Authority Over the Enemy

Beloved, if you can please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10.

We're going to be examining this morning verses 13 to 20. When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's Word.

Hear ye this morning the word of the Lord from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 13.

Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Naseedah, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more bearable in a judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you,

Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

The one who hears you, hears me. The one who rejects you, rejects me.

And the one who rejects me, rejects him who sent me. The 72 returned with great joy, saying,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. He said to them,

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let us pray.

Father, we do come before you this morning asking for a measure of thy

Spirit to lead us in our discussion, in our study, and of the preaching of thy most powerful and holy word.

Lord, may the word in this moment begin to penetrate our hearts in such a way that it changes us, changes our perceptions, changes the way that we think, changes the way that we behave, and changes the way that we approach life in this fallen world.

Lord, we do ask that you would also grant us even now in the impartation of thy

Spirit to receive this word not only as a measure of knowledge, but with gladness and with joy that we too, like those early ones who followed

Jesus, rejoice in such a work, rejoice in such a

Savior, and rejoice even that we may count ourselves among those whose names are written in heaven.

Lord, now we turn our hearts and our attention to this word. And Father, I pray for those here who are struggling with various life challenges and difficulties, uncertainties of many kind.

We pray that in the preaching today, you would grant them a vision and grant them,

Lord, a heart to see the victory that we have in Jesus, and may it carry us not just for today, not just for this week, but may it carry us throughout our lives, this wonderful message of victory and authority over the enemy.

We pray this unto the name and glory of Jesus Christ. Amen. Oh, beloved,

I'm afraid I have some bad news to share with you, and it's that there is an enemy that is out there that knows you.

He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake.

He knows when you're naughty, and he knows when you're nice. No, beloved,

I'm not talking about that old Saint Nick. I'm talking about our ancient foe,

Satan the devil. The Bible says this of Satan, that he is the one who is blinding the minds of unbelievers so that they may not see the glorious light of the gospel of Christ.

In fact, in that same passage in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the apostle

Paul goes so far as to say that Satan, the devil, is the God of this age, of this era, of this cosmos.

He's blinding minds. The Bible says of this ancient foe in 1

John 5, that the whole world is lying in the hands of the wicked one.

This ancient foe has been active for centuries, millennia.

He has studied both in the courts of the Lord Most High and also in the courts of man.

He knows his enemies well. He knows both his divine enemy, the

Lord God Almighty, and he knows even his human enemies, you and I, image bearers of the true

God. He studies you. He sees you. He knows your weaknesses and he knows even more than you and I when it comes to spiritual matters.

He's more powerful, he's faster, he's more cunning than all of us here put together.

I'm afraid it's very hopeless. Put on top of that, our own condition.

You and I, though made in the image of Almighty God, are in desperate depravity and sickness and spiritual death because of the sin of Adam and the sin in which we partaken in our act of rebellion against our maker.

Our state is totally desperate and lost and our enemy is more powerful than you and I.

So what hope do we have in this world, beloved? What hope is there?

How can we overcome our ancient foe? Beloved, though there be bad news, that the world, the flesh, and the enemy be against you, yet there is good news, that Emmanuel has come.

God with us has come in the fullness of time, born of the virgin, to live the life that you and I could not live, holy, perfect, and blameless, set apart from unholy, wicked humanity.

He died a death that you and I deserved by being crucified next to two criminals on a

Roman cross. And not only that, but he was buried in a tomb and on the third day raised to life incorruptible so that he now sits and reigns at the right hand of God the

Father. Yes, you are in a desperate state. Yes, you have an enemy who is more powerful than you of whom the scripture says in 1

Peter that our enemy is unlikened to this, to a lion who is seeking to devour, seeking to devour.

Yet on our side is one who is also akin and like a lion of whom the scripture says that he, our champion, our savior, our redeemer, our king, is indeed the lion of the tribe of Judah.

And he shall come to vanquish and conquer his enemies, and even the enemy,

Satan the devil. We see this story unfolding in the narrative of the gospel of Luke, where in Luke's gospel, in the first 10 verses of chapter 10,

Jesus sends out his 70 in the 72 into the fields of Israel to go and evangelize the lost tribes of Israel.

He gives them marching orders and he sends them out, and in the midst of that, what is happening is as these disciples are going from town to town, many of these so -called

Jewish elect towns are rejecting our savior, rejecting and not rejoicing in the one who came to save them from their sin.

And so what does Jesus do? He condemns the cities that He had performed miracles in.

You're following in today's teaching and you receive the bulletin. In the bulletin, there's an insert and you can write along as I teach and preach, and Christ condemns the cities

He had performed miracles in. So Jesus went to these places, He sends

His 70, and miracles are being done, as we just read in Mark's account, in Mark's gospel, where Jesus encounters the mute,

He encounters the blind, He encounters those who are possessed by demons, and what does He do? He delivers them.

He performs miraculous powers, demonstrating that He has authority and power over the evil one, over our falling condition, namely sickness and sin.

And yet as He goes throughout the towns of Israel, they reject Him. And Jesus responds with a rebuke, in that He condemns those cities in which

He had performed miracles in, but even though He committed miracles in them, they still did not believe and repent.

What is missing here is that though Christ was doing miraculous works, though He was demonstrating

His mighty powers, these cities did not repent.

In Matthew's account of the gospel here, the same story, it says this in Matthew 11, verse 20, then

He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

They did not repent. Verses 13 in Luke chapter 10 through 15, we see that Christ pronounces woes, judgments.

We don't use these terminologies much in our modern context, and when we use a vernacular of saying woe, we're usually at some type of something that we are impressed by, like wow, whoa, that was cool, wow, that was impressive.

But the woes of the Scriptures are a bit different, it's not a wow, but it's a, it's a, it's a woe, in fact the, the, it's more akin to a, to a

Yiddish term, to, to, to think of it in this terms of being undone, of unraveling, and the, the

Yiddish term of oy vey, and it is this unraveling, this unbecoming, this, this, this, this bad, terrible news.

He says woe to Korazin, woe to Bethsaida, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre, Sidon, so here you have

Jewish towns, you have Israeli towns here, and then on the other side he, he talks about Gentile cities,

Tyre and Sidon, he says they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes,

Christ pointing to other times throughout redemptive history where even Gentile cities repented of their unbelief, repented of sin, repenting of incoming disaster and judgment, whereas the chosen people of God at this particular time, hearing the words of the

Word of God incarnate Himself, they reject, they don't rejoice at the coming of Immanuel, and Jesus condemns them, saying they, that these

Gentile cities, they would have repented long ago, you see Tyre and Sidon were

Gentile cities on the Mediterranean coast, northwest of Galilee, and what

Jesus is saying here is that they will, they will fare far better on the judgment day than the rebellious, stiff -necked, unbelieving cities who saw

Jesus and witnessed His miracles and yet did not repent and trust in Him.

You see those of us here today, we have never had the privilege of seeing

Jesus in His incarnation, in His earthly ministry, and again, of course we have to be mindful of that, but the question

I post myself as a Bible reader often is what would I do had

I been in this context, had I been in the story, how would I react? And I always want to say

I would react with faith, I would react positively because that's how we always put ourselves as individuals when we look at history, just like when we look at the civil rights history of the

United States and we look at the historical count and we like to say to ourselves, well I think I'd be on the right side of that, I'd be marching out there with Martin Luther King, I'd be doing this or that, but the reality is, is that the majority of a given time is usually against the progress that God is making in humanity, it's usually against.

And in this case, you have the majority going against what

Christ is doing in His earthly life and ministry, and Jesus rightfully condemns them.

Now I want you to understand this, there are different levels of severity or judgment,

I want you to write this in the notes, levels of severity of judgments, dependent on people's unbelief.

We believe and the Scripture teaches us that there will be a day of judgment. In fact, many days of judgment have already happened.

Throughout Scripture, you'll recognize a theme, a thematic story, an outfolding of redemptive history that has to do and centers upon the day of the

Lord. In the Bible, in the Old Testament, you see this term often used by the major and minor prophets.

The day of the Lord is nearing, says Zephaniah 1 .14, and it is a dreadful day, a day of fear, a day of dread, a day of gloomy darkness it says.

It is a day in which God comes in judgment against a particular people group. Many days of the

Lord have come. It has come for the people of Egypt, it has come for the people of Sidon, it has come for the people of Babylon, it has come for the people of Jerusalem more than once.

Here Jesus is pointing to a day of judgment in particular, a day of judgment that will be cataclysmic for those who do not believe and trust in the

Savior. He is condemning those who are in close proximity to Him, who have the privilege of seeing

Jesus, learning from Jesus, hearing Jesus, walking with Jesus, and yet they don't believe.

They have such proximity that you and I as believers today in the 21st century can only dream of.

And yet they walk away. They don't trust in the

Savior. Their proximity to Jesus actually becomes their undoing.

There are different levels of severity for those who know what is true, know what is right, and reject it.

There are different severities of judgment for those who know Jesus as Lord, who have seen

Christ, who have tasted the heavenly gifts, and yet depart and move and walk away from His sufficient grace.

There is a warning even for us today, beloved, as the people of God, not to take for granted our proximity to Jesus simply because we are

Christians or simply because we are members of a church or simply because we read the Bible.

The more you know, the more account you'll be held to. And this is what is happening here in these judgments.

Israel should know better. Israel has been reading Scripture, preparing herself for her

Messiah, for her Savior, and yet at the hour of His visitation, they reject the

Messiah. They reject the One who was promised, Immanuel, which is why

Jesus would condemn, say that they would have, in comparison to these Gentile cities,

Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sinning in the aft cloth and ashes. He says in verse 14, but it will be more bearable in the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you, those closest to the

Messiah, those who had proximity to Jesus. It makes a stunning statement here in verse 15.

He goes on to say this. He says, and you Capernaum, again the city within Israel, you will be, will you be exalted to heaven?

So again, okay, Jesus understands the Bible. He understands the

Old Testament. He understands the covenantal arrangement of Abraham, the promises of David.

He understands all these things. And so those who were Israelites, those who were Jews living in this day, having believed that they were children of Abraham, having believed that they had the birthrights, that they had the covenants, that they had the promises, that they were the saved covenant community of God, and what does

Jesus say about them? Will you be exalted to heaven? No.

You shall be brought down to Hades, to hell.

Those who thought they were amongst the chosen, those who thought that because of their proximity to Moses, their proximity to the covenants, their proximity to Abraham, that they would be safe on that day, fail to realize that the most important proximity that we can have is our closeness and union with Jesus Christ.

And because of that, he says, of the people of Capernaum who rejected his message, you shall be brought down to the grave, brought down to Hades.

I want you to write this in your notes as well. Capernaum, a city where Jesus lived. He lived in it.

He spent time there. Would be brought down to Hades instead of being exalted.

Now we see this language used elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus uses this language in Matthew chapter 4.

He uses it in Matthew chapter 9. We also see this used in the Old Testament book of Isaiah.

I want you to turn there for a moment, in Isaiah chapter 14. Notice what the

Lord God in His words spoken to the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter 14, starting in verse 12 for a moment.

And this is a word of God against the people of Babylon and to the king in particular of Babylon.

He says, how you are fallen from heaven, O day star, sun of dawn.

How you are cut down to the ground, you who lay the nations low. You said in your heart,

I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will make myself like the most high.

Many scholars believe that not only is this a word regarding the literal king of Babylon at this time as the prophet

Isaiah is recording this prophecy, but it also speaks to the principality behind, behind the king, behind the nations.

Remember of our ancient foe, Satan the devil, of which it says to him again, he is the

God of this age, blinding the minds of unbelievers.

The whole world is under the influence of the wicked one, the nations and their kingdoms all under the dominion of darkness, under the dominion of Satan, the devil, which is why when

Jesus was confronted with the devil in the wilderness, what does Satan offer him in return for an act of worship?

But the nations, he offers him something that he can actually deliver on.

The nations, though forgetting that Jesus is the one who is rightly to inherit the nations through his obedience.

Yet, here in Isaiah we see this language being used about this king, this day star being brought down, being brought down to the ground.

Though he says in his heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars, he will put his name above all names.

Yet, God decrees this regarding the king of Babylon and also the power and principality behind the king of Babylon, Satan the devil.

Verse 15, but you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

In the Old Testament, the term Sheol can be used of the realm of the dead generally, it can be used in terms of the place of judgment.

In the New Testament, the equivalent in the Greek is Hades, Hades, and it's also the same word,

Hades, Sheol is the equivalent terms. And what God and through Jesus speaks to Capernaum, not that they shall be exalted like the king of Babylon says in his heart,

I will be exalted, rather they shall be brought low. You see, God brings down the haughtiness and the pride of unbelievers.

He brings down the pride in our own hearts. He brings it low so that as the

Scripture says, those who are lowly can be exalted. Those who are humble shall be the ones exalted.

Those who are prideful shall be brought down low. We see this happening here with nations, with heads of nations, with cities.

These cities who though they believe that they shall be exalted to heaven, they shall in fact be brought down low even to the depths, to the pits of Hades or Sheol.

So if you're following along on the notes again, Capernaum is a city where Jesus lived and would be brought down to Hades, again instead of being exalted.

And the lesson here of this text is simple. Unbelief is a dangerous gamble.

It's a dangerous gamble. Again, your proximity to Jesus will either exalt you or it will condemn you.

Just because these individuals in Capernaum had the privilege of being close to Jesus in his earthly ministry, it did not guarantee them a seat in heaven.

Again, many of us today who grow up in a Christian home make the same mistake.

Being in proximity to Jesus, being in proximity to the church, being in proximity to a

Christian household but never truly repenting of your own sins and having a personal relationship with Jesus.

You see, just like Capernaum would not be exalted to heaven, so many people who believe that their proximity to the church or to Christianity, it won't exalt them either unless they truly repent and believe in their hearts that God raised this

Jesus from the dead. You see, in this instance in Capernaum, Jesus' presence would actually mark their judgment as a result of their rejection.

They would be brought low to Hades, the realm of the dead or the domain of Satan the devil and other places in Scripture.

So, what do we do with this information? Notice the warning that Jesus goes on to speak broadly in verse 16 of Luke chapter 10.

He says, "'The one who hears you,' speaking to His disciples, "'hears

Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects

Me rejects him who sent Me.'" You need to know this about your duty as a

Christian. If you were going through our Sunday school class today, it was such a perfect teaching, a segue into the preaching this morning.

In our Sunday school we're examining how our identity as Christians, particularly in baptism, identifies us as kingdom proclaimers, as kingdom citizens, kind of acting as a passport to God's kingdom.

And what does a passport do? A passport identifies you as a particular citizen of a particular nation group.

So, too, as Christians we have been identified in baptism to Jesus Christ.

As the Scripture says, "'Do you not know that you who have been baptized have been baptized into Christ's death?'

So, we associate with Jesus in baptism in His redemptive work, namely

His death, burial and resurrection, so that now as Christians we act as representatives of Jesus Christ."

I want you to write this in your notes. Christians act as representatives of Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim the gospel, people either hear, that is to receive, or reject, and they have the power and the ability to choose to listen, hear, and when

Jesus says hear, as He often does, He uses the term, let he who has ears hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. So, then they hear in such a way that they respond favorably to the message, or with their ears and with their hearts they may reject this message of God's kingdom, and in turn when they reject the message and the messenger, you and I, they are rejecting the messenger who sent us,

Jesus Christ. You see, we are all witnesses of Christ.

In Acts chapter 1 verse 8, the Lord Jesus said this, "'You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"

It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20 that we are ambassadors of Christ, imploring, begging men to repent and turn to Jesus and to this message of reconciliation.

We have a job to do, and we act as representatives of the

Lord God Almighty. So then, it is no wonder then, beloved, we're in verse 17 of Luke chapter 10, verse 72 it says, "'Return with joy,' and they say, "'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.'"

What a beautiful report that is, beloved. When the disciples returned, they rejoiced.

I want you to write this in your notes as well. And why did they rejoice? They rejoiced that the demons were subject to Jesus' name.

The demons, the powers of darkness, our ancient foe, is subject to Jesus' name.

The 72 returned rejoicing that the forces of darkness were subject to Christ's name, because the

Bible says this of Christ's name in Ephesians 121, that He has a name that is far above all powers and principalities not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

Jesus has all authority and has power in heaven and on earth. The key to understanding spiritual warfare, beloved, is to know who is subject to who.

You need to hear that again. The key to spiritual warfare is to recognize who is subject to who.

So let's begin with the Christian. Who is the Christian subject to?

Is he subjected to Satan or to Christ? Well, the answer should always be that the

Christian should always be in subjection to Christ, which is why the Bible gives this warning time and time again to subject your minds onto the obedience of Christ, because He is

Lord. As the Scripture says in Colossians 2, verse 6, now that you've received Christ the

Lord, now go walking in Him, being rooted in Him, established in Him, being built up in the faith.

That is our job is to be rooted, subject to Christ. But of the world, as we've already laid this foundation earlier on in today's message, the world is indeed subject to the enemy, of whom it is said that he is the

God of this age and blinding the minds of unbelievers, and the whole world is under the hand, the influence of the wicked one.

And so, when we encounter our enemy in day -to -day life, and we hear the words of the accuser coming at us, we must remember who we shall be subject to, because you will always have this fight internally, this spiritual struggle, right and wrong, to do good or to do evil, and in a sense, it is an outworking of a grander scale battle happening around us all the time.

Forces of good are at work, and the forces of evil are at work. God's kingdom is at work,

Satan's kingdom is at work, and there is always a constant clash between the two. So, who will you be subject to?

Whose voice will you listen to? Who will you follow? Who will you follow?

May it be Christ and His kingdom. May you act as a representative of Christ and reject the attacks, the schemes, the machinations of the evil one and of Satan, so that you too may rejoice when you go out into the world like the 72 did, and they came back to Christ rejoicing, rejoicing, because they saw that even the powers of darkness were subject to Christ's name.

Did you know that's still true today? Even more so than before, because Christ is our conquering king.

He is conquering His foes. He is conquering and ruling in the midst of His enemies today.

We believe and we confess that Jesus today is enthroned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, amen?

We're not waiting for a future enthronement upon a literal throne in a literal

Jerusalem. Christ has come. He is seated in Jerusalem today, namely the Jerusalem of heaven at the right hand of God the

Father, and He is subduing His enemies, the last enemy being death, and He shall have the victory, and the victory is already

His. Therefore, I ask you again, who will you be subject to? The forces of darkness that are destined to lose or the kingdom of God, which is advancing, which has continued to advance in the midst of rising and falling empires of kings and priests and also presidents and prime ministers between every high and every low of history, every sickness and disease that comes upon the face of the earth, every world conflict that arises upon the face of the earth,

Christ's kingdom continues to reign in the midst of it, through it, and above it.

Christ shall have the victory, and His dominion shall be an everlasting dominion.

This is good news. Ask yourself this again.

Who has the authority? Is Christ subject to the enemy?

By no means. Instead, the forces of darkness are subject to Him and those who bear

His name, Christians, believers, they're subject to you, and that's good news.

Now, when we see this example, particularly here working out redemptive history, I'm not going to say it's the same exact way as it says here, the 72 return rejoicing, saying,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. Are demons today subject to Christ's name?

Yes. Does that mean that we should go out there and exorcise demons out of people?

Not necessarily. We're not looking for a fight, but let me tell you, if a fight comes to you, who are you subject to?

Who do you belong to? Who is Lord of heaven and earth? It's the

Lord Jesus Christ, which is why Jesus can then confidently say in verse 18, He said to them, I saw

Satan fall like lightning into heaven, and behold,

I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, nothing shall hurt you.

What a powerful proclamation the Lord Jesus is declaring to His people here in this text.

I want you to write this in the notes. As it is quoted in the text,

Jesus says, behold, I saw who? Satan fall like lightning into heaven.

What does this mean? What does Jesus particularly mean by this?

Does Jesus literally see Satan falling down like, you know, from heaven to the earth?

Is this figurative? Is this spiritual? What is He saying here? How are we to understand this phrase that Jesus is speaking to His disciples?

Well, again, after hearing this report, the Lord Jesus reveals why it is that the kingdom of darkness is subject to His name, because they are fallen.

They're disarmed, and they're bound by the King and His kingdom.

I want you for a moment to turn to Matthew chapter 12, and let's examine together

Matthew chapter 12, starting in verse 28. Jesus went confronted with unbelieving

Pharisees, and point out that Jesus is casting out demons, and their theory is that Jesus is casting out demons by the power of demons, by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

Jesus goes on to rebuke them. He says this in verse 28, but if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God, notice the tense, has come upon you.

Interestingly enough, throughout the narrative of the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus uses three tenses in regard to His proclamation of the kingdom.

He says as He opens His ministry in the first chapter of Mark, behold, the kingdom of God is nigh, near.

It's near. Then He goes on to say elsewhere in His ministry, the kingdom of God is in your midst.

It's breaking in. Then He says, the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Three tenses. It's coming, it's come, and it is now fulfilled.

What Jesus means by this, He goes on to clarify in verse 29, or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.

Then indeed, he may plunder his house. Now, universally, commentaries agree that the strong man here is an allusion to Satan, the devil, as the strong man, because the context here is the casting out of demons.

Is he doing it by Beelzebub or Satan's power or authority, or is he doing it upon his own power and authority?

He makes a clear case for himself, the Lord Jesus does, by saying, if I cast out demons by the power of God, then this means that the kingdom of God has come upon you.

It is evident because the strong man, the one who's been ruling the nations, the

God of this age, the one who's like a roaring lion waiting to devour, is to be bound.

It is evident as the kingdom of God is progressing into the world.

This is what Jesus is pointing to when he then again, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 10, says in verse 18,

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. It is to say that the enemy is disarmed.

His power, though still great, is now also greatly limited in its capacity to stop the nations from receiving the

Word of God, which is why, again, what we see in the narrative of this

Gospel, what does he do? He sends out his 72, his 72, sending his missionaries out first and foremost to the lost tribes of Israel, and then throughout redemptive history, he sends them out into the nations,

Paul being the particular apostle to the nations, the missionary to the nations, and the nations also begin to be grafted into the household of God and become converted.

The nations, of which the Bible says in the prophet Isaiah, were in gloomy darkness under the dominion of darkness, namely

Satan, now are being transferred into the dominion of light through the proclamation of the

Gospel. Satan is greatly limited now. He is a fallen enemy.

He is a wounded enemy. Jesus also says something that is of great importance.

You see, in John chapter 12, that I think will illuminate even more the spirit and context of what he is trying to say by his statement in which he says,

I saw Satan fall like lightning, then in John chapter 12, particularly here in verse 31 and 32, he says, now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world, who is the ruler of this world according to the Bible, Satan the devil, now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and when

I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

You see what Jesus is accomplishing here by the binding of Satan, by the diminishing of his power and influence, he says that should the

Son of Man be lifted high, he shall draw all men to himself. The Gospel shall, will, has, and will continue to go forth in power and authority.

And that is our authority over the evil one, even today.

It's not necessarily just this authority of being cast out demons or healed the sick, but rather it's a grander authority of bringing forth the

Gospel message to an unbelieving world, knowing that though there may be persecution, though there may be great difficulty to penetrate a people group, yet we know that ultimately the

Gospel shall succeed. We know it shall have victory. As I mentioned this morning to the

Sunday School, one of my favorite examples of that is what we find in Acts chapter 7 with the first Christian martyr.

Stephen being the first Christian martyr, testifying of the grandeur of Jesus, now being stoned to death for his witness and testimony.

And what does he see as he's literally being overcome and destroyed and being brought to death?

He sees the heavens open and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, demonstrating that though his earthly course is coming to an end, what seems to be a sure defeat for the

Christian work, for that martyr is actually just the beginning. Because the

King is seated on his throne at the right hand of the Father, and he reigns, and because he reigns, his work shall never come to an end, and nor will it be overcome, even by the enemies of God.

The kingdom shall march on. Amen? What a powerful word, that Satan is indeed falling from heaven like lightning, because the enemy has been bound, and he's been disarmed.

When was he bound? When was he disarmed? I believe he was armed, or disarmed, and he was bound, in the life, death, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because it says this in Colossians 2 .15, that on the cross, Jesus disarms the principalities and powers.

He disarms them through his ministry on the cross, and he demonstrates his authority over them that he is now at the right hand of God the

Father. So this report that the disciples come back saying that even the demons are subject to your name, and when

Jesus says that, listen, I saw Satan fall like lightning, what is being revealed here is that the gates of Hades, the gates of hell's kingdom is wide open for plundering by God's kingdom, and by God's people.

Amen? It's ours for the taking. Now you may ask the question, but brother, is

Satan not a roaring lion? Is he not still the God of this age?

Why yes, he still is. He still is the God of this age, blinding minds of unbelievers.

He is still this wicked lion seeking to devour, but he is a defeated enemy that has been disarmed, and he is bound in that he cannot stop the advancement of God's kingdom.

You see, the Bible says that the nations were in complete spiritual darkness before the advent of Christ, and they were under the complete dominion of Satan, which is why in the

Old Testament, God makes a covenant with a particular people group. He sets them apart from the nations as his inheritance.

Bible says in Deuteronomy 32, Jacob was his allotted inheritance. The people of Israel was his inheritance to stand out amongst all the other nations who were under the dominion of darkness.

Israel fails, and so the true Israel of God comes in Jesus Christ to do what

Israel in the flesh was not capable of doing, living holy, perfect, and blameless, and being a light to the nations, so that even now the nations that once were unbelieving may now believe, and we in this room are living testimony of the advancement of God's kingdom despite even satanic opposition, for in this room alone stands many ethnicities, people groups, languages, backgrounds, skin colors, demonstrating the power of the gospel to break into an unbelieving world.

Satan can no longer prohibit God's word, God's kingdom from going forward because he is indeed bound.

This is why then the Bible then tells us that by means of Christ's incarnation, his ministry, he has become the light unto the nation that dispels

Satan's darkness. This is why the Lord Jesus can say to the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 26 and verse 18 that he was chosen to open their eyes, the

Gentiles, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins in a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me,

Jesus said. This also has eschatological implications.

It might not be a surprise to you. I was at a church recently last week. I was traveling with family and I was able to go to a church service and I saw a church.

I really enjoyed him. It was a midweek service and the pastor was going through the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and talking about in chapter 2 verse 5 how the angels are not the ones who are going to be ruling the world to come.

And I was really enjoying the message and then he puts this nice little chart in the background on the screen and it was the chart of dispensationalism.

It says there's going to be a rapture, seven -year tribulation, thousand -year reign, unbelievers are going to live in them, all the stuff that they say and teach.

But my question to those who hold to a dispensational view is this, is

Satan not now bound? Is Satan's influence now not limited?

Is Satan's influence by means of the gospel proclamation, is Jesus not today ruling as king of kings and lord of lords?

I believe and I confess that Jesus reigns and he lives and he's ruling today in the midst of his enemies, even

Satan the devil. Therefore, I hold to eschatology and optimistic eschatology that things are going to get worse.

Amen? But how is that optimistic? Because as the world gets darker, so then does the light of the gospel gets brighter.

And as the world descends into more chaos, what a stark difference and what a stark divide you shall see in the kingdom of God expressed specifically in the local church.

Because as the days are dark, so then while it is still day, we are called to work.

And let us work indeed knowing and with the confidence, with the power, knowing that we have authority from on high to preach the kingdom message, to proclaim life and liberty to those who are held captive because the strong man,

Satan, has been bound, not comprehensively and that he's actually chained up with chains, but rather that his influence, his power, his dominion is now greatly weakened because as Jesus says, if Jesus performed these things by the power or the

Spirit of God, the kingdom of God has come upon us. So then, we too have reason to rejoice.

Notice what Jesus does in closing in verse 19 and 20. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

I want you to write this in the last part of our notes. Behold, these are

God's words to his people. Behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy.

Beloved, indeed we have authority over all the power of the enemy in that the enemy no longer has power to hold us back from the kingdom message and proclamation of the gospel.

The gospel will go forward even in hostile territory, even where there are serpents and scorpions and sickness and diseases and world conflicts and world politics.

God's kingdom will continue to grow and our authority is to continue to preach this message, baptizing and discipling the nations in the name of the one true and triune

God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, don't rejoice in simply that you have been given authority as Christ's representatives, as Christians.

Not only are you supposed to rejoice in that you've been given authority or the keys of the kingdom, but rather you're to rejoice that your names are written in, because just like those who were in proximity to Jesus in his earthly ministry who thought their proximity to the promises of Abraham would keep them safe, but they rejected the

Messiah of God, the Christ, and they will be brought down to Hades.

But those of us who believe and confess Jesus, who go forward marching in kingdom authority, we rejoice that our names are written in heaven.

I close with this. In Romans chapter 16, verse 20, the apostle Paul closes that great epistle, that great letter to the

Roman church by reminding them where Satan was in proximity to God's people.

He says, soon the God of peace will put Satan, where?

Underneath your feet. Indeed, we have the victory in Jesus.

We need not fear the devil, but if we resist the devil, the Bible says, he shall flee. The cross of Jesus has guaranteed our victory in our spiritual warfare.

This, however, should not puff us up with arrogance. Rather, it should lead us to humble recognition that it is only by and through Christ that our names can be written in heaven.

May you have that assurance today that your name is written in heaven by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, recognizing his sovereignty, repenting of your sins, and trusting in the

Savior's provision for salvation, namely, his own shed blood. May you come to know him, and may your name be written in heaven today and forevermore.

Let us pray. Blessed and tender

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your love. Your love which was demonstrated in your own afflictions, and that you, though perfect, holy, and blameless, were trampled upon, spat upon, and rejected by sinful men.

Lord, I'm reminded of the great verse in the first chapter of John, that though you create the world,

O Lord, and you came into those of whom were your own, your own people, your own covenant community, yet they did not receive you as their own.

But to them that would believe on your name by faith, you gave them the right to be called the children of God.

Lord, what a privilege it is to know you, to be found in you today, knowing that our sins have been paid for upon that cross.

And on that cross and through the ministry of your perfect obedience, you've accomplished many great things unto the glory of God the

Father. Namely, among them, the disarming of our true and ancient foe,

Satan the devil, of which it is said of in scripture, he has been disarmed, he is bound, and he is surely defeated.

You, by your perfect obedience and by the power of your spirit, have placed the enemy right where he belongs, underneath our feet.

Lord, may this not lead us to be puffed up with arrogance, but rather help us, Lord, in humble recognition, receive this word with fear and trembling, that this is only by your grace and your power.

And it is your grace and your power that will sustain us even unto the end for the glory of your name and the advancement of your kingdom.

And we do pray this in the name that is above every name, the name by which every tongue shall confess and every knee shall bow, even the precious name of Jesus.