in our Savior in which to rejoice.
That last verse we sang, he rules the world with truth and grace. And listen now, he makes the
nations prove his righteousness and the wonders of his love. He'll see to it. He'll see to
it. Our Lord would have us rejoice. One of the good things about
this season of the year. I realize there's much evil connected
with this holiday season, but one of the good things about
it is there is a little joy promoted. We sing joy to the world. We
sometimes sing, "'Tis the season to be jolly." That's all right,
too. God Almighty commands us, rejoice in the Lord. Those who
believe God are described as those who rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. Now this joy, not joy
I'm talking about, true joy, spiritual joy, the joy in believing,
is joy that's in Christ Jesus the Lord. It arises from and
is found in him, who he is, what is done. It arises from the knowledge
and experience of his grace. It is not a giddy, flippy, happy,
flippant happiness, but rather, it's joy. Joy by which we live. And we ought always to rejoice. And yet, the admonition, rejoice
in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, is an admonition
that needs to be tempered. The temper is this, rejoice in
the Lord. God give us wisdom and grace
not to find our joy in the temporary things of this world, and God
give us wisdom and grace not to be deluded with the false
joy of false religious experience, and God give us wisdom and grace
not to find our joy in our experiences even in God's true grace, but
rather in our redeemer. Let me show you what I mean.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 10. We have a good example of
what I'm talking about. The Lord Jesus had sent out his
70 disciples preaching. They'd gone from city to city
into the places where he was determined to come in his grace,
where he would come and show his power. And they preached
the gospel, preached the kingdom of God has come near you. And now they've returned. And
they returned with exuberant joy. They were elated. You can imagine as they went
out, the Lord sent them out. He said, I'm sending you a sheep
in the midst of wolves. He said, I'm sending you out
to people, some of whom are going to hear you, but the vast majority
of them are going to just ask you, if you won't kindly leave
them alone. You're going to find that men will reject you and
despise you and deliver you up to prison. They'll persecute
you, your own family will be against you, and they'll think
they're doing God's service when they throw you out of the house
of God. And then they return. When they came back, they were
just astounded. They were exuberant. Try to get the picture of these
fellows coming back. They say in verse 17, the seven returned
again with joy. And they said, Lord, Even the
devils are subject to us. We went out preaching your kingdom,
and we knew you gave us special commission and special power,
and you were with us, and we knew that we were your ambassadors
and your representatives, but Lord, we never expected this.
The devils are subject to us through thy name. Verse 18, and
he said to them, I beheld Satan as lightning falls from heaven.
Now, that seems to me, as I read it in the context, to say, now
fellas, settle down a little bit. Remember who you're talking
to. I beheld Satan fall as lightning
from heaven. This is no strange thing. This
is no phenomenal thing. This is no extraordinary thing.
Extraordinary in observation. Extraordinary in your experience. Yes, but you ought to have expected
this. I'm the one who sent you out.
And your joy ought not be found in the fact that you have experienced
Satan and the powers of hell being subject to you. Look at
me now. I beheld Satan fall as lightning
from heaven. Verse 19. Behold, I give unto
you power, authority, ability, strength, to tread on serpents
and scorpions and over the power, all the power of the enemy. I give you power over serpents
and scorpions and I give you power over all the power of hell,
over all the power of Satan. Wow. I give you this power and
nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice
not. Don't rejoice because the devils
are subject to you. Don't rejoice because I've given
you power to tread over serpents and scorpions. Don't rejoice
because I've given you power to fix it so that all your enemies
in hell or in earth can never hurt you. But rather rejoice
in this. Rejoice not in this, that the
spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your
names are written in heaven. Now, there are four lessons about
four things very important for us to learn in these verses.
First lesson is about pride. Oh, pride. I was talking to Betty and David,
someone else at the services one night, Last week I was Sunday
or Tuesday and a comment was made. I used to have a struggle
with religion and works and all that stuff. And I said, hang
on, honey, it's still there. You still struggle with it. And
pride, oh, what a horrible monster this thing is. That which God
hates most, we cherish most. That's our nature. That which
is most abhorrent to God, we most promote in ourselves, in
one another, and in our children. God, forgive us our foolishness.
Here's the lesson. We are all far too easily and
far too quickly puffed up with pride. And believe me, I'm not
preaching at you. I'm preaching at me and to me,
and I hope you can listen in. We ought not blame these disciples
too much. We ought not judge them too severely
for their excitement and joy. After all, who would not be elated
at such experiences? You go out and preach. You observe
what men look at and say, man, that's success. Folks heard what
he was saying. The devils came out of these
men. Lives were changed. Men possessed
of devils were dispossessed. Satan's throne overturned in
the hearts of men. Multitudes converted. And yet
the report that these men made to the master and the master's
response to them seems to suggest that their joy on this particular
occasion needed to be tempered. Tempered with considerably more
grace than they displayed. They were apparently Men who,
they saw what had happened and they were just beside themselves. They were, oh, look what we've
done. Look what we've done. Oh, the
Lord used us, but look what we have done. The Lord says here
in verse 17, these 70 have returned with joy, saying, Lord, even
the devils are subject to us through thy name. And he said
to them, I beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I
tried to try to kind of get a picture of this. I've never been in the
military, I've never been in war, but I used to play football,
used to do a little boxing, wrestling when I was in school. Young athletes don't understand
that coaches generally arrange for their easiest competition
in the opening of the season. Smart, smart part of coaching. You don't want the fellas to
get whipped too bad when they first start out. And then you
go out and play football, or you have a wrestling match, and
you meet up with the fellas. They look like you, big as you,
equipped like you are, and you just whip the daylights out of
them. Man, you come away with that thing just, I can't take
on anybody now. We got this thing in the bag.
We'll be champs this year. Look how easily we whip that.
Young soldiers are much the same way, I'm told. Their first taste
of victory fills them with confidence, gives them great sense of strength
and power and far too much self-congratulation. The Lord seems to have read this
in the hearts of these men on this occasion. And therefore,
he seems to say to them, now fellows, calm down. What you've
seen and experienced is not your doing. You didn't have anything
at all to do with this. This is my work. He said, I beheld
Satan fall as lightning from heaven. He saw Satan fall a long,
long time ago. I don't know when it was. I have
a suspicion it was somewhere between Genesis 1 and Genesis
2, but I don't know. But he said, I saw Satan fall.
I saw him fall before ever I sent you out. I saw him fall because
I'm the one who's sitting on the throne he's trying to topple.
Turn back, if you will, to Revelation chapter 12. Let me show you a
couple of texts. Revelation, the 12th chapter.
This passage clearly describes Satan's fall. And after we read it, no need
for you to ask me to explain too much about it because I can't
explain what's not explained in the scriptures. I'll just
tell you what it says. Here in Revelation chapter 12. And there appeared another wonder
in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail
drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and he cast them to
the earth, And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready
to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. The Lord Jesus cast him down
from heaven, cast him down from his lofty state, and he drug
with him one third of the heavenly host. And his purpose since then
has been to devour the seed of the woman as soon as he came
into this world, to devour his people and to devour him. I suspect
maybe Isaiah 14 talks about this same thing. Come back there for
a minute. Isaiah 14. There's some dispute as to whether
Lucifer described here is individual or whether he's talking about
Satan. Either way, it's certainly a picture of Satan's horrid pride
and his terrible fall. Isaiah 14, verse 12. The Lord God says, how art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou
cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee. That is, they won't even give
you a second look. And consider they saying, is
this the man? Is this the lion that tormented
us so much? Is this the enemy we feared so
much? Is this the man that caused us
so much trouble? Is this the man that made the
earth tremble and that did shake the kingdoms? That made the world
as a wilderness? Is this the man who brought all
this misery and all this trouble and destroyed the cities thereof?
and open not the house of his prisoners." Our Lord said, I
saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Perhaps he's saying
to them, as soon as I set you out, You see, I am the Lord and
I sent you out telling you, telling you what to do. And as I sent
you out, I saw Satan fall. I saw it before it ever happened.
He foresaw and promised Satan's fall through the preaching of
the gospel. He told Peter and his disciples, he said, upon
this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. That is, as you go on attack
against the powers of darkness, the gates of hell will fall before
you. And our Lord Jesus specifically had come to topple Satan's throne
in the hearts of men. He had come to topple Satan and
undo all the mischief he had done in the world. He came here
to bind the old serpent. And yet, as I said earlier, we
must not be too severe with these fellows. After all, every faithful
gospel preacher wants what we call success. Terrible term to
use. I don't know what other term
to use. We want to see the word of God run swiftly and run well.
We long to see many women converted We long to see Satan fall in
the hearts of men. We long to see his influence
broken. We long to see sinners converted
by God's grace and Christ triumphant in the hearts of chosen sinners.
Such desires are right and they're good. And yet when the Lord condescends
to grant us a little usefulness. Oh, how I blush with shame. But
when God condescends to grant us just a little usefulness,
how quickly our hearts swell with pride. Look what we've done. Look what we've done. I try to
make you aware of God graciously giving us opportunities of ministry
around the world and make you aware a little bit of some of
the things going on, but I speak very, very little of it. And
I do so deliberately because we don't need to know too much.
It's far best for us that we not know how God uses us while
we live in this world. If we did, we couldn't stand
ourselves and nobody could stand us. Far best we don't know. You see, the fact is we can do
nothing. We can do nothing. Turn, if you
will, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Paul gives a good warning that
needs to be heeded with regard to preaching and preachers. He's talking about ordaining
elders, talking about men being put aside and set apart for the
ministry. And he gives many specific prohibitions,
not many, but several. And one of them here is the one
that is most commonly ignored. Verse six, not a novice, not
a novice. Don't take somebody who's inexperienced
in the things of God. inexperienced in the grace of
God. Don't take a fellow who hadn't even got dry from the
waters of baptism yet and put him in the pool pit. Don't put
folks in places of leadership until they've proven themselves
in faithfulness and steadfastness in the kingdom of God. Don't
do it. Don't do it. It's foolish to do it. It's harmful
to them and harmful to everybody else. Lest being lifted up with
pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Look in 1 Corinthians
3. You're familiar with the passage. Paul is writing
to the Corinthians, and they had a horrible case of preacher-itis.
They like to go hear their favorite preacher. I appreciate my friends, but
I don't like somebody to say, well, you're my favorite. And it doesn't matter whether
it's Don Fortner, Maurice Montgomery, Henry Mahan, Todd Neibler, Larry
Criss, Ron Wood, or Lindsay Campbell doing the preaching. That doesn't
matter. If the message is preached, the message is nothing. Well,
how would God learn that? What learning? Paul says here
in verse 5, Who then is Paul? Paul? Now wait a minute. He wrote
over half the New Testament. Who's Paul? Who's Paul? Paul? He's the man who carried
the gospel to the whole Gentile world. Paul? Who's he? Paul? Why, he literally gave
his life in the cause of the gospel. He's nothing. Now, honor to whom honor is due,
but don't worship men. Paul can do nothing. Paul can
accomplish nothing. Oh, but Paul was so educated.
He was so learned. He was learned at the feet of
Gamaliel. He was probably the most brilliant
man living in his age. He was certainly as well educated
as any man living in his age. Paul, brilliant Paul. Paul? He nothing. Paul can't do anything. That's what he says. That's what
God says by him. Look at him. Who's Paul? Who's
Apollos? Oh, Apollos. That silver-tongued
orator. Man, when you listen to Apollos
preach, he can preach on hell and make it feel like the flames
are licking up between the pews. He can preach on heaven, he can
almost see the streets of gold. Oh, he's a great orator. Who's
Apollos? What's significant about that? We are just ministers. Ministers. You know what a minister is?
As it's used in this context, it's not even as used in European
political cabinets. This fellow's the Minister of
Finance, and this fellow's the Minister of Education, the one
who started that purpose. Minister? That's what he is. What's that for? I can look at
it and tell what time it is. That's all it's for. I'd hate to try
to build a house with him. I can just look at it and tell
what time it is. That's what a minister is. Just something
to use. Just something to use. Nothing
else. Just something to use. By whom
you believed. Oh, I thank God for some ministers
by whom I had believed. But it wasn't them who caused
me to believe. And if they topple over tomorrow,
that's not going to change my belief. Even as the Lord gave
to every man. Now, Paul says I planted, Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. Now this is what he says, what
is a preacher? Preachers are nothing on this
earth but hoes and hoses, that's all. Hoes, that's H-O-E-S, just
in case you're wondering, hoes and hoses, that's all, that's
all. Go out here in the garden, and
everybody says that's Shelby's garden, but once in a while I
work in it. I don't normally hoe much, but I do some watering
and plowing, and go out there Then things grow. Well, let's
take that hoe and hang it on the wall and make us a plaque
and honor that hoe. What a magnificent hoe. Well,
you idiot, the hoe didn't do anything. See what I'm talking
about? Nothing. Nothing. Paul planted,
Paulus watered, God gave the increase. So then neither is
he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God gives
the You see, it's the gospel we preach,
not our ability, not our gifts, not our talents with which we
preach it, but the gospel we preach that is the power of God
unto salvation. That's all. I have heard men
expound Scripture and expound Scripture with theological accuracy. and expound Scripture with intellectual
acumen that I could envy. I've heard them expound Scripture
with great learning. I've heard them expound Scripture
and they could read the passage in Greek or read it in Hebrew
or they could preach to you in Latin. And it's kind of like
listening to a fellow read a report from the stock market and you
don't own any stocks and don't want any. There's nothing there. And I've heard fellows preach
who could hardly read what they were preaching about, and distinction,
who spoke a broken English, who seemed to have little, as they
call it, pathos in their voice. And my heart moved to God by
the word they preached. You see, the power is not in
the preacher, but in the gospel we preach. It's the power of
God to salvation. John Owen, who was Oliver Cromwell's
chaplain, brilliant theologian. I have probably 30 volumes written
by him back here. If you want to borrow them and
read them sometime, you're welcome to them. I don't dust them off
much anymore. They're just too heavy. Good theology, but man
alive, you've got to plow a lot to get anything. Good stuff,
but he's a brilliant, brilliant man. You know what he said one
time? He lived in the same age as John
Bunyan, a tinker, a fellow who didn't have any education, a
fellow who wasn't well trained, a fellow who wasn't recognized
by royalty. Owen said, after listening to
Bunyan preach, he said, I would give all my learning if I had
the tinker's preaching ability. He said, if I could just preach
like that, man, I'd give up everything. The power's in the word, not
in the man. All right, here's the second
lesson. It's one we need to learn about Satan. Satan is an enemy under the total
dominion and absolute control of our Lord Jesus Christ. The total dominion and absolute
control of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who saw Satan fall is the
one who fell it. He's the one who put him down.
Turn, if you will, to John chapter 12. He did this on the cross.
Here, John chapter 12, the Lord Jesus is anticipating his death.
And he said in verse 28, Father, glorify thy name. Then came their
voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will yet
glorify it again. And the people, therefore, that
stood by and heard it, said it thundered, and others said an
angel spoke to it. In other words, folks stood by,
they knew something was going on, but they didn't have a clue what
it was, but they had to say something. And Jesus said in verse 30, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Satan's influence and God's purpose
had been over the whole of the Gentile world for 2,000 years. The whole Gentile world left
in darkness. And if you don't think we were
in darkness, go back and read the history of our Gentile fathers
and their religious superstitions, and you'll find out they didn't
have one inch above the heathen in New Guinea today. Not one
inch. The whole Gentile world blinded. But now the Lord Jesus binds
Satan's influence in the world so that the nations of the world
are deceived no more and the gospel goes out into all the
world. And he says, I, if I'd be lifted up from the earth,
talking about the death, he was going to die. I'll draw all men
unto me. I'll draw my elect from the four
corners of the earth. Let me show you this again. Revelation
20. Revelation 20. John says in verse 1, I saw an
angel come down from heaven, had in 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, and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, look at it, that
he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
were fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed for a little
season. In the preaching of the gospel, our Lord describes what
happens when God saves a sinner. You don't have to turn there,
but he says in Matthew 12, he said, this is what I do when I give
sinners life. This is what I do when I call
a sinner by my grace. This is what I do in the hearts
of men. I go into a strongman's house.
And I bind him. And I throw him out. And I take
possession of his house. You were praying that God might
be pleased to convert the unconverted. That's what it takes. He got
to go in to Satan's house. Right here where Satan ruled. And bind him! and take them out. Folks talk about won't you let
Jesus come into your heart. You're letting it got a frazzling
thing to do with it. He comes into your heart. He
comes in knocking down bolt and bar, sets up his throne. The
first thing you know, he's there and you're just glad he's there. He took possession. Satan you
see is not God's rival. He's God's devil. He's not one
that is somehow God's struggling to get control of it. He's God's
vassal. He does nothing without God's
decree. He can't move or wiggle without
God's permission. Read the first two chapters of
the book of Job. Job probably is the oldest book in the Bible,
and we get this instruction in the very first things written
in the book of Job. Job is described as that one
who is a perfect man, just, devout, one that feared God, one that
worshipped God, one that eschewed evil. And the Lord called Satan,
and he said, have you looked over my boy Job? And Satan said, yeah, you got
fits around him. He understood what most folks
can't get. You got to think around that. God said, all right, I'll
put a hole in the fence. You go test him. He comes back
and said, have you looked over my boy Joel? He said, yeah, but
he won't cuss you because you still protected him. God said,
all right, I'll tear down the fence all set for his life. Go
ahead and have at him. And Satan went at him with all
he had. And Job was still held by God's
grace. Understand what I'm saying? Satan
is God's devil. In the end, turn over to the
book of Ezekiel. Let me show you something. When
God gets done, there's not much question this king of Tyre is
one who speaks of Satan. Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel chapter 28. This is what God's going to do
with it. Verse 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came to me, saying, Son of man, take up lamentation upon the
king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Thou sealest
up the sun, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in
Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your
covering. The sardis, the topaz, the diamond,
the beryl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold. And workmanship, the workmanship
of thy tablets, or tabrets, and of thy pipes, was prepared in
thee and in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed
cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. I am the one who
made you what you are. Thou wast upon the holy mountain
of God. Thou hast walked up and down
in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy
ways. from the day that thou was created
until iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise
they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as
profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee,
O covering cherub in the midst of the stones of the fire. Thine
heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted
thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings
that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries
by the multitude of thy iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic.
We see it every day all around us, men trafficking for Satan. trafficking in the opium of religion. Therefore will I bring forth
a fire from the midst of thee. It shall devour thee, and I will
bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them
that behold thee. All they that know thee among
the people shall be astonished at thee, and thou shalt be a
terror And never shalt thou be any more. I saw Satan fall. Our Lord Jesus rules the prince
of darkness totally. Nothing's out of his control.
All right, now here's the third lesson about the things we tend
to fear. Oh God teach us this. Look at
verse 19. The last phrase of the verse. Nothing shall by any
means hurt you. The Lord says I give you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions and over the power of the enemy
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. What a word from God. Without question, God's servants
during this apostolic age were given special supernatural powers,
special apostolic gifts. And I hasten to add, because
there are idiots around everywhere and have been ever since that
day trying to imitate them, there are no men today, and there have
been no men since the end of the apostolic era, who possess
those special gifts. But our Lord in Matthew 16 told
his disciples, he said, if you drink any deadly thing, it'll
not hurt you. He told them, he said, if you
take up serpents, they won't bother you any. Now, oh, well,
that's where these snake handlers get their stuff. No, the snake
handlers are fools. They're religious nuts. I don't
know any other way to explain it. I'm not being condescending. I'm not being mean. I'm just
telling you they're just religious nuts. Our Lord's disciples were not
religious nuts. They didn't go around catching
rattlesnakes and take them to the church Don't do that nonsense
you've seen fellas on TV with. Oh no. No, what he's talking
about is exactly what happened in Acts 28 when Paul landed on
that desert island and he was gathering up firewood. And as
he was putting some wood on the fire, the heat warmed a deadly
serpent, a deadly ass if I figure it was, and it bit him. And all
those even on that island watched him till he'd go. They'd seen
fellas bitten by that thing before. And they watched it. And they
watched it. And he didn't break out in a
sweat. And it didn't bother him a god
bit. He just shook it off. Shook it off. And they watched
him. First thing you know, they fell
down and started worshiping. Said, oh, he's God. Paul said, no,
but I'll tell you who God is. And that's exactly what it was.
The Lord said, they're not going to hurt you. Now, does that mean
this has nothing to do with us? Oh, no. It's got everything to
do with us. The serpents and scorpions figuratively represent
all the power of the enemy. And the Lord Jesus promises us
here that no power, no satanic power, no evil of any kind will
ever by any means hurt you. What a word. You can look at
it later in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Our Lord tells us about these
perilous times in which we live. And he said, men are going to
have a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. They're
going to deny the gospel of God's grace. They're going to preach
everything unimaginable and call it godliness and righteousness.
And then he says in the 8th verse, he said, now as Jameis and Jambres
withstood Moses, So do these resist the truth, men of corrupt
minds, retrobate concerning the faith. We better tremble. Not if we're
his. But they shall proceed no further.
What did J.D.' 's and Jambres do to Moses? Nothing. What effect
did they have on him? Nothing. How much did they hinder
his work? Not at all. How much did they
hinder Israel from taking possession of the land? None. What did they
do to stop the quarrels and ripples of God? Not a frazzling thing.
All they did was make a lot of noise. That's all they did, make
a lot of noise. Oh, what do you do with them?
You take them off and forget about it. You're not going to
hurt anything. Neither the poison of sin, nor the sting of the
scorpion, nor the bite of the serpent shall hurt God's elect.
Neither the poison of false doctrine, nor the sting of persecution,
nor the serpent of hell shall harm one of God's own. The God
of peace will soon brew Satan himself beneath your feet. Nothing shall by any means hurt
you. Let me show you a couple of texts
of scripture. Turn to Psalm 90. The prophet says, say you to
the righteous, it shall be well with him. And I'm telling you,
my righteous brothers and sisters, it shall be well with you. It's well with you. It's well
with you. Oh, but preacher, you don't know
what I'm going through. Oh, yes, I do. But you don't. But you don't know. You don't
know where I am. Are you in Christ? I know where
you are. Are you in his hands? I know where you are. Are you
in his grace? I know exactly where you are.
It's well with you. It's well with you. I've often written to friends
going through great difficulty. I recall some years ago, some
friends of mine watching their daughter die, and I wrote to
them and I said, If I could, I'd take away her pain and yours
too, if I could. I love you dearly, but it's not
a thing I can do except love you. And tell you this, he who
loves you and loves her infinitely greater than I can imagine loving
you or loving her has brought this thing upon you and her for
good. It's well. It's well. Oh, a child who has a father
who loves her, a child who has a father who loves him sufficiently
to take the time and the care and the patience and the fortitude
to discipline him. Oh, it's well with that child. That's a blessed child, a blessed
child. But in Psalm 91 verse 9, because
thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high
thy habitation. Have you? Have you taken refuge
in him? Okay. There shall be thy dwelling, for he shall
give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread
upon the lion, and at her young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample them undefeated. Look in Isaiah 11, verse 8. These scorpions, these serpents,
I told you, figuratively represent all the evil that opposes us,
every enemy we face. Isaiah 11 verse 8, the sucking
child shall play on the whole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice dead. You mean in that imaginary thousand-year
millennial reign, those babies are going to play in snake pits? I don't think that's what he's
talking about. I'll give you an illustration of what I'm talking
about. When I was a boy over in the mountains of North Carolina
one time, I got around some water and I found some snakes. I knew
there'd be snakes. I didn't think there'd be worms.
But I didn't know what kind of snakes they were. Where I grew
up, all the snakes we had were just little old garden snakes.
You'd stick them in your pocket and scare folks with them and they
couldn't hurt a flea. I had found me a whole nest of baby copperheads. I mean, baby water moccasins.
And I grabbed one of them and started grabbing them by the
tail and throwing them. I didn't want to bite them, but I just threw them around.
And my mother saw what I was doing. And she paid attention,
because she didn't know there were water moccasins. But my
uncle saw what they were. And man, he ran over there and
grabbed me right quick. What I was doing was playing
with death and didn't know it was there. And this is what our
Lord promises. We walk around death all the
time, and it ain't going to hurt you. It ain't going to hurt you. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain. Ain't nothing gonna hurt you.
Ain't nothing gonna hurt you. No enemy, not Satan, no sickness,
no trial, no wickedness for men, no wickedness within, not all
of our sorrows, not all of our woes, not all of our sin, not
death, not hell, nothing shall hurt you by any means. Now then,
here's the last lesson. You want something to rejoice
in? Here it is. Rejoice in God's electing love
and God's saving grace. Rejoice in this. Because your names are written
in heaven. Whether I see the devil subject to me or not, whether
I have cause for elation in my daily experience or not, is really
irrelevant. My name's written in the book
of God. And that means nothing shall
by any means ever hurt me. Forever.