The King Tolerates His Rival Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. At the appearing of Jesus, the world will be led by a ruler known as the Antichrist. Under Satan's control, this man will be the antithesis of Christ.

Just as matter and antimatter cannot coexist, the Antichrist will find himself vanquished by the Son of God. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, we're in the midst of your series on The King is Coming. Tell us what to expect in today's message, The King Tolerates His Rival.

Well, Dave, today we're going to continue our study of Revelation chapter 13, where we see Antichrist, all the world worships him, economically he controls the world, at least for a short time. You know, in a series of messages like this, it's very important that we keep the sequence in mind. And to all who are listening, I know there are times when perhaps you're not able to get all the programs. That's why we are making available to you a resource. It's the series of messages I preached entitled The King is Coming.

For a gift of any amount, these sermons can be yours so that you can listen to them again and again. Here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com.

That's RTWOffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-3200. Ask for the series of messages, The King is Coming, and Antichrist is a part of the future, and the man that will be destroyed by the coming king. Let's listen carefully. We gasp at the audacity of Satan.

Think of it this way. God is a Trinity. And now Satan has his Trinity.

Let's clarify. Satan himself, the dragon, is the anti-God the Father. The beast that we've been talking about in the opening of the chapter is the Antichrist. This next beast corresponds to the Holy Spirit. He takes the work of what the Holy Spirit does, and does the same thing for the beast. What does the Holy Spirit do? The Bible says that the Spirit is poured out.

Why? And he always glorifies Jesus. He causes people to look not at himself, but is always directing us toward Jesus, toward Jesus, toward Jesus.

That's what the New Testament teaches. And that's exactly what this beast does. This second beast is totally committed. He's not interested in his own fame necessarily as much as he is to cause others to worship the first beast.

That's what the text says. You'll notice that I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns, like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all of the authority of the first beast in his presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. Again, John, who wrote this, has to throw that in because that's critical. It's these miracles that really cause people to believe. Did you know that in 2 Thessalonians where it's speaking about Antichrist, it says that he does signs and wonders and miracles, and three words are used to describe what he does. And those three words are also used of the signs and the wonders and the miracles of Jesus. I mean, think of what Satan can do.

And then we go down to verse 15. You'll notice that an image is put up that even this beast might speak. Again, it's probably not as if the beast can cause life, but maybe it is some trickery, and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. You don't worship him.

You're dead. And it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead. The idea here is a stamp, an indentation in the skin, some kind of a tattoo, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who is understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and the number is 666. Now, it calls for wisdom for sure. Throughout history, all kinds of explanations have been given for 666. People have toyed around with various names if you assign numbers to letters, and they make it come out to 6666.

I'm not going to speculate, because if it calls for a real lot of wisdom at this point, my wisdom quotient is low, and so I will not try to figure out 666, except that it's the number of a man. We know that from scripture. Now here's the point.

A mark on the forehead or on the hand. That's very easy to understand today. Just think, for example, of computer chips. And think of how wonderful it would be to have a society without physical money. You see, because that's how drug deals are carried out. People give one another money under the table. Money is given to various people. What if we had a world currency, everyone had a computer chip. If you worked somewhere, your money was put into this computer bank, and then it would be subtracted as you were at Jewel or Dominick's or somewhere where you would buy or sell. And all transactions, of course, would be known.

They could just simply investigate what the computer says you bought or sold. And if you do not take this mark, you are defying the beast, and you are put to death. That's what the text says, that all who do not have the mark of the beast are slain. And so what you have here is a radical, radical control. When we begin to think of what can be done today in terms of control, Hitler could have only dreamed about the kind of control he'd have wanted to have.

But of course, technology has increased and you can understand how this is so much more understandable today than it might have been even 30 or 40 years ago. Now, we have to indicate how the beast ends before we wrap this up and talk about why our lives should be changed forever because we have been in this text. And that is, how does his career end? I'll tell you how it ends. Take your Bible now, and I am asking you to turn to the 19th chapter. The 19th chapter, which indicates the return of Jesus, should come as no surprise to you that the next message in this series is going to be on the glorious return of Jesus. We talked about the rapture, but now we're going to talk about Jesus Christ coming with his saints. We're going to talk about what it means when the lightning comes from one end of heaven to the other, what it means when Jesus comes on this white horse. But notice the way Antichrist ends. I'm going to jump in in verse 19 of chapter 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on a horse and against his army.

I have to pause. When you get to the end of the tribulation period, that's really when the battle of Armageddon happens. We're going to find out next time as part of the message that all of the forces of the world are gathered around Jerusalem, and they're going to fight one another, because opposition to Antichrist is arising, and the whole issue of Jerusalem has to be settled. And what happens at that time is Jesus appears on the Mount of Olives.

That's going to be one of our key passages next time. And suddenly they all say to themselves, look at him. We've been fighting one another, but let's stop fighting one another, and let's take on Jesus. So all the armies of the earth are going to say, he's the real rival.

That's what happens here. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. That's Jesus, we can tell from the context. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in his presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. I warn you now, it gets gory, and the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Wow. Follow the beast, and you end in hell, the lake that burns with sulfur. And by the way, as part of this series, I'm going to be speaking on the final judgment.

It's one of the last messages in the series. And they actually beat Satan into the lake of fire, because Satan in chapter 20 isn't in the lake of fire yet. He is bound for a thousand years, and I'm also speaking on the millennial kingdom. During that period of time, he is bound, and he gets thrown into the lake of fire.

You'll notice in verse 10, so the beasts and the false prophet, they actually are in the lake of fire before their leader. But he's headed there too, and even today he knows it. Satan knows where he is going. He can read the book of Revelation just as well as we can. That's why it says in chapter 12, when he is thrown out of heaven, he is furious, because his time is short.

He knows he doesn't have much time. You still with me? Everybody following here?

Am I alone up here today, or are you all here? When I think of life-transforming lessons in this, many spring out to me from the text. I read something like this, and I immediately see all kinds of things coming at me.

Let me give you three. Just a word in passing before we get to the last two, and that is the whole business of discernment. The fact that the earth is going to be so ready to receive miracles that are false miracles. Today people see miracles and they have no idea how to identify a true miracle from a false one when they see it on television. And sometimes we don't know, I confess that, but sometimes there are telltale signs, particularly regarding what the evangelist says and what he believes. And we are raising a generation of people who simply lack all spiritual discernment. They don't know, for example, that if you go to a seance, if you consult a witch and talk to the dead, you're not talking to the dead. You're actually talking to demonic spirits who knew the dead, familiar spirits. They don't even know that.

They just bungle along in life. Oh, this sounds interesting. This sounds good. So the world will be ready for a massive deception.

Two other things that I want you to take home. First of all, something about God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty. You say, well, it looks like God kind of was on vacation when all this was happening. Ah, God isn't on vacation. He never is. Did you notice it says that the beast was able to rule for 42 months?

I mean, who determines that time? If God determines the length of the beast's rule to be 42 months, all the forces of hell wrapped all together cannot make it 43 because God is God. And even the devil is God's devil. I want to tell you, you know what it says in 2 Thessalonians 2? Read it on your own. Just take my word for it for now and then read it on your own. It says that when Antichrist goes into the temple that when Jesus comes, Jesus is going to slay him by the breath of his mouth. Jesus will just go, it's all over because Jesus is King of Kings, Lord of Lords and God of all gods.

There's no contest here. By the way, did you know that hell is just? Hell is just.

We'll talk about that to us. Sometimes it doesn't seem that way, but certainly for these, hell is just. And that's the vindication. Earlier in the book of Revelation, there are saints that pray and say, oh Lord, how long until you're going to vindicate us?

Because they were massacred, they were killed, and God is going to say, just a little longer. And hell is just. The sovereignty of God, the breath of his mouth, there's no contest here. But I need to comment on the glory of the saints, and for this we have to go back to verse 8 and 9. And all who dwell upon the earth will worship it that is the beast. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb that was slain. Of course, you're asking all kinds of questions about this verse as well you might.

First of all, I need to emphasize, do you think that if you lived during this period of time, you would have the nerve to withstand the cultural and spiritual pressure to join antichrist and his forces? Another way we indicate God's sovereignty is in verse 10. If anyone is to be taken captive to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain with a sword, with a sword he must be slain. Hitler said that if you go into a rally with 100,000 people all shouting the same slogans and you don't believe in the slogan, you'll do one of two things.

Either you will convert or at least you'll keep your mouth shut because there will be a cultural stream that will be so powerful nobody will stand against it. And even the saved in this day wouldn't stand against it unless God granted them the ability to stand against it. But now for the verse. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life. You say, well, you mean there are some people born and already their name was written in the book of life? That's what the text is saying. People have wanted to say something else. Sometimes there are translations that say the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. That also shows us God's sovereignty.

But the best translation of the text is the one that I've just read. If you were a believer today, your name was in the book of life as long as God has existed. Any amens out there?

Am I all alone out here? Because God never learns anything. He never makes some decisions that he doesn't know he's going to change. Your name was known to God as long as God existed. In fact, Paul says that. He said the grace of God that was given to you from all eternity. You say, well, yeah, but I know what you're thinking.

I can see your minds working like the innards of a clock. You're saying, but how do you know that your name is in the book? Isn't that the question that you should be asking? How do you know your name is in the book?

And some of you, you have never trusted Christ as Savior. And the question is, how do I know whether or not my name is in the book? Can't you just hear it already?

Is somebody saying that? Here's the good news. The good news is you can find out whether or not it's in the book. Shouldn't you be encouraged because of that? You may criticize God's sovereignty and all, but my, if you can find out whether or not your name is in the book, you should have no argument with God about this text.

I don't think you should. Here's the way you find out whether or not your name is in the book. What you do is you come to Jesus Christ in humility, admitting your sinfulness and receive him as your savior. And you believe on him. And when you do that shows that your name is in the Lamb's book of life from before the foundation of the world.

That's not bad, is it? I came to assurance of faith at the age of 14. Some of you perhaps have come to assurance of faith at different times, and some of you have no assurance of faith.

And the reason that you have no assurance is because you're not saved. So you don't know whether your name is in the book or not. I have flown a bit on airplanes and sometimes I have flown standby. Have you ever had that experience? You're flying standby and you don't know whether or not you're going to get on. And you're looking at that board now that they have the waiting list and you're number four. And you see all these people going on the plane. You think, oh, I hope that I'm going to be on.

I pray that I'm going to be on, but I don't know whether or not my name is going to be called. And then at the end, they may say either yes or no, but you're not enjoying the time in the departure lounge. And then most of the time I fly with a ticket.

And I look on it and I say, I'm in 10B. I know that there's a seat that's reserved for me. I have the ticket in my pocket.

I can pull a book out of my briefcase and I can read it and I can be totally relaxed. Today I want you to know that you have a confirmed ticket with a seat number that is for you in glory. Don't resist the Holy Spirit. If God has talked to you and you don't know whether or not your name is in the book, find out. Come to Jesus. Admit your sinfulness.

Admit your need. And say, Jesus, I'm a sinner. You're a savior. I'm going to believe in this Jesus, not the false one that is going to come to pass who is going to be destroyed by the breath of the mouth of the real Jesus. I don't want to believe in him.

I want to believe in a savior that actually saves. And there's only one like that out there. And you know who he is, don't you? That's Jesus. You may be in the balcony. You may be listening by way of radio or other forums.

You may be you joined us today on the internet. Whatever means by which you're listening to this, I appeal to your conscience and I appeal to God's grace. Come to Christ. Receive him.

Give up your stubbornness. And when you do that, he'll receive you. That's guaranteed. He'll receive you. And you'll say, you know what? I have a confirmed ticket.

I now know that my name has been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life. Is there any question that is as important as that one? I don't think so. I don't think so.

That's pretty well it. More important than all the other issues that we face. Eternity is long. Time is short. Join me as we pray. Father, save those who have to be saved. And if people are deceived about their salvation because they are good people and they've been baptized or they've done things, we ask, your father, please show them that there is such a thing as saving faith, a faith that actually saves. Your word says that we should check to see whether we are in the faith.

Help all of us to do that right now. And those who sense the work of the spirit in their lives, may they not, may they not turn a deaf ear to that voice. And for those of us who know Christ, help us to love him, to trust him. We ask in his blessed name.

Amen. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. If you've never trusted Christ as your savior, this is the moment to do it.

Do it right now. Believe on Jesus Christ. As I mentioned in the message, give up your rebellion and trust the savior because the day is coming when there's going to be worldwide deception. And I trust that you have believed in the king who actually has the credentials to be an eternal king, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So I appeal to you. You know, these messages spoken from the scripture and spoken from my heart, if they're a blessing to you, if you'd like to listen to them again and again, we are making them available.

And we do this here at Running to Win to give you resources, as we frequently say, to help you run the race of life successfully. For a gift of any amount they can be yours. And let me say that I am so grateful for the many of you who support this ministry.

It's because of your prayers and your gifts that we can continue. So for a gift of any amount, ask for the series of messages titled The King is Coming. And here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's R-T-W offer. Of course, R-T-W offers all one word. R-T-W offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. As world history nears its end, there's a time period coming known as the Great Tribulation. This time of trial will bring suffering never before seen on this planet. The judgments of God will rain down on the earth, causing people to beg the mountains to fall on them. Next time on Running to Win, don't miss The King Judges Those Left Behind. Thanks for listening to our series on the return of Christ. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.