Spiritual Warfare
Part V…..The Mark of the Beast
Revelation 13: 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Notice it is not ON their right hand nor ON their forehead, it is IN it.
Ø It’s in the way you think and in the works that you perform. Are they your own ways or God's?
Ø God has made sure that His wisdom is so far apart from the wisdom of man that you can never confuse the two.
Revelation 13: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
There has been much speculation about the beast:
Ø Some thought it was Hitler, some think it’s the Pope.
Ø A lot of people believe that it is going to be a visible mark that is going to be tattooed on their head or on their hand.
Ø They are very careful to stay away from anything that has got 666 on it, especially a credit card, or a telephone number, or a street or house number that has 666.
But these things are not the things we need to avoid. These things won't harm us. It’s what 666 really is that will harm us.
Scripture says that 666 is the number of a man. The scripture also says that there are only two men in the world-the Godly and the ungodly.
Guess which has got the number 666.
Ø Since Adam sinned in the beginning we have been under the power of this beast.
Ø 666 is the number of the ungodly man.
Ø This beast is right in us.
The number for spiritual completion in the scripture is 7, so a man who is joined to the Lord, whose body, soul and spirit are in the Lord, would be in the realm of 777.
One who is separated from God and is not complete. Therefore he is 777 minus one, 666.
Ø The body, soul and spirit of this ungodly man are in the nature of the beast, which is the only other nature than the nature of God.
Ø It’s the nature of all the Kingdoms of this world.
Ø They are beast kingdoms and only seek to devour one another.
Understand that this great warfare that we are engaged in is to actually destroy these beasts.
Ø We have to destroy the one that has been keeping man apart from God in the world.
Ø We have to destroy the one that operates in the religious realm.
These two beasts are not all that different. The second beast only brings you to worship the first one again. It causes you to bow down again to the power of the flesh that operates in you. It seeks to overcome the saints.
The Mark of the Beast is so apparent that we don’t have any problem recognizing it.
Ø We can tell when it’s the flesh speaking and when it’s the Lord speaking.
Ø We can tell when it’s another spirit and when it’s the Spirit of God.
Ø We can tell when the beast is in control or when we are in submission and God is in control.
Ø We can tell whether every yoke has been broken in our life or not by how free we are.
Now, here is the great challenge.
Isaiah 14:16 “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;”
Ø God doesn't want to live in the house with the beast. It’s time for us to get rid of all the beasts of this house.
Ø It is time for us to honestly look upon him, identify him, and recognize that although he was dealt the deathblow by the sword of God, that deadly blow can be healed and in most peoples lives it is, unfortunately, already healed.
Ø The beast is not going to be finally dealt with until you and I rise up with the sword of the Spirit and run that beast through.
Ø We can't afford to let him live.
There is only one way to deal with the beast and that is to destroy it because if we let him live he is going to devour us. That is the nature of a beast.
Ø We need to submit ourselves to God and to move in the power of His might.
Ø We need to put faith in what He says, and we're finally going to believe that all things are possible with Jesus Christ.
Ø We are not going to take a despairing attitude bow to that beast again.
Ø We’re not going to say, “O Lord, it’s too hard or too difficult”.
Ø We're going to say, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me". He makes me more than a conqueror.
Ø We've got to believe it before Christ can complete it, but without faith it is impossible.
Do you want to know how Jesus overcame the beast?
Ø He never yielded to His lusts; He only yielded to His Father.
Ø He never heard the voice of His flesh; He only heard the voice of His Father.
Ø He knew that He came into the world for one reason only, and that was to do the will of God. Nothing to Jesus was more important than the will of God.
His will must be done for His Kingdom to come. Don't take the attitude, "Who can make war with the beast?"
The battle is not with your brother or your sister, the problem is with the beast in us. We are all in the grip of a mortal conflict.
I know that I haven’t won the battle against the beast nature yet because I'm still in warfare, but I can tell you this:
Ø I'm winning right now;
Ø I'm not allowing the beast to have dominion over me. I won't let sin have dominion.
Ø I can confess sin and He will cleanse me from it and from the guilt of it.
If you've got sin that is present in your life, why do you want to live with it? The wages of sin is death, you can't avoid that, but the gift of God is eternal life.
I know that we are getting close to winning this battle.
Ø We are about to break through here on earth into a new dimension in God
Ø The kingdom of God
Ø There is an army that is going to march through this land and it is going to destroy all that's been false. It's going to destroy the beast and it’s going to deliver a whole creation from the bondage of corruption,
But it's going to be done by a people who first, themselves, have known that deliverance. This isn't some selfish thing that we are after; it's for the whole of creation.
There has got to be a remnant of people that are willing to trust in Jesus and to believe that:
Ø His way is the right way,
Ø His truth is the right truth,
Ø Everything about Christ is right and therefore we are going to put our entire trust with Him.
I want to be there walking with this company with the saints, don’t you?
One of us is going to die, the beast nature or Christ’s nature in me.
We've got to get rid of this beast, the one who has been ruling over us all this time.
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