The promise is not stated outright here, but it is implied that we can have victory over the devil. The main thought in Chapter 12 is the tribulation saints who have overcome the devil. we will discuss 3 ways in which they did it.
As we think about victory, we need to remember two Bible truths about the devil. One, he is not in hell, but he is headed there according to Revelation 20:10. Also, he has access to heaven as recorded in Job 1:6-7. Every time we fail God, he is there to accuse us before the throne.
We need to always remember that our victory over him come only through the Lord Jesus Christ.(ICor.15:57)
There is not a lost person alive who can truthfully say that he is living a happy, victorious, and fulfilled life. He doesn't have the essential ingredient for a victorious life. There is a void in mankind which can only be filled by Jesus. Without Jesus life is never at its best.
I-NOTICE THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THEIR COVERING:V-11A
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
The word blood is mentioned some 460 times in the Bible. No wonder it is said, if you cut this book, it would bleed.
A-The Blood has Redeeming Power:
Ephesians 1:7-In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
1)someone has said, morality may keep you out of jail, but it will take the blood of Jesus to keep you out of hell.
2)Only the Blood of the Lamp can redeem one’s life and make them a changed person.
3)Jack Jones wrote: "Putting a hog in the living room will not change the hog's nature, but it will damage the living room. A lost man's nature will not be changed by placing his name on the church roll, but the church will suffer by his being a member. Every Christian should be a church member; in fact, there is no place for a true Christian outside the church. But the church membership has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of the soul. Billy Sunday was right when he said, "Joining the church does not any more make one a Christian than entering a garage will change one into an automobile.'"
B-The Blood of Jesus has Reaching Power:
Ephesians 2:13-But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
1)It does not matter where a person is in life, and what sins they have committed, the blood of Jesus can forgive every sin.
2) One night Charles Berry, a minister who didn't believe in the gospel, was visited by a woman who was deeply concerned about her mother. She said, "My mother is dying. Please come and get her in!" He understood this to mean that she needed words of comfort to face her Maker, so he was worried about what he could say. When he arrived at her bedside, he told her that she had lived a good life. "You've nothing to fear," he said. "God is love." But his words gave her no hope. The pastor became desperate. All he could remember was a hymn his mother had sung when he was a boy, so he began to sing, "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." Seeing the woman's face brighten, he falteringly related what he had been taught in his youth - that Christ took the sinner's place on the cross. In those moments the dying woman found peace by trusting Jesus as her Savior. Present the gospel to her, the minister "got her in." The next Sunday he told his congregation about his experience. He concluded, "Not only did it get her in, it got me in too. From now on I'll preach Christ and Him crucified!"
C-The Blood of Jesus has Refining Power:
Revelation 1:5-and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
1)This generation needs to realize that the only thing that can wash out the stain of their sins is the Blood of Jesus.
2) A father and his young son were viewing a parade in London, England. Because of the chilling wind, they stepped inside a small store and watched through the window. In the course of time a regiment of British troops marched by, and the man exclaimed, "My, aren't those Redcoats pretty!" But the little boy replied, "They aren't red, they are white. If you don't believe me, just squat down here and look." Just to prove the little fellow was wrong, his Daddy got down on his knees and looked out the window. To his amazement the coats were not red; they looked white.
What had happened was this. There was a red band of glass around the storefront window, and at the height of that the boy was looking out he was viewing the parade through a red band of glass. When you look at a red object through a red piece of glass, the red object loses it red color to your eyes. It appears white.
The same thing is true in salvation. When God looks at you through the red blood of Jesus your scarlet sins appear white. This is blood atonement.
II-NOTICE THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THEIR CONFESSION: V-11B
and by the word of their testimony;
Testimony means to be a witness; to give evidence to an experience. They confessed their relationship to the Lord Jesus.
A-We are to be an Attractive Witness:
1)A little boy asked him mother why she was putting cold cream on her face before she went to bed? she replied, because it makes me look pretty. The little boy, said, well it didn’t work did it?
2)Well, I am not talking about physical attraction but spiritual attraction.
3)There is nothing good in you and I to attract people except the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in us.
4)We need to be like Eliezer when he met Rebekah at the well, he didn’t talk of himself, but made Isaac so attractive that she said yes to go with him to marry Isaac.
B-We are to be an Active Witness:
1)Jesus told the man in Mark 5, "Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee."
2)We need to go because there is a woe as we see in Revelation 12:12.
3) A light that does not shine, a spring that does not flow, a germ that does not grow, is no more anomaly that a life in Christ which does not witness for Christ.
C-We are to be an Aggressive Witness:
1)In our own power, we fail as a witness. It is only when we have the Power of Jesus on our lives and we are living for Him, can we became an aggressive witness.
Richard Weaver, a Christian worker, earned his living in the mines. He had the higher priority, however, of trying to bring his associates in contact with the savior and His soul-restoring Word. While most of the men were indifferent, one became offended by his witness, and finally exclaimed, "I'm sick of your constant preaching. I've a good mind to smack you in the face!" "Go ahead if it will make you feel better," replied Weaver. The man immediately struck him a stinging blow. The Christian did not retaliate but turned the other cheek. Again the unbeliever struck him and then walked away, cursing under his breath. Weaver called after him, "I forgive you, and still pray that the Lord will save you!" The next morning his assailant was waiting for him when he came to work "Oh, Dick," he said, his voice filled with emotion, "do you really forgive me for what I did yesterday?" "Certainly," said Weaver extending his hand. As he told him again the message of salvation, God opened the man's heart, and he received Christ.
D-We are to be an Attentive Witness:
1)We need to realize that every person we meet is either going to heaven or hell.
2)In the 1920’s, Billy Sunday, said that people were going to hell by the boxcar loads. If he were living today in 1998, what would he say?
3)Next to the Apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest personal worker of all time was a man familiarly known as Uncle John Vassar. In a large railroad station one day he saw a lady with a serious look on her face sitting by herself. He went to her and began to talk to her, found she was unsatisfied, and urged the claims of Christ upon her. She did not yield although her eyes were filled with tears. Just as he left, her husband came up and, seeing the tears, demanded to know what was going on. She told him that a man had just been telling her of her need to be saved. "Why didn't you tell him to go about his business?" said the indignant husband. And she answered, "Husband, if you had only been here you would have seen that he was about his business." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 48)
III-NOTICE THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THEIR COURAGE:v-11c
and they loved not their lives unto the death.
A-We see their Love:
1)They loved not their lives, but loved Jesus for he was first place in their lives.
2)Col. Travis would never surrender the Alamo to the Mexican army for his first love was for the independence of Texas. Likewise, Jesus should hold that same kind of love in our heart toward him.
B-We see their Loyalty:
1)They were committed to Jesus all the way, even to death.
2) One of America's greatest wartime heroes was a Confederate general by the name of Thomas Jonathan Jackson. General "Stonewall" Jackson. He got his nickname because he was a devastating fighter, impenetrable as a stone wall. He was completely fearless, far too deep and masterful to be showy like the other generals. He felt not a tickle of fear, even in the chaos and terror of war.
His oblivion to danger drew the attention of many. Shortly after the Battle of Manassas a newspaperman asked about the source of his unusual bravery. He replied this way: "My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as I feel in bed. God knows the time for my death; I do not concern myself about that but to always be ready no matter where it should overtake me. That is the way all men and women should live, then all would be equally brave."
Conclusion: The following is a testimony by Brother Robert Newhouse-A few months after our family had moved to a rural area of central Texas, I thought all the snakes must have packed up and gone away. People living nearby said they hadn't seen a snake in a long time, and that was just fine with me.
One afternoon, though, I opened the door of the toolshed and saw a poisonous copperhead coiled in the corner. I called my wife and daughter to point out our need for alertness, then I killed the snake with a hoe.
That toolshed encounter with a copperhead served as a valuable wake-up call. I had become careless, mistakenly believing that an age-old threat had disappeared.
The Bible tells us to be alert to the presence of our spiritual enemy, the devil. "Be sober, be vigilant," 1 Peter 5:8 reminds us, "because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." As we move through each day, we must neither pretend that Satan doesn't exist, nor should we become paralyzed by fear of his presence. Knowing his destructive potential, we must depend on God's power to "resist him, steadfast in the faith"
