Let Nothing You Dismay [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

When the devil comes, you remind him that he's a defeated foe, and there is no accusing voice that could ever stand against you, because you have been declared to be the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. Merry Christmas. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the Christmas teaching today, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's Christmas teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. What's referred to in Daniel chapter eight, the sweeping down of some of the stars of heaven. Some of the people of God were hurt and persecuted and even martyred. So it's acknowledging that the dragon's tail has done some damage. And the dragon just stands before this child hoping to devour the child.

What's this all about? And this is where we really get into the meat and majesty of this text. Because this is an image of Satan, the devil, the ancient serpent, who is so furious and so, so scared and so preoccupied with his concern of his own well-being that he wants to devour the Messiah before the Messiah can reign. This all comes from Genesis chapter three, verse 14, where after sin had entered the world and God was speaking the curses that they had brought upon themselves. And the Lord said to the serpent at 14 of Genesis three, because you've done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all the beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And verse 15 is the key. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. And literally the language there is between your seed and her seed, between your seed and her seed.

And this is the assurance that God makes. He shall bruise your head. Literally it means the seed of the woman will crush your head. That's what God says to the serpent. The headship of evil will be crushed by the seed of this woman, by the offspring of this woman.

And you shall strike or bruise his heel. So God says plainly, here's what's going to happen. Satan is going to strike at the heel and inflict a wound, but there's going to be a child who was born of a woman who is going to crush the headship of evil.

And from that moment, from that very moment, I believe what happened is that Satan was, who is limited in his knowledge, was trying to figure out who that Messiah is. So over and over, over and over, he's seeking out the seed of the woman. Galatians 3 16, we know from Paul that the seed of the woman is Jesus himself. Because in Galatians 3 16, Paul says the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings. Literally says made to his seed. It does not say his seeds referring to many, but referring to one and to your seed who is Christ.

So this enormous conflict has developed between the devil and the seed of the woman who is clearly Jesus. And no sooner had the first sons been born than you could see the devil crouching nearby, wanting to devour the child. And what happened is that Cain and Abel as they began to grow, they brought offerings to the Lord. And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering and blessed it, but not Cain's. And you could understand a bit of sibling rivalry, or maybe that Cain would be a little bit disappointed, but isn't it shocking that instead what Cain did was he became insanely jealous and he rose up and killed his brother. God said his blood, Abel's blood, cries out from the dust. The dust that the serpent eats.

And the grounds calling out. How could he hate his brother that much? Because the devil's there waiting to devour the one that he thinks is the blessed one. I think what happened is the devil was there and he saw that Abel brought an offering that was pleasing to the Lord. And so immediately the devil thought this must be the seed of the woman then.

This must be the anointed one. And he filled Cain with hatred. And we know that's what happened from 1 John 3 verse 12. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. He was of the devil. He was filled with the devil's motives because the dragon was trying to devour the anointed one.

And it didn't work because there would be another day. And God spoke a promise to Abraham that his seed would be blessed and would bless the world. And the dragon knew that there was a son to come from Abraham's seed.

And he knew it and he watched and he waited. And Isaac had two boys named Esau and Jacob. And when Jacob was blessed, I think again, the dragon who was crouching nearby thought, maybe this is the seed of the woman who is destined to crush the serpent's head. And so immediately Esau becomes insanely jealous of his brother. And the Bible says Esau comforted himself with thoughts of murdering Jacob. Where is this spirit of murder coming from? It's coming from the devil.

It's the root of all bitterness. It's the devil using whoever he will to try to destroy the Messiah. But Jacob wasn't the Messiah.

There would be another one who would come. And the Hebrew people prospered in Egypt because of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob. And Joseph had 10 older brothers. And Joseph had a dream in which he saw the sun and stars bowing down before him and his brothers hated him for it. And they conspired to kill him because the devil thought maybe Joseph is the seed of the woman.

How can there be such hatred? And God sent a deliverer once the Hebrew people were enslaved named Moses and the people were set free and they became a nation. And there arose a man who was a man after God's own heart. And the devil saw that while King Saul was adored initially that David was exalted amongst the people. And they chanted of David, he has killed tens of thousands and whole nation loved David. And the devil saw the day that Samuel poured the anointing oil on David and watched the day that David killed Goliath. And I am convinced the devil thought that this is the seed of the woman. And so he entered into Saul who became demonically insanely jealous and tried to kill David over and over.

Why? But it's a dragon trying to crush and kill the seed of the woman before the Messiah could reign. But it did not work. And so it went throughout all of history with the devil watching and waiting ready to devour the sun till we come to the story of Christmas. And perhaps it was because the devil saw a thunderous entourage of Magi from the east who came and worshiped Jesus.

Who saw that they had come that they had come to Jerusalem and said, where is he that is born King of the Jews? And so the devil and all of his minions are on high alert because they become aware that this is the seed of the woman. And the devil, just as we see in Revelation is there like a dragon waiting, watching the woman and travail ready to devour the male child.

And how is it that he could kill this child? The devil went to the most self-centered leader that we knew of in that age, a man named Herod the Great, who pretended to be an advocate for the Jews but instead was utterly self-absorbed and narcissistic. Herod was so paranoid about losing his throne that he killed his own two sons just so they wouldn't ever take his throne from him. Is it thinkable that Herod could seek to kill a baby boy born in Bethlehem?

Absolutely. And so what happened was that Herod turned his fury towards Jesus, but God warned Joseph and it took him to Egypt. Herod finding out that he was tricked and he just thought I'll kill them all, just like Pharaoh had done. When he felt threatened by the Hebrews, he ordered that Pua and Shippur, Hebrew midwives, should kill all the male children that were born of the Hebrews, and they didn't do it. And so what Pharaoh did, listen to this hatred.

Where did this come from other than the devil? Pharaoh, seeing that the Hebrews continued to flourish, he told and issued an edict that the general citizenry of Egypt had the right, if they saw a Hebrew son that was born, to take the child and throw it into the Nile by law. And now here's Herod who becomes just furious by it all in orders that all Hebrew children, all male children, shall be slaughtered in Bethlehem.

It's an atrocity that people could hardly imagine. And so you know who Herod was and you understand the dragon was seeking to devour the seed of the woman they always had feared would crush his head. Now read at verse five, Revelation 12. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The devil didn't kill him. Jesus laid down his life. He wasn't killed by the devil. He laid down his life when he was ready at the fullness of time and then he was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven.

He was caught up to God where he would reign forever and ever. And the woman, that's the people of God, fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God. You know we're aliens in this world and in this world Jesus said we do have trouble and everyone who lives a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That's what it means by a wilderness in which she's to be nourished. What are we being? We're being nourished by the Holy Spirit. We're being nourished by the grace of God.

We're being nourished by the Word of God. How long? 1260 days, three and a half years. It's a symbol. It means it's not that long. It's not going to last forever.

Seven means complete and ongoing, but this means for a period of time. These present troubles are temporary. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. If you'd like to replace every curse with blessing in your life and if you'd like to learn how to speak life and empower the people you love, contact us today to get Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless. We have a very special offer this month. When you make your gift of $40 or more to Alan Wright Ministries, we'll send you two copies of the beautiful hardcover book, one for you and one for you to share as a gift. As an added expression of our gratitude for your generous gift, we'll also include a DVD with two important video teachings with additional content on blessing from Pastor Alan. Your gifts and only your gifts make this ministry possible. So please partner with us to help us reach thousands of people every day with the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. If you've yet to partner with us in 2021, it's the final month before year end and your gifts make so much difference. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. Call us at 877-544-4860 or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Verse seven, a war arose in heaven. So when the devil sees that the male child cannot be killed and devoured, a war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. So there are angels that are fighting against wicked angels and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

So a huge cosmic shift takes place. There was an image of warfare amongst God's angels and demons in the heavenlies. But when this son of God, the male child, the seed of the woman was resurrected and ascended to heaven after the crucifixion, after paying the debt of all the people, a huge cosmic shift takes place and suddenly there's just no more place and the devil and all of the demons are no place left in heaven.

They have no place left. Verse nine, the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, means accuser, means a prosecutor, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him. The devil and demons were thrown out of heaven.

Why? Because everything had changed. Up until that time of the gift of Jesus Christ, there was in a sense a legal right for Satan, who's called the accuser of the brethren, to stand before God and say of sinners that sinner justly deserves condemnation. Like a prosecutor who presents the evidence and says, look at this litany of sins.

Look at all of this wrongdoing. By your own mouth, the devil could say to God, you have declared that sin must be punished. You have declared that the wages of sin is death. And so the accuser was always before the throne making accusations.

But when Jesus came and took our sin upon himself in the cross and he who knew no sin became our sin, that we who are in Christ would be reckoned as the righteousness of Jesus Christ. What happened is our case was thrown out because there was no cause anymore. In legal terms, it meant there's no standing for the case against the people of God. It can't even come before the court.

It can't be presented before the judge because there's no cause for it. It's not like the case is being argued whether or not the Christians should be condemned and let's weigh their good deeds against their bad deeds. Instead, the gavel has come down and declared that you and Jesus Christ have been justified. It is just as if you never sinned. And more than that, that you have found God to be propitious towards you, meaning that he has merited to you the very righteousness of Jesus Christ so that the devil has no more voice and no more place in heaven but has been cast down. That what happened in the cross of Jesus Christ is exactly what God prophesied in Genesis chapter 3. That the devil, like an ancient serpent, struck at the heel of the seed of the woman and in a real sense, through the crucifixion, injected the poison of sin.

He became sin. But through that striking of the heel, what was happening at the cross and through the resurrection that assured the victory is that the devil's headship was being crushed. The devil still is fighting but the battle has been decided. We go through trials and we go through tribulations but it's only for three and a half years.

It's only for a short time. It's only for a limited season and what we need to remember is that though the second half might look like the score is only seven to six, you've got to remember what happened in the first half. The game was already decided. It's already been determined.

There's no way you're going to be able to lose. So you get up in the morning, you put on the whole armor of God, you put on your pads, you resist the devil, you live victorious life in Christ and when the devil comes you remind him that he's a defeated foe and there is no accusing voice that could ever stand against you because you have been declared to be the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Verse 10, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God and they have conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, verse 12, rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them. What are we to do in the seasons of persecution? What are we to do in times of pandemic? What are we to do when it looks like the other side's winning? Rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them.

We keep rejoicing because we know the score and this explains it all. Woe to you O earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath. He couldn't kill Jesus but his hatred continues and the reason he's hateful is he knows his time is short and verse 13, when the dragon saw that he'd been thrown down to the earth he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

He began persecuting the church. So, you see in Revelation chapter 12 the cosmic picture of Christmas. It wasn't really a story about Herod who was scared of baby Jesus taking his throne.

It was a story about a dragon, an ancient serpent, the devil himself who was concerned that the fulfillment of Genesis 3 would come to pass and beloved it has. If you want God to keep your heart merry during difficult times sometimes the best thing you can do is remember the scene of Revelation chapter 12. It's like looking at the scoreboard and saying to yourself, oh yeah Jesus already secured the victory.

I'm just playing out the game. It'll give you energy and perseverance in the tough times. Jesus is on the throne and that's the gospel. Allen Wright, our Good News Christmas message let nothing you dismay.

Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back with a parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Every curse with blessing in your life and if you'd like to learn how to speak life and empower the people you love, contact us today to get Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless. We have a very special offer this month. When you make your gift of $40 or more to Allen Wright Ministries, we'll send you two copies of the beautiful hardcover book, one for you and one for you to share as a gift. As an added expression of our gratitude for your generous gift, we'll also include a DVD with two important video teachings with additional content on blessing from Pastor Alan. Your gifts and only your gifts make this ministry possible. So please partner with us to help us reach thousands of people every day with the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. And when you do, you'll become empowered to change the world God's way by the power of blessing.

As the year draws to a close, your gifts matter more than ever. In this final month of the year, your partnership is pivotal for this ministry. Call us at 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Allen Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Allen Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.org. Merry Christmas back here in the studio with Pastor Alan and our conclusion to this Christmas message. But I think all year round, how can it change our way of thinking by remembering, again, not just at Christmas, but he's always and forever our Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. That's a good word, isn't it, this Christmas, right? The government that we want to increase is the government of the one who's the Prince of Peace.

He is governing and he is committed to peace. I think that so often, as we've been learning today, we think that it's all about us becoming more zeal, more zealous, all about us becoming more motivated, us becoming more this or that, and what we realize is all of it is going to be accomplished by the zeal of the Lord. So Merry Christmas, everyone.

Season to take a deep breath and release all your anxiety to him because he cares for you. Jesus is your Prince of Peace. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.