1. "According to the Bible, you and I have been caught up in another, older, and more fundamental revolution, not against any earthly ruler, but rather to cast off the various yokes that we wear, especially the yoke of fundamentally being servants of God, our Creator."

2. "Christian, our being saved is Christ's plundering the strong man's house. Because Satan is powerless to prevent each and every spiritual resurrection that God's Spirit brings."

3. "Brothers and sisters, every time we share the gospel, we make the devil wince. Every time the Holy Spirit gives gifts of repentance and faith, we almost hear him howl, like a dog on a chain that goes crazy after the cat on the sidewalk it can't get to."

4. "You can be sure that any temptation which you feel you really want to give in to, to compromise with, in order to establish some kind of peace with the enemy of your soul is a complete and utter waste of time. Do not compromise with him."

5. "Satan will not be satisfied by some sins. He will always want more. He'll just encourage you to do more. It will lead you into more. Brothers and sisters, let your confidence in the victory of Christ over Satan feed your resolve to resist him."

6. "Capitol Hill, your earthly status could not be of less importance when you stand before God at the end of time. Whether you were a partner at your law firm just will not matter."

7. "Prince, even the greatest of people who get statues made to them, we don't remember who they are. You understand great and small stand before God. Great and small are judged by him."

8. "It's amazing how when we have to justify ourselves, we quickly think of all the ways that we're innocent. We could be like a serial killer and we will quickly think of all the ways we're innocent. That's just what it means to be by nature self-justifying, to be fallen."

9. "Is justice good news? Yes, we want justice, but justice alone brings no salvation."

10. "Your life is a mist. God has given us this book of Revelation, God has given us this book of the Bible to show us what our lives are supposed to mean. And they are not to be attempts that we have to justify ourselves."

Observation Questions

1. According to Revelation 20:1-3, what does the angel do to Satan, and what is the stated purpose for binding him?

2. In Revelation 20:4-6, who does John see seated on thrones, and what specific characteristics identify those who "came to life and reigned with Christ"?

3. What happens when the thousand years end, according to Revelation 20:7-9? Describe the sequence of events involving Satan, the nations, and the outcome of their gathering.

4. In Revelation 20:10, what is the final fate of the devil, and who else is already in that place of judgment?

5. According to Revelation 20:12-13, what are the "books" that are opened at the Great White Throne judgment, and on what basis are the dead judged?

6. What two destinations are described in Revelation 20:14-15, and what determines which destination a person receives?

Interpretation Questions

1. The sermon explains that Satan being "bound" does not mean he is completely powerless, but rather that God sovereignly limits his ability to deceive the nations during this period. How does Jesus' teaching about binding the strong man (Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21-22) help us understand what this binding accomplishes for the spread of the gospel?

2. Why does the passage distinguish between "the first resurrection" (v. 5-6) and the second death (v. 14)? What does this distinction reveal about the two fundamentally different outcomes for humanity?

3. The sermon emphasizes that being judged "according to what they had done" (vv. 12-13) offers no saving news, since "by works of the law no human being will be justified" (Romans 3:20). How does the presence of the "Book of Life" alongside the books of deeds change the meaning of this judgment scene?

4. How does the brief but intense period of satanic deception after the thousand years (vv. 7-9) demonstrate that Satan's binding did not result in universal salvation? What does this reveal about the human heart apart from God's saving grace?

5. The sermon presents Revelation 20 as the conclusion of a "revolution" against God that began in Genesis 3. How does the fate of Satan in verse 10 fulfill the promise God made in Genesis 3:15 about the serpent's head being crushed?

Application Questions

1. The sermon teaches that every time we share the gospel, we participate in limiting Satan's power over those who are deceived. What specific opportunity do you have this week to share the good news of Christ with someone who does not yet know Him?

2. First Peter 5:8 and James 4:7 both instruct believers to resist the devil. The sermon warns that yielding to temptation trains Satan to keep tempting us in that area. In what area of your life have you been compromising with temptation, and what concrete step of resistance will you take this week?

3. The sermon challenges us to stop using words like "damned" and "hell" as trivial expressions because doing so deadens us to the reality of eternal judgment. How might changing your everyday speech help you and those around you maintain a proper seriousness about eternity?

4. James 4:14 reminds us that life is "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." The sermon used recent examples of unexpected deaths to illustrate this. How should this uncertainty about the length of your life affect your priorities and the way you spend your time today?

5. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that our lives should be "testimonies of reliance on Christ" rather than attempts at self-justification. In what specific relationship or situation are you tempted to justify yourself rather than point others to Christ's sufficiency?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 3:1-15 — This passage shows the beginning of Satan's revolution against God and contains the first promise of his ultimate defeat through the offspring of the woman.

2. Matthew 24:9-31 — Jesus teaches about the signs preceding His return, including increased lawlessness and deception, which parallels the intensified satanic opposition described before Christ's final victory.

3. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 — Paul describes the man of lawlessness and the period of intensified deception before Christ's return, expanding on the themes of Satan's release and final defeat.

4. Ephesians 2:1-10 — This passage describes how believers were once dead in sin under Satan's power but have been made alive with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places, illustrating the "first resurrection."

5. Romans 3:9-26 — Paul explains why no one can be justified by works of the law and how righteousness comes through faith in Christ, clarifying why the Book of Life rather than the books of deeds is the basis for salvation.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Revolution Against God Spans All of History

II. What Happens to the Lost? Many Are Saved (Revelation 20:1-6)

III. What Happens to Satan? He Is Defeated (Revelation 20:7-10)

IV. What Happens to the Lost Who Are Not Saved? They Are Damned (Revelation 20:11-15)

V. Application: Respond to the Certainty of Judgment

---

Detailed Sermon Outline

Revolutions can be heroic or horrible.

Whether we're thinking of the American Revolution or the French or the Russian, attacking the governing authorities releases forces not fully understood. John Adams mentioned that the American Revolution was won in the minds of the Americans before it was won on the battlefields. People begin to think of themselves differently in a revolution that succeeds. According to the Bible, you and I have been caught up in another, older, and more fundamental revolution, not against any earthly ruler, but rather to cast off the various yokes that we wear, especially the yoke of fundamentally being servants of God, our Creator. In the Garden of Eden, Satan began to lead a revolt against God, the Creator.

Adam himself joined and joined all of us with him in its ranks. It's gone down through every century, in every country, in every chapter of the Bible, from the beginning of Genesis down to the final chapters of Revelation, where we find ourselves this morning. And the great question is, how will this revolution end? How will this revolution end? And it turns out the answer is different depending on who you are.

The passage we come to now shows us the final days of this revolution and how it will finally and utterly fail. And that gives hope to those of us today who have betrayed the revolution and mean to serve God our Creator. And it gives warning to those of you who continue to try to declare your independence from God.

Please turn to Revelation chapter 20. And I would tell you what page number it's on in the Bible's provided, but just last night at my sermon reading I was made aware that we once again have two different page numbers going on. So I can't do that anymore. You're just going to have to find it yourself. The good news is if you open the back cover of your Bible and turn in a couple of pages, Revelation, Chapter 20, the chapter numbers are the large numbers.

The verse numbers are the small numbers. While you're turning there, let me just remind you of what we've seen in the book of Revelation. Chapter 1, actually maybe even just turn there. We'll just turn through the chapters and I'll just quickly narrate it. Look at chapter 1, it's a normal preamble and greetings because this first circulated as a letter.

Revelation is one of the epistles in the New Testament. Then it moved into the first vision of Christ reigning, chapters 2 and 3. You see we have these letters addressed to seven churches. Then chapters 4 and 5, one of the most famous parts of the book, have this vision of heaven. Then in chapters 6 to 8, we find the seven seals broken open, revealing God's plan for history.

Chapters 8 to 11, we're told of the second series of seven, the blowing of seven trumpets, declaring God's judgment on the world. So you see the order, the progression, the intensifying. The scrolls are broken open, that's the content, and then they're sounded out in the trumpets. So that's the second set of seven with recurring themes in them. And then in chapters 8 to 11, those seven trumpets.

And then in chapter 12 we had this interesting vision of the woman, the child and the dragon, who's a recurring character in the book. And then in chapter 13, the vision of the two beasts, one representing persecuting government, the other representing false religion. Chapter 14 presented a picture of seven bowls, the third and final series of sevens. The bowls is what has been broken open and read, and then sounded out and trumpeted is now poured out.

In these bowls of the purposes of God in history. Then in chapter 17 to 19 we saw Babylon, the world system opposed to God. We saw Babylon judged. And then in the rest of chapter 19 we've considered two very different meals these last two weeks. First, the wedding feast of the Lamb, and then the great supper of God in which His enemies are totally defeated.

And today we come to chapter 20, which is both a recapitulation of what we saw in chapter 19 and the culminating presentation of judgment with Satan being bound, martyrs reigning, Gog and Magog, the great white throne judgment. Who will be saved? What will happen to the leader of the revolution against God? Will anyone be damned?

Who? All of these big questions about how this Bible-long, history-long revolution ends, we find in our chapter that we're studying this morning, Revelation chapter 20. Listen to it as I read now, Revelation chapter 20. Follow along in your own copy of God's Word. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him. So that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.

Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life. And reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years.

And when the thousand 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, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was 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 and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Three big questions on the end. Three big questions on the end. Number one, what happens to the lost? That's verses 1 to 6.

What happens to the lost?

Number two, what happens to Satan? That's verses 7 to 10. What happens to Satan? Number three, third question, what happens to the lost that are not saved? That's verses 11 to 15.

I fully anticipate I will not answer most of your questions about Revelation chapter 20.

And rather than elongate the sermon in a vain attempt to do that, I'm deciding to preach what I think are the points of each section and I've just given them to you in those three questions. And tonight at our prayer meeting at 5, I will have an open mic Q&A for a few minutes on Revelation 20. Any questions are fair and I will do the best I can to try to help you out from understanding God's Word for other things than what I talk about this morning. Tonight at five, everybody's welcome. But this morning, I pray that you'll find which one of those answers matters most to you.

I pray that it'll be clear.

Number one. First big question about the end. Number one, what happens to the lost? And the great answer is many are saved. Many are saved.

That's what we're really seeing in the first six verses. I know the Millennium gets all the attention, but the whole point of the Millennium is Satan is bound and gospel work happens. The gospel goes out. People that have been deceived are no longer deceived. They're brought out of bondage.

That's the basic thrust of what John is being shown in verses one to six. So as curious a thing as it is to imagine what a what a trapped devil is like. What does it mean that he's bound? That's not the point.

This is the fifth beatitude you see here in our passage. You see where it says, verse 6, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. Well, that'll give us a hint of what's going on here. You see, there have been five of these blessings, these beatitudes, so far in the book of Revelation. Let's just look at the two immediately prior to this.

He says, Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen and exposed. So he's saying, Blessed are you if you're prepared for the return of Christ. What does it mean to be prepared? It means to have faith in Christ, to be trusting in him.

Or then look at the last one we saw in chapter 19, verse 9. The angel said this to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Who are those? They're the Christians. So again, again, the blessings are other ways of restating as it goes through the story, the vision that's revealed in Revelation, restating who these people are.

So this blessing here, number five in verse 6, Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. That is, the Christians are the ones who share in the first resurrection. Those who are saved by Christ. In verse 1, the chain and key show the temporary and the final fate of the serpent. And kids, by the way, when I say serpent, And we're in the Bible, what do you think about?

When I say serpent and we're in the Bible, what do you think about? You think about the Garden of Eden and the serpent that deceived Eve and Adam. This is that same serpent. That's why he's called here that ancient serpent. He's been around since the very first chapter of the Bible.

This is that ancient serpent. So this serpent is grabbed. But for the purpose of this part of the vision, the significance of the angel binding Satan in verse 2 is specifically to allow a period where the nations which had been deceived are now to be deceived no longer. Jesus had taught that such a time would come. Luke, chapter 11, verse 21.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Jesus is teaching this. When he did it in Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 3, it even records Jesus using the same verb as is used here. Jesus said, no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.

So Satan is being bound, then indeed he may plunder his house. Jesus taught the truth and so bound Satan and frees sinners who believe in him. This period of our reigning with Christ is for the evangelization of the nations. Paul in Acts 26 describes the Gentiles before Christ as having their eyes closed, being in darkness, being under the power of Satan. In Romans 6, Paul refers to being set free from the power of sin.

If you're here today as a Christian, you know that you sin, but you know that you don't have to sin. You're actually in a moral position of ability which you did not have in the same way when you were unregenerate. You now understand the difference and literally have the spiritual ability to choose to please God.

You have been unbound. You have been freed. You have been liberated from the bondage to the sin that did dominate your life. Paul could refer to Timothy in 2 Timothy as being delivered out of various persecutions that opposed his missions. He could refer to Jesus as delivering Christians from the wrath to come.

Or as Paul described it to the Colossians, God the Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Christian, our being saved is Christ's plundering the strong man's house. Because Satan is powerless to prevent each and every spiritual resurrection that God's Spirit brings. Even as Satan failed to dissuade God from acting salvifically for His own, and as Satan failed to dissuade God the Son from going to the cross, in order to save his people. And Satan failed to dissuade God the Holy Spirit from savingly calling his people out of his failing kingdom.

In John 16, there's an interesting example. Look over in John 16, verse 7. John 16:7. Jesus said, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see Me no longer; concerning judgment, Because the ruler of this world is judged. Who's the ruler of this world? Well, he didn't mean the Roman emperor. He didn't mean Herod, the local king.

No, he meant Satan. And he says here at this last night, the evening before his crucifixion, when this great act of saving the people of the spiritual exodus of God's people out of bondage, when this is about to happen, he says Satan is judged. God was using him for his own purposes. It's interesting, I think Luther it was, who said that the devil is the devil, but he's God's devil. What he meant by that, like in 1 Timothy 1:20, he mentions Hymenaeus and Alexander, who Paul says, I've handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Satan, who has no good intention whatsoever, is sovereignly used of God for God's good purposes. You want to see more on this? Read Job chapter 1. So this binding does not mean that Satan is powerless, but that God is sovereignly exercising his control over Satan to allow us to reign with Christ for a thousand years and that round number just suggests simply a long time, not an exact amount, like 1000, verses 1004, which is like a long, long time. This is the reigning Paul says here has already begun.

In Ephesians 2, when he says in Ephesians 2:6, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And as through our preaching and evangelizing grace extends to more and more people, I mean, just think of how many people in this room, think of those of you who can remember when you came to Christ, when you were born again. Think of how your life changed. Think of how you were liberated. You were unbound and friends in your unbinding, in a sense, Satan was bound.

He was bound from his role of lordship in your life through our preaching and evangelizing. As Luther also said, By God's Word we torture the devil. Brothers and sisters, every time we share the gospel, we make the devil wince. Every time the Holy Spirit gives gifts of repentance and faith, we almost hear Him howl, like a dog on a chain that goes crazy after the cat on the sidewalk it can't get to. In our priestly evangelism, We limit Satan's malicious power as we see more and more delivered from sharing in his awful fate.

It's that fate we want to turn now. Question number two, big question number two, about the end. What happens to Satan? What happens to Satan? He's defeated.

Look at verses 7 to 10.

Revelation 20:7-10 and when the thousand 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, to gather them for battle. Their numbers like the sand of the sea, and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. 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 and ever.

So after this period, the fact that Satan can deceive the nations does not mean that Christians lose their salvation. That is not what this is talking about.

So when it says, Deceive the nations, it means that the reigning mentioned there in verse 4 through the thousand year period of Christ with His church, it means it did not result in universal repentance and faith. Satan's being bound did not equate to his infernal revolution failing in every particular instance. Still it seems a vast number of people, you look at that phrase in verse 8, like the sand of the sea we read here, are so deceived that they want to join the devil in making war on the very ones who would bring them the good news of deliverance and salvation. That's craziness, that's spiritual suicide, but they are that deceived. But even here, it seems to be a brief, intense period of opposition to Christ and His church, and that simply proves to be the darkness before the dawn, as Christ comes in power to finally dissipate Satan and his forces forever.

Just like we saw last week in chapter 19, if you look back at chapter 19, verse 19, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his armies. So that's what we're seeing again here in chapter 20 and verse 8. Their numbers like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.

But also just like last week, look back over at 1919, when they were all assembled, then in verse 20 their leaders are captured and destroyed. In verse 21 their armies are slain. So here in chapter 20, the last phrase in verse 9 is, But fire came down and consumed them. So just when the forces are massed, when the battle lines are formed, and it would appear the battle is about to commence more quickly than drones ones or secret agents could act, the battle is lost. The war is over.

Verse 9, Fire came down from heaven and consumed them. John describes what would finally happen to Satan, and it's the same thing that happened to the beast and the false prophet back in chapter 19, in verse 20. The mock trinity is forever condemned. Look at chapter 20, verse 10. 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 and ever.

Friends, this binding of Satan in the previous section doesn't imply his spiritual immobility, as it were. And when he's released, and immediately before the end, there is a time of increased satanic opposition to God or intensified spiritual danger to Christians. Surely John was shown this in order to cause us to prepare while we can, to steel ourselves, to become wise in the counsel of God's Word. But the counsel of God's Word is fully sufficient. Friends, we see this in the teaching of Jesus.

If you look over in Matthew 24, when Jesus is talking about the second coming, he again and again alludes to this fact that immediately before His coming is going to be a time of great difficulty for the faithful. So Matthew 24:12, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. And he talks like that throughout this chapter 24, down in verse 22, and if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. If you wanna read more about this this afternoon, read 2 Thessalonians, chapters 2 and 3, and you'll find more about what seems to be allowed by God after this period where Christ rules through His church as the gospel spreads as person after person, nation after nation, as it were, is unblinded.

Then there does seem to be a sudden and sharp period of spiritual coldness and intensifying opposition. You see that in Jesus' teaching in Matthew 24, Paul's teaching in 2 Thessalonians 2. So what is our response to Satan? Whether it's Satan while he's bound or Satan when he's unbound, let me suggest a couple of things. Number one, Be ready.

Be ready. I think of Peter's counsel in 1 Peter 5:8: Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him.

You know, my wife and I have spent a good bit of time in Wintergreen, Virginia, on our vacations. We like the mountains. And there are bears down there. And I gotta tell you, I'm from Kentucky. I'm not used to bears.

You know, there, there were not bears where I grew up. So I don't naturally know how to respond to a bear. And I don't know if I should resist a bear or run from a bear or how I should respond to a bear. Well, Satan here is presented as far more malicious than any wildlife, but he's not something that, that needs to cause fear for us in. And we're given specific instructions.

Don't be scared of him. Be ready to resist him. Remember James also says this in James chapter 4 verse 7 submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. This is how you get the devil to flee from you. You resist him.

I love Matthew Henry's comment on this. He said if we basically yield to temptations, the devil will continually follow us.

And I just think of, yeah, if I'm in the mountains and I leave like food out on the deck, the bears will come and they'll learn to keep coming there till they're trained to get food there. That's what we're like to Satan when we give into temptations. He'll continually tempt us more. No, if we basically yield to temptations, the devil will continually follow us. But if we put on the whole armor of God and stand against him, he will be gone from us.

Resolve shuts and bolts the door against temptation.

So be ready, live ready. But the second thing then is be confident. Live ready. And that's especially during this time that we seem to be in, this time when Satan is bound. But even if we come into that time of this more intense satanic opposition around the world, even then, number two, be confident.

I want to quickly take you through the entire Bible. But it won't take long, just a few parts. Four bits to make it clear. I want you to get the whole story. We're in Revelation, chapter 20.

I should be able to do things like this. All right. Genesis 3:15. This is where the story starts, 3:14 and 15.

Satan has tempted Adam and Eve. They've fallen. God now has his sentence. The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, above all beasts of the field, on your belly you shall go, dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. When you first read those, they may not like significant. But those are symbols that stand for destructive action. And the big difference is the heel and the head. The heel hurts, but you keep going.

So he will bruise your heel. Satan will hurt the seed of Adam and Eve. Ultimately, of course, Jesus in the crucifixion. But what he said first is he shall bruise your head.

That means, Satan, you will be dealt a fatal defeat. And that's what Christ did at the very point when Satan thought he was winning. He actually lost at the cross. So his loss is promised from the very beginning of the revolution, right there in Genesis 3:15. Second passage, go to Matthew 25.

Matthew 25 Verse 41, Jesus Himself taught about the Second Coming, Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' Jesus taught that. Satan ends up in the eternal fire. Matthew 25:41. Third passage, Romans 16:27.

Romans 16:20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Brothers and sisters, we have the promise that God cares for His own and that we will be part of the answer of the defeat of Satan. He will crush Satan under our feet.

And the final passages then in the book of Revelation, you turn back to Revelation chapter 12, where we saw an earlier indication of this, Revelation 12:11-12.

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. So yes, he has great wrath, but what does it say his time is? It's short.

It's short. That's baked in, and that is good news. And so you come to our passage, chapter 20. Verse 10, there's the end of the revolution. 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 and ever.

Our greatest foe is guaranteed to lose. Our greatest foe is guaranteed to lose. You can be sure that any temptation which you feel you really want to give in to, to compromise with, in order to establish some kind of peace with the enemy of your soul is a complete and utter waste of time. Do not compromise with him. Do not think, if I just give him this, then he'll leave me alone.

No, he won't. No, be confident in the victory we have in Christ. Satan will not be satisfied by some sins. He will always want more. He'll just encourage you to do more.

It will lead you into more. Brothers and sisters, let your confidence in the victory of Christ over Satan feed your resolve to resist him. To resist him.

Parents, if you have little kids, you know what this is like. You want your son or your daughter to do something and they seem a little timid, they're a little scared to. But then if they see dad step in and dad looks, I'll do this. And then the son or the daughter is happy to be there with dad where he does that and then they like it, they can do it with him. Christ is like that for us.

He wins the victory. We need to trust him. We need to be confident and go with Him. Be confident in Christ's victory and sure that Satan will be defeated. And by the way, the local church is here to help you do both of these things.

To be ready, to be prepared for the immediate trial, and to share the confidence you have. You know, the way Caleb began the service and confidence of what God has done for us in Christ. That's how we gather at the beginning of every week, every new week for us. Starts as Resurrection Sunday. We don't have an annual calendar, we have a weekly one.

The weekly calendar in the New Testament begins every single week with the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day. That's the confidence that we have, that we encourage in each other. All right, still one more lingering issue we have to deal with before we get to the untrammeled joys of the last two chapters of Revelation that after these last few weeks I so look forward to sharing with you. Revelation 21 and 22.

Number three, third big question about the end, what will happen to the lost who are not saved? What will happen to the lost who are not saved? And the answer we see clearly here in these final verses of chapter 20 is that they are damned. They are damned. Look at chapter 20 beginning verse 11.

And particularly if you're here and you're not religious, you're not a Christian, please listen very carefully, because I don't think anybody else is going to tell you stuff like this. I don't mean any other than me, I mean other than Christians. This is where you hear the truth about this. Chapter 20 verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.

From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them.

According to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Friends, this unending lake of fire in which there is torment day and night forever and ever is the terrible meaning of the word damned. Which is why you need to stop using it as an adjective, meaning very.

You are evacuating one of the most meaningful words in our language cheaply.

It is important that we have a concept of damnation left, and it would be very much like Satan for trivial purposes to blind us to it by deadening us to the Word itself. Come up with other things to say. Christians swear, say, Dang! I mean, you know, make up your own, By George! you!

know. Or do the Jesus thing with no exclamation, you know. But don't use that word damned lightly. There is the most serious of meanings attached to it. And not just the word damned, friends.

That's why also you need to stop using the noun hell as simply something meaning very or an explanation of surprise. Again, come up with something else. Because it's causing our ears to become accustomed to words that can act to hide the meaning of real eternal condemnation in the lake of fire. And we need a word in English for that. So please keep those words for the sacred use that we have for them so that people can hear the truth and understand it so that you don't become hardened to it.

The Bible can be said to be a universalistic book in the sense that it has a message for all people and all kinds of people. The Bible has a message for people with Jewish heritage, and a message for people of any other national heritage. The Bible has a word of warning and a call and a promise for all of those who will repent of their sins and believe in Christ. In this sense, the Bible is a universalistic book. It's a book for everybody.

In another sense, the Bible is not a universalistic book. The Bible is clear that it is not true that all people will be saved.

That the Bible is clear that it is not true that no one will be damned. That is not true. That is something you would like to hear And therefore there are people who will charge you money because they know you'll pay it in order to tell you things like that. And sadly they fill the pulpits of many formerly Christian churches in this district because they will pay you money, as Paul says in 2 Timothy, to teach what your itching ears want to hear. But the Bible, if we read it clearly, is much the other way.

The Bible contains here a sobering word to all that on the last day everyone will stand before God, the one who's too great for even the inanimate creation of the fallen world to remain before.

Look at verse 11.

From his presence earth and sky fled away.

We sang this earlier, you know, when heaven and earth will flee away, will go away, is some great scroll.

Three vital truths for us in these last five verses: one, every person; two, every deed; three, two books; one, every person one, two, every deed, three, two books. One, every person.

John is shown clearly in verse 12 before the judgment throne of God were the dead, great and small. It does not matter their status. Capitol Hill, your earthly status could not be of less importance. When you stand before God at the end of time. Whether you were a partner at your law firm just will not matter.

Whether or not you ever got married and had a lot of kids just will not matter. How well you did at your work will not matter. If you were considered a world expert and you were the spelling bee champion, won't matter. None of those things, not the number of zeros after the amount of dollars you earned, none of those things are going to matter. I pointed out before that when I came here, some of you will remember, the few of you that were here, there was a senator here who was the longest, well that's not true, he was one of the senior senators in the Senate, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Large things are named after him in his home state. And now I can't find any of you under 50 who have ever even heard his name. Prince, that's the greatness this city looks for. Uh, Stanton Square is two blocks that way. That statue, if you notice, is a statue in the middle of it.

Who would that be? That would be, I guess, General Stanton, right? Yeah, no, it's not General Stanton. It's another general. You're gonna have to go read it now and figure out who it is.

Prince, even the greatest of people who get statues made to them, we don't remember who they are. You understand great and small. Stand before God. Great and small are judged by him. Everyone, even those lost in the most mysterious way, like a death at sea, where you may think surely that person at least is missing to God.

No, not to God. No one is missing to God. But I'm not particularly religious, you think. I don't have anything against God. I just don't know him.

But friend, that last admission that you don't know Him is the fatal one. John wrote in his letter, Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. This is true for each person in this room and in this world, and apparently for everyone who has ever lived.

Every person is accountable before God. And second thing here to note, it's for every deed every deed, none forgotten. Did you notice that in verse 12, books were opened, books were opened, what were they? We'll look again at the last sentence in verse 12, it's very plain. The dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.

And then, as if John knew that we might have wondered if we had misheard him when this was read out to the Christians in those early churches, he repeats it.

Verse 13, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Now, if you're here today and you're familiar with some other religion or none, you may find some fleeting comfort in the thought, Ah, okay, well, I have a chance then. You know, I mean, maybe I'm good enough. I'm not as bad as him.

I've never done that. It's amazing how when we have to justify ourselves, we quickly think of all the ways that we're innocent. We could be like a serial killer and we will quickly think of all the ways we're innocent, all the things we haven't done. That's just what it means to be by nature self-justifying, to be fallen. But friends, I think if we see what's going on here, you realize that if you know your Bible, there is no saving news to be found in mere justice.

So is justice good news? Yes, we want justice, but justice alone brings no salvation. Romans chapter 3, verses 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by the works of the Law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin, knowledge of sin, not cure from sin, not substitution for our sins, knowledge of sin.

It says, Portia says in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy.

And that's where we need to notice the final fact, number three, that there are only Two books, two books. The books referred to in verse 12, which seem to function as one book, one sort of multi-part volume, perhaps containing a complete account of all the deeds of all the dead. And yet, those whose names are found only there are what?

They're thrown into the lake of fire.

And then there is the other book, called the Book of Life. We were given its full name back in chapter 13, verse 8.

The Book of the Life of the Lamb who was slain.

The names contained in there are those who are saved. The names contained in there are those who have risked their entire life, not perfect, but sincerely, on the act, the deed of Christ and what he has done, relying on him alone, and they will be saved. Friend, that can be you. If you will rely not on what you have done, but will rely on Christ alone, on his substitutionary death on the cross for everyone who turn from their sins and trust in him.

The Lamb's Book of Life. There's not a better book mentioned in the Bible. It's the book you want to know and be familiar with.

It's a book you want to be included in. Kids, which book do you want to be in? Talk to your parents about it. At lunch, which book? Your name will be in one or the other.

It's going to be in the one set or it's going to be in the Lamb's Book of Life.

So three big questions. About how Satan's revolution against God will end. His revolt led us into an entire world which has fallen. Paul calls our creation in bondage to corruption. That's why we live in this world that we live in, that we wake up to every day in the headlines.

We read of hostages unreleased. We read of innocent Palestinians killed. We read of growing numbers of youths lost and drowning in flash floods. Kids, you do not have to be old to see your life end. We're not promised in the Bible any certain length of life.

Many people die when they are very old, and many people die when they are very young. And your elders do you no favor by not telling you that. Friends, this is a message that all of us can hear and know and why there are tragedies like that which happened to 28-year-old Diogo João, the Portuguese footballer who just may won a trophy with Liverpool. Then in June, one another one with his national team for Portugal. Then 11 days ago got married.

And then this past week was killed with his brother in a car accident.

Cristiano Ronaldo, a teammate of Jodah's in the national team, said on Instagram, Doesn't make any sense. Just now we were together in the national team. Just now you were married.

James 4:14.

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Oh, not me. No, my plans are too set.

My retirement's too important. My family needs me too much. Oh, I'm just about to have the job of my life. No. Your life is a mist.

James 4, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. God has given us this book of Revelation, God has given us this book of the Bible to show us what our lives are supposed to mean. And they are not to be attempts that we have to justify ourselves. Our lives are to be testimonies of Jesus, testimonies of our reliance on Him, of what He has provided supremely in Christ.

We do what we do here as we begin each week by coming together around the Word to let it define the reality out of which we will live and operate with the new week. So when a week begins, wherever we are, we go to church. We meet with other Christians. We say, Right, Christ has risen. This week is another one that I'm giving to Him.

We do that as we come to the Lord's table. We come to give ourselves again to the one who has given Himself for us.

Lord God, we thank you for sending the Lamb of God to be stricken for us, to bear our transgressions. We thank you for this preview of the marriage supper of the Lamb. That we can look forward to and anticipate. Lord, we pray that yout would give us the joy of that ultimate fellowship with youh set before us, and that that will cause us to endure whatever your may have for us in our times. Lord, you, know when Satan is bound and youd know when he's released.

But, Lord, whenever that is, we know that yout will keep us in Christ. We pray that yout would encourage us with that even now, in Jesus' name. Amen.