[This sermon was given on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread in 2012]

While I was in Cincinnati, I had several discussions with Randy Stiver. Randy assists Dennis Luker at the home office. In fact, they were so gracious to invite me over one night for dinner. We had lamb and deer and elk and a few other things, I think, that evening. We got to talking about some sermons that he had given and I had given. You might remember a while back I had given a sermon on Satan being a roaring lion and talked about the two lions of Tsavo that are stuffed and presently in the Chicago Museum. Well, he had also given the same type of sermon, and he mentioned a topic that he was going to address this particular weekend.

I'd like to cover some of the points from what he and I discussed and the presentation that he was going to give and tie it in with the holy day that we're presently observing. This is the last day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. It doesn't seem possible that it's flown by so quickly. The Days of Unleavened Bread are an anniversary of two great battles that took place. One was the battle of the Red Sea crossing, when Israel came through the Red Sea. Apparently, that probably occurred on the seventh day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. The other was the battle of Jericho in the promised land, primarily the destruction and all [took place] on the seventh Day of Unleavened Bread.

I'd like for us today to focus on an unexpected lesson from the battle of the Red Sea crossing and consider how you and I can take the lesson that you learn from this and apply it to the Days of Unleavened Bread, apply it to our own selves and our overcoming and coming out of Egypt. The battle of the Red Sea crossing...you might remember, there had been ten plagues on Egypt, culminating with the death of the firstborn on the night of the Passover. The Israelites were free. They were told to get out of the land. They began their exodus on the eve of the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. They traveled east and south and they came up against the mountains and the Red Sea -- mountains on both sides, the Red Sea in front of them.

Let's go over to Exodus 14, where God instructed Moses how to lead the people, where to lead them. They didn't just wonder around aimlessly. God was with them. God directed them.

Exodus 14:1-4  – Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land...they don't know where they're going. They're just out there wondering around aimlessly...the wilderness has closed them in.' Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." And they did so.

So God told Moses where to camp and to camp by the shores of the Red Sea, and it was deliberately done that way to entice Pharaoh to come after them. He used Israel as the bait, in one sense, to get Pharaoh and his armies to come out after them. However, in V. 10, notice that as Pharaoh and his armies drew near, the people began to whine, began to complain.

Exodus 14:10-11 – And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?..."

This was their favorite line. "There weren't enough graves, you brought us out here. We're all going to die out here in the wilderness."

Exodus 14:11-13  – ..."Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone, don't bother us, that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. No more will you have to worry about them."

So he told them to be quiet, trust God, rely upon God. How many times have you and I been faced with situations that looked utterly impossible. We have no idea how we're going to make our way through it. It could be financial, it could be health, it could be any number of things; and yet, God says He will save us.

Now, V. 19, going on:

Exodus 14:19-20  – And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one...to the Egyptians, it was dark; it was night, you know, they couldn't see...and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

So God placed His presence between the two different groups, between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The fire of light for the Israelites; a cloud of darkness for the Egyptian army.

Exodus 14:21-22  – Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Well, that {wall} was a miracle in itself. If you stop the water in a river from flowing, what happens to the water downstream? Well, it keeps going. But here it was a wall of water on both sides of them as they went through. And as we read back in 1 Corinthians, the Israelites, in one sense, figuratively, were baptized in the sea at that time. And so, Moses raised Aaron's rod and God parted the Red Sea and sent the east wind to dry the sea bed, so they marched through the sea bed, began the crossing that evening, on dry land; and God was with them.

Exodus 14:23-25  – And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. So they're right after them. "We're going to teach these Israelites a lesson!" That's where they were coming from. "We're going to take them back." Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. So here they are; they're marching through. The Israelites are hastening to get out of there because, you know, they don't want to be caught by the Egyptians; and God begins to trouble their army. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them..."

So by the time all of the wheels began to wobble and weave and began to fall off, the chariots came to a halt and the horses were not able to continue on. The army was troubled and they began to break ranks. They began to think, "This isn't natural. Why are we even here on the sea bed between these two walls of water?" And they began to recognize that God was intervening on the behalf of the Israelites.

Exodus 14:26-31  – Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen." And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth...you can imagine these two huge sides of water beginning to flow again and smashing and covering the Egyptians...while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. So a huge portion of the army of the Egyptians was destroyed right there. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So God saved Israel that day...Now that's what we want to focus on. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

Now, I might add, "for a few days." As you go on reading chapter 16, 17, 18, they still had their doubts.

Now we come to Exodus 15. Many of you probably have read, maybe you've reread the exodus story prior to the Passover. How many of you actually ever concentrate on the song of Moses?
This was a song, the song of Moses, celebrating God's victory over His enemies and Israel's salvation. This song will be sung by you and me in the future. There is coming a time, the book of Revelation tells us, that you and I will sing this song because God will eventually give us the victory. Pharaoh, let's realize, is a type of Satan the devil. Egypt was a type of sin. It is a song of victory over sin and demonic forces that are behind sin. God delivered them and, as we will see, this applies to us likewise. Let's read the song of Moses.

Exodus 15:1-2  – Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him."

I think all of us realize that ultimately, if we're going to have salvation, eternal life is a gift from God. Salvation is something that God gives to us. We can't earn it, and there was no way that the Israelites could escape from Pharaoh. There was no way they could escape out of Egypt. God had to perform a series of miracles to bring them out, and God does the exact same thing for each one of us in our lives, to bring us out of this world and to start us toward His Kingdom, toward the promised land.

Exodus 15:3-9  – "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; it consumed them like stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were gathered together; the floods stood upright like a heap; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'"

I'd like you to notice the word "destroy." They wanted to destroy the Israelites. They wanted to punish the Israelites.

Exodus 15:10-13  – "You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation."

You and I sit here today because of God's mercy and grace, not because of our goodness or our holiness or who we are, but because of God's grace.

Exodus 15:14-15  – "The people will hear and be afraid; sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling will take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away."

You see, God performed these series of miraclesso that as Israel entered into the promised land, people would have heard and they would know and they would flee away; and Israel, God would just give Israel the land.

Exodus 15:16  – "Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over whom You have purchased."

You and I are sitting here today, and we were reminded at the Passover that we were purchased, we were paid for by Christ's sacrifice. There was a ransom paid. He shed His blood so that you and I could be purchased to become a part of the family of God. We have been purchased out of slavery; we've been purchased away from this world.

Exodus 15:17-18  – "You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever."

That's future. He is going to reign forever and ever, for all eternity. So it shows a song of victory over sin, and there is a duality as we read through this and as we see, at the very end time.

Now, let me ask a question here. This will be the first-grade question I will ask today. What was Pharaoh's worst nightmare? It wasn't just the ten plagues. They were expensive. They pretty well destroyed Egypt; but, still, Pharaoh was determined he was going to do what he was going to do. Not even the death of the firstborn in Egypt, or even his firstborn, because after that, he still pursued after Israel. Not even his army's destruction, because that happened so quickly. It wasn't something that he saw, slowly but surely, that his army was undermined. It was just, boom! And it was over. They had drowned and they were destroyed.

Notice Exodus 14:5. Pharaoh's worst nightmare:

Exodus 14:5-8 – Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.

Pharaoh's worst nightmare was a loss of his power over this slave people. You see, he had approximately 2-3 million slaves. They had been in slavery over two hundred thirty-something years, directly to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians. They were a tremendous source of manpower to be able to build and construct, which they did back at that time. Now they were gone. So all this free labor was leaving the country, and so his worst nightmare was the loss of power over these people because he had dominated them, he had ruled over them. When he cracked the whip, they jumped. When he took the straw away, they still had to build the bricks. And so, he was in complete charge.

The power of {having} power over others is something that human beings struggle with all the time. Some people crave power over others. Pharaoh and his people craved power over Israel.

You might remember this quote from Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Or, those who have the powerare almost always bad men.

Henry Kissinger said, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." That was his comment.
Abraham Lincoln said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity; but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." Put him in charge. Let him rule over others and see how he does, how he handles that.

Jesus Christ, you might remember, back in John 12:31, referred to the devil as the "ruler of this world." And he seeks power over everyone! This age, this is called in the Bible, "the present evil age." The reason why it's evil is because the unseen ruler, Satan and his demons, are evil, thoroughly, through and through; and they're the power behind the throne, so to speak. They're the power, and they want to influence all others. Satan seeks to destroy human beings; his avowed goal is to destroy the human race.

Let's notice in Ephesians 2:2, talking about the past, it says:

Ephesians 2:2 – ...in which you once walked according to the course of this world, so all of us, at one time, unless you grew up in the church, walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air...Satan is the unseen power, the authority, over the air...the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...

So Satan, through war, through trying to influence people personally...his avowed goal is the destruction of the human race.

Now, another question, second-grade question: What is Satan's worst nightmare? I told you what Pharaoh's was. What is Satan's worst nightmare? Well, let's go back to Isaiah 14:12. Some might say, you might think, "Well, his worst nightmare was that he could not de-throne God," and I would say, no, that's not exactly his worst nightmare. You'll notice he did attempt this:

Isaiah 14:12-14  – How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."

He wanted to be in charge, and he was cast down.

Ezekiel 28:17 says his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. What causes people to get all proud, vain, cocky? Well, it can be any number of things, whether you're handsome or beautiful, power, money, prestige, position, whatever it might be. People are lifted up with pride and vanity. Jesus Christ, again in Luke 10:18 said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. He fell and he took one-third of the angels with him. So that's not what I would call his worst nightmare.

What about the fact that he wasn't able to defeat Michael, the great archangel? Let's go back to Revelation 12:7. There have been a couple of battles where he has fought against Michael. One battle he's fought against {Michael}, and another one is yet future. Revelation 12:7, a prophecy about the future:

Revelation 12:7-9  – And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Now this is yet future. And yet, Christ said, "I saw Satan fall as lightning to the earth," so there was a time when he was cast out before. Is that his worst nightmare? Does he lose sleep over that, that he couldn't defeat Michael? Or won't be able to? No.

What about Revelation 20:3? Is this his worst nightmare? When Christ comes back at the beginning of the millennium, we read:

Revelation 20:3  – They cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so 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.

And then, in V. 10,after that "little while," he is also taken again. 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.

Other scriptures indicate that they'll probably be cast into outer darkness; and there they will foment their shame, torment, forever. So the fact that he'll end up in the great abyss...there will be a thousand years of Christ's rule on the earth; then he will again try to thwart, frustrate what God is doing. God will again take him and throw him into that abyss; and then all human beings who have ever lived will be resurrected and given their opportunity, their chance, their first chance, you might say, first opportunity for salvation.

We read in James 2:19 that Satan and the demons know something that many human beings don't.

James 2:19 – You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!

You see, they know there is a God. They know He's all-powerful. They know that He was able to cast them down to this earth, so they know that He exists. A lot of human beings say that He doesn't, but they [demons] have firsthand knowledge and information.

So is that his greatest nightmare? No. To learn about his greatest nightmare, we need to discover what is Satan's purpose. What is Satan trying to do to you? What is he trying to do to me? What is he trying to do to this world?

Turn to Revelation 9:11. It says:

Revelation 9:11 – And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

You will notice in the margin, both of those words mean "destruction." God names him for what he is. He is a destroyer, so his name is the Destroyer. He tries to destroy. He's not a builder. He's not someone who does things for the benefit of human beings. He wants to destroy human beings, and specifically he wants to destroy the church. That's his chief goal. Secondarily, he'd like to destroy Israel. Then, thirdly, he'd like to destroy all mankind, to do away with man.
In Revelation 12:13, let's notice an example at the end time of his destructive powers.

Revelation 12:13-16  – Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, what does he do? He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman...

Just as Pharaoh wanted to destroy, get back at, take into slavery again the Israelites, so Satan the devil at the end time is going to try to destroy the church. I mean, he's very actively trying to do that today. We see splits, splits, and splits. We see problems and difficulties. Satan is out and he wants to destroy the church and mankind, specifically Israel.

Let's go over to Mark 4:3, because Jesus Christ recognized his work. We have the parable of the sower:

Mark 4:3-9  – "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Well, when He was alone with His disciples, they said, "We don't understand." They didn't understand at that point.

Mark 4:13-15  – And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word." So God is responsible for His word being sown out there in society, however He wants it sown. "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts."

So we have to realize, when somebody watches Beyond Today, somebody reads a booklet or someone reads the Good News magazine, there he {Satan} is -- a counter-force there -- trying to take away from them any understanding that they begin to understand, to begin to cloud their minds or their memories. Then it goes on to talk about those who have no root, no depth in themselves, and others who allow the cares of the world to choke out the word and it becomes unfruitful. And yet there are those that fall on the good ground, and that's us. Those who have heard the word and began to produce and there is a crop that is produced.

So we find that Satan tries to destroy, frustrate, undermine the work that God is doing. If Satan can't destroy God, then his dream is to use his power to exploit and to destroy humans who truly worship God, the sons of God, the church of God. He doesn't want human beings in the family of God, because he knows that God is offering to us something that he wanted and that was never offered to him. And so, he hates us. He despises us. So what was Satan's worst nightmare? What is his worst nightmare. Let's go back to Revelation 12 again and let's notice again what he's up to.

Revelation 12:1-5  – Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, star being symbolic of angels, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, the Old Testament church, who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. So as soon as Mary was to give birth, he wanted to destroy the child. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

The devil tried to destroy Jesus Christ as a baby. Later on, he tried to destroy and undermine Him as a man. And all through His life, he tried to get at Christ. The human life of Jesus Christ, as we know, was thirty-three and a half years, from 4 B.C. to 31 A.D., and Satan was unable to destroy the Christ child.

Matthew 2:7-8, you can just read through that section. Herod killed all the boy infants around Bethlehem, and it was his attempt to kill Christ. And yet, God warned Joseph; they went down into Egypt. Let's go back to the book of Luke, Luke 2:39. We find that God was with Jesus Christ from His very beginning. It says:

Luke 2:39-41 – So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

V. 49-52  – Remember, they left; He was there in the temple talking to the doctors and the scholars and so on. And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

So He was someone who grew in favor with God and man. As a youth and as a young man, He grew up and He stayed close to God. The devil was never able to get to Christ. Now, on one occasion in Matthew 4, Satan came along. Christ had fasted forty days, and he came along and he tempted Him. You might remember Christ was hungry, after forty days and forty nights of not eating; and he came along and said, "Well, look, You've got the power. Turn these stones into bread and You'll be able to satisfy your hunger." Jesus Christ in every case defeated the devil and his temptation by quoting the scripture. He was familiar with the Bible, and He said, "Man is not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

Satan took Him up on a pinnacle and said, "Throw Yourself off because God will protect You." And He said, "Look, you're not supposed to tempt the Lord your God." And then he showed Him all of the glory of all of the kingdoms of the earth and said, "If You'll fall down and worship me, I'll give this to You." In other words, Christ wouldn't have to wait two thousand years to come back and seize control. He could have it all then. And Christ said, "Get behind Me, Satan, because you are to only worship the Lord your God." And so, He defeated Satan the devil.

We find that later on, Peter, when Christ told Peter and the disciples back in Matthew 16 that He was going to be crucified, that Peter rebuked Him. He said, "No, no, that's not going to happen to You, Lord." Let's go back and take a look at that. I think it's interesting.

Matthew 16:21-23  – From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You! We're not going to allow this to happen. We'll get swords. We'll protect you." But notice what Christ said:   He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

You see, Peter was looking at it purely from a physical standpoint. This was his Lord, his teacher, his rabbi, his master. He said He was going to be killed. He didn't want Him to be killed. And Christ said, "You don't understand. It is necessary that this take place."

He was betrayed by Judas. John 13, we won't read that. We've covered that leading up to the Passover, and Judas betrayed Him. This was Satan's master stroke. He thought, "Ok, I'm going to have Him killed off." And yet, in Christ's death, He triumphed over Satan the devil. He never sinned. As Jim said this morning, He did not become bitter. He said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing." He fulfilled the plan of God, the purpose of God, in which He was to come to the earth and die, shed His blood as a sacrifice for our sins so that our sins could be forgiven. So Christ knew He was going to triumph.

Over here to John 12:27, Christ said:

John 12:27-31  – "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour'?" Was He going to ask God to save Him and not have to go through this? He said, "But for this purpose I came to this hour. This is the very purpose of why I came to this earth. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world, this world is going to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

Christ died, never sinned; and He is King of kings and Lord of Lords. And He said, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Me." So Christ expressed the ultimate faith in victory over sin, victory over Satan the devil. He was not a defeatist. He knew why He had come. He knew that God was with Him. And even though Satan tried to destroy Jesus, He had no power to destroy Him. He might kill Him or have Him killed, but he could not destroy Him. He was resurrected.

Satan's worst nightmare was that He had no power over Jesus Christ. He could not influence Him, he could not influence Him to sin, he could not influence the plan of God. In no way could he frustrate what Christ was to do and why God sent Him. He could not destroy Jesus, even though he had Him killed. And so we find his worst nightmare was the fact that he did not have the power to frustrate the plan of God. See, he knew that if in some way he could have killed Christ as a baby, get Him to sin, have Him yield to a temptation, the plan of God is all over -- there is no Savior for our sins. But Christ never did that.

Brethren, what is our too-often typical perception of sin? Perception of not just sin but of our sin? We realize that we sin and we say, "Well, I do wrong and I'm sorry for it." Then why do we, if we feel sorry and we know something is wrong, why do we harbor certain sins year after year, month after month, decade after decade? Certain attitudes, certain approaches, certain ways of life? Sometimes our struggle to try to overcome overwhelms us, and so we deal a lot of time with peripheral issues, small sins. Some of the bigger ones maybe we don't want to talk about. We struggle with them but, you know, we don't really make that much progress. We don't want to think about them sometimes; it's just confusing.

What are some examples of sins that we tend to, perhaps, live with? Violence in society. How often do we feed our minds with the violence in entertainment, that our thinking is influenced that way. Sexual sins, where you watch programs on TV or movies where you are entertained and you see things that you know that you ought not to see or to watch. Or keeping company with people that you know are a bad influences.

You might remember the New Christie Minstrels sang a song once. It's actually a poem. It's an anonymous poem that goes something like this:

One evening in October when I was far from sober
And dragging home a load of manly pride,
My feet began to stutter
So I lay down in the gutter
And a pig came up and lay right by my side.

Then I warbled, "Tis fair weather when good fellows get together,"
Till a lady passed by was heard to say,
"You can tell a man who boozes
By the company that he chooses,"
And so the pig got up and slowly walked away.

I don't know if you remember that song, but it shows what happens with the wrong company. Wordsworth said this, "The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste of our powers. Little we see in nature that is ours, [we have given our hearts away], a sordid boon."

We find that materialism is idolatry; coveting is idolatry. There are things like this that we don't even begin to be aware of. Pride, you see...when you begin to look at some of the major things that the Bible points out -- pride, vanity, ego, power, lust, covetousness, whatever it might be -- these are major areas. We might find something, "I need to study another ten minutes a day," you know, we'll do something like that; but when it comes to sometimes really turning the looking glass around and seeing ourselves in some of these major areas, we fall short of it.

I think sometimes we can reach a level of sin that we can live with in our lives. We experience God's correction and the penalties that come along with breaking His law. We develop a nagging guilt. You do something, you feel guilty over it every time you do it. You ask God to forgive you, but you find you're back there doing it again. Guilt is a tool that God has built within a human being to lead us to repentance; and repentance isn't just saying, "I'm sorry." Repentance is changing, so that we change our life. Too often it can produce a defeatist attitude within us and we begin to say, "I'll never make it. I'm going to give up. I quit. I just can't make it."

Hebrews 12:1-3 gives us a warning.

Hebrews 12:1-3 – Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us...so, you see, sin, it's easy to ensnare us. It's like walking through the woods and every other step you step into a trap. You're ensnared and fall into a pit. So it says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...so where do we get the power, the strength, the might? It comes through Christ, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Brethren, it's very easy for us as human beings -- I know; I've been there; and you know, too, because you've been there -- to get discouraged, to become despondent, to feel that, you know, "I'm never going to make it." And yet, we know that it's God who is there to save us, to help us. You find a lot of the problems that we have, the attitudes that come along, are as a result directly of Satan the devil, his influence, societal influence; and we have to look to Christ, to God, for the strength to never give up, to continue to fight.

Winston Churchill, many of you will remember him. Maybe you've read some of his autobiography and history concerning the time when he was Prime Minister in England. He did not believe in a defeatist attitude. Certain leaders back in 1940 in England were saying that the British should seek terms of surrender to the Nazis, just lay down and let them take over. There was a meeting right after he had been appointed Prime Minister where he called the cabinet ministers of the House of Commons in to a meeting. There were about 25 of them there. There was one gentleman who was arguing quite vigorously for surrender. After recess, they resumed and Churchill outlined what surrender would mean to England; and he ended his speech with these words:

I am convinced that every man of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parlay, or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.

He said, "The only way we're going to surrender is if we're dead on the ground."

Well, as it says here, you and I have to run the race. And brethren, we have to realize that Satan the devil will try to get us to give up, to quit, just like they were doing {to Churchill} back at that time. And yet, one man at that time, Winston Churchill, stood strong; and he said, "We will not give up. We'll fight in the streets." We remember some of the famous speeches that he gave.

On another occasion, he said this about victory. He said:

You ask, what is our policy? And I ask all of us, what is our policy? What is it that we are motivated by? I will say:  It is to wage war with all our might, with all the strength that God can give us:  to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime.

Well, you and I are waging a war against Satan, this world, and sin. That's our struggle. He goes on to say:

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word:  Victory – victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

Brethren, God has called us to victory. He hasn't called us to fail. He has called us to be in His Kingdom. He supplies what is needed. He supplies the power, the strength, what we need.

How can we be a part of Satan's worst nightmare? Christ was. He defeated Satan. How can we? Well, we need to defeat him also. We need to be spiritually fearless. Back in Revelation 12:10, you find, again:

Revelation 12:10-11 – Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb..." We overcome Satan the devil by Christ's sacrifice, by our sins being forgiven, and then, making it possible for us to receive the indwelling power of God to dwell within us, to help us to overcome. And it says, "by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

So we overcome through Christ's sacrifice. We don't love our lives unto death; we're willing to die for this way of life, that once we make that commitment -- remember Luke 14:26?

Luke 14:26 – "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple."

The word "hate" means to love less. We must love God more than anyone, anything; we must put Him first in our lives, to the death. We must be fearless, so that we are not going to give in, we're not going to surrender. We're going to move on. So, spiritually, we have to be fearless. We've got to be willing to wage war.

You and I also, brethren, need to meditate on our conversion. You might remember back here in Hebrews 9:14...we've read this a couple of times leading up to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Hebrews 9:14 – ...how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Jesus Christ shed His blood, by which our sins are forgiven; and He purges or He cleanses our conscience from dead works, from sin. You and I need to reflect constantly -- that's called meditation. A lot of people talk about meditating. They don't know what meditation is all about. They think meditating is "hmmmmmm," you know, humming or listening to something. Meditating is thinking about God, thinking about His word, thinking about God's call of you.

Do we think about our conversion, our calling, what God is doing? Do we thank God constantly for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for what that means? Do we remember how little we understood before God called and opened our minds? I didn't understand diddly-squat! And most of us didn't until God opened our minds, illuminated us. Remember how God brought you to complete repentance and how you would kneel in your closet with big tears coming down your face, crying out to God to forgive you, because you wanted His Spirit? Do you remember about your baptism and how you felt at that time? Remember all of the times that God has intervened in your life and for your family? Remember how you continued to learn the truth, to overcome, to be a part of the work of God? Do we reflect on God's word, His plan, His purpose, our part in it? Do we think about the coming Kingdom of God? Not just the millennium, but the Kingdom of God, the family of God? All eternity that we're going to be in that family? How great God is? Can we imagine the resurrection to eternal life and the change that takes place? Can we think about the wonderful life we're going to have for all eternity? Brethren, we need to use the power that God gives to us.

2 Timothy 1:7 tell us this:

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear...we're not to be afraid, fearful, hesitant, milk-toast, timid. We are to be fearless. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind, self control to rule over ourselves.

Remember that Satan, if you want to put it this way, is just a bug on the windshield compared to God's power and His Kingdom. He's nothing. God Almighty is more powerful than everything He has ever created. Nothing measures up to Him. He has all power.

We can become Satan's worst nightmare when he cannot control us, when he can't rule over us, when his influence over us is thwarted and he is not able to get at us. When we become spiritually perceptive and we know that he's around, that he's trying to lead us in a wrong way, that we don't yield to him, we don't give in, we don't give an inch. We fight, we take an inch, we take a foot, we take a town, we take a hill, you know, we keep going and going until Christ comes back. With that in mind, let's go back to Revelation 15. Notice those that are going to be in God's Kingdom, as it mentions here.

Revelation 15:1-4  – Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete, or finished. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, the portable throne of God, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, Exodus 15. We sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, why? Because our enemy has been overthrown. Our enemy is no longer free. God has saved us. God has given us eternal life. And notice, they say: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested."

So brethren, let's not forget the battle of the Red Sea, that it took God to deliver Israel. It takes God to deliver us today. Let us have confidence in the power of God, the strength of God, to engage in any battle, to fight against our sins and to defeat them. You know, if we don't work against our sins, we never will overcome them. You never give up. You keep fighting. You keep struggling. And let us go forward because one day, Christ will return. The resurrection is going to take place. And you and I will, at that time, become Satan's worst nightmare.