The prince of darkness, Graham,
we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo,
his doom is sure. Turn with me to Revelation 12. begin reading with me in verse
7. There was a war in heaven, in the spirit world. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed Neither was their place found
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. He was cast down 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 they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and
they loved not their lives unto the death." Therefore rejoice,
ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them." Now, here's our text. Woe to
the inhabitants of the earth and to the sea! For the devil
is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time. Long, long ago, I suspect before
the worlds were made, when God had created no intelligent beings
except the angels themselves, there was a great battle in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ sitting
upon the throne of total dominion, he who is our God, ruled forever,
was attacked by Lucifer, prince of the powers as God had made
him, the head of the angelic race, that one to whom God had
given superiority over all the other angels. He said, I will
ascend to the throne of the Most High. I'll take my place upon
the throne of total dominion and I'll be God. Well, our Lord
Jesus Christ defeated the serpent, defeated the angel of light that
now has become the angel of darkness and cast him down from the heavens,
cast him out of the world of bliss and of glory. And then
there was another battle, a battle that took place upon the earth
2,000 years ago. For while Satan had been cast
down to the earth to deceive the nations All the nations of
the earth were deceived except for one spot in the world, and
that was the land of Palestine where God had chosen to establish
his people, his covenant, and his worship. All the rest of
the world was in darkness, in superstition, in will worship,
in blindness, in idolatry. You read the history books and
you'll see that every other nation in the world was engulfed in
darkness. But the Lord Jesus Christ came.
He came to enlarge the borders of his kingdom, to spread his
kingdom beyond Palestine to the four corners of the earth, to
gather his elect out of the four corners of the earth, whether
he had driven them through the fall of our father Adam, because
of the fall of our father Adam. And so he would break the power
of Satan's usurped dominion over the nations of the earth. And
when he came to the cross of Calvary, he said, now is the
prince of this world cast out. And I, as the result of defeating
Satan, as the result of crushing the serpent's head, I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men, not Jews only,
but God's elect among the Jews and the Gentiles scattered throughout
the whole earth. I will draw all men unto me."
And this he spoke signifying what death he should die. The
great battle in the heavens has been fought. And it has been
won by the Lord Jesus Christ. He fought the battle for us as
our covenant head, as our substitute, and as our redeemer. And he won
the victory for us. And we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us and gave himself for us. That is
the message of the book of Revelation. We are more than conquerors.
Throughout the book, the Lord Jesus is telling us through the
apostle John, listen, children of God, no matter how dark your
days, no matter how severe your trials, no matter how heavy your
load, no matter how great your battles, we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us, and we must and shall prevail. The battle has been fought. The
victory has been won. We have but to wait until we
enter into our glorious inheritance of glorious victory and conquest
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Our glorious Michael, the Lord
Jesus Christ, has overthrown the great dragon and cast him
down. In the highest regions of spiritual
power, the devil, that old serpent, has been thoroughly defeated. By the life, death, and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, the serpent's head has been crushed, the prince
of darkness has been thoroughly routed, and the accuser of our
brethren has been cast down. Now, those are not things yet
to be done. They're already done. They're
already accomplished. Satan is already bound up and
he is under the dominion of King Jesus and King Jesus rules him
just as he rules over all flesh, all beings, and all powers in
all the earth. When Christ Jesus made atonement
for sin by pouring out his life's blood upon the cursed tree, the
great quarrel between God and man was brought to an end. For
God was in Christ reconciling the world, the world of his elect
unto himself. When he died upon the cross,
our Lord finished the transgression, made an end of sin, and brought
in an everlasting righteousness. And now peace reigns in heaven. There is no basis of accusation
against any of God's elect. The accuser of our brethren has
been cast down. There is no basis of accusation
because there's no sin. Satan has nothing with which
to accuse us before God for our sins are all taken away. Because
Satan has been cast down from heaven and because he has been
bound by the mighty arm of King Jesus, he's in a mad rage. He's in a mad rage upon this
earth. Though his doom is sure, the
great dragon is warring with all his might against the cause
of God, the truth of God, and the people of God. Now look at
this text in Revelation 12 and verse 12, beginning in the middle
of the verse. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and of the sea. That is all the men and women
of all the earth, even in the islands of the sea. For the devil
is come down to you having great wrath because, do you see it? Because, here's the reason for
his wrath. He knoweth that he hath but a
short time. The devil's days are numbered
and he knows it. He knows it. That doesn't change
his attitude. That doesn't change his nature.
That doesn't change his heart. But his days are numbered and
he knows it. He knows that he has but a short
time. He's already conquered. He's
already bound with a great chain. And the time of his final destruction
is at hand. Therefore, he is full of great
wrath. It is the certainty of his final
overthrow that fills Satan with such wrath against God's elect. Our text tells us plainly that
the cause of Satan's wrath is the fact that he knoweth that
he hath but a short time. Satan has great wrath because
he knows that he has only a short time in which to exercise his
wrath and his hatred and his anger against the people of God.
May we not then assume that when Satan's wrath and opposition
are greatest, When we see the wrath and opposition of Satan
being vented against the people of God in the greatest measure,
then the time of his opportunity is almost gone. That ought to
give you a little encouragement. Say, well, I have such trials
and such temptations, and Satan gives me such a fit, and he roars
at my soul, and he casts his fiery darts. The more he shows
his wrath, The shorter his time is, he's soon going to be overcome.
He's soon going to be overcome. I think there's a message of
hope in our text. He hath but a short time. Take cheer, children of God.
He hath but a short time. May God, the Holy Spirit, give
me wisdom and grace so that I may give you instruction, strength,
and comfort from his word tonight. This text is a little like the
carcass of that lion which Samson slew on his way to Timnath. There's
honey in this carcass. May God give us grace to find
the hands full of honey for the refreshing of our hearts. You
see, evil always precedes good in our experience. Evil always
precedes good. And evil is at its utmost height
just before the good is born. That's worth some consideration.
We see this in the natural world. It's always darkest just before
the dawn. Now, some of you arise before
dawn. I'm not in the habit, but I often
drive through the dawn, so I do occasionally see how dark it
is just before the rising of the sun. and the darkest hour
of the night is that hour just preceding dawn. The frost, we
are told, is always sharpest just before the spring. The flood
is highest, most destructive, and most dangerous just before
the waters begin to abate. We see this fact in history as
well. When the tale of bricks was doubled, Moses came to deliver
the children of God who were afflicted in Egypt. When Pharaoh
was most obstinate, when Pharaoh was determined, no, I will not
let these people go, God made bare his holy arm and saved his
chosen one. when Goliath stood on the hill
mocking the armies of God and mocking the name of God, blaspheming
God our Savior, and thought everything was under his control. When the
Philistines had the Israelites trembling in their boots, the
Lord God had put a stone in the sling of a shepherd boy by which
he would slay that Goliath and stop his blasphemous mouth. And the Lord God was pleased
to deliver his children Israel in the time of Haman's obstinacy. You remember when Haman was at
the banquet of wine in the king's palace seeking the destruction
of the Jews, when he had plotted and laid a plan and a snare by
which he would most certainly now rid the world of these people
who were the seed of Abraham, who were the worshipers of God?
At the very time when he was most rejoicing, There were some
gallows being built out there by God's providence for the hanging
of that man. That's the way God does business.
In the spiritual world, it's also true. Evil always precedes
good. We're living in days of great
spiritual darkness. Perhaps these are days of greater
darkness than the world has ever known before. I read a lot of
the old writers. And preachers have been saying
that for a lot of years. Perhaps that's because with every
age there is an increasing darkness. I see in our day, most certainly,
these are the greatest days of religious darkness, deception,
and delusion the world has ever known. It seems that the way
that it seems that we may be in the midst of that little season
John describes in Revelation 20 in which Satan shall be loosed
to go out and deceive the nations once again. It certainly appears that way.
The nations of the world today have been evangelized and converted
to religion without God. religion without Christ, religion
without the knowledge of God. They are Christianized, notice
in quotations. They are moralized, they are
sanitized, they are civilized, but they've not been converted
by the grace of God. The nations of the world have
been deceived again with an idolatry with a paganism, with a philosophy,
with a religion that is more deceiving and more destructive
than all the pagan idolatry you read about in the pages of history,
even before the daunting of the gospel of Christ through the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the four corners of the earth.
But there's no cause for despair. Though heresy abounds on every
side, And though it seems that Satan is deceiving the nations
in mass, and though the preachers of anti-Christ religion are being
followed by the great hordes of men, and though they're getting
a hearing and getting inroads through their television and
their satellites and their radio and their missionary endeavors,
though they're going into every corner of the earth, there's
not any reason for despair. No, sir, no reason for despair.
The devil knows that he hath but a short time. His increased
rage is an indication that his final overthrow is imminent.
And the God of peace, Paul said, shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly. Very often, I, of course, I don't
very often have confrontations with Armenians anymore. But now
and then I still do. Somebody gets a little backbone,
he decides he's going to take on this fellow and see if he
can't persuade him or at least humiliate him. And I quit debating
a long time ago. I respond in this way to those
preachers of freewillism. And to those preachers of work
salvation, and to those preachers of a weak, effeminate, helpless
Jesus, I respond to them, the day is shortly coming when we
shall see who speaks for God and who does not. Is that arrogance? No, that's not arrogance. That's
confidence in the message of this book. The day is coming. when Satan's mouth shall be stopped
finally, and his power shall be broken finally, and judgment
shall fall, and the truth of God shall prevail, and God will
display to the glory of his name the trophies of his grace in
a church unblemished and untarnished by the deceitful workings of
Satan. Now, I'm going to make three
applications of our text this evening, and each of them we
all have a personal interest. I pray that God will graciously
speak by me to your heart. Number one, Satan's rage against
a sinner is most evident just before that sinner is converted. Turn over to Luke chapter four
or chapter nine, rather. Here's a good illustration of
what I'm saying. Our Lord has come down from the
mouth of transfiguration. And a man in the crowd that was
following him cried out, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my
son, for he's mine only child. And lo, a spirit taketh him,
and suddenly he crieth out, and it teareth him, and he foameth
again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him. Now in verse
42, the Lord Jesus said to that man, Bring thy son hither. Now
look at verse 42. And as he was yet coming, as
that young man was coming to Christ. Look what happened. The
devil threw him down and tear him. The devil threw him down
and tear him. Here's this young man possessed
of the devil being called by Christ himself, the son of the
living God, to come to himself. And as he was coming, the devil
knew that he had but a short time, so he took the young man
and threw him down, and he tear him again. That's precisely what
happens when God's about to be gracious to a sinner. That's
precisely what happens. It's not always a bad sign to
see men and women suddenly break out in wild rebellion against
God. Rebellion, wickedness, ungodliness,
and blasphemy that has been caged up in the heart for years is
often most revealed, and revealed most viciously in an elect sinner
just before that sinner is conquered by God's grace, very often. God doesn't deal with all of
his people alike. But he does graciously make all
of his chosen ones to know something of their sin and their inward
corruption. In order to make us willing to
come to Christ, he causes us to have a thorough, unmistakable
sense of our desperate need of Christ. Now, no man's going to
trust Christ who doesn't need him. No man's going to drink
who's not thirsty. No man will eat who's not hungry. No man will rest upon the Savior's
breast who's not weary. No man will seek the robe of
Christ's righteousness who hasn't been stripped naked. No man will
seek pardon until he's made to sense his guilt. Do you see that?
And God graciously is going to make you see your guilt. God
graciously will make you see your need of Christ if ever he
brings you to Christ. And he does it in a lot of ways.
One way is this. Our sovereign Lord will often
use Satan's rage to accomplish his gracious purpose. He'll often use Satan's rage.
You mean the God that we worship? Has that kind of power? Yeah. Yeah, he does. He does. He doesn't cause Satan to do
his evil imagination. No. He doesn't put hatred in
Satan's being against his people. That's in Satan. He doesn't put
malice and wrath and anger in Satan's being. That's in him.
But he uses it. He uses it for the glory of his
name. and the good of his people, yes,
even their eternal salvation. If Satan roars against your soul,
he roars only as God would have him roar, and accomplishes only
what God would have him to accomplish. I always thought Satan kind of
had a rival power with God. You thought wrong. You just thought
wrong. Satan's under the control and
the dominion of King Jesus, who works all things, yes, even the
roarings and rage of Satan himself, according to the counsel of his
own will, together for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to his purpose. When the devil knows
that he has but a short time in a man's soul, His wrath against
that man is most apparently great. Let me give you some illustrations.
You remember Onesimus. He was a slave in Philemon's
household. And Onesimus had always been
a good slave. He'd always been a good servant. So trusting and
loyal was this slave that Philemon had entrusted to Onesimus' hands
all of his household goods. Onesimus was the man who took
care of his master's money. He took care of paying his master's
bills. He took care of buying his master's
groceries, of supplying his master's wardrobe. He was the man whom
his master most trusted with all of his goods. Wait a minute. There's Onesimus. What's he doing? He's taking
Philemon's bank deposit. Well, look at him. He's stuck
it in his pocket. What's he doing? He's stealing everything he can
get his hands on. Everything he can get his hands
on. Oh, what a horrible thing. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not. Oh, it's
horrible for him to do it. But it may not be horrible for
him that he did it. Do you follow what I'm saying?
Do you follow me? He takes off, goes down to Rome,
joins himself with a bunch of vagabonds. Somehow or another,
just at that time, I know how, God arranged it. The Apostle
Paul was there, and Onesimus comes down here to this place
in emptiness. Maybe he was brought to distress,
maybe he was thrown in prison, I don't know. But I know this,
God used his rebellion to bring him to the place of appointed
mercy so that God might be gracious to him. That's right, that's
right. Oh, but Satan had done a terrible
thing. Yeah, he did exactly what he
wanted to, but he did exactly what God ordained for the good
of his chosen servants. And that'll give you something
to jump up and down about. God Almighty sovereignly accomplishes
his will, even with the instrumentality of wickedness. Surely the wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt
thou restrain. You remember Gomer, Hosea's wife? He went down to the brothel.
someplace to find a wife. That's where God told him to
go. He went down to the local cat house. He loved a woman. Fell in love with Gomer. And
he brought Gomer home. And he put beautiful clothes
on her. And she was the prophet's wife. I mean, she was the pastor's
wife. Pastor of the church. Married
to a prostitute. Well, that's all right. She got
cleaned up. She straightened up her act and she was respectable
and everybody was forgiving. She had three children. She lived
with them for a long time, but she is still a prostitute. She
might not have known it. She may have thought that everything
was all right. Maybe I've changed my ways or turned over a new
leaf and everything's going well now. Surely God's at peace with
me and me with God. No, Gomer, you got to learn what
you are. So one day, Gomer, was enticed
by her lovers and away she ran. Now she's found her an apartment
down in the red light district and she's hiding from Hosea.
She don't want him. What's Hosea going to do? He's
going to leave her there. That's what he's going to do.
He's going to leave her there. Oh, he provided for her. Read
the second chapter of Hosea. He gave her groceries every night
while she's laying in bed with another man. The prophet of God
goes up and sets a bag of groceries down by her door. She gets up
in the morning and says, look what my lovers have given me.
Boy, it's a life. Hosea's waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting. What's
he doing? Why doesn't he go down there
and get that woman? Why doesn't he just take her and shake her
real good and say, Comer, look here what I've done for you.
He wants more than an outward change. He wants more than a
woman to live in his house. He wants a woman in whose heart
he lives. Oh, now there's the difference.
What's he going to do? He's going to wait until Gomer
has lost everything and she's come to emptiness and degradation
and worthlessness and filth. until nobody topside of the earth
will even speak to that woman. Until she is so ashamed of herself,
she hangs her head in his presence. He said, I'm going to lure her
into the wilderness. I'm going to strip her naked
and I'm going to speak comfortably to her. And then he comes and
he said, you're mine. That's the way of his grace.
Oh, what a horrible thing that Gomer should leave the prophet's
house. Oh, what a horrible thing if
she had stayed in the prophet's house and perished in her self-righteousness,
in her goodness, in her outward morality, and never come to know
her need of mercy. I'll give you another illustration.
Turn over to Luke 15. Luke chapter 15. Here's a man, he's got two sons. One of the sons, boy, he's a
dandy. He's a dandy. He's the kind of
son every daddy wants. Daddy, what do you want me to
do this morning? Well, son, go out and feed the cattle, shear
the sheep, and run downtown and do some errands for me, and here's
some money, bring me back my change, and he takes off and
does it. And he does it every day all
his life. Son, what did you do today? I did exactly what you
told me to do, Dad. Dad don't do anything except what pleases
you. Dad, I love you. I want to honor you in everything
I do, Dad. And he lived a good life. He
lived a good life. Oh, what a delight. That boy
was as delightful Oscar to his daddy as OJ is to you. Boy, he's
the apple of his daddy's eye. He never went astray. He never
fell into rebellion, drunkenness, reveling, theft, adultery. Wouldn't catch him out peddling
drugs or using drugs. There he is in his daddy's house. He stayed in his daddy's house.
He died in his daddy's house and he went to hell in his daddy's
house. What a picture of self-righteousness.
Here's another son. One day he says, Dad, I'm a grown
man now. Time for me to strike it out
on my own. Give me what's coming. What presumption? OK, boy, here
it is. Off he goes. Don, what's your son doing? He's down there in the wasteland of riotousness. Had one of my servants go down
and check on him. Boy, that son, that boy of mine, he's crushed
my heart. Oh, how I wish I'd have never seen that boy born. What agony, what grief, what
pain. He's been a torment to me ever since the day he came
out of his mother's womb. He caused me nothing but grief,
nothing but despair, nothing but anger, nothing but shame
of face. What are you going to do? Well,
I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. Now I'm paraphrasing
a little, but you know the parable. You see that boy, his daddy could
have gone down and bailed him out. Sure he coulda. You know
what one of the best things about the story of the prodigal son?
One of the best things about that boy is that we get down
to verse 14 and we read, and when he had spent all. Oh, now, now he's in good shape. He's in best shape of his life.
He ain't got another dime in his pocket. He ain't got two
pennies rubbed together. He had spent all and there arose
a mighty famine in the land. And he began to be in want." Anybody here in want? Anybody
here with whom God has been so gracious as to bring you down
to where before His holiness you have nothing? but sin, nothing but filth, nothing
but emptiness, nothing but degradation, nothing but shame, nothing but
that which is obnoxious to everything that is righteous and just and
holy. Anybody like that? Well, most
likely you're going to do just like that prodigal did. He went
and joined himself to a certain citizen of that country. Dr. Gill says he went and found him
a self-righteous legalistic preacher. And that preacher said, now son,
things aren't bad as you think. They're not quite as bad as you
think they are. You can straighten things up. Tell you what, do. I've got some
swine down in my fields. You be a good laborer and start
to straighten things out, you can get some money in your pocket,
and before you know it, you can have your own pig farm." And
so he went down and tried his best to make amends and do what
he could to gain a semblance of that status he had with his
father before. Reckon why his father didn't
come down there? He knew where he was, you read
the parable. That's why he didn't go down there and tell him, now
son, I know you're in trouble, and I know you got yourself in
a pickle. Here's your little cash. Straighten
yourself up. Why didn't he do that? Because
he's not in need enough yet. That boy's not in need enough
yet. While he's feeding those pigs,
Kind of like you reading your Bible, or saying your prayers,
or going to church, trying your best to make up with God, trying
your best to amend your ways with God. He would fain have
filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, but no
man gave him a thing. You ever tried that, Merle? I
did. I found myself in the pigpen
of fallen humanity, wallowing in the mire of my own corruption. And oh, my soul, I want to change
things. Oh, I wanted to change things. Started going to church. That's
a good place to start, isn't it? Started going to bed at night
and reading my Bible. That's a good place. Started
praying, that's a good place. Well, all of that would be good
except for one thing. I hoped by doing something to
win God's favor. And it was just like the husk
you'd feed pigs. Man, there's nothing for your
soul there. Nothing to satisfy your soul.
Well, after a while, the scripture says, verse 17, when he came, to himself. And after that, it's just a short
ways home. Just a little ways home. He didn't
have a far trip after that. He came to himself. Oh, you fool! How many hired servants in my
father's house have bread enough and despaired? Here I am perishing
with hunger. I'm going to rise and go to my
father. And I'm going to say, Father, I'm no more worthy to
be called your son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. Off he went, and when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, had compassion on him, and he ran. The only picture we have of God in
all of Scripture is getting in a hurry. The only time God ever
got in a hurry to do anything, what was it? Running to meet
a sinner. Running. He ran and fell on his
neck. and smothered him with kisses.
And he said, bring the fatted calf or slay the fatted calf
and bring the best robe and a ring and shoes and put them on my
foot, my son's feet. This my son who was lost is found. He that was dead is alive. And
that self-righteous Pharisee, daddy's boy, he came home and
said, what's all this commotion? What's all this commotion? Now
you tell me, was it a bad thing for that prodigal to be brought down to that pigsty? No, it's a good thing. It's a
good thing. Nothing but evil brought him
there. It was the evil of his own hands, buddy, that brought
him there. But it was God's good providence that dealt with him
there. Once the sinner is awakened and
begins to seek the Lord, the old dragon knows that he has
but a short time. And he does everything within
his power to keep that sinner from the Savior. I may be speaking to you. You
think, well, that preacher's been reading my mail. I hope
so. If God set his hand upon you,
If you're awakened to your need, not by law, but by grace, the
devil's work is a futile struggle. Oh, his wrath is all the more
furious, but he can't destroy the chosen seed. All the power
of hell can't frustrate the purpose of God, destroy the work of Christ,
resist the power of the Spirit, or keep the redeemed sinner from
his Redeemer. But Satan does not easily give
up his usurped dominion in the hearts of men. There's a warfare,
a struggle that goes on. But I'm here to tell you that
if Christ has come to fetch you home to God by his almighty grace,
the devil knows that he has but a short time. If the warfare
going on in your soul is a warfare of God's making, if you're one
of God's elect, if you're one of Christ's sheep, that warfare
will soon come to a peaceable and glorious end. Turn over to
Isaiah 49. Isaiah chapter 49. Listen to
this text. This is a prophecy of the coming
of Christ, what he'll do for his people. In verse 24, he raises
the question, shall the prey be taken from the mighty? How
are you going to take a strong man's house and spoil his good?
You got to bind the strong man. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the
Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and
the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend
with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. I will feed them that oppress
thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their
own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that
I am the Lord, I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. I know King Jesus must and shall
prevail o'er all the ransomed sinner's heart. God's saving
grace can never fail. His will subdues that sinner's
heart. Though Satan rage and tear his
soul, Christ Jesus makes the wounded sinner whole. The door
of King Jesus will break in and without rival reign within. The purpose of God can't be frustrated. If God set his hand on you, God's
going to have you. The blood of Christ cannot be
wasted. If Christ Jesus redeemed you,
Christ will have you. The power and grace of God the
Holy Spirit cannot be resisted. Thy people shall, shall, shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Blessed is the man whom
God chooses and causes to approach unto him. Read 2 Samuel 9. You have an illustration. David sitting in the palace.
He made a covenant with Jonathan. long before Mephibosheth was
born. And he asked his servant, Ziba, said, is there anybody
left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's
sake? He said, yeah, there's a fellow
named Mephibosheth. He's lame on both his feet. He's
down in Lodebar. David said, go and get him. You know what scripture says
he did? In 2 Samuel 9, 5, it says, and
so David fetched Mephibosheth from Lodibar. That's what God's
grace does. God's grace doesn't stand and
beg and plead and try to get sinners to do something. When
God sends his spirit after one of his elect, he lays hold of
him by the nap of the neck and fetches him home. He lays hold
of him by the strings of his heart and fetches him home. Always does. Always does. I'll
say no more. If God has begun a good work
of grace in you, He'll see it through. You can't resist Him. Can't resist Him. And when He's
conquered you, and He will, He will. I know He will. Some of you here haven't been
conquered yet. I have confidence some of your God's elect when
he's conquered you, you'll come and confess Christ as your Lord
publicly. And the very reason that Satan
brings such a rage of rebellion in your heart is that he knows
he has but a short time. Well, I can just give you the
next two points and a very brief summarization. Here's the second
thing I wanted you to see. Satan's rage against a believer
is most manifest just before that believer obtains the greatest
victory over him. Do you see that? Some of you can't
see it right now because you're in that, oh, you're in the heat of the
battle. You're in the struggle. You can't see any light at the
end of the tunnel. And your heart's full of despair and despondency. Talked to a friend the other
day, called me up Friday, just weeping and sobbing. Such trial
and heartache. Such despair. Let me tell you something. Satan's
rage is greatest. just before his conquest. Can I make good on that? We won't
turn there. You're familiar with the passages.
Hey, let's just do turn there. Turn back to the book of Job.
Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1. Satan came with the sons of God
and God threw down a challenge. He said, have you thought about
my servant Job? Satan said, yeah. He said, you made a hedge about
him and about his house and all that he has on every side. You
blessed the work of his hands and increased his substance.
But if you take away these things from him, that man, Job, will
cuss you to your face. The Lord said, okay. Behold,
all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth
thine hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord, and you know how he brought disaster
to Job. And in all of this, Job sinned
not. But he ran his mantle, he shaved
his head, he fell on the ground, and he worshiped God. He said,
naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave, the Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. And so Satan came back to give
report. He's God's devil. He came back to give a report.
And the Lord said to him, said, Where you come from, Satan? Well,
Satan answered from going to and fro in the earth, walking
up and down into it. And the Lord said, Well, have
you thought about Job lately? I, so what's God doing? He's
doing good for Job. That's what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah, I thought about him. He's
an upright man, God said, perfect, one that fears God and eschews
evil. Verse 4 of chapter 2, Satan answered the Lord and said, skin
for skin, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But
put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh,
and he'll cuss you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, he's
in your hand. He's in your hand. Do whatever
you want to, but don't touch his life. Do whatever you want
to, but don't touch his life. Oh, my soul. What's happening? What's happening? Well, God's teaching Job who
God is and who Job is, and you've got to learn it. God's teaching Job the way of
faith, and he's teaching him well. So that Job's wife says,
why don't you cuss God and die? Job was afflicted with boils
from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. He lost everything. He didn't even have a friend
in this world. His own wife, his breath had become nauseous
to her. And everybody turned thumbs down
on Job. Everybody was opposed to Job.
Everybody fought against Job. Everybody but God. Satan's rage. He was in great wrath. He knew
he couldn't touch Job. He knew he couldn't touch him.
God already said you can't have his life. You can't have his
life. But what happened in the end?
Over in Job chapter 42 and verse 9, we're told the Lord also accepted
Job. Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar
all went according to the command of the Lord. But the Lord accepted
Job. In verse 10, And the Lord turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also,
the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. And so Job
had seven sons and three daughters, and the Lord blessed Job. And
in verse 17, we read, So Job died. being old and full of days. I'll tell you another one. You
remember David? Oh, what a trial that pain was
going through. Bathsheba had a son. And Bathsheba's
son lay on his bed dying. And David
was crying before God. Some of you have been right there. Only David knew his son was dying
because of his sin. What a trial. Oh, how Satan was
ringing that man's heart. God was ringing it. Satan was
the instrument. But look what comes in the end. They came and told David on the
seventh day, the child is dead. David arose from the earth, washed,
anointed himself, changed his clothes, and came to the house
of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house,
and when he had required, they set bread before him, and he
did eat." We don't understand this. David said, While the child
was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell whether
God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he's
dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back again? No, no. I shall not go to him, but he shall return to me. God comforted him. And David
comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in unto her, and lay
with her. And she bare a son, and he called
his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him. And he sent by the
hand of Nathan the prophet, and called his name Jedidiah, because
of the Lord." You know what he called him? After he'd buried
this son, God gave him another one. David called him Jedidiah,
because of the Lord. You know what he called him?
The word Jedidiah? Beloved of the Lord. Beloved of the Lord. Look here how God loves me. Turn over to Luke 22. Give you
another one. Luke chapter 22. Satan's rage against the believer
is most manifest. just before that believer obtains
great victory. In Luke 22, the Lord said, verse 31, the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." The Lord told Peter three things.
He said, number one, Satan's going to run you through his
sieve. Oh, it's a hard thing. to be
put in Satan's hand to run you through his sieve. But Darwin
Pruitt, he'd never run you through his sieve if God hadn't ordained
it for your good. Never. Never. He's God's devil. And he is used
of God in all his malice to do nothing but good for God's elect. Satan's gonna run you through
his seal. But he said, Bob, I've prayed for you. Remember Job? I prayed for Job and Satan couldn't
kill him, he won't kill you. I've prayed for you, that your
faith fail not. And when it's over, you're gonna
be a better man for it. That's what he told him. He said,
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. When you've been
restored, remember what Satan's done, and
remember what I've done, and tell it to your brothers. Tell
it to your brothers. Tell them I'm a faithful God.
Tell them I'm a faithful Savior. Tell them I'm a faithful Redeemer. Tell them I'm a faithful Advocate. I'll preserve you and keep you
and cherish you and bring you to glory. I've got to quit. This is what I'm telling you. There hath no temptation taken
you. None. but such as is common to
man. But God is faithful who will
with the temptation make a way to escape. He's faithful who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the
temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear
it. And one last thing I was going
to show you, but I've got to quit, is that Satan's rage against
God's church is most evident just before her greatest conquest. Let me read this to you in Revelation
19, and I'll send you home. Revelation 19. We've been reading through the
book how the religion of Antichrist and the power of Satan is permeating
through the world. How's it all going to wind up? Well, after these things, after
Satan's done his worst and done his best to do his worst, after
these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto
the Lord our God. Verse 5, And a voice came out
of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it
were, a great voice of a multitude, as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia,
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. and his
wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted, after
all Satan's trial, after all Satan's wrath, to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saints, and saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which
are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to
me, These are the true sayings of God. Satan is full of wrath,
because he knoweth he hath but a short time, and the God of
peace shall bruise Satan under your heels shortly. Amen.