Good to see you in church today. And boy, the Lord's already been here wonderfully. Let's let's read. It's on the screen. Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns and on his 10 horns, 10 crowns and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. and all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go captivity, and he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast. telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who understands calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man His number is 666. Would you bow for prayer? Now, Father, be with us and glorify yourself in our presence today. Thank you for your loving kindness shown toward us in that we were able to hear the gospel and be saved. Thank you that you do have a book, the Lamb's Book of Life, and it's in your possession and no one can get to it. And that when we call on you in faith, you write our name in. And then nobody can, can take it out. Thank you for this time that we have together to look into your word in Jesus name. Amen. So last week we met this power source. The first of this unholy Trinity, as I'm calling them, we met the dragon. He's called Satan, the devil, the serpent. In fact, Satan has many aliases. Let me read you a few Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. He's called the wicked one, the enemy, the murderer. The liar, the ruler of this world, the god of this age, Belial, the prince of the power of the air, the tempter, a roaring lion, the adversary, the dragon, the accuser of the brethren, the serpent of old, the deceiver. All of these descriptive names are used in the scripture talking about the same person. So the dragon, he had tried the patience of God to the limit. We saw last week in our sermon called Star Wars. And listen, folks, I just got to tell you, you really, really, really need to go back and go online, download that to an MP3 or listen live as you sit in front of your computer. But you need to hear what I had to say last week because this is going to make a whole lot more sense this week if you can put it together with what I had to say. last week. So there was war in heaven and there was woe on earth in chapter 12 and Satan was finally cast out and downcast. He no longer will have, he does now, but he won't then. He will no longer have access to God's throne to accuse the believer and to point out our failures and shortcomings and sins. And so that is very important for us to know. Now there were two of Satan's agents carrying out his bidding on the earth. I will, I will just add this one thing. Now Satan is the liar and he's the father of it and he does nothing but lie, but he doesn't have to lie when he is accusing the brethren. Because we do continually, we do continually do those things that are not pleasing in his sight. I just so glad that first John two, two says, but even though that's true, we have an advocate. We have a lawyer, we have a mediator, a mediary, we have one sitting at the right hand of the Father who says every time that Satan accuses us, he says, but I died for that sin. Isn't that wonderful? We just celebrated the fact. Now there were two of Satan's agents that were carrying on his bidding during the first half of the Tribulation, I believe, and while he was still accusing the brethren, they are the two players of this drama of the ages that we see in chapter 13, the one we just read. Keep in mind now that by now the Antichrist or the Beast has wowed the world with his swelling words, the Bible says, his worldly wisdom, his wit, and he has brokered A peace plan. People say, well what is the sign of the coming of the Antichrist? I honestly believe with all my heart it's peace in the Middle East. Somebody is finally going to figure it out and he's going to be the guy and when he does the whole world is going to wonder after this person. He's going to broker a peace plan for the Middle East. He's famous, he's untouchable, he's the unquestioned leader of the whole world for the moment. So we're going to talk about this week, the beast and his war against the saints. And then next week, I'm going to talk about his false prophet. So the beast and his prophet part one, and I didn't want to put it in one sermon. So let's recognize some of the satanic attributes and write these down. This, this, this beast, We know him as the Antichrist. This beast has a distinct family likeness in verse number one. I want you to look at it in 13.1. It says, I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw the beast rising up out of the sea and he had seven heads, ten horns. On his horns ten crowns. Now he rises out of the sea. He is definitely, though he rises out of the sea, he's the product of his father. And just quickly, the statement that he rises out of the sea is the reference to the turbulent nations of the earth. the conditions of the world at the time of his arrival. The world, as we know, is smaller all of the time. Rapid travel, lightning speed of communication, satellite surveillance of the earth make it impossible to remain a world of countries. We're now a world of a world community, and they keep reminding us that all the time. But in this case, we're not better together, we're worse together. The world is a mess. The proliferation of arms has us on the edge of war all the time. The problems of terrorism, disease, poverty, and hunger are all well documented and growing every day. Most recently, we have witnessed the mass migrations and people movements of the past few years are snapshots, to be honest, of what is going to happen during that great tribulation period when food sources dry up and the war breaks out and then hunger and then disease. We saw it in the first four seals back in chapter six. And so the agitated and raging world of the nations and peoples and races are going to be ready for some answers to the problem we face. Isaiah 57 20 identified this. He says, the wicked are like the troubled sea. Revelation 17, when we get there, it's going to say the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And so the raging sea are the raging masses of people that are more agitated all the time. So the world is going to be ready for this charismatic leader. It's going to come with a plan for peace and prosperity. And even more than now, they're going to be ready to receive him. So we see this beast rises from the raging sea, but he rises from the sea, but he displays the character and the characteristics and the likeness of his father. We've seen these heads, horns, and crowns before. And again, you really need to hear last week's sermon. But we identified these heads, these world kingdoms, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the kingdom of the Antichrist, and then the kingdom of the Antichrist again. Revelation 12, 3, we spent time on these kingdoms. Now, the dragon had the same thing on his head back in Daniel chapter 7. There was introduced a little horn, he had a big mouth, and these same heads, horns, and crowns were there. Back in Daniel chapter 12, verse 3, last week, the heads, the crowns, and the horns, they were there. The ten horns that come up in the latter day come up in the kingdom along with the Antichrist. They're given power, the Bible says, for an hour with him. And so this Antichrist has the likeness of his father. It's pretty simple, really. Like father, like son. This beast is the earthly representative of his father, the devil, and the will of his father we will do. You know, we're familiar with that. John 14 9, Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? You know, to see the antichrist is going to be to see the character of the devil himself impersonating. He's a deceiver. He's a liar. He's a trickster. He's a warmonger. He's all of these things. And we'll talk about that even more. So it's important to show that Satan's desire has always been to take God's place. It has never stopped. We can say of the beast, if you've seen him, you've seen his father. He's imitating that father-son relationship that the father and the son Jesus have. He has then a distinct family lineage as well. He has a distinct family lineage. Now wait a minute, he rises from the raging sea, and he's just like his father, but he has a family lineage. These animals. THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IN VERSE NUMBER TWO. HE SAYS, THE BEAST WHICH I SAW WAS LIKE A LEOPARD, HIS FEET WERE LIKE THE FEET OF A BEAR, AND HIS MOUTH WAS LIKE THE MOUTH OF A LION, AND THE DRAGON GAVE HIM HIS POWER. SO THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT THE POWER SOURCE, THE DRAGON THAT WE TALKED ABOUT BACK IN CHAPTER 12, WHICH IS THE DEVIL, THE SERPENT, AND SO ON. WE KNOW WHO THAT IS. THESE ANIMALS THAT WE SEE ARE ALSO SEEN BACK IN DANIEL CHAPTER 7. IF WE WERE TO GO THERE AND READ, WE WOULD SEE THAT THEY SHOW UP IN A DIFFERENT ORDER, IN REVERSE ORDER. When Daniel saw and gave his prophecy in chapter 7, he talked about the coming world kingdoms, and he saw a lion, and that was the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and he saw a lopsided bear, that prophesied the Medo-Persian empire, and after that he saw a leopard, that was to foretell the coming of the Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great, or Alexander Magno is actually his name. But here we see them in reverse. Daniel looked ahead and prophesied, here's what's coming. John is looking back and he sees what he sees. Now what empire is missing in the list? We talked about the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, we talked about the kingdom of the Persians, and we talked about the kingdom of Greece and Alexander, and the next one is? Rome, Rome is missing. It's missing. And of course that was the kingdom that the book of Revelation was being written during that kingdom, at least the latter part of that kingdom. So the beast is the head of the next world empire after this one. The fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 was a combination of the previous three. It was only more ferocious. The kingdom of the beast will be a compilation of all the world kingdoms that have been to that point in one, and this Antichrist, the beast, will be the representative and the emperor. To say the beast is to say the kingdom of the Antichrist. To say the kingdom is to talk about the beast and its leader. We always do it that way. Caesar was Rome. Stalin was Russia. Hitler was Germany. Mao Zedong was China. And the beast is his kingdom. It's the kingdom of the beast. And the kingdom which is the beast. And this is what we see. The beast is the kingdom. His word is law. His desire is a command. And his will will not be able to be opposed during that time. So the beast is the last in a long line of power-thirsty despots. He is a man. He is a demon-possessed man, but he is a man. He is the man of sin. He is the man of lawlessness. He is the wicked one. So at the temptation of Christ, it's interesting that Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would bow down and worship him. To a degree, Satan was the dominator of the world at that time. He was the prince of the power of the air. He had tricked Adam out of his co-regency with God and out of his dominion over the world through the fall. So Satan did have a little something to offer. But for Jesus to worship him and cut short his route to glorious praise, and in the process condemning mankind to hell and the process by robbing them of a redeemer. Do you understand the weight of the temptation of Jesus when Jesus was tempted, tempted in the wilderness, fall down and worship me. Do you know that your eternal salvation was in play at that moment? You could have never been saved if Jesus would have taken the world kingdoms at that time, instead of through the cross. Jesus died so that he could purchase all of these things. But this son of perdition, this wicked, proud, boastful, clever man is more than ready to include worship of Satan himself to gain the world loyalty that he is given. He just takes up Satan on his offer and he is aided in gaining the kingdoms of the world. He has a distinct family legacy. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and his great authority. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 2, 9. The coming of the lawless one is in accordance to the working of Satan. The lawless one, being the Antichrist, is in according to the working of Satan. And how is he going to do it? With power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So it says they did not receive it. They heard about it. They knew about it. They had contemplated the love of the truth, the gospel of Christ, the good news of Jesus. They thought about it, but they rejected it. And so the scriptures say very clearly, it says that He is going to come and trick them, and He's going to do it with power, signs, and lying wonders, and the unrighteous, they're going to perish, and they're going to believe everything He has to say. So just as Jesus said he only did what he saw the Father doing and that his authority was a grant from the Father, so the beast will be operating on a grant from his Father, the devil. It's amazing. Satan wants to imitate every single aspect of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the Trinity, and how they operate. And so, this is amazing that he will use the very kinds of things that some members of Christianity still maintain are necessary for people to believe. He's gonna use signs, wonders, miracles. And there's a lot of people, they call it power evangelism. Unless I see these kinds of things, some people say, unless we use that, the world won't believe. Power evangelism, show the power of God and people will believe. Wrong. You show signs, wonders, and miracles and people will want more, what? Signs, wonders, and miracles. It's not faith that's the result, Steve. It's not faith. Faith's not the result. Hunger for more is the result. What was it that the people wanted that saw Jesus when he turned the bread and the fish into a whole lot of bread and fish? What did they want? Did they follow him because they loved him and they wanted to know him? Nope. He said, you ate the bread and you were full and you want more. Signs wonders and miracles, you know, that's interesting. We'll get into it next week But it's gonna be a very spiritual and religious time the time of the tribulation gonna be very religious. It's just gonna be the religion of the Antichrist and his false prophet and they're gonna be complete signs wonders miracles and John 6, 26, Jesus answered and said, you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate the loaves and you were filled. That's what's going to happen in the end times as well. Now the second thing is I want you to understand this seduction that goes on. Now we're talking about the antichrist. Now how does he seduce everybody? How does he deceive them? How does he seduce them? Look at verses 3 and 4. And I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like the beast who is able to make war with him. So they worshipped the dragon. the power source, and they worship the beast. Who is it we're supposed to worship? We're supposed to worship the Father, and whom? His Son. By the Holy Spirit, but we worship the Father, and we worship His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, you can't worship Jesus Christ too much, because to worship Him is to worship the Father. So this is so interesting that here we have the dragon, and what does the prophet, he causes all of the people to worship the beast. and the dragon. We'll talk a lot more about that this next week. This is satanic seduction. He is going to, Jesus, he was declared to be God, write it down, declared to be God by the resurrection. Romans chapter one verse four said it was by the resurrection he was declared to be the son of God. The crowning victory of our gospel story is the resurrection of Jesus. I heard a preacher say not long ago, let's don't get hung up on the virgin birth and hung up on the resurrection. Let's teach what Jesus taught. Well, folks, without the virgin birth and resurrection, you do not have Christianity. We have a dead Savior that's laying over there somewhere in Palestine rotting away, but our Jesus, we just sang about it, didn't we, Marty? Our Jesus is not laying over there. Our God's not laying over there in a tomb. Our God resurrected, went back to the right hand of the Father, and He's praying for you right now. Amen. That's wonderful. The crowning victory of the gospel is the resurrection of Jesus. Back in chapter 1, verse 17 and 18, it says, don't be afraid. I'm the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. And then he uses that wonderful word, amen. I told you, you need to learn to say what? Amen. Amen. So be it. Tell it like it is. Preach it. Say it. Say it again. I am alive forevermore. Amen, that's a wonderful thought and if it's not true you take away the resurrection Paul said we are of most men most Miserable why because we're giving ourselves to someone who is a hoax But he did rise from the dead. Then the second thing, Satan is going to present himself as a God by a mock resurrection. Don't miss this. It says in verse 3, and I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed. A mock resurrection. What greater thing could Satan do to imitate Jesus and to imitate the Father and get notoriety than to have a mock resurrection? He's a great imitator. So he has this deadly wound, and it's healed. He seemingly dies. Did he really die? I don't know if he really died or not. But he resurrects, and that's what's reported to the world. We're going to talk about this extensively in chapter 17, because it comes into play there. But let's think for a minute. In chapter 11, we saw the two witnesses had power. Nobody could touch them. Nobody could destroy them until God was done with them. When people tried to destroy them, they destroyed those trying to destroy them. But they were later killed. Well, try this scenario on. Try this on. The two witnesses prophesy, and the beast is upset. So he tries to kill them, but he has killed himself. Then Satan is cast out of heaven, chapter 12. He comes to earth and inhabits the body and creates a mock resurrection of the beast, and only now he is not the representative, that is, this Antichrist who is resurrected. He's not the representative of Satan. He's the incarnation of Satan. for three and a half years. The two witnesses are then killed, but after three days they resurrect. What a story, what an imitation by Satan this would be. The world would be ready to believe in a resurrected leader where his resurrection is broadcast live on all networks. On every iPhone, iPad, on every ability to see it. So everything we see. And of course we know, of course, everything we see on the networks today is real, right? The masses marveled, verse number three. And then the third point, note Satan's sinister ambition, his sinister ambition. Verses four to 10. The first thing I want you to notice is he's gonna deify the devil. Look at verse number four, so they worship the dragon. He's gonna deify the devil. Verse four, worship me is what Satan told the Savior back at the temptation. Fall down and worship me is what Nebuchadnezzar told those people in Babylon and the four boys wouldn't do it. The three boys wouldn't do it. Don't let anyone pray to any other God but you, O King Darius, is what the confederation of governors and satraps plotted against Daniel in chapter 6. He's always been trying to do it. He's been trying to get worship one way or another. You can be your own God is what Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden. God knows you eat this fruit, you're going to be like God. You won't need God, you'll be your own God. That's what you want is autonomy, right? We will not have this man rule over us is what the Jews said to the messengers in the parable of the wicked servants. And so Satan wanted to take God's lofty position. He wanted to receive praise. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 points it out. It shows just how it came down. Five times he says, I'm going to do this, that, or the other. I will, I will, I will, I will. And of course, you know the story. God says, no, you won't. You'll be cast down. So the great lie is what Romans 1 talks about, and Satan is a liar. He has been lying from the beginning. Listen to Romans chapter 1, therefore God gave them up, verse 25, they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. The lie, the lie. What is the lie? I think I just told you what the lie is. He told Eve You can be your own God. You don't need God. You are self-determining. In other words, humanism is right. We read this in 2 Thessalonians 2, 9. We read this about Satan's lying words and signs after God says this. He says, and for this reason, God will send them a strong delusion. Speaking about the time of the Antichrist, he's going to send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie, not a lie, the lie. It's definite article, the, the lie. They're going to believe the lie. You know, God has been infecting humanity, or, I mean, the devil has been infecting humanity and telling this lie, the same lie, over and over, and, you know, you just tell the lie long enough and loud enough to the same people over and over and over, and eventually they'll believe the lie, and they keep telling mankind, the devil keeps telling, you don't need God, you don't need a God, God's irrelevant, the Bible's irrelevant, it's out of touch, you don't need any of that, you can be your own God, do your own thing, if it feels good, do it, just you, you, you're the one. It all has gotta come before your court. Make your decisions, you're God. This is the lie. The lie is you don't need God, you're God. And so they will all be condemned who did not believe the truth but they had pleasure in unrighteousness. So the deification of the devil is the deification of self. The deification of the devil is the deification of self. I'm all for a good self-image and not hating yourself and all that stuff, but boy, if you serve yourself and if you think you are the ultimate measure of all things, then boy, you are buying in to the lie. He will defy the Savior. He's going to deify self and he's going to defy the Savior. Look at verse number five, if you would, of your passage. Verse number five, it says in 13.5, and he was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies. And then verse six says, and he opened his mouth in blasphemy. So he's a braggart. That's the first thing. We saw this in Prophecy of Daniel chapter 7 verse 8, 20, and 25. Those verses all say he's going to have a mouth speaking pompous words or swelling words. He will exalt himself, brag about himself nonstop. Folks, we're never more like the devil than when we brag about ourselves and promote ourselves. He's a braggart. He's a blasphemer. For 42 months, he's going to blaspheme God, blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and His people. He's going to blaspheme and curse the ones that are in heaven. It says so right in that passage there. It says that he is going to speak against God to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven, verse number 6. He's a blasphemer. See, what does it mean to blaspheme? It means to slander. It means to cast doubt on God. It means to accuse God. It means to defy God. It means to curse God. Slander, defy, curse, mock, that's blasphemy. He's gonna blaspheme God. He's going to defy the Savior and blaspheme God. He's going to get on with it for 42 months. He's going to blaspheme God, his name, his tabernacle, his people, the ones on earth and the ones in heaven. He's going to try to destroy the Lord's people on earth and he's going to shoot blasphemy bombs toward his people and he can't sit up in heaven and accuse them before the Father anymore, so he's going to blaspheme them from earth. I hope you're getting it now. Satan's not a cute little guy in a red suit with a tail and a pitchfork you want to invite to your office party. No, he's an accuser, he's a blasphemer, he's a hater, he's a murderer, he's a liar. And he's real. He will destroy the saints verse number seven. It's granted to him to destroy and wear out the saints This is part of daniel's prophecy as well. We can look back at it also in the sixth seal He's going to destroy them listen verse 10 and they cried with a loud voice saying how long oh lord and we come down It says then a white robe was given to each one of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed. He's going to make war against believers and Jews and believers, the other children of the woman we talked about last week. He's going to make war and he's going to kill millions of them. Might I say millions of us. Also, chapter 7, verse 13 and 17, he's going to hound them, chase them, torture them, starve them, kill millions of them. Yet there's something different here. In the case of the lost in the fourth seal, when we read that, the fourth seal had the horse, had two riders, he had death for the body and hell for the soul. But in chapter 7, the angels have got another note. They say it's death for the body, but it's heaven for the soul. Amen. And this is where we end up. He will dominate the society, verse number 7. His domination is global. This is going to be the first truly world dictator in history. That too is an effort at imitating Jesus because Jesus is the one that one day will rule this world with a rod of iron. He'll dominate society. He will deceive sinners. All of these things are listed in the passage. Sadly, the sinners will worship him gladly. Why not? He's the ungod. He's the one who is for a free society. He is the one that wants no laws, no restraints, no restrictions. Let every man do that which is right in his own eyes. His is the kingdom that permits the attitude of the world's people found back in chapter nine and verse number 20. And let's go back over there and this is his world. Chapter nine and verse number 20. But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, or idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, which can neither see, or hear, nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, or of their sorceries, or of their sexual immorality." In other words, this guy's going to let them have a world. He's going to say, here's your world. You just murder who you want to. He says, you get involved in sorcery, which really is drug use, and also any kind of sexual habits that you want to pursue, you just go right ahead. Wow, so you can certainly see the spirit of the Antichrist is already here, can't you? He will deceive the sinners, but he will not deceive the saints. Isn't that wonderful? Look at, if you would now, look at verse number, in chapter 13, let's look here at this verse, he says, All who dwell on the earth will worship Him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity will go into captivity. He who kills with a sword must be killed with a sword. And here is the patience and the faith of the saints. They have patience, they have faith, that though they die in the midst of all of this process, they know that their names are written in the Lamb's book of life, that their hope is not in this world, it's in the next. And because of that, all of their hopes lie in Jesus, and they're looking forward to that, and they don't want anything to do with the kingdom of the beast. Take my life, take my stuff, take my family, take everything, but you can't take me, because Jesus bought me and purchased me on Calvary, and you can do away with my life here on earth, but you can't touch me after that. Isn't it wonderful to know Jesus? He will not deceive the saints. It's the security of the believer that's in view here. With all the turmoil that's going on, it may be easy to assume that they have been forgotten and are unprotected by God. They might be thinking, or you might be thinking, they'll be thinking, where are you God? may be heard in heaven are the prayers of the saints. But the Lamb has a book, and it is out of reach of Satan, out of the reach of even us. We can't even reach it to mess it up. He, Jesus, is secure. Us, we, we are secure. They are not deceived, and they do not participate in the program, nor the pride of the beasts. They do not participate. Boy, one of the greatest evidences of your salvation in this life is, is that you do not participate, you do not give yourself over to the philosophy, to the kingdom of this world and just go after everything that the world offers and ignore God. If you care about God and His word and His will more than anything else on planet earth, it's one of the greatest evidences that you belong to Him. And so, something comes up in verse 9, it says, we've seen this phrase before, it says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. In other words, if anybody's listening, if you're out there and you're listening, John's preaching, he's prophesying, he's telling them, and the Spirit says, write this in there, John. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He's still saying it today. If anybody's got an ear, let him hear. Anybody listening? Anybody got your ears on? Anybody got your spiritual antennas up? Are you listening to the Word of God? Are you listening to the... admonition of Jesus? Are you listening to the preaching of the gospel? Do you hear the message that says, come to me, all you that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest? Are you ready? Are you ready to trust Jesus as your Savior? He says, if anybody's got an ear to hear, let him hear. Some people had already thrown themselves in with the kingdom of the beast at that time, and I'm afraid there are some people who've already thrown themselves in totally lock, stock, and barrel with the kingdoms of this world and the prince of the power of the air. They don't even know it. Verse 10 indicates that the Antichrist will imprison many and kill many, but he's not in control. God's will is just that. Some will suffer, some will die, but it's part of his plan. That's where the patience of the saints comes into play. So what we're looking at here is an all-out war against God, against His saints that Satan launches, especially in the second half of the tribulation. We call it the Great Tribulation. We've read many verses about Satan's present war on the saints, but let me help you with something. The Bible says this, and I said this last week, I want to reiterate it. Many of us think, well, you know, the Antichrist is coming. Yes, he is, but listen to this. It says, little children, it is the last hour, 1 John 2.18, it is the last hour, as you have heard, that the Antichrist is coming, the definite article, the Antichrist is coming. Even now, many small letters, small, not capital letters, small, lowercase, many Antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour, who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is Christ, he is antichrist, who denies the father and the son." If you hear any religion that denies that Jesus has a father in heaven or that the father had a son named Jesus that he sent to earth, if you hear any religion say Jesus only and there is nobody else, I want you to listen to me. You're not hearing Christianity speak with you. because He is the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And if anybody denies the Father and the Son or the Son, it is the Spirit of Antichrist. So important, He's active, He's powerful, He's having great success, it's an all-out war. But thank God, peace has broken out. You know when we talk about war, we talk about war breaking out, don't we? You know? War broke out. World War I broke out. World War II broke out. You guys are going to think I'm absolute crazy. I got me a pot and a pan here. I got me a pot and I got me a spoon. This is just an amazing, amazing truth. On August 15, 1945, an amazing, impromptu celebration occurred Spontaneously, it exploded all over the United States. People poured out of their homes and they filled the streets of the main cities. I remember my mother talking about what happened in Memphis as this news came in 1945. What was heard was shouting and crying. There was hugging and kissing. There was singing. There was rejoicing that was going on. It was incredible. One of the things that was the most notable was the women. got out there in the street and they ran up and down and they screamed and they beat the pots and pans and they said, it's over, it's over, it's finally over. World War II was over. And in those days, we didn't go to war, send soldiers while everybody else just went on about their merry way. No, no, no, no. World War I and World War II, 40% of the GDP went to support the war effort. Everybody was at war. There was hardly any home that didn't have losses. Everybody, every family had some kind of loss in those days. And when it came to the end of that, and when that declaration that Japan had finally surrendered after the bombing on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, after that had happened and they finally said, they broke into the streets, and I'm not going to do that anymore, it'll split your ears. But I want you to know they hit the streets, they celebrated, they shouted, they ran up and down, they hugged, they kissed. And the celebration was automatic. Why? Because peace had broken out. Let me read you a little something. Therefore, having been justified by faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Now I read that verse and it sounds like a doctrine to you. It just sounds like some kind of, oh yeah, that's just some deep, deep meaning doctrine. Well folks, for the first four chapters of the book of Romans, the first four chapters, Paul laid it out that every single soul on planet earth is at war with God. Because every sin is an attack on His person. Every rebellion is an attack on His authority. Every single thing that we do that is against His will is an attack on God's glory. Every single one of them. And it's a declaration of war against God. And we couldn't stop the war. There was nothing we could do. But there was a final battle in that war that was waged on Calvary. And Jesus went to Calvary and all of the wrath of God for all of mankind was raged against Jesus Christ on the cross and by his stripes we were healed. And because of his death on the cross we are set free. And because of that there is an armistice. There is a ceasefire. There is a complete end to that war because Jesus paid it all. Now listen to me. Some people say that we're saved by faith and not by works and I beg to differ with you. We are saved by works. We're saved by Jesus works because he fulfilled every single detail of the law. And we are saved because of his works, because he wraps all of that up as a gift and he gives it to you and he calls it his righteousness. And because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we have no more war. And it makes me want to get the pots and pans out and hand them to everybody in here and just run around this building and beat on the pot and just say, hey, that's what I've got a question about us is do we really get the magnitude of the victory of Jesus on the cross and the fact that he included us and we've heard the gospel and we've been saved? Do we understand the magnitude of what happened when Jesus died for your sins? Or is it just a point of doctrine and we move on? Today, if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, your long war against God can be over because Jesus paid it all. He made terms of peace on the cross for you and for me. If you're a believer, don't let the Lord's Supper come and go without deep meaning to you because the war was ended because Jesus died on the cross and now peace is broken out. Peace.