Let's make sure now that Paul
is at least under our authority and we can get to go and be here
this Friday night. Hold thy thinking forth, as she is forth. Be therefore
wise, servants, and marvelous to others. Most is the text written,
but beware of men. Beware of men. I guess you unfriendly
men, undaunted, and unfeeling, but beware of men, for they will
deliver you to accountable they will see the curtain of the synagogue,
and you shall be brought before the government to see my faith
or testimony against them of the Gentiles. When they deliver
you up, take no thought out for what you shall see, for it shall
be given you in that same hour what you shall see, for it is not He that
speaketh but the Spirit of your Father shall speak against you. And
the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the
father to child, and the child shall rise up against their parents,
and cause them to be put to death. He shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake, but he that entereth into the end shall be
saved. When they persecute you in this
city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye
shall not have gone over the city to Israel until the Son
of Man is come. The disciple is not above his
master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple
that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. They
have called the master of the house, Beelzebub. How much more
shall they call them from this household? Fear them not, therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
let it speak in light. what you hear in the ear, and
then preach to you from the housetop. Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather,
fear him which is able to destroy both the body and soul of the
dead. Or not too far that you spare
a soul for a pardon. One of them shall not fall on
the ground without your pardon. The hairs of your head are all
numbers. The hairs of your head are all
numbers. Your birthplace is recorded.
That's not written there, but it is written in the scriptures
in Psalm 87 and verse number 6. It says your birthplace is
recorded. The scripture says your steps
are counted. It says your days are determined.
It says the number of your months are with God. The Scriptures
say He has appointed your bounds that you cannot pass. The Scriptures
say you cannot change nothing. You cannot make one hair white
or one black. You cannot add one cubit to your
statute. no matter how much thought you
give to the task. Stature also means length as
well as height. The scripture said you cannot
add 18 inches to your life journey. The day of your death and the way of your death is
it surely fixed by God as rising and setting the sun? And so, in light of that, fear
not them which kill the gods, but are not able to kill the
sun, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body
and soul from heaven. But the very hair, Fear ye not therefore, ye are
of more value than any sparrow. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, Him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I have come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a soldier. For I have come to set a man
at variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother. and a man's
foes or a man's enemies shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life He that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you
receiveth me. He that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in
the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. of these little ones a cup of
cold water, only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto
you, he shall have no eyes to look into the water." Now, in this thirty-fourth verse,
there are two or three things that I want to call your attention
to. But think not that I have come
to send peace on earth." Most of the times, at least what's been true in my
experience, I think most all believers will testify that it's
true in their experience, that the believer is often shocked
He finds that he did not know what conflict, hostility, and
warfare was until he came to Christ. Don't have too many problems
until a man comes to Christ. That's when you begin to have
problems. You think you wouldn't have any problems. That seems
to be the, you know, the natural way of thinking. High in the sky, everything would
appear to be rosy. All would be right with the world,
right with God. There'd be no problem. Generally
don't know what real conflict is. Generally don't know what hostility
or warfare is until we come to Christ. First off, man has come
to Christ's life because he has conflict in his soul. He has
soul conflict. Now, the old Adam, that's just
old nature. It seems to be, as I understand
it, two natures. There's the old Adam and the
new Adam, or the old nature and the new nature. If any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature, he has a new nature. The old nature is always there,
though. I know that a lot of the sinless perfection,
people teach that. The old nature is eradicated.
It's just stamped out. It's burned out. It's done away
with through mortification, through sanctification, through the purity
of one's life, his determinations, his purpose. or intentions, finally
destroy the old Adam, and then they have victory. They have
victory, they say, with claims of victory. The old Adam has
been eradicated. But that's not so. This old nature,
old Adam, he doesn't die without a terrible struggle. And we're
going to struggle with him, we're going to have conflict with him,
and we're going to fight with him until the day we die. It
always lasts. Always lasts, don't you forget. The apostle said, the things
that I would do, I do not. The things that I would do, I
do. It seems to be a paradox, doesn't it? The things that I
would do or would not do, those are the things that I do. this conflict with his soul,
he had a conflict with sin. He never had any problem with
sin until he came to Christ. Everything was all right. He could determine for himself. These outward acts that were
bad, and he determined certain acts to be sinful and certain
acts to be good. So therefore, he controlled his
sin. He didn't do this, he didn't
do that. Refrained from this, consented
to that. He controlled things. He was
on top of the situation. He had no conflict with sin until
he came to Christ, until he found out that sin is an inward thing. center of his being, and his
heart is corrupt, and his heart is afraid. And it was not what
goes in a man that's abounding, but it's what goes out of a man,
what proceeds out of a man. The origin, that which proceeds
out of a man, finds its logic place in a man's heart. Adultery, thefts, all types of
So he has conflict with sin, has conflict. Never bothered
him before to go through the day without praying. Never bothered
him before to miss church. Never bothered him. He seemed
to be content. He could go to church on Easter,
he could go to church on Christmas Day, and that was about the sum
of some of his religious performances and duties. Now that he's come
to Christ, these things become a conflict to his soul. Well,
I know that they are a conflict. Sin is a conflict, a fight. It's
a weight. Scriptures say, lay aside this
weight. Every weight is a sin. So easily
deceptive, so easily hinders us in this race. Let us lay aside
every weight. One way to lay it aside, one
way that we can gain the victory over this conflict and the struggle
that we have with our souls in the matter of sin is to confess
our sin. That's one way to gain the victory
is to confess our sin. I want to read something to you
here in the book of 1 John. The book of 1 John, chapter 2. Verse number one. Here's a way to gain victory.
We can gain this victory now. We can have some peace. Jesus
said, thank you that I come to bring peace. Oh, he said, sword,
sword, conflict, conflict. We have conflict when we come
to Christ. Now listen, here's one way that
we can have a little peace. It says if we confess our sins.
He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all our unrighteousness. That's the first chapter. If
we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have no sin,
we make Him a liar. His Word is not in us. Second
chapter, verse number one, "'My Lord and children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.'"
This is what I'm saying. It says, "'We confess our sins,
we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the
Righteous.'" Notice it says, "'If we sin, we have him still.'"
It does not say, if we sin, we have forfeited our advocate. It doesn't say that. It doesn't
say, if we sin, we have forfeited our advocate, Jesus Christ. He no longer is there to intercede
in our behalf. It doesn't say that. It says,
we have an advocate, sinners though we be, we have an advocate. The victory comes when we recognize
this conflict with our soul in regard to the matter of sin and
confess it unto him. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. And again, he said, if any man
sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus. That's our
advocate. The Scriptures say this about
that sweet name, the sweet name of Jesus. The Scriptures say
that his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. That's the sweet name of Jesus.
Then it says here that we have an advocate with the Father Jesus
Christ the righteous. Now, this here not only has to
do with his character, Certainly, the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. He's the basis of our acceptance
with God. We're accepted by God through
the righteousness of another. Even the Lord Jesus Christ is
perfect conformity to God's law for us. We're accepted on that
basis. But it's not only his character,
but here in this respect, it's his plea. It's his plea. He meets
the charge of our unrighteousness, or he meets the charge of our
unrighteousness that's against us by his plea that I'm righteous. The charge is made against us
that we're unrighteous. If we confess our sins, It says
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He meets the accusations against
our unrighteousness with his righteousness. Therein, brethren
and sisters this evening, we have some soul peace. When it's all said and done,
we still have conflict with our souls, conflict with our sins.
Yet there is, there is a happy place where we can come and lay
our sins to rest. That's what we want to say to
the world. That's our mission. Well, secondly,
when the Lord Jesus said that, I come not to send peace on earth
but a sword, We have conflict with our soul, and secondly,
we find that a man has conflict in his own household. I read
to you here in this 36th verse that it says, a man's foes shall
be they of his own household. That's a strange thing, isn't
it? That's strange that a man's enemies, when he comes to Christ,
the man's enemies are those of his own family, his own household. He never had any problems with
them before. Everything seemed to be going along good. No difficulties,
pleasure, agreement, a so-called unity, purveyor. But now that
he's come to Christ, now that he's come to Christ, man's foes,
man's enemies, shall be those of his own household. A once
friendly family circle becomes a divided armed camp, a raid
against an unwanted intruder. The unwanted intruder is none
other than the Lord of Glory. He's an unwanted intruder that
has divided the loyalties of the family. He's come in and enthralled upon
the sacred ground of the family circle. He's divided, he's unwanted. Therefore, because of his interest,
because of the loyalty of the believer to him, the family circle
is broken. There's division and there's
no longer the peace and unity that they once had, you see.
That's what the scriptures say. When a man comes to Christ, he
never knew what conflict was, hostility and warfare and so
forth, until he comes to Christ. He finds out that the greatest
enemies that he has are those of his own family. In most cases,
his own flesh and blood. Isn't that something? But that's
a fact nevertheless. There is a great enemy. So we think that the devil is
a great enemy. You'd think it's ungodly behavior. You'd think it's devious, devilish
man. You'd think the entire place
is going to be a man's foe, enemies, prejudices, but not so. Man's foes shall be those of
his own household. Well, when a man comes to Christ,
Not only is this family circle broken because of the intruder
of the invader, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord's glory, but
he has conflict with the religious world, if he's true Christ. Do you know that the greatest
enemies of Christ have always been those that have boasted
of their knowledge of God? Did you know that? The greatest
enemies of Christ have always been those that have boasted
of their superior knowledge of God Almighty. Did you know that
it was in the synagogue that the death of Christ was plotted
and conceived? It was in the synagogue they
plotted to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that it
was in the cathedrals in Europe where the Reformers were tried
and persecuted in the cathedral. Do you know that today it's in the
churches and the seminaries that the gospel of grace is denied?
You see, when a man comes to Christ, he has conflict with
this religious world. When you stand as the Fundamentalist
expression is four square upon the Word of God, upon the authority
of the Scripture, the sacred Scripture, the Lordship of Christ,
sovereignty of Christ, sovereignty of God, doctrine in the Bible. If you stand upon
these, it's going to conflict with the religious interpretation
of the denomination. this world and the religions
of this world, there's going to be conflict. And it's going
to give you a hard time. It's going to give you trouble. Then, when a man comes to Christ,
he has conflict with the devil. Never had it before. Never had
no trouble with the devil before until he comes to Christ. That's
right. Never had no trouble. Everybody
likes it. I never had any trouble. Everybody
likes it. And that's the testimony of everybody.
I know in my own case, and I'm not saying this for any other
reason than to set forth the truth of this. Before I was a Christian,
I had all kinds of friends. Everybody, it seemed like I got
along with everybody. Where I worked, or where I played,
or where I went, I never had any problems with anybody. You know, kind of sought your
friendship. Never had no conflict with the
devil. The man comes to Christ, he has
conflict with the devil. You know, it's said in the Scriptures,
it says, The Lord said this. He said, Peter, Satan hath desired
thee to sift thee as wheat. Satan hath desired thee, Peter. Peter had no conflict with Satan
until he met Christ, and he had a conflict with Satan. The Apostle Paul said, Satan
hath hindered thee. He hindered thee. Satan did not hinder Paul when
he first entered the church, did he? He didn't hinder Paul. Remember Paul had the names of
the members of this hated sect that was described as the members
of the wave? Paul had the authority from high
priests to go down into Damascus and to Get those people down
there, the members of this sect, followers of this way, and put
them in jail. Paul even had people killed. In fact, Paul was there on the
scene when they stoned Stephen to death. Stephen's testimony
concerning the Lord Jesus. Think of that now. Paul had no
conflict with Satan until he came to Christ. That's what I'm
trying to tell us here this evening, that when we come to Christ,
expect some struggle. This old Adam does not die easily. Expect some conflict. You'll
have conflict. Expect conflict in your own family. You'll have conflict. Expect
conflict with this religious circle and this religious so-called
system which we live under. You'll have difficulties there,
and you'll have difficulties with the devil. If Peter had
difficulties with the devil, conflicts with the devil, and
Paul had conflicts with the devil, rest assured, you and I is going
to have some conflicts with the devil. Man comes to Christ, he
has conflicts with the flesh. The scriptures say in the world, he shall have tribulation." You
have trouble in the world. In the world, you're going to
have trouble. Now, you can't get out of the world until God
calls you out. Now, I know that a man can, he
can buy him an island if he's got enough money and get over
on that island and stay by himself. isolate himself
from the balance of his life, not have anything to do with
anybody. Or he can become a monk and go in one of these monkeries. There's some monkeries. Is there
a monkery down there around Morgantown, Pat? I think there is. There's
a monkery down there. Priests go down there and go
back in there and have and have old stone buildings, wander around,
hide, beat themselves, wear a hair shirt and all of that, new tenants,
and say they're separated from this world. But that's not what
the Scriptures are talking about. The Scriptures doesn't mean for
us to get out of this world. It means to come out from it
and not belong to our system by way of identification. But
we're here in this world and we've got to live in this world
and work with the enemies of Christ, on the job, they're enemies
of God, haters of Christ. And we'll have conflict in the
flesh, difficulty, misunderstanding. We'll be misrepresented, and
we'll be slandered, we'll be lied upon. And the man will take
the least little picky thing that he can find and try to make
something out of it in order to destroy your testimony, credibility. in the Christian world. He'll
do it. He's going to have them. That's the reason the Lord said,
watch. Watch. Be careful. Redeem the time. Tread softly. You have conflict in the flesh.
In the world you shall have tribulation. Fear, fiery trials, the apostle
Peter called them, fiery trials. Not just ordinary trials, but
fiery trials, difficult trials in this work. You see people
that are professed Christians, and most of them are only professed
Christians, they're not Christians, that have no difficulties or
no conflicts, and they're going around with a wide smile on their
face, And they're happy with everybody, and everything that
they do is agreeable with everything else. And they seem to be very
popular and talk of the town. Those people don't seem to have
any conflict. It's because they've never come
to Christ. Man comes to Christ, he's going
to have conflict. In this world, he's going to
have tribulation. He's going to have fiery trials. Thanks
be unto God. His grace is always sufficient. Always. May the Lord bless you. To our understanding. Encourage
us. Encourage us. This time we need encouragement. We need someone to come along
and tell us that there's hope. We need someone to tell us there's
light at the end of the tunnel. We need someone to tell us that
sometimes. We need to say, if God's before
us, who can be against us? It'd be terrible if we could
say, God's against us, so who's going to be for us? That'd be
terrible, wouldn't it? That's all I had to say this
evening, and based upon the Scriptures, to say if God's against us, God's
against us. Who can be for me if God's against
me? No need to have anybody else
for me if God's against me. I'd say with all assurance, authority,
that if God be for us, if God be for us, who could be against
us? We're on his side. If we have come to Christ, you
see, then the trials of this world,
trials of this place, conflicts of this place, will seem like
nothing. What's 20 more years? 20 more years and there will
be a whole lot of faces here that won't see. Gone. Maybe a
moment. 20 years. My soul, let's think
about that. Death is right around the corner. Right around the corner for some
of us. It's this faith that we can't
follow. It may not seem like it too much
right now, but boy, it will be in a while.