The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, August 7th, 2011, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Please take your Bibles this evening and turn to Luke chapter 4, and I'll read verses 31 through 37 of Luke 4. This is speaking of our Lord Jesus. Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know you, who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. So they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word this is! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the report about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. Amen. Well, let's once again look to God and ask for his help in prayer as we come to his word this evening. Father in heaven, we thank you for this account in the life and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. And now we ask that you would open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your law, that we might learn more about our Lord Jesus Christ, and in particular, from this passage tonight, more about sin and more about ourselves, that we might put sin away by the blood of the Lamb And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. A couple of months back, I preached on this passage on a Lord's Day morning, and I came to a place in my practical application that I just mentioned the heading, and said I would have to pass over, and maybe I would come back to it at some point, and that's what I'm going to do this evening. The heading that I gave, although I've altered the wording a little bit, is this. I said, we can notice here in this passage some helpful similarities between demons and sin. And my point was simply this, that there is similarity between the way demons act and the way sin operates. I'm not preaching on this topic because I want to be novel or interesting or different or anything like that, nor am I preaching on this topic because I don't know what else to preach. I had it in my mind since that morning that I would someday come back to this, and I was waiting for an evening when I thought it would be fitting, and so this will be it. I'm preaching this, however, because I believe it will be beneficial to us. I believe that if we observe these things from the Scriptures, it will help us to know sin better. And if it does that, then that will help to keep us from sin, and from what the Bible says is the wages of sin, which is death. and then it will help us to know ourselves better. Paul talked about himself as a Christian man who endured a constant battle, a war we could call it, between sin dwelling within him, we call that remaining sin, and between that and his desire to love and serve and please his Lord. If we think of sin being Christians, only as something foreign to us or outside of us, then we don't know ourselves. And as John said in 1 John 1, we deceive ourselves. No doubt there is much more in terms of similarity between the operation of demons and the operation of sin than what I'm going to point out this evening. Especially when you consider that the Bible speaks about the deceitfulness of sin in Hebrews 3.13 and when we know that Satan is the father of lies and is called in the book of Revelation the great deceiver. Perhaps if we studied it out we would find virtually a complete overlap or something very near to that. Think for instance of the treatise by Thomas Brooks precious remedies against Satan's devices. If you have read that or are familiar with that, when you think about every one of the devices he talks about that Satan uses to draw us into sin, you can say every one of those things is also true about my own sinful flesh and the way it draws us into sin as well. So this evening I'm going to confine my observations to instances such as we have here in this text. Instances in which demons indwell people, and I'll take my observation from those things. Now, notice right up front here, I am not saying or even implying that Satan has ever indwelt anyone who is sitting in front of me this evening, or that he ever will. In fact, as I said back in that message or some other message I preach from Luke, I do not believe that a demon can indwell a Christian. I'm simply saying that we can all learn some lessons about sin. which does dwell within every one of us, unbeliever and believer alike. And we can do that by observing the actings of demons even, even though none of us is ever indwelt by one of them. So I have six things, and I'm breaking them into two groups of three. And the first group is observations from this text, and then the other group then is observations from elsewhere in the Gospels. First of all, then, observations from this text before us, Luke 4, 31 and following, and it's this. Just as demons, sin will often react very violently when confronted by the Word of God." Or we could say, it will cause us to react violently when it is confronted by the Word of God. We see that the demon did that in our text here, beginning at verse 33. It says, now in the synagogue where Jesus was speaking, where he was preaching, it says, there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. And we noted how in that text that the people pointed out that Jesus spoke with power, both when He told the demon to come out, the demon had no choice, the demon was powerless against the Lord Jesus, and when He preached the Word of God, when they said that this man's word has power, they were referring to both of those things. So I'm saying that just as this demon within this man reacted in a violent way, he was unhappy when Jesus came and confronted him, I'm saying that that's the way sin reacts, or you could say causes us to react, when it is confronted by the Word of God as well. Perhaps you have never reacted in the violent way that this demon did when Jesus came that day in the synagogue in Capernaum and confronted him. Maybe you never acted that way when someone came to you to confront you about a sin. Or when you heard preached in a sermon some very negative things about sins of which you yourself are guilty. Maybe your reaction was negative, but a little bit more tame, at least, than what we read here about what this demon did and what he said. Or maybe the reaction was entirely inward, especially if you were sitting in a pew like you are right now. You have known, and sometimes when the Word was preached, that the preacher, when he put his finger on your sin, was preaching the Bible. You have known that he didn't know about that sin, and he wasn't simply using the occasion of being behind a pulpit where he had some protection from your violent reaction to say what he said. You knew that he was right on the mark, but you resented it, and maybe even completely rejected what he said. When you see that this is how the demon reacts, and now it's pointed out to you this is how sin often reacts, you should conclude that that means when my sin reacts that way, or moves me to react that way, that is a bad reaction. That is not a good and a godly reaction. Don't conclude that the thing or the person, maybe, that brings the message, don't conclude that the thing that convicts you is evil. There must be something wrong with that message, or there must be something wrong with that person. Don't say to yourself, well, if that was true, what he's saying from the Bible, because I love the Bible, if it's true what he was saying, I would be having a very positive reaction. If it's true what he was saying, I would not be having a very negative reaction to it. Is that really true? Are you sure that that is the case? Sadly, there are many, many people who judge the things they hear from pulpits by their reaction to it. That is not a healthy thing. And that is not a good way to judge preaching of the Word of God. The fact is, and this is why I'm pointing this out, that that is the normal reaction of sin. just as it was not an unusual reaction for a demon to respond to Jesus' preaching in this way. The normal reaction from sin or the reaction of a sinner when the Word of God comes is that it wants to hide, doesn't it? Listen to Jesus' words in John 3, 20. Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. That's one of the reactions of sin, to hide or to cause us to want to hide. But another reaction is closer to what we see here, to attack. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9. And we'll read verses 7 and 8. Proverbs 9 verses 7 and 8. Solomon says, he who reproves a scoffer, that is someone who complains about the Word of God and argues against it, who is not a believer, who is actually antagonistic to God and to His truth, he who reproves a scoffer gets shame for himself. And he who rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blemish. In other words, if you're going to go to one of the worst of sinners, someone who's really antagonistic to the truth, and tell him about his sins, be prepared to get something back that is unpleasant. And so it's really advising against reproving such a person. So it says in verse 8, Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Now notice it's saying that about a scoffer, not about any and all persons whatsoever. But here's the point. Sinners, whether they have a demon dwelling in them or not, react that way when a finger is put on their sin. That's the point. They attack. In contrast to the wise person, notice how the wise person receives a rebuke. Verse 8, the last part of the verse, rebuke a wise man and he will love you. You might get a fist if you rebuke a scoffer, but you'll get open arms, maybe after a little while at least, if you rebuke a wise man. He will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. Therefore, brethren, in light of this observation, that sin within us reacts violently or causes us to react violently, just like this demon did. Therefore, I encourage you, if you react in a violent way to the preaching of the Word of God, that you have to acknowledge really is what the Word of God has to say, then I encourage you to think evil, not of the Bible, not of God, not of the messenger, but of yourself, if you find yourself reacting in that kind of a way. Turn with me to James 1. This is a familiar text. James says, therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. We often think of that as just a general exhortation to not speak too soon. And that's a good biblical teaching, that we shouldn't be quick to speak ever. But when you look at the setting of this verse, coming right after verse 18, that speaks about God bringing us forth by the word of truth, And then verse 21, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word. It's especially talking about the way you receive the Word of God. It's not just talking about the way you are involved in any and every conversation. And this is my exhortation then, be slow to speak and swift to hear when someone confronts you, whether from a pulpit or sitting down in front of you having a heart-to-heart conversation. Because sin reacts in a violent way like that demon. The second observation is this, sin will try to protect itself and it will try to protect its domain. Look at verse 34 here of Luke chapter 4. Luke 4 and verse 34. Back to this account of Jesus casting out this demon. Here, as Jesus begins to confront him, his initial response is, let us alone! So I've noted that it's a violent reaction. But let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? He doesn't want to budge. He doesn't want to be forced to leave this man. The demon doesn't want to give up his hold. He's saying, in a sense, this is my turf. I like it here, and I want to stay. And that's what our sin is like. when we see what it is and start to call it what it is. It doesn't want to budge. It wants to protect itself. It wants to protect its domain. Look at Matthew 5, verses 27 to 30. The well-known words of the Lord Jesus. He says, You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Jesus is telling people, you have sin, you need to deal with it. to the point that you even should be willing to cut out of your life things that are near and dear to you that only are things that lead you to sin. Not even just the sins themselves, but things that are virtually necessarily going to lead you into sin. You should deal with them very ruthlessly. But the point is, He calls those things right hands and right eyes for this reason. Because it is difficult for us to give those things up. Even as Christians, when we know that they are bad, and they are bad for us, it is difficult to give those things up. It's difficult for a sinner to give up sin. That's true if he's unconverted. That is still even true for the Christian. Why? Because we natively love sin. And when we have remaining sin, when we are not yet fully redeemed, when we are this side of glory, we still have something in us that loves sin. And we love the things that tempt us to sin. And we don't want to part with them. And they are dear to us. It would be like losing a hand. It would be like losing an eye. Now, Jesus doesn't say, therefore, don't worry about it. No, He says, lose them anyway. That's what we need to do. But the point is, this is the way we regard sin, and this is the way sin, if I could put it that way, regards being in us as well, like a demon. It acts like a dog or any territorial animal. It doesn't want to give up its territory. And if you try to arouse him and get him to leave his yard and get him to leave his home, he doesn't want to go. And that's my point. Sin will try to protect itself. It will try to protect its domain. And the thing we need to do, brethren, in light of that, is we need to realize that we must be ready to fight, and we need to be ready to persist in the fight against sin. And that leads to the third thing, which is very closely related, but it is a little bit different, so I give it a separate heading. The first thing was, sin will react violently. Secondly, it will try to protect itself. Third, it won't go without a fight. It won't go without a fight. Verse 35 of Luke 4, says that this is what happened when the demon came out. Jesus rebuked him saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. So, let's say you've gone further than just acknowledging that you have a sin problem, and saying you're going to do something about it, but you're serious. You are going to do something about it. By the help of God, you're going to deal with that sin. You're going to focus your attention on it, and you're going to try to do what the Bible says to mortify it, to put it to death. So, notice what happens when it comes to that point here. It says, the demon threw this man down in their midst. In Mark's account of this same incident, it says, he threw the man into convulsions. He caused him to shake violently. Now, it says also that he threw him down and did not hurt him. And the way I read it is this, I presume that it is not because of the kindness of the demon on his way out. I presume it was because Jesus prevented him from hurting the man. I presume that the demon would have caused him all the pain that he possibly could have, if not death itself, if he had been permitted. He would have hurt him if he could have hurt him. But you see the point. Even when sin is on the way out, even when it is going to go, it is going to put up a fight. I have said many times to people over the years, and I've even used this kind of illustration of a demon, when it's clear that they're serious, or at least beginning to get serious about dealing with their sin. And if we're talking about sin that has deep roots and that has been long entrenched, I've said, Now realize that it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. And this is the reason. Because sin will only go with a fight as a general rule. And that is useful knowledge, brethren, because when people see this begin to happen, that they really get serious, they really start taking biblical measures to root out sin and to overcome it in their lives, they often jump to wrong conclusions. Sin starts to convulse them, if you will. It starts to make them uncomfortable. It starts to treat them in poor ways. They start to conclude, I must be doing something wrong. My pastor told me to face the sin head on and to fight it, and I'm doing what he said, but the result is as if I've stirred up a hornet's nest. Like I just took a stick and stuck it into the middle of a hornet's nest, and now the hornets are angry. You see what I'm saying? And they think this way, well, if I was doing what was right, things would be immediately getting better. No, not necessarily. Sin will only go with a fight as a general rule. Or someone concludes this. Okay, I think I'm doing what the pastor said, or what the Bible says to me. I think, therefore, I'm doing what is right. I think I am doing what is necessary to overcome this sin. But if this is the result, I don't want to do it. That's why it's called a right hand. I've learned to live with it. And it'll be painful to get rid of it. But Jesus says, get rid of it. Get rid of it. The fight is very unpleasant, yes, but you need to be willing to engage in the fight. Which was better for this man there in the synagogue in Capernaum? Being freed from the demon or going on for the rest of his life indwelt by this demon? Well, he wouldn't have gotten shaken up. You know which is better. And you have to answer the same question about your sin in the exact same way. Which is better? To have a bloody fight in a spiritual sense against sin, but to overcome it, or to just go on with your nice truce with that sin? You just don't go any farther than this, and both you and I will be happy. That's a godless and unbelieving way to deal with sin. Even at the cost of undergoing trauma, even of being hurt if the Lord Jesus doesn't keep you from falling on the ground and scraping your knee in a spiritual sense the way He did this man. The fight is worth it and the fight must be engaged. Many times I've seen people who have been unwilling to go through the ordeal, to go through the fight, to resist sin, because they don't want to go through the pain that they can see is involved. Even though they see the end is good, and even though they see this is the only way, they don't want to do it because the fight is going to be unpleasant. They say to themselves, in effect, this is not going to be pleasant crossing my flesh. Or sometimes the same temptation will face people when it comes to dealing with the sins of someone else. Especially if it's someone very close to them. A spouse, for instance. This won't be pleasant crossing my spouse's flesh like this. So maybe I won't do it. You mean you're willing to live the rest of your married life with that sin? And usually someone wouldn't come right out and say this, but what the answer is in effect, well, I've learned to put up with that. God help us. God help us from that kind of an attitude. Whether it's with your own sin or the sin of someone else who's near and dear to you, the thing to do is to consider the end. That is getting rid of that sin. And I know what the Bible teaches about sin. We don't. ever completely root it out of us. We're engaged in the fight to the end. But there is such a thing that the Bible talks about as growth in grace, sanctification, mortification of sin. And we are to be engaged in it seriously with all our might for all of our days. And the pain is worth it. And the fight is worth it. So those are my observations from this text. Now let me just give you three observations from elsewhere in the Gospels. And the first of those is this, that if sin is not truly mortified, not truly put to death, it will likely get even worse. If you don't deal with it in a biblical way, it's going to get worse. Turn to Luke 11 and verse 26. Let's back up to verse 24 and we'll read all three verses, but the main point comes in verse 26. Jesus says, when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, so a situation like you have in chapter 4 there, he goes through dry places seeking rest. And finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first." So when it comes to a demon, what Jesus would be saying is, if a demon indwells a man and then goes out of him, and what he would mean here is if that man doesn't repent of his sins, and become a child of God and a lover of God, then there's a sense in which he's better off when that demon leaves him, but he's vulnerable to the demon coming back and coming back with a vengeance, with seven others worse than he is, and the last state of the man is worse than the first. Well, it works the same way with sin. If someone says, I really need to deal with this sin of drunkenness or whatever it is, and he starts to deal with that sin and he puts it away. But he basically has just put that sin away for in terms of the outward commission of it, but he hasn't dealt with it in a biblical way. There's not thorough biblical repentance through Christ and his cross, which is the only way that sin can be truly overcome. He leaves himself open. He leaves himself vulnerable to even worse sin. Turn with me to 2 Peter 2. You see this point, 2 Peter 2, verses 20 to 22. Here Peter is speaking about people who have professed faith in Christ, cleaned up their lives at least to some extent, probably at least to enough of an extent that they were accepted as members of a church. But then he says about them, for if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. Here he's not talking about demon possession, he's talking about sin. And if people haven't truly mortified their sins through Jesus Christ, and through His cross, and through real biblical repentance, they are vulnerable to those sins coming back, and coming back with a vengeance. It says then in verse 21, For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire." So if you're here tonight, let's say you're not a Christian, but you're somebody who has let sin run rampant in your life, maybe a specific kind of sin. Let's use the illustration of drunkenness that I already mentioned. You let that sin go far enough, everybody in your family will realize you have a huge problem, and they'll realize it before you do, but maybe you have somebody who's come to that point. You say, I have a problem with that sin, or some other sin, some other addiction you have in your life. And you say, this is affecting me. It's affecting the way I think, it's affecting the way I work, it's affecting every part of my life. Go out and find a self-help book. Go out and get rid of that bad habit. But if you do that in some way other than through repentance of your sin, confessing it to God and asking Him to wash it away by the blood of Jesus Christ, and having dealings with God, and attaining forgiveness from God for your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, there's no hope for you in the long run. And you most likely face the prospect of having that sin come back someday with a vengeance. If sin is not truly mortified, it will likely get even worse. Second, or fifth, if sin is only partially mortified, it will break out in some other expression. Go to Luke 8. v. 31-32. Here's another famous instance in which the Lord Jesus cast out not just one demon from a man, but a large number of demons. In fact, it says in v. 30, Jesus asked the demon within him, saying, what is your name? And he said, Legion, because many demons had entered him. But then verse 31 it says, And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. I take that to mean that a typical place Jesus would send demons who came out of men was into the abyss, where they might have to dwell, just like people who die outside of Christ. They go into hell, into Hades, to await the day of judgment. But regardless of that, it was a place they didn't want to go to. It says, now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain, and they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them, and then it tells us that they led the swine to their death. But the point is, they went out to some other wicked activity. They were kicked out of the place where they were, but they found something else to do. As if they were saying, well, if we can't do this, then can we do that? And I'm simply saying, that's how sin often acts as well. If you are content to simply go after that one sin, let's say it's drunkenness, you're not willing to go after every sin you see. Well, this is the one sin that really bothers my life. Or if your attitude is, I'll go after it to this point that I'm just going to stop drinking myself to the point of drunkenness and poor health and losing my job. I'll go that far. But even if you're a Christian and you say, well, I have this sin, it's not as gross or troubling to me as that, but I know it's a sin and I have to deal with it. But let's say you're not willing to go to the point of rooting out the unbiblical sin that has led you to that pattern of sin. The unbiblical sinful thinking, I should say, that has led you to that pattern. Or the root sins that have led to that outward expression of sin. Why do I say bad words to people? Well, it's not because I'm a bad person. No. You speak maliciously because of malice in your heart. That's where it comes from. But you're not willing to deal with the malice in the heart. Or you're not willing to deal with your sinful motives behind your sin. Someone says to you, did you say that because perhaps pride is lurking here? Oh no, I'm not a proud person. That's what I mean. You only partially mortify sin. You do that, it's going to break out in some other expression. Just like a demon in dwelling a man will look for a different person to dwell in, or in the case of Luke 8, a different animal, swine, a sin will seek another way of expressing itself if you don't go after it tooth and nail. Maybe it'll break out in a closely related sin. Maybe your sin was fornication. You said, I've got to stop that because I could get AIDS or something like that. And so you content yourself with the sin of use of pornography. That's what I'm talking about. Or maybe it's going to come out in a more distantly related sin. Fornication is indulging your lust in a certain way, but maybe it'll break out in drunkenness, which is indulging that lust in another way, or gluttony. It's lusts of the flesh. You must always aim for thorough biblical repentance. You must always be on the watch and you must always be in the fight. And then sixthly and finally, some sins will require extraordinary efforts to mortify them. In fighting against some sins, you may have had immediate and we could say extraordinary success. Wonderful results. You saw the sin one day, you started going after it the next, and by the end of the week, you say, God has really given me victory, at least to some degree, over this sin. And maybe it never comes back. It never really troubles you for the rest of your days. Thanks be to God. But with this sin, This sin that you're working on right now, that you've been working on for months, or maybe years. And I mean seriously trying to go after it. It doesn't give up. And when you have that kind of a sin, you must not give up. And you must not blame God and say, this is my besetting sin with the meaning it's just going to be here all my life, and this is the way God ordained it for my life. That is not a scriptural view of it. The scriptural view of it is it's sin, God has shown it to you, and it's got to go. And you've got to fight, and you must not give up. Turn with me to Mark 9 and verse 29. Mark 9 verse 29. Here's the instance where Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration, Something was going on at the bottom of the mountain when Jesus came back down with Peter and James and John. And what they found out was the apostles had been trying to cast a demon out of a young boy, and they had done this many times before, but they couldn't do it. And so when the apostles asked him privately, it says in verse 28, why could we not cast him out? It says in verse 29, he said to them, this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting. And some manuscripts don't say, and fasting, but it doesn't matter. My point is simply this, Jesus is saying, some demons require a little bit more than the usual, get out, in Jesus' name, to come out. And what I'm saying is, that's the way some sins are as well. That's why we have this concept of besetting sins. If every sin were that way, what a wretched lot we'd all be, and what a wretched world this would be to live in. But by the mercy of God, not all sins are that way, but some are. And every one of us has had or has sins like that, that you will fight to your dying day, and you will have to fight with more vigor and more of the help of God if you're going to grow in grace The point is that some demons are so powerful and or stubborn that they call for unusual or exceptional measures. And some sins are so troublesome and so persistent that they also call and they're so stubborn and mighty, that they call for unusual or exceptional measures. Not unusual in that they're not found in the Bible. Unusual in that you don't have to use them against every sin. Not exceptional that the Bible says you only use these on rare occasions, just that you don't always need to use them. They're normal means in the Bible. Earnest prayer. Fasting if necessary. There are sins like that. And you have had sins like that in your life if you're a Christian. And maybe you do right now. And you know what they are. And you have done what I said earlier. You've just made a truce with it. And you've basically said, I'm willing to go to the grave as long as this sin doesn't bring me to the point of public shame or apostasy. And you shouldn't. You shouldn't make a truth with any sin, especially your worst sins. But you should pray and you should fast if you need to. And if you should confide in others if you need to. And you should ask for help and make yourself accountable and do whatever you need to do. because that kind does not come out but by prayer and fasting. So in conclusion, I said when I preached on this text that Jesus was saying, there's a message here. Jesus was serving notice to the powers of darkness. Brethren, we should have confidence when we go to fighting our sins. Not that we are great, not that we have innate power in ourselves, but we should not just roll over and give up when we confront strong, tough sins in our lives. We should not. We should not conclude that they can't be overcome. We should not conclude that we're not Christians. We should renew the battle. We should cry out to God. Jesus was saying to the demons on that day in the synagogue in Capernaum, their time was up. He was saying the Lord of them was present, and He was going to deal with them, and that He was not going to let them destroy the souls of His people. And you should see Jesus. as standing there to fight on your behalf with the same attitude toward you and your sins. May God give us such a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, standing ready to help us. A second thing is this. Having noticed these things, and I don't think I've taken excessive liberty with the Scriptures tonight in pointing these things out. And therefore, here's the point, regard the presence of sin within you with the same attitude with which you would regard the presence of a demon. I hope you would all say it's a cause for alarm if there were a demon within you. Now we know the Bible says we all have sin, but when you see it, And when you see its ugly colors, and when you see how it's putting up a fight, you should regard it with alarm. You should fear it in a right way. You should hate it. You should fight it. You should flee from it. You should cry out to God for deliverance from it. And then the final thing is this, as we anticipate coming to the Lord's Supper here, the final thing is this, As we come to the Lord's Supper, realize, as I've said already, your only hope for overcoming sin is in Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord's Supper tells us, isn't it? That we only have life by abiding in Jesus Christ. By assimilating Jesus Christ by faith, just like we assimilate the bread by eating it. That is your only hope for overcoming sin. And so the second thing regarding coming to the Lord's Supper is not only to realize that, the second thing is therefore as we come to the Lord's Supper, lay hold of Jesus Christ. Lay hold of Him daily, but lay hold of Him this night as you think of the battle against sin. What did Jesus say? For this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. He's reminding us this night that His death especially has to do with overcoming sin in the life of His people. And that leads to the third thing, which is this, not just lay hold of Christ whenever you come to the Lord's Supper, but lay hold of Him especially to help you overcome that particular sin that I've been talking about and I've got your mind thinking about. Listen to the larger catechism when it's answering the question, what are the outward means whereby Christ communicates the benefits of his mediation? In other words, the benefits of his mediation are all the good things he earned for us when he came and lived and died for us. And one of those benefits is the overcoming of sin in your life. It is sanctification. And here's the answer. It says, the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to His church the benefits of His mediation are all His ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer. If you're in any way thinking You know, the pastor's right what he said tonight. I can hardly wait till I get home and pull out my Puritan book where there's that sermon about that particular sin that has been so helpful to me in the past. You know what the Puritans are saying when they said this? The main things God gave you to fight against sin are not the Puritan books. It's Christ, and the main place you find Him is in ordinary ordinances. including the Lord's Supper. You come tonight and you bring that sin to the cross of Christ. And when you take that bread, you say, Lord Jesus, I know you gave your body that this sin might depart from my life. Lord Jesus Christ, make it happen by your grace and by the power of your spirit. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and ask that you would write these things upon our hearts. Teach us about sin. Teach us about ourselves. Lead us to Jesus Christ and his cross and may we feed upon him and feeding upon him. May we have life in his name and power to overcome sin. And we ask it in his blessed name. Amen.