Larry just read in Psalm 72 verse
18, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth
wondrous things. Everything God does in providence
and in grace, in judgment and in mercy is wondrous. Our God is God who only doeth
wondrous things. Tonight, I want to talk to you
about God's wise use and overthrow of Satan. God's wise use and
overthrow of Satan. This is the seventh in this brief
series on the manifold wisdom of God. We will begin in the
third chapter of Genesis. While you're turning, let me
make a few statements. Satan is an exceeding subtle
and crafty enemy. His power is such that you and
I cannot even begin to imagine what the strength and ability
of the old serpent is. Though we exercise the greatest
caution, reason, and wisdom we can muster, the old serpent is
too sly for us. We cannot match wits with the
prince of darkness. And though we stand against him
with all the united moral and spiritual strength of our renewed
souls, we're no match for the seven-headed, ten-horned wretch
of hell. Satan is a foe you don't want
to face. Every time you do, you will come
away from the conflict in shameful disgrace. Let's learn, rather,
to follow the example of our Savior as it is described by
Jude in Jude, verse 9. Michael, the archangel, The Lord
Jesus is Michael, the archangel, the angel of the covenant, the
messenger of Jehovah. When contending with the devil,
he disputed about the body of Moses. Durst not bring against
him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee. We are living in strange days. People everywhere, young and
old, Dabble in the occult some with great interest some as a
passing amusement I know people laugh at witchcraft and sorcery
and demonism I know that religious people like to study such things
and think that it's D deep stuff We're getting into deep things
now one of the most popular studies when I was in college and I found
it to be so wherever young men were going to Bible college or
seminary was demonology. Demonology, a study folks love
to get into. Understand something. Satan and
the powers of hell are real. I urge you, young and old alike,
don't fool with witchcraft and sorcery and the matter of demonism. I mean by that all the notions
of horoscopes and telling the future and all those things.
It's just witchcraft. Much of it's pretense. I know
that much of it just making money off people. But it is nothing
on this earth but toying with the powers of darkness. Don't
be a fool. Leave those things alone. You're
no match for the wiles of the devil, and I'm not either. The
old serpent is too crafty for us. Apollyon is too powerful
for us, but blessed be his name. He is no match to God. He is
no rival to God, our savior. Christ Jesus came into the world
that he might destroy, overturn, frustrate, and ruin the works
of the devil. And that which he came to do,
he has done, is doing, and shall hereafter do. Have you found
Genesis chapter 3? Genesis chapter 3. I want us
to look at this first text, but I want you to look at four texts
of scripture with me, and then I'll give you my message. Four
texts of scripture. First is here in Genesis 3.15.
This is the first gospel message. It is preached by God himself.
I have no doubt that it was preached in the hearing of our first parents,
but it is a mistake to say that it was preached to them. The
message was preached to Satan himself. Genesis 3 verse 15. I will put enmity between thee
and the woman. I will put enmity, hatred, war,
strife, constant battling between thee and the woman and between
thy seed and her seed. Enmity between the woman's seed
and all the serpent's seed. The woman's seed singular being
the Lord Jesus Christ and the woman's seed singular being all
the seed of God's elect in Jesus Christ the Redeemer. God says
I will put enmity permanently Between the reprobate and the
elect of this world between the children of the devil and the
children of God in this world It that is the woman seed the
Lord Jesus Christ shall bruise thy head When you bruise a man's
head, he's dead Christ shall crush the serpent's head And
in the process, thou shalt bruise his heel. Turn to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. Our Lord Jesus
here speaks about his own death upon the cursed tree. John the
12th chapter and verse 31. The Lord Jesus, anticipating his
sacrifice at Calvary, says now is the judgment of this world. That word judgment might be translated
many ways. Perhaps our Lord is referring
to the judgment of his elect in his sacrifice by which he
put away the wrath of God and ended judgment for us. Perhaps
the Lord is saying this is the judgment by which the world is
condemned. But probably in this passage,
our savior is saying now is the crisis, the turning point, the
hinge of the world. You go to the hospital and someone's
very sick and you ask the doctor, what's the prognosis? And he
may say, may say the next few hours is a matter of crisis. These are the critical hours.
If things go well now, everything will be all right. If not, there's
no hope. This is the crisis of the world. This is the critical hour. This
is the hinge upon which everything turns. The death of our Redeemer
is the hinge of history. Everything turns upon this thing
for which God created the world in the beginning. Now is the
judgment of the world. Now, now shall the prince of
this world be cast out. Now shall the prince of darkness
be cast out. All right, turn to Revelation
chapter 20. Revelation the 20th chapter. Here God the Holy Ghost tells
us that the purpose of Christ's incarnation was for the overthrow
of Satan in the accomplishment of redemption for his people.
The purpose for our Savior's incarnation was for the overthrow
of Satan in the accomplishment of our redemption. Revelation
20, verse 1. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven. That angel is Christ the Lord,
Michael the archangel, the angel of the covenant. I saw an angel
come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan and bound him
a thousand years. Now, let me help you with that
term a thousand years as it's used here in Revelation 20. If
you could read the words in the Greek text, there is no such
thing as singular when you speak of the word, use the word thousand.
It is always given in the plural. I know that. We live in this
part of the world where folks have been duped with Schofield
reference Bibles and the dispensational theology that says when Christ
comes the second time after the Great Tribulation and sets up
his millennial kingdom in Israel and God returns to the worship
on a Jewish altar in a Jewish temple with a Jewish priesthood,
there's going to be a thousand years and then Christ is going
to come again and that's going to be the end of things. All
of that is just the dreams that men have concocted. Nowhere is
such a thing indicated in the word of God. When the scripture
says Satan is bound a thousand years, the next verse says, and
when the thousand years is finished, he will be loosed for a little
season. The word is this. He came and he bound Satan for
thousands of years. We have no idea how long this
period shall last. When our Lord Jesus said, now
is the prince of this world cast out, he's talking about the binding
of Satan by his sacrifice. So that Satan was no longer allowed
to deceive the nations of the world. Before this, the gospel
was sent only to the Jews. Only the Jewish people had the
word and revelation of God. Satan covered the whole world
with a darkness of religious superstition. And then at the
end of the age, at the end of these thousands of years, at
the end of this gospel age, he shall be loosed for a little
season. I fear we may be in that little season, and I fear it
for this reason, because the nations of the world are again
deceived with the blindness of religious superstition and idolatry. Most everybody. Most everybody. Satan turned loose upon men. Oh my soul. What's the result? Listen to religion and read the
newspaper and you'll find out. Look at Revelation chapter 20
verse 10. And the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone when this thousands
of years period and this little season are ended. The devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where
the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day
and night forever. That's what Satan's end is. That's what his end is. Now turn
back a few pages to chapter 12, Revelation, the 12th chapter. In verses 7 through 10, we have
a declaration of our salvation accomplished by Christ by him
overthrowing the dragon of hell, the old serpent, the devil. Verse
7, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels Christ
and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought
and his angels and prevailed not And prevailed not He didn't have
his way He didn't succeed He didn't win not a thing and prevailed
not Neither was their place found anymore in heaven first night
And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called
the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast
out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. I don't
know. I don't know. I have no idea. Perhaps though, this is that
which calls the great chaos that took place between Genesis one,
one and one, two, he was cast out and his angels cast out with
him. Verse 10, And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night. Now, these four texts of scripture
Show us that in order for Christ to accomplish our eternal salvation
Our adversary the devil had to be conquered in order to save
us Christ had to redeem us from the curse of the law renew us
by the power of his grace and Deliver us from the power of
Satan in Matthew chapter 12. You'll remember our Lord Describes
in his parable how that a strong man is bound The way you handle
a strongman and spoil his house is you enter into the strongman's
house. You bind the strongman and cast
him out and you spoil his house. The Lord Jesus Christ, in his
incarnation, by his work of redemption, entered into the strongman's
house. He bound Satan and cast him out. In his work of regeneration,
he enters into the strongman's house. He enters into the hearts
of chosen, redeemed sinners, binds Satan, casts him out, and
enthrones himself. and thus spoils his house. And
at last, in resurrection glory, our Lord will once again enter
into Satan's domain, bind the strong man and cast him out and
thus will spoil his goods so that everything in this world
that has been influenced by Satan shall yet redound to his praise,
his honor, and his glory. I want you to see the wisdom
and power of our God in using and overthrowing Satan by our
Redeemer. Our great, gracious, all-wise
God in the work of redemption baffled Satan's subtlety and
power. Though Satan and the demons of
hell are united in their purpose to frustrate God's purpose to
glorify himself in saving his people from their sins. God,
by infinite wisdom and sovereign power, sovereignly forces those
hellish creatures to serve the interest of his kingdom and his
glory. He sovereignly forces his most
implacable enemies to serve his interest absolutely, the interest
of his kingdom and of his glory. And he does this by the use of
what would appear to be the most insignificant, weak, and corruptible
means imaginable. Our great God chose to encounter
Satan in the weak frail nature of humanity. God chose to encounter
Satan in our nature and thus the Lord Jesus came into the
world made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. At your leisure I suggest you
go back and read 1 Samuel chapter 17. A marvelous picture of what
I'm talking about. Goliath has come out to taunt
the children of Israel and mock the God of Israel. And everybody's
scared to death of Goliath. And as he is the representative
of the Philistines, everybody's terrified. The Philistines are
now going to conquer Israel. God has left us helpless. And
David comes to visit his brothers and see how they're doing. And
his brothers in their scorn looked at David and said, you come out
here just to be nosy. And David, he said, what about
this Philistine out here? How come nobody shut him up?
He's mocking the God of Israel. And his brothers said, no, nobody
go match him. David said, I will. I will. And so they finally took him
to Saul and Saul said, well, OK, if you want to give it a
shot, go ahead. And Saul, now remember, David was just Little
fella is 16 years old. Maybe 17 years old not a big
fella at all Saul was head and shoulders above everybody Saul
said well son if you're gonna go out there and get killed at
least wear my armor and he put his armor on him and I can just
picture David I Can't go in this and it takes
all his armor off and he chooses five smooth stones and a sling
and it goes out to meet Goliath in Goliath boxing Laughs at him
and blasphemes God. He said am I a dog? I can almost
hear David say you said it and my dog you come out here against
me with a staff and stones and a sling and Goliath starts to
rush toward him David said I've come against you in the name
of the Lord God of Israel and it whirled his sling and Popped
him right between the eyes and that giant fell down to the ground
Remember David had no sword So he puts his foot on Goliath's
waist and pulls out Goliath's sword and cuts off his head with
his own sword. That's the work of our Redeemer.
He chose to conquer Satan, to overthrow Satan in the weakest
manner possible using his own devices. He came here in human
flesh and thus destroyed the serpent. Our Lord Jesus was made
a man, the woman seen. that the woman's seed might conquer
the fiend of hell. And he did it in the weak condition
of manhood with no supernatural assistance. But pastor, the angels
came and ministered to him, but they didn't help him. They didn't
give him any strength. They didn't secure him from any
temptation, any trial. They came and ministered to him
when he had been through 40 days in the wilderness fasting and
through the temptations in the wilderness. But he went through
the temptations and foiled Satan alone. And the angels of God
in no way assisted him when they died upon the cursed tree to
accomplish our redemption. Our Lord Jesus did this work
in our humanity. Second, the Lord Jesus triumphed
over Satan. by his death upon the cross,
again, the most unlikely of means. When he blotted out our transgressions,
the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, he spoiled
the devil. Turn to Colossians chapter 2,
Colossians 2. That which appeared to all the
world to be the defeat, the shame,
and the ignominy of Jesus of Nazareth, his execution as a
common felon. And if that at all ruin everything,
that'll ruin everything. Should should Don Fortner be
put to death for murder, though he is altogether innocent of
the crime that stands forever a mar upon his name. and a mar
upon his family. The Lord Jesus was put to death
as a common felon by which Satan endeavors to utterly destroy
any possibility of his exaltation and praise and worship. But by
this very means, Satan chose to destroy the Savior. The Savior destroyed him. and
destroyed his influence forever among God's elect. The blood
of Christ, which Satan spilled by Roman whips, nails, and a
spear, is the chain our Savior used in his hand to bind the
old serpent a thousand years. Colossians 2 14. blotting out
the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. He fulfilled all righteousness
and all satisfaction and nailed the law to his cross, that which
cursed us. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in his cross. Here's the third thing. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The son of God continues to this
day to overthrow the prince of darkness by using men who were once his willing servants
to proclaim the gospel of God's free grace. Oh, what a marvel. What a marvel.
First Corinthians chapter one, verse 24 under them, which are
called the preaching of the gospel to those who are called both
Jews and Greeks. Christ is the power of God and
the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than
men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling brethren.
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. Now, wait a minute. The
man who is writing this very sentence is the apostle Paul,
formerly Saul of Tarsus, who probably, probably, One of the
most brilliant minds ever to walk on the top side of God's
earth. Brilliant. But remember Saul's
training. He was trained as a Jew at the
feet of Gamaliel. Do you know how much credibility
that would give him in the Gentile world? That would be kind of
like me going to Texas A&M University and applying for a job to teach
nuclear physics. And I had my credentials because
I went to school studying under a witch doctor in the middle
of Africa. It'll catch you there, but you need to be locked up.
We're not going to pay attention to anything like that. To be
trained at the feet of Gamaliel was to be trained in the learning
of the Jews, which the Gentiles utterly, completely despised. Nobody in the Gentile world referenced
Gamaliel for anything. Paul was looked upon with utter
contempt as an ignorant man among the Gentiles. Read on. Read on. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
A while back I was preaching in Florida for Brother Greg Elmquist
and the congregation there. The bathroom where I was staying
at Greg's house, they just had a new shower thing installed,
all fine stonework. My friend, Brother Eugene, this
student, had come down there and done the work for him. He's
a stonemason. And Greg told me when he came down, said he's
a stonemason. Greg's a pretty good carpenter
and does a lot of work and stuff. And Greg said to him, said, no
need to bring your tools. I've got tools. And Eugene said,
I don't mean to offend you, but I'll use my own tools. He said,
I couldn't contribute anything. He wouldn't even use my tools.
Hear me, if God uses me or God uses you, he won't even use your
tools. He won't use anything you've
got that might appear to men to be a good reason why God ought
to use you. He takes that which is foolishness,
that which is weak, that which is nothing, to confound the mighty,
the wise, and the things that are, and he does it that no flesh
should glory in his presence. Do you see how our God holds
our enemy in utter contempt? He not only defeats Satan at
every turn, but he defeats the prince of darkness by using those
who were once his willing servants, so that he uses Satan's own hands
to bloody his nose and crush his head. And he does it with
ease. When Will was just a little fellow,
I would box with him, like grandpas do with their grandsons. And
sometimes I'd take his hands, grab him by both wrists, and
I'd say, now, son, don't hit yourself. Don't hit yourself. And I punched him in the nose,
not to hurt him, just tap him in the nose. Don't do that again.
So don't hit yourself and hit him again. Do you know how easy
that was for this? I guess that time about probably
350 pounds. Take that little shaver and punch
him in the nose. But I didn't break any sweat
doing it. God bloodies Satan's nose and crushes his head with
greater ease. He is absolutely sovereign. He
does this with the ease of infinite wisdom, omnipotent power and
total sovereignty. I'm stressing this. I want you
to see that those Satan is too great for us. He is no rival
to our God, though he hates God. He is God's devil and God's servant. And God defeats him at every
turn with his own weapons. God has so arranged the work
of redemption. that our adversary, the devil,
is made the means of his own destruction. And those very things
by which the devil endeavors to rob God of his glory and destroy
our souls are made instruments in God's hand to glorify himself
and save his elect. The devil's most subtle, powerful
designs are made the means of his overthrow by the wisdom of
God. Now let me show you five clear
pictures of this. Five things. Five things. I won't
be long, I promise. Five things Satan accomplished. Five things Satan did by which
he endeavored to rob God of his glory and destroy all mankind. Five works of the devil. God
uses to glorify himself and save his elect. Here, indeed, is the
manifold wisdom of God. Number one, the fall of Adam. Turn back to Genesis chapter
three. Genesis chapter three. Now, the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, the serpent said to the woman, yay, half
God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And
the woman said into the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree, which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of
it. Neither shall you touch it lest you die. And the serpent
said into the woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both
were opened, And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed
fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and began to
hide from God. Satan instigated the fall. His
aim was the destruction of man and thereby the destruction of
God's elect and the frustration of God's purpose. And he succeeded
in destroying multitudes, multitudes destroyed by him. But he hasn't
frustrated God's purpose, and he hasn't destroyed one of God's
elect, and those he has destroyed shall be his everlasting aggravation
in hell, tormenting him himself. What Satan did in tempting man
to fall was exactly the opposite of what he intended. God overthrew
his designs. When Satan caused the fall of
our race in Adam, he gave God occasion to glorify himself in
saving our souls, in redeeming fallen man. He gave opportunity
for God's elect to enjoy greater happiness, greater bliss, greater
life than they could ever have known otherwise. Satan sought
to ruin manhood by the fall, but God turned the fall into
an occasion for the exaltation of manhood. Isn't that wonderful? God turned his devices against
him. Satan tempted Adam and Eve to
eat the forbidden fruit, promising if you do, you will become as
God, knowing good and evil. It was a lie in his mouth. But
look what God did in response to Satan's work. Because of the
fall, God became a man to crush the serpent's head and save fallen
men. Because of the fall, Man has
been united to God in the person of his son, in the experience
of adoption of which no comparison can be made in the world. We
are really one with the son of God. Because of the fall, fallen
sinners have been made like Christ. For as he is, so are we in this
world. And because of the fall, man,
instead of becoming Satan's slave, has been made his judge. 1 Corinthians
6, 3 declares that we shall judge the angels. so that man now is
given a position of exaltation above the heavenly creatures
called angels above Satan, that one who fell from heaven. Satan
sought to frustrate God's purpose. He sought to rob God of his glory
by the fall of man. But he was an instrument in the
hands of God to fulfill his purpose and get glory to himself. It
was the purpose of God from eternity that his son become a man to
suffer and die for sinners. It was the purpose of God from
eternity that his elect enjoy the nearest possible eternal
union with him in heaven. And it was the purpose of God
from eternity to glorify himself in redeeming sinners from the
fall. Though Satan refused to minister
to those whom God had chosen to be the heirs of salvation. You remember the angels? Are
they not? Created to be ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation
Satan despised that thought he refused to do it, but his refusal
meant nothing He served just as God had created him to serve
number two Turn to Luke chapter 22 Luke 22 First God uses the fall, which Satan
calls to overthrow his purpose. Second, he used the death of
Christ. Luke 22, verse three. How is it the son of God came
to be crucified? Now understand, don't forget,
he's absolute sovereign. He said, I laid down my life,
no man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down,
have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
in my father. But also remember that he was put to death by the
hands of wicked men. The scripture plainly says so.
And he was put to death by the work of Satan. Let's see if that's
not so. Luke chapter 22, verse 3. Then
Satan, then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being
of the number of the 12. Verse 53, the Savior says, when
I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands
against me. But this is your hour and the
power of darkness. Satan set himself against the
Lord Jesus the woman's child as soon as he was born We read
about it in Revelation chapter 12 and we read about it in the
Gospels Herod by Satan's instigation Tried to kill it the Jews repeatedly
tried to stone him the scribes and Pharisees Constantly tried
to trap him, but none could touch him He said because mine hour
is not yet come Over and over and over again. He says the hour
is not yet come The hour is not yet come the hour is not yet
come and then he said mine hour is not yet come But this he says
is your hour This is the hour of the power of darkness What
an hour it was It was the hour of man's free will Pilot delivered Jesus to their
will And man, when he exercises his will, when he's given one
opportunity to exercise his will with no limit, with no restraint,
man takes God and hangs him on a tree. This was the hour of
Satan's power. This was done by Satan's instigation. And this is the hour of Christ's
glory and the hour of our redemption when our Satan succeeded in nailing
the Lord Jesus to the cursed tree. Look at that passage We
looked at earlier in John 12 John chapter 12 when he succeeded
in nailing the Savior to the cursed tree He overthrew his
own kingdom John 12 31 Now is the judgment of this world Now
shall the prince of this world be cast out and I if I'd be lifted
up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying
what death he should die. Satan, by having the Son of God
nailed to the tree, overthrew his own kingdom, so that the
Savior, lifted up upon the tree, draws chosen sinners throughout
all the world unto himself. Jonathan Edwards put it this
way. The cross was the devil's own weapon, With this weapon
he was overthrown as David cut off Goliath's head with his own
sword Back in the 14th chapter of Judges. There's a story about
Samson he went down to Timnath and on his way down to Timnath
a lion roared against him and Samson slew the lion and on his
way back he saw the carcass of the lion and bees had come and
made a Made a hive right there in the lion's carcass. And he
stopped and got some honey and it was sweet. And he carried
some honey to his family and his mother and his father ate
of that honey. And Samson gave this riddle. Out of the eater
came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness. That's a picture of our redemption
by Christ our Lord. Number three, Revelation chapter
12. Revelation chapter 12 verse 13 And when the dragon saw that
he was cast unto the earth He persecuted the woman which is
brought forth Which brought forth the manchild? the persecutions
of God's Church This too is the work of Satan by which God overthrows
him, uses him and overthrows him. Religious persecution, though
it is executed in the name of God, is instigated by the devil. By means of the sword, the old
serpent has endeavored to destroy God's church in this world. But
Satan's persecution has always been overthrown by God. And his persecution has always
been made a means of the church's increase. Joseph, I remind you
again, was sold into slavery by his brethren. You got to look
at it and say, why did those fellows hate Joseph? What did
Joseph do? They hated him for just one reason.
They were green with envy, Frank, because they couldn't be Joseph.
That's all they just they hated him cause he was Joseph and they
sold him into slavery Hoping to be rid of him, but God put
him on the throne for the saving of his church Israel was in Egypt
for 400 years and there arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph
and the children of Israel were oppressed and they were given
hard taskmasters and they were beaten and the more they were
oppressed the scripture tells us they increased and and multiplied
and filled the land. Saul hated David. Oh, he hated David. He tried
to kill him over and over again. Why? What did David do? Find me anything David ever even
said against Saul. Why on earth was he so full of
hatred? Because he was green with envy. He couldn't be David. That's
all. That's all. And Saul tried over and over
again to kill him. But all of Saul's persecutions
only caused God's people to rally to David. The church in Jerusalem
was persecuted miserably in Acts chapter 11. And the scripture
tells us they went everywhere preaching the gospel. And wherever
they went, God called out his elect and established his kingdom
and multiplied his people in the earth. Now, we have reason
to be thankful in these days, at least in the Western world,
physical persecution is not something we presently have to fear. But
don't ever imagine that the malice of the persecutor has changed.
The persecutors simply don't have the power to do what they
want to do. If they did, they would do the
same thing you've been reading about in that old past. Instead
of the sword, Persecution now comes from slander, ridicule,
social isolation, and vindictiveness. But we have nothing to fear.
Turn to Psalm 57. I want you to see this. Psalm
57. Neither Satan nor those who are
inspired by Satan have any power to injure God's church, hinder
God's work, or hurt God's saints at all, try as they may. God's enemies and ours are taken
in the pit they have dug. The pit they've dug for us. Psalm
57 verse 6. They prepared a net for my steps. They're watching you. They're
watching you. They want to get something on
you. They want to catch you some way or another so they can mar
your name and thereby mar the gospel of God's grace. My soul
is bowed down. Don't ever imagine it's easy.
No, no. My soul's bowed down. They have
digged a pit before me. Now watch this. Into the midst
whereof they are fallen themselves. Now stop and think about that
a good long while. Stop and think about that a good
long while. Back years ago, when I was pastoring in West Virginia,
there was a Bible college close by, less than 30 miles from us.
It's over where Brother Larry Chris is from, called Appalachian
Bible College. And some folks there, some of
the young men and women both began to somehow hear me on the
radio, got some of our tapes. I don't really know how the contact
was originally made. And several of them started coming
to services. and making that drive every Sunday
morning, and we didn't have any place to take them to go eat
with them, so Shelby had them for dinner every Sunday. And
words started getting around campus. Now, students at Appalachian
Bible College could go to church anywhere they chose. There was
no ban of any kind. They wanted to go to Southern
Baptist Church or an Independent Baptist Church or Pentecostal
Church, or I guess they wanted to go to Catholic Church or Muslim
Mosque. They could go anywhere they wanted to, no ban of any
kind. Until they started coming to hear your pastor preach and
the next semester they had a band There's one church in the world.
You can't attend That's the only one and the number increased
from about six to thirty and we continue to have them for
dinner every Sunday God always Takes the pit folks dig for his
church and it traps them with their own pit Hear me my friends
if we are God's people doing God's work, for God's glory,
for the honor of God's Son, doing His will, Satan can't destroy
us. Satan can't hinder us. And whatever he does to oppose
us will be turned by God into that which will benefit us. But
doesn't he sow tares among the wheat? Yes, but the tares never
cause the wheat to become tares. Doesn't he put his goats among
the sheep? Yes, he always does. But the
goats never do anything to harm the sheep. God always orders
all things, even the craftiness of Satan for the good of his
people. Number four. First Corinthians,
Chapter 11, verse 19. Heresy. The heresies that arise
in the church. Throughout history, God's church
has been constantly assaulted by Satan with heresy. When his
sword couldn't be used to destroy it, heresy is planted. He craftily, subtly seeks to
keep men from the knowledge of God by giving them the delusions
of false religion. He seeks to keep men from Christ
by giving them a false Christ. He seeks to keep men from the
gospel by feeding them with a false gospel. And the heresies promoted
by Satan are heresies that always exalt the power, goodness, and
dignity of man. They always diminish the glory
of God. They always promote freewill
works, legalistic religion, and they always detract in some way
or other from the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now look what God says about them. First Corinthians 11 verse
19. There must be also heresies among
you. There must be. There must be.
How come? Why, Mark Henson, does God say
there must be heresies among you? That they which are approved
may be made manifest among you. By these things, God separates
the tares from the wheat and the goats from the sheep. Now
hear what I say. I want you to get these three
statements. Nothing is more dangerous to your soul than false religion. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. Dogs
refers to male prostitutes. And Paul, by divine inspiration,
uses that word to describe false prophets, dogs, men who prostitute
the gospel for themselves. Beware of the concision. Beware of the concision. Those
men who teach you that by something you deprive yourself of, you
make yourself righteous. Beware of evil workers, promoters
of works righteousness. Nothing is more dangerous to
your soul than false religion. Second, false religion will never
destroy one of God's elect. It will never destroy one of
God's elect. I don't suggest by any means that we should exercise
tolerance and restraint, refrain from speaking against false religion.
You know better than that. But I am fully confident and
declare to you with the authority of this book, false religion
will never harm one of God's elect. It will never destroy
one. The only thing, thirdly, that
keeps you and me from being engulfed in false religion is God's free
grace. Oh, how we ought to thank God
that we do not live any longer in the blindness of freewill
works religion on our way to hell, singing blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. We're bound to give thanks all
way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. One last thing, turn to
Job chapter 2. The trials of God's elect. Job 2 verse 7. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. Job had come with the angels
of God to make a report to God. And when he leaves, he goes from
the presence of the Lord by God's order. And he smoked Job with
boils, sore boils all over his body. Why? Why? Because God intended. God purposed through his trials
to make Job shine in the knowledge of God and in the blessedness
of his grace. And when the trials were over,
Job was a better man for it and gave praise to God. So shall
it be with you, my brother, my sister, for our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. When you think about Satan, that
roaring lion, always remember how he's pictured by Bunyan in
Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan describes Pilgrim on his
way up to the Celestial City, and as he's making his way up
the road, it's a dark, dark path. But he's got to stay on the road.
There's no other way to glory. And he hears a lion roar. And
he's terrified. He's terrified. But he's got
to go on. So he goes a little further.
And the lion's roar is even more terrible. And he's more terrified.
But he can't go back. He's got to go on. And so he
goes a little further. And he hears the lion roar. But
then he sees him on either side of the path. And the lion is
roaring and pawing at him, just a horrible black lion roaring
and pawing at him. And Bunyan looks a little closer
and he sees the lion is on a chain and he has no claws and no fangs. All he can do is roar. Oh, my soul, be at ease. Satan will do us no harm. Satan will do us no harm, but
rather God uses him and overthrows his designs at every turn for
our everlasting good. Amen.