Victory

I read the word of God from 1 John chapter 3, beginning at verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that practices sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does not practice sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot practice sin, because he is born of God.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and killed his brother. And why killed he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

It is possible to be a child of God or a child of the devil. We usually associate Christmas with peace. After all, the angels came and said glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

He shall guide our feet in the ways of peace, said Zacharias. And the Old Testament prophet said that one of his names would be the Prince of Peace. And so it's proper in a world that's filled with a great deal of turmoil and strife to talk about peace at Christmas time.

Yet, actually, the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem was part of an ancient war, a war that had been going on between God and Satan from the beginning when Satan fell and rebelled against God. Now John takes Satan seriously. In 1 John 3 he talks about the devil.

And Jesus took Satan seriously. He confronted him in the wilderness. He defeated him in life after life during his ministry.

The Bible takes Satan seriously. I know we have those who tell us that there is no such person as Satan. Satan is now used as a means of entertainment.

The rise of the occult and the development of Satanic cults is reminding people today that we'd better be serious about Satan. Here in 1 John 3 and verse 8, John gives us the third reason why the Lord Jesus was born. He was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Back in verse 5, he was manifested to take away sin. Back in chapter 1 verse 2, the life was manifested. The promise of Christmas is the promise of life and forgiveness and victory.

For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. This raises the question, how did the Lord Jesus Christ destroy the works of the devil? He did not destroy the devil. He destroyed the works of the devil.

John is talking about a war, a conflict, and a victory. How does all of this come about, and what does it mean to you and me who are here worshiping in Chicago today? When you examine our Lord's battle with the devil, a battle that ended in victory, you will discover that there were four crises involved in this victory. If you and I understand these four crises, we will be able to accept from the Lord the kind of victory that he wants us to have in our lives.

I'm sure I'm speaking just now to people who want victory. Somebody listening just now is saying, this last week has been a week of defeat. I wish I could take those pages out of my diary and burn them, and if I did that the memory is still there.

We're surrounded by many people who are defeated. The soldiers are becoming casualties, and whether we like it or not, Satan is busy at work. He's wrecking lives, he's wrecking ministries, he's wrecking homes.

How do we get this victory? Let's notice these four crises that are involved in our Lord's victory over Satan. Crisis number one, his birth. In his birth, Jesus invaded Satan's world.

You say, wait a minute, Pastor Wiersbe, this is my father's world. That's right. But if you read the Gospel of John carefully, you will find that the Lord Jesus uses a name for Satan that identifies him with this world.

He's called the Prince of this world. Now is the judgment of this world, said Jesus. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out.

He said to his disciples, the Prince of this world cometh, but he hath nothing in me. Satan is the Prince of this world. This world system is controlled by the power of Satan.

1 John 5, verse 19, and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. The literal translation, the whole world is lying in the lap of the wicked one. Satan has this world system like a toy in his lap, and he's playing with it, and he's getting glory, and he's winning victories.

The first crisis was the birth of Jesus Christ, when Jesus Christ invaded Satan's world. Our Lord tells us about this in a little parable that is usually neglected back in Luke 11. Luke 11, our Lord had cast out a demon, and they accused him of being in league with Satan.

And the Lord Jesus says in verse 21 of Luke 11, when a strong man armed guardeth his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and shall overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor, in which he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He's describing what happened at Bethlehem.

Jesus Christ came and invaded Satan's world. The strong man was guarding his wealth and guarding his world, and a stronger than he came. Now, Satan knew he was coming.

We should be as good students of the Bible as Satan is. The war was declared back in Genesis 3, verse 15, when God said to the serpent, I will put enmity, warfare, between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

War was declared. And Satan watched in the Old Testament as little by little God unveiled the truth about the coming Redeemer. He would come through the Jewish nation, Abraham.

He would come through Judah, that kingly tribe. He would come through the family of David. He would be born in Bethlehem.

He would be born of a virgin. Satan could even calculate from Daniel chapter 9 about when he would be born. Satan was ready for him.

He knew that he was coming. And Satan tried to do everything he could to keep him from coming. He had Cain to kill Abel, and then God had to appoint Seth to carry on the line.

He had Abraham go down to Egypt and almost lose his wife, so that Isaac and Jacob could not be born. God overruled that. At one point in Jewish history, a wicked queen, Athaliah, killed all of the royal seed, and thank God for a nurse who hid little king Joash to carry on the line of the Messiah.

At one point, the whole future of redemption rested in the body of a little Jewish boy. Even after Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill him. Herod slew the babies in Bethlehem, because Jesus Christ invaded Satan's world.

That's why there's conflict in the world today. Jesus said one day, you think I've come to bring peace. I've not come to bring peace.

I've come to bring a sword. There's a battle going on, and you can't be neutral. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me is scattering.

Crisis number two, in his life and his death, he destroyed Satan's works. We're talking here about the works of the devil, not the works of the flesh. If you want to know what the works of the flesh are, you read Galatians 5. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, uncleanness, and he goes on to name a long list of wicked things that come from the evil heart of man.

For out of the heart, says the Lord Jesus, proceed evil thoughts, and adulteries, and fornications. We see somebody reeling down the street drunk. We say, well, the devil's got him.

That's not the devil. That's the flesh. Here's someone whose life is being ruined by lasciviousness and dirty appetites.

They say, oh, the devil's got him. The devil can use those things, but that's the flesh. The works of the devil are far more subtle, and the average person doesn't recognize the works of the devil.

Back in 1 John 3, John says, if you want to know the works of the devil, look at Cain. Cain. But wait a minute, Cain was a religious man.

Back in Genesis 4, Cain and Abel came to the altar, and Cain brought a sacrifice, and Abel brought a sacrifice, but Cain's heart was not right with God, and God could not accept his sacrifice. And when Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's rejected, Cain became envious and angry and filled with hatred, and hatred is step one to murder, and out in the field he murdered his brother Abel. Then he lied about it.

He said, what am I, my brother's keeper? I know not where he is. And John says that Jesus Christ destroyed the works of the devil. Now, what are the works of the devil? Just look at Cain.

Number one, self-righteousness. Cain came to the altar, a religious man, but his heart was wrong with God. Do you know how Satan captures more people than alcohol or narcotics or lust? He gets them to be religious without faith in Jesus Christ.

They go about to establish their own righteousness, and they will not submit themselves to the righteousness of God, and you hand them a tract and say, here's some good news from the Lord, and they say, I don't want that. I belong to a church. I'm a religious man.

Self-righteousness. That's one of the works of the devil. Pride.

Pride is the sin that converted Lucifer into Satan. If Isaiah 14 is the record of the fall of Lucifer, and I think it is, we have pride. I will ascend to the throne of God.

I will! Pride. And Cain would not bow down. Cain would not admit his sin.

Cain was proud. Pride is one of the works of the devil. Self-righteousness, pride, hatred.

John is talking in 1 John 3 about love. He says, look, no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And Jesus says that hatred is murder.

And so hatred, a work of the devil. Deceit. Lying.

Satan is a murderer and Satan is a liar. Self-righteousness, pride, hatred, deceit. These are the works of the devil.

And in his life, Jesus exposed these works. When Jesus Christ began his ministry, everyone looked at the Pharisees and said, oh, they're so godly. Jesus said, they're children of the devil.

They're self-righteous. They're proud. They're full of hatred.

They're liars. And that's the crowd that murdered Jesus. Just as Abel exposed the wickedness of Cain and Cain killed Abel, so Jesus in his life exposed the wickedness of the children of the devil and they killed him.

But in his death, our Lord Jesus Christ completely destroyed the works of the devil. That word destroyed does not mean annihilated or removed. That word destroyed means put out of commission.

Satan is still at work. And there still are people who are self-righteous, children of the devil, proud, filled with hatred, liars. Satan is still at work.

But Jesus Christ in his life exposed this and in his death completely defeated the works of the devil. That word destroyed means to take away the power, to defuse. A friend of mine, I think, has hit the nail on the head when he uses the term emasculate.

He said when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he emasculated Satan, took away his power. How did he do it? Well, let's just take the works of the devil, self-righteousness. Jesus brings us God's righteousness.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ took my sin, and on the cross he made possible for me to receive God's righteousness. What good is my self-righteousness? My self-righteousness is nothing but dirty, filthy rags in God's sight.

Pride. When my Lord was born, he wasn't born with great pride and pomp and circumstance and splendor. When Jesus was born, he was humility.

He died. Philippians chapter 2 puts it so graphically, even the death of the cross. Not the death of a martyr out on a field somewhere in battle, the death of a slave, the death of a common criminal on a cross.

And my Lord said there are the works of the devil, pride, but I say unto you, look, here is humility. Hatred. But on the cross, the Lord Jesus revealed love.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Father forgive them, they know not what they do. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Over against self-righteousness, God's righteousness. Over against pride, humility. Over against hatred, love, divine love.

And over against deceit, truth. Jesus said when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you'll know that I am he. God's truth was crucified that Satan's lies might be exposed.

And Jesus in his life exposed the works of the devil, and in his death he destroyed the works of the devil. And now those who have trusted Christ as their Savior are delivered from that. The sad thing is, Satan still likes to work through the lives of believers with self-righteousness.

And pride, and hatred, and deceit. I warn you, I warn you from the depths of my heart, whenever a believer believes and practices a lie, Satan goes to work. And the end is destruction.

Whenever a believer believes and practices the truth, the Holy Spirit goes to work, and the end is glory. If I speak to a Christian now who is involved in the works of the devil, pride, self-righteousness, lying, hatred, beware. In his birth he invaded Satan's world.

In his life and death he destroyed Satan's works. Crisis number three, and this is the one that excites me. In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus claims Satan's wealth.

The stronger man comes into the palace. He knocks down the guards. He seizes the strong man.

He deprives him of his weapons, and he begins to claim his spoil. It may come as a shock to some people who don't study their Bibles to realize that the person who is unsaved is among the treasures of the devil. Satan is the strong man.

He has his palace, and he's guarding his treasures, and he wants to keep them. This is why when you witness to a lost soul, or you pray for a lost soul, a battle starts. Here's a dear wife who's praying for her husband, and he's not saved, and things get worse, not better.

Why? Because Satan wants to hold on to his spoil. After Jesus Christ, in his death on the cross, deprived Satan of power and defeated his works, Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He went back to heaven, and now he's claiming the spoils.

This is what Paul was doing in his ministry, Acts 26, verse 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ. What is the Moody Church trying to do here in Chicago and around the world? Deliver people from the power of Satan. Paul writes about this over in Colossians, chapter 1, verse 13.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And so today, Jesus Christ is claiming the spoils. There's a little statement in Ephesians, chapter 4, that's always interested me.

When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive. Quite a statement. He led captivity captive, and that Greek word captivity means prisoners of war.

When he ascended on high, he led the prisoners of war captive. He delivered them from Satan's captivity into God's captivity. That's what's going on whenever you win a soul to Christ.

Jesus Christ, in his resurrection and his ascension, is claiming the spoils. He is claiming Satan's wealth. And he transforms that into treasures to the glory of God.

When I think of that, I think of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was self-righteous. If any man have anything to boast concerning the flesh, I more.

A Hebrew of the Hebrews, the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day. According to the standards of the law, blameless, self-righteous, proud. Saul of Tarsus was the leading young Jewish rabbi of his day, and he knew it.

And in order to grow in his power, in order to get more power, he persecuted the church. Pride and hatred. He forced Christians to blaspheme.

He stood and held the coats, the clothes, while they stoned Stephen. Look at Saul of Tarsus in Satan's hands. Self-righteous, proud, hateful, deceitful.

Then the truth began to dawn. His eyes began to open as he stood there and watched Stephen die. And the glory of God came to Stephen's face.

And he looked up and he said, I see Jesus. And Saul could never forget that. And one day he saw Jesus.

And one day he exchanged self-righteousness for God's righteousness. The things that were gained to me, he writes in Philippians 3. These things I counted loss for Christ, that I may be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is by faith in Christ, that I may know him. He exchanged his pride for humility.

God knocked him down. God literally knocked him off of his high horse. And there on the ground, blinded, Saul is humbled.

And God took the hatred out of his heart, and so that Paul was able to say, the love of Christ constraineth me. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, Paul, you're fighting the truth. Paul said, what will you have me to do? And he was converted.

And on that hour, Jesus Christ claimed the spoils and wrested wealth out of Satan's hands. That's the beautiful thing about salvation. There are people serving God today all over this world who used to serve Satan.

Satan was wrecking their lives and exploiting them. Jesus has saved their lives and is now investing them. And I warn you, if you serve Satan, you'll get the wages that he pays.

Jesus says, the thief, Satan, cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. And he'll steal your joy, and he'll kill your love, and he'll destroy your life and destroy your home, destroy your mind, destroy your body. You serve him, you'll get what he pays.

But Jesus goes on to say, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. How marvelous it would be if someone here today would step out of darkness into light and trust Jesus Christ and let Jesus claim the spoils and lead captivity captive. Our Lord, in his birth, invaded Satan's world.

Our Lord, in his life and death, destroyed Satan's works. Our Lord, in his resurrection and ascension, claims Satan's wealth. The fourth crisis.

Our Lord, in his second coming, will end Satan's warfare. We have been studying the book of the Revelation in my Sunday school class. We've finished it now.

I always get excited when we get to chapters 19 and 20 and 21 and 22, when God goes to work and wraps the whole thing up. I was telling my class this morning, you read the end of chapter 19, heaven opens, our Lord comes down. He leads the armies of heaven.

And you find one word repeated six times, flesh, flesh, flesh. Eat the flesh of kings, eat the flesh of captains, eat the flesh of great men. Chapter 19, Jesus Christ comes and he conquers flesh.

Chapter 20, he lays hold of Satan, casts him into a bottomless pit. He conquers Satan. Chapters 21 and 22, the world flees away and God makes a new heaven and a new earth.

There's going to come a day when Jesus will finally and completely conquer the world and the flesh and the devil. There are those who tell us that today Satan is bound. Someone told James M. Gray that Satan was bound and his reply was, he must have an awfully long chain.

No, Satan's not bound yet. Satan's loose. He's going to and fro upon this earth as a roaring lion.

But one of these days, the lion of the tribe of Judah will take the lion who is Satan and conquer him and there'll be no more destruction. The serpent is still slithering around and he's out to infect and poison and spread lies and deceit. Yea, hath God said.

But one of these days, Jesus Christ, the king of kings, by the sword of his mouth will conquer him and the serpent will no longer deceive. No more destruction from the lion. No more deception from the serpent.

Satan's the accuser of the brethren. Satan stands before God and accuses us and accuses us. And he comes to us sometimes and accuses us.

But one day, Jesus Christ shall throw him out of heaven. One day, Jesus Christ shall put him into a bottomless pit. A bottomless pit, that means you fall forever.

And there'll be no more accusation. Satan is the murderer, but thank God, there will be no more death. Satan brings pain and sorrow, but thank God, when Jesus comes, there'll be no more tears and no more pain.

Satan's the prince of darkness, but there'll be no darkness in the world that God makes. There'll be no night there. When Jesus Christ comes again, he will end Satan's warfare.

And my question is, whose side are you on? Don't go around singing about peace if you're on the wrong side of the war. Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me. You say, I'll be neutral.

You cannot. I'll not decide. You are deciding.

He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. You know what Satan's doing today? He's scattering. Our Lord came to bind everything together, to bring Jew and Gentile together in the church, to bring bond and free together.

God sent Jesus to bring things together, and Satan is busy scattering them. He's scattering homes, and he's scattering lives. And you've got to make a decision.

Which side are you going to be on? Because there's no neutrality in this war. In his birth, he invaded Satan's world. In his life and death, he destroyed Satan's works.

In his resurrection and his ascension, he claims Satan's wealth. He can claim you today, make you a part of his inheritance, make something out of you. And when he comes again, he's going to end Satan's warfare.

The only way you'll ever have peace in the midst of this war is to surrender to Jesus Christ. Which will it be, my friend? A child of the devil? Pride? Self-righteousness? Hatred? Deceit? Or a child of God? God's righteousness? God's love? God's truth? As we humble ourselves before him. It's your decision.

It's your destiny. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus Christ to fight the war that we might enjoy the peace. Thank you that he was willing to go even to the death of the cross that we might be delivered from a lake of fire.

And I would pray for all who have heard the word today that you might speak to hearts Father, there may be some whose self-righteousness is so sincere they have even fooled themselves. There may be those here today, Father, who have never truly been born again but who are going about establishing their own righteousness. Their mouth has never been stopped in judgment.

Their heart has never been broken over sin. And so I pray that you will speak to hearts. And may there be those today who will come to the Lord's side.

Trust him. And help those of us who know you, Father, to claim the victory we have in Christ. You have delivered us from the power of darkness.

We don't have to walk in darkness. You have put your love in our hearts by your spirit. How can we have hatred? You have given us the truth of your word.

How can we believe lies? O gracious Father, may we go forth in walk and warfare on the side of Christ and not on the side of the devil. Hear us as we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.