Get ready for a subject like the one we're speaking today. I absolutely stand trembling. Can Satan read your mind? That's the subject. Now, to even understand what we're talking about, You must be made aware that you have three distinct parts to you that enter into this subject. You're physical. You are spiritual. But in between those two is the battleground called the mind. I'm going to call it, because you'll understand it better, your emotional makeup, your feelings. I'm not talking about whether you feel when somebody pinches you or not or hit you with a pen. I'm talking about those feelings that are inside of you. And that's the battleground, the battleground of your mind. Can Satan make up his own desire to read your mind and do it. Can he decide, I want to know what Bill Matthews is thinking, or what you're thinking, and find out about my thoughts, because he decided he wants to. That's the basic thought today. Now in order to make this study, Remember now, when I ask you, I'm going to read from the second chapter of Daniel, and I'm not looking for the great prophecy of this chapter now, and neither are you. We're only looking for one thing. Can Satan read your mind because he chooses to? Now, I do not recommend the Living Bible as a study Bible. But because my time is limited, I'm going to read the account from the Living Bible for only one reason, that is, I'm reading it from a narrative standpoint. And you listen now to this because it's sufficient for what we want to find in these verses for our subject today. One night in the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a terrifying nightmare and awoke trembling with fear. And to make matters worse, he could not remember his dream. He immediately called in all the magicians and the, there's a word here we don't use, incantationists, which means those who claim to be able to look into people's minds and read it. sorcerers and astrologers, and demand that they tell him what his dream had been, what was in his mind. I've had a terrible nightmare, he said, as they stood before him, and I can't remember what it was. Tell me, for I fear some tragedy awaits me. Then the astrologer, speaking in Aramaic, said to the king, Tell us the dream, then we can tell you what it means." The king replied, I tell you the dream is gone. I can't remember it. And if you don't tell me what it was and what it means, I'll have you torn limb from limb and your houses made into heaps of rubble. But I will give you many wonderful gifts and honors. If you tell me what the dream was and what it means, so begin. They said again, how can we tell you what the dream means unless you tell us what it was? The king retorted, I can see your trick. You're trying to stall me for time till the calamity befalls me that the dream foretells. But if you can't tell me the dream, you certainly can't expect me to believe your interpretation. The Chaldeans replied to the king, there isn't a man alive who can tell others what they have dreamed. And there isn't a king in all the world who would ask such a thing. This is an impossible thing the king requires. No one except the God can tell you your dream and they are not here to help. Upon hearing this, the king was furious and sent out orders to execute all of the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel and his companions were rounded up with the others to be killed. But when Ariok, the chief executioner, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with great wisdom by asking, Why is the king so angry? What's the matter? And Ariok told him all that happened. So Daniel went to see the king, give me a little time, he said, and I will tell you the dream and what it means. Then he went home and he told his three Hebrew children. They asked the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret so they would not die with the others. And that night in a vision, God told Daniel what the king had dreamed. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven, saying, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for he alone has all wisdom and all power." Now, that's enough of that for you to see that there wasn't any of the human beings And even those who claim to be able to know the secrets could read this king's mind. Now, if these men were the devil's servants, and if the devil could have read that king's mind, you can be sure he would have read it and told these men But they admitted that only God has the power over a human being's mind. Only God can read what you think. You can't even read what you think all the time yourself. Only God has power over that area. Now, why is it then that so many people can know so much about us and what we think if God alone reveals these things? Why? How do our enemies? Will they be demons or the devil himself or our human enemies? How can they be so? How can they look into us and find so much out about us that harms us? A little verse tucked away in Proverbs that tells us the problem and how we can learn today a vital lesson and practice and keep our enemies away from knowing our thoughts. In Proverbs, and I'm back to the King James translation, Proverbs 29 and 11, there is a verse here that is absolutely essential. If we are to avoid the harm of our enemies, especially the devil, listen. Verse 11 of Proverbs 29, uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it till afterwards." The word fool here is the translation of the Hebrew word that literally translated means a fathead. Really, that's the literal translation. A person who lets their mind get so fat and so lazy and so loose that they blab everything they ever know and tell everything to everybody, even their enemy. They haven't learned to keep their mouth shut. I told them in the 8 o'clock service, if you was ever in the military, they had a saying for this that I can't say here. If you was ever there, you know what it is. Thank you. a fathead, we are to beheld what we reveal in our thoughts. I read to you the scripture earlier where Jesus said, cast not your pearl before swine. Even when someone wants you to talk to them, and this will be shocking to some of you, about the Bible. Don't just get your Bible down and start pouring out your heart and telling your last experiences as they relate to the Bible to everybody that comes along. They may have been sent to you by the devil. You need to be careful what you say in your mind on a daily, moment-by-moment basis. The Bible says, but a wise man The word wise here means artful, skillful. You see, we are to be artists. We have artists playing these instruments. I get over there, I'd just be bang, bang, bang. You'd be running out here with your ears like that if I tried to play. I'm not an artist. And it amazes me, people who paint on a canvas, how that they can take the paint and shade in and give depth and cause the light to reflect and actually bring life to just a piece of canvas. They do that because they skillfully and artfully use those paints. Now, I could take the paint and throw it on, you know, and dab it and call it modern art, you know, but we all know better. We all know that's not art. Junk. If you think it's anything else, you need to think about what the word art means. But all of us today in this building can begin to become artists. And I'm pointing all these fingers at me because I get myself in more trouble by blabbing my big mouth when I should keep it shut than anything I can think of. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut and to use words carefully and artfully. The wise man keepeth it, that is his mind, Till afterwards. The word afterwards means till the caboose. His mind is revealed not as the engine of the train, but his mind is revealed in the caboose. He goes all the way from the engine all the way back through all the cars on the train till he gets to the caboose. And when he gets to the caboose and he's looked over every car on the train, then he talks. He waits till the caboose to tell his mind. And our enemies, and we have them, even you nice, sweet little folks out there that think you don't, you have an enemy. The devil is your enemy. His demons are your enemy. And there are people who do not have your good at heart. And they will harm you. And what you say to them can make all the difference in the world. any fool. I'm getting into one area of learning to keep your mind in the caboose and not in the engine. Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, but it takes Holy Spirit character and godly to understand and keep your mouth shut and forgive. How do you determine, really, if you are a great Christian? We should desire to be a great Christian. We serve a great God, don't we? How do we determine? This greatness is shown by how we treat the small little things of life based on the words that we use. Now with those things in mind, let's progress to another phase of this tremendous thought. We have the privilege of researching and dealing with and profiting from today. It would be good if you could read the entire seventh chapter of Romans. I only have time to read part of it. Romans, the seventh chapter, verse 22. Here the great Apostle Paul, a saved man, filled with the Holy Spirit, guided and led by the Holy Spirit, the great preacher of all times, the Apostle Paul, and he recognizes a truth. And my friend, don't you sit out there and think that you are immune to this situation. You and I are not. And we can win victories beyond our imagination if we will learn these things. Now, some preachers say this It was Paul before he was saved. That's a lie. It was Paul after he was saved. May I start reading to you, please, in verse 22? For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. That's his spirit. He said, I find great delight in God in my spirit. Don't we all? Don't we all? Haven't you found delight in some great spiritual experience you've had? Sure you have. Some more than others. But as a child of God, I can look back and I can say, I have delight that God's Spirit has graciously, mercifully blessed me in my life. I delight. The devil hadn't got anything there. I can talk about that from now till doomsday. You can talk about the Lord. You can talk about all His magnificent majesty, what He's done for you inside. But I see another law, another principle, in my members, in my physical body, warring against the law of my mind. Here is my delightful spiritual experience, hallelujah. Here is my physical weaknesses and my physical incapacity and my physical disappointments. Here is the great power of God. Here is the physical disappointments. And between that, between those two, there is a war. Because there's my mind. And don't ever think you can say, oh, well, I'd like to do this myself. I'm just going to trust God. You'll make the decision about those two friends. God's not going to make you be spiritual. And he's not going to keep you from being carnal. It's which one of these two great principles we allow to dominate. And if we talk about, and if we're continually in the realm of our fleshliness, then we're in trouble. And bring me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now there is a teaching among certain churches that you can get to where you live above sin. You never will sin anymore. That's a lie out of hell. And they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. And you should never even entertain the idea that your physical body is free from the power of sin. Because he says, it's in my members. It's in every part of your physical body. Not in your spirit. But in your physical being, you say, I got saved. It wasn't your body that got saved. Your body is going to either die or be changed. Thank God. As a matter of fact, I'll not give, God willing, next Sunday I'm going to speak on what will your glorified body be like. We'll talk about that more next week. Oh, he said wretched man that I was. Is that what he says? Oh, wretched man that I am! What honest person has not cried out how wretched I can be? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, this body that brings death toward me? Who shall deliver me? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is not through Jesus Christ. We're saved from hell through Jesus Christ, but this is Jesus Christ becoming Lord, Master, the Boss. So then with the mind, my psuche, my feelings, my emotions, my thought apparatus, I myself serve the law of God. He said with my emotions, my Thought, mechanism, I serve God. But with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, the word flesh is a very interesting word. It's your natural being. It's what you inherited through your parents from Adam and Eve. And this part of us is our carnal part. In Romans 8, 6, we read these words. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. This word carnal comes from a Latin word, and I'm illustrating it in a way you'll remember it. All of you have heard of chilicanto. Karne, not carne, that's dog. Karne, chile con carne. What does that mean? Well, the karne is meat. And the chile is pepper, it's pepper in the meat. So the carnal part of us is living only for this physical body. And demanding, demanding I say to you, that our mind always cater to our body. Demanding that of our mind. I demand that you do what I want. Rather than the Spirit of God in me saying, I demand that you do what I want. So the Bible says, if we let our mind be dominated by our physical body, it's death. Now, death doesn't always mean dropping over like that. It can be slow. It can be painful. It can be excruciating. The Bible says, and the Bible's right, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now, I said earlier that Satan could not make up his own desire to read your mind. But God can and does give him some people's minds. God, he can't do it unless God allows him to. But when just as God allowed Daniel to read King Nebuchadnezzar's mind, God does, and there is scripture, allow other people to have that power over us. How could that happen? How can you keep it from happening? Amen? That's what I want to know. I don't want him knowing what I think. I don't want you knowing what I think. I only want God to know what I think. He's the only one who can handle it. How can you keep that from happening? You say, well, I'm a Christian, it couldn't happen to me. Well, let me just give you a little side thought here. We're going to pull off the railroad on a side track for a minute. There was a man in Corinth who insisted on living and having a sexual affair with his father's wife, his stepmother. Not only was he carrying on like this, but he was bragging about it and coming to church and just going on like it was nothing at all. His father was still alive and he was a big wheel in the church. And Paul got wind of it. He said, now if that man doesn't repent, you turn him over to the devil. Just turn him over to the devil. And they did. And you know what? I don't know how long it took him, but in 2 Corinthians, he sobered up and got right. Got his mind back. Yes, my friend, your emotional makeup can, even if you're saved. Now, not your spirit. Your spirit is sealed to the day of redemption. But you can so rebel as a child of God that the devil can take over your thinking and read your mind and make you say and do things you never dreamed you would do. God have mercy! No! You cannot, don't let it happen. How can you keep it from happening? And here again, the book of Revelation, how I'd like you to know the prophetic part of it, but we're just studying this one theme today. We're playing on one string. One thing, Revelation chapter 17 beginning with verse 13. Here are some people who give their minds over to the devil. This is what they want. This is where they live, this is where they dwell. Verse 13. These have one mind. How wonderful, be good. It's not bad to have one mind. It depends on what your one mind is on. Be wonderful, have one mind on Jesus. That's not the case. These people have one mind. And I better stop here and ask myself and you a question. Have I developed a way of isolating my thoughts and concentrating my thinking towards something? Yes, I have. I mean, I can be in a room with you and hear you clatter for two hours and not hear a word you say. That can be good or bad. But human beings can concentrate their mind in one direction. But the object and even more the why of that can make all the difference in the world in what happens to you mentally. About 25 years ago, a preacher down in Texas a certain little clique in the congregation, a powerful little clique in the congregation didn't like him and didn't want to get rid of him. And so they knew they couldn't do it except one way. So they made up a story about the preacher. And what the story was not important, but it was bad. And they got witnesses. I mean, they believe that they are to do anything to get rid of him. They hate him that bad. They brought him before the whole congregation. And the house was full. The preacher said, I want five minutes. But all I want, I want these people who have told this story and who have confirmed it with their witnesses, I want them to come to this microphone and tell the rest of you why. They have done that. We're not going to talk about what. We're going to talk about why. And after they told their reason why, he stayed and still is at that church. Well, they've moved. The location has moved with the church. He still passes the town church. Having one mind is not always good. These people had one mind, and they gave their power and their strength unto the beast, to the Antichrist, God's demon, the devil's demon-possessed man that God allowed to come on the scene. They gave their power and strength to the devil in the flesh. Who do I give? The power and strength. Now, you know, the devil doesn't have any power and strength. You know that? He has to get it from you. He doesn't have any. He's had his stinger pulled out. He's been emptied. He's an empty jug. But he is filled by the strength and the power of human beings. The only power He has is the power human beings give to Him. And how He loves for them to allow Him to have their mind. Now these people will be, this is an extreme of the situation, these people will become so dominated by the devil that they will try to, well let me read you the next verse. They shall make war with the Lamb. They're going to make war with Jesus when He comes back. That's dumb, isn't it? That takes a dumb person to think they can put Jesus out of commission. And the Lamb shall overcome them, of course, if the devil says, I'm going to put in your mind to oppose Jesus and His will. You'll lose. You'll lose. For He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And they, that is those who receive His strength and receive His power, they that are with Him, with Jesus, are called and chosen and faithful. Oh, my friends, today you have no worry about that emotional makeup that you have, call your mind, if you realize that you get your power and your strength from the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't say give me your strength, give me your power, He gives it to you. Watch out for that person who says give me your life, give me that, give me your energy. Give me that which keeps you bubbling. Give it to me. No, no, no, no. And I jumped like that. It reminded me when I saw those little penguins that there's a deal out about the penguins. And when one of them big old walruses get after them, they go like water like bullets. That's what you do when someone comes after you and wants your strength. They want to sap you of all you've got. I don't care who it is. Get out of the water. Get out fast, because God doesn't take it from you, He gives it to you. He gives you life, sweet life. He's Lord of lords and King of kings. And those that are His are what? Called and chosen label. I want to be in that number when those saints go marching in. Don't you? Can the devil read your mind? Only if you would so dishonor God that God would give you over to a reprobate mind. What's a reprobate mind? You look that word up. It means an unbelieving mind. A mind that does not, that doubts and does not believe God. Oh, today as we get ready to have the invitation. First of all, have you received Christ as your Savior? Have you allowed Him to be the Savior of your being? Have you? If you haven't, right where you are, in the secret of your own heart, ask Him to come in. Now, Only tell those people when you do this that you know have been praying for you and that love you. And then after you've done that, you come in a service. We'll be having a baptismal service tonight. The opportunity then you come tonight and we'll baptize you to show that that's happened to you. But you need some time, some time alone with God. One thing the church doesn't allow people anymore, we're such a hurry. Get on down here, get on down here, get on down here, get on down here. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. You never have a chance to have any time with the Lord before you spill your whole life in front of people. There are some things that are so precious that you may never be able to tell anybody. Because they're so holy and right. Paul, he waited 14 years before he ever told anybody he'd been taken up into the third heaven. 14 years, he didn't tell anybody. He was so precious to him. You need some time, just you and God. Don't blab everything every time you hear it. You say, but I've got to hurry, I might die. Well, God knows all about that. No problem there. If I don't ever know about it, don't worry about it. I'm not going to have anything to say about what happens to you anyway. That's all settled by God. If you'd like to become a member of this church, I'm asking you not to do it this morning. I want you to pray about it. Please pray about it. Pray. You say, I've already prayed. Pray some more. Pray some more. Please. This is not just, I'm going to move my letter. That's wonderful. I mean, that's fine. All we do is that we tell the other church you're here and so on. But this is eternal business. And so this morning, it's time for you and God, alone in your mind, to just bow your head. Father, if there's anyone here who is lost, right where they are, may they say to you, Jesus, now if you're lost, are you listening? Jesus, I'm a sinner. I want you to save me. I trust you that you'll save my soul right now. Thank you. Now I'm gonna let you lead me to the people to tell about it. I'm gonna let you lead me now to be baptized. What church I'll worship in. Thank you, Father, for this time together. Now while you remain seated, one minute, Just one minute between you and God before we do anything else. Right where you are.