Rev 12:11
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. <kjv>
Satan our accuser
To God:
How does Satan accuse us to God: Bringing our failures up to God
Why does Satan accuse us to God: Try and get God to condem us
Where and when does Satan accuse us to God: in Heaven night and day
Why don't Satans accusations work?
1 john 2:1-2
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus stands in and pleads our case to God.
Like a laywer
What might Jesus say to God on our behalf?
Satan goes back and forth trying to destroy the saints creditability and standing before God, and if it was left up to ourselves Satan would achieve his goal. However, because Jesus is our advocate He explains to God that we have failed but that He shed His sin free blood in order to cover our sins. So even though we are guilty there is no punishment for us.
(accuser)
To ourselves:
How does Satan accuse us? Remind us what we do wrong
Why does Satan accuse us? To make us live defeated lives
Where does Satan accuse us? Any where and anytime we sinand give place to him
What does satan accuse us with? Past failures, sin, fear, and worry
How can we stop satans accusations to us?
1 cor 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
We learn that Jesus died for our sins so that we would not have to live in sin. And not only are we dead to sin but we have power to overcome temptation because we know that God would not give us anything that we couldnt over come. We should not live defeated lives even in times of temptation or tribulation. Like Paul, while in prison, tells us to be content in all things we to need to be content in our situation.
Blood of the lamb
What good is the blood of the lamb?
We just learned that it is was and is our payment for the failures in our own lives.
How can the blood of the lamb conquer satan?
We have forgiveness and dont need to fear temptation, sin, or even death
1 cor 15:55
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The law points out our sin. It was never meant to set us free but to enslave us and make us realize that apart from Christ we have no chance to gain salvation. This fact makes us helpless and dependent upon His gift of salvation. This is the only way to over come the law and sin. If we over come sin, then deaths grip on our lives is nonexistent. If we have victory over death, then death should not be feared by any Christian.
Paul tells us in Philip 1:21-25 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 25And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
The word of their testimony
What is the word of their testimony?
Its the telling of their story in word and deed.
What story is this that can help us overcome satan?
Our conversion
Starting with our acceptance of Christ.
Like we have learned before this is the first and most powerful way to overcome satan. With out salvation we have no chance of over coming him.
Telling others how Christs power changed our lives.
By understanding How Jesus broke the chains of death. Others can learn how to do the same in there lives. Whether it be by salvation or realizing that Jesus died to make us free and that there is no longer an accusation that satan can bring to God about us. This will strengthen and encourage all believers, because the only thing that can keep us from obtaining Gods joy is our worry, fear, and lack of faith in Gods ability to lead us.
Finally by telling others about Christ.
This is the best way in which we can over come satans power. The blow that hurts satan the most is when we lead another person to know Christ. It makes him remember that he is losing and that Christ is far greater than he will ever be, that he is a failure at keeping God from achieving His will on earth and in Heaven.
How can our deeds help over come satan?
Being committed
If we are committed to what we say we believe and we are living it then other people will look upon us and see the difference. It will fall back to what we learned before about telling others how Christ gave us power over satan and now we are showing the truth of Jesus power over sin.
The other way our deeds over come satan is by resisting him.
The bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you. How great is that promise. We learned God will not let us encounter anything that we can not handle and all we have to do is resist the devil and he will run like the coward he is, because satan knows Jesus blood gives us power over him.
luke 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. <kjv>
God has given us the power over satan we just have to accept that God has given us that power and claim it in the name of Jesus. We dont have to be held back, but we should always be striving forward to reach the lost for Christ.
Finally they loved not their own lives
How did they not love their spiritual life?
John 3:5 I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.
They knew they were spiritually dead and so they gave up their dead spirit in order to become alive. We learn that we must give our spiritual life to Christ. Unless we are born of the spirit we can not enter into the kingdom of heaven, and the only way to have a spiritual rebirth is through Jesus.
How did they not love their physical life?
Through death?
Finally we see that these believers were not afraid of losing their lives for Christ. Why? For all the reason we learned before. The bible teaches us that there is no greater love than to die for a friend. (jn 15:13)
In life?
God also expects us to devote our lives to him. Luke 14:26 says If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
In Mat 16:18 God makes a promise to his followers that I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God will not let satan ever over come his church. Why? Well because we have over come satan by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our own lives. satan knows he is living on borrowed time so he is trying every way he can to bring us down. That is why in Mat 26:41 the bible tells us to watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Have you ever played a game and with time to spare you know you have already won. What is it like for the wining team? There is no stress the game is all about having fun and enjoying the last few minutes of the game. But the losing side is depressed and has a feeling of hopelessness. Why is it that we act like we are on the losing team? With Jesus we have already won, we should be joyfully living our lives for him until the last minutes click off the clock. So my prayer for all of us, is for us to realize we are on the winning team and live our lives accordingly.
