Retaining puppet show you are trying to look around behind the back You were one of those annoying kids maybe like me who couldn't sit and enjoy the puppet show You had to look around behind the back and announce to everybody in the crowd that there's somebody back there They're like can see him. I can see somebody back there. I Don't want to disillusion some of you who enjoy Disney World so much As a matter of fact, I've never seen anybody enjoy a country bear jamboree like James Marton We happen to be there on the same day, and I don't know how to tell you James, but those bears don't really sing May maybe a dark night of the soul to realize that And there is behind Disney World some of you had the opportunity to take the tour a whole city isn't there. There's a whole we just see the facade don't we? But back behind there where everyone's working in employees and maintenance and deliveries and production and painting and there's all sorts of activity that are completely behind the veil Revelation chapter 12 through 14 that veil is pulled away the curtain is pulled back so that we can look around behind and see what's really happening in our world Why is it why is it so hard to spend time with God? Why can I do all sorts of other activities reading and and be fully alert and I pick up the Bible my fall asleep? Why does it seem like raising kids can be a battle? Why does it seem like there's so much arrayed to try to pull them off in the wrong direction that I actually have to fight? Why why does it seem that I don't have to go out and look for temptation? It's looking for me and It will intrude into my life Why does it seem that church work is so hard and the ministry in itself seems to leave a a wake of casualties It almost seems as if there's There's someone in opposition lurking in the shadows unseen Not stepping out and showing his face
Revelation chapter 12 through 14 Turns on the flood light and That which is hidden becomes obvious to all Let's study it together What's revealed is the curtain is pulled back is the obvious nature of spiritual warfare spiritual conflict in all its reality now the passage begins with a crack in in the skies And John sees the temple he sees the arc of the covenant and the sky is shaking with earthquake with thunder with lightning with hail and that's the bible's way of saying Don't get up and go to the bathroom That's the bible's way of saying, you know don't close the book now something really good is coming You don't want to miss it, okay, and what's what what what does he see after all that he sees a statue-esque woman? beautiful She is closed with the her clothing is the woven sun her Tiara is a is a the stars of the sky she's standing straddling the moon and She's what She's pregnant. She's with child and she's all that the beauty of the 24 elders singing to the glory of the lamp is Drowned out by the cries and the screams of her Travelled the travail of childbirth and as soon as we see this this captivating a beautiful woman we also are introduced to hideously spitting snarling ugly red beast Who stands poised waiting for this in-capacitated woman to bear a helpless child and the beast will what? The power of the child you watch those nature program and you see the you know You see the lion or the cheetah creeping up and you see this gazelle giving birth, you know, and you see it And you can just see that it's coming together and you hear you You know and and I just changed the channel. I don't really want to watch that and So you're what you're reading in Revelation chapter 12 and here's the beast and here comes the child and the child's being born Here's the beast and it's a it's dreadful and the beast the lunges and you close your eyes And when you open them again, you've missed God's rescue He's spirited the child away up to the throne in heaven and the beast has been foiled again and we recognize the child This is the child that will reign on Mount Zion. This is the child predicted in song chapter 2 who will rule the nations with a rod of iron Now, this isn't the nativity as you remember it is it You see we see Christmas carols and chestnuts roasting an open fire and sleigh rides and Jesus born in Bethlehem But pull away the curtain and you're starting to see that when Jesus was born war breaks out in heaven Michael and the And the heavenly hosts the raid against the dragon and all his demonic cord But the dragon is not strong enough. He can't prevail Michael wins the battle and the dragon is what? He's balanced. He's ejected. He's thrown out. He's tossed He falls to earth. Matter-fetched Jesus said I saw Satan fall from heaven like a like what? You remember that? It's in your sermon outline Not at that point Like lightning. I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning When did that happen? Not at the creation of the world not before the world began but with the birth and Advent and and life and death Resurrection and ascension of Jesus Satan is cast out who loses the battle I mean just the picture of the struggle of course is that here's a helpless baby and here's the evil one and all his hatred And opposition You think of herod slaughtering the children. We go all the way back and think of Pharaoh slaughtering the children. Can't you? Trying to kill who Moses the Savior of God's people think of herod slaughtering children You think of how the birth of Jesus doesn't usher in peace on earth good will toward men It usher's in a torrent of hatred and venom How would a swaddling infant ever survive and yet he does and he becomes the what? the dragon's layer so foiled in his attempts to devour the child who does the dragon shift his attention to
the woman and all her offspring and He he I'm cast his attention on her though he has been thrown from heaven now He wages war on earth his powerful tail thrashing about seeking whom he made a stroye Who is the woman the woman is Old Testament Israel the new testament church the woman is the seed of Of Eve that Genesis chapter 315 tells us will crush the serpent head That's who the woman is it's the collected people of God for all time They will be assailed by the dragon. They will be attacked and assaulted by the dragon The woman is brought out into the wilderness and there she will endure the dragon for it and says something about 1,300 in some days, right? To figure that out that other places in the passage it says 42 months or a time time and a half a time or three and a half years 42 months Okay What's all that about? Let me ask you when was another time that the people of Israel were brought out from captivity from from one who sought to destroy them into the wilderness That bring up some old Testament illusions for you Does it Pharaoh seeks to destroy them the Israelites are baptized in the red sea they wander in the wilderness for how long not 40 years 42 years 42 years in the wilderness and then they cross the Jordan River into the promised land Jesus is Baptized in the river Jordan and he ministers for how many months now a little more than three years or Well about 42 months from the time of his baptism to the time of his ascension So what is the time that we're being told that the church in the time between Christ first coming and the Christ second coming The church's baptism was at Pentecost The church's ascension is at the second coming of Christ and Between that time is the time where we are told that we will be assaulted by the dragon by the evil one Okay, now John starts to really have fun Excuse me. I've got a cold and my voice is not doing real well and so at some point if I start coughing and walk off Then you'll kind of know what's up Now, I'm sure Adam John full rush up and finish the sermon Word for word
John really has fun with with the dragon At this point it's chapter 13 and he's standing on the seashore the dragon is and John said he needs help And he fails with the child he fails with the woman. He doesn't win And so he gets calls up allies so first comes a beast from the wife From the sea so I have a beast from the sea and we have a beast from the land that comes in chapter 13, okay? now The beast from the sea has is an amalgamation of Lion and leopard and bear so what do you think this beast is supposed to? to Envision is this a beast who will attack with subtlety? This is a is this a sneaky beast who will come in the back door and stealth like a feast in the night This is a beast of what a Power this is a beast. This is by the way Daniel chapter seven again The whole book of Revelation is understood not by reading the front page of the New York Times And to see what's happening today the whole book of Revelation is understood by what reading the Old Testament the old Testament interprets the whole book of Revelation Daniel chapter seven has four beasts These are the these characters well all John does is he's got an amalgamation of all these a beast and The four beasts of Daniel represented what they represented nation states who rose up and were powerful and ruled over the earth And so in one beast John is capturing the power of the state which will rise up to crash Christianity Okay, that's the beast of the sea. Well, there's another beast. It's the beast of the land the beast of the earth now This beast looks like what? Yep, and you got the same Bible I've got chapter 13 and it's verse 11 and 14 okay, what do you look like? Well, I mean this is comical John is saying it's a dragon, but he's got a lamb suit on You know he's like a dragon trying to dress like a lamb So like imagine picture a lamb suit on with a tail coming out the back You know and nobody's fooled This is so this is a beast that's not intended to crush. This is a beast that's intended to try to trick to try to deceive The dragon dresses that which is innocent what's what's the threat to the church here raised up not the state trying to crush Christianity But here is the the beast of false religion. Here's the beast of untruth. Here's the beast of twisted truth That will assail the people of God now Let's just stop right here in the narrative and say There's something to learn for us right here What's the what's the great enemies of the of the church of Jesus Christ? First and foremost in history the great enemy of the church of Jesus Christ has been the what has been the what? The state the state If you'd asked the Christians two thousand years ago who their enemy was they would have said Rome Roman power and oppression Rome has overstepped its bounds God has instituted the state For our well-being and for our good and to punish the evil doer and to protect the innocent And yet when the state begins to demand the allegiance of its people and their worship and and their trust and their dependence Then the state as you serve the place of God right When the state you search the place of God the people of God must rise up
Now our day I want I need to tell you this in our country be careful Because many people are blindly patriotic God bless America the red white and the blue whatever America does around the world is justified But I want to tell you that America you remember that said itself to be a purveyor of Democracy and freedom around the world is now a purveyor of licensiousness and materialism and carnalty of living that many places in the world that are saying we still believe in the concepts of family and purity and Chastity and the United States is sending its tentacles into every part of our world saying forget it That's your country. I fought for this country. Don't you say anything about my country Sorry My allegiance is not first and foremost for the United States and the United States needs to repent Our allegiance is to Christ Jesus and his kingdom and his power and and beware Beware that you would have a patriotism that would lead you to cast a blind eye To the unjustis injustice and wrongdoing of your own nation Let me tell you something. There's something you've never seen in this building. It's called a what It's an American flag and you don't see an American flag flying over this property And you never will not as long as I'm here Because this church stands separate from the state And the church that's why it recognizes That it's the state that often intervenes and seeks to crush and undermine it That's why there's a Christian school on this property Because parents increasingly are saying what we will not give our children to the state The state has has overstepped its bounds in the education of our children Okay, big big caution in our day. Second beast is why false religion The world is filled with religious people But Christianity is not a religion. It's the end of religion
What's the difference between Christianity and religion?
There's spelled different you spell religion D.O You spell Christianity D-O-N-E All those Mormons they've got great families All those you know Jehovah's Witnesses. They're so dedicated. They go door to door, you know Those are all those Muslims. I mean they're willing to walk on buses and blow themselves up Isn't that terrific? Listen all over the world I can show you people who are laboring in their religion Dedicated to doing doing doing doing But Christianity says all of it is in mockery to God who says you cannot fix yourselves and make yourselves acceptable to me Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E is done. It's been done for us by the work of Jesus Christ
So watch out for false religion And it and it seats right into the church Paul says to the Galatians Old foolish Galatians who has what? Bewitched you Who is fooled you? Who has? We're reading about it, aren't we? The evil one comes along and he says work work work work work improve yourself And then God will love you The churches are filled with people who are proud and self-righteous I tie I got a church. I got a Sunday school. I do this
So why? Are you resting in Christ and Christ alone in the cross and the cross alone? That's Christianity now the passage ends here the Serpent attacks the baby He attacks the woman. He gets allies. I got to tell you to then they get them the mark of the beast and the six six six. What's that about? Well, what's the perfect number? Seven, okay Seven so if if um you wanted to use a number to The pick the Trinity you might say what? seven seven seven Okay, so when you use the number six six six six. What are you saying? It's an fake It's an imitation. It's a human device It's um it's the dragon and it's the Beast of the land and it's the beast of the sea. It's uh, it's a human Trinity of evil arrayed against the divine Trinity of God Now the passage ends with chapter 14 144,000 gathered around the lamb in worship Angelic messengers who are preaching The gospel right up till the end of the age the gospel is preached and then finally the time of reefing And there's the reaping of the wheat Which represents the people of God and there is the reaping of the grapes which represents those who did not Embrace Christ and accept his atoning death and there is a horrible torrent of bloodshed As those who rejected Christ are trampled underfoot Got it revelation 12 through 14 Seven pictures Well, what does that say to us today if we've seen the curtain pulled back and we've seen the evil Then then how would it apply to our lines First this We ought to live fully aware of our adversary We ought to live in the we ought to live in the full knowledge that we are hated The summer I took my family in New York City. We walked the streets of New York City. We went on a subway We walked through time Square Is that a great place just to walk very casually along and act very much like a tourist When you go there and when you're with your loved ones you have to do what You have to just stay alert You have to just have a heightened your senses are heightened You know where your wallet is you know where your children are and you don't have to be afraid But you're not a fool either right Friends that's the way we have to walk through this world I wonder how many of you wake up in the morning cognizant of the fact that there's somebody who hates you And that day they will be seeking to destroy you They will be laying traps before you they will be tempting you. They will be resisting you They will be seeking to undermine you Do you live with that knowledge that the devil has been cast down And yet he hasn't been finally destroyed. He is mortally wounded. He's on a chain But God gives him that that chain has some links to it And it doesn't behoove you to walk within his reach does it If the devil's in On death row in a cell Don't stick your face in between the bars Because you're living aware that you have an adversary and he hates you and he seeks to destroy you Now if the devil is going to be active anywhere He's going to attack that which is most precious to Jesus which is his His bride His church Oh, you could hear the delight in the devil destroying the church And so friends the Bible says that we'd a battle the evil one What to defend our church we hear others slander it or gossip or cut people down in the church We rise up and we we put an end to it Because we know the devil seeks an opportunity And we will not let our tongue and our voice be fuel for the devil's fire And if the devil might want to attack anyone in the church it might be who It might be the leaders it might be the pastor And so you go to bat you go to bat for your pastor and you go to bat for your leaders And you stay to the devil when you get up in the morning you will not have my pastor And you will not have his family and you will not have our elders and you will not have our staff And you know, I've stood before you and I could tell you Um the three pastors I've heard about in the last two weeks That that left their ministries in immorality My good friends the buck sitting in the front of the church their pastor in St. Louis at two surgeries last week for liver cancer He's about forty three forty four one of the Stars and ministries in our denomination now his life hangs in the balance And I can tell you about another pastor in their city a couple years ago who has run over by a train And ended up taking his own life in the midst of horrible depression And I could tell you a story after story after story and you would say my it sort of seems like pastors are targeted
And I've said to you before why hasn't Ray courtees fallen into sexual immorality Because I know people will have and they're a lot more godly than I am They're a lot more holy than I am Well, what's the difference? I remember asking that one Sunday and and and four foot seven You know 38 pound Betty Santana Came up to me after the service and she said you know why you haven't fallen in morality because I won't let you She said the devil has to come through me to get to you Does this the devil and he will what? He will flee from you To tell you something are you in the war You understand that the curtains been pulled back and and god wants to destroy the devil wants to destroy Adam Jones family And then so doing disillusion our youth And the devil wants to destroy Chuck Berry's family and so doing and any a new gospel ministry in homicidal And the devil wants to destroy Steven Renee Johnson's family And and the people of god have to rise up and say we will not give him foothold in our church an old story of a Child fallen down in a well in West Texas and And nobody can Sit down the shaft. It's so narrow Only a only a little boy could be lower down there to reach the child And so they say to the child will you go do you have the courage to accept the challenge will you you know Will you go we do it but it won't work for us. You're the only one the child says All right, I'll go But only if my daddy holds the rope and you know I want to tell you something anybody in ministry would look you in the eye and say we'd rather do something else I'd rather run a putt putt golf course somewhere Then have to bear the burdens and have to come here weak and weak out feel like I have to do battle with the devil I'd rather not have this calling But I'll do it Will will you hold the rope? Will you hold the rope? Will you people of god will we wake up and realize that eternity is in the balance? We have an adversary He hates you He hates your kids Resist the devil and he will flee from you Resisting the devil doesn't mean that you let your kids listen to any CD any radio station any TV program any movie that you want to It means that you'd be the parent and you say I will not allow the devil to have entree Into my home and my family Because I'm going to fight for the souls of my children And I will pray for them and I will teach them the Bible and I will build our life and our home in our home and our family around God in his words so that when my kids walk out of my house they will have the full armor of God They will have the sword of the spirit. I will not send them out into this world. The fensely
Are you crying out to god for your kids?
last point We ought to live in full awareness that we have a great adversary and we ought to live in full awareness that we have a great conqueror A great king a great victor in Christ
Christ one the devil defeated. Do you know what this means in the whole span of the Bible? The Bible says that if the strong man is bound then you can do what?
What happened when Chao Chescu was overthrown in Romania What happened when marcos was overthrown in the Philippines? Everybody ran into their palace and stole all their stuff When the strong man is bound you can plunder his house That means that the day in which we are living is the gospel age in which the devil cannot defend his territory Or his people and in which Jesus empowers his people to go out into the world and snatch them back For the gospel and for the kingdom. This is the gospel age We win the devil is bound. It's time to harvest but it won't last for very long. So all leaves are cancelled X life group leaders you're called back to duty X Sunday school teachers X nursery workers X tithers your furrow is over Leave is cancelled You're called back to full-time Christian service Because this is the gospel age and it won't last forever In fact the sound of the reaping draws nearer by the day now is the day In which we are sent into the world to rescue the lost Because the strong man is bound The devil's an idiot Plain takes off from Orlando Has a professional golfer and others on it Before it gets a couple hundred miles apparently everybody in the plane is dead The crashes in the Dakotas In the devil cackles Thinking he's done some great thing You know if you'd have done it a year ago his timing would have been better The year ago painsturt was known as an arrogant womanizing Heavy drinking partying proud guy But what did we hear of a master's death? His kids came back from Christian school and with their Bible verses and with everything else they were learning Led to their father's conversion His children the children converted the father And painsturt gave his life to Jesus Christ and the most hardened cynical sports writers had to say this man's life was changed This man didn't care about golf in the high life and how he looked so much anymore As he cared about getting home to make his kids breakfast in the morning Before they went to school And so the devil cackled when the plane crashed but what did he accomplish But testimony that went from one end of the world to the other of the changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ Not only in painsturt but the golf tech of course architect on that plane was the head of the Of the officers of his entire a community church in Palm Beach the pilot of the plane was a Pentecostal pastor the The sports agents on the plane were were avowed for Prefesting Christians Orangewood Presbyterian church a PCA church in Orlando So the devil thinks he wins, but he's losing. It's our day. Your lead is canceled Get to work All authority has been given unto us to reap Now let me just finish with that and this last word If the devil is defeated and he's destroyed Then the last thing we ought to do is keep listening to him He is the accuser and how many in this room live with a daily struggle of feeling guilty For your sins and your failures because you're a rotten mom because you're a rotten dad because you're a rotten employee Because you're a rotten Christian because you're a rotten son
And you lay in bed at night as if you are on trial and the voices of accusation pour in on your head brothers and sisters There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ
Why would you believe the accuser?
Your soul and heart have been purchased by Jesus Pull back to curtain will you the dragon said and the one sitting on the throne is the lover of your soul So when you hear those voices of accusation I mean when you smell the hot breath of the evil one Putting you down drilling you with your sins Turn and look him in the face and say what
Go to hell Get behind me I belong to Jesus