I Would Not Have You to Be Ignorant, Brethren - Satan's Devices - Division

 Temple Baptist Church - 5-5-2024

2 Corinthians 2:1-11

 

Introduction:  In these verses, we find the restoration of the fallen brother found in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5.  He got right with the Lord and was forgiven, but the church would not forgive him.  Paul did not want them to be ignorant of the danger of unforgiveness, one of Satan’s devices.

 

A.  I want to continue to preach for a while on the subject of Ignorance.  My work as a pastor is to make sure that you are not ignorant, and your job is to make sure that you are not willfully ignorant!  We have the Word of God, so we are accountable to it.

 

1.  Last week, we saw the ignorance of Israel concerning God’s righteousness.

 

Romans 10:3-4  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.  (4)  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

 

2.  This morning, I want to start preaching on ignorance of Satan’s Devices.  I am not sure how far that I will get this morning, but I am in no hurry because of the importance of what I am preaching so just hang in there.

 

B.  Lucifer is a powerful angel.  He is a God hater and therefore hates God’s children.  Our Lord said that He was hated first, and that hatred would be passed on to us.

 

John 15:18-20  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  (19)  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.  (20)  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

 

C.  I do not want to preach a series on Satanology or Angelogy (fallen angels) but, in order to understand the fallen angels, we must explore them within the context of Scriptures.

 

D.  Lucifer was a special angel, a defender of the holiness of God.  Lucifer tried to overthrow the throne of God to no avail and God said, “I will destroy thee, O covering cherub!”  Lucifer is a damned angel.  I want to look at a couple of very interesting verses:

 

E.  Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels. 

 

Ezekiel 28:18  Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

 

Matthew 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

 

1.  Satan is Determined.  He will never give up nor give an inch.  In his determination, he does not negotiate nor compromise.

 

2.  Satan is Dangerous.  His ultimate goal is to destroy everything God created.

 

3.  Satan is Deceptive.  In heaven, with God on His throne, Satan convinced 1/3 of the angels there to rebel.  And we think he cannot deceive us.

 

4.  WE ARE NOT IGNORANT of his devices! 

 

a)  He has used the same devices since he sinned against God in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28! 

 

b)  I used the phrase “willfully ignorant” last week because we all have seen what Satan through love of the world has done to people that we know! 

 

1)  He has destroyed their lives!

 

2)  He has destroyed their families!

 

3)  He has destroyed their health!

 

4)  He has destroyed their testimonies!

 

5)  He has destroyed their usefulness!

 

c)  Satan uses different Devices for different People.  We all have our strong points and weaknesses.

 

d)  Satan uses different Devices for different Purposes.  Sometimes, Satan attacks people and sometimes he attacks churches/governments, etc.

 

e)  Satan uses these same devices over and over.  Satan does the same thing the same way because it too often brings about the same results.

 

1)  I love devices.  Gadgets, appliances, tools, machines, mechanisms, etc.  Devices are normally specific in their usage to get certain jobs done. 

 

2)  I love Harbor Freight.  They have a tool for about everything that you will ever need to get done.  I drop my wife off at Big Lots (female version of Harbor Freight) which is about three hundred feet away from Harbor Freight and tell her to “shop till you drop!”

 

3)  Satan’s Devices are designed for singular purposes.  They are not profound in their design.  They are quite simple but highly effective in their work. I have many tools in my workshop that I do not use often as these tools are made for specific jobs.

 

4)  I said all that to say this, we can know and fully understand what Satan’s Devices are doing and still allow them to work in our lives to the detriment of our spiritual condition and God’s work!

 

F.  This morning, I want to look at Satan’s Device of Division. 

 

1.  I would say that the subject of division is one that I preach on more than any else, and especially over the past few years as the coming of our Lord draws nigh. 

 

2.  Satan has pulled out all of the “stops” in his unending efforts to destroy the effectiveness of both families and the local church.    As goes the family, so goes the local church!

 

3.  The pastor’s nightmare!  Division!  We must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices and one of his best is division. 

 

G.  Families are falling apart and marriages no longer lasting.  Then there is the local church.  So many local churches are without a pastor.  Smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter!  Some churches have “run the pastor off,” while in others, the pastor (it is always easy to blame the church rather than to blame oneself) ran himself off.

 

H.  Satan’s Device of Division in the local church.

 

1.  Sometimes, wicked people get in the church and divide.

 

2.  More often, saved people get their priorities wrong and strive, one with another.

 

a)  Through Carnality

 

b)  Through Biblical Ignorance

 

c)  Through Willful Immaturity

 

d)  Through Satanic Influence

 

J.  It is imperative that we remain united and strong as the work of the Lord is of the utmost importance and only a unified body will be effective in reaching the lost.  This type of preaching is not a new thing, nor should it be a sporadic one.  It must be preached often with a no-nonsense approach.  Look in Acts 20:28-31 with me.

 

Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

 

K.  The most important unit on the face of the earth other than the family is the local church.  Satan hates the local Church!

 

L.  Division can cause much damage to the local church by:

 

1.  Division Destroys The Fellowship Of The Church.  (People sit on the pews of the church with malice and unforgiveness in their hearts.)

 

2.  Division Destroys The Commission Of The Church.  (Missions have been damaged because of gaining a family and then loosing a family through spiritual nonsense!)

 

3.  Division Destroys The Testimony Of The Church. (Church fights and splits have been detrimental to the prosperity of the church, both physically and financially.)

 

4.  Division Destroys The Posterity Of The Church.  (Children both see and hear the ungodliness of the parents.  It affects their spirituality and, eventually, they are lost.

 

5.  Division Destroys The Worship Of The Church.  (God and His Holy Spirit are grieved with this division and worship is neither holy nor acceptable.)

 

6.  Division Destroys The Evangelism Of The Church.  (Instead of keeping our eyes upon the harvest and doing all that we can to win souls, our time is spent in bitterness and souls are lost.)

 

7.  Division Hinders The Prayers Of The Saints.  (Malice and unforgiveness are sins and when we regard iniquity in our hearts, our prayers go unheard.)

 

M.  Division damages the individual believer.

 

1.  It Will Divide You From The Pastor – Your Friend

 

2.  It Will Divide You From The Pulpit – God’s Message

 

3.  It Will Divide You From The People – Your Brethren

 

4.  It Will Divide You From The Peace Of God – Your Joy

 

5.  It Will Divide You From The Place – God’s House

 

6.  It Will Divide You From The Purpose – God’s Harvest

 

N.  How To Stop Division!

 

1.  Always Give Others The Benefit Of The Doubt - 1 Corinthians 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

 

2.  Learn To Forgive And To Forget - Ephesians 4:31-32  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

 

3.  Beware Of The Root Of Bitterness - Hebrews 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

 

4.  Keep Your Eye Focused Upon The Purpose - Philippians 1:27   Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

 

Philippians 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

 

5.  Esteem Others Better Than Self - Philippians 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

 

Philippians 2:1-4   If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

 

6.  Learn To Keep Your Mouth Shut When There Is A Problem - Proverbs 6:16-19  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Stewardship and Faithfulness

 Temple Baptist Church - 10-22-2023

2 Corinthians 13:5

 

Introduction:  Steward – a house overseer, manager, or distributor.  One in possession of another’s goods.  Each believer is a steward, either good or bad of the Lord’s.

I believe that Dr. Bob Jones Sr. is the one who said, “The greatest ability is dependability!”

 

A. The First Mention of Faithfulness: Numbers 12:7  My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

 

The Last Mention: Revelation 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

 

B.  During these days of the “falling away,” we find that unfaithfulness has become a way of life to most. 

 

1.  Faithfulness is one of the greatest attributes because, no matter how great a

We see more and more of God’s people carelessly living for self in this present evil world.  If a person is not on his or her job, they are not productive.

 

2.  Today’s motto is “It’s my life; it is my business, and NONE of yours.”

 

C.  Faith is the basis for our faithfulness.  We are faithful because it is commanded; because it is right, because it is rewarding!  When Christ returns, will He find us with enough faith in Him to keep us faithful?  Faithfulness is important.

 

Proverbs 20:6  Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

 

D.  I know that I am growing old and time for me is growing short, but my spiritual desire is to continue in faithfulness.  So many of God’s men have laid down the “sword of God’s Word” and stepped aside to live out their days in self-satisfaction.

 

E.  God said that faithfulness is a requirement, not a choice. 

 

1.  Am I faithful? Is a question that only I can answer. 

 

2.  Are you faithful?  It is a question that only you can answer.

 

F.  Alright, what is all the fuss about faithfulness and who or what does unfaithfulness affect?  To whom is our faithfulness important?

 

1.  Our Faithfulness is important to the Lord.  Matthew 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 

 

a.  If we are faithful for no other reason, we should be so because it pleases the Lord!  This should be our primary motive. 

 

b.  Paul said, “For me to live is Christ!”  Unfaithful people care little about what the Lord thinks.

 

2.  Our Faithfulness is important to the faithful.  John 20:19-24  Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.  (20)  And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.  (21)  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.  (22)  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:  (23)  Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.  (24)  But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 

 

a.  I am sure that the disciples knew and missed Thomas because later they told him that they had seen the Lord.

 

b.  Think about what Thomas missed:  he missed seeing Jesus, peace, seeing the wounds of our Lord, and (at that time) receiving the Holy Ghost.

 

3.  Our Faithfulness is important to our family.  Psalms 78:2-7  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:  (3)  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  (4)  We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.  (5)  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:  (6)  That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:  (7)  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 

 

a.  We want our families saved and serving the Lord but, often, we fail to tell them with our lives.  Thus, the saying, “Do not do what I do, do what I say do!” 

 

b.  We cannot expect our families to love God if we do not love God; we cannot expect our families to be faithful if we are not faithful!

 

4.  Our Faithfulness is important to your pastor.  Philippians 4:2  I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. 

 

a.  One of the most heartbreaking parts of pastoring is watching the unfaithfulness of God’s people.  We have a great church with, for the most part, faithful people and it is an encouragement to this pastor. 

 

b.  Pastors work hard to prepare something to feed their flocks each time they come to church, and it discourages them when God’s people do not come faithfully to hear God’s message.  Every service: every message is of the utmost importance to God’s people.

 

5.  Our Faithfulness is important to your church.  Hebrews 10:24-25  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:  (25)  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  

 

a.  The faithful are provoked unto love and provoke others unto love.  Provoked – motivated or incited.

 

b.  The faithful are exhorted and exhort others.  The faithful experience spiritual growth and edify the body.  The faithful are blessed.

 

6.  Our Faithfulness is important to your missionaries.  Philippians 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 

 

a.  When tithes and offerings are not there or come in late, the missionary often does without. 

 

b.  Missionaries on the field suffer the ups and down of support each month.

 

c.  Churches take on more new missionaries based upon the consistent level of finances that come in.

 

7.  Our Faithfulness is important to the unsaved.  Matthew 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

 

a.  If the unsaved see our unfaithfulness, they will not desire what we have, nor will they “glorify” our Father which is in heaven!” 

 

b.  In every family, mine and yours, there are those who are not saved.

 

Conclusion:  Our Lord’s question: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Stewardship and Examination - Spiritual Inventory

Temple Baptist Church - 10-15-2023

Psalm 26:2; 1 Corinthians 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5

 

Introduction: 

 A.  Last week, I preached on “Stewardship” and did not get my introduction preached, much less cover what I wanted to cover. 

 

1.  “Stewardship” means to be put in charge of another’s property or business.  With the believer’s stewardship, it is both. 

 

2.  “Stewardship” is responsibility over another’s property.  We are God’s property.  We are not our own as we have been bought with a price.  Our body is not our own because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost who lives within us.

 

3.  “Stewardship” is also responsibility over another’s business.  Once saved, our business is God’s business.

 

4.  “Stewardship” is a responsibility that requires faithfulness.

 

1 Corinthians 4:1-2  Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.  (2)  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

 

B.  Now, let us look at spiritual inventory as inventory is a necessity to make sure that we have all that we need and lack all that we do not need.  There are two aspects of spiritual inventory that are necessary for a right evaluation of stewardship:

 

1.  Examine me, O LORD.  Psalms 26:2  Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

 

a.  Most believers never ask God what He thinks.  Why is this?  Because they are afraid of what His answer would be.

 

Psalms 139:23-24  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:  (24)  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

b.  “Dear Lord, what do you think of my life; what do you think that I need to do; what do you think that I do not need to do?”

 

Colossians 3:1-2  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  (2)  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

 

c.  We need to ask for the Lord’s examination so as to prove us.  Put us to the acid test of the Bible.  Tear off the layers of excuses to find the truth of what and who we are.

 

1 Peter 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

 

d.  We need to ask for the Lord to examine our reigns.  The reign is an instrument used for guidance of a horse.  Are we “heady” as 1 Timothy 3 says.  We like to do what we want without checking for the approval of the owner of the business.  Who is in charge of our lives, us, or Him?

 

Psalms 31:3-5  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.  (4)  Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.  (5)  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

 

e.  We need to ask for the Lord to examine our hearts, our motives.  The pleasure of the world or the pleasure of the Lord.

 

1 John 2:15-17  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  (16)  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  (17)  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

 

2.  Self-Examination:  Self-examination MUST BE Bible Examination. 

 

1 Corinthians 11:28  But let a man examine himself …

 

2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

 

James 1:22-25  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  (23)  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  (24)  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  (25)  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

 

a.  Spiritual inventory takes proper examination.  I have been in business as I started 2 businesses from the ground up and helped to start a third.  Though I started these businesses, I did not own them but started them for someone else.  I was very careful when it came to inventory because I was accountable for both the merchandise and the efficiency of the operation of the business.

 

b.  Inventory is an important time of the year in a business.  Many stores only take inventory once a year, but the more often, the better.  I inventoried constantly as the business began with little inventory, so it was imperative that I knew what was in store.

 

c.  I inventoried for several reasons:

 

1)  To find out what was there.  I found things that I was unaware of.

 

2)  To find out how much was there.  I found that I sometimes had more and at other times less than I thought.

 

3)  To find out what was not there.  Sometimes I was surprised at what I had or what was missing.

 

d.  The same is true with the Christian life.  We need to scrutinize our lives:

 

1)  To find out what is there.  What we have and what we have done and are doing for Christ?

 

2)  To find out how much is there. (Are we doing enough, and can we improve in certain areas?

 

3)  To find out what is not there.  What we do not have or do not do that we need.  Adding what is lacking and disposing of what is not needed.

 

Conclusion: The Caution:  Because believers belong to God, He continues to have power over their 1) their blessings, 2) and their possessions. 

 

Job 1:20-21  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,  (21)  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.