God's Enemies Destroyed
A Sermon on the Destruction of God's Enemies
Scripture
Sermon Description
The spiritual conflict Christians experience is much deeper than merely a battle against people. In this sermon titled “God’s Enemies Destroyed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones teaches on this spiritual warfare as it is written about in this last book of the New Testament. Who are the antagonists behind the opposition of men and women? Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies these as the devil, the secular powers and governments of the earth, false religion, and the seductive power of worldliness. Over and over throughout Scripture, Christians are warned against being lured by the pleasures and promises of the world. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that when all attempts fail, Satan leans heavily on this to cause Christians to fall. However, even though God gives descriptions of these enemies, how marvelous it is that in Revelation He shows the details of the Christian triumphs. The essence of comfort is that Christians ultimately have no need to fear. God promises that these antagonists will be judged and that this judgment is final and emphatic.
Sermon Breakdown
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The sermon is divided into two main sections: chapters 1-11 and chapters 12-22. The first section deals with Christ and the church facing opposition from mankind. The second section deals with the conflict between the church and spiritual forces of evil.
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In chapters 12-14, the antagonists against the church are described:
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The devil, described as the great dragon (12:3)
- The beast from the sea, representing secular powers that persecute the church (13:1)
- The beast from the earth, representing false religion (13:11)
- Those who receive the mark of the beast, representing people who are tools of the devil and his forces (13:16)
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The great harlot Babylon, representing the seductive power of worldliness (14:8)
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In chapters 15-16, the final judgments of God against the antagonists are described. The judgments start with the weakest antagonists and progress to the strongest.
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In chapters 17-19, the judgments against the harlot Babylon, the beasts, and their followers are described in detail. They are all utterly destroyed.
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In chapter 20, the devil himself is judged and cast into the lake of fire. With the destruction of all the antagonists, the new heaven and new earth are established.
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The sermon offers comfort by showing that God's people will be kept safe through all the judgments and will ultimately triumph. The harlot Babylon and all the forces of evil will be destroyed.
Great Biblical Doctrines
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.