We are here and we are free We
will overcome all our loneliness OK, back at Ephesians 6. As I said, we cannot read this
too much. We don't comprehend a portion, a fraction of what we
read, usually. We need to read it over and over
again. Chew upon it. Let's read again, verses 10 through
13. 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 the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness
in high places, or heavenly places, spiritual places. Wherefore,
take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." The life of a believer is described
from the Scriptures as a warfare, a battle. Here in Ephesians 6 and 1 Corinthians
9, he says it's a wrestling, a wrestling. It's a time of trial, tribulation. Our Lord said you must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. And here, like I said, in Ephesians
6 and 1 Corinthians 9, it says basically the same thing. We're
wrestling, but not with this, not with flesh and blood. But
it says there in verse 12, but against principalities. That
means chief, the chief or high ones, against powers much greater
than ourselves, against the rulers not their underlings, but the
rulers of the darkness or the evil of this world against spiritual
wickedness in high or heavenly places. Now, if this were not
the scriptures, it would sound like a science fiction novel
or something, wouldn't it? But this is reality, and this
is serious. I told someone last week that
when we began this study, the minute I walked in this room,
I felt like something wasn't right. And during the course
of the whole message, I felt like something is hindering us
from studying this passage. And I'm not trying to be melodramatic
or mystical or whatever, but it's so. According to this passage
of Scripture, and as we've said before, Satan's chief purpose
is to keep you from hearing this book, hearing these words, because
this is the power. He said, Christ said you'll know
the truth and it'll do what? Set you free. Free from what?
Free from being captives of Satan at his will. That's what 2 Timothy
2 says concerning some people. He says the servant or the preacher
of the gospel is sent to, that they might recover them that
are taken captive by Satan at his will. So this is serious, isn't it?
This is needful, very necessary. I felt very impressed to go through
this portion of scripture, wanted to for some time. And if you
know yourself, you know it's so. You're struggling right now,
aren't you? Right now, you know how weak
you are, you know how helpless you are before the continual
onslaught of sin, of Satan, of self, just constantly bombarded
with these things, and you feel totally helpless. And you are
in yourself. That's the reason this text is
so, so very vital and necessary for our well-being. I need this.
I need this. That's part of the reason I'm
not just preaching tonight. As Scott would say, I'm telling
you the truth. I want to tell you something.
How do we wrestle? What can we do? How do we wrestle? How do we contend with these
things, these trials, these temptations, these troubles? How do we resist
the devil? James says that we resist the
devil. How do we do this? Verse 10,
look at it again. Finally, my brethren, he says,
be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might. Are you interested? If not, then you may be one of
those captives that I just described. The believer is interested, because
he has this constant struggle. I'm going to give you a few reasons
why we need this message, and then I'm going to give you a
key, two keys, or two answers to this question. What can we
do? What does it mean to be strong in the Lord? We've looked over
that briefly, and after studying it some more, it's absolutely
necessary that we dwell on this a little bit longer before we
go on to these other things in this passage. I'm going to give
you a few reasons why we need this message, a few purposes
in bringing this message. Number one, turn over to 2 Thessalonians,
chapter 2. Second Thessalonians 2. Number one reason why we need
this message and it's so urgent is because Satan is at work at
this present time. At this present time. And I'm
not just talking about out there. But as we've already said, he
is at work in hindering us from hearing this word. Second Thessalonians
2. talks about this working of him,
of Satan. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 7 says
the mystery of iniquity has already worked. It's already working.
Only God who now lets it, will let or allows it, will allow
it until Satan be finally taken out of the way for good. But
he's allowing it to happen right now, a shift. Verse 8, then shall
that wicked be revealed, and whoever that might be. whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with
the brightness of his coming, even him, whose coming, or the
spirit of Antichrist, whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness, and them that perish." There are some
people who are going to perish. There might even be some people
in here who perish right under the very sound of the gospel
which is able to save them, keep them from perishing. Wouldn't
that be just unthinkable, isn't it? It's
unthinkable. Look over at 2 Timothy 2. So Paul says this iniquity, these
powers of Satan are at work, and I've already quoted this
to you, but I want you to look at it. And if need be, mark this
in your Bible, 2 Timothy 2, verse 26, says that a preacher of the
gospel is sent, verse 25, he is to be very meek, knowing him
on his own self and his own weakness, he ought to be meek, but he is
to instruct those that oppose themselves. And we do oppose
ourselves, don't we? We are our greatest enemies.
apart from Satan himself, instructing, and that's what this message
is aimed at tonight, your instruction, your help. Those that oppose
themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves,
you see it, verse 26, that they may recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil, those who are taken captive by him
at his will. That's serious, isn't it? That's
sobering. Captive Satan. And I'll not dwell on him all
night tonight, but Satan is very real. He's very active. I know
the world scoffs at the mention of some demonic personality,
but the Bible has a lot to say about him, doesn't it? And he
has many, many demons. Do you remember the story of
the man the Lord cast the devils out of? His name was Legion.
He said, because we're many. Now, there were many. Terry,
there were Legion. There were many devils in it
and one man. Mary Magdalene said the Lord
cast out seven devils. I'd heard it's seven. I mean, we've got around us. We'll look at these things again
and again in the course of these messages, the devices of Satan
and so forth. But the workings of Satan, and
many have fallen underneath this workings of Satan, the purpose
of this message is many people have fallen away. Many people
have left the gospel. Many people, some people from
our midst have left the gospel. It's unthinkable to us, isn't
it? It's absolutely unthinkable. Can you even, I can't even, you
know, what are you going to do, Rick? Where are you going to
go? What are you going to get into? You can't even think about
it, can you? You think of just messing around on Sunday when
you want to come, you want to worship, you want... People have. Just left. And doesn't their
conscience, nothing seems to bother them. and good and upstanding
people, fine examples, haven't they? And others will, too. Hopefully not from our midst,
but they do. And we're all affected by his power, his workings. All of us are affected. The strongest
of believers in here are going to be tried and perhaps shown
to be weak. The strongest. and sickly. The
strongest in here get sickly at times, get down, and many
of us bear the scars of Satan's workings, and I've seen myself
very clearly the beginnings of possible apostasy in some of
our people. And it's scary, it's scary. We
sit here tonight and we think it's unthinkable to leave the
gospel, but it might be one of us. It might be. Is this message
not necessary? It's vital. Number two, the second
reason, is because of the weakness of the flesh. The weakness of
the flesh, that which is flesh. Over in Galatians 5, turn back
a few pages. Galatians 5. And you know this is so. You felt it. That which is flesh
is flesh. It will never be anything but.
It will never be anything, Joe, but a body of death to plague
us. Look at Galatians 5, verse 16. And here is the strong, strong
instructions of God's, the Holy Spirit through the pen of Paul. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit. and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh." John David, do you want that? I don't know
about you, but I've got a lot of lust of the flesh to contend
with, and I need that verse 16, don't you? It's me. Cannot do the things
you want to do. Paul said in Romans 7, the same
thing, didn't he? That what I want to do, I just
can't do it. What I don't want to do, that's
exactly what I end up doing. Is there any help? Yeah, there is. Verse 18. If you be led of the Spirit,
you're not under this law, the law. So is this needful? Is this message needful? It sure
is. Paul says in Romans 8, verse
6, that to be carnally minded, to follow the leadings of the
flesh, is death. Death. But to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. I need this. I need this. And I know you do, too. And the scripture says with us
it's impossible. So the weakness of the flesh
necessitates this message that we understand what he's talking
about, being strong in the Lord. Thirdly, the shortness of time
necessitates this message. The shortness of time. Our life
is a vapor. It's a vapor. The man, the scripture
says, who's a few days is full of trouble, full of trouble.
Our biggest trouble and trial may not have come yet. It may
not have come yet. We need some strength, don't
we? We're going to need some mighty,
something mighty stronger than we are, Terry, to get through
what we might have to go through. Is this necessary, this message?
And the time of the coming of Christ is soon. And we're living
in a perilous time. We're living in a time, an evil
time, such as has never been before. Never. And this short
life, the scripture says, is preparation for eternity. And
I'm not sure I'm ready. Are you? I'm not sure I am. And if this is preparation, I
need a little more work. I need some more work. All right? And lastly, the fourth
reason for this message and this series of messages, is the reward
of the victory. I say reward because you know
the scripture doesn't say rewards. Look it up in your concordance
sometime. You'll not find the word rewards. His reward, the reward of victory
or salvation from these things, is worth a lifetime of suffering
and fighting. And what I'm talking about, that
reward, is to live with Christ forever. He is our reward. He
is our reward, to see him and live with him. All right? So
those are good enough reasons, aren't they, for this message?
how necessary this message is. The workings of Satan, because
he is truly at work. He's working on us. And Steve,
he can turn you inside out. He did a better man than you,
Adam. And he can manipulate us, no problem. And the weakness of the flesh.
I'm supposed to be the strongest one here, and I believe, I feel
it has to be the weakest. the weakness of the flesh, the
shortness of time. The day, the time of thy redemption
draws nigh, and I want to be ready. I want oil in my lamp,
don't you? And the reward for having this
salvation is great. Too great to miss. You miss a
lot. And the believer, like I said,
is constantly struggling with sin, with self. Now, I'm not
going to talk tonight about what the fools out there in religion
are saying. How that we don't have this or
we don't have that. You don't have a high-paying
job or you don't have your debts paid and you don't have this
and that and the other because you don't have this faith and so
forth. No, I'm not going to deal with that. That doesn't even
bear dealing with. The thing the believer wants victory in,
I can use that word, it's a scripture word, the thing the believer
wants victory and wants help with is this sin that constantly
we struggle with, right? And the one behind it is our
adversary, the devil, who walks about the earth seeking whom
he may devour. That's what our Lord himself
said. And the answer now is at the
end of what he said, the answer to that too. There's a little
hint, early. But the scripture here says,
finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the
Lord. What is it? What is it to be
strong in the Lord? Well, it has something to do
with, and here's the first key, and the answer is in that That
line. Faith. It has something to do
with faith. Not strivings or workings or
our doings. It has something to do with faith. Strong in the Lord. And let me
keep saying, I'm not talking about desires for wealth and
material goods. There are many legitimate needs
that we have, yes. And we can take, Scripture says,
in everything by prayer and thanksgiving, supplication with thanksgiving,
make your request known to God. Everything, doesn't it? We can
take. We do have legitimate need in
everything we ought to take before the Lord, but this is not why
our subject tonight. Our subject is this thing of
sin and our struggles with it. All right? We need strength to
resist evil, don't we? We need strength to fight against
this thing called sin and against this evil man called self that
we live with. Do you need some strength? I
do. How? It says, Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord, faith in Christ is the answer. The
answer is so simple, yet we're making it something hard. Christ said, without me, you
can do nothing. He doesn't say, without me, you
can do a little bit, or he doesn't say, if you'll try your best,
you can accomplish some things without me. He says, without
me, you can't do anything. But the scripture says now, I
can do all things, here it says that, that I can do all things,
how? If I try my best, through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. That's certainly a companion
verse to this in Ephesians 16. And Christ, listen to this, listen
to these scriptures, listen very carefully, okay? Christ said
this several times. He said it to a blind man, a
group of blind men one time, who came to him and said, What
do you want? What would you that I do unto
you? They said, We want to receive
our sight. These men were blind. He said, According to your faith,
so be it unto you. They received their eyesight.
According to your faith. They came to him. They didn't
make a pilgrimage to Mecca on their knees and kiss the steps
on the way up. They came to Christ. What do
you need? I need to have my eyes sighted.
According to your faith, because of who you came to, there you
go. A woman with an issue of blood, she said, if I could just
touch him, if I could just get to him, touch him, touch his
garment, Christ, you remember, stops and says, Who touched me?
He knew who touched him. He's the one that caused her
to touch him. But nevertheless, he turns and says, Woman, do
you remember what he said to her? Thy faith hath made you
whole. He said it to the woman with
the daughter vexed with the devil. The Syrophoenician woman, do
you remember that? The woman, he said, not right
to give the children's meat to dogs. Remember, she came to him
and said, Lord, help me, my daughter is grievously vexed with the
devil. And he tried her for a little, tried to see how serious she
was for a moment, and he saw that she was serious, and he
said, according to your faith, so be it unto you. And her daughter
was healed. Those lepers, the lepers came
to him and said the same thing to thee. Go thy way, thy faith
that made thee whole. Now, Terry, I feel blind about
half the time, no less than these blind men. I'm spiritually blind.
I'm walking around by sight, not by faith. How about you?
When answers are right here before me, when it's right here and
I don't pay any attention to it, I feel blind, spiritually
blind most of the time, don't you? I'm walking by sight, not
by faith, and I'm stumbling. I'm falling into holes and rocks
and nets that are laid for me. spiritually blind. Well, I need
eyesight, no less than these men. What am I going to do? Grip
my teeth? I've got to come to him. Lord,
what will you have? I need to see. I've got a daughter who needs saving, no less than
the Syrophoenician woman's daughter, right? You've got one? What am
I going to do? I can't do anything, John. If
I could, she'd done been saved. How about you? What are we going
to do? Do the same thing she did. Come to Christ, huh? And
not quit, not come once, but do like she did. Don't go away. I'm a leper. I'm grievously leprous
with this thing called sin. I'm tainted, I'm unclean, unclean.
I'm a man of unclean lips, John. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. You and I are unclean fellows.
What are we going to do? Let's tell you what. You and
I, let's cover ourselves with sackcloth and go to Christ." So what is faith? What is faith? Is it something difficult, something
mysterious, something on striving on our part, you're just coming
to Christ at all times, in everything. In everything. In everything. Christ said, If
thou believest. Remember what he said? If thou believest, most things are possible. I'd like to know what that means.
Wouldn't you? All things are possible to him
that believe. Believe what? Well, does it just
mean to have PMA? Not PMS. I've got that. I want rid of that. Paul Mahan
syndrome? It's just like PMS. You're happy
one minute and mean as a snake the next, for no apparent reason. It's true. She knows. We both got it. Is it just to
have PMA, positive, as Norman Vincent Peale, is that that idiot's
name? To have a positive mental attitude, just think positive,
is that it? Just think positive. It's not
it. Is it just like the fellow says,
claim it? Is it like Mr. Tilton said, just
claim it, then it's yours, just claim it. Why didn't I think
of that before? Give me that. That's not faith,
that's presumption. That's wild presumption. That's
tempting the Lord. That's making a god out of yourself,
isn't it? No, faith is not those things. And it's not some good luck charm
or some magic lamp that we rub every now and then when things
come true. It's not some rabbit's foot we
use when we need. It's not a work of our will. Not a work of our will, just
will it. True faith is nothing more than
trust and dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. What could be simpler? For all
things. Trust. Trust me. How many times have you said
that to your children? Trust me. I'll take care of it. I don't know, Dad. And they go
out and try something and they don't believe you and they get
in no mess. If you trusted me now, if you just listened to
me, trust me. You understand that concept,
don't you? Just trust me. Do as I say. Just
trust me. Trust me. And dependence upon
me, if you just sit back, I'll take care of it. Now, what you
say to your children, Joe? Pay for it. I'll take care of
it. It's my delight. It's the Father's
good pleasure. I love that passage in Luke 12.
Fear not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure.
Nothing gives you more pleasure, Terry Kinsley, than to do for
your children. That's nothing. Huh? He'll withhold anything from
them. What do they need to do? Just leave it to Daddy, right? Depend on you for everything.
Shouldn't they carry their own weight? They can't, can they?
They can't. Stephen, as big as he is, he
couldn't make it. No matter what he thinks, he
couldn't do it. He'd destroy himself right now.
He needs Dad, doesn't he? And as long as I live on this
earth, I'm not going to be able to make it without Dad. Abba,
Father, in all things. So simply, faith is trust and
dependence upon him in all things, coming to him in everything.
Is that hard? It's hard to do sometimes, seemingly,
because we rise above it. You know what I'm saying? We
make a little progress and we think we can do it on our own. We never should rise above total
dependence. A young man asked John Newton
that one time in a letter. wrote him a letter, a young preacher,
and he thought he was waxing spiritual or eloquent. He said,
Brother Newton, how much should I depend upon the Holy Spirit
in my endeavors in the ministry? Newton wrote back and said, depend
on him in everything. I never have liked that saying
that says something to this effect. Trust God as if everything was
up to him, and work your hardest as if everything was up to you.
You've heard that, haven't you? I never heard it like that. Because
he says, without me, you can't do anything. Then they say, you're
not even sufficient to think. Didn't we settle that? Some of
you are having trouble right now thinking on what I'm saying.
I'm struggling. We can't even think. We can't
even stop and sit and think and dwell on something for forty
minutes. Can't do it, because we've got
principalities and powers at work and weakness of the flesh
and so forth. So, Christ said, without me,
so faith is nothing less than total reliance on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Got that? reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ,
because he said, without me you can do nothing. We know that's
so in salvation, don't we? We know it's so. Well, it's so
in every area. We know it's so in salvation.
It's not by the will of the flesh, not by the will of man, not of
him that willeth or him that runneth. It's God that worketh
in us, both to do and will and to do, and so forth. We're dead,
we're blind, we're deaf, we're dumb, we're lost by nature. Salvation
is of the Lord. We know that. Well, so is, if
we're going to keep on keeping on, that's the Lord too. We don't begin in the Spirit
and then we're made perfect by the flesh, no. We begin in the
Spirit and it's going to take the Spirit to take us all the
way. That silly saying, you know,
he doesn't save us and then set us on our own two feet and say,
walk. No, he carries us all the way. He might let us down for a minute
just to show us we can't walk. on our faces and cry out, Lord,
carry me, would you? Without him, we can do nothing. So salvation is of the Lord,
and so is everything ever. How are we to be strong in the
Lord? How do we have faith? I told you the key to this being
strong in the Lord, the answer is right there, faith in the
Lord. He's Lord. Is he or is he not?
Do you believe that? Do you believe that, Virgil? He's
Lord. If he, like Hannah says, maketh
rich and maketh poor, lifted up and casteth down. Like Moses
said, let me find that real fast. I want to read it to you. If
Moses, like God said, said, I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal,
he's the Lord. I the Lord, Isaiah 45, 7, I create
peace, I create evil, I the Lord do all these things. Is he the
Lord or is he not? Either he is or he isn't. Would
you believe he is? Then why in the world would we
ever attempt anything without him? He's the Lord. He's the
Lord overall. all flesh, all power, all authority
is given unto him. So it's to have faith in him. How do we get this faith? You
say, I can't seem to muster it up. That sounds simple. Just trust the Lord. Doesn't
it? Sounds easy. Just depend on him. How do we get this faith? Turn
to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5. We know that faith is the gift
of God, don't we? Isn't that what Ephesians 2.10
says? Faith is not of yourselves. You
know that so, don't you? I'm just going to believe. Without
me, you can't do nothing. Faith is not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. All right then, so, got the answer? How are we going to get it? If
God has it, and we don't have it, and we can't produce it,
how are we going to get it? John. Great! That's the answer,
John. It's found in 1 John, chapter
5. Look at it here, verse 14. This is the confidence that we
have, or should have, in him, concerning him, that if we Ask
anything. According to his will, he heareth
us. Ask. And we know that he hears
us. Don't we? Do we? Does he? He said he did. Didn't he? Huh? He said the Father hears
you. Because I've ever lived to make
intercession for you. In the Holy Spirit, Romans 8
says that he gives us a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
I have a Father in the Holy Spirit. We don't know the things to ask
for, but the Holy Spirit does and takes our prayers, and with
groanings that cannot be uttered, takes them to the Father. He
always hears us, always. This is the confidence we have
in him. Do you always hear your children? Is there ever going
to be a time when you don't? And you're going to turn a deaf
ear to him and say, I will not hear what you, I don't want to
hear you, ever? Hmm? Huh? If you then being evil do that
to your, how much more? Is that the confidence you have
in him? It ought to be. What about when I get down and
sinful, so rebellious and so wicked and surely I've sinned
the way of sin, is your sin ever going to be greater than his
mercy? Is it deeper than the blood can
reach? Is it of greater power than the
grace of God? That's the confidence we ought
to have in him. If we ask anything If we know that he hears us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desire of him. Turn back to James. Look at this. James goes into detail a little
bit more. He says in James chapter 4, and
you know what I'm going to read, don't you? James 4, and we all
have these wars. We're talking about wrestling,
aren't we? Fighting, sin, evil, temptation, trial, lust, and
so forth. flesh, principality, from whence
come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even
of your own lust?" We can't blame the devil, it's just me. We're in league with him, our
old nature. That war in your members, these
lusts, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have,
cannot obtain, you fight in war yet you have not because you
ask not, and when you do ask and receive, not because you
ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your love." And he's
just calling us like he sees it, isn't he? This is us, you
adulterers and adulteresses. I plead guilty. Do you? No, you're not. He, just without
seeing him, can cast the first stone at me, but I'm guilty.
Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of
God. Do you think the scripture says in vain, uselessly, that
the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" Yes, I know
it doesn't say that in vain, because I know it so. I feel
it in my own members. Warren, boy, I'm glad he wrote
verse 6. Aren't you? Aren't you glad it
didn't stop there? But he giveth more grace. I ought not to do this. One of
my points for the next message is this. How do you know when
it's not, you know, the devil takes scripture and uses it against
you? Remember how he tempted Christ
with scripture? He's a master of using scripture. He tried to use it against the
Son of God. He's a master at that. He twisted the words of
God in the garden and got Adam and Eve. He'll take scriptures
and use them against you. Scriptures that you have run
into and you think, oh, like in 1 John 4, it says, Scripture is like that. Have
you seen that? Over in Hebrews, where it says,
if I can recall it, it says, If we sin willfully after we
receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more
suffering. Have you run into that? Oh, that's me. See, Satan
uses us. He uses us. He is born of God,
sinneth not. I must not be born again." Satan
uses that, doesn't he? How do you know when it's not
Satan using it against you or the Holy Spirit just convicting
you of your sin? How do you know? How do you know? It's a good
question. Because if the notion ever comes
to you that you have sinned more than God can forgive, that's
Satan. Count on it. Count on it. That's Satan. If you ever feel
like you sin more than God is willing to forgive, that's Satan. And if he does anything contrary
to what the Holy Spirit has been doing in you, what does the Holy
Spirit do? What should our sins do? The
Holy Spirit comes and convicts us of our sins, convinces us,
he says, of sin, righteousness and judgment. What does the Holy
Spirit do? Why does he do that? Are you with me? Why does he
convict us of our sins? What does he want us to do? What
does he intend for us to do? Huh? Point us to Christ, huh? You're guilty. You need help,
don't you? Look away. Look to Christ. That's what the
Holy Spirit does. Satan keeps you looking at yourself. Keeps
you looking at yourself. He'll never point you to Christ.
He'll keep you looking at yourself. Right? Those scriptures ought
to drive you to Christ. Once again, it ought to drive
you right back to, Lord, I'm guilty of that. Help! I'm a very
present help in times of trouble. Strong in the Lord. James 4,
he says this. James 4, look at it again. He says over in chapter 4, and
I'll end with this. He says it gives more grace. But, he says, God resists the
proud. That's what I've been saying
all along. The man that says, I'm living above sin now, then
you don't need my help, do you? But, that's what the Lord says
to that man. I'll just leave you alone. But, he gives more grace. And the humble and the broken,
the contrite sinners. That's what it means to be humble,
John. broken before the Lord all the time. Over what? Your
own sin. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Resist the death. How's that?
In God. In Christ. Like Michael, the
archangel, said, The Lord will rebuke you. I can't do anything. The Lord will rebuke you. And
he'll flee from you. Why? Because you're too tough
for him? Now, if you're down in the dust and the Lord's hovering
over you, he sees. He's not looking at you. When
he flees, it's not you he's fleeing from, is it? It's somebody else. Got his hand on you, says, I
anointed. Isn't that good? Eh, don't you
come near him again until I say so. Verse 8, draw nigh to God. He'll
draw nigh to you. You ever whipped an old hound
dog and had him saddled up to your leg, you know, to where
you couldn't get a good blow in at him? You ever had a dog
do that to you? Slink, put his tail between his
legs, you know. And he deserves an old beating. And he crawls
up by your feet. You reach down and pet him, it's
all right. Kiss the master's hand like a
dog licks his master's hand. Draw an eye to God, he'll draw
an eye to you. How do you draw an eye to God? Huh? In prayer. Get back right to where we started
this whole thing, in prayer. He said, call. In the day of trouble, call.
I'll help you." I'm a very present help. God never leaves his children. We turn our backs on him, right? He never leaves. He said, I'll
never leave you. He said, I'm a very present. When you're at
your sinfulness, call. You definitely need him there,
don't you? He said, ask. You'll receive. Did he say that?
He can't lie. Johnny can't lie. 1 John 5 said
that, didn't it? It's the confidence we have in
Him if we ask Him anything according to His will. What's His will? Believe Christ. Come to Him.
Ask, you shall receive. Knock. Seek. And those, and you
need to know this, that's a continual thing. It's not a one-time thing.
Not Sunday morning or Wednesday night. It's continual. It's an all thing. Don't you
find yourself at all times needing His help? at all times. You wake up in the morning, you're
bombarded immediately, aren't you? And all the day long, you
don't have to. He said, I have a very present
help. Just ask. Call. Help. Call. Simple as that, isn't
it? That's the reason Paul said everything.
That's the reason the Lord said The men are always to pray. And
then he gave that parable of the importunate widow, you know,
that kept coming. That's the reason Scripture says
pray without ceasing. Why? Because we're always in
trouble. We can't do anything without
Him. Call. That makes sense. Is this tough?
Is this some mystical thing? Huh? We wake up. No more. We
go to bed at night. We need Him, don't we? Ask for
strength to resist, to handle the trial, wisdom to lead every
decision. Lord, lead, guide me, every decision. Guide me, teach me, wisdom to
make decisions, whatever that decision might make. It might
have far-reaching consequences. We're not wise enough to make
them, are we? He said there in James 1, he
said, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask God who giveth freely
and upbraideth not. Didn't he? Liberally. Ask. You need some wisdom, Vicki?
Ever just ask. You'll give it. woman wrote me
a letter and said, I've got some, you know, man's asking me questions
and I want to give him answers and I'm not sure what to ask
him. Ask the Lord to give you answers, he'll give them to you.
So, in conclusion, to be strong in the Lord is faith in Christ. Just depend on him for everything.
We're better for salvation and we're better for everything.
everything. And how do we get this faith?
How do we depend on him? We have to ask for him to make
us ask. We have to ask to ask. Lord,
I'm not asking. Would you please make me ask?
I'm running ahead of you. Would you make me stop and ask? Ask. Be strong in the Lord. Trust
him and ask for his help. And the power of his might is
what we're going to deal with next. The power of his might.
You want to guess what that might be? The only one thing I see
in the scripture that says it's his power. It's the word of his
power. Right here. Gospel, Christ, words,
all one and the same thing. But there's this power. And not
like the world. You know I'm not saying like
the world is saying. But there is a power of his might
that he who upholds all things by the word of his power will
uphold you by the word of his power. Be strong in the Lord. I think it's a good message to
leave you with, isn't it? All right, let's stand. Our Lord, we thank you so much
for this word from you. powerful yet so deep and so glorious
yet so simple, like the parables that you spoke to your disciples
and they were hidden to the wise and the prudent that were revealed
unto babes. Lord, we see, though we are babes, we see clearly
that this thing of being strong and be is merely becoming as
little children and dependent upon you for everything and asking
you, seeking your will in all things. We're asking that you might give
us the desire to ask, that you might make us to seek your face
in all things, that we might not stumble and fall and be strong
to face whatever. Strong in thee, dependent upon
thee, thou who art the people's strength and rock upon whom we
stand, in whom we are hidden, Christ the rock of ages. We depend
upon thee, Lord. Let us never, never attempt anything
in the strength of the flesh, but call upon thee in our days,
these many days of trouble and trial. Go with the people through
this week. Give me journey and mercies.
Bring me back. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Bye.