All right, if you wish to follow
along, go back to Romans 16 again. Romans chapter 16. And I will
go back and reread what I've read the past couple times. Verse
17. Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the
doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they that
are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and
by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
For your obedience has come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore
on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which
is good and simple concerning evil. And then here's my actual
text for this morning. And the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you, amen. Now my title for this morning
is The God of Peace Crushes Satan. It's an astounding statement
when you think about it. The God of peace, not the God
of wrath, though God is a God of wrath, but that's not what
Paul wrote here. He says the God of peace crushes
Satan. Now, I totally understand that
I could have approached this in many different ways, and as
Penny will testify, as I usually do, I wrote this over and over
and over. Now, let me lay a little foundation,
because I want us to see something here. Our text, that's what I
read, verses 17 through 20, our text has its own context within
Paul's last words in this letter. In other words, verses 17 through
20 expresses gospel admonition tucked between greetings to some
and greetings from some. You see, you look at it, chapter
16, verse one, and it's salute, greet, salute, greet, salute,
greet, now I beseech you. You see it? Now I beseech you.
So then when you come down to verse 21, it starts all over
again, but now that was greetings to the people of Rome. Now here's
greetings from the people that were with Paul. Timotheus, my
fellow worker, and Lucius, and Jason, and Socipiter, my kinsman,
salute you. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle,
salute you in the Lord. Gaius, my host, and on and on
and on. So this lets me know that verses
17 through 20 are a context in their own. And I say that to
point out that 20, verse 20, is not to be separated from verses
17 through 19. If you separate it from 17 through
19, we're left with basically no understanding of the situation
whatsoever. And sadly, I'm afraid that some,
when they preach from, if and when they preach from verse 20,
if they preach simply from verse 20, go into great speculation. Great speculation. And I won't
deal with all that. I don't wanna deal with all that.
But these verses, verses 17 through 20, are a complete whole thought
concerning gospel truth. You can take them just like a
little bitty epistle. just a little bitty epistle in themselves.
Now think about this, and I thought about this phrase as I wrote
this and wrote this. A lot of times I write to shorten,
shorten, shorten. Think about it, the worst, most
serious, most dangerous ploys of Satan is to assault gospel
truth. is to assault gospel truth. I will say it this way, and I
know this will be misunderstood by some, but everything I say
is misunderstood by some if they have no light from God. Satan's
main goal was not to get you into the beer joint or the brothel.
That's not his main goal. The flesh will do that for you.
Totally apart from Satan, you don't need a devil to help you
do that. You don't have to have a devil. That's not his main
ploy. That's not his main trouble that he uses. His main ploy is
to cause men to assault the truth of the gospel, to deny it or
abandon it or reject it. Satan's most crafty deception
is to pervert the gospel into a gospel. And sadly, most who
hear even the gospel would not know if they were hearing the
perverted gospel. They wouldn't know the difference. Now, first of all, Satan. We read this. And the God of
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. And I have
to admit, my mind automatically thinks of who? Lucifer. Right? That chief fallen angel. Or I should say, fallen chief
angel. A fallen angel. Now, Satan. But what does Satan really mean?
I'm not talking about just some, go get your concordance open
up and look at the meaning of the word Satan. But Satan is
this, anyone who questions the gospel. Anyone who questions
the gospel is Satan. They may not be the Satan, they
may not be Lucifer himself, but they're still Satan. There are
other fallen angels, they're never called Satans, but they
are called what? Devils. Devils. Okay, and even Peter in Matthew
16 verse 23, we're not gonna read it. I'm sure you'll recall
the account. Even Peter in his outspoken ignorance
was called, get thee behind me, Satan. Satan. But not only that, now
turn to Ephesians six. Turn to Ephesians six and I'll
make the statement. We're talking about who is Satan,
okay? Of course, who is a devil, right? Most people, when you
read about Satan or mention Satan, we think of that creature that's
depicted, he's depicted this way, he's not this way, as we
will see, with red and a couple horns and a big tail with a diamond-shaped
end on it with a pinch fork or something like that. There may be creatures out there
that would look like that, I do not know, but that does not matter.
That's not the real problem. If I seen something like that,
I'd say, I don't wanna mess with that. Would you not? I don't
wanna mess with that. As I told an individual at work
the other day, I'm not afraid of the devil, but I don't wanna
mess with him. Of course, he's far more powerful
than I am. Remember, you got Lucifer, you
have fallen angels, you have even Peter be called by our Lord
Satan. He was not suggesting that Peter
was possessed. But he's saying that, Peter,
there's something inside of you that is an enemy against God. All right, you read Ephesians
6? All inward, concerted rebellion
of spirit is Satan. It is satanic. Look at it, Ephesians
chapter 6. We're kind of coming into the
context, but verse 10. Finally, my brethren, Be strong
in the Lord and the power of his might, because that's the
only way we will endure in this battle. It's the only way. Put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of who? The devil. Whoever that enemy
is. Okay, look. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood. Now, I have had the wrong thought
about this for a long time. And I thought this means we don't
wrestle against humanity. That's not so. We're just not
wrestling against flesh and blood, that liquid that circulates.
But look, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of of this world. Do you see it? Of this world. And the whole context, the whole
meaning and the greed is this is like a concerted effort. Whether
they mean it so or not does not matter. They're all of the same
spirit. Remember Paul in Ephesians, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And
remember that's our spirit by nature. So again, we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. So it's down
here and out there both. You see it? Down here, the world,
and out there, both. That's Satan, that's Satan. But
now turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm laying some foundation
here. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Football's all over with, so
there's no big hurry for us to get done, you see, real quick,
right? It's all, the Super Bowl's done and over with. Think about
it. Satan may even well be some professed
Christians. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse
13. Again, coming into the context,
but it will stand on its own for what we're talking about.
For such are false apostles. Do you see all that? For such,
we're not talking about the Buddhists and the Mohammedans. We're not
talking about that. We're talking about people who
profess to believe this book. Who profess to believe in the
God of heaven. Maybe even the God of Abraham,
Isaac, or Jacob, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Here's Satan's most deceptive
work. Again, I stress, it's not the
brothels and the beer joints and the dope clubs. That's not
it. If God removed Satan from this
world, we'd still feast on those things in the flesh. We don't
have to have that. It ain't like Flip Wilson used
to say, the devil made me do it. No, no. The devil that made
me do it is the devil that's down in here. Look at it. Transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel for Satan himself. Now I believe he's talking about
that actual person, or I should say, creature, that individual,
Satan, Lucifer, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of what? Light. Light. Satan's not out there where the
neon signs are flashing beer, beer, beer. They're out there
where them flashing lights are saying Baptist Church, Presbyterian
Church, Methodist Church. That's where it's at. That's
where it's at. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers, you see it, also be transformed as the ministers
of what? Righteousness. But I know what
kind of righteousness they talk about. Man's righteousness. Man's righteousness. Man's righteousness. As ministers of righteousness
whose end shall be according to their works. I say that's frightening. Yeah,
it sounds frightening, doesn't it? And the God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Who was this devil that
they were struggling with? Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the
doctrine which ye have learned and avoid. For they that are
such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And I will now add my own, they
are Satan. They are your enemy and God's
enemy. Now let me give you four stated
inspired facts. These are non-debatable, they're
in our text. I'm not here to debate this this morning. I'm
not even here to preach on these things necessarily this morning.
But just think about these things. These could be messages you might
say in and of themselves. The God of peace shall crush
Satan. Isn't that amazing? The God of
peace shall what? Crush him. That's what the word
bruise here means. It don't mean bump and a little bit of blood
showing up. It means to crush. That's the first. Inspired fact
here, the God of peace is the one who shall crush Satan. Second
fact, God shall do this under his people's feet. Astounding statement, is it not? Under his people's feet. But it's God that does it, but
he still will do it under. under his people's feet. And
I just know that's a figure of speech. He's not talking about
these Roman believers literally stepping on somebody. That's
the way, it's a figure of speech. God shall do this under his people's
feet. Here's the third inspired fact. God shall do this swiftly when
he does do it. and the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly doesn't necessarily mean he's
gonna do it like tomorrow. Although it can mean tomorrow.
But even if he does it next week, when he does do it, it's going
to be swift. Swift. Swift, that's what the
word means. God shall do this swiftly when
God does do it. Number four. Here's the fourth
inspired fact. Like I said, we don't debate
these things. Somebody say, explain all that to me. I don't have
to. It's right there. It's right there. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ with his people is essential in this crushing. See that? This, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ with his people is essential in this crushing. And the God of peace shall bruise
or crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you, so be it. Now, let me state this
clearly. We have no scriptural history.
I said scriptural history of when this happened at Rome. But
I know it did. Okay? And a couple thoughts as
to why I believe that God did not tell us the specific details
is because we then will be prone to put God in a box. Like when
that happens, God will crush Satan. You see what I'm saying?
When this certain thing, these are the certain circumstances,
then we expect God's gonna crush Satan under your feet shortly.
Nope, but he will. crush Satan under your feet shortly. You see that? So we have no scriptural
history as to when this happened at Rome, we have speculation
only. And I wouldn't suggest you do
it, and I didn't do it, but I've done it before, because I've
been doing this for a while, I've read a lot of commentaries.
When you get to what this, granted, most people see this in its context,
these false teachers, these false preachers there, but this wild
speculation as to when this crushing took place. We do not know. But I know this, it did. It did. But I know this, and I say this,
never think that one crushing is all that's ever necessary.
Because a few hundred years later, the town, the city of Rome totally
succumbed to what we now know as the papacy. Roman Catholicism. The gospel, for the most part,
I don't wanna put a percentage, the gospel's not there anymore. And that's important with what
we're gonna look at in my actual body of my message here. Don't
rest on the laurels of today, even if those laurels be our
standing firm for the gospel. And God crushes Satan under the
preaching of the gospel. And he crushes him today. Don't
say, well, that's good enough for tomorrow. You see what I'm
saying? Tomorrow needs its own gospel
preaching. The next day needs its own gospel
preaching. We can never so thoroughly preach
the gospel that the crushing takes place one time and is done
forever. It don't work that way. God crushed
Satan under the Roman believers' feet. But eventually that town
began to get away from the gospel. Somewhere, somewhere, Ellen,
get away from the gospel. Get away from the gospel. Probably
slightly, a little bit here, a little bit there. A little
11 there, a little 11. Next thing you know, no more
gospel at all. Now that needs to stick in our
crawls so we never forget it. And chew on that, and chew on
that, and chew on that. So again, we have no scriptural
history of when this happened at Rome, just speculation. But
we do have scripture which expresses this, the God of peace crushing
the enemy under his people's feet. Turn to Colossians chapter
one. Colossians chapter one. You realize, I know you know
this as well as I do, when we read passages like this, our
flesh is looking for those great victories in the Lord. What people
talk about today, where they're all standing, raising up their
hands, and they're so happy that this nothing can happen. And
I don't say this, I'm not making fun. But there's a big place
out west, I think it may be Texas, it's a stadium full of people. And two well-known husband and
wife, it's a mega church. And everybody's always raising
their hands and it's always positive messages. Positive messages. And then some wild-eyed, demon-possessed
woman with her little boy walks in to kill people. Hmm? Hmm? See, so we're not talking
about this, being able to raise your hand, everything's always
great. Boy, when God crushes the devil, we're on the top of
the mountain and everybody disrespect us. We're gonna see, it's not
that. It's not that. So again, are you at Colossians
chapter one? Look at, gotta have some context here. Verse 12,
Colossians one. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet, or as Oral used to say, qualify. He
qualified us. made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us from
the power of darkness. He said, delivered us from it.
He didn't offer us this. He just come along and delivered
us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. Now, I don't mean this to be
blasphemous or anything, but I think, I see this in my mind.
You remember the old Star Trek show? And they would go into,
what was that thing called? They'd stand in there and they
would move them from one place Transporter, you see, Joe, he's
a Star Trek man too. And move you over into another
place. I mean, just, that's what God did. We were in this one
place and God just translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. You see that? In whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image, you see, who is the image of the invisible
God. The image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, whether you can see them or you can't, right? Visible
or invisible. But now look at whether it be
thrones, dominions, or principalities, haven't we already heard Paul
talk about that? As even being satanic forces?
But our God in Christ is over these things. You see it, look.
Thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created
by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him
all things are held together. As I said over, the devil can't
spit. I don't care who that devil is,
lest God gives him say so. And he, that is Christ, is the
head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Why? Why? For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. That's good enough. If it pleases
the Father, God help me just to say amen, so be it. That's
enough answer. And, look, and having made Peace. You see, there is no real true
peace apart from the cross work of Jesus Christ himself. And
it's this God of peace, this kind of peace, or I should say
this peace, by which God crushes Satan under our feet. I'm sorry, feet. And having made
peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all
things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth,
or things in heaven, and you that were sometime, what, alienated,
and Satan's, is it? Alienated and enemies in your
minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, and notice
there is no period after this verse, in the body of his flesh
through death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. So, when Satan, I'm sorry, when
God Almighty, the God of peace crushes Satan, even say under
my feet today, I still gotta stick with the stuff for tomorrow. Still gotta stick with it. It's
not, okay, well he did that for me, everything's fine now, I
just go live like I want to. Oh no, oh no. Isn't that amazing? This peace, here's what I want
to summarize, this peace is only found in Christ's cross work. And it's the God of that peace
that crushes Satan. Here's a second thought, turn
to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Now let me give you the statement
first and then we'll read and see some of these things. This
crushing is only found, I'm basically saying the same thing, I'm just
rewording it and coming at it from another passage that has
a little other insights with it. This crushing, this crushing
by God, is only found when God's people preach Christ and not
themselves. Even if this little group gets
to where we start talking about us, boy, how we've stuck in here,
boy, we've hung in here, and we do this, and we do that, and
we're right on this, and we're not wrong on that, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. Now, why do
I say that? Because of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4, verse
one. Therefore, seeing we've received
this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness
nor handling the word of God deceitfully. but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. In other words, just tell men
the truth, let the chips fall where they may, and we'll see
that in a moment too. To every man's conscience in
the sight of God, because we're doing this to honor and please
God, not honor and please ourselves or men. But, but, If our gospel
be hid, and that is not a if in the sense it may be, it may
not be, it's the fact that it is. But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost. How many of you here, you're
saved now, you're saved. How many of you here was ever
lost? So I'm included in this too,
huh? At least that one time, Jack, I was there too. But if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom
the God of this world, that's Satan, you see, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Now, this is what the religious,
they talk about free will, man's got a little spark, every man's
got a little bit of decency in him, but he's blinded by Satan
himself. Blinded, and that don't even
account for our personal fall and corruption. You see it? In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of what? Oh, these really bad people out
there, no. The drunks and the whores and the dopeheads, no.
Of them which believe not. That's all it takes. This believing
not lets me know, if I don't believe, if that's all, an unbeliever,
Satan's got me blinded. You see that? I may be the best
guy that ever walked town, but if I don't believe, I'm blinded
by Satan. You see it? Lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves. Now, I say this only as an example. I don't say this to be hypercritical,
although I am being critical, but I drive by, well, I drive
by many, several church buildings on the way to work every day,
but there's one in particular, they have a sign now, it's a
Baptist church, and it says, doing more in 24. doing more in 24. Who are they
preaching? They have a nice sign. It has their name on it, and
it has this, you know, the words scroll in bright neon, not neon,
but whatever it is, digital, whatever, and it scrolls nicely,
and they're talking not about who Christ is, but doing more
in 24. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. Now think of it, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth, there was this darkness,
right? Darkness, dust, and God said
what? Let there be light, and guess
what? There was light. Why? Because
God wasn't suggesting it. He wasn't offering it. He wasn't
proposing it. He was commanding it. Now, Paul
uses the reference of that for this. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our heart. The same sovereign power. It takes that to overcome the
blindness of the devil. You see it? Mm, for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, but only
in one place, in the face of Jesus Christ. But here then is
an astounding statement. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. God chose to use sinners to preach
to other sinners. He doesn't send down the unfallen
holy angels, does he? Now on occasion he has done that,
but that's not his normal modus operandi. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. And who's doing that preaching?
A sinner saved by grace. A sinner saved by grace. But
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? That the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on
every side. yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Do you see that? All right, now turn to 2 Corinthians
10. 2 Corinthians 10. And just so everyone knows, that
book is where you're already at if you were following along.
Just a few pages over. I'm gonna give you the statement
and then we'll read the words. This crushing is a warfare with
weapons which are mighty through God. We don't need human philosophy. We don't need emotional tricks.
And so-called Christian religion in our day is filled with it.
One of the big ones in my day, and I suppose it's still practiced
in some places, every head bowed, every eye closed. And everything
becomes so solemn. Now, if you're for sure, if you're
for sure as heaven, as if you've already there, please raise your
hand. And I've always, you know, when I was a little kid, I'd
look, I would, you know? Or, but now if you're not saved,
you know you're not saved, and if you want prayer, then you
raise your hand, you know? That's an emotional ploy. It's
never engaged in in the scriptures. One thing's engaged in, who's
on the Lord's side? You on the Lord's side, come
over here with God's people. Now, God's people, smite them. And how do we smite them? With
the truth of the gospel. Not with this, not with a sword,
not with a gun, not with legislation from the government, but just
the preaching of the gospel. Now, how can I say that? Now,
chapter 10, 2 Corinthians, now I, Paul, myself, beseech you,
I implore you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Remember,
Christ came and preached. He wasn't trying to force truth
upon them. But he did forcefully preach the truth to them. meekness
and gentleness of Christ who had presence and base among you
but being absent and bold toward you. But I beseech you that I
may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith
I think to be bold against some which think of us as though we
walked according to the flesh. Paul had his detractors even
in Corinth. Look. For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh. You see, it's not about
getting people to make decisions. It's about preaching Christ and
leaving the work up to the Spirit of God. When he has come, he
will reprove the world of sin, righteousness, judgment. That
ain't my job. My responsibility and your responsibility
is to give testimony to the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And somebody says, but that just leaves it all up in
the air. Oh no, it leaves it up to God almighty. You see it? We do not war after the flesh,
and then the parentheses, for the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to Christ's obedience. I'll paraphrase that, but to
the obedience of Now folks, that right there is
God crushing Satan under his people's feet. When God's people
preach the truth and a person is called out of darkness into
light, translated into the kingdom of God's dear son, they are bowed
down to the person and work of Jesus Christ, that is God crushing
Satan under our feet. All right, now turn to 2 Corinthians
2. 2 Corinthians 2. Remember, this peace is only
found in Christ's cross work. This crushing is only found when
God's people preach Christ, not themselves. This crushing is
a warfare with weapons mighty through God. Just preach the
gospel, pray. Pray, rely upon God Almighty
to get things done. But let us remember, in this
crushing, by this gospel warfare, it's a gospel warfare, not a
political Not an emotional, not a philosophical, not a psychological
warfare. It's just a gospel warfare. Preach,
preach, preach, preach. And this crushing by this gospel
warfare. Both foes, listen to me, both
foes and friends bring sweet smell to our God. By his people's
allegiance to and proclamation of the gospel of Christ, 2 Corinthians
2, And verse 12, furthermore, when I came to Troas, for what
reason? To preach Christ's gospel. Not to straighten out the community.
Not to try to lead the government in good Christian morals. It's
just to do what? Preach the gospel. You see it?
Preach Christ's gospel. And a door was opened unto me
of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit because
I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them,
I went thence into Macedonia. Look, now thanks be unto God,
which, and I wish I had the language, the English vocabulary to say
it the way I'd like to say it, but let's just read, now thanks
be unto God, which always causes us to triumph, but where? In Christ. You see it? And maketh manifest the savor
of the smell, that smell that comes up, you know? And I remember
what Tim James illustrated. He said, don't you love that
Gentile steak, that swine's flesh on that grill, that smell comes
up. He said, don't you love that? I mean, you drive by a restaurant,
and they're cooking, and that fan's pulling it out, and you
say, it makes you hungry, they don't care if you just eat. And
it's like, man. But you know, not everybody likes
that smell. Now do they? Not everybody likes
that smell. Now going on. and maketh manifest the savor
of his knowledge by us in every place. If we're preaching Christ,
that place has been told the truth. That person has been told
the truth. It's here, wrapped up in them
little wrinkles in their brain. It's there, ain't it? Now look,
for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. In them that are saved,
that's like a give me. But it's more than that, and
in them that perish. You see it? It's not up to us
to make results. That's the problem with Professor
Christianity today. They're trying to make the results
happen themselves. But the problem is they're not
even preaching Christ when they claim to preach Christ. They're
preaching another Jesus and another spirit. For we are unto God a
sweet saver of Christ and them that are saved and them that
perish to the one we're a saver of death unto death. And to the other, a savor of
life unto life. And in light of that, look at
this next phrase, and I'll stop with it, on this point. And who
is sufficient for these things? The answer is rhetorical, nobody.
Nobody. But remember, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency, the power may be
of God. This is the most ridiculous thing
to the flesh. of people traveling on a Sunday,
maybe a Sunday night, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, a Thursday evening,
and coming and gathering together, and just hear a man get up and
speak from the Bible about the person of Jesus. That's the most
ridiculous thing to the flesh that you ever did see. But that's
how God's been pleased to save sinners. Or by individual going
to work, and by God's providence, a conversation strikes up, and
the next thing you know, you're telling somebody about what Christ
did for you. And God lays hold of them. God lays hold of him. To the one we're a saver of death
unto death, and to the other, a saver of life unto life, but
remember, both are a sweet smell to God. Because God's not up
there, as the one preacher said, leaning over the banishers of
heaven just saying, oh, will somebody let me have my way with
them? No, no, mm-mm, no. Now in summary, turn to Matthew
10. Now again, have him preach what
I've just preached, My flesh says, well, boy, if you just
preach Christ, then great results is gonna happen. Well, if I'm
only preaching to dead people, and they remain dead, guess what's
gonna happen? There's gonna be death and a death. Just like
Noah for 120 years. 120 years. And I sat around and
barely could play. Did I say Moses? Or Noah, Noah's who I was talking
about. I might have said Moses. Noah, Noah didn't even have a
TV broadcast, or internet. Really? Hmm. 2 Corinthians, or
no, I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 10. Now let me give you the summary
of this. We'll sum it up. This is never God's people. No. This never vindicates God's people
in this world by the world. That's what we preach Christ.
Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach Christ.
They're not going to say, the hand of God rests on those people.
They're gonna say, there's a bunch of nuts. They're gonna walk into
this building as an individual actually did walk in and their
only statement was, how quaint. Okay, maybe the building is quaint,
but we preaching someone in this building that ain't quaint. He's
the creator of heaven and earth, you know? And somebody said,
well, you know, our congregation's little and the other preachers,
my congregation's small and little. And he says, your God's small
and little? No, no. Remember, yes, there were times
when thousands were saved at one time, but there's also times
when our Lord would make a trek 25 to 30 miles just to meet up
with one individual person. that glorified God just as much
as the 3,000 or the 5,000. When our Lord said, when one
sinner repents, there's joy in heaven. Just one, just one. All right, now listen. Now here,
here, H-E-A-R, here are sweet Redeemer's instruction as to
this very subject itself. Romans 10, and this is beginning
in verse 16. Pardon me. Matthew, Matthew, what'd I say?
Matthew 10, verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of what? Wolves. Be ye therefore wise
as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will
deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in
their synagogues. They'll even fight you right
in the middle of church. They'll fight you right in the
middle of church. And you shall be brought before governors and
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you
shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what
you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak,
but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you. That's
why, Paul, there's more than you could chew. but it ain't
more than God can chew. God will enable his vessels to
do his business. Stuttering and stammering don't
matter. That's not the point. And brother shall deliver up
brother to death. And father of the child, the
children rise up against their parents and cause them to be
put to death. And this is not, folks, this is not just the general
everyday morass of corruption we see on the news all the time
about humanity. These are religious people. This
is about people that believe in God. And when they hear the
truth, it's like, no, no, no. And ye shall be what? Hated.
This is what happens when you preach the truth. It's what happens
when you, beware when all men speak well of you, right? If
this whole community said, well, that's Sovereign Grace Chapel,
they're just on fire for the Lord. They ain't never said that
about us. Even when we had a whole building full at one time, they
never did say those folks were on fire for the Lord. We can't
even get the neighbors to come. And they live 15 feet away. And
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that
endureth unto the end shall be saved. You don't give up, you
don't quit. I don't care how, even if you
fall flat on your face, don't give up, don't give up, don't
give up. But when they persecute you in
this city, it doesn't say, well, I'm gonna preach the gospel,
God appeased, I'll crush Satan under my feet. The best thing
may be to ski down on the moon somewhere else. Isn't that what
he says? But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into
another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over
the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. And I don't
have time to deal with that. The disciple is not above his
master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the
disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.
If they have called the master the house of Beelzebub, how much
more shall they call them of his household? But here it is. Fear them not, therefore. For
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. And what ye hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops. And here it is, we'll wind it
up with this. And fear not them which kill
the body. What if they kill us? What have
they done for us? a favor, they've sent us to glory. I could kind of see that, maybe
God crushing Satan under our feet too, didn't you? I'll just
kill him and I'll say, there's the Lord. Yet I don't always think that. Get a little upset when somebody
gets upset with me about the gospel, huh? And fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to what? Kill the soul. But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Your father loves
you. That's what he basically, he
cares for you. He even numbers, he knows, he numbers the hairs
of your head. If tomorrow, if I got 50 and
I'm supposed to have 48 tomorrow, two of them will fall out. Heavenly Father, God encourage
us. This world we live in is in such
a shape, in such a shape. And Lord, maybe it's simply because
we're so much aware of it. Now with all the technology,
we know this world's always been in such a shape, but God strengthen
us for the time that we have here. May it be that our hearts
and minds are stayed upon Christ and that our allegiance is to
him and his gospel. In Christ's name, amen.