to embark on a study that we're going to look at for the next few weeks. It has to do with facing Satan's attempts to destroy the unity of brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I am basing our study on a section of this book. It's titled Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. Now this is a book that was written a long time ago. The author of this book was born in the early 1600s, ministered in London in the 1600s to the mid slash late 1600s. But we know very, very little about this man himself. He illustrated in the sense of giving sermon illustrations for what he wrote and spoke, but He gave next to no illustrations about his own life. So we know very little about the man, except we can tell from his writings that he was a man that was very, very interested both in proper public worship and also personal piety. He was a group of people that have been called the Puritans. In the 1600s in England, there were a group of men, and we can include women as well, who were very interested in purifying what they saw as a church that was showing signs of corruption. They looked at the Church of England and saw some Anglo-Catholic tendencies, and they also saw the decline of morality in their time and were very, very concerned about that. They wanted to purify the church. Some of them would actually leave the Church of England during that time, but You read their writings, not all of them would have agreed on everything, but you read their writings and you encounter people who were very serious about who God is and very serious about how we live as believers in light of the grace that we've received through Jesus Christ. And as such, their writings are very, very helpful. And I would encourage them. Of the Puritans, whose writings can be very difficult sometimes to understand, Thomas Brooks is one of the Puritans whose writings are the most easy to understand across the years. He wrote this book titled Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, and I have to kind of break down each word so that we understand what he meant by that, because we don't usually speak that way anymore. Precious, what he meant by that is valuable. those things that are valuable or important remedies. What he meant was means by which we face Satan's devices. Now, where did he get this expression? Satan's devices? Well, let me show you. We'll turn together in the new Testament to second Corinthians chapter two and verse 11. 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. In the book of 1st Corinthians, there was a man who was overcome with sexual sin. And Paul wrote very strongly about what this man should do and how he should repent. And this man between the writing of 1st and 2nd Corinthians had repented. And Paul addresses, how do you treat this man now that he's repented? And basically you forgive him. You don't want him to be overcome with sorrow. He says, I urge you, verse eight, to reaffirm your love to him. Now, verse 10, he says, now whom you forgive, anything I also forgive, for if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. So what Brooks does is he meditates on what are Satan's devices. And his meditations are very, very rich and helpful. Satan, he talks in his book about Satan's devices to draw the soul into sin. And how do we deal with that? He talks about Satan's devices to keep souls from holy duties. not just to lure people into sin, but to keep them from doing what's right. He talks about that and gives all kinds of different ways that Satan will work and how we can face those kinds of attacks from Satan. He then talks about Satan's devices to, I'm missing one here, Satan's devices to keep saints in a sad, doubting, questioning, and uncomfortable condition. Talks about how Satan will do those sorts of things and the type of attacks that Satan will use. He then talks about Satan's devices to destroy and ensnare all sorts and ranks of men in the world. So he talks about how Satan works to try to lure people who are great and honorable in the earth and so forth. But he, under that section, so it's part of a section, he talks about Satan's device against the saints. And that's what I want us to focus on. The one device that Satan, that Brooks focused on as he thought about Satan's device against the saints. And this was, this is the device that Satan uses, he says. Thirdly, Satan, hath his devices to destroy the saints. And one great device that he hath to destroy the saints is by working them first to be strange. Now again, some of us are strange, but he's not talking about being odd here. Some of you might know the expression, when a baby gets a little bit upset, maybe they're handed to someone else, not their mother, and they say, oh, the baby is making strange. They're getting upset. This is the idea here. working them first to be strange or to be upset a little bit with each other, then to divide, then to be bitter and jealous, and then to bite and devour one another. And that word expression, bite and devour one another, is actually taken directly from the pages of scripture, Galatians chapter 5 verse 15. Now, anyone who's been around church and Christians for any length of time knows that Satan is very happy to do this, and often very successful in doing this. And by the way, brothers and sisters, lest we look upon ourselves as, oh, what a good boy am I, we don't have to look to the history of some other churches to see where this has happened. We can look within the walls of this church itself. where brothers and sisters have began to be strange or upset with one another, then to divide, then to be bitter and jealous, and then to bite and devour one another. And of course, bite and devour, he's talking about tearing down one another, not literally biting one another. Although earlier today, Joel did bite me, but I don't think that's what the Lord had in mind when he had Paul write about that. So, Who is Satan? Well, we know Satan is the chief of the fallen angels. But even Satan's names and titles help us understand something of his nature and why he would want to do this to the saints. The word Satan, well, does anybody know what the word Satan means? He is that, but that's not what the name means. But you're right that Satan is the father of lies. Satan actually means accuser. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Devil means accuser. Satan means adversary. Satan means adversary. And the other term we use is devil. And the word diabolos is the accuser or the slanderer. This is why in the book of Revelation it talks about when Satan is cast down that the accuser of the brethren has been cast down. So Satan is our adversary. He is the devil, the accuser, or the slanderer. And so when we see Christians begin to get angry with one another, divide against one another, to become bitter and jealous, and then to bite and devour one another, we know that it is the weakness of our flesh that Satan is all too happy to capitalize on and to do what he can through that. So, how do we face this attack of Satan? But Brooks is helpful, I think, and he actually gives 12 different ways. Don't worry, I'm not going to cover all 12 of them tonight. We'll cover three or four tonight. We'll see how it goes. We'll cover three or four of them tonight. And I think, at least I'm speaking personally here, that these devices or ways of facing this kind of temptation and this kind of attack of Satan is very convicting for me, at least, and I hope that it will be helpful for all of us. The first remedy that he suggests, the first way that we can face this attack of Satan, this device of Satan, is this, to dwell more upon one another's graces than upon one another's weaknesses and infirmities. We talked about this a little bit this morning when we saw how David mourned for King Saul. And in his eulogy for King Saul, there were many terrible things he could have said about Saul. Saul, after all, was someone who had attempted to murder him on more than one occasion, right? But in his eulogy, he focused more upon the good things and the graces and how much more that should be the case when it comes to one another. That we should be happier to think about the graces, the good things, the way that we see God at work in one another's lives, than the infirmities and the deficiencies. He gives the illustration, and I'm gonna modernize it a little bit, but he gives the illustration of essentially using, doing what we can, getting so nitpicky that we would use a microscope to try to find the flaws in one another. When he said, what we should be doing is magnifying the graces that we see in one another. He gives a couple of reasons for this. He says, first, it is much more pleasant to dwell on graces than infirmities. Now sometimes we get a perverse sort of pleasure to think about bad things that are happening with people and there's a reason why there's a certain negativity to the news cycle that seems to catch people's interests. But Brooks makes the point that it's much more pleasant to dwell on people's graces than on their infirmities. He says this, tell me saints, is it not more sweet, comfortable and delightful a thing, a delightful thing to look more upon one another's graces than on one another's infirmities? Tell me what pleasure, what delight, what comfort there is, is there in looking upon the enemies, the wounds, the sores, the sicknesses, the diseases, the nakedness of our friends. Now sin, you know, is the soul's enemy, the soul's wound, the soul's sores, the soul's sickness, the soul's disease, the soul's nakedness. And ah, what a heart hath that man that loves thus to look. On the other hand, he says that grace is the choicest flower in all a Christian's garden. It is the richest jewel in all his crown. It is his princely robes. It is the top of royalty and therefore must needs be the most pleasing, sweet, and delightful object for gracious eyes to be fixed upon. Sin is darkness and grace is light. Sin is hell, grace is heaven. And what madness is it to look more at darkness than at light, more at hell than at heaven? I think his point is well made. It tells us something about ourselves when we would rather dwell on the sins and the deficiencies of one another, the failures and the weaknesses of one another, and about those good things that God is doing, that saving grace and that sanctifying grace that is at work in their lives. He gives another point when he talks about this, and he says, essentially, this is my paraphrase, it is the nature of God to look more upon graces than infirmities. He says, tell me, saints, doth not God look more upon his people's graces than upon their weaknesses? Surely he doth. He looks more at David's and Asaph's uprightness than upon their infirmities, though they were great in many. He eyes more Job's patience than his passion. Remember Job, I'm talking about his passion. He's talking about how toward the end of the book of Job, Job goes from telling his friends, no, God is not doing this for the reasons that you suggest. In other words, God is not doing this because I'm a great sinner. He goes from there to saying, God has no just reason for doing this. But when you look in the New Testament, we are told to remember what? The patience of Job. And so, remember the patience of Job. That's James chapter 5 and verse 11. Not a word about his impatience, but rather his patience. And he says, in effect, that practically speaking, there are practical results for imitating God in this way. He says, by so doing, much sin would be prevented. The designs of wicked men frustrated, Satan outwitted, many wounds healed, and many sad hearts cheered, and God more abundantly honored. And so, dwell upon one another's graces more than upon their weaknesses and infirmities. So one practical way we could do this, brothers and sisters, is when tempted to say negative things or think negative things about one another, to, in that moment, make a list of the ways that we can see that God is at work in them. We can even, we'll get to this a little bit later in the series, but even think about the fact that we are both children of God. And so, dwell more upon one another's graces than upon one another's weaknesses and infirmities. The second remedy, he says, is to solemnly, that is, seriously consider that love and union makes most for your own safety and security. That there is a strength in union. There is a strength in unity. When we begin to fight against one another and divide up against one another, and be angry against one another, we find ourselves more and more isolated. I want to point to this truth in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 18, if you would turn there with me. Proverbs 18. Proverbs chapter 18, verses one and two, I think are helpful for us to think about rather than what happens when we divide and become more and more isolated. And if you're reading the King James, it may at first seem a little bit strange because there's some expressions that we wouldn't use today, but the New King James I think helps us to clarify what's being said. Proverbs 18.1 says, a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment. A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart. What happens when we isolate ourselves, we actually rage against wise judgment. And when we begin to fight against one another and divide against one another, we become more and more isolated and thus rage against wise judgment. And find ourselves in a place of much spiritual jeopardy. Brooks says it this way, we shall be insuperables, or those that are impossible to overcome, if we be inseparables. If we are insuperables, those who are impossible to overcome, if we are inseparables. In other words, if we stay together. We are invincible if we be inseparable. The world may frown upon you and plot against you, but they cannot hurt you. Unity is the best bond of safety in every church and commonwealth. And so we need each other. And unity serves spiritual safety. The third remedy that Brooks suggests as a way of facing this temptation of Satan to divide, and eventually to devour one another, is to dwell upon those commands of God that do require you to love one another. So when you are tempted to become harsh and angry and upset and just dwell on the negative about someone, and then to divide and to just tear them down, Dwell on those commands of God that require you to love one another. I, in preparing for this, I was looking up Because sometimes we read that word love in scripture, so what does it mean? What's the idea behind it? What is a sort of baseline definition for it? Because you probably have heard sermons that talk about different kinds of Greek words that are used for love. And I found this helpful in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. It says, while the Hebrew and Greek words for love have various shades and intensities of meaning, They may be summed up in some such definition as this, love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and beneficent interest in the well-being of the one loved. So it's not just about emotion. Certainly, it's not wrong to love someone with an emotional connection to them. But this is about earnestly desiring and actively working for that person's best interest. Now, how can we do so if we're dividing, tearing down one another? We can't. Brooks says this, oh when your hearts begin to rise against each other, charge the commands of God upon your hearts and say to your souls, oh our souls, hath not the eternal God commanded you to love them that love the Lord? And is it not life to obey and death to rebel? Therefore, look that you fulfill the commands of the Lord, for his commands are not like those that are easily reversed, but they're like those of the meads which cannot be changed. Oh, be much in pondering upon these commands of God. And he says, consider in your strivings When you start to divide and you start to be bitter against someone, you start to be angry about someone, you start to maybe gossip about them, consider in your strivings if you are truly obeying these commands. So let's take a spin through the Bible and see some of these commands, just to remind us that this is what God calls us to do. It's not just a good idea. It's not just something that if all, you know, if everything else is going all right, then we can love one another. But this is the command of God. So let's look at John chapter 13. We'll have some nimble fingers, hopefully today, John chapter 13. John 13, 34 and 35. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Notice he calls it a new commandment and some people say, well, how is that a new commandment? We're told back in the book of Deuteronomy that we're supposed to love one another. The newness of this commandment is to love like Christ has loved us. That example brings freshness and newness to this command. And as we find ourselves bitter and angry and divisive against another believer, ask, am I loving that brother or sister the way that Christ has loved me? We're in John already, jump ahead to John 15. John 15, 12 and 15, 17 essentially tell us the same thing. Jesus says, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 17, these things I command you that you love one another. Love is so essential in the context of a world that hates Christ and hates his way and hates his people. Love one another. Look with me at Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Romans 13 and verse 8. Romans 13, 8. Oh, no one anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. If there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Jump ahead with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. And verse one, a simple verse that some of you might have memorized before, it's only four words, let brotherly love continue. Let brotherly love continue. And that command is the idea that it never waver, that it never stop. It's not simply the command, it's there, but let it continue. Let it never be extinguished. Let it never be stamped out. We could turn to 1 Peter 1.22. 1 Peter 1.22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love for the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. While we're in first Peter, we can turn over to chapter three in verse eight. First Peter three, verse eight. Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous. We go from there, even from there into first John, there are at least four places in first John where we're commanded to love one another. We've looked up a number of passages, we don't need to look up all of these, but 1 John 3, verse 11, this is the message you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3, verse 22, this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 1 John 4, verse 7, love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. First John chapter four, verse 11, beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. And Brooks says, oh, dwell much upon these precious commands that your love may be inflamed one to another. So may we be people who love one another. And when Satan would tempt us to divide, to become angry and bitter against one another, remember that. Love one another. Let brotherly love continue. I wonder even in the past, in the history of our own church, in the history of our own Christian walk, how many times division and anger and upset and unrest could have been avoided if we had simply taken the time to dwell upon those commands, to love one another, and to ask ourselves, honestly, are we obeying this command? Brooks gives a fourth, and we may end early tonight, but that will probably be okay, a fourth remedy, a fourth remedy to deal with this device of Satan, and that is this. to dwell more upon the choice and sweet things wherein you agree than upon those things wherein you differ. To dwell more on those things that you agree about than on those things that you differ. He says this, ah, did you but thus how would sinful heats be abated? and your love raised and your spirits sweetened one to another." Think about, the scripture says there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Think about the fact that there is one Savior that we serve, one triune God whom we worship. Think about the many things we hold in common as members of this church. How much more do we have in common? How much more do we have that ought to unite us than should divide us? So think about this. Brooks says, you agree in most, but you differ in but a few. You agree in the greatest and weightiest. That's concerning God, Christ, the Spirit, the Scripture. You differ only in those points that have been long disputable among men of greatest piety in parts. You agree to own the scripture, to hold to Christ the head, and to walk according to the law of the new creature. And by the way, brothers and sisters, here Brooks is perhaps assuming a higher level of spirituality than, dare I say it, we may often exhibit. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that where Brooks goes here is he goes, when he talks about division, is to dividing over minor points of doctrine. And the sad thing is that most often Christians are not angry and bitter over one another about minor points of doctrine. They're angry and bitter about things that are far more minor than that. Do you understand what I'm saying? In other words, it's not like we're actually angry and bitter at one another because we have a different view on baptism. We're angry and bitter against one another because we have a different view of what color the carpet should be. We're angry and bitter at one another because we have a different view of what should be done at what point in the week and where in the building of the church. How much more do we have that we agree on than that we disagree on? How foolish to, as the old saying goes, make mountains out of molehills, out of those things that are really, truly of the smallest significance. Sometimes it's a personality thing, but it seems that at times there are believers who are willing to fight to the death over the tiniest minutia of detail, of data about some minor program in the church, and could sadly care less about the doctrinal component of the church's statement of faith. That being the case, God help us. Because that's a horrible place to be in terms of spiritual maturity. So, brothers and sisters, dwell on the choice and sweet things wherein you agree. You have the same God and Father. You have the same Savior, Jesus. You have the same Holy Spirit, that great paraclete, comforter, guide and helper. We have the same Word of God. We have the same mission and commission given to us. And we can even narrow that down even more. We are together here in a Baptist church and share certain common convictions about the scriptures and about even the ordinances. He says this, and I found this a very interesting question that he asks. So think through it with me. He says, Shall not saints agree who differ only in such things as have the least of the heart of God in them that shall never hinder your meeting in heaven? Are we fighting over things that have the least of the heart of God in them and that would never hinder us from meeting one another in heaven? And so Satan is very much at work. He's very happy to accuse. He's very happy to divide brothers and sisters. It is a good and pleasant thing for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity. So let's resist these attacks of Satan. Let us, as Brooks has encouraged us, dwell more upon the graces that we see in one another's lives than our infirmities and our deficiencies. It's hard because we have a tendency, right, sometimes to love to see and hear the negative. Let's consider that it is our love and union for one another that makes us most spiritually safe, that united we stand, or as divided we fall. Let's dwell on the commands of God that are given to us that we should love one another, remembering that loving one another is not simply some emotional spike, but it's an earnest and anxious desire for an active interest in the well-being of that one that we love. And then, brothers and sisters, let us dwell more upon those choice and sweet things in which we agree than on those things in which we differ. May 2023 be a year of great unity in our church. May it be a year of great unity for the body of Christ. May we together stand, may we together advance, may we together storm the gates of hell and bring glory to the name and honor of our savior. Well, we'll conclude there. I hope that this will be of some benefit to you. I would very strongly encourage you, even though it takes maybe a little bit of waiting through, to pick up this book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. You can also buy the full collected works of Thomas Brooks, but this is a lot cheaper and a lot easier format to work through. But his writings, I think, can be very beneficial to you. We will continue to think about how we can remain united despite Satan's best attempts to divide us as the year unfolds. Well, let's sing.