Snatching Victory out of the Jaws of Defeat

Main idea: Look to Christ in faith who is snatching victory out of the jaws of Satan

1. Believe God’s Promise (Genesis 3:15)
   • Enmity
   • Victory
   • Out of Defeat
2. Look to God’s Sign (Numbers 21:4-9)
3. Trust God’s Solution (John 3:13-16, Hebrews 2:14-15)
   • Galatians 3:13-14
4. Anticipate God’s Conclusion (Romans 16:20)
   • 1 Peter 5:8-10
   • Revelation 20:1-3, 10
     

• Automated Transcription

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  We are turning our attention to the advent series, and we're going to we're going to take the Advent series starting off from our series in Genesis, and we've looked at the verse already, but I'm going to chase tra trace, not chase trace the theme of the serpent through the Scripture. And you're like, that's Advent. You'll see it's coming in Genesis chapter three. So we're going to read a passage we've already read a couple of times. Stand with me for the reading of that word, but I want you to think of this as I read it. How did Adam and Eve deal with their guilt? And now, how is God going to deal with their guilt? That's what we get the window into today, and we're going to explore that as we look at the scriptures, Genesis, three, seven through 15, then the eyes of both Adam and Eve were opened, and they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths, and they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called it to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman, whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field on your belly, you shall go and dust, you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the word of the Lord our God and Father. We thank you for the manifold gifts you give to us, and above all you have given your son. And here is the first promise of Jesus in the Bible, and the work that he is going to do, and has done, to destroy the works of satan. I pray that you would revive our hope for what you can do with guilt, sin, death and strife. Help us. Trust your promises, trust the realities of what Christ has done. I pray, Father, that You would be at work among us here, keep us attentive, awake, following your scriptures. I want to say what you say and say what you say. Only help me with that. I do pray for churches in our area. I think of South Side Community Church in kokola, Idaho, my friend Joseph ba pastors there, but has been taking care of his wife and his daughter after a terrible accident a couple months back, continue to strengthen the church their elders, who are making do in his absence, continue to heal Claire, the girl that's now paralyzed. And I pray that you would show Christ glorious to her, to him, to the whole family and the church. We pray for Hayden Bible Fellowship, where we have trained pastors who are there now I pray that you would use them powerfully. We could circle our area in a big swath seeing the work that you're doing with like minded churches, brothers and sisters, it is a thrill to watch your work, and may we keep praying for it. Now, do a work in us here today. Help teach us. Help us put into practice the things that you command Christ's name, Amen, you may be seated Well, the names, details of the story I'm going to tell you have changed, but the story is really true. I got a call from Ken. This story has happened to me several times. I got a call from Ken to visit his sister, Audrey, in the hospital. Audrey is not a believer. I'd never met her, and until I actually got to the hospital room, I didn't know if she was going to become. Conscious or not when I arrived, Audrey had been told she only had a few hours left to live. A long history of sinful choices had taken a toll on her body, and her sinful choices had severed almost all of her human relationships from family but Ken her brother had patiently overcome his own personal bitterness, went to the hospital, spent days with her and shared the gospel. Yet again, he called me, because this time her response was different for the first time, there was profound guilt, regret, desperation. Gone was the illusion that she could fix the problem. Gone was the illusion that she could fix her relationships. Gone was the manipulation and the promises that she was going to make it up to everybody. It was all gone. Ken had told me that that very morning, before he called me, that she had trusted Christ for salvation. Great story. Audrey was really weak. I got there, I walked through the gospel with her and and she she can't have a conversation, so I'm trying to get what she knows and what she's affirming through something better than yes or no answers. Ken wanted confirmation too about her understanding of the gospel. I looked at Audrey and I said, you know you are like the thief on the cross you are. And she said, I know. I said, What do you think of God's offer for forgiveness of sins at the last hour of your life? She said, It's hard to believe. I You mean it's too wonderful to imagine? Yeah, too wonderful to imagine. Do you believe the promise? Yes, I believe the promise.
  
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  Can it actually called me because Audrey expressed the desire to be baptized. And I went, Okay, we're going to do it. I've done it before in a hospital room. We got a little phone out. Her church is on the phone, recorded her testimony, what we could get in her weekend state. I told her that, given her history and how much she's hurt people, there might be some bitterness, and with whatever energy and time she's got left anybody who comes and visits her in these last hours, it would be good if she could say whatever she could to make things right with them, not imagining that they should be satisfied. With empty words, so we baptized her, and best anybody can tell, Jesus Christ snatched victory. And
  
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  set victory from the jaws of defeat.
  
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  Last moments,
  
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  Genesis, 315, is the first promise of Jesus in the Old Testament, and it is a promise to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That's what it is. No sooner had GOD'S MASTER PLAN been unveiled to Adam and Eve in Genesis one and Genesis two. Then Satan thwarted it. He successfully tempted them. They were guilty, ashamed at enmity with each other, spiritually dead, blame shifting and facing judgment. The whole human race fell with them. The ground was cursed. Satan beat God in taking control of the Earth,
  
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  so it seemed.
  
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  But in the first prom. Promise of Jesus we have the promise that God will be victorious. As we turn our attention to Advent. Advent is the yearly celebration of the First Coming for Jesus to save sinners and the Second Coming for Jesus to win ultimate victory. Genesis 315 is the perfect place to start, because Messiah was promised to destroy Satan at Jesus' first coming, the greatest victory was won at Jesus' second coming, the greatest victory will be complete. As we look at the big idea for this morning, it's this, in your notes, look to Christ in faith, who is snatching victory out of the jaws of Satan. It's a literal picture. We're going to unpack it. I mean, it's a picture that the words here we're going to look to Christ in faith, who is snatching victory out of the jaws of Satan. Genesis three has shown us how Satan tempted Adam and Eve and the sinful way Adam and Eve have dealt with their guilt. Very often. We're so familiar with the passage we've read it, there are so many principles to learn from it. We can treat these sections a bit like a textbook on how Satan tempts, how people respond, what we do to try to cover up our guilt, and all of those things are there in principle, but this is a real story that looked really desperate, and God intervened when Adam and Eve failed to handle their guilt properly. Genesis 315, is how God promises to deal with guilt. So you me here in the room when you sin and you're called down on it by someone else, or when you sin and your conscience inside calls you out on it. What do you do? Denial? Is it denial? I that's what the fig leaf represents, pretending like it doesn't exist, deflection, blame shifting. It's God, it's other people. It's not in this passage, but it's often in other passages. Utter despair. Ian,
  
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  it's too late. I'm a dead man. I've gone too far. I might as well keep sinning. It's too late. Might as well just kill myself.
  
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  Hear this friend, because it starts here. God has dealt with guilt, the first sin by man was followed by the first promise to deal with guilt on man's behalf. So today we're going to watch this unfold. We're going to trace the theme of God's victory over Satan through the scriptures. We're going to follow the story. Really what we're going to do is we're going to take the stone and we're going to skip it across the surface, because we don't have time for all the story. But we're going to look at the high points today. We're going to trace the theme of God's victory over Satan, sin, death, most importantly, over guilt before a holy God, God solves his own problem in his son. So let's, let's unpack it. Number one, we're going to take this in four parts. Number one, we need to believe God's promise. The first promise is set here, we need to believe God's promise. The whole history of the Old Testament is that men and women were rescued, saved, restored to God by believing His promises. Satan was God's first enemy. He received God's first curse. What's interesting is, in the curse to Satan is the promise to us. And again, we see these familiar words, verse 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman, then between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Enmity. Enmity is a deep seated hatred in animosity to put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. I mean, some people want to say, well, this is just a story about why people don't like snakes, and poisonous snakes do pose a threat to humans. Humans normally try to destroy them. Ian. Yeah, but obviously there's something larger at play. The history of mankind is that Satan is at war with God. Satan is not powerful enough to defeat God directly, but he can defeat, so to speak, by destroying his precious creatures, mankind.
  
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  The assault on God is going to have to come to God's creatures. The demonic realm has four primary tactics, temptation, and then once you fall into temptation, guilt, strife, because you almost never just sin against God, your sin usually creates strife with other people, and then once you have fallen, he offers alternative saviors, alternative saviors, all of idolatry, Buddhism, Hinduism, its myriads, yes, even the idolatry of Hawaii's Maui, although it was a fun kids show, Moana was it's all idolatry, really. Here's a savior for you. You could follow this one in a generally secular culture. The Saviors are money, sex, power, prestige, reputation. These will be your saviors. Now there's an enmity. There's an enmity. The enmity especially shows up as God rescues his children. He saves his children. The saints, the the people who believe the promises of God are in a direct war with Satan. Satan is at a direct war with them. Now notice the word offspring. Satan and the women will both have offspring. They're going to be different. Eve's going to have children, and she is going to have children who will have faith. Satan will have those who follow his immoral, idolatrous and lawless mindset. That's what he's going to have. There is a whole Demonic Realm under his control, and then they will influence other humans to be at odds with the saints. Believers have fought back through faith in God's promises, curtailing Satan's influence in the world since this time, particularly, we'll see it in Genesis four, after the turn of the year, when a person becomes a believer, you know it. When you become a believer, you become more aware than ever of temptation, of failure, of sin. One of the marks of a true believer is that they see sin in places they never saw sin. He was like, Oh, I became a believer. Why do I sin so much? Well, you just see it more. But, but listen, there's there's your own issues, but there are also a spiritual battle going on. Ephesians 612 says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. The apostle Paul, then at the other end of the Bible, describes that this battle is ongoing, this enmity is ongoing, but there's victory. There's victory. Here again, that word offspring is literally the idea of seed, and in the second half of that verse, it gets specific, because we're now using the personal pronoun he, you. There is one offspring that will deal a death blow to Satan and his followers and Jews for hundreds of years before the Messiah came. Before Jesus came, hundreds of years before knew that Genesis 315 was referring to Messiah. Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible use the personal pronoun he, noting one. And you think of the people who were getting this for the first time. Israelites, ready to cross into the Promised Land, knew all about falling prey to temptation. They knew all about it. They had done it many times. They had had God's discipline on Paul. On them, they had been enslaved. But here is the promise for the Jews that should be very encouraging our greatest enemy, who tempts us and sets enemies against us, will be defeated. It's a promised victory. You notice, right out of this, there's a victory out of defeat. And here's the turn here, God tells them how this victory would happen. It would happen when it looked like Satan had inflicted the mortal blow. Notice the word bruise, translated snatch at which is what a snake would do, or crush is what a human would do. Eve's future seed would snatch at Satan's head while Satan was inflicting a mortal wound. So get the picture in your mind of what he's describing the snake bite the clamp, and then the deadly poisons being squirted into the blood and the serpent is crushed as he gives the death blow in the head. Crushers. Victory. It is a victory at the cost of his life.
  
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  It is going to be a victory snatched out of the jaws of defeat. Ian the one who will die is the one who will inflict the greatest victory. Friend. Where do we start? Here? We start it like this. Don't deny your guilt, don't deflect your guilt. Don't despair over your guilt. Turn to the promise of God who deals with guilt himself. Turn to Him. Story continues. We're going to look at God's sign. So we're we have a promise. We have a sign, the serpent idea,
  
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  Splash. Splash
  
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  plays another interesting part in the story. Turn to numbers 21, verse four, numbers 21 yeah, we're going to go to the serpent story. All right, preacher boy, how does this work? Numbers 21 God, by His grace, had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. He was bringing them to the promised land, their renewed Garden of Eden, if you will, a land flowing with milk and honey, the richest of foods. God commanded that they enter in early in numbers, they rebelled against God because they didn't believe he was good and they didn't believe he was powerful enough to defeat their enemies. They refused to enter. God said, You're banished to the wilderness. You rebellious people there. They're wandering in the wilderness because of their sin. Verse four for Mount hore. They set out by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way, and the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. What's the worthless food? Manna from heaven. Every morning they wake up and it's there on the ground. All they have to do is gather it, grind it, bake it, and they're fed. You. A grumbling is a two fold sin. It is discontent with what God provides, and it is rank unbelief in His goodness. It's the theme of numbers, unbelief, wandering because of unbelief. God's faithful all through it. And notice we're talking about food, again, food that is amply and abundantly supplied every morning, when they wake up, they're doubting God is good. COVID. They're doubting God is powerful. They're doubting that God is fair.
  
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  It's not too different from us still today. Verse six, then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that the many people of Israel died. And let's connect the serpent theme enmity. We have a real parable in front of us. God used the cursed animal to become a curse. To them, God used the cursed animal to become a curse to them, the Serpents became the means of punishment. The people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you, pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who has bitten when he sees it shall live notice God didn't take away the serpents, but he did offer a way to be healed, physically and spiritually. Don't miss the message in this scene that turns into something of a parable at this point, they can't deflect, they can't deny. They're only left with despair. The guilt is every evident to all because they have a mortal wound and they're dying the only hope they have is that God would offer a serpent. They go to the middle man, Moses. Pray for us. God says, Make a fiery serpent. Fiery why a fiery serpent? Well, in an area where they would have mined copper, and they took copper, which would, when it's refined, be reddish. It says bronze a little bit later, but you could, you could picture the idea, if it's fresh, a copper looking or bronze looking snake.
  
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  Moses made a bronze serpent, said on a pole, serpent bit anyone he would look at the bronze serpent live, to which you should say, what? Why? Why looking at the serpent?
  
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  I don't, I can't make too much of the details, but it is red. But here is the point. The cursed creature, a snake, was ordered to curse them, biting and killing them in a temporal judgment. God said the way to live was to look upon a cursed creature on a pole. The irony is powerful. And remember, in the Bible, our sin, our guilt, is often called a sickness. We need healing, a spiritual healing, especially to look is to see, believe. Lay hold of a reality. It's a way of expressing saving faith. Look, believe it. Take it to heart. Look with faith on God's promise, upon a cursed creature. And that was the way to be saved. There again. What's happening? Snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat, quite literally from the snake bite. And it happened.
  
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  Are you crushed by despair about your sin. Feel like it's too late. You're too far gone. I've sat in the pastoral counseling and asked counselees, why are you having such a hard time admitting this?
  
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  If I admitted it,
  
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  she would never forgive me. She might leave me. Nobody would want to be my friend again.
  
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  Here at this scene, none of that works, because they're dying.
  
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  You're not too far gone. God can even snatch relational death from the jaws of relational death from the jaws of death. He can even win victory out of that. See him. See his solution. Believe it. Take hold of it and so we have the sign, third stone across the water. We need to trust God's solution. God has bring us through. He's promised a solution. He is going to deliver on the solution. Turn to John, chapter three, verse 12, and God wins the surprising victory, not with a sword, lopping off the head of the serpent, but with the suffering of the Messiah. By the time Jesus arrives, Israel's idolatry had changed. The way satanic influence had worked in Israel is that religious leaders thought by very strict rule keeping and ceremonially washing their hands and their bodies. I mean, they did it multiple times every day, even when they went into temple. They thought by their rule keeping and their washing, they had dealt with the reality of their sin and they would live forever. But some religious leaders knew it wasn't working. To use the imagery of Genesis, their fig leaf of fastidious rule keeping and ceremonial cleansing
  
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  was useless.
  
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  Religious leader named Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night. He needs to keep it hush hush. His reputation is on the line. He comes to Jesus for help, and Jesus tells him, in a very famous passage, that he needs to be born again. How do I do that? It's too late. You need to believe me. Verse 12 says, If I had told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things, no one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. What's he talking about? We have noticed in Genesis, two and three, whenever God shows up in physical form, the theological word is called a theophany. But because the general teaching about Scripture is that God the Father remains unseen, that this is God the Son. God the Son stepped into the garden, asking, Adam, where are you God? The son pronounces the curse on the serpent the land, the judgment on Adam and Eve. Now the story of the Bible don't have all the time. We're just skipping the stones across the water. Jesus appeared as a christophany is the big word for it. Many times, come down, gone back up. He is the Son of man. He is the glorious Messiah to win victory out of Daniel 714,
  
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  Nicodemus,
  
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  I'm the one you need to be believing in. The second person of the Trinity has descended and ascended. He is the one that is going to deal with sin and guilt, the one who promised the Head Crusher becomes the Head Crusher, and he is the one who takes the punishment in our place verse 14, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up the serpent on the pole? Jesus says the Son of Man must be lifted up. He must be treated as the accursed creature, on behalf of humanity to save his sheep, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. Guilt covered, sin paid for shame. Name restored to honor life with God restored. You know the next verse, but did you know the context? I mean, this is the football verse. This is the end zone verse. So it was some evangelist, J, n3, two dots, 16. Ian, you
  
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  know
  
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  the next verse For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, perish like what,
  
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  like Israel in the wilderness, like Israel in the wilderness,
  
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  grumbling and rebellious against God, this should not perish, but have eternal life. What is the healing remedy, Christ's death on the cross, and there at Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, betrayed by a possess a Satan possessed Judas, crucified by Romans and Jews, mocked by fellow countrymen, the devil's Fang sunk deep into his heel, so to speak. And at His death, Jesus stomps the head of the sermon serpent,
  
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  it is his death.
  
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  Galatians, 313 punctuates it. It is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Cursed is the is everyone who is hanged on a tree. This is Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. This is why Jesus came to be cursed in our place. And then Hebrews 214 makes it as clear as possible, since therefore the children shared flesh and blood, he himself likewise took on partook of the same things Jesus had to take on humanity to save us from the curse. He had to be born as an infant. He had to go through all stages of life to save all kinds of people. He had to go through all kinds of temptation and never fail so that he could be the perfect offering for our sin. He likewise partak of the same things that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. What's the devil's power in death, he tempts you, makes you guilty, and you die and are judged and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. Satan's great power attempt led us to sin brings death judgment, and humans normally fear death because of what lies beyond death. Instead of really living, instead of really living for God, we live in fear. The story keeps circulating about the tech billionaire who spends a couple million dollars a year to live forever. We don't spend any money to live forever. We trust somebody else. But notice the themes fulfilled through death, the Serpents crushed, Satan is defeated. I mean what happened through Jesus unjust and tragic, tragic suffering. He took on the very curse he pronounced on mankind in the garden. He took the wrath, the judgment, the shame, the guilt that stood against us. Our sins always have consequences with God, and they always have consequences with our relationships. But God's grace can snatch victory out of defeat when you humbly confess your sins to God, your heart can finally experience the power of truth when you confess the sins you have committed to people in your life, there may be consequences. Some somebody may not be able to forgive you, somebody may not be able to trust you. And at first it might seem worse when you humbly confess what you have done to somebody else. They might get upset. They might simply respond.
  
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  But you are free. From The Lie
  
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  and being restored to God, you know who will be with you tomorrow, next week, next month and for eternity. You
  
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  You don't have to live a lie. You can be restored to God. Continued humility can then bring real relational healing, not the kind that's Look, I ask for forgiveness. It's done right, and you don't get real humility. Then, no, I have sinned against you, and I don't deserve restoration. I understand that there's consequences. Here's what I've seen, more often than not, the person who can confess fully to God and fully to the person they've offended by their words and by their actions, and who can stay in a humble state of repentance, not to making demands on a person to pay them back, actually, and finally opens the doorway to a real, genuine, transparent and God honoring relationship. You may think that if you finally admit it, everything's over, but actually, when you finally admit it, everything begins, because you can walk at peace with God, and You can do things to make peace with others. You
  
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  even if the relationship with that person is ruined because the consequence of your sin, you're living at peace before your God and judge. And isn't that the best way to build the next relationships? Isn't that the best way.
  
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  We trust what Christ has done. Finally, number four, we anticipate God's conclusion. Waters skipping along. We have one more stop thinking now to the second coming. Satan's power to destroy Jesus' sheep is now destroyed. Jesus laid down his life for the sheep. John, 1014, no one can snatch them out of his hand. Once you belong to Jesus, nothing could snatch you out of Jesus' hands. He's a good shepherd. There are numerous promises to that final victory, a short, simple one, Romans, 1620, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Here, the offspring in union with Christ gets to say, even in their loss, Satan is defeated. This is going to happen. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, and the God the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you. You still do have an adversary. The devil still wants to ruin, to tempt, to defied, to inflict suffering, to create strife. He does it at the international level, yet another rebellion and another overthrow of yet another government in the Middle East and lots of other South Korea like you just, you just watch, watch that stuff gone all over the world. We still have an enemy. First, Peter five eight says your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Firm in your New Year's resolutions to be a better person. Firm in how you're going to make it up to your wife, to your kids, to your siblings, firm in the new ways you are going to be a better man or a better woman. Resist him, firm in your activity. Is that? What that says? I don't think so. All those, all those things are good if they're followed with faith, firm in your faith, firm in your trust. It is only Jesus ever that's going to deal with your sin and your guilt. Faith is the complete trust in God's work through Christ, it is renouncing any power or personal ability. Faith is an admission of utter inability to appease God for salvation, faith is the means God uses to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. Verse 10 first, Peter says, and after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself. Restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. He's speaking of your death or his return. Here's the question, friend,
  
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  Where is your faith?
  
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  Our Are you trusting that if you keep your sin covered up, nobody will ever know? Are you trusting that you're going to show up on Judgment Day with rules kept, good deeds done? Are you trusting in family lineage, church attendance, any activity or are you trusting in Christ?
  
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  If you are trusting Christ, you will be resurrected, pronounced, righteous, strengthened and established forever, the victory is coming. Turn to Revelation 20. We've just got to see what the final end of the story is, one last splash before the rock sinks into the lake, hits the other side of the shore. Whatever we want to say, Revelation 20. This is what's coming Jesus, Second Coming. Revelation 19 is the picture of the formal Second Coming of Jesus on the war horse to destroy all the enemies, all the armies, the beast, the False Prophet and Satan himself. Jesus is coming in a war. There's a series of then and then and then. This is all the same scene. CHAPTER 20 has a 20, but it's not a new section. It's the same section. Jesus has just won, and he has just, he has just thrown the Beast and False Prophet into the lake of fire. Verse 20, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. I don't know what all the details mean, how metaphoric or symbolic This is. There's really a chain or not, no reason not to be but the point is inescapable. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years. I've got very good brothers who I love dearly. And he says, that's already happened. Satan is bound right now, meaning he can't stop the gospel spread to the nations. I'd love to believe that, except for the next few verses, and threw him into the pit that's far away the abyss is what that actually is, that word's actually the abyss, the prison, and shut it and sealed it over him. I mean, I don't know if the author wanted to say that Satan's influence is completely removed. I don't know what else he has to say, to say it, but here it is. I know I've got friends who think it's different, but this looks easy enough for me, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer. Wasn't that what got all of us in trouble, his deception until the 1000 years were ended, and after that, he must be released for a little while. There's a kingdom period says 1000 years here, where Jesus and His saints are ruling, there are going to be be real people who are going to populate the world finish out the the Genesis mandate, verse seven, when the 1000 years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, which are just symbols of people from the most remote, secretive places to gather them for the battle the numbers like the sand of the sea. The tragedy is that even with a perfect ruler and perfect with Jesus as the High King and resurrected perfect saints ruling the earth, people are still unhappy with God. They marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints the beloved city. It's all lost again. I mean, there's, this is an army beyond number. Here we are again. It looks like God's going to lose the city surrounded. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever.
  
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  Skull bones crushed. The Serpent's skull crushed here. It's coming. It's guaranteed your enemy will be fully and finally destroyed, and we look forward to that. That's the final blow to Satan. That's what we anticipate. Let's wrap up with a couple of things. First, how many times has it looked like the devil's work has won the day strike? Strife and family tragic accident, another war breaks out, and it looks like evil wins again. The promise in Genesis 315 the principle that there is a conflict is also attended with a principle of a surprise victory. If you are ready and you are looking, I have story after story in my life. You have story after story in your life where it seems like all hope was lost, victory was won, and yet God In His mercy wins, wins a soul Audrey,
  
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  a surprise friend in a circumstance that was friendless, surprise letter, a healing that you didn't expect. This has happened and will happen until Jesus wins the final victory. This is what he does when it looks like all hope is lost. Don't despair, friend. You feel like it's a major loss. But out of the major loss, those who are humble, those who are trusting, in due time, see the victory
  
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  they do.
  
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  Second here is how you deal with your guilt and sin. Some of you friends are in denial. Some are you in deflection. Some of you come in and you sit, it's sort of like the arms are folded. Every week you come because the husband makes you or the wife makes you, and you're like,
  
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  I see you. And
  
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  you're putting it on me like, you know, you preacher, you know, and you're really putting it on God, like you're classic. You're classic. Can I just tell you to
  
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  just admit it. You're guilty, you're helpless, and you can't fix yourself. Just admit it, admit it. Turn to Christ.
  
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  This won't be the end for you. It'll be the beginning. It'll be the beginning. You.
  
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  For those who think that if they're honest and open about dealing with their sin, they're going to lose it all, no, you'll finally gain this is the recipe for relational restoration. There ever was one. This is it, humble faith and trust, admission of sin and guilt before God, before people, is the only pathway to true restoration. Let's get back to Audrey. I walked through the gospel God's offer of forgiveness. When she said it was hard to believe, I like, oh, we started all over from scratch. Do you believe? Yeah, I believe baptizing people in a hospital beds interesting. They don't have, like, pretty little things for you to do a baptism service. So her, her brother, Ken, was really sweet, like, I filled up a plastic cup with water. We're we're normally immersion Baptists, like we normally have a tank, but this is not going to work today, so we're going to do a sprinkling, and take a cup and just a sprinkling. I don't need to give her a wet bed. And Ken pulls back her hair, I don't know, make her, make her look pretty for baptism. I
  
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  don't know what I'm doing. I.
  
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  And we ask the questions, do you know you're a sinner? Yes, Is Jesus your only savior? Yes, do you commit if you would live on in this life to follow Him as your only Lord and Savior? Yes, do you commit to repenting and doing what's right, doing what you can in your state with the loved ones in your life. I do okay based on your profession of faith. We baptize you in the father, name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It's water. We wash her up, and she kind of sits up and says, Thank You, Jesus for forgiveness.
  
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  It's about that loud, she was really weak.
  
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  She lived three more days. All the family came
  
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  particularly close. Family were ambivalent about her profession. She had hurt them really badly the memorial service, I said, I know some of you are asking the question, seriously, she gets off the hook for a lifetime of hurting us with just that really? Is that what happens? I get it.
  
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  It seems too easy,
  
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  but it came at the highest price possible.
  
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  Jesus paid it. She
  
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  didn't get away with anything, because Jesus took all the punishment, and if you'll trust him, all of yours to you,
  
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  it's not too late for you, even though you might have a life of bitterness at somebody who has wronged you horribly now they sit in a church. It seems like everything's great, but it's not great. Jesus has a victory for that too, and relieving you of your bitterness helping you find forgiveness of your own sin with the ability to forgive another. It's a perfect place to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Let me pray as the ushers bring the elements Lord Jesus. We are looking at this story line. We're in awe, and we are amazed, truly amazed, that you would have such grace on us, that you would have such power over the devil and his devices. It's hard because of our pride, but it's not hard because of the facts. You have died for our sins. We trust you and in nothing else. Now, as we have to do that, there are some that need to make things right with others. There are some who need to stop despairing, and there are some who need to stop suppressing and denying grant that grace. We go home today rejoicing at the story, at this Advent message that we hear, help us, help us, and our hearts be filled to the full with the joy of the Holy Spirit Christ's name. We pray. Amen.

Dan Jarms

Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.

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