{"id":19015,"date":"2020-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-066-what-is-wrong-with-us-part-2\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:15:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:15:46","slug":"revelation-066-what-is-wrong-with-us-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-066-what-is-wrong-with-us-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 066 – What is Wrong with Us? – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19015","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 066 - What is Wrong with Us? - Part 2","sermon_date":"20200105","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":19974,"sermon_slides":19975,"sermon_mp3":19976,"sermon_id":"15201251513210","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"20:7-10","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhat Is Wrong With Us?\u00a0 Part 2,\u00a0 Revelation 20:7-10\n\nLesson 66\n\nHappy New Year to everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 20 and verse 7.\u00a0 The title of our message is What is Wrong With Us?\u00a0 Part 2.\u00a0 You say wow, that must be a lot wrong with us if we\u2019re doing multiple parts.\u00a0 And as you\u2019re turning there, just a couple of things; Wednesday night Bible Study is kicking off, I want to invite you to come out to that.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to be starting the book of 2 Peter and we just finished a long series Wednesday night on The Kingdom, which I think went a couple of years and I thought we\u2019d better do something short.\u00a0 So I picked 2 Peter because there\u2019s only three chapters in 2 Peter, so that will only take us about 15 years to get through.\u00a0 [laughter]\n\nAnd as you\u2019re turning there I just want to call your attention to the bulletin, the back page and you see there our giving and our expenses, giving us a pretty large surplus and I think that\u2019s pretty amazing for a church that never passes the plate, the offering plate, to have a surplus like that.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even teach the doctrine of tithing here, we just teach that if God\u2019s Word has blessed you give has purposed in your heart.\n\nAnd I wanted to say this, not just in front of our local congregation but also online because we have a lot of givers online.\u00a0 I just wanted to pause for a minute and say thank you!\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to ask for anything else.\u00a0 In fact, I was trying to think when was the last time we ever addressed the issue of money from this pulpit and I think it was when I was in\u00a0 the Book of Galatians, chapter 6 and it was appropriate there because there\u2019s a context to support it.\u00a0 But we don\u2019t talk a lot about money and we don\u2019t have any great big plea at the end of the\u00a0 year\u2026 help us or we\u2019re going to go out of business because we don\u2019t really think God is broke. Amen. [congregation replies Amen]\n\nAnd some of the ministries that keep talking about how they are going to go out of business I wish half of them would go out of business.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 \u00a0So we just want to stop for a minute and before these numbers disappear from the bulletin I just want us to reflect upon the great things that God is doing through this congregation in terms of its generosity.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word is touching people and people are obviously volitionally responding the way the Bible says with no coercion or to [can't understand word].\u00a0 So rather than say give us more what I want to say is THANK YOU.\u00a0 So let me just give you guys a round of applause.\u00a0 [capping]\n\nWe continue on today with our study on the Book of Revelation in that huge section of the book where John is told to write down the things that will take place \u201cafter these things.\u201d\u00a0 The largest section there is chapters 6-19, the events of the tribulation period which we\u2019ve gone through in depth, the various judgments that will come upon the world\u00a0 through this coming seven year time period.\n\nAnd now we\u2019re in a section of all of that where we\u2019re no longer talking about the tribulation period itself but the events following the tribulation period.\u00a0 In other words, once Jesus comes back to the earth at the end of that seven year time period what does the Book of Revelation say will transpire?\u00a0 Four things: number one, kingdom.\u00a0 Number two, the great white throne judgment.\u00a0 Number three, the destruction of the present heavens and earth.\u00a0 And number four, the establishment of the new heavens and new earth.\u00a0 You can see all of those things when\u00a0 you locate the second advent there on that chart and move into my right.\n\nSo we are in the first of those four major events, something that\u2019s coming to planet earth called the kingdom.\u00a0 And we ought to be interested in it because how did Jesus teach us to pray?\u00a0 \u201cThy kingdom come!\u201d\u00a0 When the kingdom comes it will be an answer to that long prayed prayer request.\u00a0 And so the kingdom is in Revelation 20:1-10 and it has basically three parts to it.\u00a0 First of all verses 1-3, the great chain.\u00a0 It\u2019s there we are introduced to Satan, verses 1 and 2, and how he is put into a prison, verse 3, for a thousand years.\n\n[Revelation 20:1-10, \u201cThen I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. [2] \u00a0<\/sup>And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3]\u00a0<\/sup>and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it<\/em> and sealed it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u00a0 [4] Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw<\/em> the souls of those who had been beheaded because of \u00a0their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. [5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. [6] Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.\u00a0 [7] When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, [8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. [9]And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. [10] \u00a0<\/sup>And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nThe second part of that section is the great reign and here is where the saints are resurrected and they rule and reign alongside Jesus Christ for a thousand years; that\u2019s you future, that\u2019s my future, a thousand years with Jesus, can you imagine that?\u00a0 That\u2019s what the world will be like.\u00a0 But then something very tragically happens at the end of that thousand year time period and we move away from the great reign to the great revolt, verses 7-10 which is the section we\u2019re going to look at this morning.\u00a0 So we can take the great revolt and divide it into four parts: the adversary, verse 7, the apostasy, verse 8, the attack, verse 9 and then the final annihilation of Satan, the second half of verse 9 into verse 10.\n\nBut first of all notice if you will verse 7, the adversary and notice what it says. It says \u201cWhen the thousands are completed,\u201d the Greek there is teleo\u0304<\/em>, brought to an end in other words, brought to fullness.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhen the thousands are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.\u201d\u00a0 So this is something that will take place once the thousand year kingdom has run its course.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve noticed the fact that Satan, during this time period, is in a different location than his two friends, the beast and the false prophet.\u00a0 You\u2019ll recall that when Jesus Christ returns, Revelation 19:20, Jesus is going to take the beast and the false prophet and throw them into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:20, \u201cAnd the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.\u201d] They are the first few inhabitants, if you will, into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 And you would think they would be thrown into the Lake of Fire as well but he is not thrown into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 He is incarcerated in a different place, called the abyss, Revelation 20:3\u00a0 [Revelation 20:3, \u201cand he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u201d]\n\nAnd here we discover that after a thousand years God has not forgotten about Satan.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God has one more purpose for Satan to fulfill.\u00a0\u00a0 And it is wonderful to look at this model of history presented in the Bible and to begin to understand that yes, Satan is a ferocious power but he only exists by the providence of God.\u00a0 In fact, God is so sovereign that He is actually using His arch enemy, Satan himself, to accomplish God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 You should never get the impression that somehow God has lost control of your life.\u00a0 Things in your life that can be very severe but they are all there through the superintendence\u00a0 of God Himself.\u00a0\u00a0 So Satan is released from this place that he has been in for a thousand years called the prison or the abyss.\n\nAnd we move from the adversary to the apostasy, verse 8.\u00a0 Notice what verse 8 says: \u201cand He,\u201d Satan, \u201cwill come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.\u201d\u00a0 Notice the first part of that, Satan will come out of the abyss to deceive the nations.\u00a0 One of the things that\u2019s interesting to study about Satan is his character never changes.\u00a0 You would think a thousand years in solitary confinement would causes him to rethink things.\u00a0 But he doesn\u2019t, he comes out of solitary confinement with the same God hating mentality that he has had since his own fall.\u00a0 And that\u2019s who Satan is.\n\nGod is allowing this to happen to demonstrate that He (God) is just in doing away with Satan forever, which will be described later on in verse 10.\u00a0 Jesus, when He spoke of Satan said this, in John 8:44.\u00a0 He says to the Pharisees, \u201cYou are of Your Father, the devil, and\u00a0 you want the desires of your father; He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.\u201d\u00a0 There is no redemptive purpose in Satan; don\u2019t waste\u00a0 your time praying for Satan, it\u2019s a lost cause.\u00a0 Pray for people but don\u2019t pray for Satan and the realm of the demonic as their nature, Satan\u2019s nature, has never changed. \u00a0And it won\u2019t change after a thousand years of imprison\u00adment.\n\nDavid Hocking, in his commentary on the Book of Revelation says this: \u201cGod demonstrates by this one final event that even under \u00a0the best conditions, mankind\u2019s problem is the heart.\u201d\u00a0 More on that in a moment.\u00a0 \u201cGod demonstrates that Satan\u2019s depravity cannot be cured.\u00a0 God demon\u00adstrates therefore that He is fully justified in exacting eternal punishment\u201d in this case from Satan. \u00a0[David Hocking, The Book of Revelation: Understanding the Future<\/em> (Tustin, CHURCH AGE; Hope For Today Publications, 2014,\u00a0 530.)\u00a0\u00a0 And so Satan comes out of the abyss and it says here, looking at verse 8, he comes out \u201cto deceive these nations.\u201d\n\nOne of the things people underestimate is the deceptive power of Satan.\u00a0 Satan has\u00a0 incredibly deceptive power.\u00a0 In fact, we have read earlier in our series Revelation 12:9 concerning the devil or Satan, \u00a0he deceives the whole world.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t just say he deceives the world, he \u201cdeceives the whole world.\u201d\u00a0 Notice the adjective \u201cwhole\u201d in front of \u201cworld.\u201d\u00a0 Satan has this \u201cwhole world\u201d marching according to his drumbeat.\n\nAnd what we are about to see here is probably one of the greatest deceptive activities of Satan because he is now going to deceive the world that\u2019s been living in the presence of Jesus for a thousand years.\u00a0 At least the world he deceived before had something to complain about but these people that we\u2019re reading about here, and I\u2019ll describe where they come from, have nothing to complain about, these rebels.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been living in a perfect environment for a thousand years and yet Satan is still able to pull the wool over their eyes and deceive them, something he was not allowed to do, verse 3, when he was in his place of imprisonment.\n\nIt says back in verse 3, \u201cSo that he would\u201d Satan \u201cnot deceive the nations any longer.\u201d\u00a0 By the way, that\u2019s how you know that we\u2019re not in the thousand year kingdom today, because when the thousand year kingdom comes the nations won\u2019t be in a state of deception. Would you say the nations are in \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0a state of deception today?\u00a0\u00a0 Of course they are, Satan is alive and well on planet earth as one man wrote.\u00a0 But the time in history comes where he\u2019s incarcerated and he is not allowed to deceive the nations, and then he comes out of the abyss a thousand\u00a0 years later and he\u2019s dealing with people that have been living in absolute perfection and he pulls off his greatest act of deception , he deceives them once again.\n\nYou continue on there in verse 8 and it talks about these rebels.\u00a0 They will come out, \u201cand He,\u201d Satan, \u201cwill come out to deceive the nations\u201d and notice what it says here, \u201cwhich are in the four corners of the earth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 7:1 also talked about the \u201cfour corners of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 7:1, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.\u201d]\n\nNow I would encourage you here not to get weird; this is common in the Bible, it\u2019s what you call phenomenological language, I had to pay a lot of tuition money, by the way, to learn these fancy terms so I\u2019ve got to share them with somebody and you guys are a captive audience.\u00a0 Phenomeno\u00adlogical language is language narrated from the perspective of man because a lot of people will take these verses and verses like them and try to develop this doctrine that the earth is flat or the earth has four corners and all of these kinds of things and they feel as though they\u2019re being very biblical when they do that, not understanding the reality of phenomenological language.\u00a0 Yes, the Bible is meant to be taken literally and at face value but the Bible also uses frequently figures of speech.\u00a0 Sometimes the Bible will narrate something from the perspective of man; from the perspective of man it does look like the earth has four corners.\n\nThe Bible does this quite frequently, for example, in Psalm113:3 it says, \u201cFrom the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.\u201d\u00a0 Now we all know that the sun doesn\u2019t rise, the sun is stationary and we\u2019re living not in a geocentric solar system but in a heliocentric solar system and the earth revolves around the sun but from our perspective it looks like the sun is rising and setting.\u00a0 In fact, we use this kind of language all of the time.\u00a0 I was actually in Venice with my family, one of the most beautiful places in the world, quite frankly, and there we were on the top of this hotel and we were just happy as clams, they were feeding us this tremendous buffet breakfast and I saw probably what I would consider to be the most beautiful sun rising I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 And when I saw that I didn\u2019t turn to my wife and say isn\u2019t that just a magnificent earth rotation that we just saw.\u00a0 I was using phenomenological language.\u00a0 The Bible will do that.\n\nAnd so from the perspective of John it seems like this rebellion is from all over the world which he describes here as \u201cthe four corners of the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Now he goes on there in verse 8 and he analogizes it or he depicts it as Gog and Magog.\u00a0 \u00a0[Revelation 20:7] \u201cand will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,\u201d now there\u2019s a lot of confusion here\n\nbecause when people see \u201cGod and Magog\u201d the connect it to Ezekiel 38 and 39 which is one of those end time battles, I would guess connected with the events of the tribulation period that Ezekiel saw, an end time invasion of the nation of Israel in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.\u00a0 And it\u2019s called God and Magog in the Book of Ezekiel and people think well, it\u2019s the same war.\u00a0 But actually it\u2019s not.\n\nNotice these differences between Revelation 20 and Ezekiel 38 and 39.\u00a0 The invasion in Ezekiel 38 and 39 comes from the north.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what\u2019s described here.\u00a0 All nations are involved in this rebellion.\u00a0 Ezekiel 39 and 39 names nine principle players, Tubal, Meshach, Rosh, Persia, etc.\u00a0 But no nations are identified specifically here in Revelation 20.\u00a0 The Gog Magog vision leads to the millennial kingdom which is described in Ezekiel 40-48.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what\u2019s happening here in this invasion.\u00a0 This invasion does not lead to the millennial kingdom, in face the millennial kingdom is over when this invasion happens.\u00a0 In fact this invasion does not lead to the millennial kingdom, it paves the way to the eternal state.\n\nThe Ezekiel invasion, chapter 39 verse 12, it takes seven months to dispose the dead.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 39:12, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s not what happens here. God immediately cataclysmically destroys this rebellion; no seven month process is described.\u00a0 And then in Ezekiel 38 and 39 we have no record whatsoever of Satan being bound before that invasion happens.\u00a0 But what do we have here in Revelation 20?\u00a0 The binding of Satan for a thousand years first and then this invasion comes.\u00a0 So don\u2019t conflate two battles just because you see the words Gog and Magog.\n\nBut why does it say God and Magog here?\u00a0 I like this comment from David McCloud.\u00a0 He says:\u00a0 \u201cHow can Gog and Magog<\/u> refer to a battle in Revelation 19 before the mil and this battle at the end of the millennium? \u00a0\u00a0The most likely explanation is that the Antichrist who is Gog<\/u>\u201d now I might quibble with him on that, but anyway, \u201cThe most likely explanation is that the Antichrist who is God will be defeated at the Second Coming.\u00a0 During the mil his defeat will become a legend among the nations, something like Napoleon\u2019s defeat at Waterloo<\/u>.\u00a0\u00a0 Then at the end of the millennial kingdom the Gog and Magog<\/u> \u2018legend\u2019\u201d because so infamous, \u201cis applied to a new historical situation (in Revelation 20:8) with Satan leading the new \u2018Gog and Magog<\/u> invasion.\u2019 Satan will meet his \u2018Waterloo\u2019 --- his \u2018Gog and Magog<\/u>.\u2019\nIn other words, at this time in history what happened in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is so well known and\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so famous that people will be able to take that past event and reapply the name to a new set of circumstances.\u00a0 Just like when we say \u201cI met my waterloo.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m having a battle in my life I\u2019ve met my waterloo. We\u2019re not saying the Battle of Waterloo is being refought; what we\u2019re trying to do is describe how severe our circumstances are so we analogize it to a famous battle in history just to sort of describe the severity of what we\u2019re going through.\u00a0 And I think that probably is the reason that Gog and Magog is mentioned here.\u00a0 It\u2019s just another horrific severe contest.\n\nWe continue on and it says, \u201cto gather them together for the war;\u201d Satan of course in the tribulation period itself was waging war.\u00a0 We read about that in Revelation 12:17, he made war with Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 12:17, \u201cSo the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.\u201d]\n\nThe word war is polemos<\/em> in Greek, where we get the word polemical.\u00a0 It\u2019s the opposite of irenic<\/em> or peaceful or irenic; polemical<\/em>\u2014war like, irenical<\/em>\u2014peace like.\u00a0 But here Satan is allowed to wage war.\u00a0 He\u2019s done this before, he waged war in the tribulation period but guess what?\u00a0 Jesus waged war, we saw that in Revelation 19:11.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:11, \u201cAnd I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.\u201d]\u00a0 Jesus is coming back to wage war, polemos<\/em>, against Satan.\n\nSo we have now peace, irena<\/em>, for a thousand years.\u00a0 And now Satan is let loose just for one more war, and he goes back immediately into his warlike posture.\u00a0 And probably the most fascinating part of this to me is the number of people that fall under his deception, Satan\u2019s deception, or join his army, because John, when he prophetically sees this says \u201cthe number of\u00a0 them\u201d that\u2019s the rebels, \u201cwas like the sand of the seashore.\u201d\u00a0 Think about the sand and all of the grains of sand on all of the oceans of the earth and how impossible it would be to count up all those grains of sand.\u00a0 That\u2019s the number of people that hook their wagon (so to speak) with Satan in this final context, in this final conflagration, if\u00a0 you will.\n\nAnd here\u2019s a question that arises.\u00a0 Wait a minute pastor, you told us that the righteous are going to be resurrected at the beginning of the millennium kingdom and are going to rule and reign with Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s true; we\u2019re there along with Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs in resurrected bodies ruling and reigning with Jesus.\u00a0 So if all of that is true then where\u00a0 did all of these rebels come from?\u00a0 Well you\u2019ll find an answer to that question in Matthew 24:22, where Jesus says, \u201cUnless those days had been cut short,\u201d speaking of the tribulation period, \u201cno life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.\u201d\n\nIn other words God cannot allow the tribulation period to go beyond it\u2019s allotted twenty-one judgments of seven years because if He did the world\u2019s population itself would be completely wiped out.\u00a0 There has to be some survivors; there has to be a Jewish remnant left where by God can fulfill His covenant on earth with that believing Jewish remnant.\u00a0 So quite clearly there are people that will survive the great tribulation period.\u00a0 Now don\u2019t put yourself in that number, you are already raptured before the tribulation period starts, you\u2019re in your resurrected and glorified body but there\u2019s a lot of people on the earth following the rapture that will get saved during the tribulation period; most of them killed but some survive and make it to the very end, and they will pass through what is called the sheep and goat judgment that you read about in Matthew 25:31-46.\n\n[Matthew 25:31-46, \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0then He will sit on His glorious throne. [32]\u00a0<\/sup>All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; \u00a0[33] \u00a0<\/sup>and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. [34] Then the King will say to those on His right, \u2018Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35]\u00a0<\/sup>For I was hungry, and you gave Me something<\/em> to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something<\/em> to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; [36]\u00a0<\/sup>naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.\u2019 [37] \u00a0<\/sup>Then the righteous will answer Him, \u2018Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something<\/em> to drink?\n\n[38]\u00a0<\/sup>And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? [39]\u00a0<\/sup>When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?\u2019 [40] \u00a0<\/sup>The King will answer and say to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even<\/em> the least of them<\/em>, you did it to Me.\u2019\u00a0 [41] \u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen He will also say to those on His left, \u2018Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; [42]\u00a0<\/sup>for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing<\/em> to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; [43]\u00a0<\/sup>I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.\u2019 [44] Then they themselves also will answer, \u2018Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?\u2019 [45]\u00a0<\/sup>Then He will answer them, \u2018Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.\u2019 [46] \u00a0<\/sup>These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.\u201d]\n\nAs they are determined to be\u00a0 sheep they will go into the millennial kingdom as Jesus at that point will be ruling and reigning from David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 And so they will go into the millennial kingdom in, not resurrected bodies but mortal bodies.\u00a0 And they will have children and their children will have children.\u00a0 And their children will have children.\u00a0 And over the process of a thousand years the earth will be repopulated.\u00a0 But what just got passed down through the blood chain was the genetics, the sin nature.\n\nIt\u2019s kind of like after the flood.\u00a0 How many people were in the ark?\u00a0 2 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 3:20 tells us that they were eight people in the ark.\u00a0 [1 Peter 2:5, \u201cyou also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:20, \u201c\u00a0<\/sup>who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the <\/em>water.\u201d]\n\nI would assume that would be Noah and Mrs. Noah, and then we know Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth and their respective wives.\u00a0 And so the world itself was repopulated from the three sons of Noah and their respective wives.\u00a0 And the earth had been cleansed by water but the sin nature continued on into the post flood world.\u00a0 What do you have on the ark?\u00a0 Do you know what you have on the ark?\u00a0 Eight sin natures, and through those individuals the earth was repopulated, although cleansed.\u00a0 God fixed the outside but something was still wrong on the inside.\u00a0 And consequently the sin nature is passed down in the post flood world.\n\nThat is the type of scenario that you have taking place here in the thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 And yet there are people in that kingdom that have no sin nature.\u00a0 That would be us and Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs resurrected at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 And this is a pretty weird time.\u00a0 And you say well, pastor, are you telling me that there\u2019s going to be resurrected people and non-resurrected people together for a thousand years?\u00a0 And that\u2019s what I\u2019m telling you.\u00a0 You say well that just sounds like science fiction.\n\nBut think about this for a minute.\u00a0 In between Christ\u2019s resurrection and ascension there was a period there of forty days, Acts chapter 1 talks about it.\u00a0 Jesus is in a resurrected body and He\u2019s interacting with His disciples who are in non-resurrected bodies; they\u2019re touching Him (as did Thomas).\u00a0 They are enjoying a meal together and He\u2019s teaching them over a forty day period about the kingdom of God, a mixture of beings that are resurrected and non-resurrected.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m saying is that biblical precedent that we see in Acts chapter 1 will continue on for a thousand years.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting that when it talks about this rebellion at the end it\u2019s not the resurrected people that are rebelling, they can\u2019t, they have no sin nature, talking about the people rebelling that have inherited a sin nature because they inherited that sin nature from the mortal survivors of the tribulation period who began to repopulate the earth.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s a very interesting time in history and what\u2019s so fascinating about this is all of these people have been living in what I would think would be a perfect environment.\u00a0 They\u2019re not harassed or agitated by starvation, hunger, malnutrition, prosperity has broken out all over the earth.\n\nIn fact Jesus, as He\u2019s the Prince of Peace reigning from David\u2019s throne, the Bible says the nations will take their swords and beat them into plow shares, war will not be learned of or studied any longer, war was just sort of a curious thing people used to do.\u00a0 And a little child will be able to go out into the backyard and put their hand into the cobra\u2019s nest and not be harmed.\u00a0 So that the conflict between humans and animals is called off and every conceivable need that needs to be met has been met by Jesus for a thousand years.\u00a0 And you would think the people that are living on the earth during this time period would just praise the Lord, submit to God.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what they do; they rebel when given the first opportunity and in fact the number of those involved in the rebellion is so big John describes it as the sand of the seashore.\n\nAnd we ask ourselves what is this all about?\u00a0 Why would God allow this terrible era of history, this terrible rebellion at the end to take place?\u00a0 And here\u2019s the answer:\u00a0 history in God is pedagogical.\u00a0 Pedagogy just means teaching. \u00a0God allows eras of history to transpire to teach humanity lessons that they couldn\u2019t learn otherwise.\u00a0 For example, you read the Book of Judges\u2026 if you want to talk about a depressing book, there are seven cycles of rebellion and oppression and then God raises up a deliverer, Israel is released from bondage, she goes into prosperity, and you think everything is going to be great and then the whole thing starts all over again.\u00a0 It happens seven times in the Book of Judges.\u00a0 It\u2019s just monotonous.\u00a0 And you read through the Book of Judge and you say\u2026 and that\u2019s a time period by the way, of about three hundred years God has allowed this to happen over and over and over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s not until you get to the end of the book that you figure out why God allowed it, because it said in Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, and the very end of the book in chapter 21, \u201cThere was no king in Israel in those days and so everyone did what was right in their own\u201d what? \u201ceyes.\u201d\n\n[Judges 17:6, \u201cIn those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.]\u00a0 18:1, [Judges 18:1, \u201cIn those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel.\u00a0 Judges 19:1, \u201cNow it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.\u201d\n\nGod is telling them you need a king to rule over you Israel.\u00a0 Now He could just say that or He could let them experience their failures without a king.\u00a0 And after they came out of that they were ready to anoint a king finally because history is pedagogical.\u00a0 Or you take the present age today of grace where grace upon grace upon grace has been lavished upon us, the church, for two thousand years and you say why is God allowing this?\u00a0 Well, Ephesians 3:10 tells us He\u2019s allowing it for the sake of the angels.\u00a0 [Revelation 3:10, \u201c0\u00a0<\/sup>so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places<\/em>.\u201d]\n\nThe plan of salvation is not open to the angels; they understand the holiness of God, they understand the creative power of God, they understand the judgment of God but they don\u2019t know much about grace.\u00a0 How could they when the plan of salvation is not even available to them?\u00a0 So how is God going to teach these angels, which have to learn because they\u2019re beings, created beings, how is He going to teach them about grace?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to teach them by lavishing grace upon grace upon the most underserving\u00a0 people (that would be us by the way) and as the angels are watching their minds are blown because God is using this era to fill out gaps in the theology of the angels.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the same kind of thing here at the end of the millennial kingdom, God has allowed this to happen. \u00a0He has allowed some to survive the tribulation period.\u00a0 \u00a0He has allowed the earth to be repopulated. \u00a0He has allowed Satan to be bound because He just as before the close of history one more lesson to teach and what is that lesson?\u00a0 The lesson is where does evil come from, because most people today, if you ask them where does evil come from\u2026 we just had this terrible shooting at this church in Fort Worth, where did that come from?\u00a0 If you listen to the commentators it\u2019s not enough health care, not enough education, malnutrition, I don\u2019t know, whatever the issue is it\u2019s always something from the outside that\u2019s blamed when what does our Bible say?\u00a0 Evil comes from the heart.\n\nI was listening, I don\u2019t do this too much, but to Michael Moore, a very leftwing type of guy, film maker, and I was watching one of the cable shows and he basically said you know, we can get rid of evil completely by guaranteeing everybody a job of at least 30,000 dollars a year.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 And if that\u2019s the case then how do you explain the actress, Winona Ryder , who has seen more money in her lifetime in a year than I\u2019ll see in my whole lifetime.\u00a0 How do you explain to her, she has no economic needs, and yet there she was on camera caught in Beverly Hills department stores a few years back stealing things.\u00a0 Why was she stealing things?\u00a0 Is it because she has some kind of economic need?\u00a0 Not at all! \u00a0There was something that was influencing her, not externally but internally.\u00a0 How do you explain something O. J. Simpson, all of the fame and money this world system has to give and yet he committed that terrible act or acts.\n\nAnd people say you know, if we could just educate people we could solve evil. Well guess what happens when\u00a0 you educate a blue collar thief?\u00a0 He becomes a white collar thief!\u00a0 You give an education to a thief the only thing you\u2019ve done is\u00a0 you\u2019ve enhanced his ability to steal more.\u00a0 By the way, this is very interesting.\u00a0 You notice society in world history that has had the highest literacy rate and has had more PhD\u2019s per capita than any other society, you know what that society is?\u00a0 It was Nazi Germany.\u00a0 So obviously more PhD\u2019s more education, that doesn\u2019t seem to solve things.\u00a0 There\u2019s a criminologist, a sociologist that I was reading about in my undergraduate studies, his name is James Hugh Wilson, he was talking about this decades ago and he was tracking the crime statistics in the great depression.\u00a0 I mean, you would think that once the country moved into the great depression that crime would rise.\u00a0 He said no, it\u2019s the exact opposite.\n\nSo this is kind of an age old question: why do we act the way we act?\u00a0 Why do we do the things we do?\u00a0 And the thing that\u2019s so interesting about it is the Bible gives you an answer.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to find this diagnosis in the thinking of modern day psychology or humanism but you find it in God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 What God\u2019s Word says is we act the way we act because we\u2019re corrupted on the inside.\u00a0 Genesis 8:21, God says, \u201cThe intent of man\u2019s heart is evil from his youth.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 8:21, \u201cThe Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, \u201cI will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man\u2019s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.\u201d]\u00a0 In fact, according to Psalm 51:5, you inherited in Adam\u2019s lineage a sin nature at the point of conception.\u00a0 Psalm 51:5, \u201cBehold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.\u201d\u00a0 Jeremiah 17:9 says, \u201c\u201cThe heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?\n\nWhy can\u2019t people just get along?\u00a0 The Book of James tells us, James 4:1-3, \u201d What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?\u00a0 Did you ever ask yourself that question?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t people cooperate with each other, even in families, even in churches,\u00a0 James says \u201cIs not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? [2] You lust and do not have; so<\/em> you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so<\/em> you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it <\/em>on your pleasures.\u201d\n\nJames says you want to know what your problem is, look in your mirror, you\u2019re the problem and the reason you have this problem is because you\u2019re in Adam\u2019s lineage.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting that we don\u2019t have to teach people to sin, do we?\u00a0 We don\u2019t get our kids and grandkids aside and say okay, we\u2019re going to a lesson today on how to be selfish, you ready?\u00a0 And here\u2019s another lesson, I\u2019m going to teach you today how to lose your cool.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to teach you how to blow your top and get angry when\u00a0 you don\u2019t get your way.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how you do it.\u00a0 The reality is they already know how to do it just like you already know how to do it and I already know how to do it because it became natural to us at the point of conception.\u00a0 And no amount of throwing money at this or cleaning up the environ\u00adment or universal health care, or eliminating structural bias, or whatever it is people are into today, no amount of that can fix this problem because it\u2019s internal.\n\nAnd this is what makes the Christian message different than all the other messages out there, because all the other messages out there are teaching how to fix the outside. God says you got a fixed outside after the flood but the sin nature was still there.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a fixed outside in the kingdom age but the sin nature is still there.\u00a0 You see folks, here\u2019s the reality of the situation: there\u2019s something that we fundamentally need more than anything else and most of the time we\u2019re blind to it.\u00a0 We need our insides fixed and that is Christianity.\u00a0 This is why Jesus, when He spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5 said unless one is born again, internal, cannot see or enter the kingdom of God.\u00a0 [John 3:3-5, \u201cJesus answered and said to him, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d\u00a0 [4] \u00a0<\/sup>Nicodemus said to Him, \u201cHow can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother\u2019s womb and be born, can he?\u201d \u00a0[5] Jesus answered, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. \u201c]\n\nYou know what we need?\u00a0 We need what the book of 2 Peter calls a new nature, 2 Peter 1:4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:4, \u201cFor by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the<\/em> divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d]\n\nGod needs to do some miracle on the inside of us through the spiritual birth, the reception of the new nature and then I need to learn as a disciple of Christ to live consistently with the yearnings of the new nature and to reckon dead the deeds of the old nature.\u00a0 Now if you\u2019ve got that working for a person you\u2019ve got a change; if you don\u2019t have that in a person and\u00a0 you\u2019re throwing all this environ\u00ad-mental stuff at him over and over again and you\u2019re fixing this external problem and fixing that external problem, you\u2019re not solving anything.\n\nNow God could come \u00a0out and just tell us that, couldn\u2019t He?\u00a0 He does but we don\u2019t really believe it because we couldn\u2019t be that bad!\u00a0 I mean, are we really that messed up?\u00a0 And so God says well let\u2019s do this; here is a thousand years, history is pedagogical, go ahead an live the thousand\u00a0 years in a world with no war, no racism, no structural bias, no hole in the ozone layer, now deficiency in the health care system, whatever it is we\u2019re all worried about.\u00a0 Here\u2019s\u00a0 your perfect world and\u00a0 yet a thousand years later what do people do?\u00a0 They act like people.\n\nYou say well wait a minute pastor, I\u2019m not real clear on this because this passage says Satan causes this.\u00a0 NO, Satan didn\u2019t cause this; what Satan does is he gives people an opportunity to express what\u2019s already happening inside of them.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 We have to look at the whole counsel of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-18 talks there about people who will simply, in the millennial kingdom, not want to go to Jerusalem to worship Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And the moment they make that decision they are immediately punished, they receive no rain for their crops and so they grudgingly go.\u00a0 You see, the hatred for God is there in the mortal citizen and inhabitants of the millennial kingdom, they just don\u2019t say much about it because Jesus is ruling with a rod of iron.\n\nThe grudging humanistic man centered hatred of God is there and God, to show it\u2019s there, finally takes the devil where he\u2019s been incarcerated for a thousand years, lets him out of solitary confine\u00adment, and all Satan does is give people a chance to express what they already want to do.\u00a0 And my goodness, look at the mob scene here.\u00a0 Those involved in the rebellion are as the sand of the seashore.\n\nDavid Hocking says, \u201cGod demonstrates by this one final event that even under the best conditions, mankind\u2019s problem is the heart.\u201d\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t understand that you don\u2019t understand Christianity.\u00a0 You don\u2019t understand the most basic fundamental principle of Christianity because Jesus spoke of it pretty clearly in Mark 7:20-23. [Mark 7:20-23, \u201cAnd He was saying, \u201cThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. [21]\u00a0<\/sup>For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, [22] \u00a0<\/sup>deeds of coveting and<\/em> wickedness, as well as<\/em> deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and<\/em> foolishness. [23]\u00a0<\/sup>All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.\u201d]\n\nThe Pharisees were all upset because Jesus\u2019 disciples were eating on the sabbath.\u00a0 Can you imagine that, what a terrible thing!\u00a0 And Jesus in Mark 7 gives what I think is one of the greatest anthropolog\u00adical\u2026 \u00a0that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking at here, anthropology, the study of man, \u201canthropos\u201d man, \u201cology\u201d the study of man.\u00a0 What is wrong with man?\u00a0 He gives a tremendous or makes a tremendous anthropological statement when he says here, \u201cthat which precedes out of the man, that is what defiles\u201d him.\u00a0 [21]\u00a0<\/sup>For from within,\u201d what does he say here, \u201cout of the heart of men, proceed\u201d what? \u201cthe evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, [22] \u00a0<\/sup>deeds of coveting and<\/em> wickedness, as well as<\/em> deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride\u201d I feel like I\u2019m reading the front page of the newspaper, \u201cand<\/em> foolishness. [23]\u00a0<\/sup>All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not what you take into your body, Jesus says, is the problem.\u00a0 You Pharisees, you religious people, your anthropology is off.\u00a0 The issue isn\u2019t what you take in, the issue is what comes out. The issue is your condition in Adam.\u00a0 These things come from within, they don\u2019t have to be taught, they are not of the heart.\u00a0 And you begin to see this and you begin to understand what this means, God demonstrates by this one final event, that even under the best conditions mankind\u2019s problem is the heart. Folks, we are sick!\u00a0 In fact, we are so sick we don\u2019t even see that we\u2019re sick.\u00a0 And any spiritual\u00a0 or religious instruction that you get that doesn\u2019t deal with this problem, you know all it\u2019s doing is it\u2019s trying to make your flesh try harder, that\u2019s all it\u2019s trying to do.\n\nAnd yet the flesh is incapable of this internal transformation that we\u2019re speaking of here.\u00a0 Well God, I just don\u2019t believe we could be that bad.\u00a0 God says here\u2019s a thousand years.\u00a0 And this is why God did not put Satan into the Lake of Fire right away, with his cohorts, he put them into the abyss because God has one more lesson, not just to teach Satan but to use Satan to teach the whole world.\n\nSo the apostasy moves into the attack, verse 9, \u201cAnd they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city,\u201d now what city do you think this would be?\u00a0 This is the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well it doesn\u2019t say Jerusalem here.\u00a0 No it doesn\u2019t, but if you read Psalm 78:68 and Psalm 87:2 you\u2019ll see that Zion, a synonym for Jerusalem in the Bible, is called \u201cthe city that God loves.\u00a0 [Psalm 78:68, \u201cBut chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.\u00a0 Psalm 87:2,\u201d The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other<\/em> dwelling places of Jacob.\u201d]\n\nWhy would Satan lead this revolt against Jerusalem?\u00a0 It\u2019s the simple reason that it\u2019s from Jerusalem that the nations are being governed.\u00a0 Jerusalem is\u00a0 the world headquarters for a thousand years. Isaiah 2:3 says that.\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-17 says that.\u00a0 \u00a0(Isaiah 2:3, \u201cAnd many peoples will come and say, \u201cCome, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.\u201d\u00a0 For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\u201d]\u00a0 Zechariah 14:16-17 says that.\u00a0 [Zechariah 4:16-17, \u201cThen it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. [17] \u00a0<\/sup>And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.]\n\n \n\nRobert Thomas writes, \u201c At the end of the Millennium that city will be Satan\u2019s prime objective with his rebel army, because Israel will be a leader\u201d again \u201camong the nations.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s why Satan attacks Israel and Jerusalem, because God is fulfilling His word for a thousand\u00a0 years to the Jewish nation that they will be the head, not the tail.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 28:13,\u00a0 [The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them<\/em> carefully,\u201d Deuteronomy 28:13]\n\nI hope you understand this, that we\u2019re going into a kingdom where Israel is going to be \u201cthe cat\u2019s meow\u201d\u00a0 and center stage.\u00a0 Jesus is not running things from Washington D.C. or any other gentile city; He\u2019s running things from the city of Jerusalem and Satan knows it and gets one more crack at it and goes right after that lead city.\n\nBut then comes the annihilation of Satan.\u00a0 We have fire consuming Satan\u2019s henchmen from heaven, and then Satan himself, verse 10, will be consumed by the fires of hell, verse 9.\u00a0 What does it say?\u00a0 By the way, God pretty good at using fire, do you notice that, in the Bible.\n\n[Revelation 20:9, \u00a0\u201cAnd they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. [10]\u00a0<\/sup>And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nJust talk to Sodom and Gomorrah about that some time.\u00a0 \u201cFire came down from heaven\u201d and what does it say here, \u201cit devoured them.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 20:9, \u201cAnd they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.\u201d]\u00a0 This has always struck me in this sense, there\u2019s not even a battle here.\u00a0 I mean, we have a worldwide revolt against God taking place and yet God in a nanosecond just destroys the enemies. It\u2019s kind of like what we saw in Revelation 19 where the armies of the beast and the false prophet appeared to oppose the rider on the white horse.\u00a0 And yet Jesus just speaks and the battle is over.\u00a0\u00a0 Fire comes down from\u00a0 heaven\u2026 the battle is over!\u00a0 No folks, Satan and Jesus are not equal.\u00a0 Satan is a created being and the only reason Satan is even kept around is God is strategically using Satan for pedagogical reasons.\n\nAnd then we move into verse 10 where Satan himself is consumed in the \u00a0Lake of Fire.\u00a0 Verse 10 says, \u201cAnd the devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the beast\u201d look at this, \u201cand the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Notice what it says here, \u201cthe devil who deceived them was thrown into the Lake of Fire.\u201d\u00a0 I guess I\u2019ve got a lot of Star Wars on my brain lately, that scene where Darth Vader picks up the empire emperor.\u00a0 Remember that?\u00a0 Throws him down that giant shoot.\u00a0 Remember that?\u00a0 And he just sort of explodes and the emperor is gone, but then he comes back as a clone in the next one so maybe that\u2019s not the best analogy.\n\nBut here is the end of the end for Satan; it\u2019s over at this point.\u00a0 And this reminds us of the seven fold defeat of Satan, he\u2019s been defeated progressively throughout the Bible.\u00a0 In number six here he was bound during the thousand years, at the end of the millennial kingdom he is thrown into the Lake of Fire, you\u2019ll never hear from Satan again after this.\u00a0 It\u2019s over!\u00a0 He is a defeated foe.\u00a0 He\u2019s going down.\u00a0 God has made good on what He said all the way back in Genesis 3:15, where He says, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d There\u2019s coming something\u00a0 that\u2019s going to take your head, Satan, and crush it where you won\u2019t be able to recover.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what you\u2019re seeing right here in Revelation 20:10.\n\nAre you going through your life depressed and pessimistic about things?\u00a0 Or are you going through your life with flaming optimization, because Romans16:20 says this:\u00a0 \u201cThe God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.\u201d\u00a0 Do you believe that?\u00a0 The very being that causes you the most problems is the very being that is destined, very soon, to be crushed.\u00a0 And he goes into the Lake of Fire where the beast and the false prophet are also.\u00a0 What has God done here?\u00a0 He\u2019s taken the unholy trinity and divided it.\u00a0 He\u2019s divided it for a thousand years, these false prophets, Lake of Fire, Satan in the abyss.\u00a0 And God has demonstrated His sovereignty over the satanic trinity whereas Satan himself tried to divide the Holy Trinity.\u00a0 Many times in the Gospels he\u2019s enticing Jesus to get out of the will of God the Father, \u201ccommand these stones to become bread,\u201d what Satan couldn\u2019t accomplish God has accomplished demonstrating His sovereignty over the unholy trinity.\n\nAnd I like what this says here, \u201cwhere the beast and the false prophet are.\u201d\u00a0 You mean they\u2019re still in there?\u00a0 A thousand years has passed, they\u2019re still in there?\u00a0 Yes they are because folks, hell is forever.\u00a0 You don\u2019t disappear, you don\u2019t explode, you continue on under the wrath of God.\u00a0 Verse 10 is very clear, \u201cthey will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 You say well what does \u201ctormented\u201d mean?\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what it means, tormented.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well what does \u201cforever and ever\u201d mean?\u00a0 That\u2019s what it means, forever and ever.\u00a0 I could\u00a0 spend the next fifteen minutes (which I won\u2019t do) defending that from the Greek text and the Hebrew text.\u00a0 This is not the first time we\u2019ve run into this teaching, Revelation 14:11 says, \u201cAnd the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, [those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.]\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what awaits the unholy trinity.\n\nWell why emphasize this?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s this doctrine that launches world missions.\u00a0 If you go soft here you will never get behind another missionary organization ever!\u00a0 But when you begin to understand that there\u2019s something to lose and people that die without Christ share in Satan\u2019s fate, hell was never made for them, it was made for the devil and his angels.\u00a0 But if you cooperate with him and die without a knowledge of the Son of God then you share in the same fate.\u00a0 That will start a missionary organization!\u00a0 That will give you an incentive to evangelize, because you see what\u2019s happening to people and the prospect that they face.\n\nThe great chain, verses 1-3; the great reign, verses 4-6, the great revolt, verses 7-10.\u00a0 Next week take a look at verses 11-15 as we\u2019ll look at the Great White Throne Judgment.\n\nThe presentation of the gospel here is very easy, isn\u2019t it, because we don\u2019t want people to go into this place.\u00a0 I mean, wouldn\u2019t it be tragic\u00a0 to hear all this teaching from the sound of my voice and yet leave here without Christ and die and how that fate can be reversed by reaching out for God\u2019s cure, because God has given us a cure to this.\u00a0 He\u2019s certainly described the problem but He\u2019s also given us the cure.\u00a0 The cure is His Son, Jesus, who paid the penalty for our sins two thousand years ago, through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 In fact, His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 Tetelestai!\u00a0 And what we do is we don\u2019t trust ourselves.\u00a0 How could I trust myself when my flesh is so fallen; I trust in what He did for me, and not only does He bridge the gap between us and the holiness of God, not only does He change our eternal destiny so that we will not share in Satan\u2019s fate but He gives you something else, He fixes you on the inside through the spiritual birth called regeneration and the presence of the new nature.\n\nYou know, it\u2019s always exciting to move into a new year and into a new decade and to think about what\u2019s new.\u00a0 The Bible is all about what is new.\u00a0 He wants to make\u00a0 you a new creation, now through fixing you outside but fixing you on the inside.\u00a0 And you can receive that status now as I\u2019m speaking, simply by believing, which means to trust in the provision of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The moment you place your trust in what Jesus did for you is the moment\u00a0 you are now a candidate for this new status that I\u2019m speaking of, the changing of your eternal destiny and suddenly what comes alive inside of you is the Spirit of God where formerly it didn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 And you begin to notice you\u2019ve got new desires now.\u00a0 Why do you have new desires?\u00a0 Because\u00a0 you have a new nature.\u00a0 And Jesus will do that for you, that\u2019s the gospel.\u00a0 You can receive it right now in a moment of privacy as I\u2019m speaking.\u00a0 You don\u2019t raise a hand to get this, or walk an aisle to do it or a New\u00a0 Year\u2019s Resolution to get it or to join a church or to obligate yourself to give more money or whatever it is.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of privacy between\u00a0 you and the Lord where you receive this gift that He wants to give you and\u00a0 you receive that by doing what the Bible says a hundred and fifty times to do, to BELIEVE in the One He has sent.\n\n\u201cWhat must we do to do the works of God\u201d Jesus was asked.\u00a0 This is the work, the day you believe in the One He has sent.\u00a0 If there\u2019s still confusion in your mind about this I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for prophecy and grateful for the lessons that teaches us about our condition.\u00a0 Help us to be good stewards as we continue to\u00a0 complete the finial chapters of the Book of Revelation as we look forward to our glorious future.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all of the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t