The spirits and the gifts are
ours, We'll be through in the time. There's good land in Dredgeville,
There's normal life also, The body they make him, the purest,
finest thing. His kingdom is forever. You may be seated. Thank you. Now turn back to Ephesians 6. We'll read one verse which I
will use as a text. Ephesians 6, verse 16. Ephesians
6, verse 16. Taking the shield of faith. Where with you shall be able
to quench. All the fiery darts. Of the wicked. Now. I know that I have started
in First Timothy, but as I told you, I'm not going to be bound.
To that I'm going to. to deviate whenever I feel necessary. And this, tonight's message was
born out of a sense of urgency. Urgency on my part. A much, much
needed message. We could have easily taken, done
a message in many, many parts, but that seems to scare you when
I say that. When I say that we want to do
a several part message. This could have taken several
parts, and it may, for that matter. I don't know. I'm going to see
how the Lord leads. But I need to learn to not be
so bound to my notes and not to give you too much at one time.
And I need to learn to follow the Lord's leadership and just
quit when I feel like quitting and continue on when I feel like
continuing. I'd be so bound by this thing. There's a real dilemma in preaching,
and tonight I'm going to require your help. We read there your
prayer. Paul said, pray for me that utterance
may be given unto me. I particularly need your help
tonight. It's a difficult subject, and
along with a little bit of a throat problem, but this is going
to require your thinking cap. This is going to require you
to do some thinking, and there was much preparation spent in
this message, and I believe it will be a very, very, very helpful
message. Like I said, it was born out
of a sense of urgency on my part. There's a dilemma in preaching,
a dilemma in this thing of preaching. You have a mixed crowd of people
every time you preach. And you have people who do not
know Christ. You have unsaved people. And
I wouldn't begin to try to figure out who that may be, because
those who I may not think are, those who I may think are not
saved may be, and those who I think are saved may not be. The Lord
only knows. But there are always sheep and
goats and wheat and tares and saved and unsaved in every congregation,
always. Unsaved people, those who have
not yet closed with Christ, those who have not yet truly committed
their souls to Christ, they need to be fed with milk, the first
fruits of the gospel. They need to have the gospel
clearly defined to them so as to not be misunderstood. And save people. You know, John
talked about babes and young men and older men, didn't he? And you have a variety of people
in that category of saved people. You have little weak believers. You have young believers. You have strong older believers. And older believers need strong
meat. Older believers need in-depth
studies. Theologians, we have some theologians
in here. Even some of our ladies are theologians
and could tell me a thing or two and have taught me a few
things. And they need in-depth studies
of the word. We need to go through and get
some meat out of this thing to chew on. Milk. But Paul said,
In Ephesians five I believe it was. Four and five. We need to lay the principles
of the doctrine of Christ. And I'm going to do that again
with the later principle. The first. The essence of saving
faith, and then I'm going to go on to perfection. He said
that will go on to perfection and not lay again the foundation
of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Now, see,
already I've lost somebody in here, but some of you remember
that verse scripture, don't you? And you know what I'm talking
about. So there's a real dilemma in preaching. You've got both
types, you have several types of people. And I'd like to, I
want to address every sort. All right, let me begin by asking
you a question. What is faith? What is faith? Without it, it's impossible to
please God. Without it, you'll not get into heaven. Without
it, you'll not be saved. What is faith, and do you have
it? Do you have it saving now. And for in brief. There are basically
three types of faith or that which people call faith. OK there's
one thing but there are three things which people put their
faith in or their trust in faith means to believe. Faith means
to trust something or someone. OK. There are basically three
types of faith when we talk about the Bible. We talk about religion. Number one, there's a historical
faith or faith in facts. And the world is full of people
who are just believing facts. Now, stay with me now. Like I
said, you have to be thinking the world is full of people who
just believe in the death or the that Jesus Christ came and
lived and died and rose again in the facts. But that won't
save you. That's not saving faith. James
said, Do you believe in one God? Well, you better believe in one
God. Because there is only one God. He said you do well. You
do well. That is a principle of saving
faith. But that's not saving faith. Just to believe there's
one God. He said the devil believes that
and he trembles. He does more than a lot of people.
He trembles at the sovereign holy God. So, just believing
the blood, the book, and the blessed hope, you know, the fundamentals,
the inspiration of the Bible, the virgin birth, and the fact
that Christ came, and the fact that he died on the cross, and
repeating, that's not saving faith. Okay? That's mere faith in facts. That
won't save anybody. And I'm sad to say, it's sad
to say that a lot of, a multitude of people who have that kind
of faith. Secondly, there's faith in feelings. And that's what
this charismatic Pentecostal world is taken up with, OK? And that's not saving faith either,
faith in feelings. You see, there were people back
in our Lord's day who followed him for the miracles and signs
and the wonders, and Christ turned to them and said, you just follow
me because you get your belly filled. Because I'm your sugar
daddy, you know. and it all you've seen you know
a lot of people experience some miracles or radical transformations
and and have some religious experience that's not saving. Saving. At all. I know a story of a young couple
here in town whose one of their children fell in a swimming pool
and nearly drowned, and they took the child out as dead and
revived it. It revived. And they got religion,
and they've been going to church ever since. And their faith and
their religion is based solely upon that act. That's not saving faith. Things
like that happen all the time. That's not saving faith, OK?
Many followed Christ and believed him because of the miracles. And many people become interested
in religion when they get in trouble. Everybody does. I've
never known anyone yet who's not who didn't get in trouble
or get sick or whatever and oversee some traumatic experience, not
to get religion. I've never known that to happen
yet. At funerals and sicknesses and so forth, always people get
real interested. That's not saving faith. That's
not saving faith. There's only one kind of faith
is only one true faith. OK. And that's faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith in a living person. Faith
in a living person, and as I've said before, I can't necessarily
explain this too well. Because it has to be revealed
to you. I can tell you what I believe
the scripture said, but even then you won't get it, even then
you won't understand it until the Lord confers it upon you.
Right any more than I can describe parenthood to someone who's never
had children. You know I mean you don't know
anything about the love of a parent for a child unless you've had
one. And the same thing with saving faith. I don't believe
you can understand it. Or grasp it unless it's been
conferred upon you. Faith believes facts. Yes. You
must believe the fact. You must believe what God says
in his word. But true faith doesn't need facts.
Truth faith doesn't need proof. Faith is evidence of things not
seen, the scripture says. Hebrews 11.1 gives that description,
that definition. Faith is evidence of things not
seen. You don't need to see things.
Truth saving faith doesn't faith feels yes faith has feeling and
I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for those who say they have faith
and they're never. Never seem to show any emotion
or response or no tears or no joy or no no sorrow or no no
conviction I wouldn't give you a plug nickel our Lord rebuked
the church in Revelation about that too didn't he said you're
neither cold nor hot I would that you were one of those two.
But your lukewarmness says, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth. So faith must feel, yes. True
faith feels, but true faith still believes when you have any feelings
or not. All right? Saving faith is this. You may want to jot this down. Saving faith is this, and breathe.
I want to get through this quickly so I can get on. I'm laying the
principles and I'm going on to perfection, all right? Here it
is. Saving faith is this. Number
one, faith's the gift of God. And I can't jerk a profession
out of you. I can't tell you to repeat after
me and meet us here tonight and I'll give you the whole... I
can't do that. No man can. It's the gift of God. But I'll
tell you this, I'll tell you where it comes from, though.
I'll tell you what God has ordained to give, to use, for saving faith. It says, faith cometh by hearing. You know, nobody's going to believe
in Christ who doesn't hear the gospel. Take that to the primitive
Baptist. Faith cometh by hearing. And
hearing by what? The Word of God. Not just hearing
some fellow get up and rant and rave who calls himself a preacher.
It has to be the Word of God. in all, the whole counsel of
God. Paul was a faithful preacher and he said, I've not shunned
or declared unto you all the counsel of God. I've kept back
nothing profitable from you. If they, to the law and to the
prophets, if they speak not, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, there's no light in
them. They're not preachers of the gospel. All right? Faith is a gift of God. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing the word of God, and that word of
God which produces faith That word tells us who God is, tells
us who we are, and tells us who Christ is. That's a very brief
description of what the word of God, how it creates faith,
tells us who God is, who we are before this holy God, and who
Christ is. And if you keep coming here,
you'll hear that constantly over and over again. And it doesn't
grieve me to tell you to write the same things under you, like
Paul said. For you it's safe, it's salvation.
And fourthly, saving faith hears these things, and then the Holy
Spirit takes these things, applies it to the, it goes in the ear,
it goes into the mind, yes, the understanding, and then it seeks
down into the affections. And that fourth point is saving
faith sees its desperate need of Jesus Christ to be his savior. Saving faith sees a desperate
need of Christ, Christ in him crucified, blood and the righteousness
of Christ, a substitute, a redeemer, mediator, all these things that
Christ did. That's what saving faith sees, a need of Christ,
and then fifthly, saving faith Trusting. Believes in. Like taking a drink of water.
Christ is the water of life. And if you have a thirst, those
that are thirsty will take a drink. And those who see their need
of Christ will come to Him. They won't put it off. They won't
ask how. They'll just come. And like I said, I can't explain
that, but those of you who have come, you know what I'm saying,
don't you? And we keep coming. you don't
stop there is not a one time thing it doesn't mean you go
appear in a bad time for you go down from it's a a lifetime
thing to whom come you've come tonight to Christ and is that
why you're here. Why are you here because you're
supposed to be because somebody wants you to be you know. It's
the thing to do you have a place else to go. You might as well
stay at home if that's the case but I hope you've come to hear
more Christ To learn of Christ, to know Christ, grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ. All right, let's go on. Let's
go on now. And Paul says here in our text,
and like I said, that's as clear an explanation as I can give
on saving faith, but you have to experience it. The Lord has
to give it. And faith is just believing God.
If you continue I heard that someone was having trouble with.
Predestination some of these things as long as you keep arguing
about it you'll never say. As long as you keep as long as
you keep saying but but but but and arguing with God and and
you see it in the scriptures but you have still have questions
the questions are OK but as long as you keep refusing to believe
it even when it's in black and white you'll never say. Saving
faith takes God at his word. God doesn't have to prove himself
to anybody. God does not, does not prove himself to anybody
first. He grants saving faith first,
and then he begins to prove himself. Then he begins to grant assurance
and understanding. All right, let's go on. So Paul
says, take him the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be
able to quench the fiery, all the fiery darts of the wicked. Faith against the fiery darts. Now do you need this? Every believer does. Fiery darts. Have you felt them fiery darts
of the wicked, and I've already taken too much time on that first
part, so I'm just certain it's going to take at least two parts,
this message. He says, the fiery darts of the
wicked. The fiery darts of the wicked. I need this desperately,
because I feel these fiery darts pierce me through all the time. Do you? Now, who's he talking
about here, the wicked, the wicked, the fiery darts of the wicked?
Well, it's the wicked one. It's Lucifer. It's Satan. It's the many names for him,
Diabolus, the devil, the devil. All wickedness, all sin, all
corruption, the principles and the acts of these things come
from him. He's the father of it. He's the
author of it. Everything comes from him. That's
the reason he's just called the wicked. You know, God is called,
because all holiness and goodness comes from God, he's called the
Holy One. And all evil and wickedness comes
from Satan, he's called the wicked. An infamous term. All wickedness,
sin, and corruption comes from him. He says here in our text, look
at verse 11, the wiles of the devil. Put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. He is so wily, he's so crafty. Satan has been in the business
of deceiving men and women from the very beginning. He knows
what he's doing. He's crafty, he's wily, he's
wily. He's so good that he can make
the world come to this point. He can make the world call evil
good and good evil. That's how he deceives people. That's how deceptive he is. He
can make the world call evil good and good evil. And Satan is willingly served
and God is willingly rejected. That's how wily he is. Men are
so corrupt and ignorant because they follow their father, the
devil. And he is the natural father,
the God of this world, the father of natural man. You see, we used
to have the nature of God, didn't we? Adam, God was his father. We had his nature. But when we
failed, we developed the nature of the father we listened to,
who sired us. Men are so corrupt and ignorant
They attribute good to Satan and evil to God. They say things
like this, sickness, affliction, disasters and so forth come from
Satan. Nowhere in the scriptures does
it say that. If you'll take the time to read
Job chapter one and chapter two, you'll see that even sickness
and affliction and deprivation and death and all that is not
from Satan. God Almighty does that. There's
many scriptures, Deuteronomy 32, 39, I'm the Lord, I kill,
I make alive, I wound, I heal, I do all these things. Isaiah
45, 7, I'm the Lord, I create peace, I make evil, all of these
things. I'm not saying God is the author
of moral evil. But all of these things that
the world calls evil, you know, Hurricane Andrew? Did the devil
do that? He doesn't have control over
the winds. They don't do his bidding. God
does. But the world thinks the devil's
behind that somehow or another, don't it? Huh? Nothing could
be further from the truth. Sickness? You must not have enough
faith. You got sick. Over and over,
there are many times in the scriptures that people of God became sick,
nigh unto death, and even the apostles couldn't heal them.
Why? God sent it. It's all according to his purpose. And most of all, people call
true doctrine what I'm preaching right now. The sovereignty of
God in the afflictions and disasters and the affairs of men, they
call what I'm preaching right now, even though it's from God's
Word, they call that doctrines of devils. You see what I'm talking
about? He's wily. He's got men so duped
into thinking the truth is evil and evil is truth. And men call what is the doctrines
of devil what started with Satan you know God loves you Christ
died for you have free will all that that's the doctrines of
devil that started in the garden they call that the truth. You know. Romans chapter one
talks about people being reprobate you know what the word reprobate
mean. It means having a mind void of judgment. void of understanding. People can't even think right.
And homosexuality seems to be a mark of that reprobation in
Romans 1. And I was reading the other day
where one of these gay, I don't want to use the term gay, that
means happy. One of these homosexual people was saying in the newspaper,
they wrote an article and That why should people. Why should
people condemn them for something that for the way that God Almighty
made them. Have you seen that before? Haven't
you heard that? Now men and women are attributing
the worst of wickedness and perversion to God Almighty. They wouldn't
have done that before. They'd have given themselves
credit for something. But the evil that they do, they
charge it on God. That's what they started with
Adam, though, didn't it, Henry? Adam said, if you hadn't created this
woman, I'd have been alright. The reason I'm homosexual is
because that's the way I was created, biologically. You see
how duped people are? Satan is crafty. Crafty. Crafty. But let me tell you this. Satan is behind all this. And
though the religious world blames Satan, you know, it used to be
a funny little clever little saying, you know, the devil made
me do it, that sort of thing. But the fact of the matter is,
he does. Though people make fun of that
and use it lightly, the fact of the matter is, he does. He
manipulates. He manipulates. everything and
everyone. You gave me a plaque one time,
2 Timothy chapter 2. It says, let me read that, I
don't want to quote it wrongly. It says, the servant of the Lord
must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, or
able to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose
themselves. You know that we by nature oppose
ourselves. We're our worst enemy. And it
says if God peradventure if God buys mercy and grace will give
these people repentance to the knowledge of the truth that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are
taken captive by him and his way. People are taken captive
by the devil and his way and his way and his way according
to the will of God. You see that's the reason salvation
is going to be of the Lord. Men and women are taken captive
by the will of the devil. That's the reason salvation must
be the will of God, right? Solely in the will of God. Not
the will of the flesh, not the will of man, but of God. Now,
the point I'm trying to make here is, excuse me, dry the bone. The point I'm trying to make
in all this, now follow me. The point I'm trying to make
is that Whether whatever form sin takes, whether it's self-righteousness,
you know, we all, we talk a lot about self-righteousness here.
Whether it's self-righteousness, and that's damning, that'll damn
your soul, self-righteousness. Or whether it's the form of actual
committal of gross sins. Sin is sin and it'll damn your
soul to hell. And Satan's behind it all. There's
no little sin. And sin's sin. One sin's not
any worse than the other to God. You know that? Self-righteousness
of sin. One is as subtle as the other.
I've talked to preachers that talk about, you know, self-righteousness
sure is subtle. Legalism sure is subtle, that's
right, but so are vices and corruption and actual committing of sin.
That's awful subtle, too, and we're going to see that in a
minute from his fiery dark. And Satan's the father of it.
Satan is the father. Well, you say, what about the
unpardonable sin? Well, I don't know much about
that except to say that has something to do with apostasy. Just mark
it down, that has something to do with apostasy. All right now,
so he's the wicked one talk spoken of here Satan. Now, let's look
at this what it means what this means by the fiery darts of the
wicked. He says take this armor of God
or this shield of faith that you may be able to quench the
fiery darts, fiery darts of the wicked. Now, I've said before that Satan
is strong and powerful and ruthless and wise and crafty and subtle,
and there's nobody that is his match. No mortal man is his match. You see these silly movies of
exorcists and all that. You know, there were some exorcists
in the Scripture. That's a biblical term. all the
apostle did the exorcise to remove some demons by the help of God
Almighty but there's some other fellas the seven sons of Siva
you know they tried to take this on they tried to confront the
devil and you remember what happened to them the devil tore them tore
their clothes off and sent him out in the street naked and and
they said and what the devil said to these men was Paul we
know and then Jesus we know but who in the world are you Right? No mere mortal man is any match
for him. As a matter of fact, Michael,
the archangel, wouldn't contend with Satan. The highest angel
in heaven wouldn't contend with Satan over the body of Moses.
Read that in Jude. No mortal is his match. By ourselves,
we're putty in the hands of Satan. Don't let any preacher tell you
otherwise. Step on the head of the devil. You can't do it. You
can't find his head and step on it. Only God is stronger. And there's only one man who
ever lived that was stronger. Stronger than he. The God-man. He wasn't just a man either.
He had to be part God, part man. All God, all man. The God-man. Christ. He was the only one.
And you know, we're totally, we're totally subject to the
devil. And the devil is totally subject to God. And then, don't
let anybody Star Wars, may the force be with
you, you know. There's no struggle going on
between good and evil, God and the devil, any more than I'd
struggle with Anna, that baby. Would I have a struggle with
her if I wanted to fight with her? God's not struggling with Satan.
He's already in chains. He's already been defeated. Long
before you even started. But we're in a struggle. Now
we're in trouble with him, with Satan. And thank God we're not
without help, because we couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. Now
let's look at these fiery darts. Fiery darts, what these are,
fiery darts, you've probably already guessed it, are the temptations
of Satan. These fiery darts. Now why do
you believe, why do you think that Paul under the inspiration
of the Spirit calls these temptations darts. Why do you think he calls
them darts? The word there is really arrows,
arrows, darts. I'll give you several reasons.
Number one, darts are swift, real quick, before you know it,
one's stuck in you. If I had a bow and arrow up here
tonight, and I pulled, put a bow in, or arrow in it tonight, and
started aiming it, and if I let go of it, the person that hit
would never know it until after I hit them. You wouldn't see
it coming. Darts are swift. Arrows are swift. There is swift. The temptations
of Satan are as swift as the blink of an eye. Look. And it's
in there. Just a look. It's in. Right? It's lust of the eye. Just a
glance of the eye. David's eye no sooner fell on
Bathsheba until it was in his heart. Right? He may not have been up there
making provisions for the flesh to fulfill. He may not have been
up there spying, trying to look on, but as soon as he saw that
woman bathing, it was in there. Right? Before he could blink
his eye. It's as swift as a word, just
a word, just a thought. Is there anything quicker than
a thought? A thought or a word? A word? Some of you ladies can talk pretty
fast. Is there anything quicker than a word? The scripture says,
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles, a little word.
One word kindles all sorts of trouble. So for how quickly one
of your word. One of your word, David, you
remember when David was out there on the running from Saul? You remember that David was a
gracious man, a man after God's own heart, a sweet, kind, tender,
gracious man. It was one time a fellow was
cursing him. He said, Leave him alone. He must have been God
must have restrained it, but another time. Another time, Roberta,
when Nabal, do you remember that? Nabal, the fool, sent word, who
is David? Who should I, why should I feed
that old scoundrel, that rebel, David? As soon as that word got
back to him, David turned into a marauding monster. He wanted
to cut off his head and everybody that lived in his household.
Remember? It sprung up, it just hit him,
a word. Get on your swords, boy, we're
going to wipe out the whole nation. Just a word. Just a word, an
idle thought about you right now. I've been endeavoring, struggling
with all my life to get you to pay attention to me right now.
One little thought crossed your mind about something, and your
mind is carried a thousand miles away, and one thing leads to
another, and another thing. We're like bird dogs. You know
a bird dog out in the field says a bird jump were like those good
deer and rabbit and hope that Charles had one cent of a deer
and he's off chasing deer when he should be chasing rabbit.
Right one little I don't know we're all chasing rabbits and
we should be worshiping God and think just a little so quick
so quick we're no match. Secondly. Darts, not only are
they quick, but darts, they fly in secret. Arrows, that's the
reason hunters with bow and arrow, they're so stealthy. Is that the word? It's so quiet
there. And there's a real sport to that,
a real sport. But arrows fly secretly. They
fly secretly. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
Psalm 64, verse 3 says, the wicked bend their bows to shoot their
arrows, even bitter words, and they shoot them in secret. Well,
that is behind the back. A little word of gossip. Now,
these words, these arrows can take the form of not just an
enemy, but of a friend. A friend. A secret messenger of Satan can
take the form of a Peter, right? Peter, the chief apostle, he
was a messenger of Satan. A secret messenger of Satan can
take the form of a wife, a husband, a little innuendo, a little subtle
thought, a suggestion, a word, an implication. You know what
I'm saying? It doesn't make much, an arrow
doesn't make much noise. It doesn't make much noise. Temptations
approach us without warning, don't they? Without warning.
All right? Thirdly, darts are not only quick
and they're secret, but darts are deadly. They're deadly. Arrows are deadly. An arrow,
deer hunters use, have you ever seen The head of an arrow of
a deer hunter is a huge ugly looking thing. It's sharp, razor
sharp, many facets to it. Right? And some of the natives
out in the jungle use poison on their little bark. Satan's
temptations. He's got every arrow in his bag.
He's got them filled with poisons, too. Malice, guile, whatever
he needs to use, he'll use it. Hypocrisies, envy, jealousy,
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresy, any type of poison, anything
he can use, he'll use it. And he has them. And they'll
all create a root of bitterness and poison us. It's no wonder, you know, and
he uses all these against a poor, pitiful creature called man.
And is it any wonder that Christ told us, Alan, is it any wonder
that Christ told us, pray, lead us not into temptation? Is there any wonder? You know
when Christ said that? You know when Christ said that? Right after he had been in the
wilderness being tempted by Satan. And he had experienced the full
force of it. Any lesser man would have come
to the temptation of my pride, but he knew that no mere mortal
man or woman could. And so he said, You better pray. Lord, father, lead us not into
temptation. We can't stand up on. Not one. Not one. He knew Satan's skills. And there's not there's not a
you'll not find an example of any man or woman in all the scripture
who did not all, more or less, under the temptations of the
devil. I don't care who it was. Abraham? Moses? Noah? All of them. Some of them fell terribly. David?
All right, so they're darts, and they're also called fiery
darts. Now, let me hurry. I've got almost ten more minutes. Fiery darts. Why are they called
fiery darts? Why are they called fiery darts? I don't expect you to get all
this, but everything I say, it makes sense, doesn't it? Fiery
darts. Why are they called fiery darts? Because of the fiery wrath and
indignation of the devil who's behind them. You know, Satan is clothed Satan is clothed in robes. Scripture says his ministers
have transformed themselves. They look like sheep, but they're
devil. And so does he. Eve would not have talked to
the devil in the garden had he had a pitchfork and horns and
a tail. No, he was more beautiful than
all the creatures. More beautiful. But yet, if he
was known in his true character, the worst science fiction novel
or movie could not depict him in his true character. Couldn't do it. He's full of
wrath, anger, and hatred, breathing out threatenings and slaughters.
Christ described him as a roaring lion, roaming the earth, trying
to devour. There's no deposed ruler, that
is, a ruler who was kicked out of office, who's ever been so
vindictive and so malicious as Satan. You know, he's a deposed
ruler. You know, he once ruled. You
know that he was the son of the morning, Lucifer. He held the
highest office in heaven. Did you know that? And he fell. You know why he fell? You know what was behind it?
I like this thought. Because he found out from Psalm
2, God said, I've set my king on my holy hills, Zion, and all
everything, everything in heaven, earth, and hell is going to be
under his feet. Oh, he's a little lower than
the angel. He's a man. When Satan found out, Nancy,
that a man was going to be ruling over him, he said, I'll not have
it. Can you imagine? A man, Jesus
Christ, who I'm talking about, when Satan found out that a man
was going to rule over him, Satan said, I'll not have it. I will
exalt my throne to the stars. I'll be God. I won't answer to
a man. He did, didn't he? He sure did. And he answers to him still.
And that fills him full of wrath. Is it any wonder that he tries
to vent the full force of his wrath and his anger on man? He
thought he had ruined God's creation, Terry, didn't he, when he took
a hold of Adam? But another man came along, a
second Adam, to show him a real man. And he thought he could
handle him, too, didn't he? And after he got through, he
had nothing. He couldn't do it. He could have
no match for him. And they're called fiery darts
because they're full of vengeance and hot with hatred. You ever
been full of hatred and you just get flushed? That's him. And the fiery end, the fiery
end, it leads to hell. These things lead us to hell.
And listen to this. They're called fiery darts because
of the inflaming quality they have on us. You follow that? Come on. They're called fiery
darts because they inflame us within. Temptations. Lust of
the flesh. Lust of the eyes. Fill you full
of it and you're inflamed with it. You're on fire for it. It
consumes you. It consumes you. There's a disposition,
a nature in all of us to sin. A nature in us. Temptations fall
on us like Fire on kindling. You see, when Satan came to Christ,
he didn't find anything in it. There was no kindling in it to
create anything in it. He couldn't find anything in
it. But us, there's kindling in there. And one little spark
will set this heart on fire, aflame. Right? A mere little
spark. That's the reason the water of
the Word must saturate your heart. David said, Thy word have I hid
in my heart. You've got to keep dousing the
flame with the word. Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against thee. Now, once again, these
words come to mind that Christ said, pray that you be not led
into temptation. And we're responsible. Now, stay
with me and I'll quit on this note. And I'll take up probably
Sunday night on how faith quenches these fiery darks. But it's enough
for you to be warned tonight about these things. Christ said, pray, lead us not
into temptation. We are responsible. Scriptures
like this tell us Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lust thereof. In other words, don't put yourself
in any position to where these temptations can assault you. Avoid every appearance of evil.
Listen to this one, and this is one I'm going to dwell on
for about four more minutes. Scripture says that evil communications
corrupt good manners. evil communications corrupt good
manners. And it could not I couldn't give
you a more. Necessary and needful admonition
and warning. And I've said this to you before
and I'm warning you. Where we oppose ourselves. If God takes his hand off if
God gives us what we want we're gone. God. Our nature doesn't want the things
of God. Our nature despises the things
of God. Our nature likes the things of the world and the people
of the world. I've said this before. We have
nothing. Paul said, How can light have
fellowship with darkness? Can the sons of God be joined
in the sons of sons of the devil. The son of
God be intimate companion and fellowship with the sons of Baal.
Evil communications corrupt good manners. You see, we have nothing.
And you know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the
people of this world that we rub shoulders with. I'm talking
to believers here. We have nothing to appeal to
them. We have absolutely nothing that
appeals to them as far as our faith and things of God. But, on the other hand, they
have everything that appeals to our natural man. You follow me? So who's going
to be the loser and the winner? Who's going to be the loser in
this thing? Are you going to convert them? No. No. We say, well, Christ didn't
Christ eat with publicans and sinners. He's the son of God.
He could do that without sinning, and every time he ate with publicans
and sinners, it was for the the the object or the purpose of
saving some. Of telling them the gospel, can
we do that if we can now we can rub shoulders with them, but
if that's not the purpose of why we're rubbing shoulders with
them and joining ourselves to them, then we're going to become
just like them. Listen to this, and I'll quit. Charles Spurgeon wrote this,
as in yesterday's morning and evening. Scripture says, it is
enough for the disciple that he be as his master. When our Lord was on this How
did people treat him? Banned. Did they receive him? Was he a good old boy? Were his claims acknowledged,
his instructions followed, his perfections worshipped by those
who came, he came to bless? No. He was despised, rejected
of men. It's enough for the disciple
that he be as his Lord. This country didn't give him
a place to live, it cast him out, it crucified him. If you're
a follower of Jesus Christ and maintain a consistent Christ-like
walk and conversation, you can expect to be treated just like
Jesus Christ. They will treat you as they treated
him, they will despise you. Don't dream that worldlings will
admire you and that you can rub shoulders and become their friend.
Don't dream that the more holy and more Christ-like you are,
the more peaceably people will act towards you. No. If they
called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will
they call you? If we were more like Christ,
we'd be more hated by his enemies. It'd be a sad dishonor to a child
of God to be a favorite of the world. Isn't that what Christ
said? Woe is unto you. Men speak well
of you. It's a very ill omen to hear the wicked world clap
its hand and shout and pat you on the back and say you're a
fine fellow. Ah, boy. Let us be true to our
Master and have no friendship with a blind and base world which
scorns and rejects our Lord and Savior. Let me say this. Our Lord had
a saving purpose in mind when he rubbed shoulders with the
world. He could do that. But a man who's a heretic, after
the first and second admonition, rejects. And the longer you stay
with that person, he or she, your friend or old buddy or comrade
or whatever, you're going to resort right back to where they
are. Not vice versa. Our purposes are generally fleshly.
We want to run with the world, see? That appeals to us. We want
to run with the world. We want to run with it. But you cannot serve God and
mammon, can you? It cannot serve God's amendment,
and my point in making that and setting that out was I'm talking
about the temptations of Satan and calling evil good. It'll
come to the point where you start listening to the world and you
quit listening to godly people. And the world has everything
to appeal to our carnal nature, but we have nothing to appeal
to the world. So you can't do it. Can light
have fellowship with dark? If we insist on trying, that's
going to be the greatest temptation of all. And I've never... Well,
not many people come out of it alive. Not many people. The Lord said, Come ye out from
among them. Didn't He? Come ye out from among them.
Now, I don't know if you have a problem in that area. I know
people who have. I'll give you my... my experience
when I first when the Lord first start deal with me. I thought
I could you know motive may have been right I thought well I'll
just remain friends and with them and I'll try to appear to
be a good old boy and all that I will try to be holier than
thou and real religious and all that and and maybe every now
and then I can say something to but it got to a point where
every now and then I never said a thing. where all I was doing was I had
become just like him and I just like a lot after a while just
like a lot inside him until finally I did say something and I was
like one that mocked. Just like one that mocked. Until
finally the Lord said, revealed to me. Light can't help you from
darkness. Darkness put out the light. The
light won't illumine the darkness. It won't do it. You are the light
of the world. Go out among them. But this is
where this is your family. This is where you get more life.
This is where you overcome temptation for the people of God. Out there
is where you succumb to them. I think that's the reason the
early church was being established. It was without the word. They
sold everything they had and moved in together. I think that's
the reason. You know, they didn't have the word like we had. They
had all things common, and they had the help and the protection
of one another. Not too sure it would be a bad
thing now. I've been talking to one of our men before. We
ought to build condominiums back here. You need one another. You need
this. You need what I preached to you tonight. You need that
word of admonition now. Be careful. Be careful. He's
subtle. He's crafty. Many darts, fiery
darts will pierce you through and there's nothing that's going
to, nothing is going to be more painful than like you talked
about in Hebrews 6, those who once tasted the Lord is gracious. And to put that and to fall away,
nothing will be more painful than that. Be on the outside
looking in. All right, that was a very solemn
warning message. So be it. We need it. I need
it. And I hope you benefited from it. May God help us. May God walk with us. May God
instruct us. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we We're so helpless, so helpless. Our brothers already prayed that
we're such sinners. We're just beggars. And we're
so liable to the temptations and the craftiness of Satan. So liable, so prone, prone to
wander, prone to sin. And Lord, if a If a child of
yours could ever fall away, I would fall a thousand times a day.
Thank God underneath us are everlasting arms. Thank God, you've said,
Christ said, He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Yet these
fiery darts, Lord, we feel them, and they pierce us through, and
they enter in quickly and quietly until we're just about gone,
well nigh gone. Our foot's almost slipped. As
the psalmist said, but then you pick us right back up again.
Lord, don't let us be ignorant of Satan's devices. Lord, don't
let us be like the man who looked at himself in the mirror and
went away and forgot what kind of man he was. And that's what
this Word is all about. We're looking at ourselves, and
you've revealed to us some of the craftiness of Satan. Lord,
don't let us fall prey to these things anymore. Don't let us, Lord. and enable
us to put on the whole armor of God, especially this shield
of faith. Bring us all back, if we're interested,
bring us all back to find out, to look into how we use this
faith to quench these fiery darts. Lord, we need it. How we need
it. How we need to know something about saving faith, to know Him,
whom to know is to have eternal life. Or granted, granted. Be with us tomorrow. Be with
every person in here. Walk with them tomorrow. That
we each of us wake up in the morning and seek our God. Seek
his help. And cry out. May each one of
us cry out from true hearts, sincere hearts. First thing in
the morning. First thing upon going home tonight.
Lord, save us or we perish. Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from the evil one. We're no match. Thank God for
that stronger than he, the Lord Jesus Christ, who undertook on
behalf of such helpless, pitiful worms as we are. Thank you, Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank you for your word. It's
such a light under our path, shows us how to walk, shows us
what's in front of us. We don't have to walk in darkness.
We don't have to stumble. We can look at your word and
not stumble, walk straight. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
these people. Be with them. I ask that you would restrain
them, restrain them by your mercy and constrain them by your love.
In Christ's blessed name, we've met together tonight for his
sake. Amen. Yeah.