919. Justice will Come

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927. The evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Senior's intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services today. That tradition continues with fervent preaching from the University Chapel platform today on The Daily Platform were continuing a study series entitled our ancient foe, which is a study of Satan. The reality of his presence and how Christians can be victorious against him. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Dan Allender and the title of this message is justice will come from Revelation 20 media Pres. Steve Pettit will introduce him, but were delighted this morning to have Dr. Dan Olinger comment challenge us on our theme, our ancient foe. I know the messages admin I help to you in so many ways and very excited about this morning's message.

I think the helpful thing. It will be clear and as Dr. O always dies, he brings the league way so Dr. Olinger good morning, how are you today I just can't really answer me again down. I like to show you a photograph. This is Joseph sledge on November September 5, 1976 Joseph sledge escaped from a minimum security prison farm where he was serving four years for misdemeanor larceny, he stole a 1969 Chevrolet and headed for freedom. The next day. Two women were brutally stabbed to death in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. Sledge was spotted in his stolen car the day after that eventually was arrested and returned to prison to have his cellmates later testified that he had told them that he committed those murders.

He was convicted and given two consecutive life sentences.

But here's the thing Joseph sledge didn't do that and 35 years later, the last surviving cellmate who testified against him, said that he'd been promised early release if he would say that sledge had confessed to the murders turned out that the cellmates and change their story in the course of that and that fact had been hidden from the jury also hidden from the jury was the fact that there was a second suspect in lived not far from the ladies and who had shoes matching footprints at the crime scene and then DNA analysis of a hair demonstrated that Joseph sledge could not have been the murder in a very real sense, justice is not really available to him as it were, to see where to go to get those 40 years back where is he going to get his life. Why is it do you suppose that we find that pleasing well because where the image of God and like God. We want justice we want to see evil on John and overcome. We want to see justice done. We spent several weeks here in this series and chapel learning about our ancient foe. We learned that despite every kindness from God. Satan turned against his gracious creator and his benefactor and sought to defeat him and when he couldn't he went after his children and for thousands of years Satan has been lying to you and to me and to millions more just like us making promises he has no intention of keeping, deceiving, defacing and destroying the image of God in every way you can every insult every lie every theft, every sexual assault every death is a result of his direct action against us and we want justice in the face of crimes of this intensity and this extent. What would justice even look like and will it ever come turn. If you would to Revelation chapter 20 I like to read seven of the first 10 verses of this passage verses one through three and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season skipping down to verse seven and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea and they went upon the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city.

And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So this is what lies ahead for our ancient foe. There will in fact be justice. What we learn from this passage well the first thing we notice is that God is clearly greater than Satan and that is evident in at least three ways here at the beginning in the first paragraph of this chapter.

First off, he gives even his assistance. His messengers the authority to restrict Satan. Look what happens here when it's time for Satan to be bound does does Christ, and binding does the father, and binding.

Now he sends an angel to do it. He sends an assistant, a messenger one of the evidences of power is the presence of representatives and never thought about that. We have ambassadors of our country that live in other countries and represent our president.

There is a corporate executive has vice presidents and administrative assistants and all kinds of people to do his bidding, and he sends them a soldier in Jesus day one said to them, now you to come heal my sentence on you. You just speak and it'll be done because I know what it's like to have authority. God doesn't even have to get out of his chair to deal with Satan presents one of the servants to do it and look at verse three, he cast him into the bottomless pits and pit and shuts him up and sets a seal upon him, that's the angel that does this and then we read that he should deceive the nations no more, God intervenes to protect the welfare of his people. You and I have bad stuff happened us and we wonder if he cares if he knows he does care. He does know, and he does intervene off and he intervenes in ways you are even aware of. Last time you drove on the interstate alone most of you that was earlier this week how many cars did you pass out emerging speed of somewhere between 120 and 150 miles an hour in some cases inches away and you didn't think about God was intervening on your behalf at every moment of that.

Sometimes it looks like he doesn't intervene and what are we to think about that.

Look at verse 3C that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little season, God is in control of time as well as space. God moves when he wants to move. He is never in a hurry. And that frustrates us because we think that's a sign of apathy or inattention or lack of love or something you know to sign up.

It's a sign of sovereignty.

Sovereign people never have to be in a hurry.

You know, when you see what was in the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland came by going on late night you see somebody in a hurry and that somebody is life is for the moment out of control and you had that feeling on occasion, haven't you, when you woke up at 755 or an 8 o'clock class and it's amazing how fast you can seek guidance.

God's never doing that have to be sovereign in this first paragraph we see Satan bound, but now he's loosed verse seven and he thinks he's getting away with something. I now have three he doesn't realize that he's playing right into God's hands. God looses him he frees him to demonstrate that he deserves what's coming and so we find starting in verse seven that Satan deserves what ever God does to how do we know that well verse seven he refuses to repent God allows him to be freed and he goes right back to what he's been doing. He hasn't learned a thing from his previous failures. He haven't hasn't made any observations about the character and power of God. He acts like everything is just the same that it was he's on rehabilitated.

He's unrepentant goes right back to what he was doing before. And what's that verse nine he attacks the week they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city, he goes after God's kids again. When a scoundrel scoundrel is not strong enough word is the very embodiment of evil. And now in verse nine we see God's final inglorious response.

Remember, God protects the wear for welfare of his people. He's paying attention. He cares and he is moving to act on their behalf. And so we read halfway through verse nine.

The fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. And it's interesting that this is not a prolonged and difficult battle.

This isn't Ohio State versus Michigan double-overtime game decided on the very last play. This is lopsided and it's over in an instant. That's how great God is and you wonder why he wasn't in any hurry to intervene. That's why because he's great.

And now Satan begins to suffer. Verse 10 the devil to deceive them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are fire and brimstone that's that's painful and that's destructive number of years ago after my first child was born, I decided that I wanted to be able to act. Knowledgeably, if any of my kids needed medical help. So I got certified as an EMT. I took it as a class knife.

My free course here at Bob Jones staff members that I was a staff member at the time can take a class for free. So I took that got certified and I had occasion to use that in the years since I found. I know some people are little queasy about this and don't worry, I'm not gonna say anything. I found I got a pretty strong stomach.

I can do okay with various kinds of traumatic situations, but you know the one that gets you the one that gets you is fire burned their nasty this is the only appropriate response to the evil of this person fire brimstone. My wife and I have spent many happy vacations in Gatlinburg. I'm told that Gatlinburg is gone now extensively damaged by wildfire and if you seen some of the videos you just can't believe what's coming out of their and we say how sad that is what a shame that is that this beautiful and joy giving place was destroyed by fire.

Well, when Satan is cast into the lake of fire. There is no sense of how sad that is, he has gotten what he deserves. It has been a long time coming, and it will certainly come the passage tells us the end of jet verse 10 that he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. His suffering will never end. What's the appropriate penalty for Satan's infinite crimes.

That is exactly the penalty that he'll get justice will come, but there's an elephant in the room. Isn't there. We need to talk about another characteristic of hell. It turns out that the devil won't be the only one there were told in this passage that the beast and the false prophet are already there back in Revelation chapter 19 we you can read the account of their going to the lake of fire and brimstone. Both Peter and Jude tell us that some of the Angels that rebelled with Satan have been held all this time in chains reserved unto judgment. They'll be there but the thing that's sad and deeply puzzling about this is that there will be human beings. There, the psalmist says the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God. Jesus himself says that the person who says thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire and later in this chapter.

Revelation 20 we read, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire and we've already seen that hell is a place of intense physical suffering. Jesus referred to hell fire. In the sermon on the Mount, which is a sermon of great hope and great joy and peace with God includes Jesus teaching that for some people, their whole body and their soul would be in hell and he told a story once about Lazarus, the poor man the beggar and the rich man who didn't have any sympathy for Lazarus and after the rich man died.

Jesus says he was in hell being in torments how we make sense of that human beings are in the image of God. They don't belong in hell even sinful human beings are in the image of God.

God told Noah after he came out of the ark in Genesis chapter 9 the penalty for murder was going to be death. Why, because the murder victim is in the image of God.

That's what's wrong with murders not so much your right to life is the defacing of the image of God. So even sinful people, murderers and murder victims are in the image of God.

You and I were designed to have fellowship with him forever.

It makes no sense for us to be there.

Matthew told Jesus told us in Matthew 25 that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. That's who it's for you and I don't belong there to see the devil is a liar.

John tells us in his first epistle that the whole world lies in wickedness. That's the language of physical love. The devil says he loves you and he makes promises. He says he'll make you happy. He gives you sparkly presence things that you'd like. But here's the thing. He lives that's what he does. That's who he is.

He doesn't love you. He's only using you to get back at God because he's too weak to take him on. He's not going to keep his promises and his presence are going to turn into dust the fancy diamond ring is going to turn your finger green he's using you don't fall for his lines so dance with the one who brought you your designed to be with God.

He's stronger than the other guy he'll enable you to defeat our ancient foe. He's proved that he loves you, he's proposed to you he invites you to the wedding be his bride and leave hell for those for whom it has been prepared. Let's pray father were overwhelmed with your goodness with your grace with your might and power and with your justice.

Thank you Lord that our ancient foe are great enemy will face injustice and it will be complete and it will be eternal. And it will be exactly what he has coming out father I pray today that no one in this room will experience pains of a place that was never made for him would prettier spirit would work in the hearts of those who need conviction of sin and repentance and faith and would you draw them with cords of love graciously, tenderly, to the father, may we rejoice with you in the billions of years to come. Singing of your grace and loving and knowing you all the more we pray in Jesus name, amen. You just heard Dr. Dan Allender Bible professor at Bob Jones University preached a sermon from our 10 part series about Satan called our ancient foe.

A recent hymn has been written which talks about us putting our armor on, and standing against the devil's lives.

Here's the Bob Jones University student body an orchestra singing the hymn O church arrives, you been listening to the Bob Jones University student body and orchestra performing O church arrives. Join us again tomorrow is, we conclude the study series entitled our ancient foe here on The Daily Platform