Well, the psalmist said, my heart
is fixed and established on the Lord. And who fixed it? Well, God did, because that's
not in us by nature. But that's what that song, that
hymn, portrays, doesn't it? Turn in your Bibles to Revelation
chapter 12. Now tonight I want to speak to
you on this subject, Christ's victory, our victory. Christ's victory, our victory. It's amazing how when you come
to a passage of scripture, you see how it's so appropriate for
the time at hand. Because in this vision that the
Lord Jesus Christ gave the Apostle John, it's showing the reality
and the establishment of God's grace and the salvation of His
people through the victory that Christ Himself as the representative
and substitute, sin-bearer and surety of God's people, that
victory that He gained and won and assured for us. For He did
all the work and we receive all the blessing. That's an amazing
thing. That's what grace is all about.
You see, this thing about grace is not a cooperative effort between
Christ and the sinner. It is totally of the Lord. And
this passage of Scripture shows that, this great wonder in heaven.
I dealt with that last week in the first few verses of this
chapter. Let's read again the first few verses. There appeared
a great wonder in heaven, a great sign from God. And then it speaks
of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars. That's a symbol, a type,
a picture of Christ's church, His bride, this woman, this bride
of Christ who represents the church, God's people out of every
tribe and nation, spiritual Israel. And we read back in Isaiah chapter
54 how Israel is sometimes represented as a woman. and woman who was
barren, but who was enabled to bear life by the power of God. Well, that's a picture of the
church also. And this woman was clothed with the Son. That is,
she was clothed with a garment not her own. It was a garment
of the Son of righteousness, the Son of God, the wedding garment
that was washed in the blood of the Lamb, the righteousness
of Christ, the merits of His obedience unto death. That is
the robe we wear, for our name is His name. We took His name.
He is our husband. Jehovah Sid Canu. Stayed upon
Jehovah, the song said. And we're fixed upon the God
of all grace. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. The moon was under her feet.
That is a symbol of the power of the church through the truth.
We have no power of our own. Our power is all of God. When
the disciples began to preach the gospel in the early church
and they began to heal people, there were times when men bowed
down and worshiped them at their feet. I remember it happened
to Peter one time and he said, get up, get up. He said, I'm
just a man. Don't worship me. Look to God.
What we studied this morning in our Sunday school lesson,
how many saw Peter heal a woman and bring a woman back from the
dead. But it says they turn to the
Lord. They didn't turn to Peter. They don't turn to men. And this
woman had a crown of 12 stars, which represents all that Christ
would give her in the truth of the gospel, in the testimony
of the apostles, considering that which points sinners to
Christ. It says in verse 2, she being
with child cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered.
This is a picture of the incarnation, the birth of our Savior. And
that's so appropriate for the time because many people today
are thinking about that very subject. But the thing about
it is what is shown here is his identification with his people.
He was made of the seed of woman according to the flesh, made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He identified with
his people in our name and in our nature without sin. He's
the God-man. But look at verse 3. It says,
and there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great
red dragon, now that's Satan, the red dragon, having seven
heads and ten horns, picturing his usurped authority and his
power to deceive the world, seven crowns upon his head. Satan is
the prince of this world. Our Lord called him that. Now,
he has no authority and power of his own, but that which God
allows him for a particular time. And I know men and women don't
like to hear that. But let me tell you something
now. Whatever Satan does, he never sneaked up on God and took
Him by surprise. Now that's so. Now this whole
thing is marked out and worked out according to the wisdom and
the knowledge and the power and the goodness and the justice
of a sovereign God. And however God chooses to do
it, that's right. You see, God doesn't do anything
because it's right. It's right because God does it.
And here this red dragon is. It says in verse 4, it says,
his tail grew the third part of the stars of heaven, which
I believe represents the fallen angels, and did cast them to
the earth, the ones who followed him in his fall. And the dragon
stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered for
to devour her child as soon as it was born. Satan, in his ignorance,
and I believe it was his ignorance, did everything he could to stop
the coming of our Savior into this world. And we talked about
that. That's not just a one-time thing.
The one that we think about that revolves around his actual birth
in time is when King Herod set out a decree to have all the
firstborn, have all the children, the male children of Israel killed
so that he could kill this one whom the wise men told him was
the one sent from God, the Messiah. And of course, Herod was unsuccessful.
But that attack didn't begin there. It began way back when
Cain killed Abel. It began when all through the
history of Israel we see Satan's onslaughts against the church,
against the purpose of God, but they're totally unsuccessful
because Christ is our victory. And His victory is our victory.
Now let's look at that just for a moment. In verses 5 and 6,
I concluded with these last week, and I wanted to say a little
more about them. But here's what this is showing. In verses 5 and 6,
it shows us the birth, the victory, and the glory of Christ. In verse
5, she brought forth a man child. That's our Savior. And he was
to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That's a way our Savior
is described in the Old Testament. And her child was caught up unto
God and to his throne." Now, you know, everything is not stated
here that he accomplished and that he did. But it says he was
born, he was born for the purpose to rule all nations, not just
the Jewish nation, but all nations. Why? He has a people out of every
tribe and nation, with a rod of iron, that's a rod of justice.
And then it says, her child was caught up unto God. That's his
ascension. That's His glory. That's when Christ ascended unto
the Father, seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession
for us. And these verses show that His
victory is our victory. Look at verse 6. Then it speaks
of the woman. This is the church. "...fled
into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore
days." That represents the time period between His first coming
and His second coming, that number there. Now what we see there
in verse 5 is Christ's victory in His obedience unto death.
In His birth, in His life, in His death, in His resurrection
and glory, Christ brought victory over Satan. He brought victory
over sin. He brought victory over the curse
of the law against our sin for us who believe and trust in Him.
His victory as God-man, as our one mediator. Based upon the
finished work that he accomplished, look back at Philippians chapter
2. That's what this speaks of. We're going to be studying this
next week on Sunday morning. Philippians chapter 2, verse
5. Speaking of the Lord, it said,
let this mind be in you, this mind of humility, this mind of
submission, this attitude and spirit of love and humility. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, verse 6 of Philippians 2. who, being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God." Now, that phrase, form of God, there does not mean that
he was just God in some form. It's really, I mean, it's not
a bad translation, but you've got to understand what that is
actually saying. Nobody could be in the form of
God like this unless he is God. He is God. And that following
phrase there, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He said, I am. He is very God
of very God. And it wasn't stealing. It wasn't
robbing God of his glory for the Lord Jesus Christ to state
openly that he is God. He said he had the power to forgive
sins. Only God has that kind of power.
He spoke to the storm and calmed it. He calmed the sea. He controlled
the elements. He had power over death and hell. Now, for me to claim that, or
any part of that, would be total robbery. Because I'm just a man. I'm a sinful man. And even a
perfect man in himself who's no more than man, it would be
robbery for him to make such a claim. Because, see, we're
human. We're not divine. We're human. We have qualities given to us
from the divine. And that's the image of God that
we have through Christ by His Spirit. But we're not changed. When God changes us, He doesn't
change us from human to divine. That's impossible. You can't
do that. But Christ, when He claimed divinity, He wasn't robbing
God. He was just speaking the truth.
He is God. Now, He's man. It says in verse
7, look at Philippians 3, "...but made Himself of no reputation."
Now, you think about it. We spend our lives trying to
build a reputation. He spent his life making himself
of no reputation. He was not esteemed of men. He was despised and rejected. And it's said in order to do
that, he took upon himself the form of a servant. Now again,
that doesn't mean that he just played like he was a servant.
He wasn't just pretending to be. He was a servant. He was the servant of his father.
He was the servant of his people. And he showed Peter and the rest
of the apostles that when he stooped down to wash their feet
in John chapter 13. Peter knew, he said, well, I'm
not worthy for you to wash my feet. And Christ said, if I don't
wash you, you have no part with me. See, he humbled himself and
took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. Now, that's what Revelation 12
is talking about. The incarnation of Christ made
in the likeness of men. And it says, likeness of men.
He actually became human, but without sin. He became, listen,
the Lord, and I'm not going to try to stand before you and tell
you I understand every little jot and tittle about this, because
I don't, and you don't either, and nobody else does. But I know
this, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of
the Trinity, very God of very God, He was made like us in our
humanity in every way. that you can describe humanity
except one, and that's sin. He had no sin, knew no sin. He
had no experience with sin except in two ways, geography and judicially. Geographically and judicially.
What do I mean by geography? He sat down and ate with publicans
and sinners. In the same place they sat down
and ate, he sat there and ate with them. What do I mean by
judicially? I mean by imputation. It was
charged to him. Now he suffered the weaknesses,
the infirmities of the flesh, all of those things that go along,
but without sin. So he became a servant. And then
look at verse eight. It says, and being found in fashion
or in the habit as a man in human flesh, God in human flesh, he
humbled himself. And not only was he made flesh,
he humbled himself to this point now. Now look at this. This is
something. This is no light matter. This
is no poetry. This is not something you ought
to read and just say, well, that's great. I mean, this is something
that is marvelous. It says he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the ignominious death of the
cross. He allowed men to take him. You
remember in the garden, when they came to arrest him, Judas
brought him to them. He come to them. They didn't
have to go looking behind rocks and behind trees. He came out
to them and he said, who are you looking for? They said, we're
looking for Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. You remember what
happened? They fell back. They fell back. You remember
Peter cut the one fellow's ear off. Christ picked it up and
put it back on. He said, Peter, not so. I came
here to die. And he allowed them to take him.
He allowed them to spit on him, to accuse him. He allowed them
to whip him, to put a crown of thorns on him. What humility! You know what? In light of that,
we ought not have any problems being humble, but we do, don't
we? We do. We just think so highly of ourselves,
you know, but he made himself of no reputation, and he became
obedient. Now look at verse 9. This goes
right along with Revelation 12. Wherefore, because he became
obedient to the death of the cross, now what this means is
this, he finished the work that God gave him to do. Daniel 9.24,
he made an end of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought in everlasting righteousness. He sealed up the prophecy and
the testimony and the vision. And he accomplished all of that.
He redeemed his people on the cross by his shed blood. He justified them by his righteousness
imputed and he defeated Satan. We saw that last week too. That
was the defeat of Satan on the cross of Calvary in the person
of Christ. And it says, wherefore, verse
9, for this reason God also hath highly exalted him, lifted him
up, glorified him, and given him a name which is above every
name. Now, as God, he always had a name that's above every
name, didn't he? I mean, this wasn't the beginning
of a new thing, but as God-man who finished the work, now he's
given a name which is above every name. Look back at Revelation
12. Now, what this is showing here is that Christ rules and
reigns over all things. He rules Satan. He rules eternal
death because he finished all that would demand our eternal
death and gave us eternal life by his one sacrifice for sin
as the substitute and surety of the whole election of grace.
And that happened at the cross of Calvary. He said, I must be
lifted up. Just like Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, I must be lifted up. I will draw all
men unto me. Now we have reconciliation with
the Father. Now in Christ we have righteousness
established. Now in Christ, God the Father,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
so that when we sin it is not held against us. God the Father
exalted human nature in the person of His Son into a position of
honor and glory. And all of his sheep are already
glorified in his person as their surety in the Lord. Now, one
day we will be personally glorified. One day we will be with him.
And Satan can, let me tell you something, Satan or man cannot
do anything to delay it or to stop it. I mean, he can't even
delay it. I hear these people talking about,
well, God's just waiting on such and such before he comes back
again. God's not waiting on anything but his own appointed time. That's
right. He's not waiting on what we do,
what we build, what we conquer, what we think, or how we act.
He's coming in His appointed time. Christ said that. He said
only the Father knows the time. Look at verse 6. Now here it
is. Here's our victory because of
His victory. Here's this woman fled into the
wilderness. But now notice where she flees.
It's not like she's running around, you know, like they say, he's
running around like a chicken with his head cut off. That means
he doesn't know where he's going, doesn't know where he's going
to end up. That's not the kind of fleeing that's going on here.
This is a purpose, you see. This is the movement of God for
his church. This is his protection. And look
at where she flees. She flees into the wilderness.
That's this world. We're in this wilderness of the
world. We're in the world. We're not of the world. But where
did she flee? Where she hath a place. Where
she's already got a place. prepared of God There's a place
prepared Now here he's not talking about heaven. You know Christ
talked about heaven to his disciples. He said I go to prepare a place
for you But here he's talking about his church and the fellowship
of his people in the sheepfold in the body of Christ Why that
they should feed her there? We're going to be fed there.
There's food there And over this is a place for the hungry It's
a place for the thirsty. It's a place for the needy. Those
who are already full and those who are already satisfied won't
come here. This is a place prepared by God. The place is prepared and the
people are prepared. And it's where God meets them
with his word and he feeds them with the manna from heaven, which
is the Christ, the bread of life. And what are we doing tonight?
We're being fed. This is the place prepared. There's
places all over this world, I believe, where the gospel is preached.
There's a lot of more places where it's not. But there's some
places where the gospel is preached. That's the places prepared in
the wilderness of the world. And we have to put up with it.
We have to deal with it. Sometimes we even get down and
we act like it. To our shame. But there's a place
prepared. And that's where we flee. It's
no accident. It's no contingency plan. It's not Plan B because
Plan A didn't work. This is a place prepared for
the foundation of the world. God purposed from the beginning
for his chosen people. And this place prepared is a
place of refuge. Oh, it's a refuge. It's like
an oasis in the desert. It's for our protection. It's
for our encouragement. It's for our learning. That's
what we are to come here for. We're not to come here to fight
and fuss and argue and promote this man or that man or self,
we're here to worship God. We're here to worship Christ.
Just like in the wilderness of Sinai, God protected and He fed
the nation Israel with manna from heaven. Christ is our manna. He said, I am the living bread.
And that's how we're fed. And this refuge is the fellowship
of God's people here on earth where we worship God in Christ
and where we're nourished by His His Word and His love and
His comfort and His assurances. This is where we come to be inspired
by grace. And this is the place where we
separate ourselves from false religion of the wilderness and
false refuges of the world. This is where we are beacons
of light to point sinners to Christ as the only refuge for
a hungry person, for one who needs salvation. And this place
is prepared for every sinner who flees to Christ for refuge.
Are you hungry for the Word of God? Well, this place has been
prepared for you. You're not here by accident.
And I'm not here by accident. You're here and I'm here because
God put us here on this particular time, this particular night,
for this particular purpose. And I'll tell you what that's
comforting to me. I hope it is to you too. God will save the
chief of sinners by the blood of Christ and thereby Satan is
destroyed and can have no dominion over you. The gates of hell will
not prevail against the church because it's built upon the rock. And when the world turns its
big guns towards the church, when the wind comes through,
it will not fall. Why won't it fall? Because it's
made of such good bricks? No, because it's built on a rock.
And that rock is Christ. Now, as I said here, he said
it's going to take place for 1,203 score days. That's speaking symbolically
of the time period between Christ's first coming and His second coming. And that's going to take place.
God is in the business of saving His people from their sins, calling
His sheep into the fold, that place prepared. And all that
time, the gospel is going to be published. As I said, we've
seen it in the sealed visions and the trumpet visions. We've
seen that as the time gets closer to the second coming of Christ,
the gospel, the truth, is going to be harder to find. It's going to be harder to find.
Scarce. But God is going to have his
witness. Again, Satan cannot destroy the church. Now look
at verse 7 of Revelation 12. Now I want you to see this. Here's
Christ's victory in our hearts. Here's his glory in our hearts.
Here we see, you see, in this chapter what we're seeing, we
see Christ's victory in his incarnation, in his obedient life, and in
his birth, and in his death on the cross, and in his ascension
into glory. But here, beginning at verse
7, it speaks of Christ's work in our hearts. And it starts
off with the basis of it, the ground of it, and the cause of
it in the first few verses, verses 7 through 9 here. It speaks of
the redemptive work of Christ as our representative. It says
in verse 7, there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels
and prevailed not. Neither was their place found
any more in heaven, and the great dragon was cast out." Now, when
was he cast out? Remember that? Go back to John
chapter 12. Let me show you this again. Now,
this is speaking of Christ's work on the cross. Over here in John chapter 12, look at verse John chapter 12 verse 32. Here Christ is speaking of his
impending death on the cross. And he says in verse 32, and
I, if I be lifted up from the earth. Now what's he talking
about? He's talking about his crucifixion. He said that back
over in another passage. In John chapter 3, he said as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, So must the Son
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever should believe on him should
not perish, but have eternal life." So he says here in verse
32, "...and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all unto me." That's all whom he redeems. That's what he's
talking about there. Who are they all here? Every
sinner he redeems by his blood. Every sinner whom he justifies
by his righteousness. That's who he's going to draw.
And it says, this he said signifying what death he should die. Now
look back up at verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Now when? When he's lifted up. That's when Satan's hold in his
accusations of condemnation were totally removed from God's people. And I'll show you that over here
in Revelation 12. Look back here now. Look at verse 10 again,
or verse 9 rather. The great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent called the devil and Satan, he goes by many names,
which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. Now this is the redemptive
work of Christ. This is the ground of what the
Holy Spirit does within our hearts in the new birth. And it starts
out with war in heaven. Now, that's not talking about
literally in heaven. Christ conquered Satan here on earth, on the cross. But Satan's defeat was not from
or of the earth. It came from heaven. Salvation
is from heaven. It's from the Lord. It's not
from the earth. It wasn't from the ground up.
It's from heaven down. God sent forth his Son made of
a woman, made under the law. to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. So it came
from heaven, from God himself in Christ. And here you've got
two generals. You've got Michael, the angel,
that's a messenger, and you've got the dragon, Satan, the devil.
That's a symbolic picture of the great battle of Christ and
Satan on the cross. Christ suffered alone by himself. And he defeated Satan. He defeated
sin. He defeated the curse. By himself
he purged our sins. I believe Michael here is Christ
himself. The name means one who is God. So he's talking about
one who is God. Well, that's Christ. Satan's
referred to by many names. He's the dragon. That speaks
of the fact that he's a ferocious enemy. He's a persistent enemy. He goes by the name of a serpent.
You know what the serpent did in the garden? He deceived. He
deceived Eve. He's the deceiver. He goes by
the name of the devil. You know what the devil means?
It means accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren.
And Satan, which means enemy. He's the ferocious, deceptive
accuser of the brethren. He's our enemy. And who met him
head on? Not us. I hear these preachers
talking about getting in fights with the devil and beating him.
No, sir. took Christ to defeat this old serpent, this devil,
this ferocious dragon. And Christ has defeated Satan
in every and all of his characters and his devices. Cast him out. Now there's the redemptive work
of Christ. When he brought in, Satan brought in the ground of
our condemnation in Adam at the fall. Christ on the cross brought
in the ground of our justification by his blood and righteousness.
and removed every accusation that Satan could make. Now let's
see that. Look at verse 10. Now here's the proclamation of
the gospel. You see, sinners are going to
be born again. The Holy Spirit is going to do His work of grace
in the hearts of sinners, but He's going to do it under the
preaching of the gospel. Look at verse 10. And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation. When? When Christ died on that
cross. was buried and rose again the third day. And now is come
strength, there's power now, power to defeat Satan, and the
kingdom of our God, that's the kingdom of God established through
our Savior, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of
thy brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. You see, Satan, the Bible says
here he deceives the whole world. Keeps the whole world in check.
The Bible talks about that. How does Satan deceive the whole
world? Well, look over at 2 Corinthians. I believe this is the best passage
here to understand the reality of Satan's deception. And there
are others. But look at verse 3. What are
we talking about? The proclamation. Christ has
done the work. the redemptive work. It's already
finished. Satan is cast out. Now comes
the proclamation of the gospel. Satan has the whole world to
see. We know that's talking about the world of unbelievers. And
2 Corinthians chapter 4, look at it, verse 3. Listen to it. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are what? Lost. You see, if you don't know
the gospel, you're lost. That's what it is to be lost.
have a lot of different ways of defining what it is to be
lost. The Bible has one way. The Bible says you're ignorant
of Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary. You're ignorant of
the good news. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost. The good news of what Christ
accomplished in his redemptive work. All right, verse 4. in
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not." Now, there's Satan's deception right there. His main goal is to keep you
from hearing and believing the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And I'll tell you what, he'd
just as soon have you in some church somewhere where the gospel
is not preached in a false refuge of religion as he would anywhere
else in this earth. In fact, the Bible says that
that's the worst place you could be. The worst place a man or
woman can be on this earth is in a false refuge of works, legalistic,
self-righteous religion, speaking peace to himself and everybody
else around him, because that's where Christ is hidden. That's
Satan's deception. And he says it. them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them." Well, how are you going
to combat something like that? Well, look at verse 5. Well,
Paul says, first of all, we preach not ourselves. Now, if I'm up
here preaching myself, that's under Satan's deception. If I'm
trying to gain a following for Bill Parker, that's Satan's deception.
If I'm telling you to look to and follow me, that's Satan's
deception. Paul said we don't preach ourselves, but we preach
Christ Jesus the Lord. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
We preach the glorious person of Christ, who He is, the finished
work of Christ, what He accomplished. And ourselves, your servants
for Jesus' sake. The only way we're to refer to
ourselves is just servants. I'm not the CEO of 13th Street
Baptist Church. That's what I'm telling you.
You hear me? I'm not your CEO. I'm your servant. That's what the pastor is. That's
what the elder is. That's what the preacher is. He's a servant
of the church. I'm just, I'm just a servant. His servant for Christ's, your
servant for Christ's sake. He's the Savior. Well now, how
is Satan's deception removed? Look at verse 6. For our God,
for God, who commanded, now that's by the command and power and
act of God, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
who created this world, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." Now, there is Satan's deception removed
when you see the glory of Christ in salvation, the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, how God is just to justify the
ungodly, how God can save a sinner like me and still be God. Look back at Revelation 12. proclamation of the gospel. Now,
this Satan, it says he's the accuser of the brethren in verse
10. That's a good name for him. You
know, most divisions, most fights, most schisms come from people
accusing each other. And they've just fallen into
Satan's trap. The accuser of the brethren.
And it says here that he accused them before our God day and night.
In other words, he wouldn't let up. And here's the point. Now, Satan accuses. What if the
accusations stick? What if he's right? What if when
he accuses me, he's right? You say, well, that's condemnation
if the accusation sticks. But you see, our problem is not
when Satan accuses. Our problem is this. What about
God? What does God see? God is the
judge of all. God judges according to truth.
God is no deceiver like Satan. God is glorified in himself and
he judges according to truth. So what does God see? That's
the issue. You see, look over at Romans
chapter 3. Do you ever notice this in this
verse? We quote it quite often. But here in verse 19. of Romans
chapter 3, this chapter that's showing the total depravity of
man. There's none righteous, none good, none to seek after
God. All gone out of the way. He says
in verse 19, Now we know that what thing soever the law sayeth,
whose law? God's law, is saith to them who
are under the law. What is it to be under the law?
It's to be condemned. It's to be cursed. That every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty Look
at those last two words, before God. You see, that's the issue. How do I stand before God? How
does He see me? And then it follows up, well,
therefore by deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified.
Where? What does it say there? In His
sight. Now, you may be a pretty good
boy or pretty good girl and mom and dad may look at you and say,
you're fine. Grandma and Papa may look at
you and say that. Your friends and neighbors. But
see, they're not your judge. They're not my judge. God is.
How do I appear in His sight? That's the issue. And he said,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Well, how do I appear?
Look back at Revelation 12. Now, here it is. Satan accuses. But to God's people, the accusations
don't stick. You see, our problem is not when
Satan accuses, but how we stand before God. And here's what the
psalmist said in Psalm 130 and verse 3. He said, If thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? The proclamation
of the gospel, though, is this, that Satan's accusations cannot
and do not stick for those whom Christ redeemed on the cross.
Satan's accusations cannot and do not stick for those for whom
Christ paid their debt on Calvary. Satan's accusations cannot and
do not stick to those who were justified by his righteousness
at Calvary. For who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth, if Christ that died? Yea, rather. Now,
how do you know that's so? Well, look at verse 11. Now,
here's the regenerating work of the Spirit. Now, all that
took place at Calvary in the sight of God. But, you see, we
don't know anything about it until the Holy Spirit brings
us under the preaching of the Gospel and applies it effectually
to our minds and our affections and our wills and our hearts.
and cleanses our conscience. That's what the scripture is.
It purifies that conscience. How does it remove that guilt?
How does he do that? Look at verse 11. Now, Satan
accusing them day and night. We accuse ourselves. People accuse
us. But it says in verse 11, And
they overcame him, the great accuser of the brethren, by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And
they loved not their lives unto death. This is the work of the
Spirit within us. How are you going to overcome
Satan? The power of Christ over Satan in the new birth to save
a people who by nature are in line with such a powerful enemy
as Satan, such a deceiver, whose very hearts deceive us. You know,
before God regenerates us and gives us light, our own hearts
deceive us. That's right. Only God can overcome
the evil one and put enmity between sinners and saints. And he does
this by glorifying himself in our hearts. In the new birth,
Satan's power to deceive us so as to keep us from seeing our
sins and seeing the glory of Christ is totally conquered.
Oh, he'll still plague us. We still have to fight with our
own sinfulness and all of that. But my friend, we know where
the remedy is. We know where peace is, we know
where salvation is, we know where comfort is, we know where relief
is. And this verse describes true
faith in Christ that perseveres even unto death by the grace
of God in Christ. The blood of the Lamb, listen
to this, the blood of the Lamb, he says, the blood of the Lamb
overcomes Satan's accusations. I think about Zechariah chapter
3, when Zechariah The prophet was showing that vision of Joshua
the high priest standing before the justice of God and Satan,
the accuser of the brethren, was there to accuse him. And
he had on that old filthy garment of his own works. You remember
that vision? And Satan accused him, but somebody
stepped in, the advocate, the Lord. The Lord rebuked Satan. And he said, this is one of my
own. This is one I redeemed. This
is one whom God chose. This is a brand plucked out of
the fire. This one who's been washed in
the blood of the Lamb. And he said, take off that filthy
coat and put this new coat on him. That white robe of righteousness
that Christ has made. So the blood of the Lamb overcomes
Satan's accusations. The word of their testimony,
that's the gospel, the good news implanted in their heart by the
Holy Spirit indelibly, cannot be removed. This is the seed
that remaineth that John spoke of in 1 John chapter 3. The word
of their testimony overcomes Satan's deception. If you want
to overcome Satan's power to deceive, just look to Christ. Preach the gospel. Look to God's
word. And then the fact that they love
not their lives unto death overcomes Satan's violence, his violence
and his hold in death. Look over at Hebrews chapter
2. Let me show you this in closing. Look here, Hebrews chapter 2.
We read this last week, but I want to show it to you again. They love not their lives unto
death. Now, that perseverance in the faith, that's what he's
talking about. That doesn't mean necessarily a violent death.
That doesn't necessarily mean martyrdom. It could mean that.
But when we come to that point in our lives when God's going
to call us home, what is our hope then? Well, I've lived a long life.
I was yesterday talking to Ms. Spears. She was talking about Scripture,
the Word of God and what the Word of God says. She wasn't
talking about how she'd been on this earth 96 years, longer
than probably I'll ever be. She wasn't talking about how
long. She was talking about her Lord. You see, that's what he's
talking about there. They love not their lives unto
death. In other words, when we come upon that point of death,
we're not going to stand up and crow about all of our accomplishments
and all of what we've done and all of what we're going to leave
behind. We're going to crow about Christ. We're going to glory
in Him at death. It may be a martyrdom. Maybe
we will be arrested. Maybe we will be... I don't know.
But whatever death we die, whether we lay down at night on the bed
and just fall asleep, or whether we are standing in the front
of the battle and taking all the shots that the world can
get, our hope then is Christ and Him crucified. That's what
it is. Look here at Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he Christ also himself likewise took part
of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is the devil. That's when Christ through
his death he destroyed Satan who had the power of death. Now
that doesn't mean Satan has the power to kill. You remember when
Satan approached God about Job. Satan had to ask permission to
even touch Job. And he had no power to kill them,
but what power of death is he talking about? Look at verse
15. And deliver them who through fear of death, that's a legal
fear of death there, were all their lifetime subject to bondage,
the bondage of the law. Oh, that legal fear that causes
sinners to run anywhere, to religion, to their works, to their family,
to their denomination, to their ceremonies, to their accomplishments. anywhere other than Christ for
relief. But you see, over here in Revelation
12, they loved not their lives unto death. What is my life? What is your life? But a testimony
to the power and grace and goodness of our Savior. And then in verse
12, as he closes here, at this point, look at this, and I'll
pick up here next week. He says, 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. Isn't that something? It shows that because of his
defeat, Satan is filled with wrath. He knows his time is short,
and so he goes about to persecute. Do you know what he wants? He
wants to drag everybody he can down into hell with him. That's
right, that's what his goal is. He knows where he's going. But
he wants to drag everybody he can with him. That great dragon. But you see, Christ's victory
is our victory. Isn't that right? We'll pray
unto the one in whom we have victory. Let's sing that hymn,
Sweet Hour of Prayer.