"The Church that Overcomes Satan" by Joel Martin | KFW 2023

Lesson Transcript

Good morning. God bless you. Thank you for those songs, Brother Nathan, Brother Linwood. Second to last verse we sang in that final song says that, "Thy saints in all this glorious war shall conquer, though they die." They see the triumph from afar and seize it with their eye. The church that overcomes Satan. We've been singing, but I'd like to invite you to stand one more time, and we're going to sing one more chorus as we begin. Let's go ahead and stand. You could just have this mic off.

Let's sing together that chorus. We've got the power in the name of Jesus. We've got the power in the name of Jesus. We've got the power in the name of the Lord. Though Satan rages, we will not be defeated. We've got the power in the name of the Lord. The next verse says, "For many years now, Satan's tried to stop us, but the church of Jesus is still alive. Like a mighty army, we keep marching onward, winning every battle with the Lord by our side." Let's sing the second verse.

It says, "So come now, let's agree together that all our enemies are under our feet." So come now, let's agree together that all our enemies are under our feet, and whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And at the name of Jesus, Satan has to flee. Sing, "We've got the power in the name of Jesus. We've got the power in the name of the Lord. Though Satan rages, we will not be defeated.

We've got the power in the name of the Lord." You may have noticed five months ago that a name originally appeared beside the title to this message and then disappeared. One year and seven days ago, my second youngest brother was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. Throughout the past year, intense challenges, setbacks, difficulties, spiritual warfare was so much part of my journey and actually still is that I wasn't sure.

I asked the team, I said, "Can you find someone else to preach this message?" They consented to that and looked for another brother. They knew what I was going through. When that brother declined, the team came back and said, "Would you reconsider?" Here we are by the grace of God today. The church that overcomes Satan, open your Bibles with me to Revelation 12. We're going to begin reading in verse 7. Verse 7 says, "And there was war in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.' And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.'" Verse 12 yet, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe!

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he hath but a short time." This text says, "They overcame him." Who is the "they" that this text is referring to? It's the saints, those who have a sworn enemy, the accuser of the brethren. I would like to call your attention, first of all, in this verse. Our key verse here is chapter 12, verse 11.

To the second word in this verse, it says, "They." Oftentimes we read the passages for a text too quickly. I want us just to pause and think about that plural pronoun for a minute. "They overcame." Together, they overcame him. It's no secret in both the spiritual realms of light and of darkness that united we will stand, but also the opposite is absolutely true as well. Divided we will fall. "They overcame him." You can have a coal burning on a fire in the hearth, and you take that coal and set it out.

It doesn't matter how hot that coal was initially. If it is not with the rest of those embers, it will quickly be extinguished. "They overcame him." Collectively, together.

The scripture says, "Two are better than one." Though one may be overpowered, it says in the book of Ecclesiastes, I'm quoting from a different version now, "Though one may be overpowered, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." "They together overcame him." "They," let's look at the second word, "overcame." This word is nikao in the Greek. It means to win, to have victory over, to defeat. It's a battle word. It appears 28 times in the New Testament.

It's often translated, most often in the King James Version, as "overcome" or "conquer," but also as "prevail" and "to get the victory." "They overcame." Another passage where this word is found, the same Greek word, is Revelation 3:21.

It says, "To him that overcomes," nikao, "will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Again, Romans 12 says, "Be not overcome," same word, of evil, "but overcome evil with good." And finally, 1 John 5:5 for another sampling of how this word is used, "Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" The repetition of this word, brothers and sisters, in multiple contexts reminds us that the Christian, while

living in this present fallen world, is in a battle.

"They overcame." The next word in this phrase is "him." "They overcame him." And I want to pause just a minute and consider who it was that they overcame. The accuser, the devil, the one who has come down with great wrath because he knows he has but a little time.

The dragon who made war in heaven is now come down, and this text says, "Woe unto you, ye inhabitants of the earth." But it also says, "They overcame him." What do we know about the dominion and power of the enemy from the passages of scripture that we could look out this morning? We could glean many things. I want to just look at two more passages. We get a brief glimpse into what happens sometimes in the heavenlies, a mysterious glimpse in the book of Job in chapter 1. I want to read two verses there.

We're familiar with this context. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, 'When's comest thou?' Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.'" 1 Peter 5 says, "Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world." Our adversary, the devil. In these passages, he's called a great dragon, he's called the old serpent, and he's called a roaring lion. But the keys prophetically given by Revelation of God to John for us are given in this passage how we can overcome also. "Those of us upon whom the ends of the world are come, those of us to whom this text says, 'Woe unto you.'" So how did they overcome?

Key number one, they overcame him. Say it with me, "By the blood of the Lamb." Praise God. Friends, this morning, there's power. There's wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. Never let anyone cause you to doubt that. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. Praise God. Hallelujah this morning for the blood of Jesus. Scripture tells us that we are redeemed by the blood.

We are cleansed by the blood and justified by the blood. 1 Peter 1 says, "For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." Redeemed.

1 John 1 says, "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." Romans 5 says, "Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." There's many places we could go in scripture to think about the power of the blood, many texts we could consider. But I want to challenge us this morning to recognize that though there are many who believe, take our Muslim friends, for example.

I sat with a Muslim young man about two years ago and had this very discussion that God is merciful, and he can choose to pardon us if he so desires, though there may be many who may believe that. The scripture says, "The wages of sin, the payment or punishment for sin is death.

God told Adam and Eve, 'In the day that you eat thereof,' speaking of the forbidden fruit, 'In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.'" And we know, according to the scriptures, that death reigned from Adam to Moses to John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament, both physically and spiritually, separation from God. We saw that initially in the garden. They no longer could have access in the same way to the very presence of a holy God.

I believe that even the Old Testament saints, brothers and sisters, could not enter into heaven but through the blood of Jesus Christ, by the new and living way that he has consecrated for us through the veil, that's to say, his flesh. Scriptures tell us there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.

Hebrews 10:4 says, "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Hebrews 11 goes on to say, "These all, the Hebrews of faith, these all died in faith, not having received the promises." 1 Peter 9, I'm sorry, 1 Peter 1:9 talks about us, "Upon whom the ends of the world are come, receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls." Verse 10 says, "Of which salvation the prophets inquired and searched diligently." "Searching of which salvation the prophets inquired and

searched diligently, who prophesied before of the grace of God that should come unto you, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you by the Holy Ghost, by them that have preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." "The prophets inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied before of the grace that should come unto you." So then, consider with me, before the death of Christ, where were the souls of the departed

who died in faith?

Those who had died not having yet received the promises. Jesus tells us a story in Luke 16 that gives us maybe just a small glimpse into this reality pre-cross.

There's a story about a man who died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, another man who died and was buried and lifted up his eyes in hell in Hades and saw Abraham and Lazarus across this great gulf that was fixed between them and said, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus to come and dip the tip of his finger into water to cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame." 1 Peter 4 says, "For this cause was the gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the

flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit." Ephesians 4 unwraps this mystery just a little further, saying, "When he, Jesus, ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

And again, now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" The lower parts of the earth. What is this talking about? And who were the captives who were held there? I believe these scriptures are speaking of the abode of the dead pre-cross, before the cross and the resurrection, before the New Testament offering of the blood of Jesus Christ and the rending of the veil. Both the temple and tabernacle were only a shadow of the heavenly.

But now, Hebrews says, "Christ has not entered into holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

But this man," Hebrews 10 says, "after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." Hebrews 2:14, Brother Ken quoted this verse this morning, says, "This, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Satan had, past tense, Satan had a rightful hold on all who were ever born from Adam and Eve until the

second Adam, Jesus Christ, the one because of whom the apostle Paul could say, "O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures tell us for this cause, for this reason, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. The little boy from the carpenter shop. Born in a stable, his mother, a virgin, raised in a carpenter shop. His parents were poor, his people were slaves, his friends a lonely lot. His chances in life were very slim.

He's expected to be a slave. But people in darkness saw light in him, and hope of freedom he gave. All of the powers of heaven and earth God had invested in him. He's to die on the cross, descend into hell, meet the devil, and take the keys from him. He yielded himself to the death on the cross, cried, "It's finished," and slumped to die. In the regions of hell, the devil celebrated, "We've destroyed the king," he cried.

But in the midst of the celebration, footsteps were heard walking the corridors of hell, and the shouting stopped, and a voice rang out, a voice that rang like a bell. Satan trembled as he recognized him who had come to deliver his own. "Shut and lock the gates," he cried. "Don't let him ascend to his throne." So the gates swung shut in the face of the king to prove God's salvation untrue. But he shook hell's gates, and he cried, "Lift up your heads.

The king is coming through." Then out of the devil's prison house came a procession led by the king shouting, "Now, O grave, where is thy victory? And death, where is thy sting? Who is the king of glory? The Lord God mighty in battle is he. Who is the king of glory, master of hosts, of heaven supreme? Who is the king of glory, the one that not even death could stop? He is the king of glory," that little boy from the carpenter shop. Brothers and sisters, in Revelation 7, John heard this question.

He says, "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, 'Who are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? This multitude, unnumerable, before the throne?' And I said to him, 'Sir, thou knowest.' And he answered, saying to me, 'These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Secondly, this text tells us that they overcame him.

Say it with me, "By the word of their testimony." Say it again, "By the word of their testimony." Proverbs 18:21 says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. We're created in the image of God, and as image bearers, we have creative potential in the words that we speak. Both death and life are in the power of the tongue.

It says in the book of Romans, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." We could talk about the confession that takes place at baptism. We sometimes think of testimony in a more traditional sense, and I want to talk about that. But for just a minute, consider the power of spoken words at your confession at baptism or the ordinance of marriage when you speak.

Many of you have had this privilege. I stood before the altar one day, and the pastor asked me, it was Kelsey's husband, it was Kelsey's father, she asked me, he asked me, I'm sorry, Brother Ken asked me, he said, "Joel, will you take this woman by your side to be your wedded wife? Will you love and cherish her and keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?" "I will." The creative potential and power of those words.

I don't know what the questions were asked, I don't know what questions were asked to you at your baptism. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? I do. Upon this confession of your faith, I baptize you, the power of the spoken word. Martyrs at their death were very well known to continue testifying right up to the end. They continued praising and thanking God with supernatural grace and power, talking of their commitment to Jesus Christ.

At times, as we know, their persecutors became so enraged at this testimony that they attempted to silence them by cutting out their tongues or screwing their tongues to the roof of their mouths. They continued praising and thanking God. Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaking, says, "They shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain sin or resist." Starting with Stephen in the book of Acts, we see the promise fulfilled that Jesus had spoken to his disciples just a few years earlier. As Stephen spoke, they could not resist the wisdom or the authority.

The Holy Spirit was on him, and he, as he spoke, he quoted scripture, and he cut to the heart with the words that the Lord had given him instantaneously in fulfillment of this promise. Jesus also, when standing before the Sanhedrin, as they provoked him to speak, finally, before the high priest, he quoted Daniel 7, which speaks of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and authority. Jesus and Stephen both stood before the councils, and they spoke with authority.

Not only that, they spoke the word of God. Think about that for a minute. They spoke the word of God. The martyrs were known to quote scripture. They knew the word of God. They knew the written word of God. Jesus also overcame, as we know, the devil in the wilderness. Three times he said, "It is written. It is written." How could he do that? He had the word of God written on his heart. And a challenge I'd like to leave with us here this morning is we think about the word of our testimony.

Yes, let's rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's also continue to commit the scripture to memory. That's one of the things I appreciate about Kingdom Fellowship Weekend. This year we were memorizing Psalms 127. As I was meditating on that, I saw that there's a verse here that directly relates to this particular section of this topic. Speaking of how that our children will be like arrows in the hand of a mighty man, the psalmist says, "They shall speak.

They shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Our children will speak. "They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Do you ever feel ashamed? Do you ever feel quiet?

Even the apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, he's sitting in Rome bound in chains, and he says, "Pray also for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the witness of the gospel, for the which I'm ambassador in bonds." If even the apostle Paul needed to ask for prayer that he could be bold for the gospel, how much more do we? I know, unfortunately, what it feels like to be ashamed and to be quiet.

I also know, by God's grace, what it feels like to speak and to testify with boldness. May God help us to be ready, to be prepared. In the book of Acts, after the apostles were beaten, what did they do? Go back and pull together in a circle and pray for God's protection. No, they prayed for boldness, that they could speak the word of God. And the place was shaken where they were assembled, and they were filled again with the Holy Ghost, and they went out everywhere proclaiming boldly the word of God.

They overcame him. Though the enemy was trying to silence them, they overcame him by the word of their testimony. So, number one, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Number two, by the word of their testimony. And number three, it says in this text, "They love not their lives unto the death." The most powerful, the most powerful, and the most dangerous people on the planet are those who are living for a cause for which they are not afraid to die.

Whether a jihadist or a Christian martyr, the most powerful and the most dangerous people on the planet are those who are living for a cause for which they are not afraid to die. Hebrews 11 speaks of these kinds of people. It says, "They quenched the violence of the fire. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They said to the king, 'Our God is able to deliver us, but if he doesn't choose to deliver us, be it known to you, O king, we will not bow down nor worship the golden image which you have set up.'" And God did choose, in that case, to deliver them. They quenched the violence of the fire. The text goes on to say they were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered about in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. These all died. These all died in faith. They loved not their lives, brothers and sisters, unto the death. And now they are recorded for us as examples. Now we are, as it says in Hebrews 12, encouraged to look at their example as a great cloud of witnesses as we continue running the race that's set before us. I used to wonder what it would feel like to be a martyr.

And I honestly had this fear in my heart that if I should be called to give my life to burn at the stake or to be sawn asunder as Isaiah was, the intensity of that pain, that suffering, Lord, I don't know how I could do that. I don't want to draw attention to myself here, but I earlier felt led to tell you this story. When I was 18 years old, I was working on scaffolding at a job, and I remember the scaffolding starting to fall, and I remember jumping. That's the last thing I remember.

I was about 25 feet in the air. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up, laying flat on my back, looking up at the sky, and I instantly knew that I had severely injured myself. I figured I'd probably broken my back, which actually was the case. I remember verbally crying out to Jesus right there, laying on the ground, just stunned. And the peace, the tranquility, the tangible grace that washed over me in that time was palpable.

I've never since that time wondered if God can give us the grace in those great and intense times of affliction and suffering, as he has been faithful to give the martyrs in times past. I actually remember praying and telling the Lord, "God, if you want me to," and I meant it, "be in a wheelchair the rest of my life, that's really okay." God's great grace in times of great and intense suffering is real. Climb up your golden height. Champion of the band of holy souls alight who follow Christ command.

We sing this song. It's in the back of the Christian Hymn. I looked up the history to this song in preparing for this message. It was written by the author of the Martyr's Mirror, Tilliman von Braut. Brother Nathan can probably say his name with the German pronunciation. Translated into English first in 1886 and was then recast in the edition we sing today by the late John J. Overholt.

And according to hymnry.org, and I confirmed this with Brother Nathan, this recasting was done in 1975, which marked the 450-year anniversary of the Radical Reformation. Brother Nathan said, "Yes, Joel." He wrote me an email. I wanted to see if this was actually true. He said, "I can remember going around." Brother Nathan, are you in here this morning? How old were you? 1975? Nine years old. Nine years old. Brother Nathan said, "I can remember traveling around the United States with my family.

My dad would preach, and we would sing that song in 1975." Praise God. This song was originally written as a tribute to a martyr named Gerardus who, for the testimony of Jesus, went singing before his companions, five other men, two women, and a girl, on their way to burning at the stake. They love not their lives. Climb up your golden height, champion of the band of holy souls alight who followed Christ command. This hero went before them.

He did fight his way through the straight gate to heaven through Christ's living way. Can you see him singing as he marches before his companions to burning? God's banner, God's banner, red in blood, oppression, misery, where smoke and vapor stood, burnt sacrificially, the sacrificial fire ascending to the skies of dreadful human offerings who there won the prize. Nor makes it them ashamed to bear the name of Christ until they are consumed and meet the Lord they prize.

Lord, our thanks for blood of martyrs and for prophets slain. This thy heritage still offers Christ's eternal gain.

In the famous words of Jim Elliott, "He is no fool, brothers and sisters, who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." "This light affliction," said the apostle Paul, "and he knew what affliction was about." We read of him being beaten many times with rods, shipwrecked, left for dead, and yet he said, "This light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Hallelujah.

Jesus, through his death, conquered the enemy and destroyed him that had the power of death, and thereby he left us an example that we should follow in his steps. Take up your cross. Are you a soldier? Am I a soldier of the cross? The Calvary Road, the way of the cross, through the straight gate to heaven, this is Christ's living way.

Philippians says, "He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Wherefore God also, that wasn't the end, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. What a landslide victory was won at the cross. Corinthians tells us, "Had the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The power, the wisdom, the mystery of the cross.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. In conclusion, I want to challenge us to recognize this morning that after we've done all within our power, we're still, humanly speaking, no match for the enemy. But Romans 8 says, "If God, if God before us, then who can be against us? We're not the right man on our side." Hallelujah.

The scripture says, "It's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit." Psalm 46, I was speaking earlier this weekend to Brother Mikaya about this psalm, and he reminded me that in the context of this famous word that he said, we often see framed and pretty mottos on the wall, "Be still and know that I am God." It's a battle context. He breaketh the bow and cuts the spear asunder. He burns the chariot in the fire. The waters are roaring. The heathen are raging.

"Be still and know that I am God." Brothers and sisters, there is a battle. It's real. But the scripture tells us there are more with us than with them. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Keep that connection to him. Guard it above all else. And heavenly armor will enter the land. The battle belongs to the Lord. No weapon that's fashioned against us can stand. The battle belongs to the Lord. When the power of darkness comes in like a flood, the battle belongs to the Lord.

Let's not forget that. The battle belongs to the Lord. He's raised up a standard, the power of his blood. The battle belongs to the Lord. So we can sing glory, honor, power, and strength to the Lord. Glory, honor, power, and strength to the Lord.

Though the accuser of the brethren stands ready to accuse us, according to this text we read, "Before the throne day and night, we have an advocate with the Father, a mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous." Romans 8 goes on to say, "Who shall lay anything?" So there's an accuser. But the scripture says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died.

Yes, rather that has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for you and I, for us. Praise God." And finally, thinking of overcoming through our willingness to love not our lives unto the death, the scripture says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or sword? As it is written, 'For thy sake we are killed all the day long.

We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.'" No, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors. Through these things, we are more than conquerors, overcomers through him that loved us. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Praise God. Jesus said, "In the world, you will have tribulation." Aren't you thankful he didn't stop there? "But be of good cheer." We can sing, "Joyful, joyful, I adore thee, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Be of good cheer.

I have, Nikao, I have overcome the world." And again, Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Brothers and sisters, we will overcome. The scripture says, "They overcame him." How? Let's say it together. "By the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death." Thanks be to God.