me. God has
allowed Satan to do that. In fact, in one passage in Revelation,
it said it was given to him to make war with the church. Who
gave it to him? God did. It's God's judgment against the
fallen world. The only way to get out from
under that domination is to look to Christ. And verse four, it
says, his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and
did cast them to the earth. Now again, don't think of geography.
Many people equate this with the fall of Satan as related
in Isaiah 14. I don't believe that's what it's
talking about. I believe it's talking about Satan's ability to persecute
the ministers of Christ, stars of heaven. And he drew a third
part with his tail. That's his deadliness, that's
his poison, like a scorpion. And he was able to put them to
death. He persecuted, but not all of
them. Just the third part. Think about this. You know, every
one of the apostles were murdered except John. Every one of them. Think about the martyrs of the
past. They're glorified in heaven now.
But it says in the dragon, verse four, the dragon stood before
the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her
child as soon as it was born. Now think about what happened
when Mary gave birth to the child. And you remember Satan put it
into Herod's head to destroy that child. And he put a contract
out on all the male children in Israel two years old and under.
But it didn't work, did it? Think about Satan symbolically
and spiritually here. What is he trying to do today?
He's trying to destroy the church. He's trying to destroy those
who are going to be born again by the Spirit. His goal, his
goal is to keep sinners from hearing the gospel. Look over
at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, verse 3. It says, but if our gospel be
hid, verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 4, if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. There's Satan's goal. His goal
is to keep sinners from hearing of Christ, and him crucified
and risen again. And so Paul writes in verse 5,
for we preach not ourselves. You see, anytime a man interjects
himself into the mix in any way, shape, form or fashion, salvation
conditioned on men, even the preacher, what is he doing? He's
aligning himself with Satan. So we don't preach ourselves,
but we preach Christ Jesus the Lord, salvation in him, by him,
all of him. His blood, His righteousness.
And ourselves, your servants for Jesus say, I'm just a servant.
I'm the servant. If you went into a rich person's
home where they had servants and they were serving you a meal,
and they set down the meal, then you start to eat the meal, what
are you gonna be talking about? How great the meal is or how
great the servant is who put the plate in front of it? Look
at how that servant did that. Oh, isn't that great? Boy, he's
the best servant I've ever seen. No, you're gonna be talking about
the meal. And so he says in verse, and
here's our hope, look here, verse six, here's God's goal for his
church. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, that's the God of creation, has shined
in our hearts to give unto us the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There's the
overcoming of Satan. Go back to Revelation 12. So his tail drew a third part
of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the
dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered
for to devour her child as soon as it was born. He was unsuccessful
in the birth of Christ, he'll be unsuccessful in the new birth
of the children of God by the preaching of the gospel. In verse
five, and she brought forth a man child, that's Christ, the God
man. Speaking of his humanity, who
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, a rod of justice.
And even in the gospel he rules with justice because the gospel
preaches that God is just to justify the ungodly through Christ. And her child was caught up unto
God and to his throne. That verse right there is the
whole obedience unto death of Christ. He came, he died for
our sins, he was buried, he arose again the third day and ascended
unto glory because he finished that great work of putting away
the sins of his people, finishing the transgression, making an
end of sin, bringing in everlasting righteousness. Every bit of it. Verse six. The woman fled into
the wilderness. You remember when Herod tried
to have them all killed, that Joseph and Mary took the child
and fled into Egypt. That's the historical reference.
You remember when Israel, when they left Egypt, they were in
the wilderness for 40 years? 40 is the number of testing in
the Bible. We're in this world 40. Well,
the church is in the wilderness of this world right now. And it says, where she hath a
place prepared of God. We're where God put us. You want
to be somewhere else? Why? You're where God put you.
And it was prepared by God. Somebody says, well, I wish this,
you know, this would happen that way. This is prepared of God. And it says that they should
feed her there 1,203 score days, 1260 days. That's an emblem. of the whole time period between
the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ and
the church is fed in the wilderness. Now, how are we fed? Well, you
remember God fed Israel with manna from heaven and gave them
water out of a rock. Who's that manna represent? That's
Christ, the bread of life. Who is that water? That's Christ,
the water of life. How is the church in the wilderness
today, the wilderness, how are we fed? By the word of God that
leads us to Christ. You're being fed right now. and said, verse seven, and there
was war in heaven. Now don't think of heaven as
geographical. What that means is it's a spiritual
warfare. We read about it in Ephesians
six. And Michael and his angels, Michael and his minister, who's
Michael? I'll tell you who I believe it is, it's Christ himself. Michael
is a name that means one who is God. That's what the name
means. It's not a general or a hierarchy
of angels in heaven. The Bible doesn't teach that.
That comes from the Catholic Church. Doesn't come from the
Bible. Michael means one who is God. Or some say one who is like God.
Well, let me tell you something. There's nobody like God, but
he who is God, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who that
is. You can read about him in Daniel
2. Jude mentioned him. And his angels, his ministers,
Sometimes the word angel means an angelic being, sometimes it's
just a messenger, and it says, fought against the dragon, fought
against Satan, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed
not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven. This
spiritual battle has been won by Christ. Now God has allowed
it to still go on while this earth exists, and we'll talk
about that later. But let's just read this, verse nine, and the
great dragon was cast out. When did that take place? At
the cross of Christ. Remember in John chapter 12 and
verse 31, he says, now is the judgment of this world. Now is
the prince of this world cast out. And he said, and I, if I
be lifted up, will draw all unto me. And this he spoke concerning
his death. And then he says that old serpent,
remember Satan appeared as a serpent in the fall of man in Genesis
three. He's called the devil. The devil
literally means slanderer. One who slanders, one who accuses. Satan is called the accuser of
the brethren. Satan, that means adversary, he's an enemy. And
it says, which deceiveth the whole world. Those who are connected
to this world and not to Christ. 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. You see all of
it's connected with Christ. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Why is he cast down? Because of the blood of Christ,
because of the righteousness of Christ, we can honestly say,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather he's risen again.
Verse 11, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That's
how we overcome. plead the blood and the word
of their testimony. Christ and him crucified. And
they loved not their lives unto the death. Now that doesn't mean
they were all martyred, but it means this. Christ means more
to his people than the things of this life, the things of this
world. That's why they come to repentance. You see, Christ supersedes
everything. Our earthly relationships, our
works. He is all and in all. Now I'm
gonna go back over some of this stuff as we continue because
I know there's a lot there. But you remember this, if you
forget everything else I said, they overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. That's what you need to take
away, isn't that right? Knowing that he is our only hope
and our only victory. Alright, let's
Bill Parker
About Bill Parker
Bill Parker grew up in Kentucky and first heard the Gospel under the preaching of Henry Mahan. He has been preaching the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ for over thirty years. After being the pastor of Eager Ave. Grace Church in Albany, Ga. for over 18 years, he accepted a call to preach at Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, KY. He was the pastor there for over 11 years and now has returned to pastor at Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, GA

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