The Ultimate Defeat of Satan - 54

Tonight, I bring the fourth message from Revelation chapter 20, just in the first 10 verses. We will, Lord, I believe, finish up the first 10 verses this evening, and then, Lord willing, barring anything unforeseen, we will look next Lord's Day at the great white throne judgment that finishes out chapter 20, and then we'll be left with two chapters to cover our expositional study in the book of Revelation. But tonight, I bring the fourth message from this section, and our focus tonight will be upon Satan.

Satan. These first 10 verses, we have three major events occurring in relationship to Satan. First of all, in verses one through three, Satan is bound. We saw that in verse two. Then Satan is loosed. We're going to see that in verse seven. And then finally, Satan is cast into the lake of fire, and we will see that in verse 10. I was struck with the fact that when there was an assignment of such magnitude that God sent a single angel to bind Satan for 2,000 plus years. One angel! You remember what Jesus said over in Matthew?

This is recorded in Matthew's Gospel when they came to arrest him in Gethsemane. Jesus said, do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels. I can't even begin to get my mind around what kind of power and force that would be if one single angel has the power to bind Satan. I wonder what that angel said. Yep.

Pretty amazing, isn't it? Well, Satan was bound. Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 12.

He asked this question. How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And that strong man is Satan. And in Jesus's first coming, he bound Satan, and because he bound Satan, he was able to spoil his house, that is, plunder his house, that is, take citizens out of his kingdom and bring them into the kingdom of the son of his love, and there wasn't a thing the devil could do about it. Satan.

Satan was bound on behalf of God's elect people. You and I, in our unregenerate state, are deceived. We're dead in trespasses and sins.

We're doomed. We're under the wrath of God, but we're deceived. And if God, by the operation of his Spirit, doesn't overcome the influence of deception in our hearts, we will stay condemned in that state forever and ever. And during the gospel age, for the sake of the elect of God, for the sake of the success of the gospel, God sent an angel to bind Satan so that he would not deceive the nations any longer.

That's what the Bible says. Now, we're told why Satan was bound. Verse 3, he, that is, the angel, cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that, for this reason, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while. Why was Satan bound?

So that he would not deceive the nations. When is he released? Verse 7 of our study tonight, we're going to study verses 7 through 10.

And by the way, we'll be brief, briefer than unusually brief. Verse 7 says, now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. When the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. I've had the occasion of dealing with nuisance pests, raccoons in particular, who were ravaging my garden and I set a trap in the evening and when I went back there in the morning, I had me a caged raccoon. He ain't not a happy camper. I mean, ferocious.

You wouldn't want to tangle with one. And that's just because he's been entrapped for one night. Can you imagine the fury of Satan who's been bound for over 2,000 years being turned loose, released? That's what the Bible says. Now when the thousand, and again, thousand years, we've interpreted that not literally but representatively, symbolically, that that thousand years is a set period of time known to God and God alone between the first and second advent of Christ. It began at his first advent and that period will end when Jesus returns. When the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. And once Satan who's been bound for over 2,000 years is released, what is he occupied with? What is he doing?

What is his agenda? He's doing, he goes about the very thing he was doing when he was bound. Again, let me remind you, the angel in verse 3, cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up, set his heel on him so that he should deceive the nations no more. Till the thousand years were finished, verse 7 says, now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.

He's going to pick up doing the very thing that he was doing prior to him being bound. So, I think I'll be pretty easy to follow tonight. Our passage gives us 8, not 8, 7.

I changed it. Something didn't strike me about that 8, I liked the number 7. Seven aspects of Satan's campaign of deception. Seven aspects of Satan's campaign of deception. See with me number 1, the time of his deception. The time of his deception. It says when the thousand years have expired. At the end of the church age, just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, when the last elect sinner has been gathered in, he is going to be released.

And he is going to carry on a campaign of worldwide deception. The time of his deception. The duration of his deception. How long is this going to last? Well, we don't know exactly.

Again, it's hidden in the secret councils of God, but verse 3 says something to help us. Back to verse 3, when he's bound, it says, God after these things, he must be released for a little while. A little while. A brief time. I don't know how long that is.

I don't know whether that's six months, a year, three years, five years, twenty years, but it is a little while. The duration of his deception. And it's a good thing it's a little while, because he's crafty, and he's very, very effective in his deceptions. The scope, or the extent of his deception. Notice with me, verse 8 says he will go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. Three things in that verse that speak to this, the scope or the extent of his deception.

It says he will go out to deceive the nations. It's a nationwide campaign. It's not something localized. It's not confined to Jerusalem. He didn't find the biggest city with the most number of churches and Christians.

No, it's a nationwide campaign. That's the first thing we see. And then it says he will deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, north, south, east, west. He'll have allies. He will have people who are aligned with him who will aid him in this campaign of deception. And then it says to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

The scope or the extent of his deception. We don't know how big that number is, but the way that number is related to us, it's a number you can't count. A large number, a very large number, whose number is as the sand of the sea. A good many of us have been to the beach this summer.

An awful lot of sand at the beaches. That's how extensive his deception is going to be. Well, we've seen the time of his deception, the duration of his deception, the scope or the extent of his deception. Notice with me the success of his deception. As again, I've already said, he will lead a worldwide campaign of deception among the nations. He will be effective throughout the unbelieving world. He will be successful in bringing together a worldwide coalition of nations with an intensified desire and hatred for Christ and his church and his people. So he is going to be very, very successful in his deception. This number, which is as the sand of the sea, they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.

So we're told something about the success of his campaign of deception. Now this worldwide coalition of nations is collectively referred to as Gog and Magog. These names appear first in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. Gog is the name of a ruler. Magog is the name of his people and kingdom over which he rules. They were the enemies of the people of God.

So it's something John is borrowing from the Old Testament and he's assigned these titles to these enemies of God, enemies of the people of God. Think with me, number five, about the motivation of his deception. Why is he so laser focused on this? Of all the scheming that the devil has, of all the arsenal he's got at his disposal, why this one thing?

Why the deception of the nations? What is motivating this deception? Number one, it's his hatred for Christ and his church. He hates Jesus Christ. He hates the people of God.

He hates anyone who identifies with Jesus Christ. He's motivated also by his knowledge of the fact that his time is limited. He's motivated also by the fact that he has watched and observed his kingdom being plundered.

And as he loses citizens to his kingdom and his kingdom shrinks and he's powerless to do anything about it, he's enraged. They surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, it says there in verse nine. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Metaphors, terms referring to the church, the people of God, the church that scattered all across the face of the earth.

I like what this one commentator said. So true, he said, quote, we have been tormenting the world for 2,000 years by preaching the gospel to unbelievers and they are tired of it. We've been telling them that they are sinners living in defiance against God and on their way to hell. We tell them they need to repent, believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and live for his glory. And while the elect embrace the message, the rest of the world hates us for it and they are finally going to get their opportunity to silence our voice once for all. End of quote. So they think. So they think and so the devil thinks. But notice with me number six, the futility of his deception.

The futility of his deception. He has surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. He's taken the high ground. It almost looks like it's going to be a bloodbath. There's no way the church can survive this.

Right. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and what? Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

It is as if before the enemy could fire the first shot over the bow of the ship. The war was over. The futility of his deception. He didn't win at Calvary.

He was made a public spectacle. And yet he continued in his deception. The futility of his deception. And then number seven, the futility.

I already said the futility of his deception. The end. The end of his deception. Verse 10. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The devil who has been responsible for such havoc and heartache and turmoil and suffering throughout millenniums will meet his demise.

He will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And the question you may have in your mind is, well why didn't that happen at Christ's first coming? Why wasn't he cast into the lake of fire then?

He was bound. Again, those answers are found in the secret counsels of God. We don't know why God purposed it this way. We don't know why God decreed it this way. We have, I think, some good legitimate answers to the question. I think the deception that Satan brings upon the world is a wonderful tool to test professing faith whether people genuinely, truly are followers of Christ or whether they have an empty profession.

I think that's one of the reasons. Let me read some scripture to you that underscore what we're saying here this evening. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. What we're reading here in Revelation chapter 20 is spoken of throughout the New Testament, particularly in Paul's letters. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3. I had someone ask me recently, Did I believe that we were living in the last days? I said, I not only believe we're living in the last days, I know we're living in the last days. You say, How can you be so emphatic?

How can you be so dogmatic? Well, listen to this. Know this. This is 2 Timothy 3. Know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. And then there's this long list of manifestations of what evil men will be like. But notice verses 12 and 13. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. Yes, that's true in the last days. Verse 13, But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. I had a pastor friend send me a link to a sermon that he asked me to listen to. Okay, so while I was working yesterday, I listened to an hour and sixteen minute sermon. So you thought you had to endure long preaching.

Hour and sixteen minutes. It was a good sermon. After I got done listening to it, I started scrolling and oh my goodness. The charlatans, the deceivers, the false teachers that are on that link.

I don't know who controls those things. I always thought it was a good thing that we would be, we'd find our place in the Beacon broadcast following good solid men, which, you know, it's good to keep good company, right? But that wasn't keeping good company.

I just was like, but it was just a reminder. I don't, I don't, I don't visit Christian bookstores much anymore at all. Rarely do I go in one. Probably one of the most dangerous places for an undiscerning Christian to go into. The top sellers, people that are buying the most popular books, they're trash.

They aren't worth buying, aren't worth reading. Deceiving. Listen to what Paul said.

Second Thessalonians chapter 2. We have to ask ourselves, why are these warnings here about be on guard about deception? Don't be deceived. Because at the end of the church age, there is going to be a manifestation of increased deception. And God is going to aid in that deception because people have rejected the truth. And that's what this passage is going to say.

Listen to this. Paul says, verse 3 of chapter 2 of second Thessalonians, let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. And the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above that is called God, or that is worship so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. You don't want to be living on this earth when that takes place. A deception is going to come over this world. God is going to aid in that deception.

What does it say? And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Where have you cast your law? Whose side are you on? Jesus said, You're either with me or you're against me.

There's no neutral ground. Are you a naysayer? Are you a make mockery of Christianity? Are you one person at church, another person in the workforce? You listen to those at the workforce who ridicule and deride Christians, make fun of them.

I know a young man who went to college and he's with a group of men who are young students. They're unsaved and they're being critical of extreme Christians, right-wing Christians, but you're not one of those. Yeah. That's what's going on in this world.

So again, back to the question, where have you cast your law? When you read the end of the devil and all those he is effective in deceiving and they will be consumed with the brightness of Christ's coming, there is a lake of fire reserved, not just for the beast, not just for the false prophet, not just for the devil himself, but for all those who have rejected Christ. And that is a place of conscious, eternal torment. I can't imagine it.

I've been burned a few times on the finger, on the leg, on the arm, small burns, painful. Can you imagine being in a lake of fire that does not consume, but torments day and night forever and ever and ever? Why would anyone persist in their unbelief?

Why would you knowing the end, knowing that God has said this, knowing that God has revealed the end, why would anybody knowing this, men in work, men who aren't here, you're here. So I'm speaking to you. My admonition to you, do not persist in unbelief another hour. Fall on your face. Beg the mercy of God. Flee the wrath to come.

This is life and death. I talked to a preacher recently and he told his wife he was preaching on hell. She said, well, that sounds like honey I shrunk the church kind of message. That's not a message that's going to grow the church. That's a message that may shrink the church.

Well, if that's what happens, so be it. I've been strengthened in my study and my preaching through the book of Revelation. I've been committed to expositional preaching. But when you start into the book of Revelation, you find out how much courage you've got, how much stick-to-itiveness you've got. And I've come to the conclusion that you're going to be much, much better hearing from God than you are hearing from me.

I'm not creative enough to come up with a message on a consecutive Sunday. God has spoken and we need to hear what he has said. And his word is infallible. His word is true. His word is life. And that's what we need. We need that more than anything.

We need the hard parts. There have been times through our study in the book of Revelation. Inwardly I thought, Lord, please help me get through this chapter.

Help me get through this chapter and get on to the next one. This isn't easy preaching. I don't find any real personal joy in preaching about judgment and wrath and eternal punishment, but it's the truth. And after next Lord's Day, the great white throne judgment, my Bible has at the top of chapter 21, all things made new. Hallelujah, glory. All things made new. That's what's awaiting us. All things made new, the New Jerusalem, the glory of the New Jerusalem, the river of life. So thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for your interest. By the way, the message that I listened to was a message, an eschatological message. A man was preaching, defending a position, and he was not very gracious. He was very polemic, very confrontational, calling out names and referring to a position as being heretical.

And I did test, and he named a position. And I thought, I wasn't taught to preach that way. My personality is not given to that. And I don't see how that endears you to people. To be dogmatic, that you've got a corner on the truth. There's just, I've tried to remain humble, I've tried to remain teachable, I'm defending a position that I've come to believe to be the truth, but men far more studied than me have come down in a different place in the book of Revelation.

And I think it's uncharitable to be railing against them, calling them out. Chuck Swindoll, he's not who I'm referring to, but he's come to my mind. I think he just turned 89 or maybe 90. He's written 70 books. 70 books. Well, he's got an army of people helping him with the writing of these books. But when everything that you've preached and taught and believed is recorded over a lifetime of ministry, and people have an agenda that they're going to find contradictions in what you've believed, that's a dangerous thing.

I'm glad that I don't have any books in print. I've come across some notes that I preached. I've been a Christian for 43 years, so I was teaching adult Sunday school class one or two years into being converted. I had no business teaching, but as it was, that's what God in his providence directed. But I looked back over some of my notes and I went, oh my goodness, I actually said that.

Yeah. But we're to grow. We're to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It bothers me when I hear a man say, I haven't changed one eye to throw it on anything I believe. I'm thinking, you realize what you just confessed? You're locked in a position of ignorance. You haven't changed.

You haven't grown. This church has grown in what it's believed, and we're going to continue to grow and change in what we believe as God reveals more and more truth to us, illuminates us, helps us to understand. And that's been part of this journey for me, and I believe for you as well.

Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for the warnings of scripture. Thank you for the marvelous promises of scripture. Thank you for revealing what awaits us in this world as we wait for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. Bless your word to our hearts tonight. Cause it to bear fruit for the good of souls and for the honor and glory of Christ. I pray. Amen.