Say You're Sorry, Part 3 // 2 Corinthians 2:1-11

[Music] Well, listen. With the time remaining that we have right now, let's grab our Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. This morning, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, and we are in the third installment, part three, of a message that has been entitled, "Say You're Sorry." And if you've missed the two previous studies, go ahead and listen to them online and become familiar with it, so that today's message in totality will make sense.

2 Corinthians chapter 2, in our study today. And, uh, you guys know that we covered verses 1 through 11, but specifically look at verse 4, uh, down to verse 11. And specifically, of course, as we zoom in on this, we're in verses, um, 10 to 11 today. And so, verse 4. Verse four, look at it with me. He says, "For out of much affliction," Paul says to the church in Corinth, "and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me only, but all of you to some extent. Not to be too severe, this punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore, I urge you, that is the church, to reaffirm your love to him, that is the sinning brother of 1 Corinthians chapter 5. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you, that is the church, to the test whether you are obedient in all things. Now, whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes, this is key, in the presence of Christ. Verse 11, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices."

Paul is speaking to the church regarding their disciplinary action against a Christian brother in Corinth who was sinning a gross sin with, uh, his stepmother, of all people, in the church. And his sin was found out, and the Bible says that he was, uh, discovered, and that the church body came together, the church leadership, and ostracized him from the general assembly of the church. The Bible says that he was turned out from their gathering, not allowed to go to church, not allowed to be among believers because he was living in a gross sexual, uh, sin and he wouldn't repent of it. But he was a true brother, the Bible says he was a true Christian, but he was turned out because of his transgression. And literally, the Bible says he was handed over to the powers of Satan so that his body may be destroyed, but his soul would be saved in the day of Christ. What a profound statement that is, church discipline. And so, Paul was speaking to them about that. And so, for these last three studies together, we've been looking at the very dynamic of what it all means and how to deal with that.

By the way, listen, and it's a beautiful thing. Let me make sure you remember this, that the brother was turned out, but during that one-year period of time, while he was ostracized between the writing of First Corinthians and Second Corinthians, during that one-year time, he repented and came back to church. And there was a process set up that he might be recovered and restored. Now, listen. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7:1, in the NIV version of the Bible, that "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow, interestingly enough, brings death." There is a sorrow when you're found out that is not a repentance, and it leads to death. But there is the kind of sorrow which leads to godly repentance. And so, you want to be very careful this morning as a Christian. And a non-Christian, if you're here today and you don't have a personal, private, dynamic relationship with Jesus, then you are what the Bible calls a non-believer. You may believe in God, but that doesn't save you. You may be very religious, but you're not going to heaven. You must have what the Bible says, what Jesus said in John chapter 3, as a born-again relationship with God Almighty. That is born from above, born again, born a second time. And so, this is vital.

So, for the house of God, the Christian, both in Corinth and in California, is that we have a living, breathing relationship with God. Even when we sin, the Christian today, when they sin, repents and comes back to the relationship with Christ, and they hate their sin. A non-Christian makes plans to sin. A non-Christian, though they may be religious, uh, orchestrates their next sin. They, they, they look forward to it, they perpetrate it, they do it. And, uh, there is a sorrow should they be found out, but it's not to repentance. And this is very, very key. We looked at two points, and they're vitally important, and we're going to run through them because, uh, we need to do that. It's been some time since we've been together. Mark this down. The first point regarding saying you're sorry as a believer was this, found in verses 4 and 5. And that is, God has a recipe for forgiveness. And these are key, these are fundamental. And you might say, "I already know them." But the question is, do you live them in your day-to-day life? Number one, recipe for restoration is forgiveness. And there's three aspects to it. You know, verse 4 taught us that it's mercy. That as believers, we are supposed to be known for our mercy. That is the key to the recipe of forgiveness. No one will experience forgiveness without that appealing, attractive display of the mercy of God. Secondly, it is the love of God. A church is to be a place of love, not the kind of love defined today by the world. We talked about this in detail, but love defined by the Bible, by God's word. And then the third ingredient to this recipe for forgiveness was found in verse 5, and that is God's grace. Mercy, love, and grace are the recipe ingredients to create an atmosphere of forgiveness. Vitally important. And Paul challenged the church to do that.

The second point is found in verses 6 through 8, and that is God's design for restoration. God, after forgiveness, is in the atmosphere of the house of God, of the people of God, regardless of our feelings. We are to obey the word of God. We are to have an atmosphere of forgiveness. The next thing is restoration. Restoration, how is restoration even set up? And is there a prerequisite to restoration? Absolutely. Listen to this. Number one, we looked at it in verse 6, is discipline. Biblically based church discipline is a great thing. It is a healthy thing because in the family of God, God orchestrates discipline against us as individuals. As, listen, as His children, God will spank us when we go astray. And we looked into that. Somebody could be sinning privately, alone in their own private world, they think, as a believer. And yet, if they don't listen to God's conviction and His rebuke, God will up His intensity until they listen. And if they refuse to listen still, what does God do? He eventually brings it, if it's unrepented, he brings it out into the public. And he does that with a heart of discipline to bring about restoration. We also saw that godly discipline leads to repentance. We saw that in verse 7. That when someone is repentful of their conduct, it is very, very important. Say, "How do I know if this person has truly repented?" I said it before, I want to say it again. If a person is truly repentful before God and before that person, that group, or the church, they will have no contest to their sin. They will have no argument in defense. They will be fully submitted to what is necessary. They will own that grief and that sorrow that they've afflicted friends or family or the church with. And that is one of the great signs of true repentance. The person is not truly repented if they say, "Well, I'm sorry. I, I'm so sorry I upset all of you and I did a terrible thing. But if it wasn't for you guys, you know what I'm saying?" That's not true repentance. They're still in the mode of self-justification. But if they've repented, then we rush. Verse 8, the Bible says, "Therefore," he said, "I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." That is, we encourage them. And that's a beautiful word. We build fences around their restoration. We just don't bring somebody back in of some spiritual crime, carte blanche. There is a step to restoration. And a church that does not do this will be an unhealthy church. A church that does not do this will be a church that, in my opinion, its days are numbered and its effectiveness.

And so now we come to the third part and the final installment of our study here, "Say You're Sorry." It's this, verses 9-11, and that is God's evidence for salvation. Can you write that down? God's evidence for salvation as our third point. So, what do we mean by this? The evidence, listen, of this church being a God-ordained church. Now, look, you're sitting here right now, and you are either vitally prayerful about making this your church and you become an active, living, breathing member of this body. Part of that will mean because God's word never changes, God will use you to evidence, to display with the rest of us, the fact that we are a saved people. Salvation in your life is not something that we boast about or announce or parade about. It's something that we actually do by living out the desire of God in our hearts and in our lives. And that truth, if of us truly being saved, will be manifested in this amazing thing called the church. And it is a constant dynamic, and we've talked about that before. But the number one thing, now get this, oh, it's an unpopular word today. The number one thing about a church that shows evidence of God's salvation in and among it is found in verse 9. When he says, "For to this end I also wrote to you." Paul is saying, "I'm writing to the church. Now, we nailed the guy who was living in sin, he repented, and he's come back. Now I'm writing to the body of believers that I might put you to the test." The word "test" is, "I might dip you in the acid, find out if you're real. Are you really a church?" Here's the test: "Whether you are obedient in all things." Wow. To be obedient in all things. The word "obedient," you don't even hear this word anymore. I mean, can you imagine going to work tomorrow and your boss saying, "Now, look, I want you to be obedient"? Did you know you're supposed to be obedient? Well, nobody talks like that anymore. And that's what's wrong with America, in my opinion. So many families are falling apart because Junior, you know, all 40 pounds of him, is telling Dad what to do. Listen, Dad needs to man up and say, "Junior, sit in your high chair until you're done with your broccoli, and you will obey me." Amen. "Why? Why should I obey you?" "No fruit cup unless you obey me. No Ding Dong or Twinkies. Oh, I mean, no yogurt until you do what I say." Listen, "Oh, I can't believe you just said that." Obedience is freedom. Listen, when you obey, you're set free. It's the greatest thing. Listen, Mom, Dad, listen. I, I know some kids who need to tell their parents to start obeying God. Obedience is freedom. And the greatest thing about God's evidence for salvation is that we'll be an obedient church. Think about it. I'll be an obedient husband. I'll be an obedient father. I'll be an obedient pastor. Obedient Christian. Obedience, one of the marks of salvation. The evidence is God raises up a people, and they're marked by a desire to obey God. And Paul says, "I'm going to put the church at Corinth to a test. I'm going to pour some acid on them to see if they're real." And here it is: "Will you obey in all things?" You can't be selective in obedience. That's what Paul is saying to the church of Corinth. And the Holy Spirit, I pray, is saying that to the church in California. "I'm putting you to the test." Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Hallelujah. Can, let me, let me do that again, and you shout out like she just did. Hallelujah. "Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Amen. That is awesome because that means Jesus stands guard over His church. And I, I want you to think about that for a second. You say, "Well, which church?" Well, that all depends. That all depends on is that church open to walk in obedience to Christ? Is that, and I should go like this, church marked by its obedience to the word of God? Is that church in submission to the Holy Spirit? Is the Bible exalted? When that church comes together in a convocation, do people leave challenged? Watch this, challenged, uh, convicted, encouraged, admonished? Do you know what that feels like? You know, sometimes when we go to church, we should walk out. Some people, it'd be great if we could see this like, you know, put on our little spiritual glasses and see people walk out of church with spiritual glasses on. Some people should walk out of church, you know, like, "Oh, man." Now, they may not do that, but inside they're. And then some people should walk out of church, I'm talking Christians now, should walk out, you know, "Yeah." Some people, some Christians should walk out a church with a black eye, or maybe, you know, maybe their ears are a little tanned, they're red. Why? Because when the word of God is exalted and held forth, then there's going to be admonition and exhortation and teaching and correction and encouragement. Who does that? The Holy Spirit will do that wherever the Bible is presented. He's promised to do that. And so, you want to be in a church where the Holy Spirit is free to be the God that He is. God the Holy Spirit. It's amazing. Listen, Jesus for 33 and a quarter years lived on earth. He ascended back up into heaven, and on Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit. And for the last 2,000 years, the Holy Spirit has been here working in His church. And when I say here, I mean this. In fact, there's a great display of that in the foyer, um, after service. You can walk through the middle of the church, go out through the foyer, and there's a 2,000-pound stone there from Jerusalem, cut from the mountainside, shipped here by friends to be installed right there, symbolizing that rock as a cornerstone, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone. It's a symbol, it's a type. And then on top of it, rising out of that stone, is actually an antique, it is a 52-pound pure brass seven-lamp stand menorah. Why? Why do we put that there? By the way, every Jew in California wants to come and see that thing. I'm not kidding. They call, they want to come see it. The guy that, uh, the guy that designed that was the famous one who designed the one for the Knesset in Jerusalem today that you see. That is one of the prototypes before the big one was made. That's a piece of history out there. It's a very valuable thing. And, uh, what's, what's the significance? First of all, Moses made a lampstand, a seven-lampstand menorah. Moses. And it's not mentioned again until Jesus, in the Book of Revelation, is walking through the midst of the seven lampstands. And Jesus says, "This represents the convocation of my people, the churches." And there's a leader over each of those churches. And He said, "I will walk through the midst of those lampstands wherever I'm welcome." Listen, the church of Laodicea, I believe, isn't it? Laodicea or Ephesus? Laodicea, where He's knocking on the door, trying to get in. Listen, you don't want to be in a church where Jesus is knocking on the door, trying to get in. You want to be in a church where Jesus is able to walk through. Not only the lampstand of that local church, because that's what it represents, those seven churches of the Book of Revelation. Jesus presides over His church, over the entire globe, the household of God. But He also moves to the midst of every location, every place where true believers are gathered. It's not this building. This building is just to keep such a beautiful day away from us. And this is a very important thing. Obedience. God will always gather around where there's an obedient heart toward Him. He's not stupid where He's not wanted, He leaves. But where He is wanted, He is there. And we always pray, "Lord, be here." Please. I mean, think if Jesus isn't here, I'm going to be the first one to go. There's nothing for us to hang on to here unless Christ is here, unless the Holy Spirit is here. And He wants us to be obedient to Him. And obedience is joy. Listen to this. 1 Timothy 3:15. Paul says, "I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God." What, what house of God is this? The one in Rome? Or is this the one where's in Jerusalem? Here, where every believer gathers. We ought to know how we ought to conduct ourselves in the house of God. Well, what's that all about? He says, "Which is the church of the living God." Why? Because, look, "it is the pillar and ground of the truth." What is the truth? But this right here. There's nothing else but this. There's nothing else but the Bible, the word of God. It is the absolute sovereign guide over our lives. The Bible. And I know what some of you are thinking. I can kind of feel it. "Oh, yeah, well, my grandma said it had all kinds of errors in it." Then look, please get busy, find a boo-boo, write a book, and become a billionaire because no one's been able to do it yet. In fact, those who embark upon such a critique wind up getting saved and following the words that are in this book because it is the word of God. It's amazing. We want to be careful about obedience. In 1 Samuel 15:22, you know this. God had told Samuel to tell Saul, King Saul, "Go out there and deal with the Amalekites." And he didn't do it. He wound up dealing with some of them, but not the, not the big guy. He, he, he left the king alive. He left him alive. And he, then when he got busted, he tried to spiritualize it all. "Well, you know, I kept, I, I, I obeyed God, but I did this." And then he tells Samuel, King Saul says to Samuel, "Yeah, I obeyed God about 75% of it. Sinned in this 25%, but come on, doesn't God great on the curve anyway? And I'll go do the good thing." He told Samuel, "Come with me to the house of God, and we'll worship." And Samuel said, "I'm not going. Saul, you're living in sin. You did not obey. I'm not going to go worship with you." And the Bible even says in 1 Samuel 15 that from that point on, Samuel never went with Saul to visit him again, nor did he meet him at the house of God. Samuel said, "That's it. You have sinned against God, and God has washed His hands of His anointing upon your life." And from that moment on, Saul's life had no blessing from God. It didn't happen overnight. It took years for his decline. But Samuel, the man of God, never, never again went to speak to Saul. And the Bible says when Saul died, that Samuel lamented the death of a man of God who had sinned and spelled destruction for his life. Obedience. There's no substitute.

Listen, um, how many of you are, are, uh, 20 years? Any any 20-year-olds or under in here right now? I know most of you are. Just a few of you. Listen, the greatest thing I can tell you right now, you want to spare yourself a lot of grief, obey God. I'm not asking you to obey me. I'm not asking you to obey anybody in this church. I'm asking you to obey God. And let me tell you something, you take me up on this challenge. Obey God for 30 days and watch what happens to your life. Amazing blessings, joy, peace. How many of you are 20 to 30 years of age? Raise your hand. All right. Look, the greatest thing I can tell you right now is obey God. The peace and blessings it brings. Obedience, there's no substitute for obedience. How many of you are 30 and over? Raise your hand. By now, you should have learned to obey is better than sacrifice. To heed the word of God is much better than all the spiritual religious acts and offerings you can offer up to God. Listen, hear it now. It doesn't matter how religious you are. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter, listen, if you, if you go to church and you think that's it, well, I'm good. But you live like hell from Monday all the way to Saturday, and then you go to church and you're going to say, "Well, I'm okay." You're no different than King Saul. Your life will not be blessed. And though you may think you're getting away with something, over time you'll look back and you'll say, "I have squandered my life." God doesn't want your money. He doesn't want stuff in your life. He does. He wants your heart. Everything else is cheap. Everything else can be gotten. God wants your heart, and He's serious about that. There's a grave warning in Matthew chapter 7, verse 17. And, uh, I'll read it down to verse 21. Grave warning indeed. Listen to this. Jesus said it. The letters are read in your Bible. "Even so, every good tree that bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Verse 18, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruits. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Verse 20, therefore, by their fruits you will know them." Leave it on the screen. Pause right there. Not by what they say. Christians, we really need to get smart. Stop listening to what people are saying. I'm wondering if the church wouldn't be a whole lot healthier if we were all deaf. I mean it, and we couldn't hear the rhetoric and the lies and the deception and the, "I'm a Christian. Oh, I love God." What if we couldn't hear that, and we could only do what Jesus is talking about, render a critique or a judgment based upon how a person lives? Because you can't hear what they're saying. I'm wondering if the gospel is better lived and caught rather than voiced and taught. Now, in a perfect world, I should say, in a God-fearing world, what we say ought to match up with how we live. And by the way, that is to break, that is the definition of hypocrisy, to say one thing but to do the other. Okay, so look, pick it up. Where was I? Anybody remember? Very good. I knew that. I was just testing you. "By their fruits you will know them." Verse 21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." Wow. But he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Word, obedience. Obey. Listen, many will say to me that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Cast out demons in your name? And done many wonders or miracles in your name?" Can you say that about yourself? Can I say that about me? There are going to be people who have miraculous powers assigned to their life somehow. And Jesus said, verse 23, "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'" So that right now ought to cause you to throw yourself down at the foot of the cross because you're not saved and going to heaven by what you do in works. Those things should flow out of a saved life. You're saved in heaven by whom? You know. In fact, any good job that you get, it's not what you know. A lot of people are smarter than you and I, let's be honest. You ever have, you ever gotten a really, uh, amazing job? I got an amazing job one time. It's an amazing job. And everybody, I'm not joking, God's my witness, every applicant was more qualified than me. Every applicant had greater education, they had experience, every one of them. And I saw that. I even told the manager who was interviewing me, I said, "Look at this. I'm not kidding." I said this. In fact, you know what? The guy wound up getting saved 13 years later. Took 13 years for that to sink into that man's head. But here's what happened. I said, "It is overwhelmingly evident to me that these people are more qualified than I am. You're looking for a good person to take this position. That it must be, sir, the fact that I'm a Christian and God must have opened the door for me to sit with you for these three hours in this interview for this one reason." Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the grave. There's no sin that you can commit that's too great for Him to forgive. God wants you to trust Him and put your heart, your faith in Him, and He will save you. You can't get to heaven without Him. Jesus died there to take the debt that you and I could never pay, and He rose again from the grave to set us free by His power. And I want to thank you for all of this time that you took today, sir." And I shook his hand. And he, and I stood up. And he said, "Sit down." He did. He may be listening to this message right now. I'm dead serious. And he hired me for 13 years. I got to be a Christian in that corporation, Baxter Healthcare. Some of you, you don't know about it unless you're critically ill in a hospital, then you'll see Baxter stuff all over your body. And after this church had gotten started and years later, my phone rang. And he said, "Jack, this is Mark. I'm going to church now. I gave my heart to Christ." 13 years. It took 13 years for him to accept Christ. But I got to tell you something right now. It's, listen, here's the point. I got that job not based upon what I knew, because I didn't know. I got that job based upon who I knew. Am I know Jesus? He got me the job. Listen, do you know Him today? It's not your theological knowledge. Do you know Christ? Are you born again? Do you know it?

The next thing is this: Unity. Look at verse 10. The next thing is Unity. God's evidence for salvation is it really true among us? If we're Christians, what's the evidence? Unity. He says in verse 10, "Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one, that person, so should we everyone for your sakes, the church." And here's the key, "in the presence of Christ." You got to love this precious Apostle. You know what he's saying? This should be normal. You guys, this should be normal thinking for all of us. When I go to sleep, I go to sleep in the presence of Christ. When I wake up, I wake up in the presence of Christ. All night long, whatever I do, whatever I do while I'm sleeping, at my age, every trip to the bathroom, I'm in the presence of Christ. When you drive on the freeway, you're in the presence of Christ. David said, "Where shall I flee from Your spirit? Or where can I go from Your presence? If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I make my and take the wings to the uttermost parts of the sea, behold, Thou art there." He's everywhere. That's why I don't have much faith in atheists. I love them, but I don't have much faith in them. By the way, I've been a Christian for, uh, 35 years. I'm still waiting for a real good argument or answer as to why an atheist does not believe in God. I've not heard it yet. I'm now, some of you atheists are going, "No, that's it. I'm going to sharpen up my argument." And I guarantee you, bring it on. Because every time you, you go right off of your introduction into something personal. And I, and, "Well, I don't believe in God because my mom was mean to me. I don't believe in God because there's this or because there's that." And don't cite scientific evidence because my God is the God of science, so you can't go there. Because if you go there, you'll get saved. Every blade of grass out there, or orangutan hanging on those trees, is screaming the engineered design of God, the wisdom of God. So you can't go there. It's personal. Why? Because you are a spirit being. God has made you. And God wants you to be forgiven. You live in the presence of Christ, even if you don't believe in Him. That's why you're having such a rough time. You're going against God's grain, as it were. The Bible says in Psalm 133, verse 1, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the Brethren to dwell together in unity." Now, let me tell you something. Listen. Are you guys listening? Yes. We live in a dangerous time. And in a lot of spiritual arenas, people have exalted this word, uh, "Unity" or "to be unified." "Let's unite." And it's dangerous. "Aren't you undermining your own message?" Not at all. Evidence of salvation in a church or in a Christian's life will be unity. But it's a biblical-defined unity. For example, I am not in this community known to be a unifying person among the clergy. It's true. Why? Because I will not gather for the ecumenical gathering of the Baha'i and Muslims and Christians and throw over what else in there that we might have a prayer meeting and come together in. And what's there to? Who are we going to pray to? They're all different gods. Who are we going to pray to? Oh, that's not you. You're very divisive. There's, I can't unite on any of this. Who are we going to talk to? Now, the truth is, I could show up. In fact, I should show up because when they pray, they're not talking to anybody. It's true. Think about it. Everything else are man-made gods. They're man-made. My God was here before I showed up. He's going to be here. Every God, He's the God of the Bible. He says, "I'm listening." He's listening when the believer prays. God is listening. So you can generate or create any cult religion you want when you come together for a prayer meeting. And it is true, there's only one God, and He's the one that can hear. You know, but, oh no, no, we should unite. Okay, really? For what purpose? That we get, get along? When we, when we come together, do we not all have different values? Let's be honest. Can you be honest? Look, ask a husband and a wife if they have different values, different opinions, different views. For us, the absolute opinion changer and view reviser is this Bible. And I'm supposed to get along with somebody who says, "I don't believe in your Bible and that's a bunch of nuts. That's crazy." Uh-uh. How do you do that? You see, here's my point. You don't unify for the sake of the word "unity." That's called compromise. And compromising your greatest cherished essentials. There are some things that are never to be compromised. Never should the truth be sacrificed on the altar of unity. It's the truth that unites us. I would hope that the reason why you're here in this service is because the truth of God, God has been speaking to you, God has been leading you, God has been talking to you. And because we love the word of God, we have, just so happens, look at us. We're white, we're black, we're every color in between, different strata and status in life. And we've come together for, for what reason? Some people have a suit on. Some people are getting ready to go to the beach, it looks like. Listen, what's the deal? What's the deal? The deal is the word of God. Jesus says, "My sheep know my voice. They hear my voice. They follow me." That is His word. And that's what unites us. It's the truth that unites us.

The third thing is this, and we'll end with this final push. Verse 11 is wisdom. God's evidence for salvation is wisdom. Verse 11, he says, "Lest Satan..." Can you all circle Satan? Underline it. Highlight it. I'll tell you why in a second. "...lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant, uninformed, of his devices." Devices. This word "devices." We could make it, uh, applicable today. If you're walking around Afghanistan or Iraq today, or some crazy part of the world, there could be something planted underground that can be tripped, and a bomb can go off, an improvised explosive device. It's just below the surface. Paul is saying, "We are not uninformed. We're not dumb about how Satan can plant a bomb just below the surface in the house of God and among the people of God, and the family of God, in your marriage, with your children." Satan doesn't come running in. He doesn't come running in with his long red tail, pitchfork. Hey, he doesn't do that. He dresses up like us. He talks like us. Us. The Bible says he sends his workers among us. The Bible even goes so far to say that he's even inserted some of his ministers in the pulpit ministries of the church. We're at war now. Watch this. We're at war. Okay? And you pull many Christians in America today, and you ask them, "Is Satan real?" Do you know what they say? "Nope." "No, he's not real. It's just a description. It's a personification of evil conduct from people." They have a Bible, they go to church, they name the name of Christ, and then they contradict the words of Jesus and say, "Satan is not real." The Bible says Satan is a real fallen angel, and he's got minions under his command. We don't know what the number is, but it says one-third of the angelic host was deceived by his ability to lie. Would you all agree with me that lying is a powerful thing? Here's the scary thing about lying, and I'm sure this has plagued Satan as well. If a person lies so much, this is amazing. Lying is a spiritual event. When a person lies so much, after a while, repeats the same thing that's not true, that person literally is given over in that area to, I believe, God's judgment. And you want to know what the truth of that is? The proof of it is, they believe it. Did you know that it's actually a form of self-delusion based on deception that is actually perpetrated against yourself? And you begin to tell this lie. "Oh, you know what? It was this big." "Oh, it was this big." "It was this big." And at first, it was this big. "I really should tell them it was only like this big." "Oh, that F, oh, that fish was so big." Well, actually, it was only like two inches long, but anyway. And but you tell it enough, and you will literally, listen, are you listening? You will literally wind up later on defending your argument with all belief, and you think truth because you've lied to yourself so much about it that God's judgment upon your life is that it is true to you now. And you can even take a lie detector, and you'll pass it because you think it's true. And you are, according to Galatians chapter 6, you have been completely self-deceived. And it is a judgment of God. And that is a very, very scary thing. Satan is wanting to deceive you. And the Bible, I believe, clearly is the only thing like a sharp two-edged sword that can go in there and begin to cut out the scar tissue of sin. The Bible does that. It's awesome. Satan is real. And to counter Satan in this world, we are to have the knowledge of God. And that comes, listen, that knowledge of God that comes in our hearts produces wisdom. The Bible says in James 4:7, mark it down, everybody. James 4:7 says, "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you." A lot of people will say, "Hey, resist the devil." That's not what the verse says. The Bible says the verse says, "Submit to God." Big difference. Submit to God. That brings you, listen, that brings you the power and the suit of armor to wage war against the host of wickedness. So you submit to God, then you'll be able to resist the devil. Listen, Eve could not resist the devil. Think of that. Well, how do you expect me to resist the devil? Because, listen, the Holy Spirit dwells within every believer. And this word, as you are coded in the Bible, God will give you divine supernatural wisdom. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil." Verse 27 says, "What a tremendous verse." How many of you are married? Raise your hands. Okay. You need to write that verse down. How many of you are dating somebody? You're dating or engaged or something like that? Okay, write down that verse. "Be angry." That's a holy anger. Be angry at unrighteousness and evil and injustice. Do not sin. Don't let it take control of you. Though stay on God's terra firma. "Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath." What is that? Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath. Listen, those of you who I just asked a moment ago if you are in a relationship, have you noticed? Of course, all the married people already know this. Those of you who are dating, this is free, so listen up. You can get in an argument over the dumbest thing. "I told you to get 1%." "Okay, it's 2%." "I'm only a little bit off." "It's white." "It's in the can." "Okay, so what?" "I need 1%." "Oh, but just try the two." "I don't, if you don't deal with that and you go to bed and you wake up the next morning, look, you may have a California king-size bed, but it feels like that woman of yours or that man of yours is a thousand miles away." The Bible says, "Settle it before you go to bed." Why? Because Satan's minions will come along. You leave a door open. Listen, if you know that there's a robber in your neighborhood, are you going to leave your door open? I mean, I'm only going to leave my door open if I can point my gun out the window, right? You're going to shut the door. You're going to latch it all down. Why? Because if it's open, if something's open, well, it's just this little thing in my life. Yeah, that's what Saul did. It's just this little thing. By the way, it was an Amalekite that rose up and killed him later when he fell on his own sword. It didn't kill him. Can you imagine what a loser? Poor guy. He can't even kill himself, right? Throws himself on the sword. Oh, man. Ow. Hey, what are you? "I'm an Amalekite." "Oh, gosh, I should have killed you guys a long time ago when God told me to do it." And an Amalekite walks by, kills Saul, and takes off his crown. Jesus said in Revelation 3:11, "Be careful that nobody takes your crown." Don't leave us a little, "Well, it's just a little crack in the door. I mean, it's just a little thing, right there." Watch it. Be very careful. Don't be ignorant of Satan's devices. You are either walking with Jesus today or you're not. Man, that's black and white. Yeah, I guess hanging on a cross, that's pretty black and white. God loves you. You want black and white? God loves you. Satan hates you. God wants your life blessed. Satan wants your life cursed. Jesus wants to give you life. Satan wants to suck your life from you. I know we got it all wrong. You know, you see a tragedy in the world, you see a baby born and the baby dies, and people say, "God, why?" Say it. We understand your emotion. But wait a minute. Jesus says, "I've come to give life and that more abundantly." Satan has come to rob and to kill and to destroy. Let's give credit where credit's due. Eternity. The greatest thing that you can do right now to thwart the works of Satan is to make sure that your heart belongs to Jesus. And it may start with you saying today to God, "I'm sorry, Lord. I'm asking You to forgive me." Maybe you're a Christian and you've strayed from God, and God is convicting you, and you say to Him right now, "Lord, forgive me." Maybe you're at odds with your Christian brother or sister, or somebody else, for that matter. Doesn't have to be a Christian. Settle it. And I don't mean settle it, you know, go over there and tell them off. Be wise. Humble submission to God avoids bitter division among men. Do that. Maybe today you are not a Christian, you're just religious, and you have no, listen, please listen. I say this with all love and conviction. You don't know what it's like to have God constantly in your thoughts. You don't know what that's like. You think, "Oh, you know what? I had this thought about God. And maybe I should go to church tomorrow." Had this thought about God. And maybe I should go. Listen, a Christian doesn't know that. A Christian knows the presence of Christ constantly in your thinking. Constantly. Constantly. Thank God. Constantly. Hallelujah. Constantly. There's no getting away. "Shall I take the wings of the morning and run?" David said 3,000 years ago. Go. He's there. Wherever I've tried to go, Jonah tried to run and found out that when he got there, God was there. Then he gets swallowed by a great fish and found out that God's in the belly of the fish. Oh, every moment, God in the thoughts. Have you noticed that when you and I mess up, we mess up when God is not in the thought for that moment? We are so, we are truly sinners saved by grace, are we not? We're saved and praise the Lord, and God will use us and all this stuff, and then it's with this, you know, and a sin, sin. How'd that happen? I got my eyes off of the Lord. Peter was walking on the water. Crazy Peter, big, clumsy, foot-in-mouth Peter, walking on water. And he was able to stay afloat as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. And the moment he took his eyes off and looked at the wave, it says, instead of Jesus, Jesus, what happened? He sunk. Keep your eyes on Christ. Those of you who have your eyes on Christ, your mind is filled with Him constantly because you know salvation. For those of you who don't, settle that right now. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we ask You now, Lord, that those who are here in their hearts are perhaps saying, "I'm not sure, Jesus, if You are that big of a deal in my life. I want You to be. I hear You knocking, Lord, this morning, as it were, on the fleshly door of my heart, and I open it up and I say, Lord, come in. Be my Lord and Savior. I do not want to be even one who can do miracles and wind up in eternity never knowing You and lost forever. Jesus, save my soul. I bring my sins to You in my sin-stained hands, and I ask You, Lord, to forgive me and to make me new and to wash my sins away. You do that now." And for Christians here, if God is calling you back home, decide it now. Obey Him now. To obey is better than to sacrifice. Father, thank You for Your truth. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

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