Overcoming the Wiles of the Devil

Okay, from our last sermon, we learned that Satan is the God of this world. He is the Prince of the power of the air. He walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We learned that his principal strategy is deceit. His principal strategy is deceit. Now, there's another form of delusion that is mentioned in the Bible. His principal form is deceit in Matthew 24, 24. It says, and if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived. Now, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we read that if it were, that God will send those who do not love the truth He will send grand delusion to them. So, those who treat the devil lightly in what is going on and do not love the truth are going to be sent, not only deception from Satan, but grand delusion from God. So, we want to read 2 Thessalonians verses chapter 2, verses 10 and 11.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. In 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth, you don't know how much you're blessed to have received the truth. Because most of the world lies in darkness.

They believe that you have an immortal soul, the so-called Christian world. They believe that you go to heaven or hell when you die. I just had a dose of that with my brother's funeral, and I know that he is not watching us here today, and hopefully he will respond when he is resurrected from the grave. But there is a great deception that will come at the end of this age.

And in addition to that, if you don't love the truth, God sends grand delusion because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they might be damned or judged who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. And of course, you can read in the last verse in Revelation 9 where it says that even in spite of all of the plagues that are poured out, that no one repents, that they curse God and do their own thing.

So the principal strategy of Satan is deception, and if you don't love the truth, then you are subject to delusion from God. And delusion from God, that is one of the saddest things that can possibly happen. The power of this influence is so great that after the Millennial reign of God. Now we heard about the great peace that's going to take place in the Sermonet, and wonderful Sermonet, wonderful scriptures that were read and referred to and expounded upon.

But after the Millennial reign, if you'll turn to Revelation 20 and verse 7, Revelation 20 and verse 7, you will see that Satan is going to be loosed after this time of great peace. Now of course, those who have been converted will not be subject hopefully to the grand delusion, but this just illustrates the power of Satan. He's bound for a thousand years, and he's loosed for a little season, and what does he do? So we'll pick it up in Revelation 20 and verse 7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners or quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog.

The same ones, Gog and Magog, are listed in Ezekiel 38. So some of the same nations that are up in arms today, and as a result of this U.S.-Iraqi-Iran war, they are going to be deceived. So they'll go out and deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. So it's going to be quite a number of nations and peoples that are gathered together against Gog and against the people of Gog, even after the millennium.

Why? Because Satan is loosed for a little season, and he deceives the nations in the four corners of the earth. And they went up on the breath of the earth and accomplished the camp of the saints. Hopefully you and I will be a part of the camp of the saints. And the beloved city, which is Jerusalem, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were cast, not are, were cast, and they'll be tormented forever and ever night and day. So this shows, illustrates the power of Satan the devil. We learned in the last sermon that, according to 2 Corinthians 4-4, that Satan is the god of this present evil age. Now there's an interesting scripture in 2 Corinthians 2, 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11, which is really a warning to each one of us in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11.

"'Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.' So hopefully we are not ignorant, but sometimes I think we are ignorant of his devices, and he is so deceptive that we can easily be deceived if we are not filled with the Bible study and with prayer and thanksgiving.

So do we believe what the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. We're going here now, and we're also going to close with this at the close of the sermon and speak more about the whole armor of God. In Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 6, and beginning in verse 10, all of us perhaps are familiar with this scripture, but let's read it again and impress upon our minds what is really going on. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. I understand you had a Bible study and a potluck before services today from strength to strength. So my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Of course, the power of God's might is more powerful than any any spirit that come against us. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

So our title is, How to Overcome the Wiles of the Devil, How to Overcome. Of course, we've had one big one already, and that is to love the truth. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

And we talked about in the sermon last time how that the nations apparently have a demon spirit over them and Satan's organization. And we read from Daniel chapter 10 how that the Prince of Persia, which is modern-day Iran, withstood Daniel and the well, withstood Gabriel, who was coming to answer Daniel's prayer. And eventually, Michael, who stands for the people of God, for Israel and the people of God, had to come and help him out so he could deliver the message to Daniel. So Satan has to be defeated, and now is the time to defeat him. All of us should clearly see that there is a real spirit world. And as Paul said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits in high places. And we're in the battle for our lives. Satan is a great actualizer. Last time we read from Isaiah 14, which he says that, in essence, saying, I will be like the Most High. Really, he's saying, I will take over the throne of God. I will unseat him. I will be number one in all the universe. Ezekiel also speaks of Satan's rebellion.

Satan is the greatest of all self-actualizers. He is totally against true Christianity.

We're to become a new creation. A new creation. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, where it says that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. So 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And we are to use that new mind, that new knowing, as we shall see in our battle against Satan the devil. Satan the devil is, once again, against all Christianity, against Christ, against God, against the plan of God. And we are to be guided by a new mind. Let's look at Ephesians 4 and verse 20. Ephesians 4 and verse 20 forward just a few pages past Galatians. We'll find Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20. Ephesians 4 and verse 20.

In Ephesians 4 and verse 20, But you have not learned Christ. It so be that you have learned him, and have been taught by him, in the truth is in Jesus Christ, that you put off concerning the former conduct the old man. Remember, we are a new creation, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. And so, the spirit—we read the scripture from James last time—that the spirit that dwells within us lusts to envy. So there is a spirit of jealousy abiding in each one of us, and we have to overcome it. We have to defeat it through God and Christ and the Spirit of God and the Word of God and our obedience to it. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So we have a new mind, or we are to have a new mind. Hopefully we have a new mind.

This old man is not the—this mind that we have now is not the old man made over. It is a new creation. Christ is to be formed in us. In Galatians 4 and verse 19, back just a page or two, we see that we are to be conformed to my little children, whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you. So Christ is to be formed in us. He is our model. He is our mold. We're the ones we are—or He is the one that we are to follow in all things. And He is the example. Philippians 2.5 says, Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. And then it describes, after Philippians 2.5, Let this mind be in you as in Christ. Then it defines—defines describes Christ's mind, which mind was that He gave up His glory and took on the form of a man. How many would do that? It's the greatest example of servant leadership that we can find in the Bible or anywhere else. So we have a new mind and we have a new conscience. Conscience, the definition of conscience, is a knowing within. We have a knowing within of what is right and what is wrong. And we want to go to Hebrews chapter 9 now. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 8. And we'll see about this new mind. I don't think we spend enough time in our study with regard to—or in our daily life, prayer life, and so on realizing that we do have this new mind, this new knowing within. So we're in Hebrews 9 and verse 8. The Holy Spirit thus signifying that the way and the holiest of all, the holy of holies, was not made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. Now that first tabernacle did have a holy of holies, and the high priest went in there on the day of atonement once a year. But now we have a spiritual holy of holies. We can enter in. We can come before the presence of God 24-7, 365 and a fourth. We can live in the holy of holies.

Once again, we can live in the holy of holies. That way was not made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure. It was symbolic. It was a figure. It lasted a short time for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, the knowing within. It does not make him perfect. We're to have a perfect sense of what is right and what is wrong. And we look to Scripture. If we reach a conundrum in which we don't know which way to go, we go to the Word of God, which said only in meats and different drinks, washings, carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. So that was there's a summary of everything that was done away with. But Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle, not blade with hands. That is to say, not of this building, not of blood and bulls and goats, verses 12 and 13. Verse 14 now, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, see we have abiding within us the eternal Spirit.

I mean, the Spirit that's always existed. See, the Spirit, God is Spirit, and that Spirit has always existed. It's not from creation, it is always the eternal Spirit. So how can we become sons and daughters of God? We have the eternal Spirit abiding within us. That Spirit that has existed eternally, that God and Christ had eternally, and they still have it. The eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purged your conscience, show the old way, the old man, the old mind is destroyed from dead works to serve the living God. Resist Satan, and he will flee from you. James 4, 7. Resist Satan, he will flee from you. You live by the knowing within, according to the new conscience. And for this cause, he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

God has had this plan all along. He wants to share who He is, what He is, in a family setting.

For where a covenant is, there must also be of necessity the death of the test-sator or the covenant-maker. And so it goes on to show that we're to be guided by that new knowing within.

So we have a new mind, a new knowing within. God has given all of us various talents, and everybody has some kind of talent. Now look at some people say, well, I wish I could be this or that. Notice how God gives talents in Matthew 25, Matthew 25 and verse 15.

Matthew 25 and verse 15. And unto one He gave five talents to another one, to every man according to his several abilities. And straightway took their journey.

So those that were given the five and the two and the one took their journey. We're on a journey to the kingdom, and each one of us has talents that we're to use. And when the day of judgment comes, we're to be able to say, I've increased my talents to whatever it is, to two, one to two, two to four, maybe in five to ten, and so on it goes. It is not the desire to realize self.

It is to realize God. In other words, we're to become as God is. God is love, so a description of love is given in 1 Corinthians 13. And if you want to know, see, God, there's a scripture, John 4.8 and John 4.16, that says God is love. So if you want to know what love is like, you read 1 Corinthians 13. I'm not going to read it now. What matters is what God thinks of us, not what anyone else thinks of you. What does God think of you? What does God think of me?

So it's not what others think of you, it's what God thinks of you. That's what counts when all said is done. Christ said, apart from me, you can do nothing. We cannot defeat Satan without God. We cannot defeat Satan without putting on the whole armor of God. It is not the works you do for Jesus, but the works that Jesus can do through you that really counts. And that is done so no flesh can glory in the sight of God. Ephesians 2 and 9 says that no flesh should glory. Eternal life is a gift, but it is conditional. You have to surrender, submit, serve, obey God in every facet of your being. Satan is the author of two extremes. Two extremes of human emotion. And to a large degree, we are emotional beings guided by emotion. God wants us to be guided by his word, and he wants us to be guided by what is sound, what is good, what is righteous, what is pure, what is true. Not saying in our hearts, I will be like the most I. Not saying I will exalt myself above God.

None of us in and of ourselves are worth anything. Positive thinking, however beneficial. And I think positive thinking is beneficial, but no matter how much we think positively, we still need God in our lives. Anything that we get above death is a gift, because eternal life is a gift, and it is conditional. It is conditional on obedience and subservience to God.

Look at what Paul said about the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh are many. We'll look now at Philippians chapter 3 and verse 4. Philippians 3-4. Philippians after, I think, Galatians. Is it Philippians 1st and then Galatians? Philippians 3 and verse 4. Philippians 1st and then Galatians. In Philippians 3 and verse 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, and if any man thinks that he has whereof, let that man think again, that he might trust in the flesh. Paul says, I have more to trust in the flesh than most people.

Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless, but what things were gained to me, those I counted as loss for Christ.

Paul gave up everything. He gave up his high standing in the church of the Pharisees.

He gave up his high standing in that society, and he took on the very form that Christ did. He took on the form of a servant. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost were the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

He gave up everything. You know what kind of life that Christ lived. He was a vagabond.

He says the foxes have their dens, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

And I count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is in the law, but that which is through faith of Christ.

Or that should be the faith in Christ. Christ, as we've covered many times, doesn't pull off his shoe and give to you. He doesn't pull off his faith and give to you, but he tells you to obey and live by faith. Through the faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformably unto his death. So that's what Paul gave up. He gave up everything. So with Satan, on the one hand, he says, I'm worth a million dollars or more than a million. Maybe I'm worth a billion.

I will exalt my throne above the most high. None of us in and ourselves are worth anything as Paul brings out here what I've just read. The other extreme is guilt and depression, and this part of the sermon is vital to every person in here. Vital, vital, vital.

The other extreme is guilt and depression, and here's where Satan really makes hay and merchandise of the Church of God. Do you know how to handle guilt and low self-esteem?

It seems that people in the Church are given to low self-esteem, but you should have seen, you can say with all confidence, I am a child of God. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. You can also say, God loves me. Some try to deal with their depression and guilt by saying, they are the greatest. And as we have seen through Satan's actions, that's not the answer. He tried to exalt himself above God. The other extreme, guilt and depression, self-defense.

Satan is a great defender of self. Are you a great defender of self? He will not admit who he is, what he is. In other words, he won't repent, can't repent, because he has set his mind against God.

And God is not going to grant repentance to one who does not seek it. Satan knows his fate and feels sorry for himself, but it is not godly sorrow unto repentance.

You know, when a group of demons—this is Matthew 8, 28, I'm not turning there—when they encountered Christ, they said, are you come to torment us before the time? They knew what their fate was, are you come to torment us before the time?

And of course, Christ cast them into pigs. The pigs jumped into the water and were drowned, but so many of us try to deal with guilt and depression through physical actions, trying to work it out in flesh, so we go around tormenting ourselves.

Paul explains this battle in Romans 7, 14. The things I would do I don't do.

So look at that. Once again, let's look there. Romans 7, 14, and then 8 through 1. First of all, Romans 7, 14.

And Romans 7 and verse 14.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For that which I do, I allow not, and for what I would, that do I not. For that which I hate, that I do. If then I do what I would not, I can send unto the law that it is good. So the law is good, righteous, pure. The law is spiritual, as Paul brings out. But he had a battle that goes on all the time. He didn't give in to the battle as some tried to and say, well, we got a law of sin that is abiding in us, so I'll just give in to the law of sin and God will understand. That's not what it says. Now look at chapter 8, verse 1.

There's therefore known condemnations to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit and life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death. For what law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. How did He condemn sin in the flesh? He perfectly obeyed the law of God, showing that you can live in the flesh and obey God. But many people are caught in a vicious cycle, guilt, and self-condemnation.

Satan has you or he wants you when you fall into this trap. Here's how this trap works. Let's say you're overweight. That what you think causes you to have low self-esteem and feelings of guilt.

Well, I feel guilty I have low self-esteem because I'm overweight. I'm not supposed to be overweight. So you go on a diet, lose weight, but your feelings of guilt and low self-esteem are still present. Most people tend to gain the weight back after they lose it in that way. Anyhow, they still feel guilty, so they think they have to punish themselves. So they give in and go on a binge diet or some kind of self-destructive behavior, and the cycle continues. They still feel guilty, so they think they have to punish themselves. Most often, guilt and depression are emotional and spiritual. Guilt results from sin. Guilt results from sin.

God says, beware lest your sins find you out. That's Numbers 32 verse 23. Beware lest your sins find you out. God wants your sins to find you out. You don't have to go around and tell everybody, I have sinned, but you need to go to God and say, I have sinned. It says in John chapter 1, if we go to God and say, I have sinned, and we are truly sorry in this godly sense and repent of that sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness. One can feel so sorry for wrong actions, which might have been an accident, that he or she becomes hopelessly depressed. Guilt and worldly sorrow are often handmaidens of depression and defeat. So let's say that again. Guilt and worldly sorrow are often handmaidens of death and defeat. Depression, defeat, which leads to death.

I know a man who accidentally had a part in his grandson's death, a grandson that he dearly loved. In fact, this man lives in the state of Texas. He's not in the church. He's in the cowboy church, sadly, but he's in a church, better than not, I guess, being churched at all. He's a cowboy in a sense, and he was teaching his grandson how to rope, about eight years old. He was his birthday, and they were celebrating and having a grand time. So they went out to the stable, and they practiced roping and roping a horse in this sense. And so they practiced, and they got ready to leave, and the grandson said, well, grandpa, I just want to do this one more time. And so he did it one more time. The horse stumbled, fell on him, killed him. And so this man had to live with this guilt the rest of his life. And there are stories, of course, of people who have backed over their child, killed the child, and life goes on.

So in this case, a man, even though he has faced a lot of trials in his life, he is coping with life.

And I understand that his granddaughter is on the roping team. Yeah, he was a roping team at Texas A&M University. Remember the Apostle Paul, who was persecuting and killing Christians.

Persecuting and killing Christians remembered David, who committed adultery, who then planned and saw to it that Bathsheba's husband was sent to the front lines where David knew he would be killed, and so he was. But life goes on. And David did many great things in the name of God and through God and God working through him the rest of his life. And so they got on with doing the will of God. Paul did the will of God shortly after he was converted when he was struck down on the road to Damascus. He was shortly there after preaching the gospel. And so we know that Satan is the author of sin and death, and Jesus Christ is the only one who can justify you and remove guilt. The fearful defend themselves.

The fearful defend themselves. Satan is fearful of being discovered. We can ask ourselves, are we fearful of being discovered, of what we really are? I am nothing, and really none of us are anything apart from God and Christ. Satan is brilliant in self-defense, and God has not called us, however, to fear him. If God be for us, who can be against us? That's what it says in Romans 8, 31. And then the rest of the chapter, no matter what comes against you, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. That's Romans 8, 31, to the end of the chapter.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

But on the other hand, once you give up, it doesn't matter how much you punish yourself or say, I am the greatest, or I am the worst. Only Jesus Christ can remove guilt.

So you might have to admit who you are and what you are and say, Father in heaven, I am blank blank. Cleanse me, wash me, make me whiter than snow. The longer you try to cope with guilt and sorrow, by any other means, any other extreme, the longer you will be in the cycle. So get out of the cycle. Come before God, admit what you are. Give up self and say, here I am, Father, you're the potter, I am the clay. Mold me, shape me, make me after your way.

Something paradoxical will happen, or it will seem paradoxical, and you will go from being fearful and afraid, depressed, and feeling guilty to being at one with God and Christ and each member of the body of Christ. God will give you his mind, his confidence, his peace, his assurance, which transcends all of the self-confidence you could ever work up on your own.

And you can work up a lot of self-confidence on your own. And as I've said earlier, there is some value to positive thinking. But when it comes to defeating Satan and overcoming him, we have to rely on God and Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and our obedience to that word. We can gain victory only through Christ. There is no way we can defeat the wicked spirits on our own. One of the most powerful personages, I guess you would say, go to Jude chapter 6. Of course, Jude has only one chapter, so if you get to Jude, you can't miss it. In Jude, verse 6, And angels which kept not their first estate, remember, Satan drew a third of the angels, they followed his line, and left their onus habitation, He hath reserved everlasting change under darkness unto the judgment of that great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the city is about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh.

Strange flesh is interesting. Are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Or said fire is not burning, still today, for those who believe there is an immortal soul would probably quote this verse, but you see that fire is not burning. It burns as long as there is combustible material. Likewise, also those filthy dreamers, they file the flesh, despise the minion, speak evil of dignities, yet, Michael. I would say Michael is the strongest spirit being next to God in Christ. There is yet Michael, one of the archangels, yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of him. He disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against the devil, against him, a railing accusation, which said merely, the Lord rebuke you. And we have that assurance, the Lord rebuke you.

But so many people are trying to work it out. They get away from God and the truth and try to work it out on their own. God leaves certain things above the domain of human flesh, and one way or the other, you will come to realize that on your own, you cannot defeat Satan, and you become easy pickings for Satan, the devil, and his wiles. But being close to him, relying on his word, reading and setting his word, obeying him, coming before him, confessing your sins, and having your being at one with God in Christ, you can defeat him. And if you've ever attempted to command a demon, which I've done several times, if you ever tried to command a demon to leave a person, you would more fully realize what I'm talking about.

It's sort of like that demon that says, you know, I know Paul and others, but you, I don't know.

Physically, you are powerless, but through Jesus Christ, we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. So we have to put on the whole armor of God in order to stand, in order to try up over Satan. You know, when, let's turn there to Acts 19, and we'll start in verse 11. In Acts 19 and verse 11. And in the face of great danger, in the face of great trial.

This is Acts 19, verse 11. And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. Remember, Paul was persecuting the church, and when he was struck down on the road to Damascus, he was on the way there. He had a list from the high priests of those who might be Christians, true Christians, so that from the body were brought unto him the sick with handkerchiefs or aprons. So this is the basis of anointed cloths, unto the sick hand, handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. I've used anointed cloths before, before I was ordained, and I have seen the fever of those who were burning with a fever depart from them.

The insertion of the vagabond, Jesus, exorcists, those who tried to cast out demons, took upon them to call over them, to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.

There were seven sons of one Siva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did also.

And the evil spirits answered and said, Jesus, I know, Paul, I know, but who are you?

And so we are if we try to go it on our own.

And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overcame them, prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks, also dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of Jesus Christ was magnified. And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds.

Many of them also, which used curious arts, brought forth their books together and burned them before all men. And they counted the price of them, and they found 50,000 pieces of silver.

So we see that, apart from God, they could do nothing. But with God's help, many things can be done.

So I hope you never have to confront a demon yourself, but if you do, you know what to do. You rebuke them in the name of Jesus Christ.

Satan feigns and pretends to offer freedom, and he makes his way to look so enticing.

And so many people, every day I say, I never thought I would see this.

And every day, I almost—not every day, but nearly every day I can say, yeah, one of the things that the Socialist Democrat Party is advocating, and one of the branches of it, is to have sexual relief houses for people who need relief.

That's in their program. That's what they're saying.

It's Sean Hannity who talked about it this week. We must not fall into any of Satan's traps. We must cling to the absolute promises of God's word. Jesus Christ is on the right hand of the Father making intercessions for us.

God's thoughts are ever toward us. The hairs on our head are numbered, not willing that any should perish. If God be for you, who can be against you?

God wants us full of hope and eager anticipation.

We lose hope when we get our minds off the big picture, when we want our thing now. That's what vanity really is. It means temporary for a short time.

For a short time, people can glory in the sins of the flesh, but in the long run, they'll pay for it.

If we insist on our things right now, we will never make it. We must develop patience. In Luke, it says, in your patience, possess you your souls.

And we tend to forget it rains on the just and the unjust. You can't say, oh well, they're breaking the law, and look how they're being blessed.

You can't say that. You have to be true to the Word of God. Many of our problems center around the fact that we forget Matthew 6, 33.

And that's the scripture probably we should quote to ourselves throughout the day. Seek you first. The kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. And now we close. Once again, we go back to Ephesians 6, and we emphasize, once again, the whole armor of God. We've emphasized it throughout the presentation here today.

So to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

There's no greater power than God in Christ. That is the song. That is the epitome. That is the height. That is the zenith. That's as high as it gets. That's as strong as it gets. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

So I've tried to emphasize here the past two sermons, the wiles of the devil, and how to defeat them.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.

Against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's like the demons in which those tried to cast out, they said, we know Paul, we know Jesus, but who are you? That's what the demons will say to you if you do not know God and Christ and know that they are on your side. Or for take unto yourselves the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore.

That's where I would put the period. Then I'd begin a new verse.

Having your loins gird about with truth. So this is a summary of the armor of God.

Remember that those who do not love the truth will be sent grand delusion. 2 Corinthians 2, 10 and 11. And having on the breastplate of righteousness.

And your feet shied with the preparation of God. The preparation of the gospel of peace. What does that mean? That means you're willing to share the gospel and you're willing to support the gospel. Having your feet shied with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That is, the great commission. Go you therefore into all the world. Make disciples of all nations. Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Above all taking the shield of faith where you shall be able to quench all, not some, all the fiery darts of Satan.

We're reminded that faith is a great requirement for God. It is the first article of faith. The first article of faith is faith. It says in Hebrews that we must believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So the first article is to believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So when we have on the shield of faith, we know and we know that we know that we can defeat Satan. There's no trial. There's no difficulty. There's nothing in our path that can defeat us because we have the shield of faith knowing and knowing that we know that God will deliver us. Take the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is defined in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 8 as hope. And what is hope? Hope permeates the mind. Helmet covers the whole head. Hope should permeate the whole vision, the whole brain. The hope of eternal life. The hope of eternal life in the kingdom of God. In other words, the big picture as we call it. And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayers and supplications in the Spirit. Remember in the model of prayer Jesus Christ says that to deliver us from evil, the evil one. Some translations have the evil one. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching guarantee with all perseverance.

Don't give up. Never give up. And supplications for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel.

The mystery of the gospel of Christ in you, the hope of glory according to Paul in Colossians, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that I therein I may speak boldly, and as I ought to speak.

And so on that I may attend to all the affairs of the gospel and of the church.

So, brethren, we have covered the wiles of the devil. There are more wiles. There's nothing that is inclusive. There's always more to add. Today we have covered how to overcome them, but there's always more to add. So this is not all there is to the story. But if we have these things in mind and practice them and do them, I think we'll be able to stand. In fact, I know we'll be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.