Revelation chapter 12, beginning in verse 7. And there was war in heaven. and his angels fought against
the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed
not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And
the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole 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 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." I have entitled this message,
how they overcame. Now, it is said regarding these
people that they overcame him. Now, the him being spoken of
is the devil, Satan. Now, there is a being, a very
powerful being called the devil. truly don't feel comfortable
even talking about him. He's called in scriptures Satan,
Lucifer, Apollyon, the god of this world, the prince of the
power of the air, the evil one, the wicked one. He's even called
an angel of light. and the minister of righteousness. That's how he comes masquerading. Peter says, your adversary, the
devil, walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Now, you and I have an adversary
called the devil. He hates God. and all that is
associated with God, and he does not know infallibly whether you
and I are true believers. He can see us, but he is not
privy to the Lamb's Book of Life, and his desire is to keep us
from following the Lord Jesus Christ. So he will do everything
he can to tempt us away from Christ, and what an adversary
he is. I think of what the Lord said
to Peter, Satan has desired to have you. Literally, he's asked
permission for you, that he may sift you as wheat. Now, Satan is God's devil, and
he's on God's chain. And I'm so thankful for that.
We could have no comfort without that. Proverbs 16, verse 4 says,
God hath made all things for himself, yea, even thee wicked,
for the day of evil, and Satan is certainly included in that,
but what an adversary he is. He's far too much for me or you. a very powerful, a very deceitful,
a very real being, the enemy of the Lord. And in our text,
he is presented as the accuser of the brethren. I want you to think about that
name of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. First, let's consider
the brethren. The children of God, the family
of God, the brethren. You see, there are children of
God and there are children of the devil. Turn to John 8. Hold
your finger there in Revelation and turn to John 8. In verse 38, the Lord Jesus says, I speak that
which I have seen with my father, and you do that which you have
seen with your father. They answered and said unto him,
Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
But now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the
truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. Then said they unto him, We be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God, neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do
you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word, you are of your Father, the devil, and the lust of your
Father. You will do, he was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,
for he's a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you
the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He
that's of God, heareth God's words, you therefore hear them
not, because you're not of God." Now we see from that passage
of Scripture. There are those who are of God and those who
are the children of the devil. And he is said to accuse them
before God day and night. And he whispers these accusations
in our ear. See if you've ever heard this.
You, a Christian, Look at you. Look at your wicked heart. Look at the sinful things that
continually pass through your mind. Look at your unclean desires,
the evil things that you do that men do not see, but God sees.
You, a Christian, Look how dead and cold and formal you are. Look how easily you give in to
temptation. Look how quickly you're controlled
by the fear of man and play the coward. Look how dead you are
in worship. You hear the gospel and it doesn't
even move your ice-cold heart. Why, you are nothing more than
a hypocrite. You, a Christian, you're a pretender. You're an actor. Why, if you
were really saved, you would not be this sinful. You ever heard that? You, a Christian, you It would
be an act of presumption on your part to trust Christ. You are
far too sinful, too perverse, too cold to be a Christian. You have no right to trust Christ
to save you. Have you ever had thoughts like
that go through your mind? Satan is the accuser of the brethren,
and he has plenty of ammunition. Plenty of things to accuse us
of, all of which are true. The accuser of the brethren. But look in verse 11. These people
that he accuses day and night before God, and every accusation
he makes is true. Look what verse 11 says of Revelation
chapter 12. And they, these ones whom Satan
accuses day and night, they overcame him. They whipped him. They defeated him, this powerful
and mighty being, Satan, the prince of the power of the air,
the god of this world. They overcame him. They defeated him. How? by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimonies. And they loved not their lives,
even unto death." How did these people defeat this mighty being? I love the simplicity of this
answer. Oh, would to God that he would
enable me to preach what John is saying here, they overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb. Remember John's words, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. They defeated this mighty being
by the blood of the Lamb. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, if we would confine
our words to the cross and never speak of anything else, it would
be a widening rather than a narrowing of our ministry. Now do you see
such glory in the blood of the Lamb that you know what He was
saying? They overcame Him by the blood
of the Lamb. Now I can't help but think of
how Adam and Eve must have felt when God came to them. They hid
from God, but God came to them. Isn't that the way it always
is? If you're a believer, it's because the Lord came to you.
And He slew that lamb and covered them with those coats of skin.
That was the first blood shedding. Abel understood this. God can
only be approached through the lamb. Listen to this scripture.
By faith, it's found in Hebrews 11, verse 4. By faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than gain. By which, by that
sacrifice, he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and he being dead, yet speaketh." Abraham understood
something about this, the power of the blood of the lamb. I think
of him and Isaac walking up Mount Moriah and Isaac said, here's
the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb for the burnt offering?
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt offering. You can't provide a lamb. You
can't provide anything that God would accept, but he'll provide
himself. He's the one who does the providing.
He provides for himself, for God to do something for me, he
first had to do something for himself. And he provides himself
as the Lamb for the burnt offering. So when it says they overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb, this is directly a reference
to the Passover Lamb. We heard it a few weeks ago in
a message that Brother Mahan brought here. God said, and I
love this verse of Scripture, God said, when I see the blood,
He didn't say, when I see your repentance. He didn't say, when
I see your faith. He didn't say, when I see your
sincerity. He said, when I see the blood. What's the one thing
God was looking for? The blood. He didn't say, when
you see the blood. He didn't say, when you have
a proper appreciation of the blood. Thank God He didn't say
anything like that. He said, when I see the blood. I will pass over you." Now, this
is talking about the blood of the substitutionary Lamb. They overcame Him by the blood
of the Lamb. And let me remind you of what
took place on the cross. I hope nobody thinks, oh, this
is an old subject. I hope we see the glory of this. What took place on the cross?
When our Lord was nailed to that cross, it's because he was made
to be sinned. Now, I don't understand what
all that means. But I know he was made to be
seen. The spotless lamb of God who
knew no sin was made to be seen. You think of the garden of Gethsemane
when he knew this is what was getting ready to take place.
You see, this doesn't bother us much because all we know is
sin. And we can't imagine what it
would be to be without sin, all of a sudden to be made sin. I
don't understand that. But the Lord was so overcome
with the thought of this that He sweat, as it were, great drops
of blood at this thing of being made sin. All of the sins of
God's elect became His. He bare our sins in His own body
on the tree. The Father did not say, Son, I love you for what you're doing
for them. We know that these sins are not
yours. They belong to your people. And I'm punishing you for them. I know they're not yours, but
I'm treating you as if they were. He didn't hear anything like
that. The son could not rest in the fact that he was not really
guilty of these sins and he was doing this for somebody else.
And therefore, there was a kind of nobility in what he's doing.
I'm doing this for somebody else. No, the son had no thoughts like
that. The son, as he hung there on
the cross, didn't have any of his followers at his feet saying,
we know you're doing this for us and we're thankful. We see
that you're doing this out of love for us. No, he was alone. bearing the sins of his people,
guilty, guilty, guilty as charged, bearing the wrath of God. He
was made sin and God forsook him. A real substitution took
place. Now, you remember, the righteous
are never forsaken. Remember when David said that
I've been young and I'm old and I've not seen the righteous forsaken
or their seed begging for bread? The righteous never are forsaken.
God will not forsake the righteous. on the cross, he was made sin,
and he was all alone. And it's by the blood of that
paschal lamb that the accuser is silenced. Turn with me to
Romans chapter eight. This is a verse of scripture
that we go to so often, but I like to read it in light of the accusations
of the serpent. Because everything he accuses
you of, everything he accuses me of, is true. So how do I deal
with that? What am I going to do? Well,
look at this passage of Scripture in Romans chapter 8, verse 32.
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? Now
look at this challenge. Who shall lay anything to the
charge God's elect. My own conscience lays all kinds
of things to my charge. If you're around me, you can
lay plenty of things to my charge. But yet, Paul says in this triumphant
language, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
And if God can justify it, who is He that can condemn? Satan,
bring your accusations. Here's the only answer that's
needed. It's Christ that does. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now here's how they defeated
their adversary, who accused them day and night before God,
the blood of the Lamb. Now I would like to attempt to
tell you what the Scripture says the blood of the Lamb actually
does. Now remember, this is the way I defeat Satan. I overcame him, not by my strength. but by the blood of the Lamb.
Now, let's consider what the Bible actually says regarding
the blood of the Lamb. Now, remember whose blood it
is. It's the Lamb of God, and this is where the power is. It's
not like my blood. My blood wouldn't do you any
good. Your blood wouldn't do you any good. But this is the
blood of the Son of God. Feed the Church of God, which
He purchased with His own blood. Oh, this is special blood. It's
the blood of the Lamb. Now, listen to this Scripture.
Romans 5-9 says, Much more than being now justified. Right now. Being now justified
by His blood. Now here's the first thing blood
does for me. It justifies me. That means, shall I repeat it
again? That means I'm not guilty. That
means I don't have anything to feel guilty about. That means
I am without guilt before God. That means I'm justified. That
means I'm perfect in God's sight. That's what the blood of Christ
actually accomplishes. It justifies everybody that he
died for. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 12,
we read, Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people
by his own blood suffered without the gate. In Hebrews 10.10 says,
By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, you know what that means?
That means His blood makes me holy. We're sanctified once for all
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now, I heard
someone say recently in a message, he said sanctification is a process. that ends in glorification. Scripture here says we're sanctified
once for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
That means His blood actually makes me holy. I am holy. I believe His blood. makes me
holy. That's why his blood is so precious. And then we read in Colossians
chapter one, verse 20, and having made peace, having, listen to
the language, having made peace. That means he already did it.
Having made peace by the blood of his cross. Now here's what
the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
me. He made my peace. God looks me over all the way through
and he's at peace with me. He's satisfied with me. There's nothing for him to be
angry with me about. He's at peace with me. You know
what? I'm at peace with him through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the only thing that speaks peace to my conscience. the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This actually makes me have peace. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we
read in 1 John 1, verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. And that word cleanses means
He made us to be without You know, once again, I see plenty
of blemishes. And there's a whole lot of blemishes
I have, but I don't see. But according to the scripture,
His blood has cleansed me from all sin. And I have no blemishes. I'm without spot before God. Really? Really. Literally? That's what His blood does. And then we read in Revelation
1, 5, "...now unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God."
Now, that's what His blood has done in washing us. He made us
something. Every believer is royal. the true heavenly aristocracy. Every believer is a king before
God. That's how God views them. Every
believer is a priest able to come into God's presence and
have God hear them. That's what His blood has done.
It's made us something. It's made us kings and priests. And then I love this scripture
in Ephesians 2, verse 13. It says, You who were before
times afar off are made nigh. by the blood of Christ. You know what that means? That
means, regarding every believer, you can't get any closer to God
than you are right now. It's not possible for you to
get closer through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what His blood has done. It's brought you into the very
presence of God where He can embrace you. You're brought,
made nigh. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of His dear Son,
I am as near to God as He. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. In the person of His dear Son,
I am as dear to God as He. Do you believe that? I do. Paul said in Ephesians 1, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Why, we even read in Hebrews
12, 24 of the blood speaking. It says, the blood that speaks
better things than that of Abel. Remember when the Lord said,
your brother's blood? He was speaking to Abel, I mean, to
Cain, and he said, your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.
Remember what his blood cried? I can tell you what it cried.
Vengeance. Get him back. Pay him back. Vengeance. You want the blood of Christ?
Christ? Something better. Justify Him. Reward Him for His
never sinned. Because my blood has put away
all of His sin. We read in Romans 3, 24, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus,
whom God has set forth to be a perpetuation through faith,
listen to this, through faith in His blood. Do you have faith in His blood? Do you believe that His blood
makes you without blemish before God. That is our rest. Hebrews 10, 19 says, Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. There's my boldness. There's
the way I enter in. By the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, they overcame Him. How did
they overcome it? By the blood of the Lamb. What a victory! By the blood
of the Lamb. And notice what it says next. Revelation 12, 11. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Now, what do
you testify regarding? What you've seen. What you've
seen for yourself. What you're a witness to. Now, I am bearing witness right
now. I'm giving a testimony. You want to know my testimony.
You want to know my personal testimony. Here's my testimony. I overcame by the blood of the
Lamb. That's it. That's my testimony. You want to know my experience?
I overcame. by the blood of the Lamb. That's my testimony. I'm bearing
witness to this. I'm talking about what I believe
from the depths of my heart because the Lord's taught me this. He's
taught me from His Word. The only way I can be clean is
through the blood of the Lamb, and I'm bearing witness to this.
You know that song we sing, what can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is that flow. That makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Now, that's my testimony. That's
the testimony of every believer. You want to know their personal
testimony? They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And look what it says next in
verse 11. And they loved not their lives,
even unto death. Now, this tells us the power
of this testimony. They loved not their lives, even
unto death. Now, I realize That only God's grace would enable
me to do this. I really believe that. But by
the grace of God, I'll die for this. This testimony. By the grace
of God, I'll die for this. It's the only hope I have. And
this is how important it is to me. I'll die for this. You know, truly, all of God's
people are martyrs. You know, when you read the martyrs
in the book of Revelation, that's speaking of every single believer. By the grace of God, they would
seal their testimony with their own blood. You'll be put to death
if you believe something like that and put me to death. That
is my salvation. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell you what. If I won't die for the gospel,
I won't live for it either. You live for it, you'll die for
it. That's the way every believer,
they love not their lives even unto death. They're willing to
die. Now, this is my life by His grace.
The only life I have is found in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the blood that makes atonement for the soul. The blood
is the life thereof. That's the only life I know anything
about. I'm testifying. This is what
I believe, and by the grace of God, I will die for this. And I say that trembling. Knowing that apart from the grace
of God, I'll deny it. Knowing. Yet but by his grace
I am willing, I really am, I would count it a great privilege, an
honor I don't deserve, to seal my testimony with my own blood. They overcame him, this mighty
being, Satan. They whipped him. They prevailed
against him. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb. by the substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ on the cross. And this was their testimony. This is the only way I'll overcome,
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm willing,
by His grace, to live for this, and I'm willing to die for this. Hebrews 1.3. When He, and this
is why I'm hanging my hat, this is what I'm holding on to, when
he had by himself purged our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high, because he finished his work from henceforth,