Introduction

Revelation 20:7-10 ESV  And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison  (8)  and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.  (9)  And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,  (10)  and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

• So, the rapture has happened.
  • The marriage supper of the Lamb, the wedding feast between us, the church, and our groom Jesus has happened and been celebrated.
  • The battle of Armageddon has taken place and we, lead by Jesus, have annihilated the enemy forces.
  • The Beast (whom we often call the Anti-Christ) and his false prophet have been throne alive into hell.
  • And Satan was bound by a chain in the abyss for a thousand years.
  • During that 1000 years Christ reigns on earth from a new Temple in the heart of the promised land.
    • With Him are the tribulation saints, the saints who died during the tribulation or were raptured after refusing the mark of the beast.
    • It is possible that ALL saints are with Him, but that is not said.
    • So Christ and the saints rule the nations from the promised land.
  • And then something strange happens… Satan is released from captivity, which we were told MUST happen in Revelation 20:3
  • After being released from the pit, Satan tries to deceive the nations a fresh, and is successful to some extent in doing so, and tries to wage war on God again.
  • This time God is having none of it…
    • There is no war… there is no battle… there is no fighting… no swords and white flying horses… no battle lines and heavenly calvary charges…
    • Nope… GOD IS DONE WITH SATAN’S GARBAGE… look how this goes down…

Revelation 20:9-10 ESV  And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,  (10)  and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

• Satan and his new armies surround the promised land where Jesus and the saints are alive and ruling the earth…
  • He is probably thinking “Ahaha, this will be different than the battle of Armageddon, because this time I have you surrounded!”
  • I can just see Satan yelling out “FANG MA GO LAI!” that’s an old mandarin phrase that means “Get all your horses and all your army and COME AT ME!”
• And God is like “Nah… blip… fire from heaven… your done”
• God just squashes it… just like that… no battle, just fire and sulfur… DONE. Then Satan is throne into hell to be punished forever.
  • That’s the story of how Satan ends… it’s pathetic on Satan’s part really… all that pomp… all those armies… and to go out without even drawing a sword for Battle.
  • Because Satan is so incredibly WEAK compared to God… if we understood how week Satan was we would be far less afraid to make war with Him…
• Speaking of Satan’s final fall, the prophet Isaiah prophecies this in Isaiah 14:12-16

Isaiah 14:12-17 ESV  “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!  (13)  You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;  (14)  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’  (15)  But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.  (16)  Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,  (17)  who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?

• I love how almost MOCKING Isaiah prophecies about Satan…
  • You were once a mighty angle! But you foolishly said in your heart you would become like God… HOW DID THAT WORK OUT? Oh how far you have fallen! You wanted to rise up, but God cast you down to hell! You raised up all these armies, you did all these things… for what… it did nothing for you… you are weak… defeated… and doomed forever in hell. Even the humans of earth will stare at you and ponder… they will say “Really?! That’s the guy who  made the earth tremble? That poor, pathetic creature writhing in pain in the tortures of hell fire… that little guy caused all these problems… wow… I can’t believe we let that little weakling push us around!”
• That’s the end of Satan… the pathetic fallen angel who has caused so much trouble for the saints of God…
  • If you want application on how to kick Satan’s but in spiritual battle, go watch last weeks sermon…
  • But this week I want to focus on a different application… This is what I want to talk about from today’s text… would you bring up that Title slide please?

• When Jesus isn’t enough…
  • That’s my click bait Title-slide this morning.
  • If you don’t know what Click-bait is… it’s what youtube videos and others use to trick you into clicking on the video…
    • The title of the video is always some vague statement like “You won’t believe what happened to me…”
      • And you watch the video and you very much DO believe what happened to them… because it was lame and boring and not that out of the ordinary…
    • Or a click bait title something controversial but very out of context like “Google killed my dog!”
      • But really their dog is very much alive and not killed by google, and the video is just some dude ranting about how google prefers websites about cats over websites about dogs or something stupid…
    • And the thumbnails… the images for these videos are always the same… close up picture of the video presenters face looking confuse or angry or excited… and then something else vaguely related to the video, like a dog or a bag of money or something… and all of this over a bright colored background.
• So this is my click-bait sermon title “When Jesus Isn’t enough” because that is a wildly offensive statement when taken out of context. Most Christians would say JESUS IS FOREVER ENOUGH, ALWAYS ENOUGH, MORE THAN ENOUGH, !
  • And that is absolutely true… for Christians… for the born again… but what about for everyone else.
• If you are watching this video on youtube soley because you were offended by the title… I am sorry, you probably wont be offended by this sermons… but I think God might have you here for a reason, He may have something for you, so stick around…
• Let’s pray…

• My first point of application taken from our key scripture in revelation today is that being “Around” Jesus isn’t enough.

’Point One – Being “Around” Jesus isn’t Enough

Revelation 20:7-8 ESV  And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison  (8)  and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

• Just ponder this for a moment… in fact it was pastor Will Jackson who pointed this out to me and it nearly broke my mind… it shouldn’t have, I think to highly of the world sometimes… but it did… just think about this for a moment…
  • Up until this point who was ruling the world for the past thousand years?

Revelation 20:4 ESV  Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

• CHURCH! Jesus at this point in the future has been ruling the nations for 1000 years.
  • Not Trump.
  • Not Biden.
  • Not Putin.
  • Not the EU.
  • Not the UN.
  • Not NATO.
    • JESUS! Jesus and the saints were governing the world from the promised land. From the throne room in the temple Jesus built on earth… for a thousand years… WITHOUT THE INFLUENCE OF SATAN. Christ and the saints ruled the world.
    • Not a democracy, not a constitutional republic, not even a monarchy… but a Theocracy… a government RUN BY GOD HIMSELF.
      • Though you could technically call it a monachary because God is King… but you get my point!
• For a thousand years the world is ruled by Christ and His saints… literally, physically ruled… by a physically present Christ, ruling from a physical throne in a physical temple in the physical promised land!
  • Satan has been chained up the whole time… it’s just Jesus!
    • AND YET! AND YET CHURCH! AFTER A 1000 YEARS OF JESUS… AND YET WHEN SATAN IS REALEASED HE IS STILL ABLE TO CONVINCE PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIM AND MAKE WAR ON GOD!
    • WHAT?! HOW STUPID CAN PEOPLE BE?

Revelation 20:7-8 ESV  And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison  (8)  and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

• He deceived the nations… all over the earth… after they had been ruled by the physical and present Jesus Christ.
  • How are people so easily deceived? JESUS IS RIGHT THERE.
• The first point this morning is that clearly, being “around Jesus” is not enough.
  • Just being around the things of God… just being around the people of God… it’s not enough.
• And this has been true all throughout Biblical history hasn’t it?
  • Adam and Eve had direct Access to God…
    • Wasn’t enough, they still betrayed God and entered into sin.
  • The Hebrew people… they are enslaved by Egypt… and God send SO MANY MIRACLES to free them from Egypt… all the plagues… the boils, the frogs, the locusts… the Nile turning into blood… the Hebrew people saw God do all of this… the death of the first born… they watched it happened… the Red sea parting… they walked through it! They watched as it crashed down on Pharaoh’s army…
  • They were lead by Moses, one of the greatest men of GOD ever!
    • STILL WASN’T ENOUGH… They still entered into sin time and time again, forsaking God and worshiping false idols.
  • I mean think about Judas Iscariot! He was one of the closest people to Jesus ever! He was one of the 12 original disciples.
    • He walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, learned from Jesus… He watched Jesus preform miracle after miracle after miracle.
      • WASN’T ENOUGH… Judas chose silver over Jesus…
• Being around God has never been enough.
  • So when is Jesus not enough? When you are just simply “around” Him.
    • Now your not really around Him, not like believer are… because God does not draw near to the unrighteous… you are not really around Him like you think you are… but none-the-less, being “around” God… being around the people and things of God… that is not enough.
  • I don’t care how much you go to church… it’s not enough.
  • I don’t care if everyone in your family is a Christian… it’s not enough.
  • I don’t care if your dad, your uncle, are your dog rover are all ordained ministers…
    • It’s NOT ENOUGH.
  • You can go on the missions field… you can live in foreign countries… you can preach the gospel every day of your life… IT’S NOT ENOUGH.
• Just think for a moment about the parable of the prodigal son… we always think about the ending of the story of the Prodigal son, because it is an AMAZING ending that shows the fathers love for us… but think about the beginning of the story…

Luke 15:11-13 ESV  And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.  (12)  And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.  (13)  Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

• Look the prodigal son… who represents the sinner… was living with his father, who represents God.
  • He was living with his father. He was living in luxury. He had everything he could ever need… food, safety, comfort, a good job with responsibility working for his father… IT WASN’T ENOUGH.
    • We learn later in the story that this father SHARES everything with his sons… EVERYTHING…

Luke 15:31 ESV  And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

• That’s what he said to his older son “Everything that is mine is yours” if he treats his older son like that, and this father represents God, and we know God is not a respecter of persons… meaning God treats everyone the same way… then we know that this father also treated the younger son like this.
• That means the younger son had everything the father had to offer, living in his house, with presumably unlimited access to his fathers love, wisdom, protection, guidance and provision… and yet all of that was not enough!
• WHY?!
  • Because the prodigal son wanted to do things HIS OWN WAY. He didn’t want his dad to be his boss. He didn’t want his dad to tell him what to do. He didn’t want his dad to be his lord.
  • Sure he wanted the things of his Dad… He said “Give me what’s coming to me”.
    • He wanted the things of his father… but he didn’t want his father…
• That brings me to point two this morning… JESUS MUST BE YOUR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR.

Point Two – Jesus MUST be your Personal Lord and Savior

Revelation 20:4-8 ESV  Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  (5)  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.  (6)  Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.  (7)  And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison  (8)  and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

• You see there are two groups of people in this passage, there are the relative few who have received Jesus as Lord, as Master, as Savior… as their King, their Boss, their everything.
  • And then there are the masses, their number is like the sand of the sea…
  • They had been ruled by Jesus, sure… but not as Lord, but more like a president…
    • You see if President Biden tells me I have to wear a mask to not get monkey pox… I am probably going to say no… because I am not afraid of a disease spread by sexual sin… just like I am not afraid of aids.
    • So President Biden is my political ruler… and I respect him as such… and I pray for his salvation…
    • But President Biden is not my Lord like Jesus is my Lord.
      • When Jesus says to do something I don’t ask questions, I obey. I immediately obey.
        • Anything short of that and I am in sin.
      • Jesus is my Lord… but to these mases Jesus will just a political leader.
      • And they will be easily decived by Satan…
        • Because Satan will tempt them, as he has always tempted us, with sin.
        • With the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life…
  • God tells us this important reminder and command in 1 John 2:15-17

1 John 2:15-17 ESV  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  (16)  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  (17)  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

• But these mases who will be deceived by Satan… they do love the world.
  • They do love the things in the world.
  • They love all the world has in it… the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life… they love those things…
  • SO SATAN TEMPTS THEM WITH THESE THINGS.
    • He tells them that Jesus is just a mean old grump who doesn’t want them to have any fun.
    • “If Jesus really loved you,” Satan lies, “then Jesus would let you have sex with whatever or whoever you want…”
      • And they whole heartedly agree, even if it means they get monkey pox!
    • “If Jesus really loved you he would let you eat or drink whatever you want…”
      • And they whole heartedly agree, as they grow obese and their hearts begin to fail… as they get addicted to alcohol and kill their livers, as they get addicted to drugs and rote their brains.
    • “If Jesus really loved you”, Satan suggests, “He would want you to be powerful and important.”
      • And these mases agree, as they work 50, 60, 70 hour work weeks, to climb the corporate ladder, to get that next promotion, to make more money… all the while neglecting their wives and children, never seeing them, cheating on them… destroying their household.
        • Side note… just a friendly reminder… no amount of money can buy you more time with your family. A promotion that cost you time with your family or cost you time with your God is NOT EVER WORTH IT.
    • Satan tempts men with things they want… even if it destroys them.
    • God keeps us from things that destroy us… even if we want them.
      • Let me say that again…
    • Satan tempts men with things they want… even if it destroys them.
    • God keeps us from things that destroy us… even if we want them.
      • Yet most people chose the things they want over the Lordship of Christ.
• So when Satan is released from the Abyss after 1000 years, even though this people have literally been around Jesus for a melinium… they still chose their own desires over the Lordship of Christ… and they go and make war against Jesus.
• And God destroys them, along with Satan, and sends them all to hell.
  • In fact we are going to talk more about hell and Judgment day next week.
    • But that is always the end result of following yourself instead of Christ… it is damnation.
    • And God doesn’t want that for you. God loves you too much to want that for you.
• So the sermon this morning is “When Jesus isn’t Enough”.
  • And point one was: “Being ‘Around’ Jesus isn’t enough”
  • And point two is this: Jesus must be your personal Lord and Savior.
• One of my favorite passages in scripture, and your guys hear it a lot, is John chapter 3.

John 3:1-5 ESV  Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  (2)  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  (3)  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  (4)  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”  (5)  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Conclusion

• Let me conclude with this little anecdote from C.S. Lewis.
  • He wrote this book called “The Great Divorce”… now pastors note here… the book is not meant to be taken literally, it would be heresy if it was… and it has some theological holes… but it tells a fictional yet interesting take on heaven and hell that shows the very real heart of man.
    • In the Great Divorce there is a bus ride that happens from time to time… the bus takes people from hell and brings them to the outskirts of heaven.
    • The bus drops the people off and lets them look around, even talk to some of the saints.
    • And the saints try to convince the people from hell to repent and come into heaven.
      • (Now again, that’s now how any of this works, once you are in hell you are in hell, there is no getting out, the Bible makes that very clear. But for the sake of the story stay with me)
    • So these people from hell are looking at heaven, walking around it’s outskirts… and the saints are trying to witness to them.
    • But one by one the people chose hell over heaven.
      • One man, a theologian, has to get back on the bus because he has to present a paper at a theological conference they are holding in hell.
      • Another man, a businessman, sees how good the golden fruit in heaven is, and picks a bushel… “I will make a killing selling these in hell” he exclaims as he get’s back into the bus.
      • One man realizes that the same God who created hell created and runs heaven… being better of his ill treatment in hell refuses to enter heaven because it is run by the same God.
      • One man has so many addictions that he loves… and heaven doesn’t offer any of those vices… so he get’s back on the bus to get to his next fix.
      • Most people get off the bus and find heaven to feel painful to them… because they are so use to their illusions, their lies, their relative truths… that the real, firm, solid truths presented in heaven feel painful to their soft and weakened bodies…
    • In the end, most people found a reason to stay in hell… and while of course that is not really how heaven and hell works, it does a great job of showing the disparity of mankind… showing why people would choose Satan over God…
• Let me ask you this question… who is your Lord?
  • Is it Jesus, or is it you?
  • Is Jesus just something you are around, or is He your Lord.
    • Going to church will not save you.
    • There are people here, who come here every week, and I know you are not saved… the Bible tells us how to discern these things, the book of 1 John is all about that…
    • Yet you come week after week… why?! Won’t you bow down to Jesus as Lord…
    • Don’t come hoping the Holy Spirit will rub off on you.
      • Hoping that going to church will forgive you from your sins.
      • Hoping that some blessings might rub off on you.
      • Some good fortune might rub off on you.
      • Being around God, being around church is not God is not going to fix your life… Only having Jesus Christ as Lord will do that… and it starts with being born again!
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