The following recording is made available by Faith Community Bible Church. Information on how to obtain additional messages will be given at the end of the message. I mentioned earlier we are in the book of 2 Timothy. And we are in the second chapter, in the end of the second chapter. The last couple of verses. There are Christians I have known who seem to thrive on conflicts. They're not happy unless they're arguing with someone about something. Now, it is true that to be faithful to the Lord, there will be times when we must, even as the scripture says, earnestly contend for the faith. But nobody should have a disposition that looks for fights. Giving a reason for what you believe, and perhaps even debating it with others passionately, is our Christian duty. But how we go about that is very, very important. I think we could learn how not to do it from the politicians. when you see them with their campaigns and they always talk about going positive and you know they never go positive because it doesn't work for them. But let me give you a positive example of interacting with those who don't believe. You may have heard of Gary Habermas. He is a Christian apologist and a very good one who has debated many people publicly, who oppose God, the Bible, and Christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you've ever listened to any of those debates, he always does it in a way that is very respectful of his opponents. And his friendship over the years with the very renowned British atheist and Oxford scholar, Anthony Flew, perhaps even more than his arguments, led Flew to become a theist, a believer in God. Although he never professed faith in Christ before he died, at least not openly. Who knows what he did in those last moments of his life. He had heard so much about Christ and the power of his resurrection. What we have been studying in 2 Timothy is a call to faithfulness to God's Word. When men deviate from the Word of God, the floodgates of heresy and apostasy are opened. And first it may just be a crack, but that crack eventually leads to a complete rupture of the walls of the dam. and a deluge. And that's the day that we find ourselves in at this hour. Timothy was facing a similar problem in the church of Ephesus. We know that there were many people in the church who were causing great division by their false teachings. We identified them last week as vessels of dishonor. the vessels of dishonor found in verse 21 of chapter 2, where it says, In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. And in verse 21 it says, If a man therefore purge himself from these, he will be a vessel to honor, sanctified and ready for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. That, by the way, should be the aspiration of every Christian. We need to be equipped to serve the Lord. We need to have that desire in our heart to serve the Lord. In order to do that, we must also do what it says in verse 22. Flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And part of following peace is avoiding trouble, if you can. It says in the Book of Romans, chapter 12, the 18th verse, if it be possible, which means what? It's not always possible. If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. And then in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 14, a similar exhortation. Follow, it says, peace with all men and holiness, holiness of life, without which no man will see the Lord. As the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been called to be peacemakers. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. But sometimes it's not possible, as we saw in Romans 12, to be at peace with everyone. Remember, Jesus also said, Suppose ye that I have come to bring peace or to give peace on earth, I tell you, no, but rather division. And then He went on in that passage of Scripture to speak of families, mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, being divided because of Him. So we can't realistically expect that everyone will be easy to get along with and accept the message that we're sharing with them. So we must exercise wisdom. And we must, as it says in verse 23 here, avoid unnecessary conflicts. Lord knows we have enough conflicts, right? Foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender, they do promote or encourage strife. The book of Proverbs is a wonderful book. I hope you read Proverbs every single day, at least the chapter in Proverbs every single day. The book of Proverbs gives many examples of the kind of a people that we are to avoid. Wisdom understands the character of people who we should avoid. I'll give you an example here, Proverbs 26, verse 21. It says, as coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, throwing more logs on the fire, So is a contentious man. Proverbs also describes such an individual as an angry man. So is a contentious man to kindle strife. Have you ever met anyone like that? I know I have. They will argue at the drop of a hat, and their words are like pouring gasoline on a fire. I mean, they just erupt like a volcano. But you know, you don't have to erupt like a volcano to cause a lot of damage with your words, do you? I mean, you could be like that sweet little old lady who just spreads a little gossip. And you could also bring great damage to people that way. Now here are some of the characteristics of men to avoid in 2 Timothy 2 and the 23rd verse. It says that they are foolish and unlearned. And foolish is the word moros. We get the English word moron from that Greek word. And literally translated it means stupid. Now, we have all heard that there is no such thing as a stupid question, right? Well, there is, right? And it comes from men, the Bible says, who are unlearned, and that comes from a Greek word meaning to teach. So it basically means they are untaught. They're foolish. You know, that's the natural state of every man before they come to Christ. They're foolish. They're untaught. Before they are enlightened by the gospel. And even after they are saved, they have a lot of growing to do. What does the Scripture say? That all of us, we need to consume the Word of God. We need to take it to heart. But when a person comes to Christ, they're like a newborn baby. And the Bible says that they're to desire the sincere milk of the Word. so that they can grow up and become mature in the Lord Jesus Christ. But everyone, before they come to Christ, is foolish. Look in Titus 3.2. Titus is just the next book over. Titus 3.2. It says, Speak evil of no man. Don't be a brawler. A fighter. Someone who's quick to argue. And notice the next couple of words. But gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. Maybe you never thought of yourself that way. Disobedient. Disobedient to the commandments of God. Deceived by the lies of the devil. serving different lusts and pleasures, the desires of your heart that were in opposition to the truth of God, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That's the condition of a man without Christ. Those teachers in Ephesus were unlearned. They were untaught. But oddly enough, if you go back, and we won't take the time to turn there in 1 Timothy 1, Paul says that Though they were ignorant of the scripture and refused to be corrected, they considered themselves teachers of the law. But they didn't know what they were teaching. They were just like the Pharisees, the Bible says. The Pharisees loved to sit in Moses' seat. They loved the recognition. But what did they do? They made void the Word of God by their tradition. And what did Jesus call them? Blind what? Blind leaders of the blind. They didn't know where they were going. How could they possibly lead anyone else in the right way to go? Well, we know that it's futile, Paul says, to engage such men in debate, foolish and unlearned, because they're proud, as I said, and arguing with them will only provoke emotions that create trouble. It's a war of words that you cannot win. And listen, we need to remember this and take it to heart, even if you're getting a little carried away with a discussion with your wife in the home or your children. Once strong emotions have been generated in you, it's time to turn away, isn't it? Don't continue, because it will only turn into a catfight. And we've seen how that works, and it's not pretty. As a matter of fact, it's very ugly. Proverbs 21.4 reminds us, Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him. That seems pretty straightforward. Don't answer a fool according to his foolishness. Unless you're going to become like him. It means don't argue with a fool on his terms. Don't act like him. Don't stoop to his level in an argument. Don't try to fight fire with fire or argue back with someone who is clearly unreasonable. Just keep the foolishness sounding like foolishness. You know, if you let some people talk, they'll just expose how foolish they really are. You don't need to say anything. But here's what it says in the very next verse. Answer a fool according to his folly. lest he be wise in his own conceit." Now, there's no real contradiction here with the verse that we just cited, don't answer a fool according to his folly. Sometimes you just let him speak. But there are times when you should try to show a man who is raising a foolish argument that his position is not credible. And you're to do it with a calm disposition and the voice of reason, You are to silence him, if he is to be silenced, with the authority of God's word, without becoming like him. Try, in other words, to show him the true nature of his folly, that his position is illogical, that his presuppositions are false. You try to reason with him on that level. And really, that's what, if you've ever witnessed the debates over the resurrection of Christ between Habermas and Anthony Flew, you will see how he goes about doing that in a very, very passionate but credible way. In verse 24 here in 2 Timothy chapter 2, we are told how to respond to those who oppose the Word of God, those who are misrepresenting the Word of God. And they're described in verse 25 as those who are in opposition to the truth of God. The servant of the Lord, it says in verse 24, must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, able to teach, patient. Well, if you are saved, you are a servant of the Lord. And the word here for servant is bond-servant. Bond slave. That's what we are, brothers and sisters. We're bond slaves of Jesus Christ. And a bond slave was someone in that day who voluntarily became a slave for the rest of his life. He laid down all of his rights out of love for his master. And when you're saved, that's really what a Christian must do. You no longer have any rights of your own. You live to serve God. And I trust you are doing that, that you are living to serve God, because it's the only thing worth living for. I've been taken by reading a little bit more about the life of David Brainerd. If you've never read his journal, you owe it to yourself as a Christian to read it. He was a young man. He was expelled from Yale University when he was junior in college because of a criticism of a teacher that was blown way out of proportions. Matter of fact, John Wesley said that his dismissal more than likely came from men who did not even know Christ because they had no mercy. They had no grace. And he could have easily given up, but he gave his heart to missionary work among the Indians. And you know, he only lived but a few years. He lived, he died when he was 29 years old, and he wrote some wonderful little entries in his journal to his brother, John, who continued that work, by the way, among the Indians for another 30 years. We hear about David Brainerd and what he did, but how many times have you heard about John Brainerd, his brother, who went on and lived a sacrificial life for 30 years? carrying out the work that his brother began. But you see the passionate love that David Brainerd had for God in his journal, and he would write to his affectionate brother John when he was very sick, and he would say, I don't know that I'm ever going to see you again in this world, but that's not what is really important as much as I love you. All that really matters is Jesus. and loving Him and serving Him. That's what matters most of all. I mean, and that was the heart of Brainerd. He truly was a faithful man. He truly gave himself as a slave of Jesus Christ and surrendered everything, everything, even his own life, to serve his Master. Now, in this context, the bondservant, I should say bond servants, would obviously be Timothy to whom this epistle is written. It would include the faithful men in verse 2. Timothy was to teach faithful men who would in turn teach others. But it would also, I believe, include everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. And if you were to look at the qualifications for an elder in 1 Timothy 3, you would find that they, must be gentle, not quarrelsome, exactly what we see here and what we read in Titus 3.2. A person who is not quarrelsome is inwardly constrained. He has control of his emotions, his demeanor. And that word here for striving, Insecular Greek was a word that was used to describe a wind of such high intensity that it leveled everything in its path. I mean, think of a tornado and how much damage a tornado can do and how quickly it does it. It's amazing, isn't it? I mean, you just see a town, and then three minutes later, the town is gone. This tornado comes through, and it just removes it from the face of the map. Do you know that we can do that to people with our words? We can just blow them away with our words. The tongue is a fire. We can just consume them, burn them up with our words. And when the flesh gets going, it's easy for anyone to do that. And you say, well, Pastor Tom, how do you know that? Because I've done that. I've done that. And that is carnal warfare. But you know what the Bible says? The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not fleshly. but mighty to God through the pulling down of strongholds. And just prior to that statement that Paul made there in 2 Corinthians 10, he said this, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you, I implore you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. Moses was a meek man. I don't think we always picture Him that way. Jesus was meek and gentle and lowly of heart. And He's our example. The Lord's servant must not quarrel, but he must speak the truth with kindness. He must, the scripture says here, in verse 24, be gentle to all men. It's not very hard to be nice to people who are nice, right? But what about some of you who are not so nice? Now, I'm just saying that facetiously. Everybody here is nice. But it's hard to be nice to people who are not nice. So this is like a command, when it says, be gentle to all men, it's like the command, love your enemies. Or what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1 in verse 21. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear or reverence, not only to the good and gentle, that's easy to do, but also to the harsh, to those who are mean, not very kind to you. Well, how could you possibly do that? How could anyone possibly do this? Love their enemies, be gentle to all men. only by a Spirit-controlled temperament. The Bible says that we are not to be drunk with wine, but to be what? Filled with the Spirit. And that means to be controlled by the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness. goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, self-control. James 3.16, But for where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work. In other words, it gives Satan an opportunity to just have his day, so to speak. But the wisdom that is from above, this is godly wisdom, notice what he says, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And this is exactly how Paul lived and ministered. 1 Timothy 2.7, he said to the Thessalonians, But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children. Jonathan Edwards, he really did have a gentle spirit about him. Whitefield, on the other hand, was a son of thunder. Jonathan Edwards called gentleness the Christian spirit. And Edward said, all who are truly godly and are real disciples of Christ have a gentle spirit in them. Now that does not mean that we never become passionate about what we believe. If I don't speak from my heart, my words will hardly touch your heart. When have you been moved most by someone preaching God's word? It's when you know they believe what they are saying. And when God takes that Word and He burns it into your heart so that you believe it and you say, yes, Lord, it's me. That's me. To preach is to magnify God. And how could anyone do that week after week with little or no emotion? The church does not need boring preaching. or boring preachers. That's why a lot of churches turn to substitutes for passionate preaching. I'm not going to get into what those substitutes are, but a lot of it is just entertaining entertainment, rather than Spirit-filled preaching. George Whitefield says, it is a poor sermon that gives no offense. that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher." That makes me feel good. They say, you know, preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Richard Baxter, talking about afflicting the comfortable, he said, Shouldest thou not weep over such a people? And should not thy tears interrupt thy words? Shouldest thou not cry aloud and show them their transgressions, and entreat and beseech them as for life and death? He also said, every time he went into the pulpit, that he preached as a dying man to dying men. That's how he saw it. It's not a place for entertainment. Now, that's not all the time, like Whitefield says, giving offense. You know, the biblical prophets, as well as Jesus and the apostles. You know, if you study the scriptures, I love the Old Testament prophets. I mean, they displayed a full range of emotions, just like Jesus did. And they did it in order to touch the hearts of men. Sometimes they were bold as a lion, and sometimes they spoke as God did, with a still, small voice. And sometimes they wept. They wept. George Whitefield was preaching one time in the Boston Commons to a massive crowd. He could preach, the Bible says, to 20,000 people without a microphone. I don't know how. But one time he was preaching to this massive crowd, and the majority of them, many of them, were unmoved by what Whitefield had to say. And he said, If you are, and paraphrase in a sense, if you are unmoved, if the preaching of the gospel cannot stir your heart and show you your need for Christ, your desperate need for Christ, if you will not weep, then George Whitefield will weep for you. And he would break into tears because of their indifference. Because what was at stake? He knew that to die without Christ is to face eternity separated from God. A gentle person speaks the truth in love. Passionate love, but it's love. But please understand that you may not receive kindness in return. You know, sometimes when you're kind and gentle to people, it's perceived as weakness rather than strength. The Lord's servant must be able to bring the truth to those who are in opposition to the truth. He must be able to teach, the Scripture says here. He may not be an elder in the church. An elder must have the ability to teach. That's a qualification. But we should all be able to communicate God's word clearly and accurately, especially the gospel message, to lead people to understand the error of their ways and their need for Christ. And you know what that takes? The next virtue that Paul mentions here, the servant of the Lord must possess. And I think it's the hardest one to attain. The servant of the Lord must be patient. He must be patient. And the word here requires that we understand it to be patience when wronged or insulted. If you're ever witnessing to someone or you've ever had the joy of discipling someone, you know that it takes patience, right? It takes time to see the fruit of your labors. And we, by and large, in this society, are not a very patient people. We want everything instant. Instant this, instant that. But you know, if you plant a tree, an orange tree, in your backyard this week, you're not going to be drinking fresh orange juice from that tree next week. If you take up golf, you won't be very good at it for some time. If ever, right? By the way, I think that has to be the most frustrating game ever invented. Maybe the most stupid game ever invented. I mean, think about it. Trying to hit a little white ball with a big stick into a little white cup or a little cup in the middle of a field. I mean, people enjoy it. I guess they do. But most everything we do takes effort, doesn't it? It takes time. And you know what? More than anything else, it takes lots of patience, like bringing up your children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, right? Amen. It takes patience more than any other thing as a parent, to bring them to the knowledge of Christ and to see the character of Christ formed in them. What a privilege, though, to turn little rebels into servants of Jesus Christ. That's where the joy comes in. You know, I've been involved with people who have asked me question after question before they surrendered their life to Christ. I mean, one time a gentleman literally wore me out, just eight hours of questioning, all day, one day. And then once some of these people come to Christ, they have even more questions. And it can get very worrisome. I think of Jesus and His disciples. You know, He taught them, He taught them, He taught them publicly and privately. Yet He often rebuked them for their unbelief and being slow of heart, not quick to grasp the things that He had to say. You know, and honestly, I have no clue how many questions I have answered or tried to answer in the course of 35 years of ministry. But that's a side of pastoral work that you don't see. What people see is your time in the pulpit, and they tend to judge you on that more than anything else. They don't see the hours of one-on-one. They don't see the hours of prayer. They don't see your heart and love for people. They don't see your patience with them. But you know what? Patience under fire requires meekness. It requires humility. It's what the scripture says here, we need to be meek. Servant of the Lord must be gentle to all men, able to teach patience in meekness, instructing those who oppose the word of God. And to be meek is to be mild-mannered. At least that must be the disposition of the heart. Especially when you're dealing with people one-on-one. in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. 1 Peter 3.15, But sanctify the Lord God in your heart, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you. How? With meekness and fear. What's the ultimate goal of teaching? People who are in opposition to the truth. People who have been deceived. Well, the ultimate goal, the motive for patient instruction is to bring those individuals to the truth. In meekness, instructing those who oppose themselves, if God, per adventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Let me give you some things to consider along this line. Number one, always remember that instruction from the Word of God is the channel through which the truth flows." Faith comes by what? By hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So this teaching, this instruction in the Word of God is the channel through which the truth of His Word will flow and touch their hearts. Secondly, remember that it takes a repentant heart to acknowledge the truth. And God, the Holy Spirit, who came into the world to convict of sin and righteousness and judgment, is the one who brings that repentance about. It's not the power of your argument or just your personality. It's God using you and the Word of God as channels, but the Holy Spirit of God does that mighty work of convicting, leading to repentance. Number three, though, we need to understand that some men are beyond repentance. It says here, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance, indicates that it is unlikely in the case of many opponents. They may, But they may not. Why is that? Proverbs 29.1, He that being often reproved, like Hymenaeus and Philetus, who we've spoken about in chapter 2, He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Listen, if God turns men, like in Romans 1, over to the desires of their own heart, they are beyond repentance. God doesn't have to do anything dramatic. All He has to do is let them go and have their way. That's all He has to do. And that's what He has done with many people. Then they're beyond repentance. I think of Pharaoh. The Scripture says, he kept hardening his heart. Through the word of God, through the prophet Moses, and through Aaron, and through the demonstration of God's power, he kept hardening his heart until the scripture says, God hardened his heart, and he was beyond repentance. We need also to understand that the opponents of truth are in a spiritual stupor. That is indicated by the phrase, that they may recover themselves. Literally translated, it means to sober up. That they would sober up. I think of the prodigal son. The Bible says, there came a time when he came to his senses. And he realized that he had it far better back in his father's house, right? He came to his senses, he sobered up, and he returned to his father, feeling unworthy to be called his son. That's repentance. Praise God, the father, what? Graciously and joyously received him. And that's how the Lord receives any repentant sinner. Heaven rejoices, the angels sing. You need also understand, fifthly, that Satan has ensnared these men, that they may sober up, recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive at his will. Do you know what this means? It means that Satan has ensnared men, and he has no intention of letting them go. That's what the Greek indicates. And you know what? Along that line, we know he's a roaring lion. What? Seeking whom he may devour. And Satan, I've done some fishing in my day. I know some of you folks here have as well. And if you have a fishing box or a tackle box, you know that it has different lures in it. because not every lure works on every type of a fish. If you go fishing for trout, you use a certain bait. If you're fishing for catfish, you might use a different bait. But the goal is to get them to bite on it. What may appeal to one person will not appeal to another. So Satan knows what lure to use. He knows what bait to use. His goal is to get you to bite on it, to hook you and then to reel you in. He's very determined. Hendrickson said, He has caught them alive once for all. That's His will. The thief comes but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus said this, I have come that you might have life." And do you have life? If you don't, you've missed the purpose of His coming. He came into this world. He took upon Himself the form of a slave, a servant. He suffered and died and went to the cross. and paid the penalty for your sins, endured the wrath of a holy God and a just God, and it pleased the Father to bruise him, so that you might have eternal life." There's no greater love than that. None. And if that doesn't move you, and if that doesn't move me, then nothing will. Nothing will. John 8.32, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That's the only thing that can set a person free from the ensnarement of the devil. The only thing is the truth. Listen to me, I was ensnared. I mean, I bit on a lot of different things. I'm not gonna get into them all. But one of the things that lured me in was Eastern philosophy and Eastern religions. And the idea that I can find inner peace through meditation and self-discipline. And I was just trying to work my way through all of that stuff and consuming book after book after book. And working really hard to let go of all of my desires as I perceived them to be. and become one with the divine. One day I looked up, and I saw that verse written on a wall in what used to be a church. It was a classroom. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And I said, God, that's what I want, the truth. The place I didn't look for it was the most obvious place of all. It was the Bible. And you know what? God, being true to His Word, within a short period from the time that I read that verse, saw that verse, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. God sent a missionary to me. Not a missionary like we think, you know, a foreign missionary. God sent a young man who loved God and whose life was transformed by the power and the grace of God, and God sent him to me to explain the truth to me. And he taught me the Word of God. with love, gentleness, meekness, and patience. And God used that man to bring me to a church where I heard the gospel for the first time in my life when I was 27 years old. And the truth that night set me free. So if Satan wants to trap people and snare them, so that they don't know the freedom in Christ. But you know what? Unbelievers, I'm not the only one that Satan ensnares. At the end of the list of qualifications for an elder in 1 Timothy 3, verses 6 and 7, List these qualifications. It says, "...they must not be a novice, lest being lifted up with pride would fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them that are on the outside, a good reputation..." Notice what it says, "...lest he fall into reproach..." Now it's speaking about a believer here. "...and the snare of the devil." If you're here today and you don't believe in the revelation of God and the scriptures concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, then I hope I've already made it clear to you that you are in the snare of the devil. And apart from repenting of your sin and turning to Christ for forgiveness, I'll say it again, there is absolutely no hope for you You are without God, you are without Christ, and you are without hope in this world. You will not inherit eternal life. You will incur the judgment of God. You will experience one day, if you know not Christ as your Savior, the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, who is a consuming fire. And you will face eternal separation from God in hell. That is unimaginable, is it not, brothers and sisters? To think of eternity in hell without Christ? No hope ever? But that's clearly what the Bible says, though many men today, even those who claim to be evangelicals, deny it. Kind of want to, you know, put some cool water on the fire and say that, you know, there's no eternal judgment. Men are just merely extinguished when they die. It's not what the Bible says. If you're a Christian here today and you are involved in things that you shouldn't be, then you're ensnared. You're in one of Satan's traps. You have taken his bait. Maybe it's alcohol, I don't know. Maybe it's pornography, I don't know. Maybe it's a lust for money and possessions and things. But you've taken the bait and you're hooked. You must also repent. You must ask Christ for forgiveness. and you must pursue righteousness and holiness, without which no man will see God," the scripture says. I said I've done a little fishing. I haven't done much lately. It takes a lot of patience, right? I mean, that's got to be the second dumbest thing that people do. But anyway, you're out there with this pole, and you've got it in the water, and a line in the water, and most of the time you're just bored to death. But you feel this little tug on your line, and the fish is biting. If you just try to reel it in right then, you're going to miss them. So you let them take the bait, but then you don't just reel it in real quickly. You let them run with it a little bit, until you pull back and set the hook. And the hook has a little barb on it, and that barb is designed to sink into the mouth of the fish, or if he takes it down deeper, and he can't really get free, he can't break free from that. There are barbless hooks where they'll just pull right out, but those hooks with the barb on, they've got him. And that's what Satan does. His bait has a barb on it. And when you bite on it, you are hooked. You are hooked. And when a fish does that, you know, if they take off and they run away from you, well, that barb, it's just set in there. The only way, the only possible way that they're going to get free, if they're going to get free, is to come right towards you. To swim right towards you and create slack in the line. And then they might be able to free themselves from that hook. Some wise old fish, they know how to do that pretty good. You know, if you're running from the Lord, you'll stay hooked. If you've taken the bait, and you're running from the Lord, you will stay hooked. He has you. What do you have to do? You got to turn around and you've got to run to Christ. You've got to go toward Christ. That is the only way you will be set free. And that's repentance. If you would like a list of other audio messages or other resources available from Faith Community Bible Church, please write to us at 2375 Center Place, El Cajon, CA 92020. The telephone number is 619-461-2245. Thanks for listening.