I'll read again that verse in
Mark chapter 3, where it says, No man can enter into a strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the
strong man, and then he will spoil his house. I told you the
strong man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and the stronger man Or, I mean,
the strong man is the devil, and the stronger man is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I read to you over there
in Job about the wicked, which are the children of the devil. Once we were like that. Ye once
were the children of wrath, even as others. And that's the way
we were. We were without understanding,
ignorant, and rebelled against any approach of the truth of
God that would come in our direction. We would build up a barrier between
ourselves and truth through our indifference and self-confidence.
We built a case for ourselves, you know. The stronger man came in, invaded
our hearts, worked the work of grace, gave us some understanding,
a nature to love, a nature to worship, and gave us God-given
faith that we might believe, changed us, turned us from following
after idols to serve the true and living God. This strong man, I said he keeps
his palace and his goods in peace, and he's a watchful and diligent
keeper. He watches over his own. He's
ever on the alert to keep truth from the understanding. He's
scared to death of the truth, and he tries, and he does, and
he's successful. in keeping the truth from the
understanding of those of whom God is no concern. He keeps truth
from them. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
the truth. He keeps truth from them. They
think that Jesus Christ is just a mere man. Just a man, and that's
all. Just a man like your man. They
know nothing of that great mystery, how God become a man, God become
incarnate. They know nothing about that.
They wouldn't believe that. You tell them, try to explain
to them that the Lord Jesus Christ is none other than God in the
flesh. They say, no, no, that's your opinion. They don't understand
that. They don't believe it. They're
ignorant of it. And He keeps His truth from their understanding.
If they'd ever understand that, they'd be saved, wouldn't they? If they'd ever understand who
the Lord Jesus Christ is, they'd be saved. These people are lost. They don't understand who He
is. They don't understand. As I told you there, the main
word that describes them is self-confidence. They're confident in themselves.
They say, your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our
thoughts. Well, if he's ever on the alert,
vigil, it's like a guard up on the wall. Any that attempts to break in
or break out, he's there to deter, by their design of freedom and
so forth. On the alert to keep truth from
the understanding and also love from the heart. Love from the
heart and life from the soul. And if you keep truth from a
man's understanding, love from the heart and life from the soul,
what do you got? A dead man. A dead man. Dead in trespasses
and in sins. He has no aspirations for God,
the living God, who he knows nothing about. And he's satisfied
in his misery. Satisfied in his ways. He's like
a fellow out on a lake in a big canoe with a slight breeze blowing
and the water rippling and he's there in this Alice in Wonderland and he's enjoying it at the same
time as God views him as dead and trespasses and in sins. His own, they're careless and
they're quiet, and they're even secure in their carelessness.
They're like what I read to you from the book of Job. He said
the rod of God is not upon them. Everything's well with them.
They're at peace with themselves. Their houses are safe from fear.
Their families are doing well. They're well. Their wealth is to be expressed
in their houses and lands and so forth, and they have plenty
of that. They live a long life and come down to die not interested
in God. They're safe, and they are in
peace, peace at any price, peace at any price, long as they're
in peace. That's what they want. They don't
want to be troubled. They don't want to have no penetrations,
in their conscience that would convict and remind them of evil
and right and wrong and so forth. They're at peace. And I told
you at first here that he keeps his palace and his goods in peace. His goods are these people, and
he keeps them in peace. He has a way of doing it. See,
he's the prince of the power of the air. He's the god of this
world, the devil. He's cunning. He's sly. You can't
do him in. You can't fight him on his ground.
You can't do it. You can't contend with him. He's
too powerful. He's slick. He's slick. They
are at peace. Peace at any price. Not peace
with honor, which is God's peace. The peace you and I have is peace
with honor. It's peace with honor because God's justice has been
satisfied. That's how it comes, peace with honor. God who is
just, he's just. And the Lord Jesus Christ in
his work enables him to be just and merciful at the same time.
So when we're justified before God, accepted by God and in God,
in Christ beloved, we're accepted on the basis of satisfaction
made, satisfaction to God's justice. The soul that sinned shall surely
die." He died. The wages of sin is death. He
died. Justice is satisfied. See, it's
peace with honor. Peace with honor. But they know
nothing about peace with honor. They could care less. Even most
so-called Christians of our day, they want peace at any price.
They don't want peace with honor. They care little about God being
satisfied. They think you're crazy when
you start talking about the justice of God, inflexible, unerring,
unbending justice of God, demands that the soul that's sinning
shall surely die. They said, we care a little for
that. All we want to know is about Jesus. Tell us about Jesus. They said, well, Christ died
for sin. Well, that's all we want. Well, do you know why He
died for sin? No, we don't care. But there
can be no peace with honor. apart from justice being satisfied,
men would go to heaven with their sins if they could. No peace with honor. That's God's
peace. And I'll tell you why. Because
Satan, Lucifer, the devil, has lulled them to rest with his
seductive charm. just like he operated on Mother
Eve in the garden with his alluring charm and his mannerisms and
his appearance. He alerted her to rest, led her
into the transgression. Ah, the goods of the strong man
are in peace. And these goods, I'll tell you
what they are. They are those They are those
that are children of the devil. But these goods have to do with
the heart, the mind, the soul, the understanding, the memory,
and the will of those of whom God is no concern. It has to
do with their mind, and their will, and their memory, and their
understanding, their heart. So his goods are in his house,
and they're in peace. These are the ones that I say
that self-confidence rules. Self-confidence reigns in their
lives. They are confident. But notice,
you know, it says here that this fella,
this strong man, he can't always have his way. No man can enter into the strong
man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind him.
First bind him. Bind the strong man, and then
he'll spoil his house. Now, I read over to you there
the other night about the strong man and the stronger man. Now,
the stronger man is the Lord Jesus. He's going to enter into
his house, and he's going to bind that man and spoil his goods.
And that's what he did. And that has... Look over here
in the third chapter of the book of Genesis. when this thing first
come about. In that first verse of the third
chapter, it says, Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast
in the field which the Lord God had made. He is slicker than any of them.
And he was probably the most beautiful thing on the face of
the earth, the serpent. And this sub-tile, this serpent
that was more sub-tile than any beast in the field, he said unto
the woman, Yea, has God said that? Did he really say that?
Trying to create doubt and suspicion in her mind. And he did. Happened. He said to the woman, Yea, has
God said that? You said that he said that, but
now did he really say that? Is that what he meant? Ye shall
not eat of every tree in the garden. Well, you come on over
in here now. We know what happened. And in
the 10th verse, or the 11th verse, God said unto Adam and Eve, He
said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree?
Conscience told them they was naked. You see, they'd got something at the fall that they had not
previously had, a consciousness of good and evil. They never had that before. But
when they fell, they had that consciousness of good and evil.
Who told thee that thou wast naked? How did you know you was
naked? You was naked before, but you didn't know it. Something
must have happened to you, you see. You got this consciousness.
Hast thou eaten of the tree where I commanded thee that thou shouldest
not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be
with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord said
unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the
woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Now, if you'll
notice here, This is where the judgment of God falls upon the
devil, upon the serpent. He comes to war with the serpent. And the Lord said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, because you've done this, you're
the cause of all of it. See, he's our worst enemy. He's our chief enemy, the chief
enemy of God and the chief enemy of man. Because thou hast done
this, because you've done this, thou art cursed above all cattle
and above every beast of the field. And upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and the dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life."
Every time you see a snake, you're reminded of that serpent. He
wasn't always on his belly. I don't know whether he had hind
feet or what, but he wasn't always on his belly. That's a form of Him. And this is what He said, I'll
put in my table between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed. Her seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the seed of the
woman. It's not the seed of the man. It's the seed of the woman. God is the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, not Joseph. between thy seed and her seed,
and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel." Well, what am I saying here? This is what I'm saying,
that a stronger man shall come upon him and overcome him. Now, this must be experimentally
true in the case of every elect vessel of mercy. We see the seed
of the woman bruising the serpent's head. We see God's Christ spoiling
principalities, powers in high places, and making a show of
them openly. Let me read these scriptures
to you, over in Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. And verse 15, it says this, talking
of Christ, here's the fourteenth verse, blotting out the handwritings
of ordinances that was against us, that's the law, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. That is, we were offenders of
the law, lawbreakers. He satisfied that law in our
behalf in that he paid what justice demanded and received the penalty
of that broken law in himself on the cross. So he took that
out of the way. That's not against us. Now he
says, "...and having," that's Christ, "...having spoiled principalities
and powers," that is, the stronger man. See, he invaded the palace
of the strong man and spoiled his goods, brought us out, delivered
us. from the strong man that held
us captive at his own will, and our own will, too. See? He spoiled principalities and
powers, and he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in himself, in it. Well, then, look with me, if
you will, to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verses
14 and 15. They are talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ here. Up here in verse 9 he says, But
we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the
grace of God should taste death for every man. for every man of Adam's race
that was given to Christ in eternity past." Now, listen, here's the
two verses I want you to see. Verses 14 and 15, "...for as
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,"
that is, we're flesh and blood, "...he also himself likewise
took part of the same." God become a man. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God manifested in flesh. He took upon himself flesh and
blood. Now, he also himself, likewise, took part of the same,
the stronger man, that through death he might destroy him, that
through his death the stronger man might overcome the strong
man, invade his house, spoil his goods, and lead to captivity
those that are captive. Leave them free. And deliver them, well, up there
in 14th verse, that he also likewise took part in the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That
is who? The strong man, the devil. All
right? And deliver them, deliver them,
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
martyrdom. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Then over here in 1 John 4. Notice what he says here, "'Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because
greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."
Then in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 8, no, chapter 3 and verse
8, it says, "...he that commits
sin is of the devil, For the devil sinneth from the beginning."
Now, listen to this, "...for this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." Now, this strong man has got
this palace, these goods in the palace. It's going to take a
stronger man than he to break down the door and come in. Well,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, and it says, For this purpose,
the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Well, that's something, isn't
it? That's what he did for us. And so we can say here tonight,
with all sincerity, that the devil As far as we're concerned,
he's on a leash. And he can't touch us unless
God permits him to. See? God has overcome him. Led captivity out of there. Delivered us. Our sins are forgiven. Free in
Christ. The Lord bless you.