I'm searching for some leadership
about a series to go through on these Wednesday nights, whether
it be a book or a study on the tabernacle or whatever it may
be. I'd like to do something like that on these Wednesday
nights, like we went through the parables. We went through
eighteen of the parables. as far as I felt led to go through
with them. Okay, Matthew chapter 4. Let's read the first eleven verses. Matthew 4. Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward
and hungry. And when the tempter came to
him, that is, the devil, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bright. But Christ answered him, and
said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy city, Jerusalem, and setteth him on a pinnacle
of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against a stone." Jesus said unto him, It is written
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil
taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And saith unto him, All these
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan. For it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him. And
behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Okay, let's back to prayer. I know I'm constantly harping
upon you about the need to be under the sound of the gospel. Harping, I use the term harping,
but really it's a faithful thing that I'm doing. It's a faithful
exhortation and warning and so forth about this thing. And I
suppose I really ought to do it on Sunday morning when everybody's
here. Because you people are here on Wednesday. But let me
remind you, I know what an effort some of you put into coming here.
I know you don't always feel like it. I don't either. I don't feel like standing up
here all the time. Certainly don't feel like opening
my big mouth all the time. But I must. Necessity is laid
upon me and the same thing goes with you. Necessity is laid upon
you to hear this gospel. And like I said, I'm constantly
harping on us about this need to be under the sound of the
gospel because I've said it so many times, this is all God has
for us in this life. The hearing, the preaching of
the word, his word, this is all he's got for us. He doesn't speak
to us audibly. He doesn't give us dreams and
visions and so forth. Outward signs, he said, signs
are for unbelievers, not for believers. The word is for believers. You have a sure word of prophecy,
whereunto you do well to take heed, Peter said. This is the
only way that we have truth revealed to us. This is the only true
way that we commune with God. Yes, it is. all comfort, all
conviction, all courage. We need all of these things.
All instruction, all leadership, all answers, all peace, joy,
assurance comes through hearing the word of truth proclaimed. Need I say more as to why we
need to be understood? I'm glad you're here, and I hope
after you leave here tonight you'll be glad that you are here. Satan knows these things. He knows the power of God. Yes,
he does. He said there, Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4, that he has blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest they hear that gospel. And that's his grand design.
And he'll use whatever means, whatever trickery, whatever craftiness
he can come up with to keep you from hearing the gospel. He'll use whatever your favorite
thing is and pop it in your mind to keep you from hearing what
I'm about to say. Yes, you know it's so, don't
you? You know it's so. How is it that you can concentrate
on something that you enjoy, like a favorite magazine or a
job, a task, or what with the utmost concentration? Without
a roaming, without a fleeting thought, but get in here and
get under the sound of the word and you might be thinking about
who knows what? The wildest sort of thoughts,
right? Where does that come from? Your adversary, the devil, walketh
about seeking whom he may devour and it doesn't take much. We're
easy pickings, aren't we? Satan knows the power of God.
He knows that all these things come through the preaching of
the gospel. He knows all your comfort, conviction, courage,
instruction, all these things, joy, peace, assurance. He knows
all these things come from that, if only we knew that and were
convinced of that. If only everybody knew that.
I believe there's some people in here that are convinced of
that because you make an effort to come. If only everybody knew
that. If only you little children,
and I can call you that because John did, if only you little
children knew that it's Satan's grand design to keep you away
from school, the schoolhouse, that's what this is. The gospel,
Christ is our, the law is our schoolmaster, right? His grand design is to keep children
away from schoolhouse by tempting them with playing hooky. I wish we didn't have some young
people in here, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I remember
playing hooky from school when I was young. None of you all
did that, surely? Nah. I remember cutting class
for the sheer adventure of it. Sometimes I'd do it just for
the sheer adventure of it. Had no place to go, nothing to
do, and when I got wherever I was and whatever I was going to do,
I was miserable. I was bored. and regretted that
I did it, and missed out, and had so much to make of, but I
got by with it. And to be sure, after giving
in to the first temptation, it was easier the next time. I think
it was you that said that. We've all experienced it. The more you give in, the first
time you give in to whatever temptation it is to keep you
away from hearing the gospel, the next time it gets back much
easier. And then the next time it's easier. And then the next
time, before long, you know, if a dog stunk his toe, you're
going to stay home. The flesh is looking for an excuse
not to come. Why? This is contrary. The flesh was against the Spirit.
And Satan said, you like it, don't you? You're tired, aren't
you? That's a favorite TV program, Carl. Yeah, it is. And y'all
stay home. They go well. They go well. Easy pickings. Easy pickings. So I'm just reminding you all
of that and myself. But it's just as I said about
Satan's devices in regards to this thing of worship. I said
this, I believe it was, last Sunday or Sunday before. Watch
out on Sunday night or Wednesday night. That's the time. That's
the time. Watch out. He'll use whatever
it takes. Doesn't it work out? Isn't it
uncanny how that on Sunday night or Wednesday night you'll get
in a scrap with your wife or your husband? I don't see anybody shaking their
heads. Am I the only one? Huh? It is for us anyway. It's uncanny,
and believe me, I know the position I'm in. I know something about
this being assaulted on Sundays and Wednesdays. Believe me, I'm
not talking about in reference to her. But he will. He used a woman to begin with,
and he'll use her, or your wife, or your husband, or whatever. It happens. It happens. the wife or the husband or whoever,
whoever, they're unwitting about it because somebody else is behind
it. You can count on it. Somebody else is behind this
thing. Just like he was in the garden. That's the reason all
the misery came upon Adam as he hearkened to his wife. And all the misery came on Eve
because she did not hearken to her husband and to God. Well,
he uses mostly little things. little things. You don't have
to burn the house down to keep you from church. It does keep
you from hearing of God. Mostly little things. Satan's
devices are sometimes little things. Now, I'm not talking,
I'm not going to preach tonight on going to church. I'm preaching
on temptations. This is what our Lord went through
here. And many, if not most, temptations are little ones.
Little ones. And they're all, though, from
the master tempter. He's been dealing with human
nature from the very beginning. He's slick. Nobody is any match
for him. Nobody. Nobody. Even the archangel
Michael said, I'm not going to touch you. I'm not going to fight
you. I'm not going to tackle you. That's the reason these
fools speak evil of dignities, the scripture says, knowing not
what they speak of. Evil. Well, look with me. Keep your
place there in Matthew 4. We'll come back. Look at James
chapter 1. James chapter 1. God tempts us,
but he doesn't. That means to try us. God tries
us, but he doesn't tempt us with sin. That's what he says here
in James chapter 1, beginning with verse 12. He says, Blessed
is the man that endures temptation, for when he's tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. But let no man say when he's tempted, God did
it. I'm tempted of God. God cannot be tempted. With evil,
neither tempteth he any man. No, every man is tempted when
he's drawn away of his own lusts. And we're talking about sin here,
tempted with sin, enticed. That's from yourself and Satan.
And when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin when
it's finished brings forth death. Don't err, my beloved brethren.
God doesn't tempt us with sin. Don't charge God with tempting
you with sin. No, sin is in us. Sin is is in us, and our adversary
tempts us with sin. God tries our faith, but temptation
to sin is from either Satan or ourselves, or both. They're in
league together. They're in league together. Now,
there are many temptations and sins to which we're exposed to
and prone to, but the greatest of all, and the root of it all,
is what? Unbelief. The greatest sin of
all and the root of all sin is unbelief. And this is where Satan
assaults God's people more than anything else. Now stay with
me. Listen to me. You with me? And once again, let me tell you,
this thing of unbelief, Satan assaults there. Once again, let
me remind you of how faith and assurance comes. Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Assurance comes
by hearing this sure, free, eternal salvation, this gospel. That's
where assurance comes from. That's why we say we want faith.
We say we want to believe God. We say we want to know we're
children of God. We're not going to get that assurance
sitting at home. We're not going to be a blinding
flash of light and say, You're my son." No, it doesn't work
that way. He does it right here. You'll be sitting there listening
to the gospel preached or reading the Word, and God will speak
to you through that. That's the way He does it. Don't
trust anything else but that. And like I say, let me remind
you, Satan schemes to keep us away from the gospel and His
Word. But what is it? Let me ask you a question. Let
me get your attention. What is it that vexes your soul
more than anything else? What one question arises in your
mind and your hearts more than anything else all the time? You're
constantly being bombarded with this. You're constantly being
troubled by this. One question constantly poses
itself to you. What is it? Am I really saved or am I not? Isn't that, isn't that what constant,
isn't that your biggest problem? Am I a child of God or am I not?
Is that your biggest problem? It's mine. If it's not yours,
I'll preach to me. That's my biggest problem. If
I am, if I am a child of God, then how could I do this or that? How could I think this or that?
How could I be this way or that way? If. Isn't that what troubles
you the most? Hmm? Ellen? In around a while. Is that not what still bothers
you the most? Believe it is. Well, turn with
me now to Hebrews chapter 4. Here's some real comfort, folks. Real comfort. Ah, boy. Hebrews chapter 4. Jesus Christ our Lord was tempted
in all points like as we are. All points? All points. He was tempted. It says here
in Hebrews 4 verse 13, Now there is no creature that is not manifest
in God's sight. All things are naked and open
under the eyes of him with whom we have to do it. That means
God knows us. He knows our thoughts. He knows what we are thinking. that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens that represents us before God? Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession, our only hope, a sure hope, clean
to Him, because we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. So let us therefore Come boldly,
boldly with confidence and assurance to this throne of grace to obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Where? To the
one who is tempted just like we are. Okay, let's resort back here
to how Christ was tempted for some comfort. Look back at Matthew
chapter 4 now. Satan tempted Christ in all points. He tempted Christ with unbelief. I'm telling you from the passage
here, the thing that troubles us the most is, am I a son of
God or am I not? Satan tried to tempt Christ himself
with that very thought. He asked him twice right here,
if you're the son of God, he asked, is the son of God that? Okay, and he did it with little
insinuations. He did it with little questions,
little doubtful disputations. And he does it the same way to
you and me. You heard of Santa's little helpers? Here's Satan's little helpers.
Santa has his else. Satan has his ifs. If. If. Look at it. Look up at verse
17 of chapter 3 with me. Now look at this. Chapter 3,
verse 17, the last verse. lower voice, this is at Christ's
baptism, a voice from heaven came saying, this is my beloved
son. The word of God came with power,
audibly, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. The word of
God Almighty spoke from heaven, said this right here, pointed
at Christ, and the dove landed on him. that this is my son in
whom I am well pleased." Right on the back of that, Satan's taking it. And how often
do you come in here to hear a gospel message and you get comforted,
you get some assurance, you believe it, you rejoice in it. You say, that's for me, that
appeals to me, that speaks to me. I must be a child of God
and walk right out the door and it's not five minutes until you're
assaulted. If you're a son of God, then why? The voice, the Word of God Himself
came and talked about the acceptance of the Son of God Himself, and
right on the back of that, a terrible temptation. And it never fails
for us to do it the same way, right on the back of it. Watch when you go home tonight.
Look at verse 1. Then was Jesus. Then, when? Right
after God said, this is my son. Then was Jesus led up by the
Spirit. Now look at that. The Holy Spirit
put him into a position to be tempted by the devil. He didn't
tempt him with sin, but he put him in a position to be tried,
to be tempted of the devil. And when he'd fasted 40 days
and 40 nights, he was afterward hungry. Now listen. Think about
that. Verse 2. Is that significant? He was weak. He was hungry. He went without
food for a while. It goes right back to what I
started out to say. You go without food very long, you're going
to be weak, and you're talking about being tempted then. All
your assurance, all of your peace will be gone by then. OK. Christ himself, he was tempted
and awful. He went hungry. Purposely went
without food to be at his weakest, lowest hand. Because we get that
way. Verse 3. First words out of his mouth.
If. Sounds familiar to me. His language
back in the garden. The devil uses, like I said,
little bitty words with big implications. Little flies, the old statement
says, can spoil the ointment. And he uses little things. Satan
said something remarkably similar back in the garden. The first
words out of Satan's mouth in the garden were a three-letter
word, yea. And I looked it up. That word
in the Hebrew is ath. Ath? Sounds strikingly similar
to our English word of it then. But the word ath means but or
yet. Yet, but, yet hath God said,
that's what he just said to Christ there, if you are the Son of
God. I know God just said it, but
if you are the Son of God. Satan started it all by creating
unbelief when he cast doubt upon the Word of God in the minds
of Adam and Eve. If God said, then why? How many times do you hear that?
How often do you hear that? If God says... I know it says,
but if it... You know? Satan and his imps,
his imps, his wimps, his ministers, his little helpers, that's what
his angels are, that transform themselves into angels of life.
They're Satan's little imps, little wimps. That's what these
guys are. They don't make point blank denials. They don't say,
uh, salvation ain't my grace. They don't come right out and
say that. No, Satan's too slick for that, and he's taught his
little imps to be slick too. They'll come right out, but they
do it by little questions, little insinuations, little inferences,
little suggestions. Cast the slightest doubt in somebody's
mind about a verse of Scripture. Just the slightest doubt. Take
away from it. Rest it. Twist it. Add to it. Gloss over it. Take away from
it. Do something. Just twist it around
a little bit where they won't recognize it. or whatever, cast
a little bit of doubt. I know God says this, but God said that, this is the reason
God said it, but for God doth know. God says this because God
says it and, but if, and, yea, but, you know. I know it says that, you know,
the immutable, unchangeable, Sovereign, eternally sure Word
of God says these things to us. It says He works all things after
the counsel of His own will. Doesn't it? But you have a free will, and
God won't violate that. See what I mean? There's little
buts and ifs. That's not in the Bible, is it?
That's nowhere to be found in God's Word. God will work, the
Scripture says, and who shall let it? Let God into your life. God hath made us accepted in
the Beloved, but He'll only do it if you accept Him. They're
slick. They're slick. By grace, sir,
you say. You have grace. Right? By grace are you saved
and what? You're obedient. Now, so far
so good. Most of us believe those scriptures
I just gave to us, right? Most of us, we don't have any
doubts about those scriptures. We know all this. The way they
answer that, we know that's a lie, don't we? All right? Back to
the text. Back here to the text. Look at
Matthew 4, verse 3. He says, the tempter came and
he said, now if thou be the son of God, command that these stones
be made bread. Now he starts out by casting
doubt upon the word of God. God just said, you're my son. And this word is chocked full
of promises to you and me, to sinners, to all those that come
unto God by Christ. to all those that trust Christ,
that believe Christ, that rest in Christ. Chomp, plumb, follow
the promises to all of God's people. That's who they're for. That's who they're written for.
These things have I written. We've been studying it for weeks
now, haven't we? These things have I written,
and you might have joy. These things have I written, and you
might have peace. These things have I written. These things
have I written. I said these things that they might believe.
I said these things that they might believe. I pray this prayer that
they might believe. Right? Chunk, crumb full of Scripture.
And right on the back of that, the devil himself goes, You are the son of God. If God
is true to his word, then what about it? You get cast out in
the word of God. Who are you going to believe? Scripture says the devil is a
liar, the father of lies, from the beginning. Scripture says
God is truth, Christ is truth. Who are you going to believe? I know who I want to believe.
He cast doubt on God's Word. Secondly, he cast doubt on God's
past mercies and grace and providence. God's Word bore witness who Christ
was from the very beginning. He lived 30 years on this earth
before this temptation. Christ had himself borne witness
of the truth of his sonship. Everything he did bore witness
that he was the Son of God. The Spirit bore witness. descended
upon him in the form of a dove. His works, somebody said, no
man spake like this man. Somebody said, no man can do
these things except God be with him. No mere man could open the
eyes of the blind. No mere man could open the ears
of the deaf. No man could raise the dead. Nobody could walk on
the water, no mere man. Such miraculous deliverances
from a child all the way from birth. No man, surely, this must
be the, like the centurion finally said, this must be the Son of
God. No doubt about it. Yet Satan
says to him, if you are the Son of God, if
you really are the Son of God, so what he's doing is casting
doubt on his past. Now think about this. I say to
us, the Holy Spirit took us out of a world of sin. Some of us,
me, was wallowing in the filth. How about some of you? You were
just talking about this now. You said there's nothing on this
earth you haven't done. Some of you. You've been there,
haven't you? Now, he took you out of that,
didn't he? Okay. He clothed you and put you in
your right mind, didn't he? Well, you got a little bit of sense
about it. Not much, but a little bit of sense about you. A little
bit of knowledge, a little bit of understanding of the Scripture.
He took you out of idolatry. Some of you he took out of a
false religion that was so fake and so foolish and so false that
it stunk of self-righteousness. He took you out of that, didn't
he? Out of this free will idolatry, will worship. That's what free
will is, will worship, idolatry. He took you out of that, didn't
he? He revealed the gospel to you, didn't he? Huh? Didn't He
reveal Christ to you? Convicted you of your sin? Who
God is and what you are and who Christ is? Convinced you of your
need of Christ? You feel like you have come to
Him? Believe? And He brought you to Christ
to trust Him, to see Him as your all and in all? You believe that,
Marvin? He's brought you to that point
at one time or another, whether you feel that way exactly right
now or not. He has brought you there before,
hasn't He? You have been at that point before, giving you such
sweet proofs from the Scripture concerning these things. Hasn't
there been times you've left this place, whether it's me or
whoever preaches, that you've just been thrilled by the gospel? And keeps making the gospel the
same old message you've heard time and time again? Keeps making
it sweet to you? Keeps providing for you? You
still can't understand where you're getting the money to pay
the next bill or whatever? Keeps providing for you. Keeps
keeping you. Keeps comforting you. Keeps blessing
you. Does it for all these years? How old are you, Terry? Forty-some-odd?
Forty-four? Some of you in your fifties,
sixties, seventies, eighties? He's kept you all this time?
Going to drop you now? Yet Satan comes. Now, if you
are the Son of God, You mean Satan, I'm supposed to forget
all that? That's all a lie? Ain't going to do it. Ain't going to do it. Oh, I'm
going to forget it, all right. I'm pressing, reaching toward
Christ. But I remember past mercies.
I need to think upon things that God has brought me through. All
right, he does this by this little F. friend is about the Lordship
and Deity of Christ. About the successfulness of the
gospel, aren't they? Little questions, little innuendos,
little doubts. Maybe he didn't die for everybody.
Maybe God does love everybody. Maybe I can fall away after all,
doesn't he? Little insinuations, little doubts
here and there, huh? Yet God's word says, call his
name Jesus, he'll save. Can I believe that or not? God's
Word says, the blood of God's Son cleanses us from all our
sins, past, present, and future. All. That's all, isn't it? All. The sins that I'm going to commit
tomorrow, I won't feel bad about them, but they're forgiven. Already
paid for. Oh, that'll eat my... No, it
won't. It'll give a man some peace,
is what it'll give a man. Not license, give him peace.
The Scripture says he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption. Ellen, that means if he had my
name on his breastplate, that I am a saved person. That I have
eternal life. Not because of what I do or will
do or have been or have not been or will be. but because of who
Christ is and what he's done, where he is. That's what this
Bible says. Now, who are we going to let
cast doubt upon that? Paul talked to the glaciators
and said, I'm in doubt of it. He said, who hath bewitched you?
The great bewitcher himself, through his little whims, his
little TV preachers. Who hath bewitched you? He said,
who could turn you from your only hope? He said, before whose
eyes the gospel has been so clearly set forth. Christ has been so
clearly. You all have heard the gospel.
Now, really, there's never, you've heard gospel preaching here.
Like I said, not necessarily me, but other men. You've heard
them all. You've heard it preached more powerfully and more clearly
than it's ever been preached in history. I don't care about
the Whitefields. I don't care about the Spurgeons.
I've heard messages that it's impossible for a man to exalt
Christ in him all, and for me to be thrilled in him all. And
you've heard them too. Huh? Well, he cast doubts upon
our sonship because of our condition or circumstances. He said that
to Christ here. He said, if you be the Son of
God, what do you do in Hungary? Why are you in such a condition?
Hungry, tempted, tried, sorrowful, in pain, sickness, poverty, depression.
Why are you like this? God loves you, isn't he? Surely a loving God wouldn't
let you be in a condition like this. God wants you to be healthy
and wealthy. No, Satan does though. That's
what he said down there in verse 9. That's how he tempted even
the Son of God with him. He said, you worship me and I'll
give you the kingdom to this world. Isn't that what his ministers
are saying? Send me ten dollars and I'll
give you, you'll get back a hundred. Worship Satan and his gospel,
the doctrine of devils. Fall down before the doctrine
of devils and you'll get rich. And you might. You really might. It might possibly be that you
send that guy ten dollars, you'll get a hundred back. That's the
way Satan works. It's not what this Bible says,
though. God said, you must through much tribulation have faith.
Now, who are you going to believe? He said, you must through much
tribulation. Didn't He? He said, blessed are
the poor, the meek, the mourning, the hungry, the thirsty, the
persecuted. The world doesn't say those people
are blind. God doesn't want you to be like that. Oh yes, He does. But look at you, all alone. That's
probably what he insinuated there to Christ. Look at you. You're
all alone out here in the wilderness. Nobody's with you. Nobody's helping
you. You ever felt like that? All alone. Look at you on the
job there. You're the only one of these
guys that believes like this. Surely God has left you, and
he should, but he said he wouldn't. He ought to, but he said he wouldn't. Well, nobody believes like you
do. Look at that little group down there. Nobody believes like
that. Oh, yes, they do. Seven thousand. I bet you to
say there's seven thousand that have not bowed beneath a bale
of those doctrines of devils that I'm talking about. I probably
know seven hundred. God says, I've come to set a
man at variance. He said, all will forsake you.
He said, few will find this way. But more importantly, he said,
but I'll never leave you. And finally, he cast doubts upon
the sonship, our sonship, because of our sinfulness. And this is
where we're most sorely tried. And listen, you'll get some comfort
here. I know what it was. He tried it on. Put it on. This
is where we're most sorely tried. He casts doubt upon our relationship
with God, our sonship, by bringing up our sinfulness to us. If you're
a child of God, how could you? How could you? And we think the
same thing. How could I think such things? How could I do that? How could
I do that? If I was really a regenerated,
new creature, old things passed away, all things become—how could
I dive right back into that? How could I think things like
that if I have a renewed mind? How? Don't we think that? We're
constantly bombarded with that. Constantly. Surely, Satan says
to us, you're too sinful. You're too sinful to be a child
of God. That's a lie. That's a lie. Why? How do I know it? Because
this is the faithful saying. And worthy to be believed. Christ
Jesus came in the world to save us. He's able to say, this is
the faithful saying. He's able to save the uttermost, the guttermost.
Somebody says, oh, they've become the gutter. Too sinful? No, the
problem probably is you're too righteous. There's probably the
problem. Not too sinful, no. He saves
all sinners. You know God saves all sinners?
Yeah, he does. He said, I've not come to call
the righteous, but sinners repentant. Gifts from calling of God without
repentance. Give call. Everyone that he calls, they
hear his voice. Sinners, come to call sinners. You a sinner?
Oh yeah, a terrible sinner. Listen, though doubts and fears
assail, though we're constantly bombarded with thoughts of if,
a son or a daughter, child of God. Why? If, if, if, if. Listen to this. John Brown wrote
this. He says, Satan never puts an
if on anything that's not true. You can write that down. Satan
never puts an if on anything that's not true.
You understand what he's saying?
What he's saying is, whatever he puts an if on, there must
be some truth to it. He's worried about it. Right? He's going to cast a little doubt
on it. He's the great deceiver. He's the father of lies. He's
the father of falsehood, doubts, disputations, endless questions.
If not a son of God, if you're not a son of God, Satan's going
to leave you alone. If you're a self-righteous Pharisee
and a hypocrite, he's going to leave you alone. He's got you
right where he wants you. Now, you're going to get some
comfort here if you listen to what I'm saying. If you're a
hypocrite, if you're trusting your own righteousness, your
religion or whatever, And you're not looking to Christ. You're
not asking for mercy enough. He's going to leave you alone.
He's got you right where he wants you. If a hypocrite, you'd be satisfied,
wouldn't you? With your profession. Are you
satisfied, Charlie? Are you satisfied with yourself?
You hate yourself, don't you? If you weren't a child of God,
he wouldn't bother you. Think about it, man. Think about
it. Think about it. He'd leave you
alone. Bunyan said, he said, Satan in
his craftiness, he'll take a man who's in a false refuge of religion
who thinks he's too good in liquor, never touched his lips, and never
looked on a woman, and he'll leave him alone. He won't let
him look on a woman. Ever tell you about that? I don't have
time to go into it. But there was a man at work one time. There
were some girly magazines laying around. This guy was a preacher,
so-called. He wasn't a preacher. He said
he was. But I've got to tell this. I can't help it. He and I were the only ones in
the room at the time. Those guys, you know, plastered at work.
You guys, you know, you work in a shop. You're staying in
there if you can't avoid it. And I was going to try this guy. I said, I've got to go to work.
He was sitting there at the table. I said, I've got to go. I've
got to do something. And I walked out. This is deceitful. But I walked out the door. I
didn't walk out the door. I slammed the door like I was
going out. I looked around the corner. I
wanted to see if that old fellow was going to look at those dirty
pictures. He didn't. Now, ain't a man alive that can
resist that. But he didn't. He wasn't bothered
with that. Satan got him where he wants
him. A self-righteous, moral man that never looked on another
woman. Ain't about to. Made a covenant with my eyes. He got that fellow where he wants
him. That's the same fellow that one time told me, he said, I'll
believe anything but that predestination. Damn, doom, condemn, and dying,
dead, self-righteous Pharisees is what that fellow was. And he'll take an old boy that's
resting, looking, begging Christ for mercy. That's all he can
do, to tear himself away from those things. Right, fellas? So you know what I'm talking
about. He said, that's what Bunyan said,
he'll take a fellow who's resting in Christ and bombard him with
evil thoughts and this and that and the other, and make him think
you're too sinful to be saved. No way. No way. Leave that other
fellow alone, make him think he's too good not to be saved.
Does that make sense? He never puts an if on anything
that's not true. It could be that this message
has blessed you a little bit. You know, Christ's dying hour. You know, he was tempted again
with this when he was hanging on that cross. Satan's weakness,
lowest ebb, about to expire. He came at him again through
a messenger. If thou be the son of God. And I've read endless accounts
of God's saints on the deathbed where they just wrestled and
toiled and troubled and could beg. You may beg. But thanks
be unto God who always gives us the victory in Christ. Every
account, though, Ed, of a man that was really one of God's,
he had unbridled peace in that bed, that deathbed. But Christ
said when he was, Satan lashed his final dart at him, if you
be the Son of God, come on down to me. Christ said, no, for this
cause came out of the world. He said, you've tried that before
and it didn't work. And he says, now I'm going to
finish it and you. And I tell you, the next time
he brings it up, now I've told you, I've given you the word
for it right here. Next time he brings up this if to you,
you resist him with this. That won't work. That won't work. You've tried that before. Who
is he to condemn us? Christ died. Who shall lay anything
in charge of God's elect? God said he justified man, justified
sin. Who is he that condemneth? Christ died. You can't, don't,
don't put that on me. Try something else. If you be
a son of God. Spirit bears witness with my
spirit through the gospel and gives me the spirit of adoption
where I by eye continually cry, Father, Father. Satan comes,
here, Father. Where do you resort? When he
comes to you with these temptations, where do you go? What do you
do? drive it much harder to be good. No, father, don't you? That's the spirit, Baird. That's
your spirit. Satan's little imps. They won't
work, not in light of God's word, because his word is sure and
settled for God's people. You can bank on that. You can
get some comfort there. I hope you will. All right, stand
with me a