Introduction:
The Cross in Genesis (Genesis 3:15):
- What is the prophecy of the Messiah's suffering?
John 8:44
- How did Jesus fulfill this prophecy on the cross?
Hebrews 2:14 - through death he (Jesus) might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
Hebrews 2:15 - and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
- What does this prophecy mean for us?
Revelation 12:11 - And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
How to Conquer Satan (Revelation 12:11):
- Perceive how satan is conquered: By the Blood of the Lamb.
- Personally receive Jesus Christ: Have a Testimony .
1 John 5:4 - this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith
- Persevere to the end: All the way to Death .
Romans 16:20 - The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:46
We're gonna continue to get into God's Word together this morning as we start our new series, but let's first just pause.
00:47-00:53
I'm gonna ask that you would please pray for me to glorify God through the proclamation of his Word.
00:53-00:57
And I will pray for you to open your hearts up to receive it.
00:57-00:57
Do we have a deal?
00:59-01:00
All right, let's pray.
01:03-01:05
Father, we thank you for the wisdom that comes from your Word.
01:05-01:11
We thank you how your word very clearly explains to us your plan.
01:14-01:19
Father, open our hearts up now to receive what it is you want to tell us.
01:20-01:22
We pray in Jesus' name.
01:23-01:27
And all of God's people said, "Excuse me.
01:28-01:35
You know, for the past several years, I've had absolutely horrible tinnitus.
01:37-01:38
You know what tinnitus is?
01:40-01:46
It sounds like an alarm going off between my ears all the time.
01:47-01:52
It's the exact same sound actually as the door alarm in this building, and some of you have heard that.
01:53-01:56
But it's gotten worse over the last couple years.
01:57-02:02
It's just 24/7, just (high pitched squealing) in between my ears, right?
02:02-02:05
And it's just gotten worse.
02:06-02:27
Well, last year I went and saw my PCP, and I said, "I just have the worst tinnitus." And he said, "Yeah, there's really nothing "they can do about that." He said, "I have other patients that have tinnitus, "and I've sent them to ear specialists, "but it doesn't work.
02:27-02:28
there's nothing that can be done about that.
02:29-02:34
Like, oh, he said, so would you like me to refer you to an ear specialist?
02:35-02:51
And I'm like, didn't you just say that it, like I think I'll take a pass on the waste of time and money, but I have a friend who's a doctor and I asked him about it and he said, well, sometimes magnesium helps.
02:51-02:56
You gotta get this magnesium cream and you rub the magnesium cream on your neck.
02:56-03:07
So, you know, we got the magnesium cream right here, melt paint away, and I got the magnesium cream and I'm rubbing it on my neck and it didn't really take the alarm away.
03:07-03:12
But you can also take magnesium supplements and that's supposed to help.
03:12-03:15
So I got these magnesium gummies, oh, they're delicious.
03:15-03:16
They're pineapple flavored.
03:17-03:20
And I think you're only supposed to take two.
03:20-03:21
I had a handful of them.
03:22-03:23
Still the alarm's going off.
03:24-03:30
And then I heard, Okay, so these didn't work, but then I heard there's a special kind of headphone that you can put on.
03:31-03:38
And it doesn't go over your ears, it like sticks to the side of your head, but there's a frequency that will like counterbalance the tinnitus.
03:39-03:40
So guess what I did a couple of weeks ago?
03:41-03:48
You guessed it, I went and I bought the headphones and looked up the frequency and that didn't really help.
03:48-03:52
And they say, well, green noise helps.
03:52-03:53
You know about green noise?
03:54-03:55
There's all the colors of the noises.
03:55-04:03
There's the green noise, there's the brown noise, there's the fuchsia noise, there's the teal noise, there's all these noises, all these colors.
04:04-04:10
And it didn't work, but I have a really cool set of $60 headphones now.
04:13-04:24
So last Sunday, I had a suggested video pop up because I was researching tinnitus so much, you know how they know what you're doing, right?
04:25-04:29
I, this, the suggested video came up that said, cure tinnitus in 30 seconds.
04:30-04:35
And I'm like, like, well, all right, whatever.
04:35-04:37
30 seconds, tried everything else.
04:38-04:39
It was this chiropractor.
04:40-04:41
I love chiropractors.
04:41-04:42
Chiropractors are great people.
04:47-04:49
Some of you got a little overly excited about that.
04:49-04:56
But, so I'm sitting at home and he says, "Okay, you gotta do these exercises.
04:56-05:13
"First, you gotta take your fingers on your earlobes "and you gotta pull, fast but not hard." So I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, if somebody walked in the room right now, it'd be like, he's finally lost it.
05:15-05:17
So I'm sitting there pulling on my ears.
05:18-05:18
(imitates air horn)
05:19-05:27
And then he's like, "Okay, then what you do "is you take your hands and you cup your ears and you get suction, and then you take your index fingers and you tap the back of your skull.
05:28-05:30
All right, and he showed the movement.
05:30-05:31
It looks something like this.
05:31-05:39
You cup your ears, and then you take your fingers and you, you tap the back of your skull like that.
05:40-05:41
So I'm sitting at home on my couch.
05:47-05:47
Gone.
05:49-05:50
The tinnitus was gone.
05:53-05:54
That is a true story.
05:55-05:58
And I've heard quiet for the first time in years.
05:59-06:01
You're like, okay, why are you telling us this story?
06:01-06:02
I'm telling everybody.
06:03-06:08
Now, here's the thing, my friends.
06:09-06:16
I think an immature view of the Bible sort of thinks of God being on a similar path with mankind.
06:18-06:18
Here's what I mean.
06:20-06:23
Mankind's sinning and God's like, "Oh, this is out of control.
06:23-06:51
I know, I'll send a flood and I'll start over with one family." And God's like, "Well, that didn't work." "Oh, I know, I'll institute a law and tell people my law and that'll get them to stop sinning." And, "Well, that didn't work." And, "Oh, I know, I'll make this covenant with Abraham." And like God was going through his, I know he's before Moses, but God was going through history, trying all these things that didn't work.
06:51-06:59
And then finally God was like, "I'll send my son to die for them." And it's like, wow, that actually worked.
07:00-07:07
But listen, the cross of Jesus Christ was not the end of a list of trial and error from God.
07:08-07:17
And this month, what we're going to be doing is I wanna show you from the Old Testament that the cross of Jesus Christ was always God's plan.
07:20-07:21
We're gonna be doing some theology.
07:24-07:36
Because the Old Testament tells us not only that the Messiah, Jesus Christ would suffer, but very specifically, the Old Testament tells us, and this is the whole series, don't miss this.
07:36-07:44
The Old Testament tells us what the suffering of the Messiah would specifically accomplish.
07:46-07:58
And the very first prophecy, The very first prophecy regarding the death of the Messiah and the result takes us to the Garden of Eden.
08:01-08:06
So on your outline, the heading is the cross in Genesis 3.15.
08:08-08:11
And all this month, we're going to be looking at three questions.
08:11-08:12
Every sermon is gonna have the same outline.
08:13-08:14
We're looking at three questions.
08:14-08:18
The first question is this, What is the prophecy of the Messiah's suffering?
08:19-08:20
Let's take a look at it.
08:20-08:26
Turn to Genesis three, because you're really gonna wanna dial in on one verse in particular here, Genesis 3, 15.
08:27-08:31
But Genesis three, in Genesis three, creation was new.
08:33-08:36
And we have Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
08:36-08:37
And look at verse one.
08:37-08:48
It says, "Now the serpent was more crafty "than any other beast of the field "that the Lord God had made." Serpent, literally that could be translated the reptile.
08:48-08:51
This was one of the beasts that God had made.
08:51-08:57
But this particular serpent here, this particular serpent was different.
08:59-09:02
He had personality, he had intelligence, he could speak.
09:03-09:05
He seemed to know a lot of things about God.
09:07-09:12
And we find out later in scripture exactly who this serpent is.
09:13-09:13
It's Satan.
09:15-09:23
We find that out in Revelation chapter 12, Revelation chapter 20, he's called the serpent, he's called the dragon, same, okay?
09:26-09:27
Well who is Satan?
09:29-10:14
Satan is a very powerful angel who rebelled against God and he took a third of the angels with him, that's what we call demons, and he's made it his mission to steal and to kill destroy. You're like, "Steal, kill, and destroy what?" You. Man has an enemy. The Bible calls him Satan. He prowls around the earth like a lion, and for now he has access to heaven according to Job 1 and 2. You're like, well, what does he do on the earth?
10:14-10:25
What does he do in heaven? The Bible tells us that too. Revelation chapter 12, verses 9 through 10 tells us that Satan is a deceiver and he's an accuser. That's what he does.
10:27-10:28
What does that mean?
10:28-10:39
As a deceiver, Satan goes before man and says, "God is no good." Satan is constantly trying to deceive man that God is no good.
10:41-10:47
As accuser, Satan goes before God and says that man is no good.
10:48-10:48
We're not worth it.
10:49-10:50
Look at them.
10:50-10:52
They're sinful, rotten people.
10:52-10:54
They're not worth any of your time.
10:54-10:56
That's what Satan does, slander.
11:01-11:06
Well, in Genesis chapter 3, we have what we call the fall of man.
11:07-11:14
God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil back in chapter 2, verse 17.
11:15-11:17
Let's pick up the story here, Genesis 3.
11:18-11:23
It says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
11:23-11:56
And he said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
11:58-12:21
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate." Maybe Satan saw his opportunity.
12:22-12:32
There's this still relatively new creation and these people created after the image of God and Satan goes, "Ha ha, I'm going to bring them down with me.
12:34-12:53
I'll teach them the way of rebellion." And the Bible says, "Satan deceived Eve, Adam was with her, he flagrantly disobeyed, Because of sin, God cursed Satan, the serpent, the woman and the man.
12:56-13:02
But as a result, this also brought the very first prophecy of the cross.
13:02-13:03
Jump down to verse 14.
13:05-13:08
This is where God brings the curse.
13:08-13:24
It says, "The Lord God said to the serpents, "because you have done this curse to you above all livestock "and above all beasts of the field, "On your belly you shall go, "and dust you shall eat all the days of your life." God cursed the actual animal that Satan used.
13:26-13:28
Like, well, why did God curse the poor animal?
13:28-13:31
He turned it into a symbol, is what he did.
13:32-13:44
See, Satan's goal was exaltation, and God's like, "I'm bringing you down." So now every time you see a snake, you're reminded when you exalt yourself against the holy God of the universe, he will bring you down.
13:44-13:45
The snake is a symbol.
13:46-13:51
But verse 15 is really the verse that we wanna focus on.
13:51-13:54
And man, this verse says so much.
13:55-14:03
Well, look at verse 15, because this is the first prophecy of the suffering of the Messiah in the Old Testament and what it would accomplish.
14:04-14:04
Look at this.
14:05-14:11
"I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
14:12-14:18
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
14:22-14:25
God says, first of all, I will put enmity.
14:26-14:27
Like, what does that mean?
14:27-14:33
Well, Satan at this point thought that he has mankind on his side.
14:34-14:39
Like, all right, God, now it's not just me and the demons, but it's all of your creation against you.
14:39-14:40
They're gonna hate you.
14:40-14:43
God said, "No, no, no, I'm going to put enmity.
14:44-14:46
I'm gonna change that.
14:46-14:55
There's gonna be a change in that alignment." Interesting phrase here, he says, "Between your offspring and her offspring." And you're like, "Okay, wait, wait, hang on a second.
14:55-14:58
I know that women have offspring.
15:00-15:04
Are you telling me that Satan has offspring?" And yeah, he absolutely does.
15:04-15:17
Now he doesn't give birth, But according to, what is it, John 8, 44, Satan has kids, people who persist in rebellion against God.
15:21-15:28
But look at the word here, it says, "He shall bruise your head." Look at the word he, circle that in your Bible, he, he.
15:29-15:30
Do you see the shift here?
15:30-15:37
Now God is speaking about, he was speaking about woman's offspring, but now God's saying, Okay, I'm gonna talk about one in particular, he.
15:38-15:43
We're focused on one particular member of your offspring here.
15:47-15:54
Regarding his offspring, God says to Satan, "You're going to bruise his heel." What does that mean?
15:54-15:58
Well, if you're gonna bruise somebody's heel, that's an attack from behind.
15:58-16:00
That's a sneak attack.
16:04-16:21
But then he says, "He is going to crush your head." So in other words, God says, "Someone is coming, "the offspring of a woman, Satan, "he's going to be your enemy.
16:22-16:31
"And look, look, look, you're gonna get a shot in, "but he is going to destroy you." That's what the prophecy is.
16:35-16:44
All right, so the question is, if that's the prophecy of the Messiah in the Old Testament, how did Jesus fulfill that?
16:46-16:49
Well, you got to look at this very closely.
16:50-17:05
It says, "He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." Now this wording here is very specific because it's speaking of one event, not two.
17:06-17:07
Do you see the picture?
17:10-17:21
Picture simply this, if somebody is sneaking up on you and attacks your heel, that means they are close enough to get their head stomped.
17:22-17:25
This is one event that he's talking about here.
17:26-17:34
And this bruising exchange happened on the cross.
17:37-17:46
You could say on the cross, when Jesus was being crucified, you could say that Satan had a minor victory in this.
17:49-18:00
The Bible says Satan entered Judas, who betrayed Jesus, And that led to a chain of events that ultimately led to the Son of God being nailed to the cross.
18:03-18:04
Satan thought he had won.
18:09-18:16
But that cross would be the very means by which Satan would have his head crushed.
18:20-18:23
Look at Hebrews 2.14, we're gonna have it on the screen for you.
18:24-18:39
It says, "Through death," he talking about Jesus here, "Through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil." Look at this verse, "Jesus destroyed the devil," how?
18:40-18:42
What did the first two words say?
18:43-18:44
Say them out, come on.
18:46-18:47
"Through death," you see that?
18:50-18:53
Jesus destroyed the devil through death, through Jesus' death.
18:55-19:05
But you know, an interesting thing about this verse, it says that Jesus was going to destroy the one who has the power of death.
19:05-19:12
And I thought that was interesting because when we think who has the power of life and death, we think that's attributed to God, right?
19:12-19:17
So why is it said that Satan has the power of death?
19:20-19:27
Well, specifically, this is talking about the fear of death.
19:27-19:29
Like, where'd you come up with that?
19:30-19:31
The very next verse.
19:31-19:33
Look at the next verse, Hebrews 2.15.
19:33-19:41
And deliver all those who through, there it is, fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery.
19:45-19:46
That's Satan's weapon.
19:47-19:47
It's fear.
19:52-20:08
And look, whether we want to admit it or not, even you macho men who never use the word chilly, whether you want to admit it or not, fear is a very real temptation for all of us.
20:09-20:11
And it manifests in different ways.
20:15-20:21
But as human beings by nature, we live in fear of death.
20:25-20:26
You remember COVID?
20:27-20:27
Do you remember that?
20:31-20:39
If COVID taught us anything, it's that people are scared to death, of death.
20:40-20:41
That's what COVID taught us.
20:44-20:46
There's a fear there.
20:48-20:49
What's beyond the grave?
20:50-20:51
What happens when I die?
20:52-20:53
Where do I go?
20:54-20:55
And how do I know?
20:55-20:58
And they put me in the box, and then what happens to me?
21:00-21:04
I'm so afraid to find out, but I realize I can't avoid it.
21:05-21:07
I'm going to die someday.
21:10-21:14
You see, Satan's weapon, according to Hebrews 2.15, is that fear.
21:17-21:18
So that fear had to be conquered.
21:21-21:34
And that fear was conquered by the Messiah, Jesus Christ, because his death and his resurrection defeated death and the fear of it for all who will believe in him.
21:38-21:40
because Jesus' death takes away my sin.
21:41-21:43
Jesus' death gives me his righteousness.
21:43-21:45
We're going to be talking about those things later in the series.
21:49-22:03
But understand when this body wears out, and it's wearing out, I'm going to be ushered into the presence of God whom I've been reconciled with because of Jesus Christ.
22:03-22:05
So there is literally nothing to fear.
22:07-22:10
Satan has nothing to threaten me with.
22:11-22:14
What is the absolute worst thing that somebody could do to me?
22:15-22:15
Like kill you?
22:16-22:19
Oh, put me in God's presence?
22:22-22:24
Ooh, you can't threaten me with heaven.
22:29-22:33
Satan has nothing to threaten me with.
22:34-22:37
Therefore, he's defeated.
22:43-22:44
There's your theology lesson.
22:45-22:47
There's your Sunday school.
22:47-22:48
All right?
22:51-22:53
We got to land here, church.
22:54-22:58
What does this prophecy mean for us, right?
22:59-23:00
What does this mean for us?
23:01-23:11
Jesus, through his death, defeated Satan, fulfilling this promise that in this one event, there'd be a bruising of the heel and the crushing of the head.
23:11-23:13
Jesus fulfilled that on the cross.
23:13-23:15
So what does that mean for us?
23:22-23:26
Man has an enemy, and the Bible calls him Satan.
23:29-23:37
And as we do, as people, we gravitate towards either end of the extreme on the spectrum.
23:39-23:45
And there are some people that completely disregard that Satan's out there.
23:46-23:48
We just pretend he doesn't exist.
23:49-23:53
He's sort of like the boogeyman that grandma used to scare us when we were little.
23:54-23:56
But they just completely disregard him.
23:58-24:05
But on the other end of the spectrum, there are people that are like obsessed with Him and they're so focused on Him.
24:05-24:12
And it's almost, even Christians, and it's almost like they talk more about what Satan's doing than what Jesus is doing.
24:16-24:18
So I got a word for you on either end of the spectrum.
24:18-24:29
First of all, for those of you who disregard Satan, I just have to ask you, don't you know how dangerous he is, even to God's people?
24:32-24:37
Like, "Well, I don't really think he's dangerous." Well, ask Eve if Satan's dangerous.
24:37-24:42
Ask Peter, who Satan asked to sift as wheat.
24:42-24:44
Ask Peter if Satan's dangerous.
24:44-24:51
Ask Paul, who had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, 2 Corinthians 12.
24:52-24:55
Paul if he thinks Satan is dangerous at all.
24:59-25:06
But to those of you who are too focused on Satan, I get a word for you.
25:10-25:11
Don't you know that he's defeated?
25:14-25:16
Some people act like Satan is sovereign.
25:17-25:19
He's not. He's defeated.
25:21-25:23
He has no power over you.
25:23-25:27
And you're like, whoa, oh, hang on a second, Hefei, you're saying he's defeated?
25:29-25:32
I don't know if you've noticed, but he's still around.
25:33-25:33
Have you noticed?
25:34-25:39
Satan's fingerprints are all over so much that's happening in our world right now.
25:43-25:44
I've noticed.
25:45-25:49
Satan's not eliminated yet.
25:52-25:53
But He is defeated.
25:56-26:05
Oh, speaking of the elimination thing, Revelation chapter 20 says after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, Satan is released from incarceration.
26:05-26:10
He has one last revolt, which immediately results in him being thrown into the lake of fire.
26:11-26:12
And that's it for him.
26:13-26:13
That's his eternity.
26:16-26:16
Suffering.
26:18-26:31
But until that day, until that day, how do I live in the victory of Jesus Christ over Satan?
26:31-26:34
That's really the question for us as followers of Christ, right?
26:34-26:36
How do we live in victory over Satan?
26:40-26:44
And there's one verse in God's Word that tells you exactly how to do it.
26:46-26:50
You see, I mentioned Revelation 12 earlier because it talks a lot about Satan.
26:50-27:01
And Revelation chapter 12, not only is it talking about Satan, but it's talking about the end time believers that Satan goes after in the last days.
27:04-27:08
And this is one of the most awesome verses in all of scripture, in my opinion, Revelation 12, 11.
27:09-27:10
Look at this, look at this.
27:13-27:14
And they have conquered him.
27:16-27:40
"By the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death." So as we get on the home stretch here, you've got to take this with you today, how to conquer Satan.
27:42-27:43
How to conquer Satan.
27:45-27:46
It's nothing new by the way.
27:46-27:54
The same way these future believers conquered Satan as the way that you will walk in victory over Satan.
27:55-27:56
So three quick things here.
27:57-28:00
Letter A, you got to perceive how Satan is conquered.
28:03-28:04
It's by the blood of the lamb.
28:07-28:09
You have to perceive how Satan is conquered.
28:10-28:11
It's by the blood of the lamb.
28:11-28:15
Listen, you personally have no power over Satan.
28:17-28:26
If you were to square off against Satan, I don't know, like in the octagon, live on pay-per-view or whatever.
28:28-28:31
If you were to square off against Satan, he would mop the floor with you.
28:34-28:36
You personally have no power over Satan.
28:36-28:42
That's why I think I've told you before church, I just cringe when people are like, I rebuke the devil.
28:42-28:51
You know, I just picture some like really huge, like older Baptist pastor, just like, rebuke the devil, rebuke the devil.
28:51-28:52
Like, what?
28:54-28:57
The Bible does not tell us to do that.
28:58-28:59
We just studied in James.
28:59-29:01
What was it, James 4.17?
29:02-29:03
4.7, I'm sorry.
29:03-29:05
Bible says to resist the devil.
29:12-29:15
But step one in conquering Satan is this.
29:18-29:19
Realize he's already been conquered.
29:24-29:26
Did you see that first phrase, Revelation 12, 11?
29:27-29:30
It says, "And they have conquered him." How?
29:32-29:33
by the blood of the lamb.
29:36-29:44
Conquered him by the blood of the lamb is the same thing as saying, through death, Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death.
29:44-29:46
Those verses are teaching the exact same thing.
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The blood of the lamb has conquered your enemy.
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You know, I coach my son's deck hockey team.
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And there are times that the other team might not have enough kids show up to play, and they have to forfeit.
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And when that happens, we get an automatic victory, but we still play a game.
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We just grab some other kids that are nearby, maybe kids that played the previous game or whatever, we still have a game, and we still play hard, and we still play to win.
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But the victory's already been tallied.
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And I think you already see the connection, right?
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In the same way, church, look, victory's in the bag.
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And we march forward in the mission of the church from a platform of victory.
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So that's how Satan is conquered by the blood of the Lamb, letter B.
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How to conquer Satan?
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We have to personally receive Jesus Christ.
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That means have a testimony.
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Revelation 12, 11 again, "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb," look at this next phrase, "and by the word of their testimony." And by the word of their testimony.
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What does that mean?
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That means this, listen real close, "The blood of Jesus Christ does you no good "if you do not personally receive him "as your Lord and Savior." That's why John says in 1 John 5, 4, "This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith." Jesus' death on the cross is not automatic salvation for all.
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It's only for those who will receive Him and believe in Him.
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See the Bible says salvation is a gift, and a gift must be received.
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And receiving that gift is receiving life change, and receiving life change is receiving a testimony.
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That's why it says, "They've conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Because every true follower of Jesus Christ has a testimony.
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If I say to you, "What's your testimony?" And you're like, "Well, I don't really have one." Then you don't know Jesus.
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Because the testimony is this, "My life was this way." And then, because of Jesus Christ, now instead my life is this way.
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Satan was defeated on the cross, and guess what?
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Satan is defeated in my life.
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I no longer live for sin the way that He wants me to.
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He's conquered by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.
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And finally, persevere to the end all the way to death.
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Revelation 12, 11 again, "And they have conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Look at this last phrase, "For they loved not their lives, even unto death." That's the evidence of true faith, by the way.
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Like, how do you know?
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How do you know that you believe in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ?
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How do you know that you have a true testimony?
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Here's how you know.
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You love not your life, even unto death.
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Yeah, there's a lot of you that are struggling right now with various trials.
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I see the prayer requests.
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I talk to you.
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And I know there's a lot of people here struggling with different things.
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Some of you are dealing with health issues.
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Whether it's yours or somebody you love.
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Some of you are struggling financially, something work-related.
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Some of you have relationship issues in your family or in your extended family.
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Whatever trial you're going through, and you know what it is, whatever trial you're going through, listen, it's a test.
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And here's the test.
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This trial is allowing you to see, Do you really have faith in Jesus Christ?
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Are you still going to trust and obey Him even when life is hard?
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'Cause you can't have a testimony unless you have a test.
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And when you go through that test, and you're saying, "Yes, you know what?
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My life is hard, but my life is not my own.
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I belong to Jesus Christ, and I am going to follow Him with my last step, and I'm going to worship Him with my last breath.
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When you say that, my friends, you have proven that in your life, Satan has been conquered by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of your testimony.
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Man has an enemy.
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The Bible calls him Satan.
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He is cunning.
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He is powerful.
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He is so wicked.
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And he's defeated.
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And you know, with all the devastation that he's caused on mankind, all the devastation he's caused to you and to your family, you might think, oh, you know what, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I'm just gonna be honest with you.
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I see what you're saying about him being defeated, but you know, for all the damage he's done, I just wish I could get a shot.
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You know what I mean?
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Anybody with me?
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Did you just wish you could get a shot in?
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Well, I got some good news for you.
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As the Bible says in Romans 16, 20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
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You're like, well, what is that?
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I'll tell you what that is.
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That is one more act of grace from Jesus Christ that He is allowing us to participate in His head-stomping victory over the enemy.
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And you're like, "Well, man, "what's that gonna look like?" I don't know.
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Except I know we'll find out soon.
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Let's pray.
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Our Father in heaven, we just wanna bow ourselves before you and thank you for the victory that you won that we could never win ourselves.
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There is no way that any man throughout history could defeat Satan.
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We see the damage that he caused on the first two people that you created.
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And the damage that's been caused is that sin has been carried out through generations, even to today.
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None of us could defeat Satan.
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So Father, we thank you that you promised that you would send one who would.
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We thank you, Father, this month as we head towards Resurrection Sunday, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
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We thank you, Father, as we put our eyes on the cross.
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What we see is not these out of control circumstances.
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Where an innocent man was martyred.
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Let us look to the cross and see our enemy, Satan, being defeated.
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Father, let us conquer by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, by loving our lives, even all the way to death.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Genesis 3:15, Hebrews 2:14-15, and Revelation 12:11
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
When it comes to Satan, do you lean more towards giving him zero thought (as if he’s NOT prowling around like a lion) or giving him too much thought (you are overly focused on him)? Explain why you lean that way.
Specifically, how did Jesus’ death on the cross defeat Satan?
What exactly does it mean to have a testimony (Revelation 12:11)? What are some elements of a testimony?
Breakout
Pray for one another.