Overcoming the Dragon and Demons: Revelation 12:7-12 - Revelation: The Apocalypse

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

When you pray, God move.

I believe when you boldly, in a faithful, spirit-empowered way, you start to pray for something that you know is thy kingdom come and thy will be done.

God releases angels to fight for you.

Do I understand all this?

Heck no.

But it is true, men and women.

It is all through scripture.

Angels get released and they fight for you.

And they battle for you.

And if you can get a hold of it, it could change your spiritual life.

Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the Book of Revelation.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit the Road.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

All right, men and women, we are in chapter 12 of Revelation, and I am camping here again because it is such an appropriate passage for us today.

It's talking about Satan.

It's talking about demons.

It's talking about how they work.

It gives us the two major tactics of how Satan works, and I'm calling it overcoming the dragon.

As I said last week, I don't believe any of you have ever met Satan.

I don't think any of you will ever meet Satan.

It would be great if Satan knew your name in hell.

That would be a good sign, but most of us are not dangerous enough in our walk with God to give Satan too much of an issue.

But he's got a third of the angels of heaven that were released upon the earth, and they're called demons.

And demons are what we deal with most of the time.

When we are tempted, when you have these weird thoughts that just come out of nowhere, when you are in situations where you can feel the power of an addiction or the power of a slavery coming upon you, that's usually demonic.

Now, that's not in any way to devalue the power of your own flesh and the power of this world.

But what I am saying, though, is here at the road, we believe in demonic oppression.

We believe in demonic suppression, and we believe that if you start to walk with Jesus and you become an all-in, burn the boats, a wholehearted disciple of Jesus, that you're gonna get attacked.

You're gonna have a big, huge target on your back.

And we see it here because in Revelation 12, where we're getting into the last days and the great tribulation period in our study of the end times, there's this chapter where God gives John a vision where it's like the veil is pulled back so that John can see who's behind all this.

Kind of like, you know, the wizard of Oz.

You know, the guy who's moving all the wheels and pulling all the levers is Satan and a third of the angels of heaven that have been cast down to the earth.

They control this earth, church.

Do you know that?

Satan and demons control this earth.

And so when Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God, fully a third of his ministry was casting out demons.

Because everywhere he went and he preached the kingdom, there was opposition.

It's the same today, church.

When we begin to live righteous lives, when we decide we're gonna stay married, when we decide we're gonna fight for our marriage, when we decide we're gonna live pure, righteous lives and walk in purity and break those addictions in our life, you just took a big, you know, indelible uh marker and drew a target on your back, and you're gonna get hammered.

So I felt like we needed to camp here a little bit because we get a really powerful insight into how Satan works in our chapter.

So look at Revelation 12, verse 7.

Revelation 12:7

This is where we stopped off last week.

When a war broke out in heaven, and we don't know when this was.

Some theologians believe this is the first rebellion in heaven.

I'm not going to go into all the history of that.

That's covered in my series called War, which you can go online and listen to all those messages.

But it could be that this is the very first war that broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels fought back.

But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So in the book of Revelation, this is the first time we're introduced to Michael the Archangel, but in Scripture it's not.

Michael the Archangel is in Daniel chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

And what makes Michael the archangel such an interesting angel is that he's associated, it appears, with Israel.

That there's this role that Michael plays, kind of his job description in heaven, seems to be as a protective archangel for the nation of Israel.

And in Daniel chapter 10, when Daniel is fasting and praying for vision about this revelation, uh, Michael shows up on the 21st day.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

And when he shows up, can you imagine you're fasting and praying by a river outside 21 days, asking God for wisdom, and then Michael, the archangel, shows up.

I mean, that's that means, you know, that's that's pretty big stuff, you know, our archangel.

Um so Michael shows up and he says, Look, I've been battling the entire 21 days with the prince of Persia.

Really interesting statement.

And then he goes, after he's given this word to Daniel, he says, I'm leaving to go contend with the Prince of Greece.

And so it appears that there are territorial-like spirits over nations.

That there are territorial spirits that are demonic over nations, that there is probably a high-ranking enemy of the archangel, and maybe there's an archangel for America, I don't know, but an archangel-level angel that is a spirit over the United States of America.

And his goal, his mission is to destroy our nation.

His mission in Persia was to destroy Persia.

But because of Israel's connection and because of the slavery they were under, the archangel was released from a heavenly place to go in battle with the Prince of Persia.

Men and women, we are going into a time of prayer starting this Saturday morning for 24 hours.

We call it our 24-hour war room.

And I like the term we use, war room.

Because sometimes prayer is just warring, it is battling.

And when we look at this window that we get to see in Daniel chapter 10 and in Revelation chapter 12, we see that when the saints pray, when you pray, God moves.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention Revelation 12 · chapter mention

I believe when you boldly, in a faithful, spirit-empowered way, you start to pray for something that you know is thy kingdom come and thy will be done.

God releases angels to fight for you.

Do I understand all this?

Heck no.

But it is true, men and women, it is all through scripture, angels get released and they fight for you, and they battle for you.

And if you can get a hold of this, it could change your spiritual life.

If you can realize you're not on your own, that you've got to fight in prayer.

There are financial issues in some of our lives, there are marriage issues in some of our lives, there are dating issues in some of our lives, there are physical ailments that you're struggling with that you could be set free from.

But you've got to pay the price in prayer.

Well, isn't that works?

Kind of like you have to work for it.

Yes.

I'm not talking about your salvation.

Salvation is free.

Salvation is by faith alone, by grace alone.

For by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast.

But we were created in Christ Jesus for good works.

And so God saves us through faith in the grace and the finished works, which we're going to cover in just a moment, of the cross of Jesus Christ.

But men and women listen.

There is all through Scripture one command after another, especially in the epistles in the New Testament, a call upon our lives to fast and to pray and to pull down strongholds.

Strongholds are these demonic barriers and issues, usually from your past, that you've never been set free from.

You can be saved and still have strongholds.

That's why there's so many mean Christians.

If you haven't met one yet, just keep hanging out with us.

They're all around.

I promise you.

Because that's what we call discipleship.

Discipleship is that process of getting meanness out of us, getting your flesh out.

And that's a process of surrender.

Greater and greater surrender in our lives.

So anyway, Michael shows up first time in the book of Revelation.

We see him.

Interesting thing, another thing about Michael, it's kind of interesting.

He's the one in Jude who battles over the body of Moses.

Isn't that weird?

That's really weird.

I mean, you think this is spooky stuff.

I mean, can you imagine?

Like, Michael is battling with Satan over the dead body of Moses.

We're not even going to go there.

We're not even going to go there.

But I think again, it has something to do with the end times, which I talked about a few weeks ago, about the two witnesses and the body.

I believe God is not done with Moses yet, and God is not done with Elijah yet.

And they're literally, their bodies are in heaven, and they will be re-inhabited by their spirits and come to proclaim the gospel in Jerusalem in the last days, probably in your lifetime.

And you're going to see it on CNN and Fox News.

It's going to be cool.

So Satan's two greatest tactics, I think, are found right here.

Verse 9.

Here's the first one.

Satan's two great tactics.

Now he's got a lot of tactics, gang.

I mean, there they're all I mean, there's so many tactics of the enemy, but I believe they always fall under these two categories.

Verse 9.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Now, note here, you might want to underline it or highlight it, who deceives the whole world.

The first great tactical trick of Satan and his demons is deception.

They're deceptive.

Oh, what do you mean, Steve?

What do you mean they're deceptive?

Think about the dumb things you've done.

I mean, just think about it.

I mean, sin makes you stupid.

Write that in your notes.

Sin makes me stupid.

It does.

It's amazing.

It's like some people have had a spiritual lobotomy with some of the things that they do.

I've done it too.

I mean, does it make any sense?

Does it make any logical sense?

You got a loving wife, you got a loving husband, you got a beautiful family, and for 20 minutes of sex with someone you don't even know, you'll ruin it all.

Does that make any sense?

It's because you're deceived.

It's because of deception.

And so, and so men, especially, women also get caught up in the web of whether it's visual or imaginations or thoughts, and and before we know it, we're way down this deceptive alleyway.

When look what God's given us.

You could not take the dumbest person and explain that to them if they would do it, and then I see some of the most godly people do it.

And for the rest of their life, there's lack of forgiveness from the other spouse, there's issues of suspicion because of that one mistake.

That's the deception of demons.

That's how they work.

They deceive you.

Does it make any sense that you go to, you know, I was watching the final four last night.

So I watched a little bit of both games, really good games and everything, but you know, it's commercial after commercial after commercial.

And it's and it's it's funny because it'll show all these people working out and everything.

It looks like kind of CrossFit stuff.

And then here's this one beer that's only 95 calories and stuff.

And I drink beer.

I'm not against beer drinking, and don't get me wrong.

But let me just tell you this: you know, you go down that road, and I have, when I was in college, and you know, one, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one, and that's fun.

And so you're like this, and you're looking like an idiot, and you're walking around, and this is fun.

This is what you do, it's really fun.

And then you hug the toilet.

You hug the toilet for like six hours because it's so fun.

And then you have this massive hangover the next day because it's so fun.

I mean, seriously, can you think of anybody that's that dumb except us?

And that's what demons do.

Because they're deceptive.

And they and and sin, listen guys, sin never delivers.

Sin never delivers.

Proverbs says the way of the transgressor is hard.

The way of the transgressor is hard.

It's like we go insane.

And demons are working and they're and they're infiltrating our minds.

Sin always leaves in its wake tremendous devastation.

Chuck Swindah.

Liz was listening to a sermon the other night and she caught this phrase and she gave it to me.

Listen to this.

You ought to write this down.

Chuck Swindah said this.

Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.

Let me say it again.

Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.

Sin promises, but it never performs.

It's empty.

It promises happiness, but it leaves you with sorrow.

It promises you love, but it only gives you lust.

How many people are promised happiness, but their lives are devastated and torn apart by the deception of demons?

So, so deception is the art of getting someone to believe something that's not true.

That's what deception is.

Deception is the art, and nobody's a better artist of deception than Satan and demons to believe something to be true when it's not.

Then look at verse 10.

Second great tactic.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

And here's what you're going to highlight or underline.

For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down.

First trick, tactic, deception.

Second, accusation.

That scripting in your head that you hear all the time calling you a loser.

That scripting in your head that you hear so often the time reminding you of the mistakes you've made in the past to pile on the guilt.

And for me, it's 2 to 4 a.m.

at night.

Waking up with a start, went to bed, just had a great time with the family, feel great, go to sleep.

2 a.m.

wake up and I'm reminded of all these mistakes I've made in the past.

And what a and what a dope I am, and what a loser I am.

And how could I have said that or how could I have done that?

And that scripting is the accuser of the brethren.

That is demonic spirits assigned to you to keep you down.

Because there's power in the mental energy that comes with faith, with believing God and confessing before the Lord.

Okay, yes, that's true.

Yes, I did that.

But I am forgiven.

And by the blood of the Lamb, I'm a new person in Christ.

Behold, the old things have passed.

I am now a new creation in Christ.

You got to say that.

Because if you don't, you'll fall back into the old addictions and you'll fall back into the old inferiority complex.

You'll go back into being a loser and you'll and suddenly everything in your life will begin to go south because you're believing what the accuser of the brethren is telling you, and it is a lie.

Because he is the father of lies.

So we must rescript our thinking if we're going to walk in victory.

Here's what the scriptures say Romans 12.

This is the first verse that I memorize as a new believer.

I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

That means body, soul, and spirit.

Presented all to God as a living sacrifice.

Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

So presenting it's one thing.

But then verse 2 says this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

You got to renew your mind that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Now, we could spend an hour on this verse about good, acceptable, and perfect.

But here's what I think it's saying.

I'll just say it in a nutshell.

To the extent, everybody listen up, to the extent that you renew your mind, you get the good will of God.

To the extent deeper that you renew your mind, you get the acceptable will of God.

And to the amount and the tenacity and the perseverance of renewing your mind, you can get the perfect will of God.

It's up to you.

It's up to me.

And I believe the Christian life is being a wholehearted disciple is always two steps forward and one step back.

I wish you could just be three steps forward, man.

Let's roll.

The reality is that we're always in this journey with the Lord.

Does that make sense?

And so and so he's saying, renew your mind.

Then in Ephesians, Paul says this that you put off concerning your former conduct that old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, which was created according to God and true righteousness and holiness.

So again, it's a choice we make with our mind where we decide I am dead to that old guy.

I'm dead to that past life.

I'm dead to those addictions that I had before.

That's dead.

That's buried.

That's in the ground.

I am resurrected to a new man in Christ.

In Christ, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And I'm going to renew my mind with that.

That's why memorizing scripture can be so powerful.

You start renewing your mind because what you do is you memorize scripture, and as you memorize scripture, it overseeds, it replaces that old script.

And then in 2 Corinthians, Paul says it this way: casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

It's like you're a slave owner and you're the slave.

And so you start telling your mind the way you want it to think.

You line up your thinking.

You tell that one voice to shut up.

Shut up.

That's not me anymore.

And if you're like me, sometimes you need to just get out of bed, go take a walk.

And you need to talk to the enemy.

You talk to Satan and demons and stuff?

Yes, I do.

And I'm on good ground because Jesus did it too.

But you you have you sometimes you have to get aggressive and assertive.

So here's what I see in the rest of our passage as four steps to freedom.

Four steps to freedom to overcoming the demonic.

Let me read it again.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

Here's freedom step number one.

Men and women, look Listen now, you've got to surrender completely to Jesus Christ.

You've got to surrender completely to the salvation, strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Holy Spirit.

If you're half in and half out, you can't even start the rest of the freedom steps.

You've got to decide: am I surrendered to Christ?

And you know what?

It's not a one-time experience.

It can be, and it is a one-time experience, but it's so much more than that.

It is surrendering to Christ every day and putting him on the throne of our heart.

I know people, man, they they've had these experiences with the Holy Spirit that are flat amazing.

I mean, they've seen angels.

They'll swear they've heard the audible voice of God.

I think that's awesome.

That's great.

But they're walking in sin now.

So we don't care what happened five years ago.

I don't care what happened ten years ago.

What I care about is what's happening right now.

And so it's functional to us re-surrendering freshly to the Lord every day.

And so he says, look, the salvation, strength, and kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

So surrender to it.

Surrender to the power of Jesus every day.

Start each day with, Lord, I'm going to love you with all of my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, with all my strength.

Would you empower me and strengthen me to do that today?

I'm going to walk that out by faith.

Even though I don't feel like it, I'm going to walk it out by faith.

That's step one.

Then verse 11 says, They overcame him, he's speaking of Satan and demons, by the blood of the Lamb.

So step two is we overcome by the blood of the Lamb.

Guess who the first vampires were?

Satan's the first vampire.

He wants your blood.

Demons are vampires.

They want your blood.

They're going to suck your blood.

They're going to suck you dry.

The purpose of Satan, his ultimate purpose for each one of us in here who created the image of God, is that you would commit suicide.

That you would start cutting yourself.

That you would start self-destructive behavior so that not only does he take you out from any effectiveness in the Christian life, but eventually that you'd be killed, that you would actually self-mutilate yourself, kill yourself, because the enemy wants blood, and that's why Christ gave his blood.

Because his righteous blood is the blood that covers any work of this first vampire, Satan and demons, and you can walk in the blood of Jesus because the righteous one gave his blood for you, because you could never earn it yourself.

You do not have enough blood in your system to ever get self-forgiveness.

But we take on his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, by totally surrendering to him and becoming a Jesus follower.

And his righteous blood covers all of your sin, past, present, and future.

That's fantastic news.

That everything that you're not, he is.

You'll never be good enough, but you can be bad enough.

And a lot of you in this room are really bad.

But by the blood of Christ, you're made good.

Because of his work, not your work.

Does that make sense?

So if you get that, if we start to understand that, we can see we can claim, God, by your blood, because of that bloodsucker Satan, I'm gonna walk in your blood, the covering that you gave me, that has covered me of all my sins because of what happened at Calvary.

By the blood of the Lamb 2,000 years ago.

Here's the way Paul described it in Romans 6.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

Likewise, you also reckon yourself, and as renew your mind, to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourself to God as being alive from the dead.

You're alive from the dead.

And your members as instruments of the righteousness of God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but you are under grace.

So what we do is we renew our minds by saying, preaching to ourselves.

That's probably a good way to say it.

We preach to ourselves.

I'm dead to sin.

I am righteous in Christ.

I do not have to be angry all the time.

I'm gonna stop being a big gossip.

I'm gonna stop all the bitterness.

I walk in bitterness, Lord.

I'm tired of my bitterness.

You ever get sick of your sin?

That's a great place to be because at the point where we're sick of our sin, we can start reckoning ourselves righteous in Christ.

What's hard is when you really like your sin.

And I like a lot of my sin.

I mean, I really dig it.

And then there's a point where you go, why do I just keep doing that?

You know what I'm talking about, right?

And so, and so to begin to understand this view that through the renewing of our mind we can walk in the blood of Christ is exciting.

So that's the second step.

Third step's right here before us.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Your words, men and women, are powerful.

What you say is so powerful.

Proverbs, the tongue of the righteous is like choice silver.

Proverbs 12, 18, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.

Proverbs 15, 4.

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.

Proverbs 18, 21.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 21, 23, whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble.

And so our words are powerful.

What we say to ourselves is usually a reflection of what we say outwardly.

But when we when we promote and testify of God's faithfulness and his power in our life, it promotes health.

It actually creates within you faith to believe.

That's why you never know, like in a basketball game or a football game, what's happening in the locker room.

It's halftime.

You're down by 10.

And the coach walks in.

One of my favorite scenes, I've told you guys this before, but one of my favorite scenes is that locker room scene with the coach in the movie Miracle, where he talks about the Russians and everything, and then they go out and they're fired up.

Because what happened is through the words of a man, through the words of a coach.

Being and you hearing those words, it builds faith.

It builds courage in you.

That's why, men, it's so important you encourage your wives.

Wives, it's so important you encourage your husbands.

You guys, as bloodstained warriors with other brothers in your life, you encourage each other when the other guy is down.

Words are important, and a testimony is testifying of a test.

That's why it's called a testimony.

It's moaning your test.

But it's it's saying to the enemy, I've been tested and I am victorious.

And so that's called a testimony.

Because you went through a test and you passed the test.

And so that's the third thing, is I think a step to freedom.

And then lastly, he says this and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Now, this one is really, really interesting.

I think freedom step four is be all in.

Be wholehearted.

Burn the boats.

Just you've taken the shore.

You're not gonna retreat, you're not gonna go back to Egypt.

Burn the boats.

Light them up.

No retreat.

Gotta go forward.

No turning back.

If you read a book, our our book of Book of the Church, book of what are book of the whatever club.

Um Road Book Club.

Um all in.

Mark Bannister's book.

You should read it.

If you haven't read it, you should read it.

Go get it.

We sold out twice, so we don't have any more, but you have to go get it yourself.

But burn the boats.

When are you gonna burn the boats?

If you don't burn the boats, you'll get back in it.

You will.

We will, we all do.

We get back in and we go back to Egypt.

We go back to slavery.

We go back to the old life.

Burn the boat.

Be all in.

That's what he's saying here.

Don't love your lives even unto death.

In other words, Jesus is the one who said, if you love your life, you will lose it.

But if you lose your life for my sake, you will gain it.

You'll get everything you wanted if you'll be all in with me.

Chuck Colson said it this way: From creation onward, God's rule extends to everything.

From our bank accounts, to our business dealings, to our educational curriculum, to social justice issues, to environmental concerns, to our political choices.

Everything must reflect the fact that God's righteous rule extends to all of life.

That's living the kingdom, church.

That's being a kingdom person.

I haven't tried everything.

And probably most of you in this room haven't tried everything.

But we have a lot of testimonies around us of those that have.

And I can tell you, being all in for Jesus always works.

You always win.

Now you may not win to think you're supposed to win, but I'll tell you this: you'll win in Christ.

The kingdom will go forward and you'll have joy in your heart.

And that's what I signed up for.

Life's too short to mess around with accusation and deceptions of the enemy.

Church, you have power and you have authority in Christ to say no to that stuff.

And we need each other.

We are not mavericks.

We need each other.

We need bloodstained allies to stand with us.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.