Your Adversary The Devil

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So I'd like to speak to you this morning on your adversary, the devil. Your adversary.
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Your adversary. And the Scripture text we have has come before us from the
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Apostle Peter, from 1 Peter chapter 5, 8 and 9. Just two verses, and we'll read these two verses.
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Verse 8 and 9, and I'm reading from the NASB translation. Hear the word of the living
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God. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert.
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Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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Verse 9, but resist him. Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
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Amen. We'll look at those two verses here, and let us bow together in prayer and ask our
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Lord to graciously meet with us. Our Father and our
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God, we thank You. We thank You, O Lord, for Your holy word.
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You said that heaven and earth will pass away, but Your word abides forever.
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It remains the same.
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Nothing changes. It's the great truth that's before us, reveals our enemy.
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We thank You for this, Father, that You do not leave us blind. We are not ignorant of the devices, the cunningness and the strategies of Satan.
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As we've sung, the Spirit and the gift are ours. And we thank You for that this morning. We thank
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You for Your blessed Holy Spirit, Lord, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness that helps us on our journey here and gives us the appropriate weapons and the appropriate armor to put on that we may fight a good fight of faith until the end.
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Father, so we are completely inadequate this morning. We are inadequate. We confess that.
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And our enemy may be stronger than us, but, Lord, we know who's the strongest. We know who the greater one is, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. So, Lord, we ask that the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified. Lord, sanctify us in Your truth.
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We thank You that Your word is absolutely sufficient for everything that pertains to godliness and life.
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So our prayer, Lord, is with the psalmist this morning from Psalm 119. Open our eyes, Lord, that we may behold wonderful things from Your law.
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Lord, give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to Your church. And we would ask this in the mighty name of Jesus and for Your glory.
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Amen. The great period in John Bunyan, the author of the classic allegory, as you well know,
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Pilgrim's Progress, he wrote another famous allegory called the
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Holy War, which was a sequence to this, and I think that was even as good as Pilgrim's Progress.
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I haven't read all of it, but I've read so many excerpts from it. It just gives you a broad spectrum of the journey of the
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Christian life and the grace that God has. But in the Holy War, he begins by saying this, quote,
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In the Galiot country of universe, there lies a pleasant and peaceful municipality called
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Mansoul. The picturesque architect of this town, his convenient location, and its superior advantages cannot be equaled under heaven.
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Once upon a time, a mighty giant named Olivos made an assault upon this famous town of Mansoul.
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He tried to take it and make it his own habitation. This giant was the terrible
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Prince of Darkness. He was originally one of the servants of King Shaddai, who had placed him in a very high and mighty position.
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Knowing they lost their positions and the king's favor forever,
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Olivos and his rebels turned their pride and hatred against Shaddai and his son.
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They roamed about in fury from place to place in search of something that belonged to the king on which to take their revenge.
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At last, they happened to find the spacious country of universe and they steered their course toward the famous town of Mansoul.
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This is so true, isn't it? But yet he gives an allegory, but it's coming right out of the
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Bible. And he goes on to say this, Considering it to be one of the chief works and delights of King Shaddai, they decided to make an assault upon this town.
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An assault. And when they found the place, they shouted horribly for joy and roared as a lion over its prey, saying,
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Now we have found the prize and how to take revenge on King Shaddai for what he has called, what he has done to us.
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So they called a council of war and considered what methods they should use to win this famous town of Mansoul for themselves.
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Now that's John Bunyan. That's just the beginning paragraph of that book.
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It may whet your appetite to get that book and read it. It does to me as well. But even so, today
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Satan continues his assault to the town of Mansoul.
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To Mansoul. And his strategy has never changed, has it? He uses the same strategy because he is very successful in doing this.
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And deceiving and deception. That's his main strategy, is deception. He has never changed that strategy.
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And he deceives. And he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. As you well know in chapter 3 of Genesis.
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And to bring the human race down to ruin. And he was very successful at it. In tempting
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Eve and also to get to Adam. That's why he went to Eve first. That shows you how cunning he is.
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He knew how to get to the heart of Adam. So he goes to his wife. He knows exactly what he is doing.
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He is very cunning. He is very subtle. So he assaults and slanders God's character.
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He assaults God's goodness. He is a master of deception, as you well know.
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And I'm not here by no means to give him any glory. God forbid. But what the text tells us today, we need to pay close attention.
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That we do have an enemy of our souls. And we need to know what the Word of God has to say about Satan. We must know this.
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Because it's very important. It's very important for the warfare in which we are in.
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So his attacks upon Mansoul actually center in two areas. It centers in two areas.
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I would believe the first area would be the mind. He goes after the mind. The mind.
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And second would be the emotions. He warps the emotions. The emotions has a lot to do with it. But at first it's the mind.
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The emotions. The will. And he desires to snatch the truth of the Word of God from you and I.
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And fill our minds with lies. So that leads to immorality. Immorality that leads to more and more even false doctrine.
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That's really his main strategy. Is to take us away. To twist the truth.
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He's very cunning at this. He wants you to think that sin is not so bad.
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He wants us all to think that. And he desires to drown us in a sea of sin. So that you become tolerant of that sin.
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That oh it's a lie. It's no problem. Oh God will forgive you. He can bring those lies.
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And the next thing you know like a mouse in a trap. And with the bait. He takes it and then. You're hardened against God.
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And conscience becomes hardened and seared. And the next thing you know the tempter has got you right where he wants you.
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He wants you to be deceived. He desires you to be deceived. That's his strategy. And he does it to hurt
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God. He does it to hurt God. Because we are God's creation. We're made in the image of God.
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He wants to entertain us with sin. So that you won't think it's as evil as it really is.
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Isn't that one of his lies. And Jesus says he's a liar and he's the father of it. Can't believe a thing he says.
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So in order that we as God's people be not deceived. And fall prey of the devil's devices.
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As Paul said that we're not ignorant of his devices. The apostle Peter here in our text gives us three very strong commands.
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And how to overcome the devil's wiles. There's three commands we must get here.
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The first command is to be sober. To be sober. That's found in verse 8a. The second command is found in verse 8b.
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And it goes on in the same verse there. Be on the alert. Be on the alert. And the last and final command we will look at this morning.
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And we will also look at some application. The third command is found in verse 9.
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Resist him. Resist him. Firm in the faith. So we will look at these three points.
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And I believe these are three commands. Be sober. Be alert.
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Resist him. These are commands. So here with these commands Peter the apostle by the blessed
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Holy Spirit actually tells us what the battle is like.
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These commands come directly from the Lord of hosts. It's almost like the general of the army, the captain of the
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Lord of hosts is passing this down in a letter to someone in rank in which he has given authority.
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And that's the apostles, right? The head of the church. The chief. The general.
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The captain. The Lord of the hosts. Jesus Christ himself has given authority to the apostles.
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And he's actually given it down to us. Through the leaders and to each of every godly
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Christian that fears God and a believer in Jesus Christ and says, Okay, here's the plans, here's the strategy, here's the truth that you need to know about that enemy.
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So this is actually, I almost feel like that this morning, I said these are like commands right here from scripture from the
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Lord of hosts. Commands. And it comes to us, it's passed down to the soldiers of the cross.
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From the chief commander. From the captain of our salvation. And what are we to do?
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What's a good soldier to do? He is to obey the orders. He's to obey the commands. Just not to hear them, but we must obey them.
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So that's actually the course in which we're going to look at because we're under his mighty hand as we looked at last
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Lord's Day. We're under God's mighty hand of authority. And this is how we will gain and win the victory through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. And we must know our enemy. We must know his strategies.
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And I know a lot of these truths I'm going to be bringing out this morning you've probably, I'm sure you've read, being a student, a good
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Berean of the scriptures, but it's good for us to be reminded of these things as well. So these three commands contain the truth for us to win the battle against all the assaults and the wiles of the devil.
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So let us look together in the word of God this morning as we look at these three imperatives, these three commands.
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The first command comes to us in verse 8. Verse 8.
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Be of sober spirit. Be sober. Be of sober spirit. The text actually does mean be of sober spirit.
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Now, to understand what Peter is actually saying in context, as we always do here, and I think every student of the
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Bible should do as we study the word of God together, is always go to the previous verse. Verse 7, as we looked at, he says, casting all your anxiety, your care on him, because he cares for you.
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What a wonderful text. As we look, it's such an encouraging text this is to us that we cast all of our anxiety, our cares on him because he cares for us, because he cares for you.
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Dr. George Morrison said this, and I love this because it sets the premises of where Peter is going here.
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God does not make His children carefree so in order that they be careless.
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That is good, isn't it? In other words, we are carefree, but that does not mean that we become careless.
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Although we should not worry and have anxieties, we must be sober and vigilant.
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That's where Peter is going here. In other words, God takes your care, but that doesn't mean you drop your guard down.
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This doesn't mean that we are not alert, we're not vigilant. The command is be alert, be vigilant.
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Why? Because we have a powerful adversary. That's why. It's very serious. We have an enemy, the devil.
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He roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour.
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And that word devour actually means to gulp down. He wants to tear you to pieces. He's serious about it too, if you notice.
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He's very serious. He's a very busy devil. And he is serious about hurting
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God and rebelling against God and doing everything he can to take vengeance against God. Now, it's amazing.
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This question has come up to me and I'm going to bring this as a footnote here. I've had people ask me, why didn't
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God take care of him from the beginning? He could have killed him and all his, the third actually, according to revelation of the rebellious angels, the fallen angels now and demons, and scripture does say that God did put some of those in chains reserved for judgment.
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So God could do it. But God allowed him to go on. God has a plan.
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God uses him. Isn't that incredible? And we see the sovereignty of God.
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He's on a leash, like Luther said. He's on a leash like a dog. He only lets him go so far and he has to ask permission from God.
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We're going to look at that. But on the physical level, this first command to be sober, what comes to your mind on the physical level?
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It actually means you've got to be self -controlled. It refers in relation to intoxication, to people that get drunk with strong wine or strong drink.
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But the Bible actually says, hey, you are to stay sober. Be sober. Do not be intoxicated.
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Yet here in other parts of the New Testament usages, it is more of a metaphor.
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It's a metaphor of not the physical level of drinking, but it's a metaphor connotation.
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So Peter is quickly, he's talking about something spiritually. He's talking about being spiritually sober.
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Spiritually alert. To be self -controlled in our mindset.
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To be Bible thinkers. To think biblically. To think the way the truth would think.
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What God would think. And the only way we can know this is knowing this book.
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We must saturate ourselves with this book. If that enemy out there, and by the way, the enemy knows this book.
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And he knows how to twist this book. And he knows how to twist these scriptures. So we've got to know it when he comes to us to tempt us.
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No, it is written. But Jesus, as Jesus defeated him, it is written again. And put it into its context.
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Because that's what he does. He takes the scriptures, and that's what he does. That's the way he wins his victories.
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That's the way he gets his prey. Is twisting the scriptures.
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And this thing, you know, he's got the prey. But he's talking about being spiritually sober. To be self -controlled in the mindset.
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Now Peter's already made, being sober a major focus, hasn't he? If you remember in his letter in these churches to Asia Minor.
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Let me just spark your remembrance here. First Peter 1 .13. First Peter 1 .13.
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We'll go back a little bit. Peter says, Therefore gird the loins of your mind. Gird up.
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Gird up the loins of your mind. Prepare your minds for action. That's what he means.
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Prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. See, he's already mentioned this to us, hasn't he?
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Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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So, it's important how we think. As a man thinketh, as the proverb says, so is he.
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Our thinking process is everything. And you look at the world out there today.
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They think completely different of a truth that they may have. But that doesn't buy in with God.
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God is the truth. The spirit of God is the truth. The spirit of truth. And the revelation of the...
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We had the truth. And now there's a great debate out there. What's the truth? The Koran.
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The Koran. And you know, you've got these other so -called Bibles. But we know what's happened.
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We view your research. Satan's behind all this. He's twisted religion.
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He's twisting... And what does he do with the occult? They usually take the Scriptures and they twist it.
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They twist it. The meaning becomes completely different to what it is when Satan's sitting back just loving.
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So that's why we've got to know the Scripture. We've got to know the truth. So, the command is to be sober.
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Be sober in our mind. To have a right mindset of thinking. Now, Peter reminded us also of this truth in 1
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Peter 4, 7. That's another verse to remind us. Notice what he says in 1 Peter 4, 7.
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The end of all things is near. That means at a hand. It's at a hand. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit.
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There it is. Sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. So in everyday application, it actually means ordering and having an ordered, balanced life.
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And what comes to everyday application of important issues that we all face, which requires the discipline of mind, having a disciplined mind, self -controlled mind, a mind that is sober, and also a body that avoids the intoxication of the allurements of the world.
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Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. By what? The renewing of your mind. There it is.
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Set your mind on things above, as Brother Keith preached here a couple weeks back. Set your mind on things above.
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Our mind, our mind must be renewed day by day. And the only way we can renew our mind is through the word of the living
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God. Saturate ourselves with it. That's how our minds are sanctified and how to properly think.
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And notice 1 Peter 2, verse 11. There's another one that reminds us.
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Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.
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Now he's talking about those things that wage war against the soul. Abstain from fleshly lusts.
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In other words, hold yourself away from fleshly lusts, fleshly desires, fleshly worldly desires.
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Be sober. Actually means being disciplined in an inward way. A private way.
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By abstaining. By avoiding. There's things we must avoid. Avoiding the desires of the fallen nature which wage war against the soul.
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The Apostle Paul mentions this in Romans 13, 11 -14. He says this. Do this.
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Know in the time that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep out of a stupor.
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For now salvation is nearer to us than we have believed. The night is almost gone.
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The day is near. In other words, he's saying the day of righteousness when Jesus Christ comes in glory.
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That great day when He will consummate all things. Everything's going to come to an end. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
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Let us behave properly as in the day, not in the carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
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And then he says this. Put, but, put on. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust, to its desire.
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That's a powerful verse, isn't it? That's actually the verse that Augustine came to know
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Jesus Christ. He heard a little child from a distance and God allowed this to happen. A little child said, pick up and read, pick up and read.
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And he picked up the Word of God and he came right to that verse. That's the
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Spirit of God. And Augustine became one of the greatest theologians in the church. It's incredible how
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God works, isn't it? 1 Thessalonians, here's another one. Chapter 5, verse 5 -8.
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The Apostle Paul reminds the church at Thessalonica, for you are all sons of light and sons of day.
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We are not of the night nor of darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
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It means self -control. There it is. Let us be alert. Let us be sober. Why? For those who sleep, do their sleeping at night.
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And those who get drunk, get drunk at night. Darkness, right? But since we are of the day, let us be sober.
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That means self -control. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
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So being sober means actually being self -controlled. It means when it comes to our conflict against the devil, and part of this soberness includes not blaming the devil on everything, right?
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He is a devil. He is not all -powerful. He's not all -wise. He's not ever -present. We will see that.
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But he does tempt us to sin. He allures us in our fallenness.
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That's why we need the Spirit of God. That's why we need the Word of God. To help us know actually
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His strategies. So, we need to be sober, right? Be sober.
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Then Peter adds a second command. Let's go to the second one. Look at verse 8b. First he says,
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Be sober, be self -controlled. The second he says, Be on the alert. Be on the alert.
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This is an imperative command. And literally that means, Be watchful. Be watchful. Or stay awake.
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Stay awake. We've heard that before, haven't we? Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of this. The spiritual forces that assault
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Christians not only directly, but often very in a subtle way, in an indirect way, demand that those who love
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Jesus Christ maintain such vigilance. And our Lord Jesus Christ even warned His disciples while He was about to agonize in prayer as He was going to the cross in the
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Garden of Gethsemane. You know the story in Matthew chapter 26. And there was three that was of the innermost circle that went closer with Him.
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Peter, James, and John. And even they fell asleep. And Jesus said,
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Watch with Me one hour. One hour. Watch with Me. In Matthew 26, verse 41,
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Jesus said to them, To keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation.
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The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. If our Lord Jesus Christ gave that warning to the apostles at that time, in which they failed at that moment, they fell asleep.
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How important it is for us, oh beloved, to keep a watch. To keep a watch.
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To be alert. And in the pattern for the believers to pray, Jesus even teaches in Matthew in the
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Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 6, verse 13, And do not, and He says, And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or the original
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Texas, or the evil one. To be delivered into the hands of the evil one.
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Be watchful. Stay awake. What does it mean? Keep your eyes open. Don't fall asleep.
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Don't get drowsy. Don't get lulled into thinking there is no danger, because there is danger.
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It literally means to get up. Arise. Be mindful. Gear up. Keep watching.
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Like a watchman. There is a battle going on. It reminds me of my mind, and the thing is like a fortress, and the watchman that is looking for the enemy to come, to bombard.
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He is to take a firm stand, but he is to watch for the enemy. To be alert. Scripture has a lot to say about this.
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The Apostle Paul says this to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 verse 31. He charges them, and he says,
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Therefore be on the alert. Notice that. Be on the alert. Remembering that night and day for a period of three years, this apostle did this,
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I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. What a man of God to give tears and to admonish them.
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But he said be on the alert. Be on the alert. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18. I love this.
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We will look at more of this at the close of the message, but he says with all prayer. Notice how many times he says all.
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With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. In the Spirit.
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And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance, and petition for all the saints.
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All prayer, when, at all times, and petition in the Spirit. Be on the alert with all perseverance, and petition for at all times.
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Now beloved, that's the entire New Testament. It calls the believers to remain alert, to be watchful. Now let me give you a personal question here.
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Are you alert believer? Are you alert? Are you alert? Are you the kind of Christian who prays during every conversation when you talk to someone, asking the
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Lord in your mind, and praying with wisdom, God give me wisdom in this situation. And asking
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God for strength, and daily duties, as you work and labor unto the Lord, and watching, and all that goes on around yourself, and that the world, and with a biblical lens on.
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Are you watchful? Are you alert? Are you seeking? Are you discerning what
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God is doing? Are you praying that His will be done? See, we must do this constantly.
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That's what the Bible says. Pray without ceasing. And actually, you say, well that takes a tremendous amount of strength to do this constantly.
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But beloved, we've got the Holy Spirit to help us in these things. We cannot do it in our own strength.
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We must recognize that. It is only in the strength of God. Now, that's being alert.
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That's being watchful. So, how alert are you? Or are you asleep?
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You know, it's sad. If you look around, you see many Christians sleeping. It's almost like they're sleeping in the garden.
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Falling asleep. Are you on guard? Are you keeping watch?
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Are you the guard who watches over the family picnic? Or the guard that watches constantly over your fellow soldiers in warfare?
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That's a vast difference, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, we need to be in the warfare mode, right?
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Not in the garden picnic. That's a vast difference. Beloved Christians need to be on alert for the obvious.
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The subtle schemes of the enemy amends souls, as Bunyan says. Mansoul is his target. That's his target.
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The enemy is actively, without stopping, without tiring, without delay. Like I said, he is very busy.
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He doesn't rest. We're going to look at that in just a minute. How do you know that? Well, he walks about.
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We'll see that in a few minutes. Constantly working overtime because he knows the time is short, but he works very hard.
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We've got to outdo him, folks. We've got an enemy. And he's got millions underneath his authority.
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And I think about this so often that I don't think many times we have the devil himself, even though the devil himself is behind it.
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But I think the devil himself goes to the big generals and the people on the front lines and the ones that have more of an impact in the kingdom of God.
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He's going to target them. I really believe that. And he's got plenty of minions and followers that he sends out to all the rest of us little guys, right?
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But trying every temptation to get us to disregard, to doubt God's Word, I think that's his main strategy, to doubt
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His love for us and His goodness for us. He'll whisper in your ear and say, God has forsaken you and He don't love you anymore.
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How many times has he whispered that to your ear? He mentioned that to me and I said, well, I'll go right to the
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Word of God. Not so. This is what the Word of God says. God has a love for us that's infinite and cannot change.
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And that Father of all lives, put Him to flight. Well, He also wants us to gossip and to slander, to hate, not forgive, right?
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He wants us to do those things that are against God and that displeases God. He wants us not to pursue and persevere in God's kingdom.
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And how does He do this? He distracts us. He distracts us from the things that's important like the cross of Jesus Christ.
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The Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to distract us from Christ and to ignore God's means of free and sovereign grace.
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Oh, so much more that could be said there. But it says here, be sober, be alert, be self -controlled, be watchful, because this is a warfare.
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It's a warfare against the enemy of our souls, right? But not only against our souls,
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He's the enemy of God. He's the enemy of God. And part of that very reason we don't remain sober, unfortunately at times, and self -controlled as we should, and alert and watchful is that we just aren't aware of the understanding of who our enemy really is and we don't take it serious.
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And if we took it serious and we took this devil serious, we would be more alert. I think that.
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I'm preaching this to myself too. And it's a portrayal of the enemy so that you and I can know who we're dealing with.
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This is the picture that Peter is given. And the apostle Peter wants us to know that, folks,
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I'm telling you, this is no common opponent. This is a serious enemy. Look at how many people and millions he's deceived from the truth.
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Some people would ask right here, what about God's doctrine of election that He's sovereign? Oh, absolutely.
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God's already made that decision to those who do believe and repent or elect.
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But we don't know who those are. God does. So we're way below this.
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There's a spirituality of playing that we don't know of unless we know it through the
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Scriptures. But as we live here, we don't know who the elect is, do we? And that's why the
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Lord says and commands, you go preach this gospel. And He talks about to the whosoever. So there's a means in which
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God uses us. But yes, God is sovereign overall. Absolutely. This does not contradict
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God's sovereignty, does it? I don't see that. Some people would like to make it contradict.
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And there you've got confusion. And where does that confusion come? From the enemy. He would even want to confuse people.
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Well, of course, God's not the author of confusion. Be sober of spirit.
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Be on the alert. Why? Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
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Now, I want us to look closely to this and to what Peter is saying with each word, precept by precept, line upon line, phrase.
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Peter is actually painting a frightening picture before us as a terrifying evil enemy.
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And he is. Who desires to utterly destroy you and me. What did
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Jesus say? The thief comes but to steal, to kill, and destroy. Now, that can go with false prophets. But what's behind the false prophets?
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Satan. He wants to steal. He's a robber. He wants to kill. He's a murderer.
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He wants to destroy. He destroys and ruins people's souls. And Peter says it.
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Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
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He seeks. Now, Peter identifies Satan as your adversary. You know that pronoun, your, making that designation a very personal one, doesn't it?
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He's your adversary. Satan is not only the adversary of God and holy angels.
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He's a vicious, relentless enemy of God's people. Luther, that's what
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Luther's battle hymn of the Reformation talked about as we sung it this morning. A mighty fortress is our
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God. Notice how he respectfully speaks about Satan. He gives him respect. You know why?
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Oh, he hates him. Of course we are to hate him. But you've got to respect that enemy to one sense. Because he's got more power than you and I do.
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He's got more power. And there has to be some kind of respect there because, in a sense, we can't fight him.
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But the fight has already been won with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where he crushed his head.
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He's wounded. Well, your adversary, which properly means an opponent. You know what that means in a lawsuit?
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As well as any kind of enemy who is seriously and aggressively hostile. And Peter adds another noun to describe our enemy.
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Peter calls him the devil. That means diabolos. Diabolos. This word diabolos takes the opposition of the level of a malicious enemy who slanders or attacks.
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Who slanders and attacks. He's a slanderer. He's a slanderer.
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He does this well. And he's an accuser of who opposes all believers before God.
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Now what does that make you think of? Job. Let's go to Job chapter 1. You see this.
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We've quoted it quite often. I'll tell you this. Job chapter 1 gives us some insight. By the way,
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Job really didn't know what was going on in the spiritual realm. He had
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God, and that was enough. But let me say this. In the spiritual realm, he didn't know that the sons of God were having a meeting.
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About him? Isn't it something? Look at chapter 1. Look at verse 6.
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Now there was a day when the sons of God. I was talking about the angels, of course. The sons of God.
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God's many holy angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Now I don't know about you.
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I want to stop right there. Who's in charge here? You see the Lord. He's on the throne.
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They are presenting themselves before the King of glory. The Lord.
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Jehovah. And notice what it says. And Satan, the adversary. Literally, it means adversary here.
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This wicked prosecutor. Also came among them. The Lord said to Satan.
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Now God asked Satan a question. And then he says, from where do you come?
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God already knew that. He's just given him the question. He wants to hear out of his own mouth and listen to this.
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And God's got a purpose behind it. And Satan answered. The Lord. And said, well, from roaming about on the earth.
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Now he roams about like a lion, right? From roaming about on the earth and walking around it. He prowls around.
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And now he said that. And the Lord said to Satan. And he asked him another question. Oh, I love this.
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Have you considered? In other words, that word considered in the original Hebrew means. Have you set your heart on my servant
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Job? I've got a servant. And then God says. For there is no one like.
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How would you like God to say this about you? There's no one like him on the earth. Blameless and upright man.
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Fearing God and turning away from evil. Now that's what pleases God. And Job pleased
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God. Verse 9. Then Satan answered the Lord. Does Job fear God for nothing?
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Listen to that accuser. In other words, what he's saying to God. He serves you for what you bless him for.
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He serves you for only what you give him. And then, you know.
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And then Satan basically says. He knows. He knows where he's going. He's very cunning. God allows him to do this.
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God gives him permission to do this. Does Job fear God for nothing? Verse 10.
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Have you not made a. And then Satan goes on to say. Have you. You've made a hedge about him and his house.
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And all that he has on every side. But. Satan comes back with God with a question.
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So you've got a hedge around him. In other words, I can't get to him. And then he goes on to say this.
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He's accusing now. Listen to what he says. And you have blessed the work of his hands. And his possessions have increased in the land.
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Verse 11. But put forth your hand now. And touch all that he has. And he will surely curse you to your face.
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In other words, take away. Drop the hedge. Take all that he has. That you've given him. And he'll curse you.
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In other words, he serves you for only what you give him. You bless him with. The material things.
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Oh Job. He served God for who God is. He didn't serve him for what he got out of God.
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You see. Even though I'm sure he gave thanks for it. And we're talking about children.
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Health. Everything that this man had. God blessed this man. He feared
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God. At that time period, there was no one like him on the whole planet earth. Isn't that incredible?
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Then the Lord said to Satan. He gives him permission. Behold. All that he has is in your power.
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Only. Do not put forth your hand on him. In other words, don't touch his life. God's basically saying.
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Satan, I give you permission. You go ahead and have at it. But you don't take his life away.
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Don't kill him. Wow. God gave him permission to do that. Here we see the adversary, folks.
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Here we see this. Almost like a wicked lawyer. What does that tell you about most lawyers? They're like sharks.
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Steven Spielberg likes to name his sharks after lawyers. He's been a
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Jewish man. He knew something there, didn't he, Ben? Anyway. In the judicial sense here.
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The judicial sense. And here we see he's the accuser of the brethren. He's the accuser of the righteous.
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He's accusing. Actually, he goes before God and he slanders. But he's accusing the righteous.
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Well, he just serves you for what other motives? See, that tells you something right there. Satan cannot read people's minds.
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Don't believe this garbage in the church that Satan can read your minds. He cannot read our minds. God can.
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That makes me tremble even more. That the master and the creator of the universe knows every thought and every motive.
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But Satan doesn't know that. He's powerful, but he's not all powerful, right?
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And here we see in the book of Job. He's like a crooked lawyer. Making a false accusation against the righteous
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Job. And this account is found in the oldest manuscript in the Bible. And I like what Brother Keyes said.
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The revelation. He didn't have a Bible. But he had God. Isn't that incredible? And he puts a lot of us
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Christians to shame. Who have all the great revelations. 66 books of the Bible. The book of Job.
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Oh, it's incredible. Don't you love it? We have this to learn from. And to gain the victory.
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Now, go with me to another account. That speaks about our adversary, the devil. I've got plenty of scriptures here.
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I hope I can get through this. The book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Chapter 12. This tells us a little bit about the history.
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Of what happened in heaven. Even before Job's time. Chapter 12 beginning with verse 7.
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Look at verse 7. And there was a war in heaven.
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And this is what Bunyan was getting his allegory of the holy war from. There was a war in heaven.
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And Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war.
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And they were not strong enough. Listen to that. They were not strong enough. And there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.
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And the great dragon was thrown down. Notice what he says. Thrown down. The serpent of old.
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Who's called the devil and Satan. Who deceives the whole world. Another translation.
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The whole world means all the inhabited earth. He deceives. Don't you see this? Isn't this the truth? The whole world lies in deception.
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The world. Now we're not talking about the world of the trees. And the physical world. We're talking about the world system.
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Yes. The self centered life. The world. You see this in the realm of politics especially.
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Sad to say. But it's the truth. But Satan's behind it. Satan's behind it.
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And notice what it says. And he was thrown down. Again he says thrown down. Thrown down. He's thrown down to the earth. His angels were thrown down with him.
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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 brethren has been thrown down.
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He who accuses them before our God day and night. Listen to that. Day and night.
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He accuses them before God. Verse 11. And they overcame him. The devil. How do we overcome the devil?
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Here it is. Because of the blood of the lamb. That's the victory right there. Without the blood of the lamb you're sunk.
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If we don't have the blood of Jesus applied to our hearts and by faith and believe in the atonement we're sunk.
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But by the blood of the lamb. And also because of the word of their testimony. In other words they have a changed life.
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They're changed. Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new. And they did not love their life.
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And when that happens you don't love your life no more. You love God more than your life.
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Because he is your life. They did not love their life even faced with death.
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Wow. For this reason rejoice oh heavens. And you who dwell in them.
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And then he gives a warning. But woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you.
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Having great wrath knowing that he only has a short time. Well there's the revelation to this.
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Isn't it amazing how much the scriptures. Actually Job was written before Genesis. Because it's one of the oldest manuscripts.
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But you go back to Genesis you see there he is. The serpent. The dragon. Satan. Waiting in the garden.
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For Eve to come along. And saw Adam right beside him. And he knew exactly what he was doing.
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He's a deceiver. He's an adversary. He functions like a hateful hostile aggressive accusing lawyer.
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For the opposition. Interesting. Note that Satan and his angels now demons. Were cast down out of heaven.
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A third of them. And their original rebellion. But still have access to God.
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But keep in mind. One day that access will be barred from them. That will come to an end.
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Spurgeon says this. Men cannot wrong us unless he suffers them to do so.
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The greatest of them must wait his permission before they can place a finger upon us.
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And that is the truth. Because if you look in scripture. Not only if it's men that cannot harm us unless they wait permission.
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The same goes for the devil. He can't do a thing unless God gives him permission. We saw that in chapter 1 of Job right.
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That's comforting. Because whatever comes our way we know it's God that's permitting it.
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For our good. And it's glorious. Well. There's another chapter and verse
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I have to back this up. Go with me to the gospel of Luke. Gospel of Luke.
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And who's writing this epistle that we're going through. It's Peter right. Well let's look a little bit about what happened in Peter's life.
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Because he knows a good deal. Not everything. But he knows a good deal about our adversary the devil.
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Your adversary the devil. Look at verse 31 to 34.
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Wonderful passage here. Our Lord is warning Peter with tenderness and compassion.
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In verse 31 he says Simon, Simon. Twice uses his name of the earth.
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Before he renamed him Peter. But he goes back and says Simon, Simon. That's significant.
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Behold Satan has demanded. You know what that word demanded means. He's obtained by asking.
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He's obtained by asking permission to sift you like wheat.
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He wants to sift you up. He wants to sift you up in pieces. Now basically
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Peter was the head apostle. And he's representing the rest of the apostles.
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So you could say it's actually for the other apostles as well. But here
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Peter, he tells Peter. Satan has demanded, obtained by asking permission to sift you like wheat.
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And notice what Jesus says. But I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you.
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That is significant and key folks. Because Peter would not have made it unless Jesus prayed for him.
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Judas the same. They both denied Christ. They both. But one really repented and the other one hung himself.
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Peter came back. But I have prayed for you. That's the reason why Peter repented. Jesus was for him, praying for him.
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That your faith. There it is. Your faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned.
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That means once you have repented. Again, it's just this turning and repentance.
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You minister to others. And strengthen your brothers. You strengthen your brothers in verse 33.
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But he, Peter, said to him. Oh, he's so arrogant here. But doesn't he know a little bit about pride?
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And he tells us about that pride in 1 Peter. He says to Christ.
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Lord, with you I'm ready to go both to prison and to death. I'm ready to go.
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Yeah. It never happened, did it? Well, eventually it did. But anyway, at that point in time, he denied
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Christ. Jesus said in verse 34. And he, Jesus said, I say to you,
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Peter. Now, he says, Peter, the rooster will not crow today. Until you have denied me three times.
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That you know me. Wow. Jesus gives
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Peter a somber warning. You know, right then and there. You were thinking, stop, wait. Jesus knows a whole lot about me.
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And what I'm going to be doing in the future. He knows exactly the actions I'm going to be taking.
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Jesus knew he was going to. Jesus gives Peter a somber warning. Simon, Simon. Repetition.
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The name twice implied earnest and somber tone of warning and love.
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Jesus reverts back to Peter's old name, Simon. Maybe it's to intensify his rebuke to Peter's fleshly arrogant over -confidence.
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Right? I think so. Well, ultimately, Peter's faith did not fail him, did it? Not because Peter did something within himself.
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Oh, he had to repent, but how did he repent? How did that all happen? Jesus prayed for him.
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That's the key. That should encourage each and every one of us. We got Christ, the great intercessor, praying for us.
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He prayed for him. He prayed for him. And he repented. And his faith did not fail him, end to end, ultimately.
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Well, Peter talks about perservation, doesn't he? 1 Peter 1 .5, he talks about God preserves, he said, who are protected, kept by the power of God through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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In the last time. Back to 1 Peter 5 .8, your adversary, the devil. So we see what the enemy's name is.
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The devil, diabolos. Now, let's look very quickly at where did this enemy come from.
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Well, you know, you're familiar with this. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 14. Now we're going to see where he comes from.
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Well, we know that God created him in heaven. He had to have an origin somewhere. Now, keep in mind,
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I've had people ask me about this, and I'm not a scholar, I'm just a Bible student. But a lot of times when you get these prophecies in the
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Old Testament, especially Isaiah, Ezekiel from the prophets, they are prophesying to their present condition, to the present situation.
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But many times as the Spirit of God is breathing upon these holy men of God, and God has given them the revelation, what's happening?
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There's a double prophecy that's taking place. So here, there's a truth at that present situation, but there's also an eternal truth as well.
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And then it says this in verse 12. Look at chapter 14.
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How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, sun of the dawn? You have been cut down to the earth.
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Again, Revelation said that. Thrown down to the earth. You've been cut down to the earth. You have weakened the nations.
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Verse 13. But you said in your heart. Now, underline this.
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I pointed this out before, but this is so significant. There are five I wills of Satan here.
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Lucifer at that moment. Five I wills. I wills. I wills. I wills.
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I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the assembly of the recesses of the north.
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Verse 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.
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I will. I will. I will. Pride, folks. This is why God hates pride.
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Because it's satanic. Pride is satanic. And actually behind all of our sins is always the root of pride.
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Always. Sin is the heart. That sin. That sin of pride is the horrible sin of pride that turned an archangel into a devil.
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And how did it happen? How did it happen? Go with me to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 28.
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Look at a few verses here. Again, this is a double prophecy, but it speaks mainly of Satan.
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Ezekiel chapter 28. Look at verse 11. Verse 11.
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My time is almost gone. May have to cut this up in another section. I got so much more to speak about this.
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I knew this would be a struggle for me. This one causes so much to be said. Verse 11.
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Again the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him,
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Thus says the Lord God. Notice how this speaks so clearly and significantly of Satan.
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You had the seal of perfection. Full of wisdom and perfect beauty.
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You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering.
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The ruby, the topaz, the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper. The lapis lazia, the turquoise, and the emerald.
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And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you. But on the day that you were created, they were prepared.
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God made a beautiful angel here. You were the anointed cherub who covers.
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Basically that means guards. Who guards. And I placed you there. This is the
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Lord speaking. Listen to this. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
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You were blameless in the ways from the day you were created. Until unrighteousness was found in you.
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By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence.
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And you sinned. There it is. Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.
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And I have destroyed you, oh covering cherub. From the midst of the stones of fire.
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In verse 17. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. Boy. Listen to that pride.
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Your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
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I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings and they may see you that they may see you.
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And by the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade. You profaned your sanctuaries.
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Therefore I have. He is very religious isn't he? Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you.
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And it has consumed you. And I have turned you into ashes on the earth. And in the eyes of all who see you.
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And all who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become terrified.
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And you will cease to be forever. And that's his future right there. So much said from the prophet about Satan.
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Well I don't have much time left. But let me get to this last point. And I'm only going to be able to touch a little bit here.
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But it's very important. Satan hates to be exposed.
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But there is a way that we are to attack. Back. In a sense.
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To hold our ground. That's how we attack back. We hold our ground. Actually in scripture.
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I don't have time to go to it. You can read Jude 8 and 9. But. Even Michael the archangel.
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When he disputed with the devil. Did not dare pronounce against him a railing of judgment. But said the Lord rebuke you.
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He even didn't have the authority to defy the devil. Only Christ has the authority to bind the devil.
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This binding the devil and the church is false teaching folks. They have no authority.
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And they said what are you talking about no authority. The bible says this and that. Take these scriptures. But that was to the apostles.
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We are not apostles. But there is something that Peter helps us.
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As an apostle. As an apostle. Is giving us instructions in how we can fight up. And stand our ground.
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And this is my last point. But I'm going to. Later on. I like to make another part out of this. Okay. Lord willing.
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Next week. We are going to look at. Palm Sunday. And then we are going into Easter resurrection. Celebration. But. I like to pick this back out.
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And by the way. The devil has no problem. You having your dead best life now. You know that. But there is something.
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We are to do. So how are we to fight. Such an enemy that is much more stronger than us.
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Resist him. Resist him. I can't say that enough. The word of God says resist him.
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Resist him. Resist him. Firm in your faith. Knowing that the same experiences of suffering. Are being accomplished by your brethren.
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Who are in the world. Resist him. In the faith. Firm in the faith.
01:00:00
And by the way. According to the Greek word. Resist. Kenneth Scholar.
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Kenneth Weiss. He was a Greek Scholar. I wrote this down. He said. Resist means to withstand.
01:00:12
To be firm against someone else. On set. Or on slot. And does not mean to strive against that one.
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He writes. It goes on. The Christian would do well to remember. He cannot fight the devil. The devil was originally the most powerful.
01:00:25
And wise angel God created. He still retains much of that power. And wisdom as a glance.
01:00:31
At history. And will easily show. But while Christians cannot take the offensive against Satan.
01:00:38
Yet he can stand his ground. In the face of his attacks. And cowardice never wins against Satan.
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Only courage. So resist is actually an action word.
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Right. It is a obedient. Be obedient. That is how we are to resist. We are to be obedient to God. Resist the devil.
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It is a military word. It is a military metaphor. Commanding you to hold your ground. No retreat.
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Yes. We are to flee youthful lust. Run from the internal strong desires.
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But never are we to run from the devil. We hold our ground. And our ground is the truth.
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The word of God. Well. Let me. James says something very similar to this. James says.
01:01:27
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. How do you resist?
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The same way Jesus did. Matthew. In Matthew chapter 4. The very same way
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Jesus. He just gave it to them on the scriptures. Three times Jesus. There was three temptations.
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Heavy temptations. Of the pride of life. The lust of the eye. The lust of the flesh.
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And all those things that. Fallen man has fallen into. Jesus every time. By the way.
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Jesus was fasting 40 days and 40 nights. And he was very weak. As a man. The tempter comes to him.
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Tempting him. Turn these stones into bread. Jesus says. It is written. Again.
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Takes him up on a high mountain. Tries to get him to commit suicide. Oh. If you be the son of God.
01:02:17
See. He's trying to question. Even if he was the son of God. Jesus says.
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It is written. It is written. And again. It is written. Folks. This is where. This is where. How we get the victory.
01:02:29
Over temptation. It is written. Well. I got this from.
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Brother Keith. He sent this to me. Early in the week. And I want to close with this. And we'll pick this up. Later on. It's an application.
01:02:42
From Tim. Schwope. Did I say that right? Schwope. Has a practical application. Here. I've had sortations.
01:02:49
In chapter 5. Of Peter. Believers warfare. In the spirit. And this section. Was subtitled.
01:02:54
And I think this is. Interested. Subtitle. How to be Satan's breakfast. Huh.
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How to be Satan's breakfast. While most of us. Are already. Had this down.
01:03:05
Pat. Consider this list. Of ways. Of ensure. That you are. Defeated. Spiritually.
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At every turn. Number one. Resent. And resist. Authority. At home.
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At church. At work. In the government. Two. Be proudful. Be proud.
01:03:23
View yourself. As the favorite of God. That you're something. A pillar of society. First among equals.
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You see this so often. This is sad isn't it. But third. Seek praise. Seek man's praise.
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How many people you know do that? Per. Per your own schedule. Uh. Your own priorities.
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You do your own thing. Fourth. Be anxious. Worry over trivial details.
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Performance. Act as though you. Are. The critical component. In all success. Boy. That hits a lot.
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Fifth. Question God's carefree for you. Okay.
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Question God's care for you. I'm sorry. Blame God for your life. Assume that no responsibility for your decisions.
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Or the consequences that follow. Six. Be unbalanced in your thinking. And doubt God's control of your life.
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This is what pretty much Peter sums up. And warns us against. Seven. Be self -focused. Spend your time on yourself.
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And make sure your needs are met first. Live for our needs. This is a pretty much.
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He says. A fool. Fool proof. List of ways. To ensure that you. Too. Can be Satan's breakfast.
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Because it is actually just Peter's advice. Of how. Not to be Satan's breakfast. Reversed. Well.
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What about the positive side of that? Well. I would think. Second Corinthians.
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Ten. Three. Through six. Says everything. For though we walk in the flesh. We do not war. According to the flesh.
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For the weapons of our warfare. Are not. Of the flesh. It's not fleshly. But divinely. Powerful.
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For the destruction. Of fortresses. For we. Are destroying. Speculations. And every lofty thing.
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That is raised up. Against the knowledge. Of God. And we are taking. Every thought. Captive.
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To the obedience. Of Christ. And we are ready. To punish. All disobedience.
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Where. And whenever. Your obedience. Is complete. And there you have it. Right there. That's how we do.
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Spiritual warfare. I was going to go to. Ephesians six. But I don't have time. The time is gone.
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Stand firm in the faith. Beloved. In the power of God's. Of the resurrection. Of Jesus Christ.
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In the gospel. Okay. That's the faith. The gospel. The gospel.
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God cares for me. So. I will not give in to my feelings. Because. God cares for me.
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I will not isolate myself. Because. God cares for me. Proverbs 18. One. A man who isolates himself.
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Seeks his own desires. He rages against himself. I will not be critical. Because. God tells me.
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Honor all people. I will not complain. Because. God tells me. To do all things. Without grumbling. And disputing.
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I will be thankful. In all things. Because. God says. In everything. Give thanks. For this is
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God's will. Even. For you. In Christ Jesus. I will not remain angry.
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Because. God commands me. Not to. Let the sun go down. On my wrath. Because. If I do. I give place to the enemy.
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And I give him the opening. To do me harm. As Paul says. Do not give the devil.
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Any opportunity. So beloved. We have the truth of God.
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You are from God. Little children. And have overcome them. The cost.
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Greater is he. That is in you. Than he that is in the world. Let's pray. Father.
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We thank you. For this time. For this time. Help us Lord. To. Be sober.
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Lord. Help us to be alert. Help us to be watchful. And Lord. Give us the strength.
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I pray. To resist. This enemy. To resist him. As we submit.
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Ourselves. To you Lord. Help us. We pray. Because Lord. We are too weak.
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We are too weak. We thank you. For the divine resources. That's only in you.
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As you said in your word. It's not by might. Nor by power. But by my spirit. Says the Lord. Not. Of our own strength.
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But yours. This enemy. Is too far. Too clever. For us. He's far more. Powerful. Than us.
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But Lord. We know that you. Are the all powerful. Mighty. God.
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And Jesus Christ. That has won the victory for us. The battle continues. Yes. The church is.
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In the battle. Now. The militant.
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The church militant. But one day. We will be the church triumphant. And when this battle is all over.
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Lord. Give us the strength. I pray. Because I know. Many times. It's so easy. To get weary. And discouraged.
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Help us Lord. To look to you. And gaze. Upon the king of glory. The Lord Jesus Christ. From whence our victory.
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Comes. Because it's only in him. That we're more than conquerors. For the one that has loved us.
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Amen. By giving your own. One and only son. So father. We bow now. And we give you praise.
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And glory. And honor. For all that you've accomplished.
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In Jesus Christ. Because when he cried out. It is finished. Paid in full. Every demon in hell trembled.
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Lord. Help us to see. That the victory has been won. Only in Jesus Christ. And through his precious blood.
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And through the resurrection. Help us to stand our ground. For thine alone.
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Is the glory. The power. And honor. And we ask these things. In Jesus name. Amen. And amen.