From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all his fullness to men and women in all their need. Lord, keep us steadfast in your word, earn those who bind, deceive, or sword. With rest the kingdom from your Son, and bring to naught all he has done. Come, Holy Ghost, come, Lord our God, and shed Thy heavenly gifts abroad, on us and on to every heart, through faith and fervent love impart. Lord Jesus Christ, your power make known, for you are Lord of lords alone. Defend your holy church that we may sing your praise triumphantly. Come Holy Ghost, come Lord our God, And shed thy heavenly gifts abroad, On us and on to every heart, To faith and fervent love impart. O Comforter of priceless worth, Send peace and unity on earth, Support us in our final strife, And lead us out of death to life. Come Holy Ghost, come Lord our God, And shed thy heavenly gifts abroad, On us and on to every heart, Through faith and fervent love impart. Come Holy Ghost, come Lord our God, and shed thy heavenly gifts abroad, on us and on to every heart, through faith and fervent love impart. Through faith and fervent love impart. Hello and welcome in the Savior's name to our broadcast. We're so grateful that you have joined with us and may the Lord bless you as we worship here together and meditate upon His word. I want to begin our broadcast with a word of prayer. Let's all pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for the open book. We bless thee, Lord, that we can come before thee expecting thy presence and become in the Savior's name. We thank you for the access which we have through the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer, our great Mediator. Thank you that he is our forerunner and he has opened up the way before us. Lord, we understand that there is only the veil of sight between us. We are in the very holiest of all. And Lord, we approach on to the throne of grace, and we pray that you'll be gracious to us, and that you'll meet with us at this time and at this juncture, and that we will know the speaking voice of God. Lord, lead us not in silence, but Lord, have a word for our hearts. We pray that you'll challenge those that need challenge. We pray you'll convert those that are still yet unconverted. And we pray for your people. and, Lord, that you would build them up in their most holy faith. Lord, we pray for the superintendence of your Holy Spirit upon our time here. Focus our attention, take away all distractions, and we thank you most of all for Christ, the one who loved us and gave himself for us upon the cross. We pray that he will have all the glory of all that transpires. Focus our attention on him. We ask it in the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. I want to turn to the Word of God for two short readings, one from the Old Testament from the book of 2 Samuel, and then from the New Testament from the book of 2 Corinthians. So 2 Samuel chapter 12, and we read the first seven verses of that chapter. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spurred to take off his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. And then we'll come over to the New Testament, to the book of 2 Corinthians, and we'll turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and come in at the verse 8. And Paul says in verse 8, for though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did repent, for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it wrought in you! Yea, what clearing of yourselves! Yea, what indignation! Yea, what fear! Yea, what vehement desire! Yea, what zeal! Yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." Thomas Cranmer was the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. And during the reign of Henry VIII, the wind of Reformation caught his sails. And during Henry's reign, he was able to set about his reforms as a leader in the church. But then, of course, Mary Tudor ascended the throne of England. And Mary was an ardent Catholic. And her aim was to return England to papal rule. Cranmer was subsequently arrested, and he was imprisoned for a period of three years. And in the terrible conditions of that prison cell, his resolve crumbled. And Mary made him and coerced him into signing six recantations of his faith in the promise that he would receive freedom. But then, of course, history tells us that Mary herself recanted, and she went back on her word, and she determined to put Him to death anyway. And at His execution, He was permitted to speak. Now, that was an error on the part of Mary, because He took the opportunity to confess His sins, and His greatest sin was, he stated, the denial of the Protestant gospel. And as the flames came toward him, he took his writing hand and he thrust his hand into the flame. And he said boldly, as my hand has offended, my hand shall be first punished. So ashamed was he of his writing of recantation that he viewed his hand as the enemy. and he took revenge on his hand, on that writing hand. I want to speak to you on the subject of sweet revenge. In a recent quiet time, I was reading through these verses in 2 Corinthians, and the word revenge struck me in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 11. Now, revenge is not a word which we would naturally associate with believers. Indeed, we find the Scripture says very clearly, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. And when we as believers take revenge, we're stealing something that is the Lord's. And so Christian, I can say, if someone hurts you, if someone wrongs you, just let the Lord deal with it, because vengeance is the Lord's. But here in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 11, Paul talks about revenge as a good thing. In verse 8, he talks about the first letter that he sent to Corinth. He says, for though I made you sorry with a letter. 1 Corinthians, which was his first letter to Corinth, he pointed out their sin, and his intention worked, because the Corinthian Christians put right the wrongs. In verse 11 he clearly says, for behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. They came to repentance because of Paul's first letter, repentance over the sins that he pointed out. And that produced carefulness, as verse 11 would tell us. They got serious about their sin. It produced clearing. They wanted to clear their name from their sin. It produced indignation. There was anger against that sin. There was fear lest they should fall back into that sin. There was a vehement desire. There was a passion to get rid of it. There was a zeal. They were almost fanatical against their sin. And then Paul uses the R-word, revenge. What? Revenge. I love how he says it, what revenge? It's almost as if Paul's licking his lips when he thinks about this. Or maybe you've watched a movie or read a book with a revenge plot, and someone is the victim of injustice. And it is so appealing, it's such an appealing plot format whenever they get payback. And that's what we have here, the Corinthian Christians are getting payback, payback against Satan and against sin. See, it's not strictly true to say that believers should not take revenge. We should take revenge. We should take revenge against Satan and against sin, because they have caused us so, so much hurt. Every tear that falls is linked ultimately back to those two. Every disease that's suffered, every discouragement that comes, every destructive action that we experience in our life, every death, all of that comes from sin. And of course, linked inextricably with that is Satan the tempter. What destruction those two have caused in our lives. I wonder, do we really, do we really hate sin? Do I hate sin as much as I ought to? You see, it's so easy in a world that is infatuated with sin and loves sin, it's so easy to be diluted in our hatred of sin, to see sin as something that's normal. You know, it's bad, but you know, it's a feature. It's a feature of our world, and you just have to live with it. We're never fully defeated, so we have to tolerate it. The Savior in John chapter 10 and verse 10 says, the thief cometh not. but for to steal and to kill and to destroy." And what do we really believe what the Savior says? And Satan is the thief, and he comes to take and he comes to steal, he comes to kill, he comes to destroy, and he keeps taking and he keeps taking and taking and taking and taking. He takes our time. What time is wasted because of sin. Years I spent in vanity and pride. Oh, how temptations steal so much. They steal and they steal and they steal. Even just the mulling over temptations is such a chronic and despicable waste of time. They steal our peace as well. Take, for instance, the believer who's addicted to the sin of revenge. Even if it's only time spent mulling over revenge, dreaming about revenge, it's such a waste of time. Bitterness, how it wastes years, how it steals our peace. I know of two men, and one was bitter with the other because he mistakenly thought the other man had wronged him, and I know for a fact that the other man didn't wrong him. But the first man wasted days and hours and months. in bitterness, and Satan the thief has stolen that time from him, time he will never, never, ever get back. I could think about that hymn, Return, O Holy Dove, Return, Sweet Messenger of Rest. I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast. Are you not sick? Are you not sick and tired of Satan the thief Christian? Have you not paid enough? Has Satan not taken enough from you? He's a thief. He's the thief of time. He's the thief of peace. He's the thief of blessing. Steals more than that. Steals friends. Steals families. It's no wonder Paul licks his lips when he thinks about sin defeated in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. What revenge! What sweet revenge! The Corinthians. Corinthians had over sin. Christian, take no revenge on other people, but take all the revenge that you can on sin. I want to encourage you to take revenge on Satan and sin. There is sweet revenge to be had. I don't believe in sinless perfection, not until we get to heaven. I don't believe that we will defeat every single sin until then, but I do believe that we can get significant victory over Satan. I believe that we can really put the boot in to Satan in our life. Yes, I know that Satan is such a powerful enemy. He's a lion that goes about seeking and prowling around, seeking for whom he may devour. He's a destroyer and he's the accuser, but greater is he that is in us. than he that is in the world. Or maybe you're locked in a losing battle over some sin, and that sin has, oh man, it's really got a grip on you. And every time you're tempted, you fail. You've paid the price. You've paid the price in terms of being robbed of time, being robbed of peace, being robbed of blessing. And maybe you've come to the point where you've lost hope. ever defeating it. Well, I want to tell you, Christian, victory is possible. Victory is possible. God does not call us to wage a losing war. The Christian life is not one of managed decline or managed defeat. There's victory in Jesus. God has not called us to don the armor of God to fight a losing battle. King Jesus is not like King Leonidas of Thermopylae, who led his 300 men out on a glorious but a certain defeat. There is victory in Jesus. Sin shall not have dominion over you. And Christian, you can avenge yourself on sin. You can through the power of Christ. Let me tell you, the victory of the cross, the victory which Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross when He poured out His life, poured out His lifeblood, is greater than the grip of sin on your life. Of course, the battle's in the mind. That's where the battle takes place. Eve lost that battle before her lips even touched the forbidden fruit, because she had a desire in her mind against God. And there is victory for the battlefield of the mind. If you turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, just a few pages on, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 4, we read these tremendously encouraging words. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." And then, note these words, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. And mark this particularly, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Every thought. Is there a stronghold in your mind? that you cannot seem to conquer? In your mind, is there a castle lust, where you secretly play out all sorts of sinful desires? Is there a castle envy, where discontentment lives and reigns? Many a time you've tried to storm those castles, you've never been successful, so you give up. It's a bit like the shopkeeper who can't stop the shoplifters, and so in the end, all they do is allow a certain amount of their profits. They write it off. They tolerate it. And Paul says, no, the war is not unwinnable. Victory is there for the taking. Every thought can be brought into captivity. Every imagination that is contrary to God's Word can be smashed. Christian, it's time to take out your spiritual weapons again. It's time to hone up. hone up that quiet time, that prayer life, that Bible study, and begin to expect victory from the Lord again. And that castle will fall. Christian, it's high time that we prayed, God, make me angry. Not angry at other saints, not angry at those that wronged us, but angry at my own sins. Lord, give me a A holy fury at my own disobedience. Take away the blasé, take away the live and let live tolerance of sin in my life. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 11, the Corinthians were angry. Paul says, what indignation, what vehement desire, what zeal. There was fury at Satan for daring to tempt them. You know, I think about that wonderful verse of the hymn, the dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to live with it. Help me to tolerate it. Help me to sort of brush it off. No, no, no. Help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee. Tear that temptation from its throne. Christian, there is no stronghold that prayer cannot crack. no castle that God's Word cannot penetrate. The problem is, you know, we're more angry with other people's sin than we are about our own. And that's the problem. We're more angry about other people's sin than we are about our own. There's a perfect illustration of that in the Scriptures, you know. We all know King Solomon. King Solomon, the woman's man, the lady's man. King Solomon with his many, many, many, many wives. But did you know that David had many wives? King David was a man with a problem. There was a stronghold of lust in King David's mind that was so strong, so strong that he had really struggled to penetrate it. He saw a beautiful woman and he had to have her, and he took her and he married her. I'm not for one moment saying that David was a serial adulterer. Please don't take that from my words. Every woman who obviously he was attracted to, he married, but he married a lot of women. He had a man who had a problem controlling himself on that front. You know the list of his wives. His first wife was Michael, the daughter of King Saul. And he married her earlier on in his life. And then, of course, a little bit later, he met Abigail, the beautiful wife of a very foolish man named Nabal. And she had looks and intelligence. And when he laid his eyes on Abigail, he just could not stop himself. So he married her, too. And then somewhere along the line, the Scriptures don't tell us exactly where, but somewhere along the line, he married Ahinoam, a woman from Jezreel. And then if you go over to 2 Samuel in chapter 3, you find that before he was crowned king, he had four more. Here's a man with a problem and it's growing. We know that when he was king, he acquired at least 10 concubines, 10 half-wives, if you want to put it, second-class wives. There's a stronghold of lust in David's mind, and the walls are growing higher and higher and thicker and thicker, and he's not overcoming it. And then, of course, there comes that fateful day when David stood on his roof. And when he looked out and saw another man's wife bathing Bathsheba by name, and he took her, and he murdered her husband. He murders Uriah, and God steps in. And we read in We read in the Old Testament how God sends the prophet Nathan with the story of the little lamb, the poor man with only one lamb, and the rich, greedy man that takes the poor man's lamb. And David is full of wrath. I'll avenge that poor man. David, thou art the man. David, you're more angry about his sin than your sin. David, Satan is a thief, and he has stolen from you. He's taken your testimony. He's taken your joy. He's taken your pure hands, and he's left you with hands that are dripping with blood. David, where's your anger over that? Where's your anger over that? Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, to sing my great Redeemer's praise. He breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free. Christ is the one that can break the chains of sin, the power of sin. I don't want to end on a low note. Let me just turn you to 1 Kings chapter 1 and verse 1. Because there we read that King David was old and stricken in years, and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. And wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin, and let her stand before my king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him, but the king knew her not." David is old, and David is cold. And so what they do is they bring this young woman, this beautiful young woman. The scripture says she was fair. She said she was very fair. And this young woman warms the king in his own bed. Now, David's not suffering from mental degradation. He's not doting, as we would say. He knows what is going on. He's still making significant political decisions at this stage of his life. He knows. He knows what's going on. But it says, the king knew her not. There's not a whisper of him doing anything inappropriate. Why? because he's conquered that castle in his mind, that castle of lust, that stronghold that held him for years. God has given him victory. There is victory for sin. Oh, Christian, take revenge and take revenge on sin and on Satan. Sweet revenge. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you that there is victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. We bless thee, Lord, that Calvary purchased not just victory from the penalty of sin and in the future presence of sin, but for the power of sin. And, O Lord, we would pray that you will bless every believer under the sound of this broadcast. that they will experience that victory. Help them, Lord, to continue in prayer, to continue in the Word, and to wield the spiritual weapons to that end. Give them victory and smash the chains for the glory of King Jesus. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.