Know Your Enemy: Remedies Against the Devil’s Devices (5) | James 4:7

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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Okay, so I have a correction that I wanted to make regarding my last sermon.

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I misspoke when I had mentioned the law and the gospel distinction, but I said that the law was grace and that the gospel condemns.

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So I kind of got that flipped around there because that's obviously the opposite is true.

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The law is what condemns and the gospel is gracious. Okay, the law, the law is not gracious and that is simply not, that is false and there are false teachings and movements that would affirm things like that, but they are perverting and confusing the law and gospel distinction.

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Now the law does condemn unbelievers though it no longer condemns us because it sanctifies us as believers.

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Amen. It builds us up and and also in the

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Q &A that we did a last Lord's Day, I referred to Christians who think that tattoos are okay as milk -knowledge

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Christians and I realized that I needed to be a little bit more charitable because this is not always the case.

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There are also more mature believers who think that tattoos are acceptable, but it's simply because they are inconsistent in their practice of holiness.

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Okay, so that it's still wrong and it's still an error to to get a tattoo and things like that.

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The Bible is very pretty clear about that and there's brothers like James White whom I respect a great deal even though I have very sharp disagreements with him on some of his alliances with men like Doug Wilson and his view of tattoos as well.

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I think it's just unnecessary to over complicate things and say, oh, we don't really know what the Hebrew means.

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It's really not that difficult y 'all. Tattoos are a pagan heathen practice. We don't do pagan heathen practices.

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We do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. That is really not difficult.

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And so we need to seek to be holy in all that we do and I kind of equate getting a tattoo like tagging a church building, you know, because our bodies are the temple of the living

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God and we have no command or allowance from God to mark our bodies up, especially with permanent ink.

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And so it's kind of like that. It's actually worse than that because tagging, even tagging you can wash off, right?

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So it's even worse. So I just wanted to clarify that as well and also in a previous sermon

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I had said that both God and the devil use means.

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They both use means. But for very different reasons.

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This is what I wanted to make clear. Very different reasons because God himself is not served by human hands as though he needed anything from anyone.

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Since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.

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According to Acts 17 25. Amen. So God doesn't need anything from anyone.

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But God uses means not because he needs to, he doesn't, but because he chooses to and to glorify himself through and by those means and to accomplish all his good plan and purpose.

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Now the devil, however, uses means because he has to.

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Because he is not God. Because he can't be everywhere at the same time.

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He needs devils and sinners to carry out his schemes, unredeemed sinners that is.

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And even remember believers who have unresolved issues, he can tap into them as well. Since he cannot do it all by himself.

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Even though he knows in the end he will be, he will completely lose and be cast into the lake of eternal hellfire.

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That's just an important clarification I wanted us for us to understand. Now and like I've been saying if you if you missed any of the previous sermons, please,

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I suggest that you strongly suggest that you go back and listen to them because this is a cumulative series.

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It builds up on the previous messages as well. And as you can see from the title of the sermon, we are in part five of remedies against the devil's devices or schemes.

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There is a lot of good stuff here, important stuff that we've been covering that I hope has been a blessing to you all as well.

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So as I've been saying emphatically, we need both balance and discernment when it comes to spiritual warfare.

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And we need God's means of deliverance and remedies. The six S's. One is scripture.

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Two, sound doctrine. Three, the sacraments. Four, self -awareness, self -denial.

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Five, sage counsel. And six, spiritual warfare, including prayer.

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Very important. And I'm gonna start finishing up here and describing specific aspects of what the devil is and does to profile him so that we can properly seek the right remedies to apply and to fight against him and his devices.

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Okay? Now last Lord's Day, I covered thesis number three, which is that the devil knows all your specific weaknesses and he exploits them because the devil is a tempter.

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We need to bear the fruit of discipline and self -control and to abstain from all forms of evil, all forms, even the appearance of evil, and mortify, put to death, our sensual and sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.

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Sensual referring primarily to the senses. Number four, thesis four, is the devil seeks to ensnare us with bad influences and to isolate us in our weakness.

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So, to remedy that, we must congregate in a sound church, to fellowship, koinonia, and refuse to be a victim, repent, reconcile, and regroup as a people.

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Rejoin the fellowship, reassemble, regather, as well.

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And thesis number five is that the devil is a liar and a deceiver. The devil is a liar, the father of lies, who deceives the whole world and disguises himself as an angel of light, as do his ministers, whose end will be according to their deeds, according to their works.

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Keep this in mind as we deal with these other theses later on.

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The remedy for this is our, it is our duty to die daily to self, to sin, to our flesh.

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And I want to clarify something here as well, from last week. When I say that we need to put our bodies to death, or mortify what is earthly in us, our physical members,

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I don't mean that we need to kill or harm ourselves. I don't mean that we need to flagellate ourselves like the

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Church of Rome used to do, you know, to whip ourselves and doing ascetic practices like that.

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Asceticism is unbiblical, okay? And the Bible explicitly condemns that as doctrines of demons.

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So we don't do those things. We don't harm ourselves in that way. What I mean is that we must deny our flesh, the lust of the flesh, sinful temptations and appetites, which includes things like fasting and abstaining and prayer, like things like that, okay?

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Amen. So the enemy, now the enemy's hypocrisy cannot survive long in a healthy

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Church of believers that deals with sin, where it will get exposed, confronted, and properly dealt with.

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We must fight back with discernment and truth. We must know what the Bible says and what it teaches, the whole counsel of God to obtain mature, full knowledge, all knowledge that we are blessed with through Christ and his word and his means and his sound doctrine.

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Number six is that the devil is persistent. He is a winter soldier and he does not quit.

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He is not a quitter, which is why we must be subject to God and resist the devil every single time, and he will flee from us.

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And we must put on the full armor of God, including that shield of faith, to withstand the flaming arrows of the evil one, and we must build up this faith by growing in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Mature, systematic, doctrinal knowledge, not superficial milk knowledge.

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That's not going to cut it for us. That's for everybody. Now, moving on now to thesis number seven, which is a corollary to the previous thesis about the devil being persistent.

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It is that the devil is insidious. The devil is insidious.

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Now, what do I mean by that? What is, like I always say, step one is to define. Define our terms.

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Insidious means having a gradual and cumulative effect.

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It is subtle, subtle, or of a disease developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent.

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It's very dangerous. Very dangerous, because then it's too late. It's too late to deal with the problem.

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Also, awaiting a chance to entrap. Treacherous.

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Awaiting to entrap you, like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

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Like Genesis 4 says, the sin lies crouching at our door, ready to pounce.

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Also, harmful, but enticingly harmful. Seductive, like insidious drugs.

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Now, which of these describes the devil? Every single one of them, right?

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And a really good resource that I would recommend to you all is C .S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters.

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This book is very cleverly, very cleverly illustrates the devil's insidiousness and his devices.

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It's a book about a senior demon writing letters to a lesser, lower -ranking demon, and he's instructing him on how to tempt us, on how to make us fall, how to make us sin, and expressing his hatred for all that is good.

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So the devil, and in that book also, and scripture explains, and the book illustrates how the devil gradually changes fashions and trends in society to make sin acceptable, which is like I've preached on before.

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The devil uses music to usher in rebellion, godlessness, immorality, fatherlessness, tearing up families, the gay agenda, homosexuality.

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All of these are satanic, antichrist agendas that are gradually pushed forward more in society.

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What used to be unacceptable just a few years ago is now acceptable.

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That's how the devil works, because he is insidious. He tries to attack society by undermining marriage, and the family, and the church, and the church.

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That book, by the way, is an excellent prescription for marital counseling. That's a very good book for marital counseling.

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It actually touches on how the devil tries to attack marriages. Though I do,

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I would need to keep in mind for you all that C .S.

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Lewis was probably not a believer. He was very, he denied the inspiration of the word.

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He had very unsound beliefs, and he confessed his sins to a priest. And so he was, he was more of a

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Romanist than he was a Protestant, unfortunately. But that book, that book was very good. It's one of his books that was very good.

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But in any case, the devil and his demons try to mess with God's spiritual seed.

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Spiritual seed, which is us believers, the church. Generally, by using more subtle, more covert, more insidious means, as opposed to the more overt

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DNA corrupting Nephilim giants of the Old Testament. Right? They have adapted their strategy to account for the covenantal changes in the, in God's dispensations and covenants, and his judgments,

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God's judgments, like the flood, from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Okay, very important.

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Now, I want to take us back to the book of Enoch, the book of 1st

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Enoch, in chapter 15. And you'll be, this will blow, this blew me away. I knew there was, it dealt with this, but I didn't realize how explicit the book of Enoch was about this.

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In chapter 15 of the book of 1st Enoch, that's the quote that I quoted, that I cited in the, in the

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Miwi group, if you want to pull that up and follow along. So, chapter 15 says, the holy watcher said to me, fear not

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Enoch, and these watchers are angelic beings. Okay, they're, they're angelic beings. They're high -ranking angelic beings.

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Fear not Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness. Go, say to the fallen watchers, why have you left the high, holy, and eternal heaven, and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men, and taken yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants as your sons.

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And though you were holy, spiritual, living the eternal life, you have defiled yourselves with the blood of women, and have begotten children with the blood of flesh, and as the children of men have lusted after flesh and blood, as those who, as those also do who die and, and perish, like human men.

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But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world.

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And therefore, I have not appointed wives for you. Remember, like Jesus said, in, in heaven, they are not married, nor given in marriage.

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There is no marriage in heaven. There is only one marriage in heaven, and that is Christ, the bridegroom, and the church, his bride.

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So, he continues. There, for the spiritual ones, for the spiritual ones of, of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling.

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And now the giants who are produced from the spirits and flesh, hybrids, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth.

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Demons, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies, from the judgment of Noah's flood, because they are born from men, and from the fallen holy watchers is their beginning and primal origin.

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They shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called.

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As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling. But as for the spirits of the earth, which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.

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And the spirits of the giants afflict, what do they do? They afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble.

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They buffet us, like the hymn says, just like the hymn says, Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, lest his blessed assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed his own blood for my soul.

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It is well with my soul. Amen to that. Right, but these demons, the book of Enoch continues, they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses.

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And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men, and against women, because they have proceeded from them.

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And why else? Because they have desired to corrupt the seed of the woman that was going to crush the serpent's head.

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Does this not sound like exactly what I had preached about on the sermon about the history of the devil's divide?

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This is exactly what was going on in Genesis 6, and in Jude, and in 2nd

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Peter. Exactly what's going on. This book of 1st Enoch is really just an ancient commentary on what the

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Bible explains to us. So that's just incredibly explicit in what is describing the

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Bible taking place. This is what's still going on today. Why it's important for us to understand.

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Because the devil and his evil spirits, his demons, also use covert spy warfare to subtly and gradually subvert or undermine our lives, society, our families, culture, and the church.

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Sometimes over several decades. Because he is also persistent.

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Remember that. He doesn't quit. He will keep going in order to make sin and lawlessness increasingly acceptable to the point where it becomes blatant and openly accepted.

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Now does that sound familiar today? Let's turn to Psalm 12.

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Psalm 12, verse 8. Psalm 12, verse 8.

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Very important verse that I strongly encourage and admonish us to memorize.

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Psalm 12. In verse 8, God's Word says,

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The wicked strut about on every side. When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

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Now this short sentence, this poetic expression, just reveals so much about the devil's agenda right here.

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The wicked strut about freely, unrestrained on every side.

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Why? Because it is when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

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When sin is exalted, rebellion is exalted among the sons of men. Just like what happened in Exodus.

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When the golden calf was was erected and they were mosh -pitting and having a rock concert right when they had just been delivered and Moses was about to come down with the law.

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That's how the devil operates. And now in that case, it wasn't so subtle.

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But these covenantal changes need to be accounted for.

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So, he is subtle. He tends to be a lot more subtle at times. Now, that's not to say that he's still not blatant because his goal is to be blatant.

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That's why it says here. He wants it to be openly accepted and not something that's done in secret or in darkness to become acceptable.

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So, now this is what the devil obviously wants. Which then, like clockwork, always inevitably, inescapably results in God judging that nation to utter destruction.

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And if you look at the history of mankind, that is exactly what you will find. A testimony of God's judgments.

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The ruins of the past are testimonies of God's judgments on society that embraced vileness and wickedness that did not judge the wicked.

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Like the Bible says, Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt, Greece, Persia, all the

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Iths, the Amalekites, the Nephilim nations, the Philistines, Rome, Pompeii, so on and so forth.

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You see it all throughout the history of the world. And look at the history of America.

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What's happening with us? Where Christianity and the church used to be a lot more respected.

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We used to have Sabbath laws. You couldn't do anything on the Sabbath. And that was a good thing.

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You know, the only thing that was open was like hospitals and pharmacies. Back in the day. We, I mean, we don't even know that anymore, but you couldn't buy alcohol on Sundays, you know.

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That's just how radically things have changed towards lawlessness, towards licentiousness, towards sinfulness.

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Because that is the trend of how humans, they degenerate.

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Even the church tends to be, there tends to be apostasy. That's why in Revelation, most of the churches were rebuked for compromising.

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That's always the temptation. That is why Christ and the Word is so explicit about us being extremely sober, vigilant, watchful, and putting on the armor of God.

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Because we are in a war. And there is covert warfare and spy warfare in this battle with the devil.

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And it will insidiously insert itself to the point where you don't recognize it until it's too late.

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And your kids are already gone. They go off to college and they're a completely different person.

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You can't even recognize them. So we need to take these things seriously in our lives, in our homes, and in our churches, in our spheres of influence.

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Very important. Now, remember, like I mentioned, we, this is why we must account for the sharp transitions and substantial differences between the

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Old and New Covenants, as well as the changes in the devil's schemes and devices.

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Do not give up. This is the remedy. These are the remedies for the devil's insidiousness.

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Okay? Have sound hermeneutics, interpretation, and doctrine.

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Know the differences between the covenants and the judgments in God's dealings with Israel, with the people, with us as people, with angels, and with the world.

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So, the curses. Do not give up and do not compromise.

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Do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose the enemy.

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Expose his devices. Expose the evil behind what may seem harmless, but is really insidious evil.

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Okay? We need to look past the surface as believers. Like Ephesians 5 11 says, expose the unfruitful works of darkness.

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Shining light on it. The light of truth and discernment on it. Right? So, and also, this means, exposing something means, we are attacking.

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It's taking the offensive. It's not just defending ourselves against the fiery darts of the evil one.

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We take the offensive. Amen? We fight.

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We fight the enemy, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Like Jude says, like Jude says in verses 3 through 4,

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Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation,

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I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly.

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Not, don't just defend, fight earnestly for the faith.

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For that body of doctrine, that sound doctrine, which was once for all hounded, handed down to the

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Saints. Why? In part, because certain persons have crept in unnoticed, insidiously, gradually.

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Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons,

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Satan's ministers, who turn the grace of our God into sensuality, sensuality, lust, sinful temptation, so on, and deny our only

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Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. These are the ministers of Satan, wolves in sheep's clothing, who try to sneak into the church and destroy us.

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They destroy us. Bear in mind, too, though, how even

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Michael, the archangel, when he disputing with the devil himself, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce a judgment, pronounced against him, against the devil, a blasphemous judgment, but said the

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Lord rebuke you. That's from Jude 1 .9. In other words,

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Michael, the archangel, did not take matters or authority into his own hands.

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Okay? We do not fight the devil with our own power or authority either.

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Amen? It's not by our authority. It's based, it is all based and grounded in the authority that we do have in God, in Christ, and through His means, those means of deliverance, the six means.

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Right? So that is what we need to do. That is why you see in the

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Bible, like in the book of Acts, and in other places where the apostles are casting out demons, and they say,

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I command you in the name of the Lord Jesus to come out. Because we have that power and that authority in Christ, but it's only in Christ.

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You don't want to be like those sons of Sceva, right? Well, I cast you out in the name of Jesus, and Paul, the name of Jesus that Paul preaches.

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Okay, well, they, I know them, but I don't know who you are. I'm gonna come after you. I don't know who you are.

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So that is what we must do. Let's turn now to Ephesians 5.

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Ephesians chapter 5. Very important passage here as well.

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Ephesians chapter 5. Okay, in Ephesians chapter 5, we read, no,

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I'm sorry, in chapter 5, starting in verse 6, I'm gonna skip around a little bit. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, unbelievers.

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Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the

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Lord. Amen. Gospel promise. Walk, walk as children of light, therefore, for the fruit of that light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the

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Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

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But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

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There, verse 15, therefore look carefully how you walk. Be sober and vigilant.

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In other words, not as unwise, but as wise. Wise as serpents, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

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On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

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And do not give up. Beloved, remember who is really in charge.

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Amen. All things are for our good. Now, this is consequently also why, when all things become visible, when they are exposed by the light, it often results in in reactions in people, even in believers, that are not good, in negative reactions.

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And they may result in attacking us, because they are uncomfortable with the reality of the problems that they are dealing with.

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But that is what the light does. It exposes the darkness so that we can deal with it. Amen. And deal with the sin in our lives.

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So, very important to keep in mind. Now, our final thesis in this series.

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There's a lot more we can deal with, but I think this is really the highlights, the important things that we need to deal with with respect to the devil.

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And there's no doubt that, obviously, we're going to continue dealing with this when I get to the flesh as well.

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Our final enemy. But thesis number eight is that the devil is a traitor, a prideful usurper, and a false accuser who also employs and uses traitors, prideful usurpers, and false accusers, all of whom will meet an untimely end.

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An untimely end. The devil is the ultimate traitor who betrayed

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God himself out of spite, jealousy, and pride, and falsely accused

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God in Eden to deceive Eve. And he falsely accuses us as well.

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Remember, he also led a third of the angels to fall with him.

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So, a third of the angels fell with him, and that's what we just read in the book of Enoch, that they lusted after women, just like it says, they lusted after women, and they betrayed their

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God, their bodies, their positions, their heavenly roles, offices, and bodies, just like it talks about in Corinthians, and in Jude, and 2nd

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Peter. So, the devil, this is where the devil is so insidious, he betrays his own.

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The devil betrays his own people. He uses them up, chews them up, and spits them out when he's done with them, because he steals, kills, and destroys.

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That is why people who have demonic, who have demonic attachments, who want to do those things, who are evil and wicked, and they're into Satanism and all this evil, they don't last long.

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They have very short life expectancies, because the devil steals, kills, and destroys. It shouldn't be a surprise, but they're going to get a rude awakening, sadly, unless they repent.

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Just like he used Cain to murder Abel, just like he used Nimrod and his prideful ambitions to further corrupt him into a

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Nephilim, and to lead the rebellion of Babel, and to reintroduce the

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Giants back into the earth, even after God had just judged them with the flood.

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Just like he used Diotrephes, who loves to be first, who loves to put himself first, and be preeminent, and to take over, because he has control issues.

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He's a control freak, and maliciously slanders true believers, and puts them out of the church, and prevents them from coming in.

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Just like he used Judas to betray Christ himself, and he continues to use men like these to attack us and the church, as well as his own.

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It is a death style, following the devil, like Alistair Crowley says,

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Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law. When you do what you want, whatever you want, then death will be your end.

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There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end thereof is always death.

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Amen? So, let's turn now to Revelation chapter 12.

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Revelation chapter 12, starting in verse 7.

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In Revelation chapter 12, which I've cited numerous times before in this series, this verse 7 reads, says,

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And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.

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The dragon and his angels waged war, and 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, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

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He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Just like the flood, just like Babel, the devil tries to take over, and he and his servants get cast down.

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They get judged, and the devil tears them down, locks them up in Tartarus, destroys the tower of Babel, confuses the language.

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God judges and curses them for disobeying and rebelling. Now, the verse continues in verse 10.

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Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power in the kingdom of our

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God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser, the false accuser of our brothers, has been thrown down.

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He who accuses them before God day and night, falsely. And they overcame him because of the blood of the

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Lamb and because the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.

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For this reason rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

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

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So this is an important passage that describes a lot of characteristics, a profile of who the devil is, of how insidious and vile a traitor and a false accuser he is.

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The devil is a vicious false accuser who fights dirty, like a roaring lion, seeking, persistently seeking someone to devour, according to 1st

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Peter chapter 5. The devil does not play fair. He is a sore loser that constantly cheats and exploits our weaknesses, just like the previous thesis we covered.

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He will use every dirty trick in the book.

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He wrote the book. So, what is the remedy to all of this?

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Treachery. The remedy is that we are obviously called to be the opposite, as God's people.

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We are called to be light and not darkness and to expose the light, I mean the darkness, just like we read in Ephesians 5.

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We must be faithful, loyal soldiers in Christ, humble and truthful, not prideful, not usurpers.

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Usurpers are people who try to take over illegitimately. Not by our own strength or efforts, but by God's grace and means,

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His means of deliverance and of warfare, the armor of God and of light. And we must be very watchful, very careful of who you trust and who you allow into your life.

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Be careful. Be careful with who we allow into our lives and into our children's lives.

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And that includes influences of any kind. Amen. Entertainment, social media, friends, you know, friends, quote unquote.

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We need to know who these friends are. And we need to examine our own friends and our own influences.

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Martin Luther, the reformer, the German reformer, very wisely said that every betrayal begins with trust.

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Every betrayal begins with trust. And if you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch.

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Right. That that is some even Christ himself was betrayed by Judas. And of course, Christ knew.

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Christ knew that Judas was the prophesied devil, the son of perdition. He knew that.

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But that was so that the prophecies could be fulfilled. Scripture would be fulfilled because God's purposes are ultimately for our good, including betrayal.

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And we as a church and as a people, we have experienced betrayal on more than one occasion. We know what that's like.

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Amen. But it's ultimately for our good. And the Lord has blessed us subsequently, even resulting from that.

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He's put us in a better place and situation. Amen. And so we really need to guard these influences in our lives and take them out.

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We need to pray and ask the Lord to help us. Hey, look for the signs of these people, these influences.

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Do these people, do they wear you down? Do they wear you out?

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Are they like vampires or parasites that drain the life of the energy out of you?

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There's people, you know, we carry energy. We have a spirit and our spirit can be good or bad.

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We have energy. And if and if you and if you have a negative energy, it will wear people out.

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It will wear on others. And so that's what we need to deal with. Now, if you're a believer, that needs to be that sin, that issue needs to be dealt with and confronted.

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That requires church discipline. OK, we have an obligation to each other to confront that sin in our life.

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But if they are not believers, we need to keep our distance. We need to we need to keep our guard and our distance from those people who try to drain the life out of us.

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We have to be very careful. Amen. We have to guard our lives and our doctrine and our families, our church.

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We need to be very watchful of these things. And Lord willing,

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I'm going to pick up on this next Lord's Day to continue on this on this subject, because it is very important and on the importance of prayer as well.

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And we will also, I believe, wrap up the series on the devil next

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Lord's Day. So let's go ahead and bow our heads in prayer. Our praise, our precious, gracious heavenly

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Lord and Father, we thank you once again for the blessing of of the

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Lord's Day that you have given us Lord to your people, the gathering, the assembly of your people, the fellowship, the true koinonia of your people that we have in this precious fellowship that you have assembled or that you have sovereignly predestined and orchestrated in every one of our lives to come together,

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Father God, in this last and evil day for such a time as this Lord, you have called us to be soldiers and to be on the offensive, not just a defensive, but the offensive as well,

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Father God, help us and empower us Lord to do those things that you have instructed and commanded us to do as soldiers of Christ, to be faithful soldiers of Christ, to do to take hold of the spiritual means of deliverance that you have given us

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Lord, everything from your scripture and sound doctrine and the sacraments and the word, prayer, spiritual warfare,

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Father God, all of these things, sage council, the church Lord, help us to take hold of these things in our lives, to embrace them, to not isolate ourselves, to not let the devil take a foothold into our lives, but to discern and to not be too trusting

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Lord, help us to examine ourselves in our lives and those influences that we are allowing in our lives,

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Father God, we ask also when we pray for once again, we lift up to you the persecuted church

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Lord and brother Reza and his family, we ask that you find that you would lead the way and provide a way out for them, a refuge for them

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Lord, asylum for them, so that they can be in a situation where they can worship and be salt and light, but even in the situation that they're in now

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Lord, help them to continue to be salt and light, to encourage them and to bring God's people to them, to bring aid to them

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Father God and to help us also to bear their burdens and to seek to help them in whatever way that we can as well, we thank you

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Father God for these things and we ask all of this in your precious

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Son's name before your throne of grace boldly, 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 Podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com