Amen. Grab your Bibles and stand. Turn to the book of Mark in your Bibles tonight. I believe it's Mark chapter 5 if I remember correctly. It has been one of those days. You know those days that you have when you wake up in the morning and things happen? Yeah, it's been one of those days. What's that? That's called old age. I think everything I think that's the same for everybody when you wake up in the morning and things happen. Yeah, I don't I don't think that's just for old people. I think that's for everybody. Yeah. No, things happen. You know, you wake up in the morning, and the day starts. And here you are, it's evening, you know, things happen during the day, you know, I was just trying to be relatable, you know, when you wake up in the morning and things happen, right? Here we are. We all associate with that statement, right? All right. Amen. All right. So I'm sorry if I'm doing this a lot. I'm just brushing coffee off. I was trying to help in the kitchen tonight and I was pushing down on the coffee maker, the press, and it blew up and it went. all over me see all this and yeah so brother Bella put a grenade in there and so anyways no no casualties or anything like that let's look at verse number 8 of Mark chapter 5 Mark chapter 5 verse number 8 for yet I'm sorry version of rate for he said unto him come out of the man now unclean spirit let's look at verse number eleven now there was There nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding and all the devils besought him saying send us into the swine that we may enter into them and forthwith Jesus gave them leave and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently into down a steep place into the sea. They were about two thousand and were choked in the sea. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for our study tonight. We pray that you'd guide us and have glory in what is discussed in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. All right. So that's that's really just the passage that we're going to in the statement here. We're we're in landmarks of Baptist doctrine. Angelology and the doctrine of the unseen world. We're looking at what? What about those devils or demons? And so we've looked at their existence, their identity, their nature, and we've been looking at what they do, their activities. Last time, Sunday night, we looked at how they distract man to prevent his salvation. They distract man with divination, with Necromancy, magic, sorcery, not procrastination, but yeah, that too. Prognostication. And all of that has to do with, you know, wizardry, you know, those kinds of things, you know, witches and all of that kind of junk. And so, they try to distract people, they try to distract the lost, they try to draw them away with things that may seem interesting. You know, the occult and the unknown is often interesting to mankind, and that's what they often will use so that they can gain access to do the next thing here, and that is take possession of humans and animals. And so we see that example in Mark chapter five, right? We see the man now, many, many examples throughout the New Testament. We see of them taking possession of human beings. We see just a couple of places here, like, like right here where They're cast out but cast into swine instead of which tells you that well if they that they can possess swine so That is the next one there. We don't really have a whole lot to go over Concerning that this is this is where it causes us trouble, right? And and that is when we see These devils taking possession of people because it gives them access to be able to do things that they would Otherwise not be able to do Right? They're able to take, they have access to a human instrument. They're able to fight, right? There was an example in the book of Acts, right? You have these folks, these seven sons, right? And they say, hey, we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. You know, come out of him. And the guys that were that were possessed of devils What was it two guys or was it one guy possessed of devils? I think it's just one guy They they whooped them they whooped them all seven of them and ripped their clothes and they ran off and Indisposed and so let her see here. So that's a real concern and that's the activity that they're involved in. Of course, a lot of that we've already kind of discussed. Let her see they can be used of God to accomplish his purposes. Most of the time we think about all the bad things that devils do. Turn to Psalm 78. We're going to go to a few passages on this one. Psalm 78. We're on 777. Yeah. Exactly 78. You got your book open back there, William? That's why you gave the verse, too. Amen. 78 verse 49. Verse 49. By the way, if you're wanting to follow along in this study, we can get you access to a digital copy of the book for the purposes of this ministry use. However, if you wanna have your own copy, we can let you know how you can get a copy of the book. And a lot of people might say, well, man, you're on page 777 out of like 837, 854? Okay, well, the PDF has 854, but I guess 848 in the book, the physical book, but that includes like the title page and some other things, so. Now, it is going to take a long time to get through the rest of this book, okay? So, don't think that you're wasting money to buy the book if you decide to get it, because the subject of ecclesi- I'm sorry, of eschatology, thank you, the subject of eschatology is going to take a while. It's going to take a long time. And also, you know, if you want to get the other books, you can watch the videos from the sermons previous. This study has been going on for a long time. How long we've been doing this? I think I think 13. Well, we started this in 2011. 2012 so we started yeah, but we took it. Yep. We took two-year break. We took a two-year break Well, there's four books. You just have the fourth of four so but here's the thing if you want to go through these books and the lessons and And there's actually homework at the end of every section. So like angelology there on page 781, there's questions, study questions for each lecture. And then there's written, there's writing assignments. at the end there, you know, three writing assignments that you can do. And if you do this homework, we have a Bible Institute and we can give you credit for the Bible Institute. If you go through and you do the homework, we can grade the homework, we can give you credit. You know, it can go toward, if you decide to pursue a Bible degree of some sort, it can go toward a degree at Great Plains Baptist Divinity School. We have a satellite program with them through Baptist School of the Scriptures. So anyhow, it can count. Now, it's not accredited. which is, for obvious reasons, Bible schools typically don't do accreditation because we're supposed to be, our accreditation is the Bible, not the world's accreditation systems. And so, anyhow, that's just a side little commercial there. We're back to your regularly scheduled message here. But if you'd like to do the homework, you can and get credit for it. In the book, we're on 777 here and point letter C. They can be used of God to accomplish his purposes. So Psalm 78 49 says he casteth upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil angels among them. Hmm. What's an evil angel? It's a devil. And if you read the context there, he's he's dealing with God bringing judgment on people who disobey. Right, just in a general sense there, that's the the general context now. First Kings chapter number 22. First Kings 22. Oh, went too far. First Kings 22. All the way at the end of First Kings. All right. Verse number 23. Now, therefore. Behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. Now, please don't misunderstand and think that that means that God lies or that God is OK with lying. These lying spirits are devils. That was Second Kings 22, 23. Second Kings 22, 23. I'm sorry, First Kings 22, 23. Sorry, First Kings. It's the last chapter of First Kings. 22 verse 23, Revelation 16. We're gonna come back to the Old Testament again too, but Revelation 16. Now we could, while we're in the neighborhood, we're gonna stop over at Apollyon's house real quick here. Sorry, you know, you're driving down the road and you're passing his house. So what's that? No, you don't want to go there. Look at look at chapter nine, verse one. Sorry, we were on our way to chapter 16. And I hit the hit the roadblock there at Apollyon's house. So Revelation, Revelation nine. Yeah, I just said we were on our way there and we decided to stop over here at Apollyon's house. Sorry, using figurative language there and it can trip you up a little bit. Nope. On our way. The fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were The sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit, and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given power as the scorpions. of the earth have power, and it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them, it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he strike at the man. And in those days, some men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die. And death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold and their faces were as the faces of men and they had their hair as the hair of women, which tells you that there's a difference between the hair of women and the hair of men. But anyhow, we'll go on. And their teeth were as the teeth of lions, which tells you there's a difference between the teeth of different animals. I'm kidding. I just threw that in there. And they had breastplates that were that I'm sorry they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. Verse number 10 and they had tails like unto scorpions and there were stings in their tails. and their power was to hurt men five months. They had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." That's pretty rough. um the bottomless pit's pretty big so um so the fact that god stores things in the bottomless pit uh and and there's there's a whole longer discussion to be had about the bottomless pit and the grave and hell, both sides that used to be paradise and hell or Abraham's bosom and hell. Now, hell enlarged itself, but the bottomless pit's there in the middle and goes down below that. That is not to say that everything in the bottomless pit is being tormented. He's the angel of the bottomless pit, and he's the king of these. So I don't. Yep. Yeah. Right. So it could be argued either way. But I get I get what you're saying there. And I and I and I agree with what you're saying there. But I what I'm saying is these are angelic beings. And by the way, devils, demons, they're not some different creature from other angels. You know, they're just sinful. It's it's kind of like thinking that a murderer is some other creature than a philanthropist. Now, they're both human beings. They're not separate. They're not different creatures. They're both human beings. And human beings are capable of either and just the same. Angels are capable of either being good or being bad. You know, so just the same, you know, you have, but regardless of which side they choose, they're still limited to God's allowance of what they do, what they can be involved in and do. Yeah, so now that doesn't mean that they don't have free will. They have free will, they have limited free will. Now, and man has free will and there are limits to man's free will also. I think that people often think that there are greater limits than there actually are, but there are limits. And so anyhow, long discussion on that too. We just touched on two different, three different possible doctrines to have to run down and chase down. So you can chase those down on your own or ask me questions later and we'll talk about it. So we were on our way there, but I wanted to stop again and look here at another place in verse number 15 of this same chapter. So just to give you a little bit of a recap here. So you've got. You've got. For You have the angel sounding here, you have four angels loosed from the river Euphrates, and then they command an army. A big army. 200 million horsemen. No, it's not China's army. Let me show you the description of these 200 million horsemen. says verse number 17 and thus i saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire and of jason and brimstone and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone and these three by these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths for their power was in their mouth and in their tails for their tails were like unto serpents and had heads and with them they do hurt Yeah. So these now. It's possible that these that the locusts are animals. Or bugs, you know, some sort of creature that God made it that just hasn't been accessible to mankind. It's possible that that's the case. I personally tend to think that these are some sort of angelic beings that have physical interaction with man. Maybe I'm wrong. Same thing with these horsemen. I think these are angelic beings of some sort, right? And they're under God's control in that sense. Now, turn over to chapter 16. Notice here, what's? Yeah. of I think that'd be probably relating to say that again read again uh-huh Huh. I think it's more of a general statement. But could apply and could apply to a lot of different possible things could apply to that verse could apply to other things as well. Chapter 16 verse number 13. Chapter 16 verse number 13. I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Those are aliens, no. They're the spirits of death. They're unclean spirits, right? They are devils. For they are the spirits of devils. Yeah, exactly. Working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Let's see, we'll read on down to verse 16. Verse 15 says, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into one place called, in the Hebrew tone, Armageddon. Notice here that God uses these unclean spirits, these spirits of devils, to gather mankind for the battle of Armageddon. Do they have any choice in the matter? I think that that is probably irrelevant because their choice would be to do it anyways, right? They want to destroy Israel. And so this is what we then see, this working toward that Battle of Armageddon. Go to Job. Job 42. Turned way past it. Job 42. And verse number 5. Job 42 verse number 5. It says, I have heard thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I have hurt myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Now, I believe the reason that he put this in the study is because what's the whole crux of this issue? Where did this start? What happened? Yeah, the devil shows up, and God used the devil to bring Job to repentance. He says, I've heard of you. Now I see you and it wouldn't he would not have seen him had he not gone through the trial first. And then when he sees God, I mean. And I know some people may argue, well, didn't God say he was righteous? Yeah, God said he was righteous. And just like, you know, are angels sinful like the ones that don't that aren't devils? Are they sinful? No. Right. The seraphim there around the throne of God in Isaiah, Chapter six, what are they doing? They're flying, but what are they doing with their other wings? They're covering their face and their feet because God is holier than they are. How is it that they would have to cover their face and their feet because of the holiness of God? Like, what's that? They're covering their face and their feet because God is more holy than they are. Now, they're not sinful. but in comparison to the perfect holiness of God, they hide their face and they cover their feet because their feet would be kind of like, you know, you walk with your feet and you get them dirty and things like that, so they're covering that part of them that would be possibly defiled. and then covering their face because they can't look at the holiness of God in that sense. And so, just the same, the most righteous man, when meeting with God, will humble himself, recognizing that he's sinful, right? Isaiah, what was his response? He fell to the ground. He said, And that unclean lips thing, by the way, there's a reason for that. If you read later in the book of Isaiah, that was something that was a major problem in Israel, cursing. was a major problem in Israel. Like, using foul language. Like, it's brought up a few times through the book of Isaiah. And by the way, that's becoming a major problem in America. And among Christians, among Christian people, using foul language, like it's just normal to just use foul language and curse and swear and things. It's not. It's not. It's not right. All right. First Timothy one. First Timothy one. And then we've got. Maybe we can finish these points here tonight. First Timothy chapter number one. Verse number 20. of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." Now with that in mind, turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Notice here that he says, oh, I'm in 2 Corinthians 5, that's why I can't find it. 1 Corinthians 5. Verse number four, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You see here the the devil is used by the way, not only by. God. But by the church. I know it sounds crazy. The devil is used by the church. How does the church use the devil? Well, when you cast someone out because of because of their refusal to repent. they're cast out unto Satan for the destruction of their flesh. And they're going to continue on down that path. And by the way, you watch it, y'all. When someone either voluntarily leaves and stops going to church, stops being involved in church, or involuntarily because they're sinning and refusing to repent and they're removed, When someone leaves a church and they're just not active anymore, usually, you watch, they begin down the path of physical destruction. Down the path of physical destruction. And oftentimes mental destruction. Because they have a spiritual psychological spiritual problem, that spiritual problem begins to it begins to affect their body, their mind and their body, and then it will eventually destroy them physically and they will either repent or they will die. And yeah, that's not that's not to say that they that and that, by the way, that's that's a good indication that that person is saved, that that God's letting that happen to them so that they will turn back and get right. God's not God's desire isn't to punish, it's it's to restore. And so that's, you know, so anyhow. But and by the way, that happens as you get away from God in your personal life, even if you're not away from the church, even if you're not away from even if you haven't been like officially delivered unto Satan. So. You people still go down that path. And that's that's the direction when it is a good indicator. If you self harm, it is a very good indicator that there's something wrong with your relationship with God. Absolutely something wrong with your relationship with God and you need to get right with God. And seek him. I mean, those are typically those are that's where things go. Anyhow, so, and by the way, that's also an indicator that there's demonic activity. So there's being delivered, what's the purpose of that being delivered to the devil? So that you'd be restored, spiritually restored, because it allows the physical part of you to be torn down so that you can be spiritually restored. What's that? Yep, hopefully. Alright. And on that note, letter D, they bring physical and mental affliction upon men, right? As we've already seen in various passages, like Matthew chapter number 12 and verse number 22, he says, Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw." Just like we, I think we read this last week, last Wednesday night. Go to Mark chapter 4. The same, same thing going on, right? We already looked at this scenario, but, from this perspective now. Mark chapter number four. I'm sorry, five, yes. Mark chapter number five, verse number four. All right. Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. Verse number five and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. There you go. Physical and mental affliction. We could go. Further and further into examples example after example in the Bible of physical mental affliction in Matthew there you have physical affliction in the in the form of. In of losing. Senses even. All right letter E they produce moral impurity. Luke 8, verse 27. Luke 827 says and when he went forth to land there met him out of the city a certain man which had devils long time and wear no clothes neither abode in any house but in the tombs they have moral impurity that by the way there's there's other other places we could go but but understand that that If you are. In some way desirous of removing clothes, that's because there's some sort of. Demonic activity going on. That that's the. I want to say the natural inclination of man is to cover himself. of women is to cover themselves. It's not normal to want to be nude. That's not normal. It's not normal to want to be uncovered in terms of your discrete areas. Those areas, it's normal to want to cover up. And so, folks wanting to uncover it's because of, well, first of all, it's because of the culture is influenced by devils. And with that, people listen to those devilish Influences and want to to do that and then it's It is morally impure. It is morally impure to uncover yourself To expose yourself letter F. They work spiritual perversion. I Might want to save this one for Sunday night because we There's only one verse for each sub point, so maybe we'll go ahead. What's that? Well, I mean, four points. What's that? Twelve minutes. That's three minutes a point. or a whole message for four points. Let's save it for Sunday. Let's save it for Sunday. You know, that's the way that, you know, you. A whole message, four points, that's right. That's right, that's right. Or we do that and then.