Shall I direct your attention back to 2 Timothy chapter 2, entitled, or message, This Evening, Prisoners Released? That's just come before the Lord in prayer for needed help. You pray the Lord will speak to your heart tonight. Father in heaven, we thank thee for the privilege that is ours. a meeting in a fashion such as this, around the open Bible. Our conscious Lord, there are believers in the world tonight who have no such privilege. And Lord, if they do so, they do so under threat. We thank the Lord for the freedom and liberty we enjoy. We bless Thee that Thou hast given us Thy Word. Thou hast preserved it for us. The engrafted Word of God which is able to save the soul. Lord, that's what we're about tonight. Lord, we're preaching for souls. We pray that God would take away every frivolous thought the devil would plant in the hearts and minds of men and women just now. Lord, that God would bring us into this passage. Lord, that God would bring us into the solemnity of this thought. God, our prayer is that Thou would release prisoners tonight, set them gloriously free. I pray that Thou would fill us with Thy Spirit and power, anoint us with fresh oil. Lord, we recognize we need the infilling, we need the help of God the Holy Spirit to take the Word that will be spoken through this day vessel, and we are to apply that Word powerfully to the hearts of men and women. Lord, do it tonight for Jesus' sake. Give me words that must and shall prevail. Give us those prevailing words, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. have been told of the great escapes that were to take place from the prison camps, some of them being made into films. There are to this day others who, being in captivity, have for some reason or another been released. And still others tonight, held against their will, need to experience this very thing. But you know, men and women, we don't need to go to the secular book All that we need to do is to go to the Scriptures and think in particular in the book of Acts. And there we learn of other instances like that of Peter. And you remember Peter in Acts 12, how he's found sleeping between two soldiers the night before in which he has threatened death. And Herod would take his head from him the next morning. And yet Peter is found sleeping. And it was then that the angel was to come and awaken him. And with chains miraculously taken off him, he was to be guided out of that prison and brought to the other side of the city gates. And from there, Peter, unaccompanied, was to make his way to the house of John. And when he got to the house of John, he found the church of Jesus Christ. They were praying without ceasing for him. God answers prayer. And Peter knew what it was to be released as a prisoner. I think of the Apostle Paul, Acts 9. He had a similar release, although he may not have been a prisoner in a prison cell. But just following the time of his conversion and the time where he was preaching in Damascus, he was to be surrounded by the enemy. And they were lying in wait And they were waiting there at the gates in order to kill him. And he was taken by the disciples and he was lowered down the city walls in that basket. What a change had come upon the life of Saul of Tarsus. Instead of persecuting the church, He was now preaching Christ to them. And so we may not be surprised entirely when we see the same apostle. And now he's an aged man. Now he has served many years in the work of God. And he's been many times a prisoner by this age. And he's speaking in similar terms as he writes to Timothy, his young son in the faith. In the closing words of chapter 2, the Apostle Paul is encouraging Timothy, the young pastor in the church at Ephesus, to minister in such a way so as to have the same liberating effect on needy souls. He has already used the language of a soldier in the opening verses of this passage. And as a soldier of Jesus Christ in the great spiritual conflict he's engaged in, there's need for Timothy to guard his own life and to guard his testimony. And there's very wise counsel given to Timothy by the Apostle in verse 23. He says, But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. Timothy, don't get yourself involved with those things. They only were to cause debates and unnecessarily quarrels among the saints. The manner in which he was to minister unto the people is also given in the following verses. The qualities of meekness, of gentleness, of patience were to be to the fore. That was the way to convey the truth of the gospel to these people who opposed the things of God. For you see, men and women, His ultimate goal, His ultimate aim was to be their recovery. For in the closing verse we are brought to see the state of souls and what we might describe as the need for prisoners to be released. Let me read it to you. And that they may recover themselves Out of the snare of the devil you are taken captive. I am it as well. I want you to see first of all there the prisoners. You've got to understand who the prisoners are. The Scriptures make it clear that man, by nature and by birth, is ensnared by sin. We are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. Yet the soul in this world, he believes that he is a liberty. He believes that he is a freedom to do whatever he likes. And therefore, the conception that many have of salvation is being tied to a way of life and losing that liberty that they once enjoyed so much. Do you know how different is the reality? And you're in this meeting tonight and you're without Christ and you think you're deliberate and you have a freedom to do whatever you want. Ephesians 2 and verse 2 would tell us somewhat different. Because it is a verse that reminds us that instead of having freedom, that the sinner walks according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. And that doesn't sound to me like freedom. That does not speak of freedom, but it speaks the very opposite. The sinner is in bondage. He is in bondage as a prisoner to his master and to those things that his master will lay before him. And the Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, speaks of the sort of people that he is ministering to. They are prisoners to the devil. They are in our text. They are in his snare. And the picture that is portrayed there is of the devil being someone who lays his snares so as to imprison the unsuspected one. He is a mastermind behind this action. You'll know that the very use of snares denotes subtlety. A snare is not usually placed out in the open. It denotes subtlety. We come across that at home. Behind our house there was a mossy area and plenty of foxes. There was a snare laid in one of our fields one day and the dog got caught in it. But you know, it was smart enough not to pull. My father let it go. It didn't even have his legs broken. But there was a snare and it was come singing. And so it is that Satan, when he brings out his temptations, he does so subtly. He never puts an end to them, as can be seen from the first instance of his temptations for Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, that the serpent beguieth thee through his subtlety. You want to see an instance of it in the New Testament, then, consider that time when the Lord spoke to His disciples of having to go to the cross of Calvary in Matthew 16. I want you to notice the response of Peter in the words of verse 22. Then Peter took them and began to rebuke them, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, it shall not be unto thee. Subtle snares led. That's why the Saviour has to reply as He does in verse 23. He turned and He said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, shitting for thou art an offence unto me. For thou shearest not the things of thee of God, but those of thee of men. Peter was only thinking of himself. He had the clear thought of what the Saviour was teaching and considering when He was to go to the cross. Another thing about a snare is that therein is found cruelty. And so it is with the great enemy, Satan. In God's Word, he is called by various names. He is a murderer from the beginning. He is a destroyer. He is a deceiver. He is the accuser of the brethren. That is the design of Satan for every born soul into this world. And it is to destroy them finally in that eternity along with his angels. These are prisoners of Satan. I wonder, are you one of them tonight? Let's consider something of the snares that he lays. There are various ways and means by which he keeps his victims imprisoned and in bondage. There's the snare of the pleasures of sin. The devil is master of making sin pleasant and of hiding its real and awful consequences. For Romans 3 reminds us that the wages of sin is death. And he puts the pleasures of sin before our young people and before our older men and women. And there is all the frivolity and the joy and the happiness on the pictures of the people of drink. And so the same can be said of the gambling schools and of the pubs and all the rest of it. It doesn't show the real picture. But he's a master of presenting it and presenting it as pleasure. Dear unconverted soul who is yet a prisoner to Satan tonight, remember that the pleasures of sin are for a season. And what happens to Satan? They are those that change and they come and they go and they end again. Another snare that he lays is that of the doubt as to the truth of God's Word. And again, we go back to the Garden of Eden, and there the serpent said to Evie, half God said, and he was putting a doubt over God's Word, and he was misquoting God's Word. And we are in a day where many seek to put a doubt over the Word of God. And we are in a day where those so-called atheists, and they seek no doubt to put a doubt over the account of creation and over the very fact that there is a God. I'll tell you something. If they're sitting in a plane and it's going down, there's not many atheists there. And on the battlefields, the British forces have just finished in Afghanistan, it has been reported that there wasn't many atheists there. Because on that occasion, they got out the little New Testaments that were in their possession and they were found reading it. And you know why? because life is so precious and death is so real and at times eternity is so near and those young men maybe were thinking it could be that today I'll stand before God and it's the same with you only to be in the British Army to consider these things. I'll tell you something tonight. The Bible says, Woe is not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what I am to bring forth. And life is precious, and death is real, and eternity is so near. What are you doing? The snare of the devil, you see, is to cast doubt over God's Word. Another snare is that Satan presents God as one who is only merciful. Praise His name, He's merciful. But there's also the justice and the wrath of a holy God and a warped evangelistic notion of many who are in the business of bringing the Scriptures to people. They never mention the justice of a holy God. New evangelicalism. They're those TV evangelists who boast and have boasted in the fact that they have built their churches on the premise of never telling their people about sin and the wrath of God against it. And they've fallen into this snare and their people along with them. If there was no justice, If there was no holiness with God, then why was God planned one day to send His Son to die on the cross of Calvary for no sin of His own, for He was sinless? What has the sinner substituted? I tell you, men and women, that is the justice, that is the holiness of God. And following on from that snare, it brings us to another one, and that is the devil places in the mind of the sinner plenty of time to get saved. I wonder, is there someone that's near tonight? Are the preachers right? Did you get right with God? Here's something that you can leave off to the devil. There's something where you can leave off to that time when repentance can be sought. And as we'll see, repentance doesn't always come that easily. And it is a subtle snare to keep the prisoner thinking that at the last moment he can escape. Are those the snares that are real in your life tonight, especially that last one? I'll tell you in time. You'll notice the effect that such snares have on the victims. Our text says, "...and that they may recover themselves." Just take that word, recover. Your margin renders it to awake. And the thought is that they are sleeping, or indeed another picture is that they become sober again after being intoxicated. And the idea being is this, that those who are prisoners and in bondage to Satan are as men in a deep sleep, are as men as intoxicated, and therefore they're unconscious of the extreme danger that they're in. That's the state the victims of this great enemy are in. They're prisoners in this spiritual war who can do nothing for themselves but they need to be rescued. And if you're not saved, then here is your state as a prisoner still under the control of the old devil. We're just looking at you tonight as we read those words. snare of the devil. Let's take it a little bit further. Let's not only see the prisoners, but the power. How are such unsuspecting souls ever to be aroused to their danger? There are those who are in a deep sleep. There are those that are intoxicated. They're not aware of their danger. In the wars of our nation, the heroics of men and helping prisoners of war to escape. It's the stuff of resolve. It's the stuff of courage. Paul in this verse speaks of the means by which God uses to deliver souls from the ensnarements of the devil. Although the devil cleverly lures sinners into that deeper sleep, into those deeper snares and fierce stares, yet the power of God is clearer for the devil's tempest able to be relinquished. And the means that God uses, as can be noted from the previous verse, is the reception of the truth. Let's read this, verse twenty-five, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. has just come through this verse. If those slumbering and ensnared souls are to be recovered, then the answer lies in bringing the truth before them, the truth of Christ. And that is what Paul is exhorting Timothy here, as a young teacher, to do in his ministry, in meekness, instructing those who oppose themselves. They needed to be instructed so that they might be brought to that place of not only having heard the Word, but also receiving it and acknowledging it. You bring now the two verses together to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves. It is of the utmost importance that the truth of Christ and Him crucified is received. The sinner is instructed in the message of the gospel which is able to save their soul. And that instruction of those truths must be carried home by the power of God the Holy Spirit if that imprisoned soul is ever to be liberated, if that soul is ever to be set free from the bondage of the snare and the bondage of the devil in which they are in. That's why it's so futile to bring some story of man's making so as to tickle the ears of the congregation and to send them away happy. I'm not interested in imparting some social message. Know why? For the eternal well-being of your soul. Man, woman, young person is what is at stake. And the Word of God reminds me that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The instruction that you need to hear, the instruction that you need to receive is of Christ, for He alone was to take on the devil in the greatest battle ever at the place called Calvary. He alone was to conquer this great enemy. That is why He came from the realms of glory. I read in 1 John 3, in the words of verse 8, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. The means which God uses to deliver souls from the power of Satan unto God is still through the foolishness of preaching. That's what Paul is saying to Timothy. Timothy, in meekness, instruct those that oppose themselves that God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves. Timothy, your commission is to preach the gospel, for that's the means that God uses for souls to believe. I wonder will you receive the message of good news this evening, of the person and of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are to be saved and delivered, you must receive the truth in your heart. Romans 10 and verse 10 reminds us of that. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Consider also that this power to deliver the prisoner is seen in the repentance of God. Let me bring you back to verse 25. If God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Repentance is not something that man can do of himself. That's why I said earlier on, repentance doesn't always come easy. Esau sought repentance, but he didn't get it, even with tears. Repentance is not something that man can do of himself, but from these words, this verse 25, you will see that it is from God. It is His gift. God, peradventure, will give them repentance through the acknowledging of the truth. It's God that opens the eyes of the understanding. It's God that works conviction in the mind and heart and leads into all truth as it is in Christ Jesus. It's the power of God in repentance that induces men to repent of their sin, to confess their feelings and their mistakes and to own the truth. Though we know not to whom God will give repentance to, yet it is well that all is chosen should come to repentance. and that all sorts should be saved and come to the acknowledging of that truth. You see, men and women, just let me remind you that the preacher cannot cause an anxious thought. And so our only dependence is on God. We cannot be sure that the sinner will see their error and realize their imprisonment of the devil. We cannot rely on any arguments or the power of argument that we might bring. But we can pray and we can desire that God may show them their error and enable them to see and embrace the truth. That's the power of God that we desire to see manifested through the preaching of His Word to your heart. I would caution you, even in the words of Romans 2 and verse 4, I despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Your sinner of God, by His Spirit, is striving with you. And you're troubled and you're uncomfortable unto the preaching of the Word. And your sin is brought before you. Don't despise that. Don't despise the day of God's grace to your soul. That's a mercy. But you can't work up repentance. And where there's no repentance, there's no salvation. It's a gift of God. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." The power of God is such that recovery can be experienced. The word recover that's used there in verse 26 is nowhere else used in the Scriptures. It means that, as we have said, to be restored again to soberness, to come to a right mind, errors and heresies that the devil presents has the effect of intoxicating hearers, and they need to be regained. They need to be recovered. You have fallen an atom. You are lost an atom. You need to be recovered. And every one of us saw that. That was our position by birth and by nature and by practice. And it's still the pleas and the possession of some in this meeting tonight who are yet without Christ. You need to be recovered. And the soul having heard the Word and the power of God the Holy Spirit working upon them in causing them to repent of their sins and to turn to Christ is that soul that experiences a snare been broken and a glorious escape from the old devil. For the power of God can affect such Good works cannot cause that escape. Church attendance is not mentioned here. It's only the power of God through the instruction of His Word that can set men gloriously free from the stare of the devil. And how we need to see such power again in our church and throughout our land where precious souls will be recovered from eternal destruction. And oh, I pray, I trust that you will be that soul released tonight by the power of God You'll hear His voice as you've never heard Him before. And tonight there will be in your heart and life repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll leave this meeting a saved soul, recovered from the snare of the devil. Thirdly, there's a purpose here. No sooner does the light of God's truth dawn and break in upon that soul that the darkness of Satan that the captive is held in is dispelled. God has to but speak the Word and it shall be done in an instant of a moment. Salvation does not happen over a number of days or weeks. It's in an instant of a moment. Satan is conquered and a sinner is delivered. The incursion and read of the Gospel into the enemy camp is the greatest deliverance known to any man. But there is a purpose in it all, and that is brought out by the closing words of our text tonight, although admittedly the most difficult part of it. and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. The purpose is seen to be sovereign where God is concerned. You see, the difficulty that many have found is in who the him and his refer to. Who is the identity of thee? And while some deny that these two different words in the original cannot refer to the one and the same person, and others believe that they refer to Satan, I believe both those assertions to be wrong. There are times when two words, although different, can refer to the same person. No rules of grammar would be violated in doing so. Furthermore, when we take these words to refer to one person, not Satan but God, And we see in His Son who are taken captive by Him. That is God. And it means that those in view are people released from the captivity of the devil to be embraced by another one. But how different is the embrace of Christ in salvation? The actual word that is used there, taken captive, is only used one other time in a New Testament. If you come to Luke's Gospel, chapter 5, you'll see it in the words of verse 10. We are taken captive. It's only used this other time. Luke 5, 10, And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not. From henceforth thou shalt catch men." Literally, it means to catch alive. They were fishermen. The Savior chose His disciples for a purpose. It was no longer to catch fish for destruction, but to catch men for life. And He was calling them on to Him. Satan's purpose is to ensnare for destruction, but Christ captures man for eternal life. That's the only other time you'll see that word. I shall catch man. I wonder which is it for you this evening. Death. The purpose implied within these words is one of service. The souls whom God has sovereignly delivered from the snare of the devil are changed. They are transformed from the power of Satan onto God. And in contrast to their former captivity, their new allegiance is to serve. That is the purpose, child of God, for you. to do the will of God in your life. That is why God has delivered and saved you from the chains of sin and the devil that has bound you, that you might be conformed unto the image of Christ more and more every day. Why? Because He was God's perfect servant. And in the service of your heavenly Master, you will prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I think it is gloriously illustrated in an Old Testament passage You'll find it in 1 Samuel chapter 30. The Egyptian servant that David found as he was cast off, and he took him and he fed him and he gave him water. What I want you to know is what the servant said in 1 Samuel 30 in verse 15. David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? This is the company that was to destroy Ziklag. Take the women and the children with them. Raise that town to the ground. And on the way, as he had sought the Lord to recapture all, he found this Egyptian and he asked him this question, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God that I will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. He had no desire to serve his old master again. You see, he was delivered. What about you, dear believer? Is your service only for God? You can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and mammon. And then notice that the purpose of God is a challenge to every saint. All too often we consider our service unto God as a light thing, not thinking of the privilege of it is to watch for the souls of men, that we might be the means of delivering them from the shares of Satan. That challenges us here. I want you to remember the context that Paul is writing these words to. The CH Virgin used the illustration of the heron. I'm sure you know what a heron is. Not the boys that swim in the ocean, the birds and tongues. Virgin said this, it stands in the water still and motionless as if they were stuffed birds. They'll stand there hour after hour, never seeming to move until a fish goes by and down goes that terrible bill. And the fish is kept And the heron becomes as motionless as before. If a bird can continue to watch for a little fish, then we, who are the fishers of man, ought to be willing to watch long for souls, if by any means we may see them. That challenges us. That's not tire in the work that God has given us to do in watching for the souls. Dear Father, Mother, pray on. Pray on for that son and that daughter that's held by the stare of the devil. The purpose of God enabling us to escape and had taken us unto His embrace was that we should be devoted to the doing of His will, and that is to see His kingdom advanced. Tell me, are you one of those? Have you been rescued from the snare of the devil? Have you been rescued from eternal death? not, and seek the Lord nigh. Call upon him while he is near, while God the Spirit is straight in my hearing. Leave this house, as I have so delivered. Delivered out of the snare of the devil, set gloriously free in Christ. May God help you to come. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer, please. God has been speaking. Do you know whether you're in the snare of the devil tonight or not? Do you know whether you've been set gloriously free or not? My dear loved one, I pray in the closing seconds of this meeting that you'll be honest with yourself and before God, that you're not saved, that you will come while the spirit of God and mercy is calling. If I can be of any help, I'm here afterwards. The man's door is open to you. But oh, settle this matter tonight, that you might be the prisoner that's released. set free from the house and the prison of bondage and of your sin. You are redeemed by precious blood. Come tonight. Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for our study in this verse or two of how it has set the picture of those that are still without Christ and that are in the snare of the devil and they need to be recovered. Lord, we have used Thy means We may be used it weakly tonight, but Lord, we thank Thee that Thou hast promised that Thy Word will not return unto Thee void. We pray it might be, Lord, be the means this evening of recovering that soul or those souls. They might be set free or set the prisoner free tonight in Jesus' name. May they be glorified in the doing of it. part us with Thy blessing. Give the fear of God as we would leave this house and go home. We pray that Thou would speak on when the preacher's voice is silent. For we ask these things for Jesus' sake and for God's eternal glory.