I Told You So

We've had it mentioned already that we're at the seventh day of the Feast. Seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. So that would be a concluding day, except for tomorrow where we'll be observing another day, an eighth day, a last great day. And so as we enter this last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, we can think back over what we've learned about the glorious Kingdom to Come, about the rule of Jesus Christ on earth, and how we're going to be allowed as the children of God, we're going to be permitted to be kings and priests and teachers.

We've had this mentioned numerous times throughout the week, how we are to be growing in different aspects of those roles and learning about them, and how we're going to be teachers to humans throughout the millennium who are learning the way of God. And it's kind of hard to imagine. A thousand years of God spreading His knowledge, the knowledge of the Lord, all over the earth.

And in many ways it's hard for us to even envision that because we live in this world. We live in a world that's very limited in many ways. So as we think about how it is that God is preparing us to be teachers of others, I want us to... We're told this in Revelation 20. Revelation 20 is where we can start. It goes through, actually it's quite an expansive chapter because it goes through over a thousand years. It mentions a thousand years and then it mentions a time period beyond that, the white-drowned judgment, which we'll hear more about tomorrow.

But here in verse 4 it says, I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them, and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded. Now that could apply to some in the past. It might apply to some even of us in the future because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand and they came to life and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. That's what we envision. That's what we look forward to, being in that role of caring for others, subservient.

We had a sermon about the type of leadership that it would need in the kingdom and that will be servant rulership from Jesus Christ and then through all of us. And it says in verse 5, the latter part of it, this is the first resurrection. At verse 6, it says, Blessed and holy is the one who has part in this first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him a thousand years.

And of course that's something we look forward to, we're excited about, we're interested in what is God going to let us do, what will he assign us. Well, some of that depends on the relationship that we cultivate with him right now. I want to also focus on a very important part of what we read here in Revelation 20. We don't want to miss what it says in verse 3. Verse 3 says, Satan, and this of course is what we studied back on the Day of Atonement a few days ago, earlier last week, where Satan would be shut up and sealed so that what?

So he could deceive the nations no longer until the thousand years were completed, and yet, what does it say in verse 3? After these things, he must be released for a short time. Now, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but clearly it makes God very happy. He knows what he's doing. He knows even why he will restrain the devil throughout the millennium, and why he's going to allow him to be again in verse 7.

When those thousand years are completed, Satan is going to be released from his prison, and he's going to go out again to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war. And an amazing part of that verse in verse 8 is the number who would fall through this deception, who apparently are able to be deceived, the number of them like the sand of the seashore.

And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Not a very good outcome. A terrible outcome. But this is talking about in verse 10 it says, in the devil, who did deceive them? Who deceived them was thrown in the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were cast.

And nobody told me in the day and night, forever and ever. Now we read that and we think, oh great, that's kind of fulfilling what it says about the devil being banished, being restrained, and then later banned from affecting human beings. And yet, I wonder about these people who are living, as we're in the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles here, the seventh day. Now what about the people? I don't know how long people will live throughout the millennium. I know God can allow people to live close to a thousand years.

We see record of that in the Bible. But we also see children mentioned, and so it looks like there will be generation after generation and for a thousand years of learning the way of God, learning what all of us in many ways know and know that we know. He truly is going to provide wonderful blessings and wonderful changes in this earth.

And yet, somehow, some, those who could be deceived are going to miss out. They're going to die. Now I don't know how God will judge that, perhaps. But certainly, you know, they didn't, through the thousand years of training, or if they were only a couple hundred or three hundred years old, I don't know how they could miss the fact that there's going to be a deception coming.

You know, I read this and I think about how could this possibly be after a thousand years of the blessings from God and after, you know, the thousand years of hearing information from teachers who were teaching. You know, it seems impossible, but it's pretty clearly stated it's going to happen. It's going to happen. And as teachers, you know, we've mentioned teachers numerous times here through the services we've had here, as teachers in the kingdom, and knowing that we're coming upon that end time and a time is coming when Satan is going to be released and able to deceive again.

What are we going to be teaching? What are we going to be teaching the human beings who are living at that time? What are we going to be teaching them? Well, we'll certainly be teaching the existence of God, the validity of the Bible, you know, the Word of God, how that's a guide to our lives, the law of God, the Ten Commandments. We're going to be teaching that, but I think even as all of us need today, we're also going to have to be warning them about what's going to come.

Warning them a deception is coming, a deception. Perhaps you don't have any idea, any idea how powerful this being is going to be who is released and who is allowed to deceive at least some, those who will be deceived, who are subject to that. I think we ought to consider, you know, what is it that we'll be teaching? What kind of warning would we be giving them at that time? And why would we, those of us who are among a very special group today, this is a very special group, you know, whatever however many hundred we've got here today, and certainly, you know, church members around the world, we're a special group to God, and yet He's changing our hearts.

He's transforming our hearts, and He's shown us what we have to do, and we're going to be able to teach that to others. And so the title of what I'm going to cover today in the remainder of the time I have is, I Told You So. I Told You So. Now, my wife has told me that numerous times. I Told You So.

I Told You So. And so that's just the title. It may not be as applicable as it needs to be, but see in the future that seems like as you come toward the end of the thousand-year rule of Christ on earth, this deceiving, cunning, conniving, evil being is going to be released, and at least it appears partially successful, partially successful in continuing to deceive even those who live during the millennium, human beings. I want us to recognize three monumental battles, three monumental battles that we see revealed in the Bible. Now, I'm not talking about, say, physical battles.

Israel and Judah were in numerous wars. They were at war at each other at some point. And, you know, we can think back probably the most memorable battle would be David and Goliath. That'd be a battle.

And yet that's not the type of battle that I'm talking about here, but there are three monumental battles described in the Bible. The first one we read about in Matthew chapter 4.

I'm pretty sure all of you know what it is. Matthew chapter 4, and I believe it's also in Luke chapter 4, but we'll look at Matthew chapter 4 since that's where I am in my Bible.

This is a battle between Jesus and the devil. And, of course, we all know the outcome of that.

Jesus was completely victorious. He overthrew the ruler of this world, and we see how he did that. I'm not going to read through all of these verses. You can read those yourself. But we, I think, remember kind of what it was. He's hungry, and so, well, change these stones to be bread. You need something to eat. And all of us have been eating, I'm sure, quite a bit over the last few, last week, perhaps.

See, the devil knew he'd be hungry. As a human being, he'd be hungry.

And then also, you know, he tried to get Jesus to do something just completely stupid.

Completely ridiculous. Jump up, you know, hope that the angels catch you.

And he said, of course, you know, that's not going to work either. And later he offered him all the power over the entirety of the earth. If you just worship me, all you got to do is worship. You don't have to go through your life. You don't have to endure the suffering, the degradation, the shame that's going to come upon you.

See, it's interesting to think about how it is.

How that, you know, Jesus, you know, was able, how he was victorious. How did he do that? What did he do in order to conquer the devil that we better know and that we better teach? We better teach those at the end of the millennium because that deception is going to happen. It's going to, he's going to be released.

See, we clearly see that Jesus knew what to do. He knew, he knew what he was up against.

And of course, he was fasting and had fasted for 40 days. That's not something we're going to be doing. But certainly we, now, I do want to apologize to Dr. Erwiler, because I mentioned the other day something kind of in a negative way about fasting, thinking there weren't going to be too many of us fasting this week. But if we were, that was good. But see, clearly Jesus knew what to do. He knew fasting is the right thing to do. And he's not talking about fasting on the day of atonement. He's talking about being prepared for the devil. He's talking about preparing through fasting. And see, that's something we can think about in our own lives.

It also is obvious that he was totally versed in the Bible. He had given it. He had inspired it to be written through all the different people. And of course, as a human here on earth, he recognized the security that he had in his father, the absolute security that he had. So it's good for us to think about how he did that type of a victorious battle, because our calling is to follow him, follow his example, appreciate the blood of the Lamb, but to follow his example. Now, we've also had other good training here this week about simply reflecting, reflecting the light. And that's important, because it's not really about us, it's about God and about us reflecting God. But that's the first monumental battle I'll mention. The second one is back in Genesis 3. The second one I'll mention is back in Genesis 3.

And of course, this is between the first human beings on earth, Adam and Eve, and again, the devil.

Although he apparently looked like a snake. In part, that's why I don't like snakes. I don't hardly like good snakes. I know there are a lot of snakes that are harmless. And I don't know whether we had snakes up here on the stage yesterday. Maybe we did. I doubt that we had too many. Anyway, this battle between Adam and Eve and the serpent ended quite badly. The devil had overthrown man, and human sin became the way of life on earth. And Satan became the God of this world. All the human beings that God was going to bring onto the earth in the time going forward, and now we're 6,000 years removed from that. All of them are going to be following the devil.

We recognize that. We have had to admit that to ourselves, but that's an important admission.

And of course, again, I think all of us are familiar with that account and the way that Eve was enticed. The serpent made it real, what, real appealing to take the the only prohibition that God had given, don't take of the fruit of that tree in the middle of the garden. Now, I have to say how much warning they had been given so that they would be on guard. I don't know. I mean, we only read Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. It doesn't say too much in chapter 3.

It doesn't tell us exactly what God told them, except just don't take of that one tree.

And yet, Eve wasn't prepared. Adam wasn't prepared. They had everything. They had a beautiful garden. They had wonderful, wonderful blessings in every way.

And yet, how much God had told them about how insidious, how cunning, how deceitful, and maybe even more than that, how powerful that serpent would be.

I don't know. I just simply don't know.

But one thing we can learn from that is clearly that the devil can easily overpower and outwit human beings. Eve may have thought she was smarter than the snake.

Adam probably thought he was smarter than the snake.

They found outright quite quickly that, well, disobeying God brings a penalty of death.

And so, what they needed to do was to follow the example of Jesus.

Believe God, trust God, and turn to the tree of life. That's what they needed.

But because they disobeyed, man was cut off from access to the Spirit of God, except as God would make it available.

And down through the last 6,000 years, he's worked in numerous ways. He's worked with the nation of Israel, with Abraham, later the nation of Israel.

And then, of course, he's worked in the church.

And so, again, how many people God has dealt with before Christ's coming the second time? I don't really know.

But see, that's two battles where we can see one turned out quite well, and the other turned out a disaster.

And yet, what about the third battle? What about the third battle? When is that third battle taking place? Well, I'm not talking about anything prophetically stating about another war taking place.

I want us to think about, and even as we have observed the Day of Atonement, and many of you have observed the Day of Atonement for decades.

Certainly, I have, and I'm glad to do that. Fasting helps us be reminded of how weak we are, how much we need God.

That should tell us, perhaps, something about the decisions we make about how much we fast throughout the year. But see, we see in our observance of the Day of Atonement that there were two goats involved, and one of them was representing the goat for the Lord, and his blood was going to cover for the sins of mankind. The other was going to be representing the goat that would be banned, that would be sent into the wilderness.

See, what that tells me, that there was no contest between God and Satan.

God's in absolute, complete control of his plan. As we mentioned, he's going to bind Satan for a thousand years, and yet, at the end of that, he's going to go out and deceive, once again, because people are either uninformed, unaware. How could you do that after a thousand years of blessing, or however many years you have lived as a human being during that time? How could you possibly fall for that deception? Well, it does have a lot to do with us today, and we need to learn the lessons that we can learn from these battles and how we can be, how we can be incredibly protected, how we can be on the right track. See, what were the things that Jesus did? Our battle today, this is what we're going to teach in the future, because we're going to know, we're going to know our battle today is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places, the rule of Satan as the God of this world.

That's what our battle is. It's a battle in our mind and in our heart.

And see, if you're not fighting that battle, you won't understand anything that I'm saying today.

If you're just attending church or doing whatever seems right to you, you've got to be fighting that battle, and you've got to understand the battle, and you've got to understand what it's going to take to be victorious just like Jesus.

And so I'll offer you three things. Three things that are important for us now and for us as teachers at the very end of the millennium. Knowing what's coming.

What it said was, the devil will go out and deceive the nations again.

We need to warn people. As you know, our message today, Mr. Nance mentioned this in our announcements, we're involved in proclaiming the gospel of the world. To whomever will listen, whoever would listen to what the truth is. But we have got to give a warning. It's called a warning or a witness message. See, what are the three things that we can clearly see cause Jesus to be victorious. Well, clearly we have to know and, number one, know and firmly believe the Word of God. It's not enough just to know. And actually many of you seated here, you know quite a bit about the Bible. You can ask unique biblical questions, but that's not enough to just know. You've got to really believe. And of course, that was what Jesus used as his deterrent to his battle with the devil. He said several times, it is written, and of course he quoted Deuteronomy. He quoted things that were in the Old Testament. And of course, we're told that we should study to show ourselves approved unto God in 2 Timothy 2 verse 14 to 16. Study to show yourself, show yourselves approved to God. That's, you know, that's an important thing for all of us to be doing. But again, it's not enough just to know. We have to believe the Word of God and believe exactly, you know, what God says is going to happen. Because that's what's going to benefit us as we face the end of this age. As we face even the persecution that Revelation chapter 12 predicts is going to come upon the church. You know, there the church is going to have to be able to withstand whatever onslaught Satan brings.

And so we've got to fully know, but even more so believe the Word of God. Secondly, we need to take God's warnings seriously. Be on guard! See, I'm going to conjecture that Adam and Eve weren't on guard. You know, they didn't know pretty much. God may very clearly have known what was going to happen. I'm sure he did. That's why he subjected them to that kind of deception then. Let's see later, others, some in the Old Testament, a few at least, and many in the church, you know, we've come to understand our battle. Our battle, battle number three, monumental battle is going on today in the hearts and minds of those that God is dealing with. We have to take God's warning seriously. Let's take a look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, and of course this is written to the Jewish members of the church.

But it says in verse 1, therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard lest we drift away. We've got to be on guard. Drifting away is not just stopping because something got hard. Drift away is kind of gradually kind of moving away from things that are really important and needful. And then after a while, you know, we're not connected anymore, and we don't want to do that. You know, Satan is said to be in Peter as a roaring lion, again seeking whom he may devour. Deuteronomy 8 verse 11 gives us a little bit of insight as to how people, how people in the millennium who are living the way of God, living the way that we are teaching at that time. Now this is what we'll be teaching, the truth, the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament. This was written to the children of Israel, but they were being told that once you get into the promised land, realize something.

Verse 11, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commands, his judgments, and his statutes which I command you today. See, now how easy is it for us to forget?

Not that we forget altogether what God says, but it's pretty easy. Human beings, especially when things are quite easy. It says in verse 14, when your heart is lifted up, when you're kind of at ease or even asleep, you don't want to fall into that category. When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of land from the house of bondage. See, we can kind of rest on the fact that I've been in the church 60 years, and that can be kind of fitting into the category of the Pharisees who thought they were impressively the descendants of Israel.

That was what they thought. And of course, it's good to be in the church for 60 years, but that's not all it takes. It takes much more. We've got to be on guard. So we've got to be recognizing that we can become weary in well-doing. We can become weary in well-doing, and so we want to take heed. That's what it tells us in Luke 21 verse 36, I think. Take heed to yourself. You need to watch and pray to be accounted worthy to escape the things that have come to pass. That's what we have to do. And so the other thing I would mention this is what we read here in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

Verse 11 is a statement I'm sure you have read. 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

Perhaps many times.

Paul is writing this, and he's telling the people there in Corinth what they are to do and how they're to be forgiving. How they're not to be offended, but how they're to forgive one another, not hold grudges. And he says, lest verse 11, lest Satan take advantage of us, because we are not, at least certainly we should not, be ignorant of his devices. His devices. Now, what are Satan's devices? What are his devices? Well, clearly, deception, confusion.

If we don't live in a world that is confused, a world where in many ways you listen to things on the news, it's pretty hard to know what's true and what isn't. And also, we're in an age of information, but it's really an overload of information. That would be another way that Satan could limit people. It just provides so much stuff that you can't even pay attention. See, some of you have been encouraged, I'm sure, to cut this out, cut that out, try to focus on the right thing. That's going to be required of us, and it's going to be a part of what we have to teach in the future. So deception is one thing. Clearly, Satan likes to use division, and unfortunately, we suffered that way too much in the Church of God. From a doctrinal apostasy to a ministerial rebellion, we've got to be on guard against those things, not be a part of being divided.

Another thing is simply, you find in this in the world quite easily today, distrust, especially of someone in authority. Distrust of someone in authority. Moses ran into this, Paul ran into it, there were people who didn't like Paul, didn't like the way he looked, didn't like the way he spoke.

Same way with Moses, Moses comes down with his face shining from being around the light of God, and people couldn't handle that. They didn't know what to think.

So deception, division, distrust, even in this world, distraction.

I want us to look at a verse or two here. 1 Corinthians 7. I wondered where distraction might be here in the Bible, but it's there.

Probably there are numerous times that I'm not aware of. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 35.

This is talking about a different topic. It's talking about how it is that people need to be focused. He says in verse 35, This I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper in that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

Serve the Lord. That's what we have to do, and that's what we're going to have to teach.

If we're going to warn people that at the end of the millennium, the devil is going to be loosed once again. You also find this over in Luke 10, verse 40. It doesn't say distraction, but it's the example of Mary and Martha. Now Mary was focused on Jesus. She absolutely knew.

There's nothing better I can do. And, of course, again, Jesus was not chiding Martha so much as to say, Martha, Martha, you know, what are you doing? Don't be, what does it say, encumbered.

Don't be so distracted that you can't focus on what really is important.

Of course, another, all of these happen to use D. There's many others here. Doubt is another device of the devil. We've got to be on guard against that, and we're going to need to be able to teach others that same thing. One thing that Eve did was rely on human reasoning, which didn't work. It looked good, looked really appealing, but it wasn't. It was poison. And so, you know, as I mentioned earlier, you know, harboring grudges actually allows anger to last. And because of that complex that we have with others, maybe with each other, and maybe with other people, those conflicts go unresolved. So, the second point was just take God's warning seriously. That's what we're going to teach. That's what we're going to tell people.

Believe what it says in Revelation 20. It's going to happen. The devil is going, and he is far more powerful than you would ever imagine, even though you've been obeying God for all your life, or trying to. The third thing is, I'll just simply mention this, you know, we have protection and security in the armor of God. Protection and security in the armor of God. Ephesians 6, of course, tells us in verse 11, to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. They put him on the armor of God, you know, the helmet, the belt, the breastplate, the shield. Having on your running shoes to do the work of preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel of peace. That's what we're doing. But that can't be just kind of a sidelight in our lives. That's got to be a focus. A focus. So we're told to put on the armor of God because in verse 12, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the ruler of the darkness of this age. And so he says in verse 13, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

You can be absolutely secure if we're doing the things, you know, the Bible tells us to do.

So as teachers in the kingdom of God, teachers toward the end of the millennium, what are we going to be teaching? Well, we're going to be teaching what it is, and we have to learn it today what it is to do battle with the spirit that dominates this world.

Who would actually be better able to teach this than those who have actually overcome the deceiver?

Not that we have that ability ourselves, but we do have the knowledge to rely on God in faith. Rely on God in faith. Follow what Jesus did. He passed it, I imagine, more often than us.

He clearly was versed in the Bible, and he certainly understood that living by faith is what, you know, God expects of us. So I'll go to the last verse here. That's the one you want me to get to, I know. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. See, we're in the third battle as a member of the Church of God. We are facing the wiles of the devil in this age, that age that is rapidly deteriorating and clearly needs to be rescued. But there's a battle going on in our mind, a battle that's going on in our head and in our heart that we have to recognize. And as I said, who would be better to teach that than someone who has actually overcome the deceiver? See, how did we do that? Well, we didn't do that on our own. We did that by a close relationship with God, a very close relationship with God. And of course, following, you know, not the first Adam, but the second Adam.

Jesus Christ is described that way in 1 Corinthians 15. But here in 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you. He's pleading with the people there in Corinth by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. See, that's the way he did things. He tried to follow the example Jesus gave. I plead with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in present and lonely among you, but being absent, I'm bold toward you.

See, Paul wasn't apparently readily received. They didn't like the way he looked or talked, but he knew he had the right information. And so in verse 3, For though we walk in the flesh, that's where we are today. We don't war according to the flesh. We're not arming ourselves with missiles and tanks and guns, machine guns and knives. That's not the weaponry that we have.

For the weapons in verse 4 of our warfare are not carnal. They're not physical, but mighty.

Mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and braving every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ. See, brethren, that's what we are engaged in this battle for today. We're learning what it is to be in a battle with a God who would love to just destroy us. He would love to just cause us to die, and then that would be it. That caused us to walk away, forget what we've known so many years. And the same thing's going to be true at the end of the millennium. People are going to have benefited from the way of God for some time, but then they need to be warned. Watch out, because this great, powerful deceiver is going to come.

And so we don't want that to happen to others, and we don't want that to happen to each other. So I think it might be important for us to keep in mind just what it is. What it is that the battle is that we are facing today, and how God is preparing us to be able to help others, to be able to recognize that battle. Because, see, he's in the process of bringing us, he's begotten us, he's started us on the path to eternal life. And yet we know that that's a process. He has begun the process of being born from above, and he wants us to be drawn close to him, to love him, to appreciate him, to appreciate the Bible, but to really believe it. Not just know what it says, but to really believe it. And then take his warning seriously and certainly enjoy the security of the armor of God, because with that armor we are able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So if we don't remember anything else, I guess you can remember the title of the sermon. I told you so.