We're talking on these Sunday evenings during
these summer months about our enemy, the devil.
We have an adversary that we contend with. The
Christian life is not just floating down the
river like a chip in the stream, but rather we
are confronted with an adversary who seeks our
destruction, who wants to neutralize us in our
effectiveness for Jesus Christ in this life.
We are told by Peter that we are to be on guard
against our adversary. And to do that, we have
to know something about him and the way that
he works. The last time we talked about this,
two weeks ago tonight, we dealt with John 8 .44.
Perhaps you'd like to turn there in your Bible
to one key verse that gives us actually two of
the characteristics. of this angelic beast with
which we fight. In John 8, 44, Jesus says, You
are of your father the devil, and you want to
do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning and does not stand in the
truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever
he speaks the lie, literally, the lie, He speaks
from his own nature, for he is a liar and the
father of lies. So in that verse we see, number
one, that he is a murderer. He has been from
the beginning. He brought death into the world
through the temptation of our parents, Adam and
Eve. He was the one who instigated the first
murder, the murder of Abel by his brother Cain,
according to 1 John chapter 3. And down through
the years, Satan has been a murderer. He has
sought to murder the Jewish people, for example.
We pointed out some examples of that, biblically
and then in more recent history. He sought to
murder the Lord Jesus Christ. And frankly, if
he could, if he were permitted to, he would seek
to murder you and remove you from the face of
the earth as well. He is a murderer. And murder
finds its root in Satan. But we also pointed
out in talking about that, that there are some
associated sins with murder. For example, hatred.
1 John 3 .15 tells us that if we hate our brother,
we are guilty of murder. That's strong language,
but it's true. None of us have ever pulled the
trigger and shot someone else. But there have
been times when we have harbored in our hearts
a hatred for a brother in Christ. That is the
sin of murder. We talked about gossip as being
associated with murder. Life and death, says
Proverbs, are in the power of the tongue. And
those who love it will eat its fruit. With the
tongue, we can execute another person. We can
slay that person's reputation. We saw that anger
as well is associated with murder. Jesus talks
about it in Matthew chapter 5. That smoldering,
nursed anger, that brooding bitterness, that
too is akin to murder. We want to have nothing
to do with murder. That is satanic. And then
we have seen also that Satan is a liar. He is
never truthful. He seeks to deceive. He himself
is thoroughly deceived. You know why? We know
that because he reads the Bible. He knows what
the Word of God says. He knows what God has said
about his future. And yet he is so thoroughly
self -deceived, he believes that somehow he will
work around the judgment that God has already
pronounced upon him. As much as he has thoroughly
deceived himself, he seeks to deceive others
as well. We are warned in the New Testament to
be truthful people. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter
4. I don't think we ever quite got to that point
the last time. So let's look at this passage.
Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 22. In
reference to your former manner of life, he says,
Lay aside the old self which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit, that
you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and
put on the new self which in the likeness of
God has been created in righteousness and holiness
of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood,
speak truth. each one of you with his neighbor,
for we are members of one another. We talked
about that this morning, didn't we? If we lie
to someone else, we are actually lying to ourselves
because we're members one of another. He says,
be angry, do not sin, do not let the sun go down
upon your wrath, do not give the devil an opportunity.
We are to stay away from anything to do with
falsehood, with lying, with deceiving. We're
to be an honest people, a truthful people. May
that characterize us as the children of God.
But I'd like for us to turn now to another passage.
This one, Matthew chapter 4. We're going to notice
a third characteristic of this angelic beast
that we battle. Matthew chapter 4, verse 3 gives
it to us. He is a murderer. He is a liar. And
now we're going to see in tonight's study that
he is the tempter. That is his work. He is the
tempter. He seeks to entice people to sin against
God. In chapter 4, verse 1, then Jesus was led
up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
by the devil. After he had fasted 40 days and
40 nights, he then became hungry, and the tempter
came and said to him. And so we see that Satan
is called the tempter as well. He seeks to allure
men to sin, to commit evil. God never does that.
In James chapter 1, we read that God himself
cannot be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt
any man with it. You say, but doesn't the Bible
talk about God testing us? Yes. God does test
us. His purpose in that is not to get us to fall,
not to entrap us in some wickedness, but God's
purpose in testing us is to prove us. Much as
an assayer would put gold through certain tests
to prove that it's genuine gold, or a gem expert
would look at a diamond and put it through tests
to make sure that it's a genuine diamond. So
God puts us through tests to prove our genuineness,
and we should count that precious. But God never
tempts us to sin. Who does then? Of course, it's
Satan. He is the tempter. Satan may directly
tempt us, himself or through one of his demons,
as we'll see in a few moments, or he may choose
to use the world system to launch the snare against
us. You say the world system, what is that? When
we talk about the world system, we are talking
about the organized evil that controls unregenerate
people in the world. We're talking about a system
of thought, a way of looking at life, a way of
doing things, a way of doing business. We're
talking about a system that is intellectual,
that is religious, that is scientific, but a
whole system, a whole philosophy, if you please,
that is opposed to God. That is the world system.
And 1 John 5 says that that world system lies
in the wicked one, the pictures of Satan rocking
his baby. The world system is his baby. He has
carefully constructed it since back in the beginning
in Genesis chapter 3. And he now has it fine
-tuned so that the world system functions. to
achieve his purpose. He has a course for this
age, and he uses the world system to move history
in that direction. He also uses that world system
to entice us to sin. Again, it's John who writes
about this, and I ask you to turn with me to
1 John 2. These are familiar words to Bible students.
John tells us in verse 15, do not love the world.
I emphasize again, he is not saying do not love
unsaved people because God loves unsaved people.
John 3 .16, for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever should
believe in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. So God loves the world of unsaved people,
but we're commanded here not to love the world
system. That's the way John is using this word.
Nor the things in the world. If anyone loves
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
He says, for all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful
pride of life is not from the Father, but is
from the world. You will notice three key phrases
here, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and what is called the boastful pride of
life. There we have underscored for us three
of the weapons that Satan uses through the world
system to entice us to become disobedient to
our Lord. Let's talk about them briefly. The
lust of the flesh. If I were to condense that
phrase to one word, it would be the word pleasure.
Now please understand there's nothing innately
wrong with pleasure. God created us to enjoy
things. Indeed, God wants us to have pleasure
in things. But it's talking here about pleasures
that are abused or misused. physical appetites,
the desires that we have. Satan seeks to use
those, to twist them, so that by them we sin
against God. We're talking about the improper
gratification of our desires. That's what he's
talking about, the lust of the flesh. Now, would
you go with me back to Genesis chapter 3? Put
your finger there. And then turn to Luke chapter
4. I want you to see that these three weapons
were used in the garden, and they were used also
against the Lord Jesus Christ. They are weapons
that you face every day of your life. In Genesis
chapter 3, verse 6, we see this clause regarding
the temptation of Eve. It says, when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food. Now, was
there anything wrong with her being hungry? No.
Was there anything wrong with her desiring food?
No. But there was something wrong with this particular...
because God had said, don't eat of this tree.
So you see, Satan used that natural appetite
that she had and launched an attack against her,
caused her to see that fruit that was forbidden
and to desire it. So she saw that the tree was
good for food. That is the lust of the flesh.
seeking to gratify the desire improperly, the
desire even that God had given improperly. Now
go and see the same thing in Luke chapter 4 as
we move ahead to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
very first temptation, the devil said to him,
If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to
become bread. You will notice in the previous
verse it says that for 40 days Jesus had... ate
nothing, had eaten nothing. And when that time
was over, he was very hungry. Anything wrong
with that? No. That was normal. He was hungry.
And Satan used that appetite, which was very
normal, to launch an attack. And his temptation
was, if you're the Son of God, tell this stone
to become bread. So he is calling upon Jesus
to fulfill that appetite improperly, out of the
will of God. Now, you can go right down the list
of appetites and desires that all of us have,
which God has given to us, which are a part of
our humanity. And you can think of how Satan
uses the lusts, the desires of our flesh to launch
attacks against us. Appetites that are normal,
but which Satan seeks to twist and use so that
we will be tempted to fulfill them improperly.
And commit evil against the Lord. So there's
the lust of the flesh. That's pleasure. Pleasures.
And then with your fingers still in, I hope you
have a lot of fingers tonight. Fingers still
there in Luke and in Genesis. Go back to 1 John.
And let's look at the second phrase. He says,
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes. What the eyes see.
And again, if I were to condense this, I would
condense into one word, possessions. Satan tempting
us to procure that which visually delights us.
We see it, but then we want it. We want it. Is
there anything wrong with possessions? No. There's
nothing wrong with possessions. But when covetousness
enters in, When greed is involved, then it's
sin. So he talks here about the lust of the eyes.
Now go back again to Genesis, and let's see how
it played a part in the original temptation.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for
food and that it was a delight, what? To the
eyes. She said, this is beautiful. I desire this.
Whether she had it in her hand or not, I'm not
sure at that point. But she looked upon that
fruit and she wanted it. She wanted to possess
it for herself. The lust of the eyes, possessions.
And then go to Luke chapter 4. We have to do
this quickly. And look at the second temptation
as Luke records it. In verse 6, the devil said
to him, I will give you all this domain and its
glory. What domain is that? Well, look in verse
5. He led him up and showed him. Let him see
all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. And having seen that, he says to Jesus,
I will give you all this domain and its glory.
It's been handed over to me, and I give it to
whomsoever I wish. By the way, Jesus didn't rebuke
him or say, you don't have the right to do that.
He did. And so our Lord Jesus was tempted not
only in the area of the lust of the flesh, but
in the lust of the eyes. He was allowed to see
all the kingdoms of the world at once, and Satan
says, now I will give you this if you will but
worship me. Worship me. Well, is it God's purpose
for him to be the Lord of all of those domains?
Of course it is, but that was not God's way.
Satan sought to use the lust of the eyes, what
Jesus could see, to launch an attack against
him. He does the same thing with us. He allows
us to see things, and he builds within us, if
we allow him to, a temptation of covetousness
for that thing that we see and desire for ourselves.
Again, there's nothing wrong with having possessions.
God gives them to us. But we should not go out
and seek to put them first to get them in a way
that God does not intend for us to get them.
Now let's notice the third phrase in 1 John 2,
verse 16, where it speaks about the pride of
life, the boastful pride of life. And so again,
if I were to condense this, it would be into
the one word, position. Attaining some valued
honor in the sight of the world or of others
or even ourselves. It's position. The pride of
life. Something in which we can feel boastful
that we have attained, we have accomplished this.
It may be something tangible or intangible. A
position. An attainment. Now let's go back to
Genesis chapter 3, and we see this again built
into the original temptation. The woman saw that
the tree was good for food. That's pleasure,
fulfillment of an appetite. That it was a delight
to the eyes. She wanted it. She wanted to possess
it. But then it says, and that the tree was desirable
to make one wise. Wise in what way? Wise in knowing
the difference between good and evil. Wise in
being like God. You see, she wanted to have that
position of wisdom. Now, could she have known
the difference between good and evil? Yes, on
the basis of what God said to her. But she wanted
to experience it for herself. She did. Now let's
go to Luke chapter 4. And we'll notice in the
third temptation. of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
verse 9, it says that Satan led him to Jerusalem
and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down from here. It's written he will
give his angels charge concerning you to guard
you. And on their hands they will bear you up
lest you strike your foot against a stone. And
so Satan is saying to our Lord, If you are truly
the Son of God, then prove it. Show your position.
so that the people can acknowledge you, recognize
who you are, cast yourself down, and prove that
you are the one that is spoken about in that
Messianic Psalm in the Old Testament. You see
here again, it was the pride of life. Is it wrong
to be honored? No. When God brings that honor,
God has his way, God has his time. You see, in
this case, Satan was seeking to short -circuit
God's way and God's time. just as he so often
does with us. And so the Satan will use the world
system to tempt us with pleasures, with possessions,
with position. And when he tempts us, he finds
something in us that he did not find in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nor did he find it in Eve, because
she was innocent. What he finds in us is sin,
the principle of sin that still indwells us.
That sin is there. We are a new creature in Jesus
Christ, and yet there dwells within us that power,
that principle of sin. It is not gone. It's still
there. And when Satan from the outside tempts
us, there is that within us which responds. And
if we allow it to, it will respond positively.
to that temptation, to that snare that the enemy
presents. We also have within us what the Bible
calls the flesh. I would define the flesh as
that pattern of behavior left behind by the old
man. It's that programming that was done by what
we were in Adam. That's the flesh. And it has
ugly works to it. And when temptation is presented
from the outside, By Satan, there is that within
us which immediately responds if we allow it
to positively to accept that enticement to evil.
So that brings us to the more significant question,
really, of what we've talked about. Does Satan
tempt? Yes. That's how he tempts. Now, can we
have victory over temptation? And the answer
to that is absolutely yes. We can have victory
over temptation. We are not helpless victims
to our enemy. Tempt us though he may, we can
know victory over him. How do you say it? How
can we know victory over him? I want to give
you three answers to that, and with that we will
close tonight. We can know victory over Satan,
number one, because of our position in Christ.
Our position in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to the earth and partook of our humanity.
Let's see this. We're back in 1 John. Let's back
up a few pages to Hebrews chapter 2. In verse
14 it says, He partook of the nature of our humanity.
Verse 17 of Hebrews 2, it says that He was made
like His brethren in all things. that he might
become a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people. Look at verse 18.
For since he himself was tempted in that which
he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid
of those who are tempted. Now look over in chapter
4. Let your eyes drop down to verse 15. We do
not have a high priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted
in all things, as we are, yet without sin. Let
us therefore draw near with confidence to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in the time of need, in that
moment of stress, in that time when we are facing
the temptation. We have one who is able to help
us. We are in Jesus Christ. He came to this earth.
He became one of us, but without our sin. He
experienced all of the temptation that you can
face, that I can face, indeed more than we could
ever face. He conquered it. There was nothing
in him to respond to it. He is a total victor
over temptation. And because we are in him, we
too can have victory. I want to tie this together
with what is said in Romans chapter 6. We talked
about this in Romans some time ago, and I guess
there were some of you who weren't here then.
In Romans chapter 6, I want you to notice what
he says in verse 6. Knowing this, that our old
self was crucified with him. that our body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves to sin. What's he saying? Before
we were saved, when we were but old men, we had
no new men. Before we were saved, we were slaves
to sin, so that when the temptation came, we
responded. There was nothing... to inhibit us
from responding. It was natural for us to respond
to temptation. We were slaves to it. We did its
beck and call. And then it says in verse 7, He
who has died is freed from sin. He is saying
here that we died with Jesus Christ, we've been
raised with Him. Because we have died with Jesus
Christ, in His death we are freed from sin. So
that we do not have to obey it any longer. He
says in verse 8, But alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So he says your position in Christ is this. You
died to sin. And though sin is still within you
and will seek to respond to temptation, you don't
have to listen to it. You're dead to it. You
can respond if you choose to do so, but you don't
have to. You're not enslaved to it any longer.
That's why he says in verse 12, Therefore do
not let sin reign as king, is the real meaning
of that word. Reign as king in your mortal body
that you should obey its lusts. And do not go
on presenting the members of your body to sin
as instruments of unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those alive from the dead
and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God, for sin shall not be master over you.
Because of our position in Jesus Christ, we do
not have to obey. We do not have to listen to
sin. Now, of course, the fact is that we do.
We do. And I'm glad that John writes what he
does in 1 John 2, 1. He says, these things I
write to you that you stop sinning. But if any
man does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the
propitiation for our sins. He cares for them.
He's our advocate. When we do sin, we have one
who stands before the Father to intercede on
our behalf, so that we are without condemnation
for our sin. But be that as it may, God's will
for us is that we do not sin, and we don't have
to. We don't have to because of our position
in Jesus Christ. He was victorious over sin,
and we are too in Him. Let me go on to a second
key to our victory over temptation. And this
is the armor that God has given us to wear. In
Ephesians chapter 6. We're not going to take
time to look at this in a great amount of detail,
but let's notice what he says. Beginning in verse
13, he says, Therefore take up the full armor
of God. The word there is panopleon. It means
that full array of armor that God makes available,
magnificent as it is. He says, take up the full
armor of God that you may be able to resist in
the evil day. That is, in the day when evil comes
against you with its temptation. How do you resist?
Take up the armor. And having done everything
to stand firm against that enticement to sin.
Stand firm therefore, and here's the armor, having
girded your loins with truth. This first piece
of the armor is... compared to that heavy girdle
or belt that Roman soldiers wore around their
waist. It was not only to protect them in their
midsection, but really to strengthen their back,
their torso, for the fighting that they had to
endure. It was thick, it was heavy, it was protective.
And he calls that girdle that we are to put on
the girdle of truth, or maybe better, truthfulness.
I believe that what the apostle is saying to
us here is that we are not to allow deceit or
hypocrisy to creep into our lives, for that is
an opening for Satan. But we are to be a truthful
people. We are to be without hypocrisy. To put
it another way, in a way that Bill Gothard would
appreciate, we are to be a people with a clear
conscience. Clear conscience. so that our conscience
is not smiting us. We are to put on truthfulness.
And then he says that we are also to put on the
breastplate of righteousness. That, of course,
was that thick shield that went over the chest
of the soldier to protect the vital organs within.
And he says that we are to put on that breastplate
called righteousness. It's talking here about
holy living, righteous living, moral uprightness.
We're to put that on. We're to be the kind of
people who are known as being good people, righteous
people, holy people. When you and I allow sin
to invade our lives, we leave it unconfessed,
and it begins to fester there. That leaves us
open to Satan's attack. We are to put on the
breastplate of righteousness. When we sin, we
confess it, get it away, get it cleansed, remove
it, so that we are a righteous people. The breastplate
of righteousness. Then he talks about the feet
being shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. I have heard that explained any number
of ways. But I think the best explanation that
I have found, which I think makes sense with
the word of God, is this. The sandals of the
Roman soldier were such that they were bound
with heavy thongs around the calf of the leg.
And those thongs would go under the instep and
around the ankle so that the shoes could not
possibly come off. And not only that, they were
studded with nails. So that as the soldier would
take a stand, he would plant his feet, and he
was tough to move. He was tough to move. And
so he says, we are to shod our feet with what
he calls here the gospel of peace, the preparation.
That word really means the firm footing. of the
gospel of peace. And it seems to me by the gospel
of peace, what he's really referring to is the
good news that we are at peace with God. In other
words, he's telling us here that we are to have
confidence in our lives, that we are at peace
with God. The gospel, the good news of peace,
rather than being filled with doubt and wonder
and uncertainty, We are to have a blessed confidence
about us that all is well between ourselves and
God. That is the firm footing that we can stand
upon as we fight against our enemy. Confidence.
And then he talks about the shield of faith in
verse 16. This shield was oblong, two and a half
feet by four feet, made out of leather. Leather
that was often soaked with oil so as to quench
fiery arrows that would be fired, shot against
the soldier. And the arrow would hit that leather
shield, sink into it, and because of the oil,
it would be put out. The blaze would go out.
And so we are to take our shield and to put it
up against the fiery darts of the evil one. Now,
I wouldn't want to imagine what a fiery arrow
would have felt like hitting your body. But I
think all of us are familiar with the fiery darts
that Satan wings our way. And it begins to burn
within us some temptation. Perhaps a temptation
to doubt God. It just burns away within. How
do we put that out? How do we deal with that
doubt? He talks here about the shield of faith.
I tell you, doubt is a powerful weapon, and Satan
can destroy your life with it. That's why we
need the shield of faith, a firm trust in God
to keep his promises. He talks about the helmet
of salvation in verse 17. I don't think he is
talking here about our salvation from sin. Why
would a Christian need to take up that helmet?
He's already saved from sin. It seems to me he's
talking about the future deliverance that we
have in Jesus Christ, the consummation of our
salvation when we will be with the Lord. And
the idea is here that we are to be filled with
hope because we know that the ultimate victory
is already ours in Jesus Christ. And God has
power to bring about His purposes. and the victory
He has declared for us. And so we have the helmet
upon our head of complete hope in the fact that
God is going to fulfill all the promises of salvation
that He's given to us. And then he talks about
the sword of the Spirit, the offensive weapon
here. These have been defensive thus far. This
sword, as you probably know, is not that big
dude that they would swing. Three or four feet
long, but it's just about 18 inches long. It's
a little thing. It was really an assassin's dagger.
That's the word. It's only valuable up close.
You have a soldier coming at you with a four
-foot sword. You don't pull out your dagger.
You pull out that dagger when you're in hand
-to -hand combat. And then you use it. up close,
and you aim for a vital organ to immediately
put the enemy to death. Not a very pretty picture,
but a powerful one. And you will recall, we didn't
read it, but in this context, he talks about
us being in hand -to -hand wrestling with the
enemy. That's why he talks about the dagger at
this point. Now, it says here that that dagger
that we have is the sword of the spirit, the
sword of the spirit, rather, is the word of God.
Now he again chooses carefully the word for word
here. It's not the word logos, which we would
think of for the whole Bible, the logos of God,
but it's the word rhema of God. The idea is the
spoken word or the specific utterance of God.
And the thought seems to be this, that when we
are in hand -to -hand combat with the enemy,
We are facing a temptation. We are to pull out
of the Logos, the Bible, a specific utterance
of God applying to that temptation and we're
to shove it to him. Are you dealing with lying?
Then pull out a verse, a rhema, a dagger regarding
truthfulness and give it to the enemy. Is it
lust? Then pull out a dagger dealing with that
and shove it to him. That's the importance of
hiding God's word in our hearts so that we have
the right dagger to use as we are in this hand
-to -hand combat. So is there victory over temptation?
Yes. Because God has provided for us in armor.
And we are to stand firm. We are to resist the
enemy. We're not to run from him. We are to use
that dagger effectively, the Word of God. And
then he concludes in verse 18 by talking about
prayer. And he says that that is the energy in
which we are to fight with all prayer and petition.
Pray at all times in the Spirit with this in
view. Be on the alert with all perseverance and
petition for all the saints. So we're to enter
into this battle with the energy of prayer. We
are to be a praying people. I want to close with
one final verse, and that's found in 1 Corinthians
10, 13. Is there victory over temptation? Yes.
First, because of our position in Jesus Christ,
who was tempted like we are and did not sin.
He died to sin and was raised from the dead.
We have died to sin and are raised to walk in
newness of life. We have victory over temptation
because of our position in Christ, secondly because
of the armor that we have, and finally because
of our promise. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and
verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you, but
such as is common to man. And God is faithful.
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what
you are able, but with the temptation will provide
the way of escape also, that you may be able
to endure it. My promise is that God will not
allow me to be tempted beyond that I am able
to endure by His Spirit. He provides a way out
and escape from that temptation. If you think
about it and you're honest, you will remember
that there are times in your life, as I can remember
there are times in my life, when God has provided
the way out and I said, no thanks. That's not
God's problem, that's mine. Because my promise
is that God will not allow me to be tempted beyond
what I'm able. He'll provide the way out. I'll
be able to endure it. We're all tempted. We're
all tempted. Satan is the tempter. But in Jesus
Christ, ours is the victory. Because of who he
is, because of the armor he's given us, because
of the promise that we have. Well, let's pray.
Thank you, Father in Heaven, for that which we
have in Jesus Christ, because we are in him.
And I pray that what we've gone through tonight
will be more than an intellectual exercise of
learning more truth about the Bible. I pray that
you will make this practical to our lives. Lord,
we face temptation tonight. We'll face it tomorrow.
Thank you for the provisions that you have made
that we might have victory in Jesus Christ. Our
prayer is that you will... so powerfully work
in our lives that we will obey your word and
not sin. But thank you that when we do sin, the
Lord Jesus is our advocate. Now, Father, I pray
for those that are dealing tonight with some
specific temptation. There are some here who
are struggling in ways that no one knows about
with the enemy. I pray that you will bring glorious
victory in that area of battle. May each of us
be able to look to you tonight in a fresh new
way and claim that victory. Maybe we've come
in, Father, fatigued from the battle. But I pray
that we will go out reassured and strong in the
Lord, claiming the victory that is ours in Christ.
And we pray this in his name. Amen.