Take your Bibles and turn to
Isaiah chapter 14. I dealt with this in Sunday school
class this morning. I told them I'm going to be repeating
some things, so you who were there, just bear with me. But
this message here, I've entitled it, Christ's Victory over Lucifer. You remember in Isaiah 14, verse
12 here, it speaks of Lucifer. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? And you know that name Lucifer
is another name for Satan. Satan is known by many names
in scripture. He's called the adversary. He's
called the accuser of the brethren. Several names. Satan, the devil.
And here Lucifer, which seems to be descriptive of his name
before he fell and as I said we don't know a lot about his
fall but this is talking about the nature of his fall from heaven
before the world ever was created and in this chapter Isaiah is
prophesying of a time in the future when God would destroy
the nation called Babylon. It's mentioned back in chapter
13. Babylon is a familiar name to
most people who study history or study the Bible. It was a
great empire. And God used that empire to destroy
some of Israel and Judah's enemies. You know, by this time, the kingdom
of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. You know that. It happened
after Solomon. You had the Northern Kingdom,
which was referred to as Israel in the scriptures, and sometimes
Ephraim. It was called Israel because
ten tribes made up the Northern Kingdom. And its capital was
Samaria. And the Northern Kingdom of Israel
was infamously a wicked kingdom. They didn't have one king in
their history who led the people in serving the true and living
God. Not one king. And God destroyed
them, eventually, by another empire called the Assyrians.
Well, Assyria came down to the southern kingdom of Judah. That's
the southern kingdom, and its capital was Jerusalem. And there
were some kings of Judah. That was the throne of David,
made up of two tribes. And there were some kings who,
it says in the Bible, they did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord, meaning what they did is they led the people in
worship of the true and living God. But none of them were perfect. Some of them were also wicked.
One of the kings that Isaiah prophesied under, named Ahaz,
he made an alliance with Assyria, which he shouldn't have made.
You see, they were commanded to depend upon God. But here,
through the prophet Isaiah, God prophesied of a time in the future
when he would use another kingdom, called Babylon, to destroy Assyria,
to destroy Judah's enemies, and eventually to bring punishment
upon Judah for their unbelief. And they went into the Babylonian
captivity. But now, without going into all
the details of that history, let me just cut it short this
way. Babylon is a symbol. of something that is utterly
terrible and infinitely more terrible than any earthly nation. Babylon is a symbol of false
religion. And as I told the Sunday School
class, it goes all the way back. The name Babylon goes all the
way back to Genesis chapter 11. And you read there of the Tower
of Babel. And that word Babel, as I told
you, the original, we look at the word Babel and we say, well
that means gibberish or confusion. But the original meaning of that
word was gate of God. And what men were trying to do
in building Babel, it actually was a city more than a tower,
is they were trying to build a gateway to heaven. Something
that they believed that would bring God's salvation and God's
blessing based on their works, based upon their achievements,
based upon their accomplishments. And as you know, God brought
judgment down upon those men and he confused their language
so that they could not communicate and they had to spread out. And
since then, the term Babel has come to mean confusion. But it
started out as gate of God. Isn't that interesting? So what
does Babylon represent? It represents any religion that
is centered around or founded upon man's efforts to make himself
righteous. Any religion. That is founded
upon man's works, trying to earn his way into God's favor, trying
to work his way to heaven. That's what Babylon represents.
That term carries all the way up through the book of Revelation
when you read about the great harlot, Babylon. It represents
any philosophy, any government, any religion that opposes the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. So it's
an opposition. Now, here in Isaiah 14, when
he's making this prophecy, he shows who's behind Babylon. Who
energizes Babylon? Who motivates Babylon? It's none
other than Satan himself. And he shows there in verse 12
how Satan, in his own fault, was lifted up with pride against
God. Trying to exalt himself. Trying
to bring attention to himself. And that's the religion of Satan.
Any religion, no matter how it seems outwardly, no matter how
sincere the people are, if they're trying to establish their own
works, their own righteousness before God, now let me tell you
something, based on God's testimony now, not how you feel or how
they look or how they seem, but based on God's testimony, it
is a satanic religion. Cain represented satanic religion. Here's a man coming before God
bringing the best he can do, seeking acceptance before God. Abel represents God's religion,
the religion of grace. A sinner coming before God seeking
mercy, confessing his sins and pleading the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ as represented in that lamb and the blood of
the lamb. Christ is the lamb of God. And that conflict has
gone on. But here's what I want you to
see. This chapter represents that great battle of good versus
evil. But this is not a battle that
we have to wait and see how it's going to come out. This is a
battle that's already been won. Christ has already obtained victory
over Satan. The Church has already obtained
victory over Babylon. Now all things have not yet been
manifest. All things have not yet come
about in time. But my friend, the battle's been
won. Christ already won the victory. Now there's two verses in this
chapter that point that out. The first one and the last one.
Look at Isaiah 14 and verse 1. Now, chapter 13 is speaking of
the destruction of Babylon too. But right in the middle of it,
he says here, he says, For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. And he says he will yet choose
Israel, and set them in their own land, and the strangers shall
be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of
Jacob. Now that verse there speaks of God's salvation. The first
application is to national Israel as God will eventually 120 years
later from this. He's going to deliver them from
the clutches of Babylon, and he's going to bring them back
into their own land, and the temple's going to be rebuilt.
You can read about that in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It
speaks of Zerubbabel, the governor. He was a type of Christ who is
the ruler over it all. As appointed by the Father, you
see the priest, whose name was Joshua. Zechariah was a prophet
and a priest. And you see it in the book of
Ezra, who was a scribe and a priest. And that tells about that coming
back from Babylon, taking back their, God giving him back the
land. And let me tell you something
about that now. God made sure that they understand that they
were not delivered out of Babylon, and they were not, they did not
come into possession of that land by their own power, by their
own works, or because of their own goodness. It was totally
God's mercy. And that is a great lesson of
how God saves sinners. When God saves a sinner, He brings
that sinner out of the bondage of sin, the bondage of Satan,
out from under the curse of the law, and brings that sinner into
the possession of a spiritual blessedness, a heavenly place,
salvation. And he does not bring that sinner
out or deliver that sinner into because of that sinner's goodness
or power or worth. If we're saved, we're saved by
the grace of God, and we are recipients of blessings that
we haven't even begun to tap the surface of. And we're recipients
of blessings that we did not earn, and recipients of blessings
that we do not deserve. And the reason is he says he
will have mercy on Jacob. You know who Jacob was. That's
speaking of Jacob's family. But it's also speaking in spiritual
terms of Jacob's spiritual family. The spiritual children of Abraham.
Who are those? Spiritual Israel. Those who look
to Christ for salvation. Those who rest in him. Those
who plead his blood and his righteousness alone. And Jacob, I'll tell you
something about Jacob. He was a notorious sinner. He
didn't deserve what God gave him, and he didn't earn it. But
God had mercy upon Jacob. If you're saved, it's of the
Lord's mercy that you're not consumed. If I'm saved, it's
of the Lord's mercy that I'm not consumed. You see, that mercy. Where do you find mercy? At the
mercy seat. Who is that? That's Christ and
Him crucified. He's the mercy seat. And it says,
He will yet choose Israel. Now, somebody says, What do you
mean, He will yet choose Israel? Hadn't He already chosen Israel?
Yes. What that means is he will still maintain his choice. It means that he will never forsake
Israel. Now God had a purpose and a plan
for national Israel, that earthly people. And that plan was in
force until an appointed time, the time of the Messiah. And
then when he came, God was through. But when it comes to spiritual
Israel, his people, his elect out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, God has an eternal plan that will never
end. It will go on forever and ever
and ever and ever. And no matter what happens now,
no matter what circumstances dictate, no matter how down we
get, No matter how far astray we go at times, God's always
going to bring us back. He will never leave us. He will
never forsake us. God will always finish what He
started. There will be no vacant seats
in heaven. He's going to have His people.
And He's going to bring them in their own land, set them in
their own land immovably. And the stranger shall be joined
with them. That refers to the calling of the Gentiles. Anytime
you see nations or strangers coming into the family of God,
that's a picture of God saving not only his elect among the
Jews, but among the Gentiles. And he says, they shall be joined
with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. They're
going to hold on for dear life. That's what that means. They
will not let go. God's going to keep them. So
that's the first verse that shows us Christ's victory over Satan.
There's going to be a people. Satan has a people. Scripture
teaches that. They're citizens of Babylon. They're lifted up with pride
just like he was. You can read it there in verses
12 through 14. I will lift myself up. I will
get detention. I will be honored. I will have
the place of preeminence. You see, that's what false religion
does. It elevates men and women and their works. But the religion
of grace, the religion of Christ, elevates Christ and honors Him
and gives Him the preeminence and His works. The religion of
Babylon has a lot to say about man's righteousness and what
God has enabled him to do if he thinks so. But the religion
of grace has a lot to say about Christ's righteousness. and his
obedience unto death, and what he's accomplished for his people.
Now look at the last verse, look at verse 32. What shall one then
answer? Isaiah 14, 32. The messengers
of the nation. When the messengers of the nation,
we're not told specifically what the question is, but by the answer
we can pretty much understand it. Here's the answer. That the
Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust
in him. What the question seems to be here is these nations who
are going through judgment and being destroyed ask this question,
well, what's going to happen to God's people? What's going
to happen to Judah? What's going to happen to Israel?
Well, here's what's going to happen. The Lord hath founded
Zion. Now, that term Zion, some people
will refer that totally to the geographical location, the physical
nation of Israel. And that has some bearing, it
was a mountain. But Zion is a type or a spiritual
picture of the church. Now, who is the church? Well,
the word church, what does it mean? It means called out ones. That's what it means. Those who
have been called out. Well, who is the church? Well,
they're the chosen of God. The scripture says that. I know
men today don't like that, but that's too bad. That's what God
says. They're the elect of God. They're the redeemed of God.
In other words, Christ gave His life for the church. He shed
His blood for the church. That means He paid the redemption
price. They were sold under sin, you
see, and bondage to sin. But Christ paid the redemption
price. They were justified by the grace
of God in Christ based on His righteousness alone. They're
the justified. And then they're the called out
ones. That is, they are born again by the Spirit. They're
regenerated. They're given spiritual life.
We're born spiritually dead, but we're given spiritual life
by the Holy Spirit. That's why Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Now, if you have physical life,
there are some evidences of physical life. I used to teach school,
and there were many times I would stand before the class that I
almost thought some of those students were dead. because they
didn't give any evidence of physical life as I could see. And I certainly
wasn't going to wrap it up and say, well, I couldn't be that
boring. That couldn't be it. But here's the bottom line. If
you have physical life in your body, there's going to be some
evidence of physical life. You're going to breathe. You're
going to be able to do certain things. What's the same thing
with spiritual life? If you have spiritual life, there's
going to be some evidence. What's the first evidence? Well,
you're going to trust in Christ. You're going to have faith in
him, and you're going to repent from your dead works and your
idolatry. You're going to serve him. You see, that's the issue.
So the church are the called out ones. They've been called
out of the world by the Spirit of God through the preaching
of the gospel and into the family of God. So this Zion here is
the church. The Lord hath founded the church.
Now notice here it says, the Lord hath founded, not man. You
see, this is not founded by John Calvin, Martin Luther, or anybody.
It was founded by the Lord. That means He's the one who built
it. We'll see that in just a moment.
And who is this church? Now it says, "...and the poor
of his people shall trust in it." Not trust in the church.
They're going to trust in the foundation. That's what that
says. Who are the poor of his people? Well, Christ identified
them in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
the meek. See, he went on down through. You see, this is the
poor in spirit. Now, every man and woman born
of Adam is spiritually poor. But only the church is poor in
spirit. You see, what I'm saying by that
is this, you know, man by nature is spiritually poor. In other
words, he's spiritually bankrupt. He doesn't have spiritual life.
He doesn't have anything from which to pay God for his salvation. He doesn't have any way to deserve
it or earn it. But the problem is he doesn't
know that. The problem is, is if he's inspired by Lucifer,
inspired by Satan, he thinks he has righteousness and goodness
before God, but he doesn't. It's like a guy running around
out here who's a million dollars in debt, and he thinks he's a
million dollars to the good. He's not. And he goes around
spending like he's got a million dollars to the good. But he's
really a million dollars in the hole. Now somebody's got to tell
him. You see, and that's what the
preaching of the gospel is. That's why when the prophets
and the apostles come along, they teach that salvation cannot
be by your works because you don't have any. Salvation cannot
be by what you give God because you don't have anything to give
God. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none good,
no, not one. We're in the hole. So the poor
of his people, those whom God opened their hearts and their
minds and their understandings to see their spiritual poverty,
they're going to trust in the foundation. They're going to
trust Christ. Now what that speaks of is Christ's defeat of Satan.
Basically in two ways. Let me show you that. First of
all, I want you to go to John chapter 12. Now, you know, In
John chapter 12 here, he is speaking to his disciples and he speaks
of his death which he was about to accomplish on Calvary. Look at verse 23 of John chapter
12. Now it says, And Jesus answered
them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be
glorified. Now he's speaking of his mediatorial
glory there. And he uses an object lesson
to show what he's about to say, what kind of glory it is. He
says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat,
or a seed of wheat, a seed of wheat, fall into the ground and
die, yet abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit." Now he's talking about the death of the seed. You take a seed of wheat, if
the farmer doesn't plant that seed in the ground and it literally
dies, And does its physical change, the change that it has to go
through, I'm not a scientist or botanist or anything like
that, but I know it has to go through a change. And that little
seed, you know, when you go out into a wheat field or a corn
field, you see those big ears of corn or those golden stalks
of wheat, you know that it wasn't always that way, don't you? I
mean, they didn't just appear there like that. Somebody planted
a seed in the ground, that seed died, and from that death came
life. You say, well, that's what Christ
is teaching here. He said, unless you plant the
seed, unless the seed dies, it's just going to be a lone seed.
It abides alone. There it is. There's the seed.
But if you plant it in the ground and it dies, then it's going
to bring forth much fruit. Now what's he talking about?
We'll go down to verse 31. Now listen to what he says here.
He says, Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the
prince of this world be cast out. Now who's the prince of
this world? That's Satan. That's Lucifer.
That Isaiah the prophet described back in Isaiah 14. Years and years before this.
And he says, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Now
look, verse 32. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. This he said, signifying
what death he should die. Speaking of his death. In other
words, when he was giving them that object lesson about the
seed in the ground, he wasn't just talking about planting a
seed of wheat or a corn of wheat. He was using that to illustrate
his own death. He must die that there must be
much fruit. Now his death will bring forth
much fruit. What is that fruit? Zion, his
church. He gave his life for the church.
He ransomed his people by his death. What did he do in his
death? He defeated Satan. Satan assaulted
Christ and the people of God for years. Some say that Satan's
first assault against the throne of God is what's referred to
back here in Isaiah 14, when he lifted up himself in heaven
and he fell. The second assault which Satan
made against God was in the Garden of Eden, when he brought about
the fall of man. He deceived Eve, and then he
got Adam to take sides with him against God through Eve. It's described in Genesis chapter
3, the fall. The third assault launched by
Satan against God was shortly after the birth of Christ, some
say. That's when King Herod the Great was inspired to have all
the male children in Israel killed, two years and under, because
he was trying to get at the Messiah. Satan inspired him to do that.
Some say the next assault of Satan against Christ and against
his church was when Satan had the gall to tempt our Savior
on the Mount of Temptation. You remember what he did? He
quoted Scripture, didn't he? He tried to twist Scripture.
You see, that's the way Satan does. He's not this guy you see
in the movies. Or in the story books, it has
horns and a tail and a pitchfork. He disguises himself as an angel
of light. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11.
And what does he try to do there? What did he try to do there?
He tried to confuse the issue of salvation by grace with the
works of man. He tried to mix and mingle grace
and works. Do you know that the ultimate
fight, the battle of good versus evil, is a battle of grace versus
works? Christ's righteousness or man's
righteousness? Do you know that's the battle?
Do you know that the first act of murder that ever occurred
was over grace versus works? Cain and Abel. Isn't that interesting
that the first murder was over religion? Wasn't over guys getting
angry over a card playing or drinking or anything. It was
over religion. How is a sinner accepted before
God? That's what the issue was between
Cain and Abel. Do you remember what happened
there? Cain brought the works of his hands, the works of the
ground, the best that he had to offer. But God would not accept
it because God had already established in Adam and Eve, when He killed
that animal and gave him coats of skin, that without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sin. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. There is no salvation without the death of an appointed,
willing, and able substitute. There is no salvation for a sinner
like me without Christ. And that's what Abel was saying
when he came and brought the blood of the Lamb. You see, that
was a type of picture of the Lamb who was to come. Grace versus
works. And you remember what happened?
God told Cain, he said, why art thou angry? He said, if you do
well, you'll be accepted. What is it to do well in the
context of Genesis chapter 4 there? To bring a Lamb. Bring the blood. I'm telling you, every one of
us in here, if we do well, we'll be accepted. What is it to do
well according to God's Word? Look to Christ. Rest in Him. Plead His blood. Do like Abel
did. Come to God as a sinner seeking
mercy, saying, Lord, I've got nothing to recommend me unto
you. If you gave me what I deserve, I deserve nothing but death and
destruction and damnation. But I have only one plea, and
that is Christ and Him crucified. That's what Abel did. So God
tells Cain, he says, now if you do well, you'll be accepted,
but if you don't, sin lies at the door. The picture is sin
lying outside the door like a hungry lion ready to pounce on you and
destroy you. In other words, without Christ,
we have no Savior from sin. Without Christ, we have no salvation
from hell. And you know what Cain did next?
You know what he did? He went to Abel. And he said,
Brother, let me talk to you. You know what happened to me?
God said he wouldn't accept what I have to offer. What do you
say, Abel? People do that today. They sit
and listen to a preacher of the truth tell them the truth about
how God saves sinners, how sinners become righteous before God.
And it brings them to see, well, wait a minute, that's not what
I was brought up in. That's not what I was taught.
And then they go get preacher so-and-so and say, what do you
think? They get a second opinion. Well, what do you think Abel
told Cain? You know, it's not said there
exactly what Abel said. Read it back in Genesis 4. What
do you think he told Cain? You think he said, Cain, it's
not that strict. God's been too narrow there.
You're all right. Peace. Peace, brother. That's
not what Abel told Cain. And I'll tell you how I know
that. Because Cain got mad at him and killed him. If you want
to find out why he killed him, read 1 John 3, verse 10, 11,
12. It's because his own works were
evil and his brothers were righteous. What were his brothers' works?
The only thing we know about Abel is he brought the blood
of the Lamb. My friend, if you want your works to be righteous,
you better bring the work of Christ. If you want to be accepted
before God, you better look to Christ. You look anywhere else,
that's inspired by Satan. Now, back here in John 12, here's
what he said. Some people say that Satan was
assaulting Christ in the church when Christ went to the cross.
Not so. Satan did everything he could
do to keep Christ from going to that cross. Because even Satan
knew that was his defeat. That's right. Now is the prince
of this world cast out. What does that mean? Well, I
want you to turn to Revelation chapter 12. Let me show you the one thing
Satan hates worse than anything else. Somebody said one time,
I heard a fellow talking about this, he said, he said, Satan
hates it when an alcoholic stops drinking and never picks up the
bottle again. Now let me tell you something, and listen to
me carefully and don't quote me out of context. Every alcoholic ought to stop
drinking and never pick up a bottle again. Do you understand what
I'm saying? But let me tell you something, that is not Satan,
that's not what Satan hates. That's not what he hates. Most
of the time, religion will tell you that when an alcoholic puts
down the bottle and never drinks again, that that will earn him
in some way God's favor. Satan loves that. So let me show
you what Satan hates. Now look at verse 9 of Revelation
12. And he says, And the great dragon,
was cast out. Now who is the great dragon here?
That old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the
whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And listen to verse 11 now. And
they overcame him, how? By putting down the bottle. By
stop doing this and stop, they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb. That's how you defeat Satan.
By the blood of the Lamb. Just like Abel. He brought the
blood of the Lamb. That's the one thing Satan hates
right there. Because you see, when Christ died on that cross,
Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 tells us He made an end of sin. He
finished the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. And now, Satan's accusations.
You know why he's called the accuser of the brethren? You
know, if you were walking down the street someday, and the sheriff
pulled up, and he got out of the car, and he said, I'm accusing
you of bank robbery. Let me tell you something. Now,
you get upset. I know you would. I would too.
But you know when you really have to worry in that situation? is if you rob the bank. That's
when you really have to worry in that situation. And that's
the same way with Satan. When he accuses me, the only
time I really have to worry is if I'm guilty of the crime. And let me tell you something
about me. I'm a sinner. And you are too. But Satan's accusations
against me do not stick anymore. Why? Because of the blood of
the Lamb. Christ died for my sins, and
He put them away. Now, I'm going to come back to
Revelation 12, so if you want to mark that. I want you to go
to Romans chapter 8. Let me show you what I'm talking
about here. Romans chapter 8. You see, here's the thing about
it. If we have Christ as our Redeemer, as our righteousness
before God. Satan will accuse. Men will accuse. And sometimes our own hearts
will accuse us. But pleading the blood of Christ,
here's what we can say. Look at verse 31 of Romans chapter
8. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Freely means we haven't earned
it and we don't deserve it. And he says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. You
see, God has, what does it mean when it says God has justified
me? That means God has declared and pronounced me not guilty. Now, how can he pronounce me
not guilty? Because I'm a sinner. I was a
sinner before I was saved, and I'm a sinner after I'm saved.
How can he pronounce me not guilty? Not but one way. By the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ died for
my sins. I've already been punished for
my sins. All of them. Past, present, future. How? In
Christ on the cross. My sins were laid upon Him. My
sins were imputed to Him. He was made sin for me, Christ
who knew no sin. And His righteousness has been
laid to my charge. His righteousness has been imputed
to me. And so in the eyes of God's law
and justice, I'm not guilty in Christ. I'm washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness. And that's why it says it's God
who justifies it. Satan can accuse me all day long, all night long.
Can't do anything. His power has already been destroyed
over God's people. He's been cast out in that sense. He's not yet in hell, but he
will be. He will be, it's sure and certain. He goes on, verse
34, "...who is he that condemneth?" It's Christ that died. "...yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." You see, the Lord has
founded Zion. Christ said to Peter and the
disciples, He said, I will build my church and the gates of hell
will not prevail. He's going to build his church
upon the foundation of Christ and Him crucified. Now back over
here in Isaiah 14, the next line says, the poor of his people
shall trust in it. Now that's the second way Satan
is defeated by Christ. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. What is Satan's goal? Let me tell you what Satan's
goal is. Satan's goal is to keep sinners
from coming to Christ. Satan's goal is to keep sinners
from pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ. And he'll do anything.
Listen. If he can get a drunk, to quit
drinking and thinking that that's his righteousness before God.
He's perfectly satisfied with that, my friend. Satan's goal
is to have you somewhere in religion thinking that you have earned
or you deserve or you've met some condition in order to earn
God's favor and blessings. Because that's a false refuge. That's false peace, you see.
He doesn't want the Holy Spirit disturbing your peace. He doesn't
want the preacher disturbing your peace, rocking your boat. Look here in 2 Corinthians 4
and verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the mind of them which believe not, believe not
in Christ. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. And then Paul writes, For we preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
And look at verse 6. Now here's God's goal in the
hearts of His people. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's a great description of
a sinner, the poor of God's people, trusting in Christ. Trusting
in that foundation. That sinner who comes to God
pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ, he's seen the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's when Satan is defeated
in the heart of God's people. Now turn back to Revelation 12
with that in mind. Remember there it says how they
overcame him in verse 11? How are you going to overcome
Satan? They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb as Christ crucified. You see, that's when Christ took
the sins of his people and put them away. That's when righteousness
was established on earth so that all of Satan's accusations will
fall on the ground. They will not reach their destination
in a believer, in one for whom Christ died. But look at the
next line. It says, And they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
And they love not their lives unto death. Now let me say something
about that in closing. By the word of their testimony.
You all have heard people give their testimony? You ever heard
that? You ever been in a religious
group where they stand up and give their testimony? Most of
the time. I'll tell you what I used to
hear growing up in false religion. Is basically people standing
up and giving some dream they had or some experience they had.
Or talking about, bragging about what God had enabled them to
do. You know, look at what happened to me. Look at what I've gone
through. That's not what this is talking about. You know what
the Word of our testimony is? The Word of God's people? What
is our testimony? Well, you can state it in different
ways. But let me give you one way. I'll quote from Galatians
6 and verse 14. Here's my testimony to you. This
is my testimony to the world. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. My testimony to you
and to this world is Christ and Him crucified. My testimony to
this world is I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God. I'm washed
in His blood. I'm clothed in his righteousness.
And that's the very thing that Satan hates. Christ has gained
victory. And that victory will be manifested
to the whole world one day when our Lord comes back and he puts
this old world down and gathers his people unto himself and Satan
is totally, totally cast down into hell who's waiting for him.
My friend, the only hope of any sinner is to run to Christ as
soon as possible, as quickly as possible. Don't wait another
second. Just run to Him. Believe in Him. Seek the Lord. That's what the Scripture commands.
Stop trying to work your way into God's favor. Stop trying
to make yourself better in order to make yourself fit, because
it's not going to happen. You just come to Christ. He's
all the fitness that we need. He's all the righteousness we
need. He's all the redemption we need. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your word of grace in Christ. We pray that
you will continue to save your people from their sins as you
show them your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Bless this church
here in this town. Bless the church in Ashland.
Bless all those where the gospel is preached without compromise.
We pray this in his name and for his sake. Amen.