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[0:00] So if you have a Bible, grab that or flick to, scroll to Rev12. If you don't have a Bible and you need one, just raise your hand, someone will bring you one.

[0:11] Revelation is really easy to find because it's right at the end of the Bible. So if you go there, flick to the topical index, you've gone too far, backtrack, Revelation. Do they still have topical indexes in Bibles?

[0:26] I don't know. So the question I want to look at this morning is, what do you think about Satan?

[0:39] Great answer. My job here is done. Let's drink coffee. So another question might be, do you ever think about Satan?

[0:50] Do you ever discuss with yourself or with others the reality of what he is up to? That we are up against a supremely subtle enemy.

[1:03] Do you ever introduce the idea of the accuser, the adversary or the liar into your daily conversations? Like maybe the daily conversations that you have with yourself.

[1:17] Like why is life so difficult? Why are things so complicated? Why do I often feel so beaten down, battened down, so dry and spiritually dead?

[1:28] My thinking on this was informed a few years ago, and I'll share two quick stories with you. That has really informed my thinking on who Satan is and the role he plays in the world.

[1:43] And one of those stories was of a woman that Laurie and I knew quite well, who was clearly, at least in my mind, demonically influenced.

[1:53] Now she wasn't my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law is a wonderful lady. She's a different woman. She was on a number of occasions reminiscent of the girl from The Exorcist.

[2:09] And like not delightful. And she was extremely troubled in many ways. And it became clearer and clearer in my mind that there was something going on with this lady that was significantly spiritual.

[2:30] Another story that I remember that really informed my understanding of who Satan is and what he does was that I had a ringside seat for an exorcism.

[2:42] Now how many of you have been to an exorcism? None of you. Okay, it's not the kind of thing that you want to sign up to readily. And actually I found myself stumbling into it.

[2:53] I wasn't even invited. I was just there. And I didn't really, if I'm honest, I really didn't know what to make of it at the time. Or even whether it was genuine.

[3:06] What was genuine was this poor young man was very troubled. And the things that he was exhibiting could not be, in my view, physical or only from the natural world.

[3:21] But what it does do is make you think. Whichever kind of side you land on or whatever you make of those things, it makes you think. It makes you think about how the spiritual realm interacts with the physical.

[3:35] And we've talked about, in the past, before, the danger of Christian atheism. That we believe that there is God, but we kind of boil God down to everything that is natural and physical.

[3:53] And we explain away everything that is natural and physical. Or about God that is natural and physical. And we don't really believe God. It's just a cultural expression.

[4:03] Christian atheism. And there's a danger in that. And I think this chapter really kind of asks us this question. Where do we land on that argument? What do we think about the supernatural?

[4:15] And specifically, what do we think about Satan? In this text, we get an answer to a lot of questions about why the world is like it is.

[4:27] But I've only got 45 minutes or so. So we're going to pick up really from where we left off last week. And so Revelation 12. Let me just read the first six verses.

[4:40] We kind of covered the first six verses last week. And then we're going to head on into verse 7, which is our text of it this morning. So Revelation 12. John, again, is seeing kind of this interlude in the narrative that has been going on.

[4:56] And we read that a great sign appeared in heaven. And look, we're not going to look at these six verses. If you think I'm skipping over these six verses, I am skipping over these six verses because we looked at it last week.

[5:07] All right. So if you want to if you want to kind of dig into those six verses, just encourage you to check out the podcast. So a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head, a crown of 12 stars.

[5:20] She was pregnant. She was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon with seven heads, 10 horns, and on his head, seven diadems.

[5:32] And his tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast him to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.

[5:45] And she gave birth to a male child, one who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she was to be nourished 1260 days.

[6:03] And now, verse seven is our text. Now, a war arose in heaven. Now, that should stop you in your tracks right there. A war in heaven. When we think about heaven, we don't automatically go war, do we?

[6:20] We normally associate war with the other place. Right. But there is a war that arose in heaven. So and now we're given a description of that war.

[6:31] Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was defeated. That is, he, that is, the dragon was defeated.

[6:43] And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan. The deceiver of the whole world.

[6:54] He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. Now, the big question is, when on earth did that take place? Like, when has that happened?

[7:07] Some suggest that this war in heaven is taking place as John is seeing it. So in John's day, 1995 AD, as John is writing it, he's writing about something that is taking place right in front of him.

[7:22] Others say that this is what took place when Jesus died on the cross. Right. So there's a verse there in John chapter 12, 31, where Jesus says, now is the judgment of this world.

[7:35] Now the rule of the world will be cast out. Some suggest that when Jesus was on the cross, this war was going on in heaven. And when Jesus rose from the grave, then he was cast out.

[7:48] Others suggest that this war is still yet to happen in the future. So there are some that say, link the 1260 days with this war and say, well, right in the middle of this time period that we call the tribulation period, halfway through the tribulation period, there is this war that's taking place.

[8:07] And Satan is thrown to earth. And there he goes and he pursues Israel, which is this woman that we talked about in the first six verses last week. Let me tell you what I think it is.

[8:20] I don't think it's any of those, which won't surprise you. So I think that what's going on here is that it's simply an explanation of the first six verses.

[8:34] What is the reason, for example, what is the reason that Satan is wanting to kill the male child in those first six verses? And the answer is because he was defeated by Michael and his angels and he was thrown out of heaven.

[8:49] I think he's given us an answer to that question. So you might want to say that these verses are a prequel to verses one to six. Now, we're kind of used to prequels nowadays, right?

[9:01] Like in the good old days, like it just shows your age, right? In the good old days, you had a film and then you had another release of a film and they went in chronological order. And you kind of go, I get it. That one comes first, then that one comes next.

[9:13] And then he went, oh, no, let's bring out one that came out before, happened before the one that came out. You know, like what? Right. So this is the kind of this is a prequel.

[9:24] It's a prequel to verses one to six and explains what's going on in verses one to six. So just look at those, verse seven, eight, nine.

[9:34] So this war arose in heaven. When? Before verses one to six. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon.

[9:45] The dragon and his angels were fighting back and he was defeated. And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down. Now, look, as we think about that, let me give you, I'm going to give you five things that we learn about Satan from this text.

[10:02] All right. So five things that we learn about Satan from this text that we would just do do well to think about.

[10:13] You know, in our thinking about why the world is like it is. Why do we struggle like we do? Why do we come under attack like we do? Five things that we learn.

[10:24] The first thing is that he's referred to as the ancient serpent. So he works in the realm of the old. Really, really important. He works in the realm of the old.

[10:38] Now, my thought was that Satan can only work in the realm of the old. He can only work, if you like, pre-Christ and pre-salvation.

[10:52] When he's talking, when him and his demons or his angels or whatever are doing their work in the world. They're not working according to like what we'd call the new covenant or the cross.

[11:03] They're not working towards mercy or grace or any of those things. They're working in the realm of our old man, as Paul talks about it.

[11:14] This is the same guy that we meet in Genesis 3. The old serpent, the ancient serpent.

[11:24] And this is the guy who persuades Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden truth and bring sin into the world. He's not bringing anything new. He's not bringing any freedom.

[11:35] He's not bringing any liberation. He's only able to work in the old. But although Adam and Eve, and you remember the story in Genesis 3, although Adam and Eve are punished, Satan gets the fiercest curse of all.

[11:58] Genesis 3.14 says this, The Lord God said to the serpent, this ancient serpent that John is seeing. He says, because you have done this, because you have tempted Adam and Eve and they've fallen.

[12:11] Cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go. The dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And look, this is, if you want to do some background reading, this is strikingly similar to the villain that we see in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.

[12:30] Who was cast down to the ground, who was cast down to the earth. Genesis says that his fate will be, this ancient serpent, his fate is that he eats dust.

[12:43] He eats, he literally becomes an earth dweller. The curse is that the serpent who wanted to be the most high, is the argument there in Ezekiel 24.

[12:54] The serpent who wanted to be the most high, is now cast down to the earth. But I want you to think about, and we'll talk about this as we'll expand this as we go, how Satan works in the old you.

[13:11] Like we're encouraged, aren't we, by Paul. Paul says that we are to nail the old man dead. Right? We are to consider him having no power, no authority.

[13:21] Now how's that going for you this morning? Right? Some of us are like, that's not a real reality. Okay? We kind of get it theologically. We get it every now and again. We kind of go, I know that I'm a new creation, creating Christ Jesus.

[13:35] You know, and all of that. I get that. But it sure seems like the old man's pretty powerful sometimes. Right? And that's the realm that Satan works in. Whenever you feel tempted to do anything, that's the old man.

[13:54] That's the realm Satan's working in. Like, because Satan never calls you to get up early, fast and pray, read your Bible every day. He doesn't call you to do that, does he? He doesn't call you to remember the riches of God's grace, does he?

[14:09] He doesn't wake you up in the morning and say, Like, ah, Simon, let me just remind you, you know, every spiritual blessing you have in heavenly places. Like, that's not, he doesn't, he doesn't work in the new realm. He works in the old realm.

[14:20] He works in the new, the old man. Bringing judgment, condemnation, shame, guilt, all of those things. That's his job. That's what he does. The second thing we learn is that he works his power against you.

[14:40] Like, he's not your friend, he's not on your side. He's not out to see you win. Look at the three things that John says that he is called. He is called the devil.

[14:52] He is called Satan. And then he's called the accuser of our brothers. Right? So, these are more accurately titles rather than names.

[15:06] His actual name is Lucifer. Right? So, that's his name. But, he's called devil, Satan, accuser of brethren. So, we call him Satan, right?

[15:18] That's not a name. Right? Here, he's called devil. So, Diabolos. The false accuser. That's what he does.

[15:28] In verse 10, there's a cry in heaven on seeing Satan being cast out of heaven. And this is what they say in verse 10. The accuser of our brothers have been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

[15:46] He's the accuser. He's the false accuser. That's what devil means. So, the three titles are actually devil, Satan, and liar is the other one we see later on.

[15:57] So, he is an accuser. And we touched on this last week, didn't we? That he accuses us. And it's worth repeating. Satan will remind you of all of your weaknesses.

[16:09] That doesn't mean that they're not true. We have weaknesses, don't we? So, there's some partial truth to some of those things, right?

[16:20] We have weaknesses. He will remind you of your weaknesses. He will remind you of your failures. He will remind you of your short circuits. He will remind you every day how terrible your past was.

[16:33] Works in the old realm. All the horrible things that you've done. Every sin. Every mistake. He will not let you forget your past. He will constantly bring it up.

[16:45] He points out every flaw that you have. He will tell you that you're a terrible Christian, if you're a Christian at all. Like, how can you be a Christian?

[16:58] You're not good enough, and you're never going to be good enough. Let me just say, if you're hearing that voice today, to hear another voice. Last week, I asked you to squint.

[17:13] Do you remember? To squint to see the good that God is doing in you by the Holy Spirit. And sometimes we do need to squint, don't we? Well, this morning, can I ask you maybe to cup your ear?

[17:26] Turn your head to listen. Listen. Listen to the still, small voice that whispers. What is that voice?

[17:38] Well, it's the voice of God who has invested the life of His Son in you through the Holy Spirit. That voice. What God is doing in your life and what is God doing in my life through the Holy Spirit is to speak that one continuous sermon over and over and over again.

[17:58] You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. That's new. That's not the realm of the old, is it? Regardless of your past and your current short circuits, Satan will get you or try to get you to give up, to quit.

[18:18] I don't know about you, but some days, some days the voices in my head are so loud and can be so discouraging. Like, I don't have, like, voices in my head. That's not what I mean. You know, like, you know.

[18:29] I'm not going to have any liberation prayer at the end of the service. Just relax. But you know what I mean. Like, there is a heaviness sometimes that's just hard to shake. And sometimes there's no let up.

[18:43] Look, turn your head again to hear you are loved. You are loved. Because anything else, anything that is from the old realm, that's Satan. That's the false accuser.

[18:54] John says in 1 John chapter 1, If anyone does sin, how many of us is that? That's all of us, right? If any of us do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

[19:05] Right, so we have an accuser, and then we have a defense lawyer. Like, who's going to win? Right? There's no comparison. John says that he is called the devil.

[19:18] He is called the false accuser, because that's what he does. That's what he does in your life. That's what he does in my life. He accuses us. But he's also called Satan.

[19:32] Which isn't a name. Again, that's a description. The adversary. That's what it means. 1 Peter chapter 5, well-known verse, if you've been around church any amount of time.

[19:44] Peter says, Be sober-minded, be watchful. Why? Your adversary, the devil. So, your adversary, the accuser.

[19:56] Prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He's an adversary. He's not your friend.

[20:08] Sin is something not to be trifled with or played with. But in addition, John says, in that verse, he says that he is the deceiver of the whole world.

[20:21] He is a deceiver. Which just means he's a liar. There's no truth in him. In fact, Jesus said, you know, Jesus says some pretty harsh things sometimes, didn't he?

[20:33] And he said to the Pharisees, he said, you are of your father the devil. And your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. Does not stand in the truth.

[20:46] Because there is no truth in him. And when he lies, he speaks out from his own character. For he is a liar and the father of lies.

[20:56] Like, wherever lies come from, that is not the Lord, right? That place is not. It comes from Satan. John 13, 2 clearly states that Satan tricked Judas into betraying Jesus.

[21:13] Judas didn't conjure that up himself. That was the work of Satan. In Luke 22, 31, he tried to ruin the faith of Peter. He's a liar. In the early church, we see an early church member by the name of Ananias.

[21:30] Paul told Paul who made a shady donation of money to the church, right? And he got caught out. And Peter asks, how is it that Satan has filled your heart so that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?

[21:48] Paul tells the church in Corinth, he says in 2 Corinthians 11, he says i'm afraid that as the serpent deceived eve by his cunning that's what this that's what satan does he deceives paul paul was afraid for the church right so paul was a he had to write to the church at least three times to the church in corinth and and he wrote to the church he was afraid for the church that that that their thoughts he says would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to christ well there's a there's a great danger in that isn't there that we too would be led astray from a pure devotion to christ and sincere devotion if anything leads us away from our devotion to christ guess what you you can bet most likely that that has come from satan paul goes on to say in the same chapter in second corinthians 11 14 that satan disguises himself as an angel of light like he doesn't come along he's like let me introduce myself my name is satan i'm about to deceive you right like he doesn't do that why would he do that right he comes along and says i'm an angel of light i'm about to tell you the truth and then he tells you a lie that's deception so he doesn't announce himself as a deceiver he comes in the form of something helpful and something good now third thing we learn is that he works his power and i put it he works his power in your street and what i mean by that is that he was thrown down john says he was thrown down to the earth it just works there you go great right uh he was thrown down to the earth what does that mean well he doesn't work in my back garden if you see my back garden it clearly is working in my back garden right but he works he works where we live he works where we work like that's what he does he's been thrown down to the earth like one of the misconceptions about satan is that he's hanging out in hell waiting to torment whoever goes there that's not in the bible did you know that like satan hasn't even been to hell oh really no yeah no he's waiting to go there he knows his time is short as we'll see but he's never actually been there right um we're going to see in revelation 20 verse 10 that a devil um excuse me an angel an unnamed angel takes satan by the scruff of his neck and just kind of go that's your place and throws him into hell but that's not until that's not for ages so the question is what do you mean he's not in hell so that's where satan was like pitchfork horns red suit comes out at halloween to kill all the cats like isn't that what isn't that what a devil does the text says he's he no the text says he's he's working on on earth he's been thrown down to earth okay so where is he well again clearly john says he's been thrown down to earth but there are actually two things that this throwing down means and um it's important that you understand that um behind every shadow is not satan right like if you open a door and it's like you know something happens it's not necessarily someone out to get you um the the first place that that satan is is on earth that the earth is his kingdom first john chapter 5 verse 19 says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one that couldn't be clearer

[25:50] um this is something we know because in matthew 4 uh we get the story of when satan met jesus on earth and um satan takes jesus out to the wilderness in fact the holy spirit drives jesus out to the wilderness first right and um satan meets him there and uh he starts tempting jesus and one of the temptations that he gives is there in matthew 4 verse 8 he says that the devil took him that's jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory and then he said all of these things i'll give to you now he could say that because he had assumed possession of and control of the kingdoms the kingdoms doesn't mean the nations necessarily it doesn't mean like england and france and you know he's controlling those in those ways it's a reference to the powers and sovereignties and he says look i'll give you all of these things if you fall down and worship me there is no indication that satan was bluffing right because jesus could have gone it's not yours to give my friend like just get out right he did jesus didn't even turn and address it in fact in in john's gospel in 12 14 and 16 jesus three times calls him the ruler of this world so this this is this earth as satan has been thrown down to the earth this is his realm this is where he works but look it also doesn't mean that he it doesn't mean that he no longer has access to god or to heaven or the throne room where god is zechariah chapter 3 verse 1 we see that um this picture um and the text reads that when he showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord so in heaven satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him where was satan at his right hand accusing him in and job chapter 1 verse 6 we get this really interesting scenario we've talked a little bit about it before in job chapter 1 verse 6 there came a day when the sons of god we talked about this council before the sons of god um the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord and satan also came among them and the lord said to satan where have you come from and satan answered the lord and said from going to and from the earth and from walking up and down on it so satan has been on earth and he is now standing in heaven before the lord that's the text this is this is why satan can be called the accuser because you have to be able to speak to someone right now in our text in zechariah he's accusing he's a cute he's been um he's accusing joshua the high priest to the lord so satan is the accuser before god and his realm is the is the earth is the world um and he will go from earth into heaven to earth into heaven um but his domain his kingdom is here now look the fourth thing we learn that is that um and this is really quick because it's just obvious the fourth thing is that he gives power to those who follow him he gives power to those who follow him so the text says uh back in revelation 12 that his angels were thrown down with him like he's not on his own he has friends so he's the leader of angels then the fifth thing we learn is that is found in verse 10 and this would should really um encourage us

[29:55] verse 10 i i heard of the loud voice in heaven saying now the salvation and the power and the glory of our god and the authority of his christ has come for the accused of our brethren has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before god and they have been they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony for they love not their lives even unto death therefore rejoice oh heavens for and you who dwell in them but woe to you oh earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short so this last thing that we we learn about satan and satan's power is that although he is incredibly strong his power has no hold on christians his power has no hold on christians the writer to the hebrews puts it like this he says since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he this is talking about jesus might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil just in case we didn't know and deliver all those how many is he going to deliver all everyone deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery paul claims in first corinthians 15 54 that death has now been swallowed up in victory and so the question is do you know that victory do you experience that victory note the declaration in verse 11 because it provides the basis for that victory verse 11 says that they have conquered him how by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony so the blood of jesus so what is that reference to it's reference to the cross clearly so the thing that christ has done for us on the cross and by the word of their testimony faith in that and what we learn is that the blood of jesus has the power to overcome satan's strategies his accusations as the devil his attacks by the adversary his deceptions as the liar and our loyalty and allegiance to jesus it's god saying here is the power that you need what is that power what is the power to wash our sins away so listen if if jesus has washed our sins away what is there to accuse us of that i mean that's kind of the whole point because once our sins have been done away with once the penalty of our sins has been paid for once we've become a new creation like satan doesn't want us to be reminded of that right there's not a lot else left for him to do is there it says that in verse 11 that they love not their lives unto death therefore rejoice rejoice rejoice rejoice oh heavens and you who dwell in them but woe to you oh earth and see for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short and when the dragon verse 13 saw that he had been thrown down to the earth he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child and so that verse there is the the history of israel and actually this leads us now full circle to close this kind of parenthesis around this main narrative that we began last week having having filled in the kind of the prequel information about satan we now in verse 14 pick up the narrative from verse 6

[33:59] so in verse 6 the woman israel flees into the wilderness to be cared for by god verse 14 the woman was given two wings of a great eagle so we kind of pick it back up now as to what is going on with this um pursuing of um of israel so verse 14 says that the woman was given two wings of a great eagle now that is not a bowing 747 i actually have a commentary at home that says that i no longer have a commentary at home that says that like we need to do better like we just need to know our bibles better like exodus chapter 19 verse 4 you yourselves have seen what i did to the egyptians how i bore them on eagles wings and brought you to myself it's not hard to understand um it's a picture of god's protection of israel from satan it's a repetition as we've seen before of how god does that um he didn't take eagles wings in exodus 19 and fly them away to the wilderness uh he didn't envisage a massive plane to take them out did he like none of that is in my bible what is in my bible is that is that god supernaturally cared for them and carried them in that way so the woman was given so israel was given in response to the satan pursuing israel israel was given the protection of god that's what that's what it's saying so that she might fly escape from the serpent into the wilderness look we're not seeing we're not seeing like this massive great snake character are we like slithering around and this massive eagle flapping with a whole nation carrying them off into the world we're not seeing that we're talking about how god is going to care for his people and just as he took israel into the wilderness in exodus so now we're told that he is going to repeat that and take israel back into the wilderness to protect uh to protect them to the place where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time which is a reference to daniel's three and a half years 1260 days that we've seen previously in the first six verses so um i know that if i don't ask this question you're going to ask this question at the end and you're not going to like my answer so i'm going to just address it now where is this wilderness if you weren't thinking about that question god bless you um some take it to be literally petra in jordan um others believe it's referring to to what we know as the diaspora so the the scattering of jews among the nations um now look the latter really doesn't do the context any justice at all um about gathering the nation about protecting the nation in one place um it's better actually to see rather than say well here's the exact place petra jordan i don't think petra is big enough for a whole nation certainly israel um it's better to see that god just like he has done before will supernaturally protect the nation of israel that there will be a great wave of persecution just as happened in um egypt uh when when when the israelites were there there will be a great wave of persecution and god will save them um are they literally going to be taken into the wilderness maybe i don't know

[38:02] either way god's going to protect them god's going to save them i mean that's i think what we're seeing here now the serpent poured out verse 15 the serpent poured out water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away uh to sweep to sweep her away with a flood now look like we keep coming back to it it's it's exodus right uh we saw this last week a reference to exodus and the attempt by pharaoh to drown all the hebrew male children so we're going backwards again we're doing this repetition of you know deception separation salvation renewal that kind of thing is is keeping going around and what we're seeing is a reference to that um some believe this refers actually to an army because actually in the bible armies are often described as a great flood of water so it could be it may not be but it is this it is persecution of one shape or another but the earth came to the help of the of the woman now again look you know if we if you read your bible hyper literally this this chapter causes all kinds of issues doesn't it because now you've got this massive this massive snake this massive eagle um and now you've got this great water river and the earth is coming to the help of the woman um what we read is that the earth came to the help of the woman the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river and the dragon had poured that the dragon had poured out from his mouth which actually if this is a reference to a literal physical miracle we can think back to when the lord had the earth swallow up corin in number 16 so what i'm saying is that none of this is new none of this is new information this is not something that god is doing brand new that we've never seen before all of this is based on old testament accounts of what god has done previously in his relationship with israel uh some suggest that it's possible that one of the great earthquakes that we've seen in previous chapters um coincides with this event um but it's not out of the realms of possibility that god saves them right um again pointing us back to exodus exodus 15 verse 12 you stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them same language and then the dragon verse 17 became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring so probably christians who are still alive at this point on those who keep the commandments of god and hold the testimony of jesus and then this chapter closes with a strange phrase which actually probably belongs to chapter 13 so you understand that the chapter breaks aren't divinely inspired um because and he stood on the stand sand of the sea like amen all right so that probably belongs to chapter 13 which will um so we'll start there next week all right um but let me just encourage you about the the things that we've seen this morning about satan satan is a very real adversary he's absolutely real and he has those who follow him in in terms of his demonic angels in the demonic realm the powers the principalities of this world but we have a a greater king and i want to encourage you this morning that if you are ever caught in that cycle of thinking the wrong things and when i mean the wrong things the things that the bible says are not true about you and the things that are not true about me the things are not true about us that's only come from one place you know paul talks about there are works of the flesh and works of the spirit right and um one of

[42:03] the works of the flesh is deception it's how it's how satan is gonna is gonna get us and i'm not talking again about you know incorrect incorrect doctrine or incorrect theology that that's part of it but um the very fact that we cannot believe and we refuse sometimes to believe the truth about what jesus has said about us that um every spiritual blessing is ours in the heavenly places that that's a truth and satan will say oh really everyone every single one for you are you sure like that's the enemy when when when we're when we're tempted um into whatever we might be tempted with that's the that's the old man rising who's rising that old man by what power is that old man rising in us well it's not the lord is it right so can i encourage you this morning like to be really picky about how you think to to turn your ear again and to hear the words of scripture rather than the words of the enemy and to squint to look hard to look deeply about all that the lord is doing in you through the holy spirit that he is making us into uh creations that are brand new that there is there is renewal for those who speak the truth and listen to the truth like we saw last week that brings intimacy that brings sanctification that brings renewal may lord help us do that father we thank you this morning for your word we thank you that it is truth lord we thank you that you do speak words of truth and lord we want to be able to hear them lord we don't want to be discouraged lord we sometimes we don't feel like we even need help to discourage ourselves like we're pretty good at it ourselves lord and yet we want to recognize lord that the things that would bring us down the things that would discourage us lord the things that would bring and and and and speak falsehoods to us about us about others lord we want to put them in in the light of your word in the light of your son lord and we uh we don't want to be um you know believing things that aren't true so help us to believe the truth help us to be encouraged by the truth help us to seek out the truth as zach as zach said this morning lord we want to we want to be able to preach the truth to us we know that that's a battle there is indeed war of the worlds that goes on in our minds and you've exhorted us to set our minds on things above to seek those things which are above so help us to do that we pray lord guard us and our minds from the work and strategies of the enemy lord who who will encourage us to fall into sin to to bring about despair and discouragement will help us and encourage us to quit lord we want to be reminded again that you went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin so that there is no accusation that the enemy can bring we thank you this morning lord that you have made us a new creation your word says and for sure we don't always feel like it lord but we want to speak that truth to ourselves lord that you have placed your holy spirit in us as a deposit as a guarantee of our inheritance thank you lord that you are working in us each and every day even though sometimes we may not

[46:05]  feel like you are working lord we want to by faith uh proclaim again that you are working lord and whatever you are doing and however you are working lord would our hearts and our minds submit to that lord as we speak the truth to ourselves and to each other lord would that bring intimacy with you and by being close to you lord we know that we will then be conformed to look like you and so encourage us in this we pray lord help our minds protect our minds lord may we do that practice which is often so hard to take every thought captive lord we ask these things in jesus name amen amen