Turn with me in your Bibles to
the book of Revelation, chapter 13. Revelation, chapter 13. Now, I want to deal with basically
one verse out of this chapter, verse 8, concerning Christ, the
Lamb slain. As you can see in Revelation,
chapter 13 and verse 8, the Lord Jesus Christ is identified here
in the King James version of the Bible as the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And that's what I want to deal
with, basically. But in, you know, the book of Revelation
seems to be such a mystery to most people. And there may be
things that are mysterious there, but the more I read the scriptures
from Genesis to Revelation, the more I'm convinced that the key
to understanding the whole of scripture is to view it as it
relates to the issues of the gospel of God's grace in Christ
and him crucified. And anything that you come away
with in understanding the scripture is going to support that truth
and be consistent with that truth of how God saves sinners through
Christ. How God is just. to justify the
ungodly based on the shed blood and the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And any interpretation or understanding that you have
of any scripture that takes away from the glory and the power
of the person and work of Christ on the cross or anything that
diminishes in any way or any degree the glory of that power
of the person and work of Christ is a wrong interpretation. The
Bible does not teach in any way, Old Testament or New Testament,
that salvation is ever conditioned on a sinner. It's all conditioned
upon Christ who came in time according to the will and appointment
of the Father to fulfill and meet all of the conditions, all
of the requirements, all of the stipulations of salvation for
his people. And that's so. And nothing is
going to diminish that or take away from it. Now, in Revelation
12 and 13, we're confronted with what some commentators call an
unholy trinity. We're first confronted with the
symbol of the dragon. And that dragon symbolizes Satan. And Satan, in Revelation 12,
is portrayed as the accuser of the brethren. Now that's important
to understand how Satan works. Satan is a subtle, deceptive
devil. We're going to see that. But
he's called the accuser of the brethren. He hurls accusations
against God's people. The truth is, though, is this.
Satan's accusations that are hurled against God's people cannot
and do not stick. Why? That's the issue. Why? When Satan, you who are
in Christ, you who know the Lord, you who are children of God,
when Satan hurls his accusations against you, they don't stick.
Now, why is that? Well, it's because I'm the new
improved version of Bill Parker. No. Is it because I no longer
commit sin? No, I'm a sinner. But his accusations
don't stick. Why? The next one that we're
confronted with in Revelation 13 is a beast. That term beast
there is a term that was normally used for a wild animal that could
not be tamed. And he's the servant of Satan.
And that beast rises out of the sea. And what that first beast
represents is ungodly governments that serve Satan in opposition
to the government, in opposition to the truth of God. He's the
servant of Satan. Back in John's time, when he
received this revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ on the
Isle of Patmos, a good interpretation of that would apply to the Roman
Empire, which was a God-hating, Christ-hating government, a great
persecutor of the Church, openly hateful, openly in a lie coming
against it. It's been represented down through
the ages in the last days, which referred to the time of Christ
coming and doing his work on the cross and ascending under
the Father and the time of his second coming. That's what the
last days refers to. Somebody says, we're living in
the last days. Well, we've been living in the
last days since the Lord ascended. The Bible teaches that. Somebody
says, well, I believe we're close to the time that the Lord is
going to return. Well, I believe we're closer.
I don't know how close we are. We don't know when, and it's
foolish and ungodly for any man to try to figure it out according
to the scriptures. But down through time, governments
that stand in opposition to Christ and the gospel have been risen
up, have been put down, they'll raise up again. And the Bible,
I believe, teaches it's going to get worse as we do get closer. to the time of our Lord's second
coming. That's what that first beast represents, the one coming
out of the sea, the sea in the Old Testament. The islands, they
represented the nations, you see. And that's what that represents. And then, after that, there's
another beast that comes up out of the land. And look at this
one. It says in verse 11, now look
at this. This one is called, this one
is known as the false prophet. And he says in verse 11, And
I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had
two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. And what
does that tell you? Well, that tells you he appears
to be gentle. In appearance, he has an appealing
appearance that would draw men and women to him. But his words,
his speech, his doctrine, his message, is in line with Satan,
the dragon. And this beast represents false
religion. And he's more dangerous than
the first beast because he's more deceptive. Now, this beast,
this is a symbol. This is not just one animal.
This is a wild beast that cannot be tamed. It's a symbol. It's a type, if you will, of
false religion, false philosophies, that are in line with the dragon
Satan, satanic religion, and I'm not talking about people
wearing black robes and sacrificing cats now. That's not what he's
talking about. Our Lord spoke of the servants
of this beast when he spoke of false prophets who come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are as ravenous wolves. And let
me show you an example. Turn over to John chapter 8. What this, this false prophet
represents any religion, no matter what it calls itself, even listen,
even if it calls itself Christian, any religion that is appealing
to men by nature, but which denies the doctrine of Christ, the person
and work of Christ, which denies the issue of how God can be just
and justify the ungodly, which deny the issue of the cross. The accomplishments, the finished
work of Christ on the cross as our whole salvation and our justification
before God. Look at John chapter eight. Now,
remember, our Lord here is talking to religious people here. The
Pharisees. who outwardly appear righteous
unto men. Christ himself said that. He
said you're like whited sepulchers but inwardly like an open grave.
And these were men who were promoting keeping the law. Keeping the
law for salvation. Their way of being justified
before God. Now what is it to be justified?
It's to be declared by God legally not condemned, legally not guilty
and righteous in his sight. That's what justification is.
These Pharisees would teach you that a sinner can be justified
before God by keeping the law, by their works. And look what
our Lord says of them in John 8 and verse 44. He says, you're
of your father, the devil. You religious men and women,
you're devilish, you're satanic. And the lust of your father,
you will do. Now you know what lust is. We
always think of lust as being a sexual desire. Lust is any
unlawful desire. Do you know it is a lust, an
unlawful desire for a sinner to desire salvation apart from
Christ? In fact, there's no more wicked
lust in the world. than for a sinner to come before
God pleading something other than the shed blood and imputed
righteousness of Christ. And I'll tell you where that's
first taught, first taught in Adam after the fall. You preached
on it the other night, Dave, when he said, when he sewed fig
leaves together and tried to cover their nakedness. And then
it's taught with Cain and Abel. Here comes Cain pleading the
works of his hands as his as his ground of acceptance before
God. That's wicked and evil. But here
comes Abel with the blood of the Lamb. That's a picture of
Christ. That's a picture of his blood
and his righteousness imputed, saying, I'm a sinner and my only
hope is to be accepted in him, the one who was to come. And
so he says, the lust of your father you will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, a soul murderer. He brought the
whole human race into condemnation in Adam under the sentence of
condemnation and death. And how did he do it? What was
his weapon? It wasn't tanks. It wasn't Cobra
helicopters. It wasn't anything like that.
When people go to the book of Revelation, that's what they
want. They want to talk about carnal weapons. Here's his weapon. It says he was a murderer from
the beginning and a bode not in the truth. You see, because
there's no truth in him. He speaks a lie. When he speaks
a lie, he speaketh of his own. That means he speaks what's natural
to him. You see, that's what false religion does. It speaks
what's natural to man. Salvation by works, self-righteousness,
salvation conditioned on the sinner. God's done his part. Now, won't you do yours? That's
the lie, right? God will save you if you'll let
him. God's come this far, now you
do yours. That's the issue, you see. When he speaketh a lie,
he speaketh a lie, for he's a liar and the father, his weapon is
a lie. And that's what this third beast
represents here. This two-horned lamb who speaks
like a dragon. Let me show you another example.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Now Paul here is talking
about false preachers. And he said what they've done,
is they've gotten the minds of some of God's people off of Christ
and Him crucified. The simplicity that is in Christ. Just like Satan beguiled Eve.
He said, I fear lest he beguile you and get you away from the
simplicity. That's the single message of
Christ and Him crucified. The single message of how a sinner
is made just and righteous before a holy God based on the finished
work of Christ on the cross. And he's gotten you off of that,
and he says in verse 13, I look at this, he says, for such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. They claim to be Christ apostles. They claim to be preachers of
the gospel. They'll even claim to preach
grace. You see, they transform themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And the tense of that word there, the verb there, is
it is a temporary transformation. In other words, it's not a permanent
change. You see, when God saves a sinner, there's a permanent
change. When God calls one of his men into the ministry to
preach the gospel, he gives him a message and it never changes.
But these men transform. They go back and forth. They
can't stay with the preaching of Christ. Because it's not in
their hearts. It's not what they love. It's
not their hope. And he says in verse 14, no marvel
for Satan himself is transformed in an angel as an angel of light.
You know, Satan can quote scripture. Satan can speak enough truth.
Pepper it with a lie to deceive. So he said, that's no that's
nothing amazing that false preachers would do that. He says in verse
15, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be
transformed, now listen to this, as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their words. I believe that
he's saying at given times they'll even preach the true gospel in
the sense that they will preach the imputed righteousness of
Christ, but they can't stay with it. It is not their main message,
the transformers. And he says he's somebody said,
well, they preach man's righteousness. No, they do. But they don't have
to transform to do that. That's what's natural to you. See, men don't have to change
and transform to preach work salvation. They don't have to
transform and change to preach salvation condition on the center.
That's what comes now. When Satan speaks that he speaks
of his own, he's speaking what's naturally to him. But these men,
for certain times, they can say the right things to God's people
at a given time, to the point that if it were possible, Christ
said, they could deceive the very elect. And that's what this
two-horned lamb over here in Revelation 13 is. He has that
appearance. You can say, well, I heard him
preach a message the other day, and it sounded good. But what's
the tenor of his ministry? What's the tenor of his message?
What is his mainstay? Day in and day out, because these
transformers, they can't stay with it now. Somehow, some way
they're going to get into where they exalt man and their works.
It may be rewards in heaven. We're saved by grace, but you
better, you better get busy and earn your reward. You know, you
don't want to live in a, in a cabin in glory land. You want a mansion.
So you better work hard. Now, let me tell you something.
The gospel of God's grace never, never puts God in a position
where he's indebted to you. Did you know that? If you ever
come under a message that puts God in debt to you, you better
run from it. God's indebted to himself. That's
it. He owes himself his own glory. He's never going to put himself
in a position where he's indebted to you or me. We're not in the
earning business. The only thing we can earn is
death, the wages of sin. The gift of God is eternal life. It's a gift. We're blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We don't
earn our blessings here or in glory. That's so. Our reward
is Christ. And we're all equally saved,
equally justified, we who know him. We who are who are resting
in Christ were equally saved, equally justified and equally
rewarded in Christ based on his blood and his righteousness alone.
But you see, this two horned lamb is deceptive. He has that
appearance. But but he speaks like the dragon. In some way, somehow, subtly,
some degree, he will deny both the glory of the person and the
finished work of Christ in his ministry. Now, here's the question.
Go back to Revelation 13. You say, well, that's pretty
that's pretty hard stuff. That's that sounds bad. What are we going to do? Well,
the question is, who's going to escape? Who's going to who's
going to get out from under the deception of this of this false
prophet, this beast, this dragon who is so deceptive? Well, look
at Revelation 13 and verse eight. Now it says here in the last
days, it says all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him. They're going to worship the
beast. They're going to worship this unholy Trinity, the dragon,
Satan, the beast that comes out of the sea, that these ungodly
governments and the false prophet, this deceptive false religion
that works in, in concordance with, with the beast and with
the dragon. Some people say it's like the
state religion. And sometimes it is, sometimes
it's more subtle than that. But all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him. Now, somebody said everybody
that dwells upon the earth is going to worship him. Well, he
says everyone who dwells upon the earth shall worship him whose
names are not written in the book of life. Now, there's a distinction here,
there are going to be some people who don't worship. But all whose
names are not written in the book of the of life of the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Now, what does this mean to all
that dwell upon the earth shall worship him? What that means
literally is this. It is all who are of the world.
Who are so connected to this earth that they have no interest
in Christ? You see, when God God's people
are those who are chosen out of the world before the foundation
of the world. God's election of grace. This book of life,
that's God's book of electing grace. It's God's book of redeeming
grace. Those who are God's are redeemed
of the Lord. They've been bought and paid
for on the cross of Calvary. They've been justified by Christ
on the cross. They've been declared righteous.
They've been declared not guilty. Their sins have been paid for.
We sang it. Our debts paid in full. When
Christ went to the cross, he went there not for himself, but
for those whose names were written in the book of life. That's what
the scripture teaches. Men may not like that, and they
may argue with it, and they may say they don't understand it,
but that's what this book teaches. Those whose names were written
in the book of life, Christ came representing them, substituting
himself for them, and took their sins upon himself by a legal
act of imputation from the Father. He was accounted, he was made
sin, legally. And he went to the cross and
he drank damnation dry for them. He satisfied law and justice
and he established and brought forth a righteousness and imputed
it too. And that's the issue of the gospel,
so that God could be just and justify the ungodly. And these
are the ones who are called out of the world by the Holy Spirit
in the new birth. They're called out of the world.
Christ said this. He said, I laid down my life for the sheep. He
said, I know my sheep. I'm known of mine. My sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. They're not going to follow the
two-horned false prophet, the two-horned lamb. Now they may
follow him before they're converted and they do. But he said they're
going to call him out of the world. So they've been chosen
out of the world. They've been redeemed out of
the world and they've been called out of the world. And their names
were written in the book of life before the foundation of the
world. But it says here that the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Now that phrase, I
want you to look at that just for a second now. Most of you
in here, if not every one of you, know that the original language
of the New Testament was Greek. Not the Greek that they speak
in Greece today, but it was a common Greek language. And you've probably
been taught that it was a spoken, it was an oral language, it was
a spoken language, more than a written language. In fact,
when the New Testament was originally brought together, there were
no punctuation marks. And those many of the punctuation
marks have been added. Now, what does that say to us?
Well, it says this. Now, first of all, you don't
have to be a Greek scholar to understand the Bible. If that
were true, then I wouldn't understand it. I use a concordance. I use word studies. They have
their places. I look up words. I try to find
the original meanings of the words, and that's a good thing.
But you don't have to be a Greek scholar to understand the New
Testament. You don't have to be a Greek
scholar to understand the gospel. The gospel is a simple, plain
message. It's so simple that a little
child can understand it, Scripture says. But what it does teach
us is this, and don't get me wrong, I love the King James
Version of the Bible. I think it's the best translation,
closest to the original. But it is a translation. And
what it does tell us is this, that we have to be careful when
we read and study the Scripture. We can't just go through willy-nilly
and just take phrases out and jerk them out here and put them
here. And we can't take one phrase, like this phrase, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, and develop a whole elaborate
theology on just that one phrase. The Bible says, study to show
thyself to prove unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, we've got to rightly
divide the word of truth. That means we've got to see where
it lays, why it's there in the context, and understand what
the Holy Spirit intended in the meaning there as much as we can.
And it's got to be consistent with the basic principles of
the gospel of God's grace in Christ. There's no contradictions
in Scripture. There's no confusion in Scripture. The confusion is in our minds.
And sometimes the Lord will give us light on scriptures that we
didn't have before through our studies. The Bible says that
it's impendent upon the people of God to be skillful in the
word of righteousness so that we might know the difference
between what is good and what is evil. Some have taken this
phrase, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and
have taken it and developed an elaborate theology which they
call eternal justification. Because they say, well, that
means that the lamb was always slain. There never has been a
time that he was not slain. I know the term eternal justification
can be used in the right context. For example, I've always understood
it this way. That before the foundation of
the world, God purposed. Purpose to save a people to glorify
himself. In the salvation of a people
of his choice. Through the obedience unto death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was God's intention. It
was God's purpose. Listen, I don't understand eternity
and you don't either. We are creatures of time. Even
when we speak of eternity, we will use tenses. Somebody said
God purposed. The moment you put the E.D. on
that word, you're already into time. We don't understand eternity. God is eternal. God has no beginning,
no. He's the great I Am. He's the
Alpha and the Omega. We can't enter into that in these
puny old minds that we have. We have to look at things as
they come in segments of time. But God, who is eternal, created
time, purposed time, set time in motion, governs time, controls
time, regulates time, and has appointed time. Now hasn't He? He's appointed. And before the
foundation of the world, he appointed his son to be the savior of his
people that through his bloody death under satisfaction in a
given time in history, that that would be accomplished. Now, let
me show you that. Look at Galatians chapter four. And for anybody to say, well,
we just don't think in terms of time anymore since we've been
saved, that's a lie. That's foolishness. And somebody
says, well, God doesn't think in segments of time that he just
thinks always in the, I don't know. And you don't either. Why
even get into stuff like that? That's foolish. God is the eternal. I am always was always is always
will be. That's what he says. Bow to it
and worship him. But for me to try to climb into
the mind of God and figure that out so that this old thing up
here can understand it is foolish. I know there was a time when
there was nothing. And God created something out
of nothing. He said, let there be light.
And there was a time there was no light. And God is light. But
he said, let there be light. There was light. Now explain
that to me. Anybody want to make a stab at
it? I just can't do it. But look here in verse 4 of Galatians
4. It says, But when the fullness of the time was come. Now this
is written by the Apostle Paul as he was inspired by God the
Holy Spirit. Now when the fullness of the
time. What is that word, that term fullness of the time? That
means when God's appointed time came about. And our Lord recognized
this now. How many times did he tell his
disciples, it's not time yet. It's not time for me to go to
Jerusalem. My time has not yet come. He was subject to time in his
humanity as God man. And he said it over and over
again. And then when it, when the time came for him to go to
the cross, he said, it's time, time to go fellas. And when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of
a woman. He wasn't always made of a woman.
That's speaking of his incarnation. The word was made flesh, the
word that was in the beginning, the word that was with God, the
word that was God, the word was made flesh and dwelt tabernacled
among us. There was a time when he was
not God-man. But here it says, when the fullness
of the time Came God sent forth his son made of a woman conceived
in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit without the
aid of man. That perfect God man and innocent made under the
law. That means that he was made under
the law that cursed his people. He became responsible to keep
the law for us. He became responsible to satisfy
its justice. All of it was conditioned on
him. Now look here in verse 5. For in the fullness of the time
he did all this to redeem them that were under the law. Redemption
had to be accomplished in time and it wasn't accomplished in
eternity. It was purposed to be. It was
intended and decreed by God Almighty. And it was sure and certain to
be. Because God behind it all. But it wasn't actually accomplished
until our Lord came to this earth, having been made of a woman,
made under the law, and went to the cross of Calvary and paid
the debt at that time. And he said that we might receive
the adoption of son. That's legal adoption, right
there at the cross. The papers were signed, in other
words. It's like when a couple adopts a child. They signed the
legal papers and that child's there. They may not have actual
possession of that child yet, but he's theirs or she's theirs.
And we became his. That's when we were justified.
And it says in verse six, and because you are sons, because
you are adopted, because you are redeemed and justified, God
has sent forth his spirit. And that's in time. The spirit of his son into your
heart, that's the new birth. That's when you find out about
what all took place and was accomplished right there at Calvary in time. Crying, Abba, Father, Papa, Papa,
that special relationship between the father and his people. Look
over at Hebrews chapter two. Let me show you this one. And I'll tell you now, now, folks. You say, well, We can't understand
all this about eternity, but now God has revealed things in
him. All we have to go by is his word.
And anytime you get to wrassling with stuff like this or get to
arguing or debating or discussing it, always remember this. The
wisest thing we can do is start with chapter and verse. And if
you can't find the chapter and verse, leave it alone. How about
that? Don't get it out of there and
draw and establish some big elaborate theology on it and make it an
issue. That's what men have done now.
That's what they're doing. A lot of taking a phrase out
of it. But look here at Hebrews chapter
2, he says in verse 14, he says, for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, that's his elect, that's Christ's
sheep. partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same. He had to become
flesh and blood. Why? That through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the death.
He could not die until he had a human body. Blood had to be
shed. Now God absolutely considered
has no blood. He's not fit, he's spirit, you
see. So God the Son had to become incarnate before he could die.
He could not have been slain before he came and become incarnate. He said in Hebrews chapter 10,
he said, A body hast thou prepared me. He had to have that body
to die. That's right. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness, no pardon, no remission of sins. He had
to have blood. He didn't have blood before he
become incarnate. He's the God man, you say, and he goes on.
He said that through, through death, he might destroy him that
had the power of death. That is the devil. And we'll
talk about that in just a second and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. When were we delivered at the
cross? And he didn't go, he didn't go
to the cross before he became incarnate. That would be impossible.
Somebody said, well, God cannot die. I know that. So, but this
person who is God did die as to be attributed to his humanity.
Yet it was an act of his entire person. I can't even explain
that. I just know it. So, but he had
a human body that died on that cross. It was through that veil. That is to say his flesh that
he consecrated newly made that way into the holiest for his
people. And that newly made it. Look over it. Revelation 13 again
now remember we understand that this book was originally written
in the in the common Greek of the day. Sometimes when the King
James translators translated a verse they they let their prejudices
enter into the picture and that's why we have to be careful when
we study the scripture. When we speak of the inspired
word of God we're speaking of the original Hebrew and Greek
Bible. And what we have today, that
doesn't mean now, again, that we all have to be Greek scholars
or Hebrew scholars. It doesn't mean that if you don't
speak anything but English, you can't understand the gospel.
No. God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And the gospel can be as plainly preached in English as it can
be in Greek. But sometimes in the translation of these verses,
we have to be careful. In the original, this verse,
Revelation 13, 8, would read this way. Now, some say, well,
the word from there could be translated since. And that's
all right. That's true, because that same
Greek word sometimes in the New Testament is translated since.
In other words, it would be the lamb slain since the foundation
of the world. But here's the original construction
of the verse. Listen to it as I read it to
you. It says this, all who dwell on the earth will worship him.
everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of
the world in the book of life of the Lamb who's been slain."
That's the original. In other words, the from the
foundation of the world would be connected to the being written
in the book of life, not to the Lamb slain. So what he's saying
here is this, if your name was written in the Lamb's book of
life before the foundation of the world, the Lamb was slain
for you. That's what he's talking about.
The lamb was slain for you. Now, listen, we talked about
the dragon. That's Satan, the accuser of
the brethren. We talked about the beast out
of the sea. That's ungodly governments that oppose and persecute Christ's
church here on earth. We talked about the false prophet.
Where is our deliverance? Where is our hope? Where is our
salvation? Well, turn with me to John chapter
12. Now, let me ask you this. When
was Satan, the accuser of the brethren, when was he defeated? Somebody said, well, when you
believe he was defeated. Oh, no. No. He was defeated long before that.
Here in John 12, look at verse 23. Now the subject here is the
death of Christ. Going to the cross. That's what
he's talking about. He's talking to his disciples.
And it says in verse 23, Jesus answered them saying, now, what
did he say there? What's the first three words?
The hour is. Now that's the eternal Lord of
glory talking about an hour, talking about time. So I don't
think it's wrong for us to talk about it. Why didn't he say,
well, there never was an hour, it's already been done. It's
already been accomplished. No, he said the hour is come.
that the Son of Man should be glorified. There was an hour.
There was a time appointed. And he says, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, now listen to this, verse 24. He says, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his
life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me,
let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant
be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
this hour of his death, his suffering unto death. But for this cause
came I into this hour. I came to this hour for this
cause, this time, you see. He says, Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it. God the
Father speaking in terms of past, present and future. I have glorified
it and I will glorify it. There was a time appointed. He
says the people, therefore, that stood by and heard it heard this
voice and said that it thundered. They didn't understand. It sounded
like thunder to them. Others said an angel spoke to
him. Jesus answered, verse 39, and said, This voice came not
because of me, but for your sakes. In other words, it was for the
people's sake. And he says, Now, now look at verse 31. He says,
Now, times, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the
prince of this world be cast out. That's Satan. Now how's
he going to be cast out? He says in verse 32, And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me. All what? All for whom he died. All whom
he represented. All for whose sins he paid for
on the cross. All for whom he established righteousness
and justified and imputed that righteousness to him. They'll
come unto him. And this he said signifying what
death he should die. You see that? That corn of wheat
he was speaking of himself. He said that corn of wheat goes
into the ground and dies. It'll bring forth much fruit.
What is that much fruit? all whose names were written
in the book of life. All whom the father gave him,
John 6, 37, he said, all that the father giveth me shall come
to me. They must come to him. He said,
them I must bring in John. Why? Because he paid for their
sins. He satisfied law and justice. He gave them righteousness. That
turns back every accusation that Satan hurls. You see, when Satan
accuses a child of God, the accusations cannot stick because they've
already been condemned to death and judged for all their sins. When? In Christ on Calvary. They've
been made perfectly righteous. When? In Christ on Calvary. So
that when Satan accuses them, it doesn't stick. When man accuses
them, it doesn't stick. Not in the courts of God's law
and justice. And when our own hearts accuse us, that doesn't
stick either. You know why? Because He's greater
than our hearts. Sometimes we'll lose sight of
it, won't we? And we'll start, oh, me. But you see, He's greater
than our hearts. I've already been judged. Somebody
says, well, you're going to have to come to judgment and give
an account. I'll tell you the account we're going to give.
Christ and Him crucified. You give any other account, you're
going to stand before the judgment of God on your own. My only plea,
Christ died for me. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness, and I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand. That's it for
this old sinner. Somebody said, well, where does
that leave us? Well, let me conclude with this. Look, first of all,
At Revelation 12. And I'll tell you where it leaves
us. It leaves us. We who are sinners. It leaves us with absolutely
no hope. Of salvation. But in the shed
blood and imputed righteousness of Christ, that's where it leaves
us. Somebody said, well, I want to do it my way. Well, you're
in a mess. You see, you've got to do it His way. It leaves us
with no salvation but that which Christ accomplished at Calvary.
It leaves us with no rest, no assurance except that which we
find in Him. Look at verse 9 of Revelation
12. I want you to notice this. It says the great dragon was
cast out. That's when the Son of God died
on the cross and said it's finished and justified His people. That
old serpent called the devil and Satan. He's called the devil
because that means accuser of the accuser. And Satan, because
he's deceptive, same same being here, 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. That's what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. And he says, for the accuser
of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night. He wouldn't stop. He wouldn't
let up. And it says in verse 11, now don't miss this. Listen,
they overcame him. How? What does it say? By the
blood of the Lamb. You see, it's not our faith that
turns back Satan's accusation. If we pled our faith, Satan could
rightly accuse us of our moments of unbelief. Think about what
Ken preached last night. You think if Satan had got hold
of Peter and James and John and those disciples right after the
resurrection, when the ladies come and told them about the
risen Lord, you remember what Peter said? That's an old wives'
tale. Now, what if Satan had accused Peter at that time? Unbelief. It would have stuck. You see, we have faith, but our
faith is not our righteousness. Our faith is not our shield.
Christ is. His blood, His righteousness.
Our faith is not in our faith. Our faith is in Him. When the
blind man, blind men come to him and said, Lord, heal us,
give us sight. You know what he said to him?
He said, Do you believe? No. He said, Do you believe that
I am able? Faith is not the power and ability of their faith, it's
the power and ability of the Savior. You see the difference? Our faith is in Him, whom to
know is life eternal. It's in Him who lived on this
earth perfectly and who died on the cross and justified us.
And He says, they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and
by the word of their testimony. Well, what is the word of their
testimony? Christ is all. Christ and Him
crucified. The word of our testimony, the
testimony of those who are not bowing to the beast and deceived
by that deceptive false prophet, is Christ's righteousness alone
saves me, keeps me, and will bring me to glory. That's the
word of their testimony. And they love not their lives
unto death, because you see, he is our life. That's where
it leaves us. But you know what? That's a good
place to be, isn't it? to be at the mercy of God. That's
a good. Would you rather be standing
on your own two feet with your own works before the judgment
of God? Or would you rather be like that
old publican who beat on his bread saying, God be merciful,
be propitious to me, a sinner, this sinner. Mercy bed. That's a good place to be, folks.
Because if you see you have no hope but Christ, you'll run to
him and you'll rest in him and you'll plead all that he accomplished
on Calvary on your behalf. And that's enough. That's more
than enough to turn back the accusations of the dragon. That's
more than enough to free you up from the beast that comes
out of the sea and that false prophet. Look into Christ, the
author and finisher of our faith.