Address—Bruce Anstey
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Let's look at 3 opening scriptures, Luke's Gospel chapter 14 to begin with Luke's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 31. Or what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down 1St and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000 or else while the other is a great way off, he sendeth an ambassador.
And Desirous conditions of peace. Second Corinthians, chapter 10.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 10.
And verse 3-4 and five. For though we walk in the flesh, or should be in flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself.
Against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity.
Every thought to the obedience of Christ, and in Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.
Against the rulers of darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places. I'd like to speak this afternoon of Satans operations on the Saints. And I'd like to speak about Christian warfare. And I like to bring about the some point of various scriptures that would speak about the conflict that we are presently engaged in.
And to see how that God has made a full provision for us, that we might be victorious.
In our Christian lives. So first of all, I thought we would read these three scriptures.
To bring before us the fact that we are in a spiritual battle, we're passing through what we might call an enemies land. We are in a conflict against an enemy as we read from the Luke 14 who is much stronger than we are. And then we read also in Second Corinthians that the nature of the battle that we are engaged with is a spiritual nature of a spiritual nature.
Where the enemy is seeking to work in spiritual ways.
To corrupt and to lead us aside from doing the will of God. And then also in Ephesians chapter 6, as we've just read here now.
We see that the enemy that we are up against is a very wily foe, with much power and knowledge, and able to deceive. You know a while is something that is fair and innocent on the outside, but a soul can be beguiled and deceived by it.
And I understand that Mister Kelly's translation reads it this way, that we stand not against the Wiles of the devil, but he translates it the stratagems of the devil. And you know, the word stratagem comes from the word strategy, and a strategy is the.
The science of military warfare. And we are in a spiritual conflict as we have had in these three scriptures, and we're up against an enemy.
That is seeking to overthrow our faith and to cause us to go aside in the path. And we need to realize just what kind of a conflict that we are up against. And then we'll look at the provisions that God has made. And so just to say this at first, that the enemy that we're Speaking of here has Wiles or has a strategy with regard to each of our lives.
What I'm saying now, dear brethren?
Is that the devil has designs on the lives of the Saints. He wants to, as I said, overthrow our faith and to lead us into paths of unrighteousness. Now you may wonder, why would the devil want to be so occupied with the Saints? Well, I believe it's this because his primary objective is to sully the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he knows that that which bears his name is the most useful.
In sulling the glory of the Lord Jesus, it's been put this way that what God is most set for, the devil is most set against, and God is most set for the promotion and the exaltation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world and in the world to come. The Millennium.
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But the devil is most set against this. He does not want Christ's glory.
To be manifest in this world and as I say, the Christians are left here in this world. As Mr. Darby put it, the Christians business in this world is to manifest Christ.
That's the very last thing that the devil wants to happen, have happened. He does not want to see Christ being manifest here in this world. And so he's going to do everything he can to turn us aside from living a life for God's glory. And so we see here that the devil has strategies with regard to the lives of the Saints and the plan that he has for your life to overthrow you.
It may be a little different from my life because we all have different tendencies.
And interests in life. But whatever the case is, there is a design on our lives. Now that's a very solemn thing to think about, that there is a foe that is stronger than any Angel, stronger than any power that we have. And he has set his sights upon the Saints of God with the aim to break up the unity of the fellowship with an aim to bring us into paths of dishonor so that the Lord Jesus glory would be sullied in this world.
And so we have to be solemnized, we need to realize the dangers of the pathway and to be sober. There's a number of verses that tell us in the Scriptures that we need to be sober because the end of all things is at hand. And so there is strategies that the enemy is working with. A number of years ago, the late Gordon Hangover, we had the opportunity of having him in our home for a meal and he came with his wife and.
No sooner did he get in the house and it was just a few minutes and he had spotted something in my house, he saw a chess board and their pieces were set up on the chess board. And he told me a very interesting story that I like to relate to you. Now. He said that when he was in Europe one time, now, I don't know if he saw it himself or he heard about it, but anyway he said that in Europe in some city and he could not remember which city it was.
That there was a famous mural on the side of a.
Huge wall in that city. And on that, in that mural was a picture of a chess game. And on one side of the chess board there was a young man. And on the other side of the chess board there was the devil. And it was painted up on what we might call the artist conception of the devil. You know what I mean? The horns and the pitchfork and all of this, which of course is not true.
But nevertheless, there was this mural that he told me about in this city.
In Europe, and it was such a fateful situation for the young man because the pieces were set up on the board in such a way as that the young man was about two or three moves away from checkmate. No matter which way you would go. Naturally speaking, the devil had him and he was just waiting for his fate. And then he related the story to me that what happened was that.
And this had been accepted in the city that there was no hope for the young man. And it's been around for generations, as far as I know, this mural.
Anyway, there came into the city a man who was a grandmaster.
And he looked at that and of course it attracted his attention. He was stayed there and he said for a number of hours staring at that mural. And after a long time he declared, I no way that I can deliver that man, that young man from the devil. And he wrote down the various moves that had to be made to get him out of that bind. And I believe he said that it was even published in the paper because the town had all accepted the fact that.
On that mural there was a hopeless situation, and so he likened it unto the Lord Jesus.
Who has come into this world and under his guidance and power, he can deliver us from a conflict and an enemy that is far greater than we. And, you know, just as we have in that game of chess, we have, of course, there are moves that are made before the actual capture of the enemy forces. They don't happen all at once. You don't capture the king, as you know in that game. And the first two or three moves, there are preliminary moves to set up for the strike. And you know, that is.
Like the enemy of our souls, he is working as a chess players do many moves ahead to wait for his kill, for his opportunity and naturally speaking HUD. Doesn't matter how brilliant you may be or how brainy you are in this world and it's things, you have no chance when it comes to this spiritual battle.
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But we're thankful to report to you this afternoon, just as there was a Grand Master that knew how to solve the problem for that young man and that mural, we have the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is in this world. And so we're thankful that the Lord Jesus, through the Scriptures, the inspiration of the Scriptures, has written down for us the way in which we can avoid the pitfalls of life with this enemy and that we don't.
Need to have a life of failure that we can live a life that we can be victorious and if we'll just live according to the principles that have been laid down in the word of God, we can have victory over this enemy that is so much greater and powerful than we are. One more verse in first John which would bring that before us. First John chapter 2.
And verse 14, the latter half of the verse is before me. I have written unto you, young men.
Because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one, or ye have gotten victory over the wicked one. And so this tells us how there can be victory on our part over this enemy that is so much powerful, more powerful than we are, and that is through the Word of God. And so.
God is marked out in the Scriptures a safe and happy path for us.
Not only that, if we keep our feet in that path, we are going to be delivered. But not only that, we have also in the scriptures disclosed to us the enemy's battle plans, His tactics have been disclosed.
It tells us in Second Corinthians that we are not ignorant of Satan's devices and God has given to us, I believe in the Scriptures, the various ways in which the enemy is going to plan his attack on your life and mine.
And he's given us a remedy with regard to it. And I'd like to look at some of those things this afternoon in application to our audience here. And so we find that God has made provision in the word of God. You know, this reminds me of Pilgrims Progress. That was a story that an allegory that John Bunyan wrote hundreds of years ago. And there's one scene in that book that.
I would relate now and that is Christian was going up to the Celestial City and he got to one point in the.
His journey and he heard the roar of lions, and he realized that there was no chance that he could make it through lions if they were up ahead in the path. But he studied his map, his guide, and he found out that the lions were chained. And the chains on the lion from where they were chained were not long enough to reach the path that he was to be going on. So as long as he kept his feet in the path, those lions could roar all they want, but they couldn't touch him.
And so that gave him courage to continue on. And in a certain sense, it's exactly the same for us as Christians as we move our way through this wilderness world in a scene of conflict. And that is that if we keep our feet in the path that the Word of God is marked out, the enemy cannot touch us.
But my fear this afternoon, especially for the young that are here, is that they may not know the principles of the Word of God and unwarily put their feet in a place where they're vulnerable to the enemy's attack. And so we want to speak about just the various ways in which the enemy works and to see more clearly those tactics and how God has made provision that we can rise above it. Let's look at Mark chapter 4.
For the first one.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 4, verses 14 and 15.
The source soweth the Word, and these are they by the wayside where the Word is sown. But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. Here's the first tactic that I'd like to speak about this afternoon, and that is Satan's attempt to take away the Word of God that is sown.
The devil to make it very plain here this afternoon.
Doesn't want anyone of us here to get anything out of the meetings that we've been attending this weekend. His objective is to make sure that you don't get anything out of these meetings. He wants to distract your minds. He wants to make sure that even though you may have heard some wonderful truths and some things, that they somehow get taken away out of your mind so that when you leave this place, you do not profit.
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The devil is interested in taking the word of God away from us.
Because he knows that is that which we are built up in the most holy faith. He knows that the Word of God is the very thing that will defeat his ruses.
And so how careful we have to be when we're sitting under the sound of the Word of God, that we drink it in, we take it in in such a way as that it becomes part of us and that we will take something away. Now the Word of God. And you notice that verse that I read there in first John chapter 2, it says that the Word of God abided in them. And that is so very important that the Word of God would be found abiding in us, not just so much.
In our intellect, but it becomes part of our life and our being. It becomes part of us.
So that we act on it as being part of us. That is so very important.
And I believe that if we take up the word of God in such a way as that there is a state of soul of having passed judgment on ourselves, that when the word of God is ministered to us, it will take hold in good soil, and the enemy will not be able to take the word of God away. Let me give you a verse in first John in James chapter one. James chapter one, verse 21.
It says lay apart all filthiness of superfluity, of naughtiness.
And receive with meekness the engrafted word or the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. And so we find here that the word of God has a power to save our souls. Now this is not talking about saving our souls molest eternity that you get to go to heaven because we we believe the gospel. He's talking about the practical salvation and the life of the believer. My soul has a tendency to being drawn.
From the enemy, by the enemy, by his various Wiles, and so on. And I, my soul and your soul needs to be preserved from the enemy's tactics. And the word of God is what will save us, as it says here. Now notice he says, though it's important that we lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. In other words, there needs to be a setting aside of certain things so that the word of God will take hold in the soul.
Peter says something the same, he says.
And first Peter 21 Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile on a hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, or says grow unto salvation again. Again, it's a practical salvation in both cases. In these verses that I've read to you tell us that there needs to be a practical self judgment on our part of those things that would not allow the word of God.
Take hold in our hearts. You know, if there are weeds in your garden and you go and plant the very best seed that there is on the market, what's going to happen?
They're not going to take hold because the weeds have will choke it out as we know. So there needs to be the pulling up of the weeds in the garden of our heart by self judgment so that when the word is sown, it falls on good ground and it takes hold. That's the reason why so often we hear the word of God and the enemy gets in there and is able to take it away so that we get nothing out of it. Sometimes we've asked young people, but where did you get from the conference that you went to or the meetings that you're at?
And they don't want to say nothing but.
You can tell by the way they hedge back and forth that they really didn't get anything much, if at all. We trust they did get something. And the reason why is because there hasn't been that proper state that I'm Speaking of that is so necessary for the Word of God to take hold in our lives. I'll give you an example. It's not, I'm not talking now about the intellectual apprehension of the Word of God. And talking to a young brother one time, wasn't myself, it was reported to me, and he was really getting a hold of the doctrines of Scripture, and I'm glad.
For you young men who are trying to get a hold of the Scriptures, give it all your might and soul. It's a wonderful subject that you need, but it needs to go farther than that. Brother Clausen mentioned that to us yesterday. It needs to be more than just an intellectual apprehension of things. It needs to be brought into the very life so that becomes part of our being. It becomes an engrafted word. At any rate, this young man was getting a hold of the Word of God, and we asked him.
They asked him about sanctification. Oh yes, I know about sanctification. There's three parts. There's three kinds of three kinds of sanctification. And there was this and there's this, and the destiny had it, right.
You know, and then a couple hours later he was heard saying I was reported to me that he had a few days off and he was going to rent a few movies and kick back and just enjoy things. You can rent a few movies and sit back and, and enjoy your, your, your. Obviously, the truth of sanctification hasn't gone very far with that man. The very idea of practical sanctification is that we perfect holiness in our lives. And I'll tell you right now, if you don't already know.
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Sitting around watching movies isn't going to perfect holiness in your Christian life and so you know there is an example of things being taken in truth being ascertained and and be able to lay it out in an orderly way of someone. But how about has it affected my life. Has there been a implanting of the word of God? If not the enemy is there to take it away. Now let's move along to another passage. We'll see yet another thing. Luke 22.
The 22nd chapter of Luke's Gospel, Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fill not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Here we never have another tactic or design of the enemy.
Upon the people of God, and that is to draw us away into bad company. And that's exactly what happened to Peter.
It says Satan hath desired to sift you, and you know what sifting is? It is to Draw Something out from the rest through a disturbance. And that's what the enemy wants to do, is to draw us away from the fellowship of God's people into bad company. And we find later in this very chapter that says a Peter, that he followed the Lord afar off. How did it happen that he was in perhaps the most precious spot that a man could be in?
In the upper room where they were breaking bread. And within hours he was following the Lord afar off. And then he got himself into bad company. As you know, he warmed himself at the fire of those people of the world who had intentions of rejecting the Lord Jesus. And in their presence and in their company, we know what happened. He fell under their influence. And the Bible tells us evil communications, corrupt good manners and Peter.
Denied his Lord with oaths and curses that he ever even knew him. What a sad thing and it happened so fast.
So we learn here that Satan's another one of his designs is to draw you away into bad company. Bad company. He knows that if we get into following the Lord at a distance like this, that surely he'd be able to introduce principles and things into our life that we are going to dishonor the Lord and it's going to come back to, to be against the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I speak now.
Particularly to the young that are here, do you realize that there is an enemy that you're of your soul that wants to draw you away from the bosom of the assembly where the fellowship of God's people is enjoyed and get you off following the Lord at a, at a distance get you into bad company where you will not do things that you normally would do because of peer pressure and so on. You know, it tells us in Acts chapter 2.
And they continued steadfastly, and apostles, doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayers.
That's often been said at the very inception of the Church of the first day the church was born there. That that is the four anchors of assembly life. If we keep those four things in our life. Apostles doctrine fellowship is what I'm talking about here now. Breaking of bread and prayers that we are going to make good progress and we are going to be preserved because there is much.
Preservation by walking in those four things. But at the end of that same book, the book of Acts.
You find that they had four anchors in that ship ride that they were making in Pauls Voyages, they call it. And you find what happened with those four anchors. Do you remember the story? Well, they were in a storm and they got worried. They thought that they were going to crash and they were going to have a terrible danger. So they cast out the anchors.
And the anchors that helped them from going into the rocks, which was a good thing. And we need to have the anchors in our Christian life.
All four of them, if we have just but two or three, we're going to move, drift toward the dangers of the rocks and make shipwreck. But we need all four of those anchors. Well, as the story goes on, in the 27th chapter of Acts, you find what happens. Those who are the master and the owner of the ship, they thought, well, since it's getting daytime, I think we should be making progress here. Let's get on with it. And so they got this idea. You have to read it only you only get it in a Darby's translation. It's not found in the King James Version, but.
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Says you know what they did? They cut the anchors off and they committed them to the sea and they tried to make a run for it to the shore, but when they cut the anchors off, they went into shipwreck. 1A lesson that is for us. You cut off the anchors in your Christian life and you're headed for shipwreck. You let go but just one and think, well, I'll just skip maybe the.
Maybe the prayer meeting, that's usually the first one that goes, you know what's going to happen.
Your life will begin to drift. But if you cut off another and like some do, they come to only the breaking of bread. Only what happens is that the progress of drifting is going to be increased and we are going to fall upon the rocks and make shipwreck of our Christian life. And so how careful we have to be to keep close to the Lord. I'll give you another verse, Deuteronomy.
Let's turn to a Deuteronomy 33.
Maybe we could say this is the remedy for these, this ruse of the devil. Deuteronomy 3312, Deuteronomy 3312, And of Benjamin, he said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders, shoulders a peak of safety. Isn't that a beautiful verse, the beloved of the Lord?
Dwell in safety by him. I emphasize that by him, if you're going to be kept in safety, you need to keep close to the Lord. Nearness to Christ is what will keep us. That's what happened with, that's what didn't happen with Peter. He got following the Lord afar off. And So what happened was that the enemy moved in and he sifted him as wheat. There's a difference, you know, with him and Judas. Judas was sifted as chaff because he was a false professor.
But Peter being a true believer, he was sifted as wheat and he needed a second conversion.
That's what it says there when thou art converted and Peter needed a second conversion. Some people think conversion needs to be saved like that you get at the gospel meeting, but they don't realize that conversion simply means to have the heart turned around to God. And if your heart gets turned away through the enemy's work, then you need another conversion to have your heart turned around. I was talking to a brother that had quite an experience in life. He'd gotten away from the Lord and I had mentioned to him about did you know that it's possible that a Christian may need to have a second conversion?
He said, oh, I know about that. I can speak from experience. He said, well, perhaps we all can. But anyway, this verse in Deuteronomy 33 is so wonderful. The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him. Make it an object of your life that you keep close to the Lord, and that means that you're going to have to keep short accounts with God, passing judgment on anything that you may have allowed to happen.
In your thoughts and your words or in your deeds in your life by confessing it to the Lord.
The Bible says in first John 19 that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But isn't this beautiful here? Benjamin, he says this of little Benjamin. We read in Psalm 80. I think it is little Benjamin. Why do they call Benjamin little Benjamin? Well, if you know the history of Ben, the tribe of Benjamin, because of their own failure, they got down to as many as 600 men.
It was almost extinct, that tribe, and God built it back up again, but it never became a prominent tribe in Israel. It was always looked at as little Benjamin. And it's so beautiful to see that when the great cleavage took place in Israel's history, I'm now Speaking of the cleavage of the 10 tribes from the two tribes. When Jeroboam rose up and led the 10 tribes away, who was it that was preserved?
Little Benjamin.
Isn't that sweet? You know the tribe. The situation of the tribe of Benjamin is right next to Jerusalem.
Right next to Judah, where Jerusalem is and isn't that beautiful? Benjamin kept close to the Lord where he was in the midst. And when this great cleavage came and the more part, the mass of the children of Israel were led away by this man Jeroboam, little Benjamin didn't get LED away because Benjamin was.
Was in safety by him, by the Lord, and so if you're going to be preserved, it's going to be because you keep close.
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To the Lord. Now let's look at another one. First Peter Five, First Peter 5.
I'm going to read from verse 5 to get the connection of the passage first. Peter 55.
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourself to the elder or to elders.
Yay, all of you, be subject 1 to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, or sets himself against the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant, vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walk of the boat, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who have called us unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After ye have suffered a while, make you perfect.
Establish, strengthen and settle you. To Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever.
Amen. Now here we have the operation, another operation of the devil and he would like to.
Do in the lives of the Lord's people and we find here in this passage that there are two states that we have to be on guard against in our lives and the first one is just to be puffed up with pride and self importance. The 2nd is to be cast down with discouragement and either of the two of these certain these two circumstances, these two states.
The devil can move in and work, and Peter knew what he was talking about when he wrote these things because he experienced both.
You see, first of all it says, I says I say not to be danger, to be careful, to be not puffed up with self importance and pride. Well, you see Peter, he thought that he was the best disciple the Lord ever had and he didn't mind he telling people about that. And when the Lord said that all you are going to forsake him. And when the when the shepherd would be smitten. But Peter said I can well understand that they would, but not me. Of course you're not referring to me, you're referring to the others.
Oh, Peter, it says here.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Peter was deceived by his own importance and the enemy saw that he took note of that. Just like in a chess game, a good chess player, when the opponent makes a move that is foolhardy, he records that he's going to use that. And the devil knows when we make a fool of ourselves by getting pumped up with self importance in some way.
Why he is going to move in?
And he's going to use that in some way to our demise.
Well then we find that it says here, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Here we have the other extreme, and that is one who is overburdened with the cares of life to the point where they you, you just feel that you are discouraged. And discouragement is perhaps the greatest of all the tools in the hand of the enemy. Today. He wants to wear out the Saints of the Most High. We learn from Daniel seven. He wants to tire out the Saints.
He wants to discourage the Saints, discourage us into.
Giving up in the path, How many times have you heard, maybe you've said it yourself, I just feel like giving up. I can't go on anymore. And you know, the enemy watches for that and says here's our opportunity. And so we have to be careful of these two extremes to be puffed up with pride and self importance or to be cast down and discouragement because the enemy will make use of that.
And so how careful we have to be. It says here, be sober and be vigilant, because the devil, the adversary, is like a roaring lion.
He's going about looking for those who are in those states that he can take advantage of. Now, isn't this interesting here?
It says as a roaring lion that he walketh a boat seeking whom he may devour. Now that word devour is only used two times in the New Testament, and the other time that it's used is in connection with another person that is very overcome with discouragement. And I just, I'll just turn you to it, but you don't have to turn to it yourself in the Scriptures. And that is in Second Corinthians chapter 2.
About the man that was overcome with this terrible moral sin and there was repentance that worked in his life.
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And what happens was, is that because the brethren were dragging their feet and receiving this man back there who had been repented in the apostle, I had to write to them about this. We find that the apostle says that he was.
Swallowed up with over much sorrow. And that same expression, swallowed up with over my sorrow is the same word that is used here in the devil trying to swallow up or devour God's people, and he knows how to use discouragement to that end.
Now that may be what the case is with some of you here.
Perhaps you have been praying about things in your Christian life and you haven't seen any sign of the Lord answering it. And you don't know why he would not answer your prayers. Because you know in your own soul that you're seeking to go on for the Lord and to please Him in your life in the in your way as you can, and yet as you ask Him for something. And maybe you have prayed about this for a very long time, and yet you find that the Lord is not answered your prayer.
Be careful of not allowing yourself to get cast down in discouragement, in prayer.
The Bible says that men ought always to pray and not to faint because the enemy would love to use his powers to take you out of the way. How many have been let out of the path because they got overcome with discouragement and the devil swallowed them up and he has brought their life and testimony to ruin because they allowed discouragement to take over their life? I just want to say to you, if you've been praying for something.
And the Lord has not yet in his good time and his perfect wisdom and not answered your prayers the way you would like to see it. Just persevere. Don't give up. Don't allow the enemy to come into your Christian life and to discourage you. And you want to throw your hands up and say it's not worth it going on because the enemy of your soul is going to make use and he's going to move in and he is going to bring sorrow into your life. You think you're discouraged and you're unhappy because maybe the Lord is not answered.
That you may be praying, I tell you, you don't know how much sorrow the devil can bring in your life when you lead you into a path that would dishonor the Lord. You wait on God. He honors faith. The Lord honors faith. He may try your faith and delays are not denials. You know in John Chapter 11.
And Mary and Martha, they prayed that the Lord would come. They called for the Lord to come. And it says on the Lord abode there yet two more days.
And in those two days, Lazarus died. When the Lord came, they said, Lord, if you were to come quicker, we could have saved them. You could have raised them up from his sickness. But the, you know, it's so wonderful. The Lord's delays are not denials. He came at the right time to demonstrate his power and he brought Lazarus back, as we know, from the dead. And so the Lord knows what he's doing in your Christian life. And if you submit to it by verse seven, it says casting all your care upon him.
For he cares for you that you're going to get the blessing. See in verse 10. He goes on to say that if you resist the devil and not allow yourself to get overcome with discouragement that God is going to perfect things in your Christian life. You are going to make you perfect. That's the idea of full growth as we had in our meetings earlier, and to establish you, to strengthen you to settle. These are moral.
Development in the Christians life that is so very important you see the Lord is interested in not just answering our prayers as if it's a as if it's a pop machine you come to it just push a button Lord, I need this push the button outcomes this and off you go he's interested in moral development in our Christian life and sometimes in these delays that he allows it's for the deepening of these exercises in our Christian life and to help us also to weed out those things that may be a hindrance in.
Life as we look over our life and seek to be more pleasing to him.
And with regards to what we may have in our lives, but the end is always the same that he would bring us to Christian perfection. And so the enemy would like to work in this way as well. Now turn to 1St Corinthians 7, First Corinthians 7 and our time is moving along. So I'm going to have to just read a quote, some of them the verses that were to do with.
The remedy 1St Corinthians 7, verse 5.
Deep deprive or defraud not one another, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again that Satan tempt you.
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Not for your incontinency.
What he's talking about here is that the devil also wants to work in the realm of moral evil. He wants to tempt the Saints of God with moral evil. And the context here, as we know, is within marriage, but he works well outside of marriage too, among those who are not married. And we have to understand that this is another line of attack that the enemy is seeking to work upon the Saints of God and introduce moral evil into the life of believers. People think that they're going to bring happiness in their life and they bring sorrow.
And so the scripture tells us in Two Timothy chapter 2, flee also youthful lusts.
That tells us that we need to get out of any situation that would lend itself to getting into some sort of a moral evil. You know, there has to be a situation that a person is in to facilitate such things. Another verse that comes to mind is Romans 14. It says put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof and so.
Let us be careful about this line of attack, too. If we keep ourselves out of those situations where something like this could happen, we will be preserved from the enemy seeking to tempt us in this way. Well, let's move along now to Second Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, but I fear lest by any means.
As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he come, he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached. Or if you receive another spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him or with me.
Verse 13 For such a false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing that his ministers, if his ministers, also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. So here we have another thing, and that is, the enemy would like to beguile us with bad doctrine that would ultimately lead us out of the divine revelation.
And away from the.
Truth of God, you know the enemy knows exactly what he's doing and we will find that if we are very zealous for keeping the truth and desirous to learn the truth, then he says that's the realm I want to work on that's the place where I should work and so he would like to introduce some doctrine or some new thought or or whatever or someone may try to tell you it's not a new thought it's an old thought or whatever into your Christian life that will affect your your walk because all.
Eventually affects your walk. I remember listening to a tape by Chapter Brown one time. He says doctrine affects your walk. He says, why is it that I don't go with the Baptist today and meet with them down the road here? He said, in a word, it's doctrine. I see from the Scriptures that Scripture would have me meet together on the ground of the one body according to Matthew 18 and 20, and that has led my feet to here and not to there.
Well, at any rate, the enemy would like to introduce doctrine.
That would trip us up, and we have to be very careful because there are subtleties in connection with doctrine, little nuances that the enemy knows how to bring in that have great ramifications down the road. And so he was jealous of them. And the Lord is jealous of our affections too. He wants us to be, as he says here, not to be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It doesn't mean that he wants us to always remain.
Believers and know nothing more than maybe the ABC's of the gospel that's nobody's talking about simplicity here has the idea of the purity of the truth of God's revelation and he wants our faith to stand in all of that purity. He does not want us to have corruption in our doctrine and because it's going to affect our ways. As I was saying, and he mentions how it happens. Satan uses men, even Christian men, well meaning men whom he gets a hold of.
Seducing spirits can get a hold of a mind of a Christian, we learn from First Timothy 41, and they can get going on a pet doctrine of some sort and begin to press that and soak. Satan will use men sometimes to introduce things to us that could trip us up, and he saying we shouldn't marvel about that because Satan himself can transform himself into being an Angel of light, something good.
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So as ministers can do the very same thing, they can transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.
And I don't think that these workers who, if they're Christian, are necessarily doing something diabolical in their minds. That is, they're rubbing their hands and saying we're going to trip up those Christians because I want to really see them get off the track. No, I think that they're honestly deceived. They think they really got something here and they're going to share this and push this on the Saints and press it. But alas, it is something that the devil has been working with.
And it is something that is heterodox rather than orthodox.
And so we find here its ministers transformed into ministers of righteousness. Isn't that interesting? The devil likes to work on the lines of righteousness.
Oh, what is right and what is good for the glory of God. It sounds good and we want to do what is right for the glory of God. And so we can get swooned by that. We can be hoodwinked by someone who comes on the line of wanting to act for righteousness sake. And very often you'll find trouble in assemblies happen because someone wants to stand for some little thing that they imagine it is so very important and so needful and it's for righteousness. And there's nothing more than something that the Satan can make use of to divide.
Saints and to bring in problems you know that's just the way the enemy works we have to be very careful in first John chapter four we have three tests whereby we can discern whether.
Those who come teaching us things, or those even from among us.
Present things to us, whether they are truth or whether they're error, and remember, it can very well happen. And I think that the subtlety of the enemy is such that he would probably use ones that would rise up from among us to teach us erroneous things than ones that would come in, because we'd be more wary of those.
Acts chapter 20 Paul said to the Ephesian elders that there would be grievous wolves entering in not sparing the flock. And then he says, and from among your own selves.
He's talking about the elders too. Shall men arise speaking perverse things to lead a way toward, to draw away disciples after themselves?
And that's that latter way that I suspect that the enemy would more likely work in because it would be more effective in his designs. But anyway, in first John 4, the 1St 6 verses or so, and I won't read them to spare us a time, you'll find these three tests that we can use to discern whether a man is bringing the truth or not. The first one, verse 2 is that every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come.
In flesh shouldn't be in the flesh, but in flesh.
Is of God. The first point that you see here is that he must uphold the truth of Christ, deity and his humanity. That's what that's talking about.
To to summarize it and put it this way very simply, does what he teach exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ or not? That's a simple test. It can be. Now the reason why I say his deity and his sinless humanity is because.
It says here that he confesses that Jesus Christ is come in flesh.
The fact that it's come in flesh would bring before us his eternality, the eternality of his being.
The fact that he pre existed, coming into flesh.
See you and I are in flesh, but we didn't come in flesh. We did not exist before we were born in this world, but the Lord Jesus did. He pre existed, his coming into flesh. And so there you have the deity of Christ brought before us and then it's in flesh because it's his humanity. And these are the two places where most evil doctrines connected with the person of Christ are founded and his deity and his perfect humanity. But just to summarize it again, the main point.
Two is does it exalt and glorify the person of the Lord Jesus Christ or not? That is one very good test. Very often it'll exalt man, give man some place.
And not the Lord Jesus, Secondly.
Verse five and six.
They are of the world. He's talking about these evil teachers. Therefore the the they speak of the world and the world heareth them. The point here is that the world, those who are not even saved will buy into these things. But let's not just think that he's only Speaking of the world. That is people that are lost in this world. Also Christians that are under the influence of the world. In other words, worldly Christians. Do worldly Christians like that? What's that man may be teaching?
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Remember a man saying to me one time, well, go ask the most liberal and loosest Christian you know amongst in your gathering if he likes that doctrine?
I tell you that really tells the story. It really tells a story. Oh yes, I think that's fine, because one that's like that usually wants more.
Liberal, you know, liberty and so on. And it's a telltale sign.
That there's something that is Askew with this doctrine.
Thirdly, verse six, we are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of air. the US in this verse is the apostles. The point here is, does what they teach coincide with the apostles teaching?
Do what they teach coincide with the apostles teaching.
So these three tests are does it glorify the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do the world or worldly Christians buy into this and like it? And the third thing is does it coincide with the apostles teaching in the Word of God? It cannot be supported and properly from the Word of God. These things will give us a sign as to whether there is truth or error. Now as our time is running out, let's look in Zechariah 13 for another.
Of the Devil upon the Saints, Zechariah, chapter 13.
Chapter 3. Rather Zechariah 3, the third chapter of Zechariah.
And he showed me, Joshua the high priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuked thee, Oh Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood before the Angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him.
And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment.
And he said, I let them set a fair miter upon his head, and set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. And the Angel of the Lord protested to Joshua, and said, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt walk in my ways, and will keep my charge, and thou will also judge my house, keep my courts, and I will give thee a place to walk among these that stand by. Won't read any further Here we have Satan's operation to hinder the.
Process of restoration in a soul.
Here's Satan Satan's operation to hinder the process of restoration in a soul. The circumstance here is to do with the restoration of a remnant that came out of Babylon. The whole book of Zacharias to do with the restoring of God's people. He restores the priesthood first in chapter 3, and then we keep stores the governors, the leaders of the people, and later the people themselves.
God is working to restore his people today and we find here.
That Joshua was going to be closed. First of all, cleanse. The name is going to be clothed and then he was going to be crowned. And then fourthly, he was going to be commissioned with a work that God had him to do, but he could not in the state that he was in being defiled in the place where he was in Babylon. They used he needed to be, as I say, cleansed and needed to be restored. And so God is working today to restore souls. You may be someone that is.
Has gone away from the Lord. You haven't been walking through with the Lord as you know you ought to, and you know that you need restoration and you've come to these meetings and God would like to use this as a turn around for you. But there's the devil that wants to hinder that process of restoration in your life, just as he stood here trying to resist the work of the Lord to restore Joshua to his office.
Satan doesn't want us to. You get restored, but God would rebuke the devil here this afternoon.
And would seek to not only cleanse you, but clothe and crown.
And Commission you to a work that he has for you to do for his glory. Now, isn't this interesting? His garments were defiled garments. And Scripture speaks to us of the associations of life. You can see how that would come out as a type because and that's throughout Scripture too, because it's something that you're surrounded with. You know, I'm inside these clothes, It's all around me. It's the circumstances of life.
Well, his clothes were defiled. They were filthy garments.
And he needed to get out of them. And you know, if you're going to get restored fully to the Lord, you need to get out of the circumstances of your life that whatever it is that you've been in, you need to get rid of. The leper had to burn his garments that were were no good. And burning brings before us the thought of judgment. Fire is the thought of judgment, isn't it? And it wasn't the priests that were to burn the leper's garment. The leper himself was. And that brings before us the idea that we have to pass judgment on our associations of life because evil.
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Corrupt good manners. Then secondly, we find that he was put there were a new set of garments that were put on him. God would have us to have new associations of life and that is the fellowship of God's people and the Saints. He wants you to surround yourself with the Lord's people.
In this process of restoration and then we find that they he is crowned with a fair miter put on his head that would bring before us the thought of his dignity restored.
And then he's commissioned to a work that he was to do in the priesthood. And God has something for us to do as well. And so God would have us to to do, if there's anybody here in this state needing restoration is to allow the Lord to well, first of all, you need to get out of that garment that you got that you're in, but then allow the Lord to bring you into a new set of circumstances among the Lord's people and to experience the restoring.
Of our Lord Jesus.
Psalm 23 says He restoreth my soul. Do you know we are so helpful.
That we can't save ourselves. We can't keep ourselves. If we get away from the Lord, we can't even restore ourselves. It's all the Lord's work. He restoreth my soul.
Well, I didn't have time to speak about one in Second Corinthians where we find the Satans operations to divide the Saints and he uses as in Second Corinthians chapter 2 There. I'll just point it out that he uses a circumstance of sin amongst God's people to polarize the Saints and wanting some to go ahead and forgive the person before the local assembly had exercised administrative forgiveness and thereby bring in.
A disrupting of the unity of the Spirit.
Satan always wants to divide the Saints and he's waiting for an opportunity, whether it's sin. Then he moves in and tries to polarize the Saints, get to some emotionally wrapped up in the situation and get blinded and start to support the the the offender or whatever. All brother and Satan's working. And that's where you get that verse that we're not ignorant or Satan's devices. Paul was so concerned about that that he said he was working in the gospel and the Lord had opened the door in Troas.
And souls are getting saved might. We're getting saved mightily. There was a real work going on and he said I left that.
Because I wanted to go back to to the seaport there to wait for Titus to come to hear news whether the the Corinthians had picked up on his first letter and had corrected themselves. I asked an evangelist one time, would you leave an open door? And God was working and souls were getting saved because you had a care for the assembly more than your gospel work. He looked right in my face and he said I couldn't do that.
The Gospels dear to my heart, I said. But the apostle did. He realized that the work in the Gospel.
The Savior of life unto life and a death unto death. God is sovereign. Souls will be saved regardless of an evangelist or not.
But with the assembly, we need to give that our attention and be preserved. I seek to preserve the unity of the Spirit.