But turn in your Bibles if you go to Ephesians chapter six and verse 11. Ephesians chapter six and verse 11. And notice there are four points on the back of that bulletin tonight. That doesn't mean that the message is going to be longer. At least I don't think so anyway. But I want to look at some very practical things here, and I want you to notice there at the top of the handout that's on the back of the bulletin, notice the armor of God, Satan's devices against the believer. Now we're talking about the armor of God through this study, and we're going to be getting into the actual armor, Lord willing, next week, if the Lord tarries. If the Lord takes us home before then, well, we'll just be left in suspense, but I think we'll be okay with that, amen? And we'll be in heaven anyway, but we're gonna get into that armor next week, but I think it's important for us to lay the groundwork and to see exactly why we need the armor But then when we have the armor on, understanding Satan's still going to be fighting. If you put the armor on every single day, Satan will still fight you every single day. We just have defense against that, being able to ward that off, if you will. But here in Ephesians chapter 6 in verse 11, I want us to read this together this evening. When I say begin, and let's read verse 11 together. Ready? Begin. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Notice the whole armor of God, and we are commanded, as we talked about last week, we're commanded to put it on. It's something that we must do. Every day, throughout the day, we must ensure that we are putting on the armor of God. It doesn't just happen when you trust Christ. It doesn't just happen when you get baptized. It doesn't just happen when you join the church. No, it's something you must do. Remember, he's talking to believers here and he's telling them, put on the whole armor of God, not so that you can look super spiritual, not so that you never go through a struggle, not so that people will look at you and say, that's the kind of person I wanna be, but you put on the whole armor of God for this reason. It says there that you may be able to stand against the wiles of God. Satan has things that he uses, and he's used them since the beginning of time, and he will use them until his final defeat. And each one of us, we need to know what those things are. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, and we'll get into the message here this evening. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day. We thank You for the opportunity we have, dear God, to just join here. And Lord, I thank You for the wonderful truth in the songs that we sang tonight. And Lord, understanding that Calvary covers it all. Lord, if there's anyone here that does not know you as their Savior, Lord, I pray they'd come to know you tonight. Lord, it'd be such a wonderful thing to realize that someone trusted you this evening. Lord, for those of us who are saved, I pray that we'd draw closer to you and that you would help us to see that these are common things that Satan uses. But Lord, we need to be on guard of these things. Lord, I pray that you'd do a work in our hearts that only you can do. Lord, we're asking you to do a wonderful thing this evening. I pray you'd be at the prayer time to follow as well. And we ask all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Last week we looked at the Christians battle and we saw that every Christian is a soldier. Now we saw here that if every Christian is a soldier, we know that we are in the army of God, but then understand this as well, the choice is not ours whether or not we want to be a soldier, the choice is whether or not we want to be a good Remember last week when Paul was encouraging Timothy in the passage we read he was encouraging him not to only be a soldier but to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. If you've trusted Christ as your personal Savior say Amen. Amen. That means you're a soldier. But are we good soldiers or are we bad soldiers. Think about that for a moment. Every Christian, we also discussed this, every Christian fights a battle. We are in a battle. But also the apostle Paul, he said that we are to fight the good fight of faith. Understand it's something that is a good thing to do. We should fight for the faith. And every Christian also needs spiritual weapons. We ended last week with that truth there. And understand, You cannot fight this battle that we are in with guns and bullets. You can't fight it with a sword. You can't fight it with a dagger. You can't fight it with a knife. If you could fight it with a knife, Sammy and Paul would do that, amen. They've got enough knives to arm a whole army, but you can't do that. You have to use the armor of God. You have to use the word of God. In 2 Corinthians 10, four, it says this, weapons of warfare are not carnal. You know, when we go out into this world, when we are out there fighting for the Lord, understand this world's going to think we're nuts. This world's going to think, well, what are they doing? Have those people lost their mind? But understand our weapons of warfare are not carnal. We have a God in heaven that cares for us. We have a God in heaven that is almighty. He's fighting our battles for us. We're just going in His name. Amen. I think of the final battle of Armageddon there, and it's amazing because it talks about the Lord Jesus Christ coming, and then it says, and His saints with Him. Now, he's going to open his mouth and slay everyone that's there. We don't even have to lift a finger. Well, it can be that way in our battle today if we'll just trust the Lord and say, God, it's all in your hands. Whatever you want me to do, that's what I'll do. But too often we go into a battle and we go into it with the mindset of I'm going to do all I can. I'm going to try to stand as long as I can. When I get in trouble, then I'll cry out to God. You're in trouble before you ever go to the battle. You're in trouble before you ever pick up that sword. Understand, we need God's help all the time. So we're gonna dive into this, these devices against the believer tonight and talk about the enemy that we have. We have an enemy. And the Bible talks an awful lot about our enemy. And we need to be on guard. You know the most important reason for the Christian to have the armor of God on? is the same reason it's important for our military to wear body armor. Why is that? Because there's an enemy. If there wasn't an enemy, you wouldn't need any armor. If there wasn't an enemy, our military wouldn't have to wear the bulletproof helmets and plates and things like that, that they wear. There is an enemy though, and spiritually we have an enemy. Our enemy is Satan. It's the devil himself. But I want you to look over at the book of Revelation, if you will, chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. Lay some groundwork here. Revelation chapter 20. And notice verse 10. We have an enemy, but we realize what's going to happen to our enemy. Revelation chapter 20. In verse 10, notice the Bible says this, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. I mentioned a statement a few weeks ago, and we actually mentioned it again this past Sunday in the teen class. When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future, amen? He's already defeated. He's just trying to do all he can to keep people from getting saved and trying to make believers feel as though they are defeated. But understand, Satan, he's already defeated. His final defeat is going to be there that we just read. But until then, We're in a battle. And we need to be fighting. We need to be good soldiers. We need to realize that there are battles that we are going to face. And unless we put on the armor that is there for us to put on, there are going to be many casualties of war. not in losing our salvation, we know we're safe and secure in the hand of God. But a casualty of war is this, when a person has trusted Christ as their personal Savior, and yet they try to go into this world, they try to live the way they want to live, they try to fight battles on their own and in their own power without trusting God to get them through those battles, and what's going to happen is they're going to be defeated over over again, which is going to cause them to go into spiritual depression, if you will. They're not going to want to tell anybody else about the gospel. And therefore, Satan has won, because we refuse to see that we're in a battle. Satan knows that the more Christians who are destroyed, the fewer soul winners there will be. And the fewer souls that there will be saved for eternity. So notice there in Ephesians chapter six in verse 11, I want you to notice that word that we see there toward the end. So it says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The wiles of the devil. Now I was looking at that word there, that word wiles, it means this, it means trickery. It means to lie in wait. You know, Satan uses trickery to destroy Christians. It's exactly what he uses. He uses it all the time, much like wolves would use trickery in the wild to capture their prey. There's been much study done on wolves, and as I was reading this illustration, I was thinking to myself, that's exactly what Satan does to us. In the wild, the wolves will spot an animal, and that animal that's out there, the wolf knows that that thing is going to be dinner if it can just catch that. So a lot of times the wolf will not just run directly at that, that prey there. No, they're going to do some things to trick that. Of course, you're going to see that they will surround a huge perimeter there. But then also what you will see them do is the wolves will actually start playing with one another, getting closer to their prey. and eventually they're close enough, the prey has seen, well, they don't want anything to do with me because they're just involved with one another, they're just playing around, and the prey is just doing what they were doing to begin with, whether it's eating or whatever it may be, and the wolves are getting closer, but eventually those wolves realize we're close enough that there's nothing our prey can do to get away from us. And they turn from what they're doing, and they devour their prey. Isn't that exactly how Satan works in our lives as well? Things will look really good on the outside, and it'll seem as though, well, I'm just doing my own thing, and, well, I'm out here having fun, I'm living my own way, and you know what? It seems like nothing's happening to me. there is a life over here that I wanna live. And as I'm living that life, it seems as though, well, God must not care because God's not struck me with lightning yet, so all must be well. Actually, I'm thriving over here, so everything must be fine. What's happening? You're getting circled over and over and over. And the whole time you're thinking, I must be doing okay. You've got the enemy getting closer and closer. And before you know it, the enemy is going to grab you. It's trickery. The wolves do that, and all the while, the wolves are getting closer and closer, and eventually, they pounce, and their prey becomes dinner. This is exactly what happens in the life of a believer if we do not put on the armor of God. We become unaware of the deception that Satan is using to gain the advantage over us, and before we know it, it's too late. Before we know it, it's over. Satan has many devices that he uses, and anyone who goes into battle, they have certain things that they will use to help them conquer their prey or to conquer the enemy there, and Satan is no different. There are many things that Satan will use to trip us up, and if we are not careful, We either look at Satan as some just little guy in some red suit with a pitchfork who appears harmless, or we will only be on guard for what we would consider the big things. Well, I know that I shouldn't be drinking alcohol, but telling a little white lie isn't that bad. We say, well, I'm just not going to do the big things. Well, I'm not involved in drugs and all those types of things. So, you know, if I cheat on my taxes a little bit, that's not that bad. You see, oftentimes we categorize the sin that we're in, but Satan has used the same tricks, the same thing since the beginning. His bag of tricks has never changed. They will never change. And in the life of a believer, many times these four primary weapons are used. And I want us to notice these things here this evening. First of all, I want you to look at 1 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy 6, and look at verse 10. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 10. We find in the very beginning of this verse, Satan's tool here. Notice in 1st Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. You know, this is something that Satan has used in the lives of many believers. There are many people who trust Christ as their personal savior. They're on fire for God. They're doing all they can to serve the Lord and they're making a difference for the cause of Christ. And then they have some desire for something nice, whether it be a house or a car or whatever it may be, and many times, rather than waiting on the Lord or rather than just continuing to follow God and say, God, if you bless me with that, that's great, but if not, it must not be your will for me. No, rather than having that attitude, many times what they'll say is, well, I really want that, so you know what, God, I'll be back. I'll come back and serve you another time. I'll be faithful to church another time. I really want this thing and I've got to make more money so I can get it. What are we doing? We're giving in to Satan's trickery. It's exactly what we're doing. Rather than realizing that God is our provider, many times we decide that it's okay if we drop out of service for the Lord, because we need that idol. It may only be for a little while, but before long, they've been defeated. He devours them and they're left there with a void in their life. How did that happen? The love of money. Now, many people have said that, well, you see, money is the root of all evil. No, it's not. Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. That is, when we are chasing money more than we're chasing God. And Lord, help us if that's the case in our lives. When we love money, we become covetous. And when we become covetous, the Bible says here that we are pierced through, is what the Bible says in this passage. pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But I want you to notice the wording of that verse there. So we have an enemy, the enemy knows that human beings we want stuff, we want things, we want all of these items that that look good to the eye and we would say well this is going to help me and I need that time-saving device amen we have so much time-saving devices today and less time than we've ever had it's crazy how how many houses that you'll go up to and me and me and my dad for for quite a few years we ran a furniture business And we would do, buy out household estates and storage units and those types of things. And it was amazing how you'd pull up to this huge house and they had a three or a four car garage and they're moving and they want to sell everything in there. And they open up the doors of the garage. There's no cars in there, but they are filled to the brim. You know what it was filled with? Junk, just stuff. But you know, every one of those items at some point, they needed that. Oh, I need that. I can't live without that, but eventually it makes it out there to the garage, and then eventually it makes it out to the yard sale, and then one of us go and we buy the same thing for only a quarter of the price, and then you know what it does in our house? It sits in the garage as well, or it sits in the shed, or whatever it may be. We desire stuff. But understand there in verse 10, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, They have erred from the faith. And notice here, and pierced themselves. It happened to themselves. Satan flashes this love of money in front of us, these things, all these gadgets and all of that. He flashes it in front of our eyes. And so many times we will give in to those things and we'll say, well, Satan made me do it. The Bible says they pierced themselves through. because they yielded to what they wanted. rather than what God wanted them to have. I can remember my dad would tell me and my siblings when we lived at home, there was a certain amount you had, when we were working a job, you had to put a certain amount of your check in savings and a certain amount could go into your checking account. And of course you had to do your giving to the Lord as well and all of that. And anytime we wanted to make a big purchase out of our savings, He would often times say this, how bad do you want that item? And we of course, we just had to have that. I can remember when the MP3 player came out, that was life changing. I just had to have one of those. And then the iPod. Oh, I got to have that too. Does the exact same thing, just different names. So my friends would think I'm cooler, amen. So I got to have that. And then a new phone and all these types of things. And I just had to have it. And he would oftentimes say this, well, if you really want it, wait 30 days and we'll see if you still want it. You know what happened at the end of that 30 days? I didn't want it anymore. Something else had came out. You know what happened? The 30-day clock started over again and over again. It just happened over and over. But I appreciate my dad doing that. You know what that gave me the ability to do when I was 15, almost 16 years old? I was able to pay $6,100 cash for my first car. Why? Because I really didn't want those other things. I didn't want it. But in my mind at the time, I couldn't live without it. Many times we pierce ourselves through. We blame it on Satan, but it's a trick that he's used since the beginning of time. So notice, first of all, the love of money. What do we love? Notice number two, loving the world. Look at 2 Timothy chapter four and verse 10. 2 Timothy chapter four and verse 10. 2 Timothy 4.10 the Bible says this, Notice, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Now this can be often times tied to exactly what we just talked about with the love of money. People decide that, well, they were serving the Lord at one point, but, well, I just can't afford to serve the Lord anymore. And they fall away from the Lord. Love of the world can be seen many times in the area of old habits and old friends and old ways of entertainment. There are many who turn back to the way that they used to live. They were on fire for God when they trusted Christ as their Savior and they're praising the Lord for everything that He saved them from. And they're saying, I can't believe that God would love me so much that he would send his son to die for me and to shed his blood to pay for my sin debt. And they trust Christ. And then as they continue on in life, they allow them old friends to continue to influence them. And they start turning back to those old habits and they start looking after things and all of that. And before you know it, they are loving the world again. And they're just like Demas when it says, Demas hath forsaken me. It doesn't say he forsook me, well, because he just had other ambitions he wanted to follow. No, he forsook having loved this present world. Let's not be a demis. You know, there are an awful lot of people that say that, well, church is boring. Well, there's some churches that are boring, I'm sure, amen? But the reality is this, the Bible's alive. and it always will be alive. We serve a God that's alive. We should be happy to be saved, amen. It's okay to smile in church, amen. It's okay to have the joy of the Lord, but for the ones who turn to this world, understand the issue is not that the church is boring or that serving God is boring. The problem is it's found right inside their heart. They love the world more than they love God. Satan's a master salesman, isn't he? Oh, he'll make things look good. He can even make a wicked, cruel world like what we live in. He can make it look good to someone's eyes. But if we allow ourselves to follow that, you know what we're doing? We're falling right into the tricks of Satan. And it's not going to work out. Oh, the pleasures of sin will be there. The Bible says that they last only for a season. Don't love the world. Satan will make the world look good, but understand it is a device of Satan. Notice number three as well. Notice not only the love of money, not only loving the world, but number three, putting away your faith, putting it away. Look at second Timothy chapter two, second Timothy chapter two, verse 16 through 18. Notice 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 16 through 18. Notice, But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth the canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith Notice, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. And then notice over in chapter three, Look at verse one, this know also that in the last days perilous time shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, Now notice there in verse four, it says, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. We live in a world that many people would say, oh yeah, I love God. But the Bible says here, they love pleasures more than they love God. This list that we just read there, when it says, in the last days, perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Nowhere in there does it say, and this list is only going to be applied to unbelievers. Nowhere in this list does it say, well, as long as you're saved, you'll never fall into any of these sins. understand many times we fall into more of these than what we are willing to admit. Many times we are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Many times we do have a form of godliness but we deny the power thereof. Many times we come into the church and we hear a message preached and we sing the praises unto God and we check that off the list and we go out into this world and we do not live a life of faith. We don't live a life that has been changed by the message that we just heard from God himself and the Holy Spirit spoke to our heart and we may even say well I'm going to make a decision and Lord I'm going to I'm gonna stick to that decision and all of those things. But as soon as we leave this place, many times we set those things aside. But understand here, when it says putting away your faith, what does this mean? Understand it does not mean that one can decide not to be saved, but it carries with it this idea that's found in the book of Revelation. Remember when it says they left their first love. They left it. They said, I'm just going to leave it back there. I'm going to continue on in life and follow all of these other things. What are they doing? Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Left their faith behind. The contrast that we see in the scriptures is this, you find a holding faith and then you see a putting away faith. Which one are we going to have? we are holding on to faith that is holding on so wherever it takes us guess what that's where we're gonna go wherever God leads us to go that's where we're going why because we're holding on to that but if we're just putting it aside it's sitting there Not doing any good. What are we doing if we're holding to the faith? That's the idea of keeping it, holding it before us and following what God wants, putting on the whole armor of God, realizing that there is a devil and he would like nothing more than for us to put away the faith. You know what made the devil happy? When Demas forsook. Made him happy, why? That's one less that's gonna be preaching the gospel. That's one less that's going to be out there proclaiming the name of Christ. Now, there may be a time at a later date where God gets a hold of his heart, but for now, the devil would say, I've tricked him and I've won, I've won. The devil would like nothing more than for us to put away the faith. He would like nothing more than for us to hide it. That's what the idea of putting it away has, not living the faith life, keeping it out of sight, keeping it out of mind. The idea of holding it means to have confidence in it, and putting it away means that you have no confidence. When we think that we can hide our faith or that we can put it away, understand we've given into the wiles of the devil. When we're out in the community and God tells us to say something to someone and we don't do that, we've just put our faith aside. What have we done? We've hid it from them. Because God said, make me known to them. And we said, not right now. And we put it away. Every time God tells us to do something from his word and we say, that's not gonna work for me, we're putting it aside. Oh, we would never say that, oh yeah, I go through my life and when God tells me to do something, I just take what He wants me to do and I just throw it behind me. We wouldn't say that verbally, but that's exactly what we do many times. Putting it aside. Because Satan has convinced us that when God tells us to do something, we get to decide when it gets done. Satan has convinced us that though God has told us to do something we are in charge of the time on that. Obedience is immediate. But if we are continually being tricked by the wiles of the Devil, which happens because we do not put on the armor of God, we will continue to be in disobedience. We've allowed Satan to convince us that this world has something that we need. Do you know what this world has that we need? nothing. But you know what God has that we need? Everything. The reason we are breathing today is because of the grace of God in our lives. Because of His mercy He gave us another day to serve Him. But boy, we fall to the tricks of Satan so often. Too often we allow Satan to convince us this world has something we need, and too often we are willing to do all that we can to get it, even putting away our faith. We see the devices that he uses are the love of money, loving the world, putting away our faith. And here's one that we can all learn from. The other one here, listening to profane and vain babblings. Second Timothy chapter two, verse 16 through 18 that we just read there. We'll just read verse 16 for time's sake here. Notice, but shun profane and vain babblings. Why? For they will increase unto more ungodliness. As I was studying this passage here, I was looking at this verse and when it says, shun profane and vain babblings, And then it has a word here that made me stop and made me think here for a moment. Notice, for they will increase unto, notice that word, more. When we are listening to profane and vain babblings, And when we are allowing those profane and vain babblings to come from our lips, and we'll get into what those are here in just a moment. But when we're listening to those and when we're allowing those to come from our lips, understand, we're already living in ungodliness by the mere action of listening to and speaking those things. But if we do not shun those, understand, it will be more ungodliness in our life. If we continue on in that and we say, well, oh, well, it's my right, this is what I think, so I'm gonna say it. Oh, well, you have the right to do that, but understand, it will provide more ungodliness in your life if you continue to listen to those things. The word babbling carries with it a negative connotation, if you will, and we can all be swept into these things. You know what that word babbling means? Listen to this, ready? Fruitless conversation. Boy, if that isn't the world we live in today. Isn't it amazing how you can have, you can have a one hour conversation with someone and leave that conversation. An hour later, someone asks, hey, I saw you were talking to so-and-so. What'd you talk about? You know what? I don't remember. Why? Because it was a fruitless conversation. But when you're talking to someone and you're talking about the goodness of God and what God's done in your life and how God sent his son to die for them and you try to give them the gospel and you're talking about the goodness of God, when somebody asks you weeks and months and years down the road and they say, hey, have you ever talked to so-and-so? Oh yeah, I talked to that person and I was telling them about what God did in my life. Why? Because it wasn't an empty conversation. It was something that meant something. It had value to it. It had fruit there. I can remember different ones that the Lord's given me the opportunity to lead to the Lord. I can remember them. Why? Because the conversation that we had whether it was in Walmart or the lady I led to the Lord on the side of the road or here in the office wherever it may be. Understand I can remember those because it was a fruitful conversation. It didn't break anybody down. Yes, it told man about their sin. We allowed the Bible to do that, but it was a fruitful conversation. But how many times are we swept into vain and profane babblings? We have no idea what we talked about. I think we would all agree that we should be growing closer to the Lord every day, and I think we would all agree that in order to grow closer to the Lord, it's going to take a conscious effort. Have you ever noticed that it's easy to spend an hour talking about nothing? Boy, it's easier to talk to somebody for a lengthy period of time about nothing than it is to talk to them about something that's going to make a difference. Why? Because we're prideful beings. And we want to talk to them about all that we know. When we start mentioning scripture, we're telling them what God knows. Our flesh doesn't want to do that, because that gives the glory to somebody else. It doesn't give the glory to ourselves. But that's exactly how we're supposed to be, giving the scriptures, giving the glory to God. Don't allow your life to be filled with these profane babblings. Notice here, we cannot allow ourselves to be speaking those empty things, but we cannot allow ourselves to listen to them either. It says that we should shun them. This means to put them away. Don't allow them to fill your mind or your mouth. Satan knows exactly what we as believers are supposed to be doing. And He can cause us to speak and listening to babbling. If He can do that, then that will ensure that we are not talking about the truth. If we're continually talking about things that aren't going to amount to a hill of beans, understand, we're not going to have time to talk about the gospel. You know how many times I've been talking to someone and trying to get to the point where in my mind I say, okay I can transition into the gospel here now. And you know how many times that Satan has allowed that conversation to be filled with vain and profane babblings? How many times it's just been filled with what man wants to talk about? And you know what it sounds like to God Almighty when it's profane and vain babblings? Just like a crying child, amen? That's exactly what it sounds like. It doesn't mean much, but that's what it sounds like to an Almighty God. Lord, help us to put away vain and profane babblings. When someone comes to you complaining, and help us hear this evening, tell them you don't wanna hear it. We got better things to listen to. We got better things to talk about. Now, complaints are going to come. Oh, they're going to come. And if we don't have anything to complain about, we'll complain about not having anything to complain about. That's just the way that our minds work. It just happens that way. Many people will Try to complain. Tell them you don't want to dwell on empty things. You don't want to listen to those things. You say, well, preacher, they just come and they just start complaining. They won't keep complaining to you if you don't listen to it. If someone comes and they start complaining and you say this, you know what? Let's not dwell on fruitless conversation. Let's not dwell on what we don't like. Let's dwell on what God's doing. You know what's going to happen? Revival can strike in their heart and they say, you know what that's right we do need to be dwelling on what God's doing. Or they're going to stop complaining to you because they know you don't want to hear it. Well, don't you think that's kind of rude? It's never rude to obey the Bible. Never. I'm not saying to be rude, but church, it's, it's time that we make some radical changes in our lives. It's time that we realize that these are Satan's devices and he has used them since the beginning and he desires to use them against us as well. We, as believers are supposed to live the faith life. to live a life of faith. And part of that is recognizing the fact that Satan cannot take our salvation. God has made us eternally secure in his hand. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God tells us exactly the way that Satan is going to come at us. He tells us in his word, this is the way Satan works. He's been using the same bag of tricks since the beginning. The reality is we just keep falling for him. Why would he change him? Mankind just keeps tripping up. Mankind just keeps turning from God. It's working. There is a parable that was given from what's called the Eye of the Needle newsletter. I don't know whether to endorse or not endorse that newsletter, but this is just where it came from, amen? It says a man was engaged in his morning ritual, and under the tree where the roots stretched out over the riverbank, he noticed that the river was rising, and there was a scorpion that was caught in the roots, and it was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots, and he reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did that, the scorpion would strike back at him. Every single time. An observer came along and said to the man, don't you know that's a scorpion? And it's in the nature of the scorpion to want to sting. To which the man replied, that may well be, but it's my nature to save. And must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change its nature? Think about it. The Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. He came to die for this sin-curse world for you and I. And He did all of that while He was resisting temptation, while He said, it is written. He did all of that while still loving the ones that were spitting in His face. He did all of that while never sinning one time. not having a cross thought about someone, not allowing himself to be given into these things that we talked about here this evening, he did that. And you may say, well, yeah, of course he did that because he's God. But if you're saved tonight, that God lives within you. Therefore, his power is within you as well. These tricks are going to come. Satan is going to try to sting. Satan is going to do all that he can. Everything in his bag of tricks, he's going to throw it at you. If you resist the first, he'll throw a second. If you resist the second, he'll throw a third. Over and over again. This is no way a complete list of Satan's bag of tricks, but these four things that we talked about tonight, understand those things are the things that Satan will throw into your life. At some point, they'll come. If we have on the armor of God, we know how to stand against the wiles of the devil, and we have the power to do that. But if we leave it at home, we don't have the armor, of course, we'll fall to the love of money. Of course, we're gonna love the world. Of course, we're going to give in to these profane and vain babblings. Of course, we're going to put our faith aside because we're not putting the armor of God on. Understand, these are foundational things that are going to come against us. Therefore, next week when we start getting into the armor of God, if the Lord tarries, every piece of armor is important. There shouldn't be a day where we say, you know what, it's okay if I leave the house without this piece of armor. It's okay if, you know what, I'm not going to need my sword today. I'm not going to need the helmet of salvation, or the breastplate of righteousness, or my feet shot. I'm not going to need any of those things today. I'll be fine." You'll fall to the trickery of the devil. So as we study these things let's allow the Lord to help us to see Satan's tricks have always been the same. They always will be the same. He's coming after believers therefore we need to put on the whole armor of God. Let's allow God to warn us.