Know Your Enemy: Remedies Against the Devil’s Devices (4) | James 4:7

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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So, I have a correction to make from last week's sermon.

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I had made the comment that when we are born again or converted, that our spirits are glorified.

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And I kind of corrected it by saying that our spirits are renewed, regenerated, but it's not correct to say that our spirits are glorified now, okay?

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Glorification is the final state. And so, the question 40 from our

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Baptist Catechism is very instructive in this regard. It says, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

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The answer is that the souls of believers, the souls, okay, the spirits of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, made perfect or glorified, and do immediately pass into glory, right?

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They're glorified. And their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in the graves till the resurrection.

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Amen. So, I wanted to clarify that to make sure that there's no misunderstandings. Our spirits are not fully perfected or glorified yet because we are still in this unredeemed body, okay?

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Very important when it comes to dealing with the enemy, the world, the flesh, and the devil, especially our flesh, our bodies.

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So, I've been continuing this series on the devil specifically.

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We covered the world, and now we've been having an extended series on the devil. There's a lot to cover here, and Lord willing, we're going to cover some more very important territory with respect to how to understand the devil and how to deal with him in our lives, get him out of our lives.

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And if you missed any of the previous sermons, I strongly recommend that you go back and listen to the ones that you missed because this series, as I've mentioned, builds on the previous ones, the previous messages.

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And so, to restate the thesis that I've been saying this entire series is that we need balance.

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We need balance and discernment when it comes to dealing with both our natural and our spiritual problems and enemies.

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Amen? We need God's means of deliverance and remedies, which

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I refer to as the six S's. Number one is scripture, two is sound doctrine, three is the sacraments, the

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Lord's Supper and prayer, the word, and baptism. Number four is self -awareness and self -denial, five is sage or wise counsel, and six is spiritual warfare, spiritual warfare, which is something that we are still called and commanded to do as soldiers in God's army, spiritual soldiers.

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So I'm going to continue describing specific aspects of what the devil is and does and continue laying out remedies to fight against him and his devices.

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Okay? So last week I covered thesis number three, which is that the devil knows all of your specific weaknesses and he exploits them because the devil is a tempter.

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And the devil conspires with the world, which is, remember what the world is, right?

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Unregenerate civilization, the collective society of unbelievers, to attack us through our flesh, through our bodies, our senses, our flesh, especially the senses.

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Sinful temptation is often sensual because it assaults our senses.

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And I wanted to expand on this a little bit more. So can you all hear me okay? Okay. The word sensual can mean different things.

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Okay? And I know in our culture, it's more typical to refer to sensual as sexual, something sexual.

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But in scripture, it does not only or exclusively refer to sexual lust or enticement or temptation.

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In Webster's 1828 dictionary, a very good dictionary that is not politically correct like these modern dictionaries are, it defines sensual as pertaining to the senses as distinct from the mind or soul.

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Okay? So the older definition of sensual is the sense that I've been using it as.

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And it rings true, although our senses cannot be divorced from our minds, okay?

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Because our senses, obviously, they are connected to our minds. Because when we are tempted by our senses, our minds then can either refuse to sin or indulge in that sin, that temptation.

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And the next definition here is consisting in sense or depending on it, such as sensual appetites like hunger or lust, etc.

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Also affecting the senses, affecting them or derived from them, such as sensual pleasure or gratification.

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Hence, in theology, carnal, sensual also means carnal, pertaining to the flesh or body, physical body.

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In opposition to the spirit, right? It's not spiritual or holy, it's evil.

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Also devoted to the gratification of sense, to indulging it or to satisfying the senses.

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Given to the indulgence of appetites or luxurious, luxurious is an old

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Latin word that means to indulge. And it's as the Anglican Bishop Francis Atterbury once said, no small part of virtue consists in abstaining from that on which sensual men place their felicity or happiness.

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So we should abstain from what sinners like, in other words. That is virtuous.

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The devil, who is the prince of the power of the air, Visions 2 .2,

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uses means, right? Like social media, entertainment and music, worldly people or people with unresolved issues, including believers in order to entice or tempt our flesh and tap into our past weaknesses, struggles, trauma, failures, abuse, etc.

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So we must discern with spiritual eyes to look past the natural means that the devil often uses, especially other people, including believers, and to engage in spiritual warfare.

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Right? Not natural warfare. You don't cuss people out, you don't beat them up. That's not what we do.

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We do spiritual warfare. So if it looks bad or you know it will cause you to struggle or stumble, then don't do it.

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Amen? Abstain. And I forgot to mention this as well, but technology is also very, very dangerous.

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Be very careful with screens and screen time. We have to regulate that, especially for children, little ones.

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We personally don't even expose our kids. We don't let our kids use phones and that stuff, iPads and stuff, until they're at least ten years old.

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Okay? And there's a very good book on this called Glow Kids that gives you more information about how screens, especially handheld screens, have the same effect as heroin.

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And they turn your brain into a gambler's attic brain. So it's dangerous stuff and we need to be aware of these things and to guard ourselves and our children from these things, okay?

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And I've also, speaking of the devil and of all these attacks that the devil has been bringing upon us in our church,

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I have a confession to make. So my wife and I, we recently saw the new

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Dune II movie. It recently came out. It's about a, it's like an action movie about the desert, these desert dwellers and stuff and sort of like Star Wars.

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And you know, typically, we like to review movies first, before watching them.

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We use sort of like these Christian review guides, like Movie Guide and stuff like that. And so we looked it up and it looked okay, and so we're like, okay, well, let's watch it.

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And much to our surprise, the reviewers failed to mention all of the demonic activity in that movie.

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And so there's several scenes with drugs and demons on them and the story refers to them as jinn or jinn.

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That's the Arabic word for spirits or also genies, like Aladdin, you know, the genie.

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That's a demon, by the way, okay? That blue genie, that big genie, that's a devil, okay?

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That's not kid -friendly. So yeah, there's demons in there, there's elements of Islam and Buddhism and Romanism.

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They have reverend mothers, they call them reverend mothers, which are possessed by the devil in order to, you know, carry on the cultural traditions and stories of the people and to prophesy, quote unquote.

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And the author, Frank Herbert, once said that the story of Dune was stimulated through his experiences with the use of magic mushrooms, drugs, right, psychedelic drugs.

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The magic spice or spores in the story that allowed the bending of space, so it expands your mind, in other words, and it opens it up to demonic possession.

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The blue eyes of the desert dwellers from consuming these drugs, the mysticism of female spiritual warriors, which was influenced by tales of shamans.

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And shamans are like witch doctors, okay? They use demons and stuff and drugs to heal you, quote unquote.

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And the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico. So this is, the movie was, literally we had to do spiritual warfare because demons tried to come into our home and we literally had to do spiritual warfare and renounce the devil from our home.

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So this is real, y 'all. We have to watch what we watch, be careful with what we watch and what we said before our eyes, amen?

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This stuff is real. And like scripture says in 1

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Thessalonians 5 .19, do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but examine, test, scrutinize all things, including ourselves.

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Hold fast to that which is good and abstain, stay away from. Do not entertain even the form or appearance of evil, amen?

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Likewise, in Psalm 101 verses two through seven, well, verse two, which says, verse three,

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I'm sorry. I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart, in obedience.

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I will set no vile, no wicked, no worthless thing before my eyes and ears.

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My senses. So, like I said, we may need to fast forward, skip ahead, change the channel, or just turn it off.

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Turn it off, amen? We didn't even finish the movie because it was so possessed.

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So, remember also to fast and pray when necessary, especially when you're struggling with temptation or controlling your appetites.

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Romans 8, 12 through 13 says, so then brothers, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must, you must and will die.

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But if by the spirit you are putting to death or mortifying the practices of the body, you will live, you will live.

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And this is the verse that John Owen wrote his famous treatise on the mortification of sin in the flesh.

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Based on these verses, highly commend that work to you. Of course, we must also not cause others to stumble, especially children and weak believers.

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Remember Jesus' warning when he said, better for a millstone to be tied around your neck and cast into the ocean than to cause a little one or a weak one to stumble.

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So, but we have this blessed assurance, like we sang earlier, in Christ that our heavenly father is our strong man.

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He is our protector, our rock and our refuge. Amen. So number four, thesis number four, which

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I also reviewed last week was that the devil seeks to ensnare you with bad influences and to isolate you in your weakness.

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So we must congregate in a sound church. We must fellowship koinonia and refuse to be a victim and repent and reconcile.

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Amen. Do not be a victim. Now, if you feel the devil attacking you, attaching himself, we have the authority in Christ to renounce and to stop sinning, to ask the

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Lord for the meat, give us the means to stop sinning and to grow in Christ and in holiness and to repent when we sin.

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So, it's just as 2 Peter 1, verse 5 through 11 says, applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and to that knowledge and to that self -control and to that perseverance and to that godliness, holiness and to that brotherly kindness and to that love.

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For if these things are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the full knowledge of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. For in whom these things are not present, that one is blind, being nearsighted, having forgotten the purification of his former sins.

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Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election or choosing sure.

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For in doing these things, you will never stumble. Never stumble.

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For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

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So, we practice these things in our lives. We create this so that the seeds of righteousness can take root like 1

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John says and to create a climate that then is conducive to a stronghold for God's Spirit and it becomes a lifestyle, a walk, a peripateo, amen?

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So, we practice these things so that we never stumble. Does that mean you never sin again?

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No, but it means that we are empowered to repent quickly and to reconcile and to grow and to put to death our mortal bodies.

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So, the devil will take advantage of us by attacking this assurance, our assurance, which will ensnare you and hinder your sanctification and cause you to forget, to forget the purification of our former sins, right?

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So, we must never forget and that is why we are baptized.

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That baptism is a symbol of our burial to death, death to sin and new life in Christ.

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That all of our sin has been fully forgiven on the cross, past, present and future, amen?

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So, now we continue on to thesis number five.

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Thesis number five is that the devil is a liar and a deceiver.

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There's no surprise there, right? John 8 .44 says, in fact, let's go ahead and turn there to John 8 .44

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in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John chapter 8 in verse 44,

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Christ here explains who the devil really is and his origin.

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Verse 44, Jesus is saying, is talking to the unbelieving

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Jews, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.

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He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

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Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

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So the devil is a murderer and a hater who steals, kills and destroys.

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He tries to destroy us and our legacy and our church, the church. But he doesn't just hate or murder people and babies, you know, abortion and mollick sacrifice and all that stuff.

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He also murders and butchers and despises the truth. Revelation 12, 9 says it actually refers to the great dragon, the serpent of old from Genesis.

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Remember that? Who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

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The devil perverts God's truth. Did God really say? Did God really say you shall not eat from every fruit?

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He perverts the truth. Second Corinthians 11, verses 13 through 15, let's let's go ahead and turn there.

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That's another important passage about how the devil operates, how the devil works. In second

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Corinthians chapter 11 and those verses in verse 13,

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God's word says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ and no wonder for even

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Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising.

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We should not be surprised. We should not be ignorant of Satan's devices. If his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds, according to their works.

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So similarly, the devil is also a counterfeiter. He is a pretender, a counterfeiter.

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He will make the lie look like, feel like, act like, speak like the truth.

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OK, the devil is deceptive. You know, this reminds me of a very, very instructive event or story from church history with a man called

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William Tyndale. Now, William Tyndale was one of the reformers.

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He was an English reformer that translated, was the first to translate the Bible into English, the

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English language. And Tyndale's translation was actually the basis for a lot of the idioms and the phrases that we read in the

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King James Bible. He was a tremendous, brilliant scholar, knew several languages and was a man of God that was heavily persecuted by none other than the

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Roman Catholic Church because the church made it illegal to translate scripture into the common language.

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So there was a story where a man named

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Henry Phillips, he befriended him. He wanted to get to know him better, and they became really good friends.

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He became one of his close confidants. And they did work together.

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They were doing ministry together. And then Tyndale ended up becoming persecuted and he had to flee.

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And so he sought refuge in a secure, quote unquote, location. But then the authorities showed up, they found him, and they got a hold of him.

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And that is when he was burned at the stake. He was then subsequently burned at the stake.

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And guess who ratted him out? It was none other than his friend, quote unquote,

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Henry Phillips. The devil betrayed him, the Judas. He had been working the entire time with the

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Catholic authorities to try to capture Tyndale. That is the devil.

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That is how the devil works. The devil uses men like that to try to undermine and destroy

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God's people and church and work. So what is the remedy for Satan's lies and counterfeits?

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Now, Hebrews 3, let's turn to that passage. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12.

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I've quoted this passage several times before, particularly in the series that I did on church discipline.

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But Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12 is a critical passage that we need to really embrace as a church and as individuals, as believers.

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Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12 says, see to it, brothers, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living

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God. But encourage one another day after day, daily, as long as it is still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

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The deceitfulness of sin is deceitful. Y 'all, amen? The devil, that's why the devil is a sinner.

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He sins. And he uses the deceitfulness of sin to entice our flesh and to make us think that something is

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OK when it's not. Just like when we started watching this movie, thinking that,

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OK, well, it's all right, and it turns out that it wasn't all right. So this is our daily duty.

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Our daily duty is to admonish each other to not sin. How many churches have you been to that do this?

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See, churches a lot of times don't do this anymore. They don't take the seriousness and the deceitfulness of sin seriously.

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But scripture, God, is hardcore when it comes to sin. We must crucify it and die daily to it, put it to death, mortify it, do not entertain it, abstain from it.

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This must be our attitude and our behavior. So the enemy's hypocrisy, when we practice these things, the enemy's hypocrisy cannot survive in a healthy church that deals with sin, that confronts sin personally in our lives and in the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters, where it will get exposed, confronted, dealt with, and resolved.

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Amen? Then we must also fight back with discernment and truth, discernment and truth.

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Now, a lot of times, pastors, churches will say these platitudes, right?

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We need to be holy, or we need the truth. And it's like, OK, well, what do you mean by that?

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What does that mean? Now, Charles Spurgeon once said that discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.

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It is knowing the difference between right and almost right. Now, I'm going to slightly correct

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Pastor Spurgeon there, OK? He's right, but he's sort of, this is important to understand.

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Discernment is actually both, OK? It is knowing the difference between right and wrong.

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And it is also knowing the difference between truth and lies or errors. And it is also knowing the difference between right and almost right.

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All of that is discernment, OK? Hebrews chapter 5, if you turn there with me to Hebrews chapter 5, verse 13, we will see how important discernment is.

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Hebrews chapter 5, verse 13. God's word says, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

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He's a baby. But solid food is for the mature, who because of constant practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

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So this is important here. That's why we need the truth. We need the truth of God's word, not just a milk knowledge, not just a superficial knowledge.

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We need a mature knowledge, a systematic knowledge, a doctrinal knowledge that encompasses the whole counsel of God so that we may not be deceived by the devil's cunning devices, because he will try to ensnare you with lies that sound like the truth.

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So this S, remember the six S's, this S is for scripture. Acts chapter 20.

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I'm going to cover some scriptures here. These are important. So let's turn to Acts chapter 20 now. Acts chapter 20, starting in verse 29, and I'm reading from the

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Legacy Standard Bible, but the NASB is very close to it as well.

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And so Acts chapter 20, verse 29.

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I know that after my departure, this is Paul speaking, savage wolves, savage wolves,

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Satan's ministers, disguising themselves as ministers of righteousness, will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

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And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

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Therefore, be watchful, remembering that night and day for a period of three years,

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I did not cease to admonish each one of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, to scripture, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified, to give you full knowledge.

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Now, this also is important to understand. Wolves in sheep's clothing, right?

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Satan and his ministers, and also these, and you see this in a lot of false religions, where angels appear to these men, like Joseph Smith in the

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Catholic Church, where these apparitions of Mary or of angels, like the angel Moroni from the Mormon church, they will speak perverse things and cause men to fall away from the truth.

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They speak lies because they do not agree with God's word. God's word is the truth.

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Jesus said, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

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So anything who is against Christ, he who is not with me, is against me.

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Amen? So it is not enough, however, to simply know what the

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Bible says. Knowing what the Bible says is not enough. The devil knows what the

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Bible says. Cults know what the Bible says. It's not enough to know what it says.

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We must know what it teaches. We must know what it teaches.

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We must understand what it teaches. In that same chapter in Acts, chapter 20, turn with me now to verse 26.

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This is important. In verse 26, we read, therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.

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For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God, the whole counsel, purpose, and plan, the doctrine of God.

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So this S is also for sound doctrine. We need to consistently, consistently apply the remedies of sound, systematic doctrine, and hermeneutics, proper interpretation, proper understanding of Scripture, including the law and gospel distinction, rightly distinguishing and comparing and contrasting the law, which is grace, and the gospel, which is law.

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It condemns and it sanctifies the believer. But we must understand how these are distinguished and how we are to apply them to ourselves and to unbelievers in our lives and in order to resist the devil's lies and devices.

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This is how we grow from immature milk knowledge to mature, full knowledge.

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The Bible constantly admonishes us to be wise or mature when it comes to understanding sound doctrine and to be infants or babes when it comes to evil, right?

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Constantly. So very important, that is how we fight the devil, sound doctrine.

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Sound doctrine will make the devil flee because he can't deceive you anymore, right?

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So now thesis number six, the devil is also persistent.

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The devil is extremely persistent. Remember when

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I covered a few weeks ago Christ's temptation in Matthew 4, how many times did the devil tempt

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Christ? Like four times, one after the other after the other.

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The devil is a formidable opponent that we must take very seriously.

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The devil is a winter soldier, winter soldier. The term winter soldier is a play on words from Thomas Paine, one of the early gentlemen in the

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American time where we were American independence. The guy was an unbeliever,

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OK? He was not a believer. But he spoke of the sunshine patriots and the summertime soldiers who deserted, have valley forged because the going was rough.

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When things got tough, when winter came, they gave up and they fled. So now, of course, we as believers don't do that,

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OK? Do not do that. Don't desert or abandon your mission or your post. Don't give up.

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Don't be a sunshine patriot who quits when the going gets tough, just like John Mark did.

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Remember back in Acts 15? That's why Paul didn't want to bring him along, because John Mark deserted them in Pamphylia.

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And he didn't do the work that he said he was going to do. So when we commit ourselves to walking with God, don't give up.

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Christ will give us all of the means and remedies to deal with him. Now, we should not give up because the devil is most certainly not a quitter,

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OK? The devil will not quit. Now, if you turn with me to Revelation chapter 12.

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Revelation chapter 12, starting in verse 13. Very important passage here that will highlight the devil's persistence.

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Revelation 12. In Revelation chapter 12, starting in verse 13,

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God's word says, and when the dragon, Satan, saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he still continued to persecute the woman who gave birth to the male child.

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But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and half a time from the presence of the serpent, from the devil.

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And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

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But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

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So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the witness of Jesus.

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So just look at how the devil does not quit. He kept going after and trying something else, trying a new tactic, a new strategy.

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And even though God was protecting the woman from these attacks, he kept going. He said,

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OK, if I can't go after you, I'm going to go after somebody else. I'm going to go after the rest of her seed, which is us, believers, right?

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Why, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

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Amen? We all must be on our guard. So what's the remedy to the devil's persistence?

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So although the devil persistently tries to beat us and destroy us, we must resist him.

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And even this hard season too shall pass. Amen?

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I know this has been a hard season for a lot of us, a lot of difficulty, a lot of hardship.

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But it will pass. Just like here in this story, this event in Revelation, the devil gave up.

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He didn't give up attacking, but he said, you know what? Fine, I'll go after somebody else.

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So we must flee. We must persist the devil, resist him, so that he will flee from us.

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This actually reminds me of a show that we like to watch.

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It's called Special Forces, World's Toughest Test. And in this show, it's a funny show because this is about the most elite soldiers go to this type of training to train for special forces and SEAL Team 6, like the most elite forces in the military.

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And they take celebrities, just regular celebrities. Some of them are athletes. Some of them are not. But you see them go through the ringer.

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And some of them just give up right away. They can't hack it. The trials are too difficult.

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The tests are too challenging. And they wear them out almost to the point of exhaustion.

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And some of them give up. They don't stick it out to the end. And this is a good illustration of what happens when we face trials, because these trials are actually the

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Lord's will. The Lord ordains these trials for us to go through in order to sanctify us and to help us to grow, to prune us, to cleanse us, to sanctify us.

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They are for our good, ultimately. And they tend to reveal who we really are, because sometimes we're not always aware.

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Sometimes we try to suppress who we really are and not deal with our problems. But these trials, these tests, just like when you exercise to the point of exhaustion, it tends to drop the facades.

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And it exposes what's really inside. And it's funny, because when they see somebody struggling, they call them up for an interview.

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They interrogate them. And they ask them, hey, what's going on? And then they start pouring their heart out, right?

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They say, well, I was abused. You know, my dad wasn't there. They start talking about their problems.

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It's like, yeah, so you know what's wrong with you. You need to deal with that. We need to deal with our problems.

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That is why the devil uses trials in our lives. So don't be discouraged by the trial.

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Remember to resist, to persist, and that God is going to sanctify you through that process.

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It's like a purging fire. The Lord is a consuming fire that sanctifies us. And yeah, it hurts.

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Sometimes it hurts. But it's for our good. Amen? So the devil will never stop fighting us until he is cast into the lake of fire, unless we resist him.

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Like James 4 .7 says, be subject, therefore, to God. Be subject to Him.

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Obey Him. Submit yourselves to Him. Resist the devil every single time, and he will flee from you.

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Because you know, you may resist him, and he may flee for a time. But hey, if you start getting caught up with sin, if you start flirting with sin, if you start entertaining the concept of a sinful thought, action, or desire, he will get back in there.

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The devil and his minions will seek another opportunity to take advantage of you.

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So we must never stop fighting and never stop resisting. And if we continue to do those things like Peter says, continue to practice these things, these good works, and holiness, and knowledge, growing in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior, we will never stumble. Amen? So we must also put on the armor of God, the armor of light, including the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

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All of them. No matter what he throws at us, we will be able to extinguish them with the shield of faith.

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Now, what does that mean? Faith. Faith is to grow in the faith, right? It is to grow in knowledge, in the faith, in full knowledge.

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I like how Gordon Clark puts this. He says, you know, we need to move past the milk, past studying these doctrines of baptism and of salvation and justification, repentance, faith.

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We need to stop studying these doctrines in isolation and graduate and move on to studying

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Charles Hodges' systematic theology. We need to study the confessions. We need to study

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Burkhoff's systematic theology, John Calvin, his institutes. We need to study sound doctrine, mature doctrine, so that we may build up our shield of faith.

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Amen? Amen? So mature, systematic doctrinal knowledge is what we need, what we all need.

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It's not just for pastors, OK? Don't get that twisted. It's not just for pastors.

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It's not just for super Christians. It's for all of us.

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All of us, like Colossians says, are to have a full knowledge.

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Peter, everywhere, to full knowledge, mature knowledge in Christ.

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So know for yourself as well and remind the devil, remind him and his minions that their days are numbered.

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Revelation 12 .12 speaks of that, that Christ has defeated them and will cast them into the lake of fire.

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Let's turn to Revelation 12 .12 .12. We'll close out with this.

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Revelation 12 .12. Now, here in verse 12, we read, for this reason, actually, let me back up.

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Let me back up to verse 10. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our

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God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before God day and night.

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Persistence, right? The devil is persistent day and night. And they overcame him.

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Why? They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony.

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And they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.

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Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.

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You know, imagine how the devil must feel. You know, just think about it. Imagine knowing ahead of time that you're going to lose.

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Imagine that. Imagine the devil knows. Imagine how the devil must think like your days are numbered.

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You're going to be thrown into the lake of fire and knowing that. And of course, instead of instead of having some kind of remorse, that only provokes the devil to fight even harder.

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Right. That's how twisted and devilish the devil is. But we must always remember not to give up.

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And the Lord will provide always a way out of our temptation. He will always provide a way for us to resist the devil, just like he did with Christ.

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Right. Just like he did with Christ in the temptation in the desert. What did

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Christ do? He quoted scripture, rightly understood and rightly applied.

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Right. Because the devil used scripture. But Christ exercised a full knowledge of scripture and he says men shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the father.

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Amen. So we don't just quote scriptures out of context or irrelevant ones.

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You know, like, oh, well, David went after Bathsheba. You don't tell the devil the devil that he'll probably use that against you.

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You know, you know, you have to make sure that you rightly understand and apply the word when it comes to dealing with ourselves, with our sin and with the devil.

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Amen. So with that said, let us meditate on these things and close out with a word of prayer.

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Our precious, gracious, almighty father, we thank you once again, Lord, for the for the beautiful preaching, for the beautiful gospel and the beautiful assurances and promises that you have given us in your word.

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Lord, please continue to build us up in the faith and help us to receive the preaching of your word, the sound preaching of your word by faith and to grow in our faith and in that shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, which are the vital weapons and resistance to both resist them defensively and offensively,

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Lord, the devil, the world and our flesh. Father, we thank you for these things. We ask we pray for those who could not make it, who are struggling.

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For those of us that are struggling, so many of us, Lord, all of us have been struggling through trials and temptations.

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Lord, help us, Lord, be with us, draw nigh to us in our struggles and in a time of need. Father, remind us of who we are in Christ, of that we have overcome the evil one and that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us first.

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Lord, help us to keep our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the one who will never let us go.

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And we ask these things in Jesus almighty precious name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety has applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church sermons and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcast, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com