Beware of the Wiles of the Devil

Thank you, brethren. Please be seated. And now for the main speaker today, from our pastor, Mr. Jim Tuck. Happy Sabbath, everybody! So good to see all of you. You know, this is really wonderful weather we've been having. Extraordinary weather. And I want to mention what Mr. Judson mentioned about camp. You know, I've never ever been a camper. Never been to any camp in my whole life. My camp was five brothers and three sisters. We had a big family, and we were in a camp all the time, you know, in our family.

But, you know, United Youth Camps is indeed a wonderful opportunity. I like the theme this year, God's Vision for You, because He has a tremendous vision. You know, brethren, one of the most wonderful things I think I ever learned in my entire life was when I began to study the Scriptures, and I found out about the Holy Days. And at first, of course, I didn't understand an awful lot about them.

I began to study about each one, probably like you did when you began to study the Scriptures. But I had no idea, not in my wildest dreams, that the Holy Days, the seven annual Holy Days, show us God's incredible plan for this entire universe and what His plan is for us, each of us. And so here we are. We've gone through the second step in God's plan, and now we're heading toward the third step, being fulfilled, being actually taking place right now, if you can understand what I'm saying.

You know, we have symbolically left Egypt, as it were, and we're really excited. We're like the ancient Israelites. You know, we, of course, by that I mean we've symbolically left Egypt. We've left the world. We've left the world behind. But we are on a journey, as ancient Israel was, on a journey to Pentecost. And as the firstfruits, we must be always on our guard, because when Israel left Egypt, they got on the other side of the Red Sea, it wasn't easy sailing for them.

Now, you probably thought the way I did when I got baptized, I thought it's going to be smooth sailing right into the kingdom of God. Now, I got it made. You know, it's so nice. I've got all my sins forgiven. And, of course, boy was I to be surprised what life was going to be like from that time forward. No, ancient Israel, when they left Egypt, brethren, they were plagued with trial after trial on the way out as they were headed toward the Promised Land.

And they, of course, had no knowledge of how Satan worked and how Satan would try to thwart God's plan for them physically. And all of them, of course, were easy bait, weren't they? They were easy prey as far as Satan the devil was concerned. He turned every knob. He pushed every button with ancient Israel. And, of course, they rebelled. They had a lot of trouble, a lot of problems with complaining and carping and bickering with each other.

I want you to be aware, and all of us to be aware, that Satan was at work on the children of Israel anciently as he is constantly, brethren, incessantly at work working on you and me as we head toward Pentecost in its ultimate fulfillment. You know, we can't really fathom how prevalent Satan is in this world that we live in. It's hard for us to see. We can't see how many times he has been there to thwart what God has tried to do with us in our life.

But I believe when the curtain is drawn back at Christ's Second Coming, we're going to see the hand of Satan has been everywhere. It has been everywhere. You know, we live in an upside-down, topsy-turvy world. And sometimes it's hard to hold it together. It really is just hard to hold it together in the world that we live in.

And I'm talking to young people who have to deal with the problems at school, to our preteens that have to deal with grade school problems that they go through, to what people go through in their work, their daily work, and the daily things that they do. But Satan is constantly, again, at work. And he's throwing a barrage of things at us all the time. But we've got to hold it together, brethren.

We've got to remain steadfast and controlled in terms of our own convictions and our own ability to, you know, be people that are stable and strong and able to handle whatever he may throw at us, not only what he has thrown at us, but what he's going to do in the future.

You know, when the apostles were being trained, you know, they didn't know what they were going to face. They had no realism of what they were going to go through. You know, they, of course, probably had ideas about, you know, being in charge and all that sort of thing. You know, and Christ had to really correct them over those things, the issues that they dealt with. But there's a whole lot more that they had to learn. Let's go to Matthew 17. As you know, when God or Jesus Christ sent the apostles out or the disciples out, He sent them out two by two.

And He gave them certain powers. He gave them certain abilities. And one of which was to cast out demons. They had the chance to be able to do that. You know, quite a power. But in Matthew 17, let's notice here, I want to just take this as a sort of an introduction of what I want to talk to you about here today. But in Matthew 17, here, notice down in verse 14, it says, And when they had come to the multitude, A man came to him, kneeling down to him, And saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. For he is an epileptic. If you have a King James, it says he's a lunatic. And you know, the word lunatic comes from the, it means moonstruck. He's impacted by the moon because there's a lot of people that have the superstition that every time the moon is in a certain phase, that people here on earth are impacted. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth in terms of this particular individual here. They, of course, had no understanding what was happening with him. And during the time of old King James, they put lunatic. But he was an epileptic. And it says, And so he had a problem that caused him to throw himself in the fire, or to fall into the fire, and often into the water. And so I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him. And then Jesus answered and said, Oh, faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. And then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, Why could we not cast it out? You know, why couldn't we do that? And so Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief, for assuredly I say to you, if you had faith as a mustard seed, which they did not have, you would say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. And so Jesus Christ pointed out the fact that they would need to pray more.

They would have to have more trust and faith in God, and they would have to fast more. And they really didn't have an understanding about how demons work. They had no understanding of that. So, brethren, how does the devil and his demons work? Do we know that? Do we understand that here now in this auditorium here? I'm speaking to a lot of people that have a lot of gray on their hair, been around here a long time. Do we know how Satan works and can work in our life? You know, sometimes, brethren, I've wondered about that as I look at some of the things that have happened to the church the last few decades. Because sometimes the things that people do really indicate they don't really know how Satan works. They don't know how he can, you know, worm his way in to our lives and he can impact us in a very negative way.

So, brethren, how does the devil and his demons work? And how can we be alert to the devices, the schemes of the devil and his demons? Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5 over here, I think it's a good place to begin, here in talking about such a topic here.

In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, you know, here Peter says in verse 8, be sober. You know, be serious minded. He could put it that way. Be vigilant. In other words, watch. Keep alert. Because you're adversary. You notice what he says here? He says, you're adversary. You're adversary. The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

And it says, resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. In other words, what you go through and what everybody else in the church goes through are essentially the same things. We all deal with the same kind of problems. And you know, what does it say in 1 Corinthians 10.13? There is no temptation taking you that such is not common to man. And God always makes a way of escape for us. But it says, may the God of all grace, verse 10, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, established, strengthen, and settle you. Interesting what he says here. You know, after you've suffered a little while, maybe you've gone through some experiences like the disciples went through, the apostles went through, and not being able to cast out the demon that was there. Then, you know, maybe again, you'll have the opportunity one day to be in God's kingdom. Verse 8 is interesting in the New English Bible. It says, awake. It says, be alert. In the Jerusalem Bible, it says, be calm, but vigilant. In the NIV, it says, be self-controlled. I like this translation in this regard. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls. The key here, and I think really the NIV brings it out, is self-control. How controlled are you in your life?

No, the Bible actually talks about how that some Satan is able to take captive at will.

In other words, you know, they have no self-control, and he's able to take them captive at will anytime he decides. That's a dangerous spot to be in. And the purpose of the ministry is to educate God's people so that that does not happen. So it doesn't occur in a person's life. I'm talking about these things, brethren, because I've seen people that have problems, and it's year after year after year. It's the same problem. You talk to one pastor that was here 30 years ago. The person is wrestling with the same problem, and they don't realize they are not aware of the fact that they're easy prey to Satan's wiles, his devices. So the key is self-control, brethren, disciplining ourselves. If I told you right now, I came in here, I had a box with me with a very poisonous snake, and I let him loose in the auditorium. He's crawling here under the pews, and I want you to watch it that he doesn't bite your leg, because if he does, you're dead.

If you really believed me, you would be tempted to look down. Wait a minute. Where is this snake? He's talking about it, and there are some that are very, very poisonous. But Satan is like a snake in that way, in that manner. He's always in a place you cannot see him, and he's waiting to pounce. He's like a roaring lion, the Bible says.

We must be always constantly, brethren, aware of the devil and be resisting him. And we do it, of course, through drawing close to God. And if we draw close to God, Satan is, he can't be around those that are drawing to God. He will flee, the Bible talks about in James, chapter 4. But Satan the devil, brethren, is looking for those who have no self-control.

He's looking for those who are opening themselves up to him. And please be aware, Satan the devil can't just go out, the demons can't just go out and possess anybody they decide. They can't. They have to be invited in. In other words, you have to throw off the barriers and let them come in. And in this world today, where people throw off all the controls in their life and do those things which they should not do, you know, he can't come in, though, and effect and possess unless the right conditions exist for him.

You know, lions are territorial. You know, you've probably seen a lot of the documentaries about lions and the way they are. They're territorial. They actually sort of, they will actually mark their territory. And I won't go into how they do that, but, you know, somewhat like other animals do. But demons are territorial as well. They have certain territories that they work in. And let's go to Daniel chapter 10 over here. We see this very fact. It's not something that, you know, I'm coming up with. It's what's in the book. But in Daniel chapter 10, and down in verse 10, you know, Daniel was getting this fabulous prophecy that was being revealed to him, and he wanted to understand it. Ultimately, he was told, you're not going to understand it, Daniel. You're going to go, you're going to be buried and go on. It's for something later here. But notice down in verse 10 of chapter 10, it says, and suddenly a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, and it's possible this could have been Gabriel here. He said, Oh, Daniel, man greatly beloved. And you know, God does love brethren, every last one of his people. He loves all of us, brethren. Daniel was one who was quite a special individual. And he, and here the angel says, you were greatly beloved. He says, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you. And while he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, do not fear Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourselves before your God, your words were heard and I have come because of your words. You want to understand what the scriptures say. You want to understand what the Bible says. Verse 12 is a very important key here, if you want to come to understand what God says. But in verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia, which stood me 21 days or three weeks, and behold Michael, one of the chief princes. So Michael is an archangel. He's called a chief prince. He's, of course, a chief prince and he stands, in fact, near the father at the throne. He and Gabriel, they are both chief princes.

So what is a prince, then? A prince is an angel. Here in this case, Michael is a prince. He's a righteous angel here. The word prince, by the way, means one who stands beside the king. It's a very important position to have. The reason why is because you can whisper into the ear of the king. You have a very important responsibility, being able to stand beside the king. Now be aware, brethren, that every leader in this world today has an angel standing beside them.

And Israel has, in fact, Michael as their prince, who stands beside the leaders of, you know, the modern day Israel today. But there are other beings that are demons who stand beside some of the leaders of this world today. And in this case, of course, he speaks here about the prince of Persia. You know, this prince of Persia is a demon that stands beside the king of Persia. And there was a prince of Grisha that came to the aid of the prince of Persia. This prince of Grisha was, in fact, a demon that stood beside the king of Greece, of the Grishan empire at that time, whatever it amounted to during the time of Daniel. So I just show that to you that demons have territories. And God has given the responsibility of Michael to take care, you know, of the peoples of modern day Israel today. And he's a righteous prince, a righteous angel that helps and aids and assists.

So again, just so we are aware, again, the fact that, you know, Satan is on the prowl and there are certain demons that have certain areas. And of course, you would have people that would beings that would be under, you know, these demons that would be princes over or standing beside the kings, you know, of these respective nations. Now let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 over here. And, you know, there are demons that are assigned probably to provinces, to states. We don't know, of course, how it's divided out. Very probably over cities. I always told the brethren up in Oakland that Mount Diablo was a perch for one of the demons that oversaw the Bay Area, which is a name for a good name for where a demon resides. But of course, I said it tongue-in-cheek, but you know, it certainly makes sense that they would sit over the city and, of course, you see all the crazy things that sometimes go on in San Francisco, in Oakland, and those areas. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 over here, let's notice here.

Here, of course, in chapter 1, Paul had to write in Jason the Corinthians because they had tolerated a man who was committed and had told him he was his own stepmother. And so he put him out of the church and delivered him into the hands of the devil, and the man repented. He really changed, and it was time for him to be invited back. But the Corinthians then had a problem and welcomed him back once he had repented. We see this happen sometimes in the church, where people make mistakes and they're re-invited back, and some people have a hard time accepting someone back. But Paul wrote to them, and in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, he said, "'lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.'" So Paul is saying, let him come back, accept him, lest Satan take advantage of us. Now, how could Satan take advantage of a situation like that? What if here in the Phoenix Church, somebody was put out of the church for a sin that they committed, a egregious sin, everybody knew about it, and maybe a few months went by, and the minister counseling with them determined that they had repented and they should be able to come back?

And what if one half of the congregation thought, well, I don't think we should accept him back, and a half thought that they should.

What do you call that?

Anybody? Division! All right, that's what Paul is saying. Don't let the devil have advantage in this situation. Don't let the devil do what he does best, and that is, he divides people. And that's what he would love to do, brethren. And we need to control ourselves, and we need to have not just judgment, but we need to have mercy as well. It's good to have judgment. It's good to realize that, well, maybe he shouldn't be with us. And then it's good to have mercy also to recognize maybe it's time that we welcome with open arms, and we move forward, you see. And so we want to make sure that we are aware of how the devil works. Devices, by the way, is translated in the revised standard. Designs, you see in some translation, schemes, wiles. Paul is saying, don't allow Satan to have an advantage here. Because, brethren, if we're unforgiving and we're unloving, it opens us up to what? If you get rid of love and if you get rid of the forgiving of other people, what do you have? Don't you have hate? Don't we? If hate is carried too far, what do you have then? You have bitterness. And, of course, bitterness can really rip through your life and you will be in a very bad situation. Any situation, brethren, that pits members against each other and causes division realize that Satan probably is behind it. He is behind it. There must be, as I said, a balance in mercy and judgment in our lives. A willingness to make a judgment, to support a judgment. On the other hand, a willingness to show mercy and to allow someone, you know, who maybe has to deal with that judgment to repent and come back and be reinstated into the church.

You know, what I am talking about when I talk about, you know, that there's a balance between mercy and judgment and I talk about being self-controlled, is, you know, a boxer. You ever boxed before? I remember when I was a kid, we used to box down in the gymnasium during the lunch hour and they would just put on the boxing gloves and you'd have, I remember that was, I think it was the eighth grade we did that, and you'd have about 50 guys, teenagers, in the locker room and they'd have a boxing match. And you learn very quickly, it's important to that if you're going to win a fight, any fight, you've got to have a firm footing. You have to have a firm footing. You know, a boxer knows that. If he's going to win a fight, he has to have a good stance. You ever notice that when they box, you know, they've got their legs sort of apart, but they're in control of their stance. If not balanced, if a person's not balanced when they're boxing, you know, if a guy's not that way, you get hit right on the chin, what's going to happen? You're going to be knocked over. They're going to knock you down, as a matter of fact. A firm footing allows a boxer to have balance. You're balanced. So something that's not going to throw you off, and you're not going to fall down. Brother, when we are not properly balanced as Christians, you know what? We open ourselves up to being blown away by the devil. If we're not balanced, if we're not self-controlled, if things are not quite the way they should be, we can be blown away by the devil. I said that Satan can only take advantage if there's conditions that are there. What are some of the conditions where Satan can take advantage of us? What are those conditions? It's very important for us, and in this I said at the beginning, topsy-turvy, upside-down world we're living in, where it's kind of hard to hold it together.

One way in our society that Satan has conditions that sometimes are right in people's lives is the area of the sensual. Having a very unbalanced outlook on sex can be a condition that Satan can take advantage of us. We know that God created sex to be something that was a part of marriage.

This world is the exact opposite of that. This world doesn't think that way. This world is not that way. If we're going to keep control, we need to understand how God instructs us in terms of how we are to live and make sure that we are controlled in our minds and in our lives. Let's go over to 1 Timothy 4 and show you what I'm talking about here. Over here in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 1, you know there are, of course, two ends of the spectrum with regard to being unbalanced with regard to sex.

What I want to show one of them is, you might say, an extreme here, and you can go the other way as well. But notice, it says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, that's where we are right now, in these latter times, some of the part from the faith giving heed to deceiving demons or spirits and doctrines of demons. And it talks about evil men waxing worse and worse in the world as well. But they're deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

It says, So here is the first doctor of demon here, forbidding to marry. I've heard of different religious organizations that actually practice this. And you know one where this occurs with the ministry, or the priesthood is basically forbidden to marry. Selibacy, which is what that is, forbidding to marry, is a vow to remain unmarried. Well, brother, God did not create human beings for this purpose. It's not good, generally, for anyone to be a celibate, man or woman, for that matter. In fact, Paul calls it a doctrine of a demon. It's not what God says. It's what the world comes up with. You've got all kinds of odd ideas that are out there. You know, there's only one place in the whole Bible I know of where it's said that it's good not to marry. And that is in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 26. And Paul said it's good not to marry, he said, for the present distress. Now, if you've got heavy-duty persecution that is coming in on the church, it's probably not a good time to think about walking down the aisle. If somebody's about ready to string you up, to throw you in prison, you might want to run, if that were the case. Or you may not be in the position to even take care of a wife or a husband, for that matter.

You know, if a person takes a vow of celibacy, and frankly it is not for most people, Satan could take advantage of someone who is a young man or a young woman. And what happens is they, you know, begin to sin, and pretty soon the sin takes over their life, like we described about the living process of sin, the way it works, and they fall out of the church of God. They can fall away.

And so we want to be, again, very, very careful about such capricious decisions. And I've heard people that have made those kinds of decisions in their life even sometimes in the church. Very poor decision, in my opinion, because it just simply will not work. Somebody's young, you know, that God created in a certain way, and frankly He created people to be married, to get married. And obviously there are cases where either that's not possible, or where maybe it is not advisable, but generally that is the case. You know, Jesus Christ said there were eudics for the kingdom of God's sake.

I think Paul himself was the kind of guy that he got used to being alone in that way, in that manner. Paul was a different kind of guy, you know. He was able to do things that probably you and I will never be able to do. I mean, what was he beaten three times? You know, and he went through so much of his life. You know, even though Paul comes across as kind of being a weak in terms of when you look at him and he speaks, maybe his voice was not all that impressive. He may not have been all that impressive. He was tough as nails. He was a tough hombre, if I can put it that way. And he was a very different person in every sense of the word. A eunuch in Oriental culture oversees a harem of a king, and he's a very high officer, and he's impotent. He's made impotent, as a matter of fact. There's an example of a eunuch in Acts chapter 8, remember, that Philip came in contact with. And this eunuch was actually over the treasury of Queen Condeise. And he was a eunuch, and God converted him. Of course, it became converted, and he became a part of the church. So it has happened in people's lives. Some decide not to have a family. And of course, that sometimes can be a good decision. I would talk to the ministry about it, though. You don't want to make capricious decisions, and certainly don't take a vow with regard to anything like that. Let's go to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 14. Here Paul is talking about over here about widowhood and accepting younger women into the widowhood of the church. But here in 1 Timothy chapter 5, down in verse 14, he says, Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully, because notice why he says this, for some have already turned aside after Satan. So again, God's intent from what Paul is saying here is that the young women marry, and certainly I would say also obviously the young men as well would do that. So God's will is to marry generally, and celibacy is not for most people, because Satan can take advantage of the young and they can go back into the world. Now let's notice again, I talked about having a balanced approach towards sex. And sex is something that God's created for marriage, to enrich a marital life, and to add happiness to life, if two people join together as one. But over in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 over here, let's notice over in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

1 Corinthians chapter 7. I never ever thought I would ever get married, by the way, when I was first starting covenant of the church. I didn't think that could happen. 1968, you know, and I was 17 years of age, 18. I wasn't really thinking about marriage at that time, but as I get a little older, I thought I'm not going to meet anybody. I think Joan thought the same thing. She thought she's not going to meet anybody. She was working in the Home Ec department. And when we met, I was working, I was a buyer for the kitchen in Ambassador College, and to show you how God works. She was a buyer for the Home Economics department. And so that's how we began to interface with one another. And we had some dates as well that took place. Usually when we wanted a date, we got lost, you know. And so she remembered me for that reason. And I know you men have never gotten lost in your life, because you don't ask directions either, do you? But one time we got lost in the Orthodox Jewish section, and we thought we were going to be stoned for walking on the Sabbath. But anyway, again, didn't think that we would ever be married. And yet, you know, here, these many years later, that was in 1975, we got married, so you know, you do the math. Don't make me do it up here. First verse of chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians, Now, concerning the things of which you wrote to me, it's good for a man not to touch a woman. You know, it says, There's that word self-control again. So in marriage, again, sex is intended to be something that both share with each other. And yes, a person can, you know, abstain if they want to do a period of prayer and fasting. But obviously, somebody says, I'll be praying and fasting for the next five years. Might not be good. Marriage might not work out very well for that to be done. And you know, what happens in marriage sometimes, you know, a mate can use sex as a basically a tool of punishment. It does happen. This game is played, brethren, in a marriage. What does it create? Well, it creates bitterness, it creates jealousy, envy, and great resentment. So if sex is used in a punitive way, it allows the devil to get an advantage of people so that they can commit sin. Please be aware there are demons that are sex demons. And, you know, they're perverted. And that is something, again, one cannot, again, allow Satan to have an advantage in. And our culture that we're living in now, brethren, sex is all pervasive. It's everywhere. Whether you're buying a car or whatever it is. You know, you watch television, I'm sure, as much as I do. And, you know, everything basically is advertised. It basically revolves around S-E-X. That is what Satan has done. He's pumped that into society. And he's had a great big impact over society. And it's geared, the whole society, brethren, is geared to open up demonic inroads into our minds if we allow it. Self-control is important, brethren. Again, we live in a time of pornography. There's ramparts everywhere. And so we have to, again, as God's people, maintain that self-control and make sure that we always remain balanced when it comes to the area of sex, the way God intended to be. Another area where Satan can have an advantage, if we allow him to, sometimes people get unbalanced about food. They get unbalanced about food.

I remember years ago there was a man in one of the church areas that I pastored that he had to have his food on the table every day at four o'clock. And it was a little bit difficult for his wife because she didn't eat that way. And there was friction that was there. And I had to counsel him about that, but he was pretty hard-headed, let me tell you, because that was not the only extreme that he had. There were other things that were demanded, but food was a part of that. You know, God, of course, wants us to realize that food can be something that could divide us as much as it unites us. We love, don't we, have, and potlucks. We like eating with one another, but food can be divisible as well. In 1 Timothy 4, in verse 3, it says that another doctor of a demon is commanding to abstain from meats, or commanding to abstain from food, certain food.

Some have that idea. Again, let's go back over to 2 Timothy chapter 4 over here.

Again, he says, for the time to come, when they, well, that's not where I was wanting to go. 1 Timothy, wasn't it? Not 2 Timothy. I don't know why I put that in my notes here.

Verse 3, for bidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. Now, here he's talking about, of course, clean food, clean animals in this case, but there are those, again, who command others to abstain from different foods. You have certain religions commanding to have meatless Fridays. Some eat fish on Friday, or you do this on another day, or whatever else. There are people who make these kind of rules. So, again, it's an unbalanced thing. God does not command it that way. Nor in the Bible does He say that you must eat fish on Friday. Or any other type of idea like that. You know, some people actually practice abstaining from food, at least very much. There are certain monks, of course, who abstain from, you know, everything from food. Certainly they abstain from foods. They abstain from being around society. They basically wear sackcloth, you know, in terms of their apparel. Sometimes they do some rather bizarre things. Like one monk decided he was going to, you know, take a vow of silence. So he joined the order of monks where basically you can only say two words every year.

And so the monk takes his vow of silence, and he can only say two words every year. And the supervisor is kind of looking at him. And, you know, the monk faithfully doesn't say anything. And then the supervisor, you know, at the order comes up to him, and he says, now is your time. You can say two words to me. And he said, food, cold. And so another year goes by, and the supervisor, you know, was amazed at how the man really stuck to his vow. He was only going to say two words every year. And he said, now is the time you can say your two words again. And he said, what are they? And he said, bed hard. And he waited another year, went through a whole other year. And finally it comes to the next year at the same time. And he says, okay, it's time you can say your two words. You know, what are they? Room, cold.

And then he went another year. And by that time, he had been there quite some time, and came around time for the monk to say his two words. And he said, okay, it's your time to say, again, your two words. Another year has passed. What are those two words? And the monk said, I quit. And the supervisor said, well, I'm not surprised you've been complaining ever since you've been here. So there's some kind of unusual people in the world. Of course, that is made up. But people get into food fads, and life becomes dominated by food. It's food, food, food, food. Has to do with food. And we can fixate on health foods, brethren, so much that we lose a picture. Being prone to every food fad that comes along is unbalanced. It's not wrong to eat good foods, natural foods. Not wrong to watch your weight. The Bible tells us, basically, you know, we shouldn't be gluttons. Neither should we be bulimic, either. You know, we shouldn't be, you know, doing things that some people do. These things become sometimes a substitute for God.

Let's go to Romans chapter 14 verse 70. I don't know if I need a ring of turn there, but it talks about over there in Romans 14 verse 17 that the kingdom of God is not food and drink. It's not food and drink.

So the most important thing, brethren, keep balance when it comes to food.

In 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 8, I'm going to quote this from the Jerusalem Bible, food, of course, cannot bring us in touch with God. You know, we don't get in touch with God through food. You know, God gave us his laws. He told us, again, what was clean and what was unclean. Obviously, we could rebel against God. In fact, get into a bad relationship with God. But, God, you know, food, of course, does not bring us in touch with God. The New English Bible, certainly food will not bring us into God's presence. That's the New English Bible.

Brother, if we eat in an imbalanced way, we're going to be sick. We'll get sick.

If we eat in a balanced way, we'll get healthy. And if we want to please God, take care of your body. You know, take care of the human body that God has given to you.

God says he will destroy us if we destroy ourselves. We have that attitude toward ourselves.

You know, God won't be pleased with that. Health foods are good, but fads come and go. Eat in a balanced way, brother, so that you can just feel good.

Make that your goal. Weird diets throw off your bad, your chemistry, your body chemistry, and they can affect the mind. And sometimes people get into these fads and they're on them so long, they affect your mind. And Satan could get an advantage. What about vegetarianism? You know, I don't care if the person wants to eat vegetables all the time. Daniel did it. He was healthier by it. Do we have to do that, though? No, we do not. God created clean animals that could be eaten. Remember, though, in Genesis chapter 18, Abraham went and he fixed the fatted calf for the one who is none other than the one who became Jesus Christ, who ate. Ate of the meat. You know, drank of the milk. And so, you know, here you have Abraham as a father of the faithful and Jesus Christ, of course, himself. Eating the one who became Jesus Christ, eating of this food, of this meat. And in John 21, remember with the disciples, and he talked to Peter about feeding my lambs, taking care of my sheep? What did he eat? What did Jesus eat at that time? He ate fish. He ate fish. And you can go through and do a cursory study of it yourself. But again, be balanced. Be self-controlled about it.

I could see where, you know, person could really benefit by eating a pulse, as Daniel did, and maybe a little bit of meat, less meat. Frankly, we probably do eat too much meat, you know, in the United States. It's probably not ultimately good for us. So, then there are, of course, there are others. The Stoics, and the old Stoicism, which is from the School of Prophecy, the originated time by Zeno back in 308 BC, he taught that a person can develop character or virtue by self-denial, if you deny yourself. There's a certain amount of truth to that. But again, you can carry it to the extreme. You carry it to the extreme and become unbalanced, and Satan can take advantage. Over in Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 over here, and down in verse 18, let's notice this. Here Paul had to deal with some of this kind of Stoic idea, you know, in the church at Colossae. But in chapter 2 in verse 18 here, let's notice.

Here it says, "...let no one cheat you out of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels." Now, are we supposed to worship angels? Brother, are we?

And which angels is he talking about here? Actually, he's talking about demons here, not the true angels of God. "...intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head." That is, of course, Jesus Christ, "...from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God." And let's notice down here in verse 21, it says, "...do not touch, do not taste, do not handle." Again, this is the kind of a Stoic approach. Don't touch something, don't take something, don't handle something. "...which all concerned things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men." Do you get what Paul is saying here? That all these rules, which are rules of men, that, you know, maybe some philosopher came up with, is going to perish. But what is going to be around for you ever? And that is the Word of God.

You know, you don't have to worry about what people in the world say, because that's going to fade away. That's going to be gone.

You know, God's people shouldn't, again, be trying to mimic what the world is doing. Verse 23, "...these things, indeed, have an appearance," oh, they look like wisdom, "...in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect the body, neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh." Not going to be any value whatsoever. And what man does and practices in this world, however righteous he might think it is, is going to pass away. It's going to be, you know, history, like all the other philosophies and all the other ideas, like all the people who used to beat, that used leather straps to beat themselves into submission. All that kind of garbage is going to go to the wayside in the future.

You know, these things may take willpower to do, you know, believe me, if you take a leather strap and you just beat yourself for four or five hours, that takes all that willpower, doesn't it? How many of you here want to do that? Nobody here. I didn't think we'd have any volunteers for that particular thing. There are people who do it in the world, but it does not help one with a person's relationship with God.

It will perish when the world of tomorrow comes, when Jesus Christ returns. Now, a person can pray, and that'll do a lot in your relationship with God. A person can study, and a person can fast and meditate. That will do a lot for your relationship with God, but not these kind of things. You know, the Bible actually tells us that we can be over much righteous, actually. You can go too far. You know, let me tell you something. You know that you can pray too much?

You can study too much? You can fast too much? You can do all of these things too much? And you become very weird in the process. What is important is balance. Balancing what you do. To be balanced. In Ecclesiastes 7, verse 16, it says, It says, Why should you destroy yourself? It says. Why should you destroy yourself?

And that's what people do when they do things too much.

I like the words in Philippians 4, verse 5. It says, I like that word balanced too. Let your balance be known to all men. You know, you will relate to a whole lot more people if you're balanced in your life. You know, if you want to relate to people only that are, you know, got that, they're beating the back, you see, there are not very many people who want to do that here.

Let your moderation be known to all men. The New King James says, let your gentleness be known to all men. You know, being balanced, brethren, is not extreme in its approach. It's being moderate in all things. You know, all of us here are servants of God. Everybody here, you have a duty and a responsibility to be a servant of God. You know what it says in the Bible? It says, a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, even must not be an argumentative kind of person, but be gentle with all, to be gentle with all, able to teach and patient, being patient, be patient with people. You know, all of these things, brethren, involve balance, being balanced. And nobody's a paragon of virtue for that. I don't mean to imply that at all. In fact, if a person is balanced, they recognize that. There's no one person to say, well, that person is a perfect balance. Well, there is only one that I know of that ever existed in the years of human beings, and that was Jesus Christ. But, you know, Jesus Christ was the kind of person you'd love to be around. He was the kind of person that could relate to anybody, a remarkable individual in every sense of the word.

Another thing to be balanced about, brethren, is your sleeping habits.

Are you sleeping the way you should? You know, we all don't need the same amount of sleep. Some can get by with four or five hours of sleep. You know, some are able to get by with maybe 10 hours of sleep. I hope none of us have to sleep 24 hours a day. That'd be pretty unbalanced, wouldn't it, to do that. But nobody can get by with no sleep.

If you allow yourself, brethren, to get worn down, then your defenses are brought down and Satan could take advantage. I mean, this would be an extreme. You know what? Sleep, the wonderful thing about sleep, and you know, last night I, yesterday afternoon, I took my nightly five-minute snooze. You know, to me, I can be really, just really exhausted. I can lay down if I can, if my wife hears a little snore, you know, from me, maybe I sleep five minutes or so. It's like I feel restored. It's like I feel like a new person. And it does. It restores us, brethren. It restores our defenses physically and emotionally. And you know what? Sometimes demons play on those that have a problem with sleeping.

You know, you want to make sure, again, you're getting the proper amount of rest so that you're restored mentally, and you're strong, you're more controlled in your life.

You know, know the story of Mark chapter 5 about how Christ came across a demonic? And it says about him that he cut himself and he cried among the tombs night and day. And so, see, Satan likes that kind of lifestyle, a night and day type of a lifestyle. So get the proper amount of rest, the amount of rest you need to keep your mind stable, to keep your mind restored and your defenses high. You know, so it's important, again, that these things we control, brethren. Another point I would bring about is that Satan takes advantage of uncontrolled anger. You don't take care of your anger. You know, some people are explosive and in terms of their temper. You know, we need to temper our tempers.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the crimes that take place happen because somebody goes berserk? They get angry about someone, you know, maybe down at the post office or maybe at work or whatever, and pretty soon you hear about some atrocious crime that has taken place where people end up dead. It's because of anger, and Satan takes advantage of that. And we see, again, the violence that takes place in the world that we live in. It's quite, again, prevalent. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. The best advice, brethren, that I've ever received and that is in the scriptures that tell us how to deal with our anger, check our anger, and I think all of us, of course, have had that time when we get angry. You know, and that is something that's natural to occur in our life, but let's practice what Paul says over here in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 26. It says, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. This is good advice for married couples as well. Don't go to bed angry. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath, on your anger. But notice the very next verse, what it says. Nor give place to the devil. You don't want to give him an advantage, and so some pretty silly and stupid decisions can be made because of giving him an advantage. You know, if anger resides in our minds too long, it turns to bitterness, and Satan then can really take advantage of us. So beware, brethren. So, brethren, we're on this journey now, you know, to Sinai, as it were, to Pentecost, and we are the firstfruits. And be aware that Satan, the devil, is on the prowl. He's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So always, brethren, walk in moderation. Always maintain a self-controlled, balanced life as a Christian, so you will grow spiritually. You know, we're fighting a battle. We're fighting a battle with a devil. Keep your stand strong. You know, keep your balance strong so that you can win in the end and stand so you can be a part of the firstfruits who enter on in to the kingdom of God.