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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

So once you take your Bible and turn to the book of Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 13, I just want to read a verse here too, a verse here to you. Revelation 13 and verse 11 says, and I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. So we know that the dragon represents the, you know, that’s the devil. That’s that old bad guy. You know, that’s Satan.

He’s the one we don’t like. He’s the one who don’t like us either. But here was a two-horned like a lamb. So that means he wasn’t a lamb. He just looked like a lamb. And people took him for a lamb. In other words, the people must have been deceived, correct? Well, the Bible talks about how that the devil is able to deceive. And he really can put a black cloud over us and make us forget the goodness of God, the promises of God, the purposes of God, the power of God, and it doesn’t take much before you’re down in the dumps.

In the moment of despair, whoa is me. And then here’s God sitting on the throne, and he’s not even sick. And some people thought he done fell off, died. You’re Heavenly Father is very much aware of everything going on, everything in your life. So you do not want to forget who you are, you don’t want to forget who he is, and you don’t want to forget the devil. So as you live your life, understand, look at the top part of this.

The enemy we face is an expert warrior. I guess you could call him a samurai. I mean, here’s the ultimate ninja. He can kill and wound and destroy the ultimate enemy that you and I will ever have to worry about is the old devil. And he says, the last great enemy is death itself. But we win that one too. Because of from the grave here rose. And I’m glad of that. Also look there in the book of Revelation in chapter 16.

Revelation 16, looking verse 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs. Coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. There you had the unholy trinity, the dragon, the devil, the anti-Christ and the so-called false spirit, a false religious leader, and the beast, the political leader. So you have all three of them right there in one verse, but what is their purpose? What is their goal?

And when he talks about like frogs, because the frog pitches his prey with the tongue, and therefore they’re gonna have lies that they’re going to tell. And in verse 14, for they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth into the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And in verse 16, and they gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

So we know what’s gonna take place. We know who is behind it and we know where they gonna go. But also I wanted you to see there in chapter 17, in chapter 17, and look in verse 17, for God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Now see the devil, well he got a plan, but the Lord knows his plan.

And God has a plan. Did you know that God can use the evil workings of the devil to accomplish his will? And even though the devil doesn’t like you and the devil wants to destroy you, he’s a master at destroying purposes and gold and plans. And he doesn’t care what he has to do as long as he wins. But is it possible that the Lord can take all the wicked devices of the devil that he wants to use against us and turning around and bless us?

You’re supposed to believe that. Otherwise, we’re totally at the mercy of the devil. Unless God can intervene. Unless God can weave his will into our life in spite of what the devil wants to do to destroy us. It’s important, but you also know you can’t dispel the idea that Satan is still attacking. And so he attacks, regardless of how old you are, how long you’ve been in the ministry, he will not quit because he is the master in the art of destruction.

So I want you to look there in your notes, where it has at the very top, the Bible teaches there is a personal devil that will do all in his power to defeat us. He will attack us and he longs to to have victory over us. You should know what his purpose is, his goal, and how he works. And God has not left us alone at the mercy of this tyrant, this, I guess you could call the prince of terrorism.

He says, he said, be sober, be vigilant because you’re adversary. The devil as a roaring lion walk at the mouth seeking whom he may devour. And so God doesn’t stop the devil from devouring you unless you walk away from him. In other words, if you do not put on the protection that God gives you and you don’t obey the Lord, Satan is going to devour you. You just won’t know it. He will devour all of your time, he’ll devour all of your money, all of your energy.

He will take and get you so separated from the Lord and destroy your life and he can do it without you even knowing that it’s taking place. That’s what he does. So that’s why you got to stay close to the Lord. When he says be sober, it doesn’t mean, well, I’m not drunk. I don’t drink. So that can never apply to me. He’s talking about being sober minded so that you’re not drunk on the things of the world that you can think clearly about what God’s word has to say.

So when a man gets drunk, he gets under the influence. So whenever you’re under the power of the Holy Spirit, you’re under of the influence of the Holy Spirit. And then he says in the next statement I want you to see, he may come as a roaring lion, or he may come as an angel of light. So you don’t know how it’s going to happen, or by whom, you know, it can be all kinds of interesting things in your life.

And if you’re gonna serve a Lord, those that live God shall suffer persecution, you know that. You’re gonna be persecuted. Everything’s not gonna go your way. Things are gonna get hard, and very trying, And that seemed like nothing ever stopped. It just always something, one thing after the other. And then have you heard this phrase, when it rained at what? What do you mean by that? Well, it wasn’t just a feudal thing to blow a whole bunch all at one time.

Comes in bucket loads. Look at the next scripture here. Yee are of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and a bold not in the truth. because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Now, this is what Jesus had to say to the people that were listening to him, and he says, ye are of your father, the devil.

And in bold, not in the truth. So if you were the devil, what would you want to try to get people to not to abide in the truth? What did Christ say over and over again? Abide in me, abide in me, abide in me because you want to abide in the truth. To sanctify yourself according to thy word, thy word is truth. And when you know the truth, the truth can make you free. So this is what God wants.

But of course, it’s just the opposite of what the devil wants. And look at the next verse. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Now in chapter 12, it talks about how the he deceived the whole world. So you You ought to know that it is possible for the devil to deceive you. Have you ever thought something about somebody, and it’s not true at all? You talk to him and find out later on, it wasn’t even true.

But you can imagine something. And sometimes the devil will get us to imagine things about each other. And next thing you know, you begin to act upon what you imagine. And then it’s not true. I know people who can be mean and ugly toward somebody because they think that’s what they’re doing to them. And none of it, none of it is true. It’s just the devil loves to create tension and problems and pressures. And it happens all the time to everybody.

Has it ever happened between your new wife? No, we’ve been perfect all our lives. You want to have a good happy home? Well, if you’re the devil, you want to break that up. But if you’re not going to serve the Lord, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. But if you want more, then there’s going to be a battle. You want a good church? You’re going to have battles. It doesn’t matter. There’s always battles. Look at the next statement. Now you know this, but listen to it one more time.

Satan is the God of this world. As the God of this world, Satan does all in his power to keep folks from hearing and believing the gospel for salvation. He endeavors to keep you from being saved and will do the same for others. Satan wants to blind the minds of individual. That’s why he He wants to take those who know the truth and know the gospel to keep from presenting the gospel because he wants people to stay blinded. And to keep blinded, he has to keep you from sharing the gospel.

Look at the scripture, in whom the God of this world have blinded the minds of them which believe not. Less the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is their only hope, is the only thing that can give them sight should shine unto them. So the goal of the devil with the lost man is to keep the gospel from getting to the lost man. Well, who has the gospel or the Christian? So that means that you’ve got to keep the Christian from getting to the lost man.

You understand how it works. So Satan is going to work in your life trying to get you not to do it. And he doesn’t care how he does it just long as he doesn’t. And that way you can live week after week and month after month and year after year and never reach a lost person. Now you say, well why? Well, because God never led me to anybody. God never gave me any opportunity, so it’s not my fault.

Well, if you wait until you get a phone call before you witness, you may wait forever. But you see, you depend upon the Holy Spirit as you go. But if you wait until the Holy Spirit says, okay, that one on the right hand side, the one with the green shirt on, yeah, I want you to talk to him. Thank you. I didn’t want to do this in the energy of the flesh. God has already commanded us to preach the gospel to everyone.

I don’t know if you can witness to the wrong person. You may witness at the wrong time, but you may not witness to the wrong person. There’s a sermon in there somewhere. But look at number two. The resistor who will fight the believer, he resist you. In other words, everything is not going to be a piece of cake. It’s not going to be a cakewalk. It means he’s going to resist against you. Try to stop you from doing the things that you should.

So as you look here, this verse presents Satan as a cunning fighter. Using every technique he can find to defeat the believer. Less Satan should get, and you ought to underline this, an advantage. Because see, when you’re fighting, everybody’s always trying to find what is the advantage. They tried to exploit your weak point. Now, are there areas in your life that you are afraid you’re going to be tested in? Because you’re afraid you might fall if I get tested in this area.

Did you know like Job says, that which I feared has come upon me? That which I feared has come upon me. So that means that you should come at every area of your life over to the Lord. Because if there’s areas in your Christian life that are weak and you don’t think it’s that important, they could come a strong testing in that area. And yes, God will even allow you to fall to the tempter to reveal your weakness. Of course, He can help you if you let Him and yield to Him.

Look at number three, the adversary who accuses the brethren. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength, and the kingdoms of our God and the power of His Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is passed down, which accused them before our God day and night. Now, remember that the devil doesn’t have to take a rest. The devil doesn’t have to sleep. He is a spirit being. And he’s always added. He doesn’t take a break.

Now you and I, we have to take a break. We have to go to sleep. We got to get our rest. But he never stops day and night accusing the brethren. And I guess if he’s accusing you, he may have justification. There might be something that you’re doing. And you know, the Lord allows him to do this. But you see, I believe that we have a lawyer. And he’s the best lawyer there is, and he is our advocate. And he stands between us and the devil.

And he is my defense. But the devil does accuse. and maybe it’s because he got the goods, but you got to be careful. And it makes this statement here in the scripture, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Now I don’t think the devil knows all the details in everything. I believe that’s why throughout the scriptures there are times when God would have a prophecy given, but it would kind of be obscure prophecy.

It’s detailed, it’s good, it’s clear, it’s powerful, it’s potent, it’s sure, but it’s difficult to understand or to see it because you’re reading around along and all of a sudden boom, there’s a verse that where’d that come from? And then later on, there’s another verse and then later on because he, God can’t reveal too much even in His Word lest the devil can be able to manipulate things that, remember, He had to find out where Jesus was to be born.

And there’s things that happens that devil doesn’t know everything. That’s why sometimes I believe God in his wisdom is seen fit, not to tell everything that’s going to happen to us tomorrow. Because otherwise even people would try to circumvent the will of God. So God doesn’t do it. But then that’s another sermon. Look at number four. The enemy that opposes all that is of God. that tears are the children of the wicked one. And so the devil’s children are as bad as the devil.

And people can do you wrong. And as long as you live and you want to do right, there’s people going to do you wrong. But understand this, because you have an old sinful nature. You also are going to wrong people. Did you know that the devil can use you? Because you have an old sinful nature, and he lies and deceives you and gets you to say and do things and react in the living fear, cause terror just like he does.

And it’s the will of God that we’re all children of God by faith and Christ, but he wants us to serve him and to abide in truth. That’s why we’re supposed to weigh our thoughts and weigh our words and weigh our actions. But he says here, the enemy that sewed them is the devil. So you know that you have an enemy and he sow seeds, seeds of discord. He tries to interrupt your life and destroy the plans that God has for you.

And the way he can do that, see, is he has to come between you and the Lord and push you away from God. And he’ll use circumstances and whatever in order to get you down and discouraged and in despair. Look at number five. Number five, well, look at the verse right before that where he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

There is another world being lived at the same time that we’re living. It’s a spiritual world, but it’s being done right now, and they’re against you. There’s another spiritual world out there where there’s the Holy Spirit, and there’s God’s angels and I’ve got to guardian angels myself. But anyway, everybody’s got a guardian angel. And the reason is because God says that his children in the book of Hebrews in chapter one, this is part of their inheritance. We get to be protective while we’re in this world.

If we live our lives for the Lord and yield to him, did you know in God’s eyes you’re almost invincible? But when you stray and you get your eyes off the Lord, the devil will devour you. Just understand it. You cannot live a good, strong, powerful Christian life walking away from God. The devil is a roaring lion. Now, in number five, the tempter that lures us to sin, this is what the devil does. And you have within you, remember I used the illustration before about the rat and the mouse trap.

The reason you can put cheese on a trap is because there’s something inside the rat that likes the cheese. But there’s man, he had too many rats, he’d run out of cheese, so what he did is he took a picture of a piece of cheese and he stuck it in through the mouse trap. Next day, he got a picture of a mouse. But you’ve got the devil to deal with. He is not going to let you alone. He wants to destroy your life.

Now look at the verse, for this cause for this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. Always remember your labor in the Lord, as far as God is concerned, it’s not in vain because God’s gonna reward you when you get to heaven, he’s gonna bless you because of your faith on this. But with the individual, if the devil gets you sidetracked, and the seed has been sown into your mind, and it talks about like the bird that comes in and takes away the seed before you get a chance to think about what it says.

He says, it’s like it’s labor in vain. But Paul talks about how, you know, my labor in the Lord is not in vain. Moreover, brother, he says, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. But with people, sometimes you labor among people and as far as they’re concerned, it’s in vain because they don’t hear, they don’t listen, some people don’t trust the Lord, some people don’t change their life and do what God’s Word says.

But you still keep so in the seed because you’d never know what kind of ground it’s going to come on. Whether it’s going to be on rocky ground or briars and thorns or good old ground and it begins to grow. So you keep planting seeds, just keep planting seeds. But you know that the devil is real and he tempts and as he says here, less by some means. So you see as Paul made the statement by all means that I might save some, the devil by all means wants to destroy some and everybody.

So you ought to know that you’re not going to serve the Lord and God you unlock the devil away so he can’t get at you. The Lord tells us in his word, the lion, a roaring lion, seek it to me, may devour. I say, well Lord, why don’t you just lock him up and don’t let him get at me. Wouldn’t that be easy? Problem solved. You still have an old sinful nature you got to deal with and your sinful nature is identical to Satan’s.

That’s not good is it? So maybe the devil is trying to get his kids to be rebellious to God. That’s the old sinful nature. That’s why the new birth came from God. That’s born of God, child of God. Look at the next statement, Satan will trouble us as long as we live. He works on our minds to influence us. This is the reason we need to have the renewing of our minds as we mentioned in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2.

Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Did you know that you can’t just rest upon the fact that you know I studied the Bible about 20 years ago so I don’t to do it anymore. Well, that sounds good. But you’ve always got to keep renewing your mind all the time. Kind of keep always studying and keep talking and praying to the Lord. And there’ll be a day that you don’t go by, you don’t talk to God.

Talk to Him all the time, morning, noon and night. In Philippians chapter four and verse eight, when he talks about, You know, think upon these things, things that are true and honest in the good report and virtue and praise and so forth. Think upon these things. And if you’ll do this, he says you shall have the peace of God. So the peace of God is different from the peace with God. Peace with God is because of the payment Christ made.

And so the war and faction between us and God, the emmity has been taken away because Christ made peace to the cross. But after you trust the Christ’s Savior, you’re looking to Him and committing things to Him and trusting Him as how you get the peace of God in your life. So here to have victory, we must have our minds under the control of the Lord. That’s why He says, study the word so that the word controls your mind, controlled how you think.

Because you see, without constantly staying in the word, you forget after a while. You don’t use it, you lose it. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been to the Bible, is the Bible still working in your life. You can’t always remember everything. There’s a few verses that I learned when I was in Bible school, never have used them, but I remember them. Then there’s a lot of verses that I just one forgot about. And then I read the Bible and said, oh yeah, I remember that.

No, yeah, I remember. But then there’s some verses that I use all the time and they don’t go away. They’re all right there forefront. So that’s why you always got to keep renewing your mind, renewing your thoughts. Because you see, the devil is going to work upon your mind and he wants you to forget. That’s why yielding to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will bring to your mind the things which he has taught you that you’ve learned. And that’s why it’s so important.

Look at the last part of the page here. How to have victory over Satan is learned to resist. What does word resist means? It means no. It means to say no. When temptations are there, no, no. When sinners entice thee, consent thou not, no. One of the hardest words in the English language for Christians to say is the word no. All right, I’m going to count to three and I want everybody to say the word no. One, two, three, no.

All right, let’s try it one more time. One, two, three, no. See how easy that is? So when the devil comes after you, no, no. He offers you a drink, no, no, just no. That perdable girl walls will up to you to hello big boy. No, no. Then you run for your life. And I believe that’s what you need to do. When it comes to the devil, run for your life. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Now look at the verse, submit. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will what? He’ll flee from you. Resist the devil. Because you know, you can’t get anywhere with you. Learn the scriptures, quote the scriptures, stand upon the word of God and learn to say no, resist. Not down at the bottom of the Greek word, for resist is the word from which we get our word, antihistamine. It means you’ve got a bad cold. Your eyes are running and your nose is running.

And you take something to try to dry it up a little bit. And it helps to resist the call. And I think everybody’s got a few of these things in their cabinet. But learn the power of resisting. Say no. And already determine your mind. How are you going to handle something if some great temptations comes your way? No. No. And sometimes you can begin to think things you shouldn’t think. No, that’s not good. For God so loved the world.

The devil tried to put this thought in you. For God so loved the world. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, 4, by grace, so you save through faith. You’d be surprised what you might have to do. Start quoting some scripture, think about some else, start singing a song. Look what he said, the last part of the verse, the last part of that verse there says, whom resist steadfast in the faith? How do you resist the devil? Be instead fast in the faith.

Know what you believe, know why you believe it, and stand there and you don’t move. And you don’t listen to every wind of doctrine, it comes along. You’ve got to be strong. So you’re in a battle, understand it. There’s the devil, and God doesn’t eliminate the devil, or he’s tricks in the wiles of the devil in the tree. He just gave you something to fight it. You’ve been listening to another great message from Pastor Arnold, and we at Bibleline thank you for tuning in.

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Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. We’re leaving that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.