The Plague of Boils, Insight into the Working of Satan

[0:00] So Exodus chapter 9 this morning, please find Exodus chapter 9. Little by little, moving our way through this book, each Sunday is something different.

[0:12] And last week we were looking at the fifth plague to where God sent this disease across the cattle and killed the cattle in the field.

[0:23] And we realized that they had an opportunity, a day, to do something about that. Where the Lord said, it's tomorrow's when I'm going to do this.

[0:34] And so they had time to prepare. And I preached to you about preparing for the pending plague where the Egyptians had the opportunity to do two things that I pointed out to protect what was important to them.

[0:47] We saw how the death of cattle in that economy was grave. There was a cascading effect affecting their farming, affecting their military, affecting their transportation, affecting their food and their meat and the milk and all of these things that cattle produced and affected their trade and so forth.

[1:10] So protecting that was important as well as preserving their investment. And what we really noticed from that for us today is that there are some things that are just too valuable for us as Bible-believing Christians to just leave out in the field to have taken from us.

[1:26] There's things that have been entrusted to us like the gospel of Jesus Christ, the simplicity of the gospel, as well as the holy words of God in the King James Bible.

[1:37] And on top of that, there's some things that you've invested and worked for already. Anytime you've fought your flesh and anything you've given up for Jesus Christ, any battles that you've endured and hardships and sorrows in the name of Christ, it's something that you've laid up for yourselves, treasures in heaven.

[1:52] And you want to look to yourselves that we lose not those things for which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. And so you too can be prepared for some harder times and some more days of testing ahead, and you don't want to lose your investment.

[2:07] Now, this sixth plague only has five verses, and I'll begin in verse number 8 of chapter 9 and read through verse 12. And so would you follow along?

[2:19] Exodus 9 and verse 8, And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

[2:29] And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blames upon man, and upon beasts throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took the ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh.

[2:42] And Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven, and it became a boil breaking forth with blames upon man and upon beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.

[2:57] And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. Now you're reading about boils. I think you have a concept of what boils are.

[3:10] It says it has boils, the breaking forth with blames upon man. As far as I understand, the blames are just that very similar. It's this inflamed, swollen skin that's blistering and red and irritated, and it's a very painful ordeal.

[3:28] To have one is one thing. It would irritate you and bother you until it was gone. To be covered in them is another thing to where you probably want to take your life rather than deal with the misery and the pain, and there's just the nonstop excruciation and misery all day and all night long.

[3:47] It would bother you when you try to sleep. It would bother you when you try to work. There's virtually nothing you can do to escape this. And so just as last week, as we didn't want to overlook the grievousness of the plague upon the cattle, we don't want to overlook how bad this thing was either, just because it's five verses and you move right on to the next one.

[4:08] What we're getting a glimpse of here is not a described time frame of how long this lasted, this plague, but it's a painful, it's a terrible time to be an Egyptian.

[4:19] Days of misery. They could have been days of productivity. They could have been days of industry or days of enjoyment. I don't think anybody's working. I don't think anybody's sitting back either and relaxing and enjoying a sunset or their grandkids play or enjoying the taste of some fresh fruit and the sweet.

[4:37] I don't think anybody's enjoying anything. I think this thing is bad, and it's got to be bad for the Lord to put this upon them. Their flesh was on fire.

[4:49] Their flesh and skin was irritated with a burning plague of boils. You know that the first five plagues, they experienced thirst when there was a week without water, and that's pretty grievous upon you.

[5:04] That's tough. You saw that they were nuisanced by the frogs and by the flies. They dealt with the itching and the scratching of the lice, and then the devastating loss of the cattle and how that affected them in just obtaining things and just how that would have taken a long-term effect on them.

[5:24] But that's one through five. Now we're on the last half of the plagues, number six, and this thing is just torment. This boils and blains breaking forth is torturing them, and there's no comfort and no relief.

[5:37] And it must have been a very painful time, because consider this. When Satan had an opportunity to put his hand upon the body of Job with the intention of getting that man to curse God, he chose boils.

[5:53] He chose what he felt was going to be something that's going to get through to him so much and aggravate him so bad that he would curse God. He didn't give him poison ivy. He didn't give him lice and have flies in his house.

[6:06] He gave him boils. And there's a connection that we're going to try to make here, considering that Satan has an interest in using boils. They must have been very bad. They must have been very painful.

[6:18] Now there's others in the Bible that have boils. We see Job, where he went through that time of testing. We see King Hezekiah, where he was recovered from his disease when the prophet told him to take a lump of fig trees and place it on the boil.

[6:32] And he recovered. And he lived 15 extra years. In Revelation 16, the first vial that the angel brings forth out of the temple and pours upon the earth is a noisome and grievous sore upon men.

[6:45] It's something that is tragic and tormenting. In Leviticus, the priest was to inspect the flesh of anybody that had red, inflamed rashes or boils in their skin to determine if it was leprous.

[7:01] And if it was, in fact, leprosy, there was certain protocols and there was things that he would look. And if it wasn't quite sure, he'd put him away for seven days, come back and see me. And if it turned into this, it was.

[7:12] If it wasn't, sometimes it wasn't leprosy. Sometimes it was just what the Bible calls a burning boil. What a pleasant word, a burning boil. Now, this here in Exodus 9 is the first time that boils are mentioned in Scripture.

[7:27] And I'm not going to paint much more picture than that. I think we have enough gross imagery already in our heads when we talk about it. But I hope we can learn something from this sixth plague here and see what's maybe some kind of underlying thought here.

[7:43] So let's pray and we need God's help. So, Father, please help us as we open up this Bible and read it and try to apply these five verses to our lives today as we try to see some things and understand some things in the spirit realm and what's happening and what we have to deal with and fight.

[8:01] God, give us grace and give us courage, give us strength. Please give us understanding, give each one ears to hear. Help me to be clear. And please help us not to be distracted but to get something from this morning's service.

[8:14] We pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So, I want to point out three things from this passage here, three things that are going to apply in a different realm, actually.

[8:27] But they're evident from this plague and what takes place. And the first thing I want to say is that there is an unescapable infiltration. And yes, I had to use these letters because it just matches my outline.

[8:41] So, bear with me. But that's how it goes up here. There's an unescapable infiltration of these boils. The spread of this plague is supernatural.

[8:54] It's not just breaking out in an elementary school and passing around. This is something that has covered the land. It started localized, perhaps in Pharaoh's throne room or at least in the presence of Pharaoh where he sprinkles a handful of dust of the ashes up in the air.

[9:13] It started localized and then it spread region wide, the entire land of Egypt. It was a limited amount of ashes and it covered all the land of Egypt.

[9:27] There's something supernatural going on. And of course, we understand that it's the hand of God doing this. So, it's not like it's a problem that we have to really deduce and figure out what it is.

[9:40] But for such range of a handful of ashes is physically impossible. It's evidence of a higher power being involved. I think it's obvious.

[9:52] And you can understand that. That was the Lord. And so, it doesn't matter how far away you live from where Moses is and where Pharaoh is. It doesn't matter how isolated or how quarantined you tried to be.

[10:04] Your skin broke out with boils. And it was bad. There was no escaping it. It infiltrated the homes of the taskmasters and the tradesmen alike. It infiltrated the homes of the builders and the bureaucrats, of the mothers and the children.

[10:20] And even the animals are suffering from this epidemic of boils. You cannot escape the reach of this plague. So, what can you think of that in some ways could be small and insignificant and even supposedly contained?

[10:37] What do you think of has the capability, though, to spread around the globe and to affect every single man, every single woman, every single child that has ever lived?

[10:50] It can appear insignificant and just not really that big a deal and worth our attention. And yet, it can cause so much damage and destruction. It can spread from a small handful to a large scale and a fully out-of-control epidemic.

[11:08] Now, don't anybody say coronavirus. Don't everybody think that way, although your minds went that way. But let's just let the Bible give us some light. Go to Romans chapter 5. I'm going to need you to be ready to turn to some scripture this morning.

[11:24] Find Romans chapter number 5. In this plague, we see an unescapable infiltration.

[11:41] The supernatural spread. In Romans chapter 5, if you found your place, I want you to look at verse number 12 and see something here that ought to correlate well.

[11:56] In verse 12, the Bible says, Wherefore? As by one man, sin entered into the world. But that wasn't that big of a deal.

[12:08] That was isolated to the Garden of Eden. And that was just one little thing of that fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They ate of it. I mean, big deal.

[12:20] You've thought and said and done a whole lot worse than that, haven't you? So really, this is just a small and insignificant thing, what Adam and Eve did. And yet the Bible says, For as by one man's sin entered into the world, Interesting.

[12:36] And death by sin, so that death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. Interesting.

[12:48] Interesting. One man's sin gets into the bloodstream of humanity and effects and corrupts and kills everyone without exception.

[13:00] For the Bible says, For the Bible says, For the wages of sin is death. And death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. And I might add, That back there in the garden, Where that insignificant sin, There was a serpent.

[13:16] There was an influence of another that pushed for that sin. That pushed for that separation from God, For that death to come about. Keep that in mind.

[13:27] There's the second mention of our adversary, the devil. In Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 20, The Bible says, For there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.

[13:41] There's not one. There's never been one but for the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. So sin is unescapable. Is it right?

[13:53] Amen. It is. It is. It's infiltrated your life. It's done terrible things in your life. It's messed you up.

[14:04] It's separated you from God. It's destroyed any purity and righteousness and innocence that once you held. And sin came in. Paul said, Sin revived and I died.

[14:18] And down you go. It's got you. And it's inescapable. And there's not one of us that can escape its presence. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 7, That sin dwelleth in me.

[14:32] You're not going to get away from it. Because it's in you. It's alive in you. It's living. It's not dormant. And Paul despised its presence in his flesh.

[14:44] And it despised that it had power over him. And he longed to be delivered from it. And I'm going to take you on a little Bible study right now. So, let's find John chapter 8.

[14:58] Come back to John chapter 8.

[15:30] We've already seen the instigation by the serpent in the garden. Now look at John chapter 8 and look at verse 44. Christ speaking to some men that were withstanding him.

[15:45] And he said, Ye are of your father, the devil. And notice the next phrase. And the lusts of your father ye will do. Your deeds are, he equates to or connects to the lusts of the father that they are of, the devil.

[16:07] Now this is not physically speaking. They're not born of Satan. Earlier in the passage, he recognized that they were Abraham's seed. Where is it at?

[16:22] In verse 37, Christ said, I know that ye are Abraham's seed. But then he says, You're of your father, the devil. Physically speaking, they were Jews.

[16:34] Spiritually speaking, their father was the devil. And the lust of your father ye will do. Now in verse 44, he describes lying and murder as two of those deeds that he did and that ye will do.

[16:49] And they sought to kill him. And they were liars and on and on. So just mark that thought down that the lusts of your father ye will do. Now let's turn back to 1 John, the epistle of 1 John, all the way toward the back of your Bible.

[17:02] You'll see three epistles of John. 1, 2, and 3. Find the first one and chapter number 3. 1 John chapter 3.

[17:18] And I want to point out a few verses. We've covered this in Sunday school, I believe, at one point.

[17:30] I want to point out verses 5 and then connect it to verse 9. 1 John 3, verse 5. 1 John 3, verse 5. 1 John 3, verse 5. And ye know that he was manifested.

[17:42] That's Jesus Christ. He was manifested to take away our sins. Make a note of that when it says, take away what? Our sins. He was manifested to take away our sins.

[17:54] Now look down at verse number 9. No, verse number 8, sorry. Verse 8. 1 John 3, verse 6. He that committeth sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested.

[18:09] Well, we just read why. To take away our sins. Here he says, he was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. The works of the devil.

[18:21] Some will just take that on some big grand scheme of Satan trying to oppose God. But this is individual stuff. He talks in verse 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil.

[18:32] Ye are of your father, the devil. And the lust of your father ye will do. And I was manifested. Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.

[18:43] And the works of the devil in verse 5 is our sins. Now let's compare this with one more passage. Come to Hebrews chapter. I'm sorry, Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2.

[18:57] The works of the devil. The lust of your father ye will do. Those works. Ephesians chapter 2.

[19:16] And just let the scripture speak here. If you're saved, you were made alive in Jesus Christ and given eternal life. And that's mentioned in verse 1.

[19:27] But before that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Because death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. Verse number 1 says, He says, You're dead in your trespasses and sins.

[20:09] And He's manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And He's manifested to take away our... Do you see what the points that are coming together here? Is that the lust of your father ye will do.

[20:19] The deeds of your flesh are the works of the devil. The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Working to do what?

[20:30] Verse 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in time past. In the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were by nature.

[20:41] Just nature. It was natural to us as sinners. The children of wrath even as others. And I believe in that flesh. The devil works his works.

[20:52] And has access. Because you're of your father, the devil. And I know this is a little bit heavy to jump into right here Sunday morning. And in this message about boils in the Old Testament. But putting these scriptures together in this little study.

[21:06] Sinners fulfill the lust of their father. And they do his works. His spirit is at work inside of them. The supernatural spread of sin.

[21:19] Affirms to me. That there is a higher or a wicked power behind it. I believe the spread of sin is supernatural. I believe its infiltration is unescapable.

[21:31] And it's evidence of the presence of Satan. Now I'll come back to where we were. In, I don't know if you even need to go there. We're going to bounce again.

[21:41] But I'll just go back to Exodus to read again this phrase. First we saw there was inescapable infiltration.

[21:53] I believe there's evidence of the work of the devil. In the amount, in the spread of sin in the human race. Not just did he incite it from the beginning.

[22:04] But it's his works being of your father, the devil. The spirit working inside and performing his works. Now Christians say, well I'm not possessed by the devil. Because I'm saved and Christ lives in me in the new man.

[22:18] But where does sin dwell? According to Paul. In the flesh. Remember he said, evil is present with me. And so I know it's a stretch for some people to think that.

[22:31] But I think the devil is the old man's daddy. You're of your father, the devil. And he gets to work early. There's a whole lot of discussion here that I don't want to get into.

[22:45] With some philosophical points of view of all of this. So we can discuss it over a cup of coffee sometime if you want to. But back in Exodus chapter 9.

[22:56] We read that he took handfuls of dust. Handfuls of the ashes of the furnace. And it became small dust in all the land of Egypt.

[23:08] And so there was a supernatural spread. An unescapable infiltration. And applying that thought to sin today. It shows us presence of Satan.

[23:18] But not only that. There's something secondly I want to say. That there is in this passage an unexplainable infection. It's a supernatural infection. You say why is that?

[23:30] Well the dust of ashes. They would be sterile. They came out of the furnace. Any virus, disease. Anything that could have been carried in.

[23:42] Anything would have been long burned up. And gone and destroyed. And completely eradicated. Ashes have virtually no properties to them. As soon as you push them.

[23:54] And rub them in your finger. They just totally disappear to dust. And it's just a little bit of color that remains. But not much else. Ashes are actually used in therapy for skin.

[24:09] And there's lotions and creams and bases that are made of the ash of different products. Matter of fact. Do a little study on where soap came from. And find out that the old timers used ashes.

[24:22] And made their own soap. So it's kind of a. I say it's an unexplainable infection. To sprinkle toward heaven the dust of the ashes of the furnace.

[24:33] And have it become a plague of boils in all of the land. The point is. For something that is relatively harmless. To cause such a pandemic.

[24:44] Is not natural. It's supernatural. There are spiritual forces at work behind this. And we know it's the hand of God in Exodus chapter 9.

[24:56] But when something harmless can be used to inflict torment. And something supernatural is obvious. Something supernatural is evident.

[25:07] There's spiritual involvement. So just consider. Just for a minute. Consider some innocent things. Some pure things that God created.

[25:18] That were meant for good. But have become predominantly filthy. And vile. Let's just start with the human race. The Bible says that God made man upright.

[25:31] That's talking about his character. But they've sought out many inventions. And what can we say about man? But that he's altogether become filthy. The best.

[25:43] What's the. The best. Man at his best state is altogether vanity. They are all turned aside. So what God creates to be pure and upright.

[25:56] Has turned into just a complete vile mess. I think there's evidence of some spiritual involvement. Think about something that God made for himself.

[26:06] We might say music. God made music uplifting and clean. And in the Bible it's a means to glorify God and to worship him. God is holy.

[26:18] He's not going to receive something that doesn't match his nature. And so music as he developed it. As he birthed it.

[26:28] As he promotes it in the scriptural, spiritual, holy sense. It's for him. And it's a means, a vehicle by which we as human and sinners can glorify and praise our God.

[26:41] It's very common for God to receive worship and to receive it by the form of music. And yet today the majority of music is a glorification of carnality.

[26:58] Of carnal emotions. Of carnal lusts and desires. Of all forms of wickedness and debauchery. Put to the form of music.

[27:10] And catchy. And entertaining. And it's destroyed. Think about a relationship between a man and a woman.

[27:21] As God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Where the marriage bed is undefiled. It's honorable. And it's pure and enjoyed in the proper context.

[27:31] It's righteous before God. And yet now that relationship between a man and a woman has been totally perverted. To more than what it was originally created for.

[27:43] And it's not just perverted. But every aspect of that perversion is promoted. It is lauded. It is paraded on the human scale to just be the best thing.

[27:58] And so much so that what's right and proper and pure is now ridiculed and mocked and belittled. It doesn't add up.

[28:11] That there are so many things that are right and pure. And yet today they're just completely against God's intention.

[28:21] I say there's spiritual forces involved. Are you aware that there are some things in your life that you could consider harmless. That you could consider just completely innocent.

[28:33] Non-threatening. Just neutral maybe. And yet they can be used to lead you away from your fellowship with God. And they can introduce into your heart and eyes and mind extreme wickedness and filth.

[28:47] We're going to have to talk about technology just for a second. Is technology not in itself an innocent thing? Just a pile of aluminum and some copper wires and some lithium.

[29:02] And just put the plastic and glass and slap it all together in a screen format. Put an antenna in there. And is it not in itself harmless and neutral?

[29:16] And yet every single person in here that owns a cell phone has had hours of your life. Of your days stolen from you. And offered you nothing in return.

[29:28] But cheap, temporary, quick entertainment. You're not being better because of the time you're staring at your cell phone screen. You're not gaining anything from it. Except a little laugh.

[29:39] A little quick laugh. Send that to somebody. So they can waste their life too. And every one of us. Myself. We've all given away hours to technology.

[29:52] That we'll never get anything out of it. And the truth is about those devices. Is you can approach it innocently. It will not lead you to God. It will always lead you away from God.

[30:07] It always tempts you. I bet you every one of us in here has at one point or another had something on the screen. And then, oh, I've got to turn the volume down. Why?

[30:20] You watching something you shouldn't watch? Are they saying something they should be saying? Are you taking in something that's wrong against God? How often are you turning the volume up so people around you can hear this good natured, you know, edifying material?

[30:37] How often are you turning the corner so nobody can see what's on the screen but you yourself? Don't act like technology is drawing you closer to Jesus Christ.

[30:48] You're lying through your teeth if you think it is. You're playing yourself. You're fooled. You're deceived. And yet it's helpful. And yet it can be useful. And yet it can be very productive and needful and even necessary.

[31:03] Your hands are tied because of the need for it. Because of the world. The business world. The communication. But if you're not watching it, there's something spiritual going on that's using that to burrow down inside of your heart and plant itself as an addicting, controlling force.

[31:24] The average, this is just a stat I found, but the average human, I think it says, touches their phone over 2,000 times a day. As far as a finger touch. Probably texting and such.

[31:35] I don't know. And I don't remember the number of glances, of looks, but it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it's not just your wife or your husband or your kids that are guilty.

[31:45] It's you. It's affected you too. You've given yourself to it. And there's something behind that, driving that. It's not just marketers. It's not just witty men.

[31:58] There's something spiritual. Because there's an unexplainable infection that points us again to spiritual wickedness. The first one showed us the presence of Satan.

[32:09] This one shows us the perversion of Satan. How he can take something that is innocent and harmless and turn it into something that is despicable and corrupting.

[32:22] And finally, there's one more thing. Back in Exodus 9, in verse 11, we read that the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils.

[32:32] For the boils was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. The third thing I want us to say or consider is that there is an unexpected infliction.

[32:44] And this is going to reveal to us the power of Satan. The magicians, they had one job to stand before Moses and Aaron.

[32:55] What does that mean? It means that they were to withstand them with their enchantments. And they were able to do it in a few of the earlier plagues. And in 2 Timothy chapter 2, we took a look at it earlier, or chapter 3 I think it is, where Janus and Jambres, it says they withstood Moses.

[33:17] And so that's what they're trying to do. But they could not stand before Moses. Their job was to withstand Moses and Aaron with their enchantments. They came up short once already with the lice and said, this is the finger of God.

[33:30] And here they are again, not only unable to reproduce the plague, but they're also powerless to resist it. And it says in verse 11 that the boils, the boil was upon the magicians.

[33:45] Why the magicians were simply once again overpowered. This is unexpected by Pharaoh. This is unexpected to see his holy men being smitten with boils.

[33:58] And yet there's this unexpected infliction going on. And it's evidence that they're being overpowered. The ones expected to resist and to withstand the foe, Moses and Aaron, they were unable, the magicians that is, and they themselves were inflicted.

[34:16] You know the Bible says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. But let's do a little bit more study. You can lose your place back there.

[34:27] We're almost done. But I want to take you to two places in the Bible. And that is Ephesians 6. And then we're going to get to Romans 7 as well. It's the last two places I'd like you to turn.

[34:39] And read the commands and learn some doctrine as well as the confession of the Apostle Paul.

[34:50] Ephesians chapter 6 is where we want to be right now. And we're pointing out that with those magicians to be inflicted as well, that was unexpected.

[35:02] And therefore evidence of a higher power. And evidence that God overpowered them. But what about when you have sin inside of you?

[35:16] What about when you sin? All right, let's look at Ephesians chapter 6 and start in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

[35:31] Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against, just like those magicians tried to stand against Moses and Aaron, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

[35:44] There he is again. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, that's real, against powers, very real, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[36:03] We'll pause right there and notice that the spiritual wickedness in high places have a very strong interest in this world. They're the rulers of the darkness of this world.

[36:16] You know that Satan is called the God of this world. He's been given and granted power in this world. In verse 13, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God?

[36:28] Why? That ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

[36:44] Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now do you see, you're told to stand against the wiles of the devil, to withstand.

[36:56] And when we put on Christ, when we put on the new man, the armor of God, we are capable to withstand spiritual attacks, fiery darts, the wiles of the devil.

[37:13] But, we just saw, that the ones, who were expected to stand, and to resist, were themselves overpowered, and inflicted.

[37:28] Why? Because there was a power and a force, that they were unable, to stand against. And that of course was, Almighty God, overpowering those magicians.

[37:43] You're so close, I want to slip in another reference. Flip back just to the next, to the previous book, Galatians chapter 6. I want to make just, I want to point something out here.

[37:57] We'll go to Romans 7 in just a moment. Look at Galatians 6. And look closely at verse number 1.

[38:09] I don't know if I've ever heard anybody, point this out. Verse number 1. Brethren, if a man, be overtaken, in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one, in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also, be tempted.

[38:31] So this man was tempted, and it says in verse 1, he was overtaken. Now the Bible doesn't just, just put in random words, it means something, every word is pure, and the word overtaken, is an important word, that I've always just overlooked.

[38:51] If a man be overtaken, in a fault, what does that mean? It doesn't say that the man, fell into sin, or slipped. It said he was overtaken. Overtaken. It implies to me, that this man, had a power greater than he, that was involved, that overpowered him.

[39:12] Now, I'm not just trying to make up, a doctrine at all. I looked up the word, overtaken in the Bible, it only shows up two places. Before this, it's back in Psalm 18, verse 37, where David said, I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them.

[39:29] Neither did I turn again, till they were consumed. You know what the enemies were doing? They were fleeing. But David caught up to them, he overtook them, and overpowered them, and they were consumed.

[39:43] And so, overtaken implies flight. It implies fleeing, like flee youthful lusts, and flee fornication. It implies running from.

[39:54] Getting away from. It implies defending, to some degree, but nonetheless, loss and failure. For a, for a army to take a city, they overcome the city, overpower the city, in battle.

[40:13] Overtaken, then, the word seems to mean, something was overpowered, by a stronger power. Stronger than they were able, to resist. I looked up the word, overtook, and every time, that word shows up, it's a reference, to that same thought, of pursuing, and overtaking, catching up to them, and overpowering them, by might or force.

[40:36] Now, come back to Romans 7, and try to put this together. There's evidence, there's evidence, of an adversary, and I'm going to say, that this third point here, there's an unexpected infliction, is revealing to us, the power, of Satan, the spirit that worketh, within our flesh.

[41:04] All right, the apostle Paul, we're going to read this, slowly again, we did this, a couple Wednesdays ago, and we studied, where Paul said, I am carnal, in verse 14.

[41:15] Let's read through, what he says, in verse 15, to the end of the chapter. Everybody should be there, Romans 7, verse 15. This is the apostle Paul, after being saved, for a good long time, admitting some things, to us, for that which I do, I allow not, meaning I don't justify it, I don't give allowance, that it's okay, it's wrong, he's admitting it, but he still does it, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I, if then I do, that which I would not, I consent, unto the law, that it is good, meaning I am, I am declaring the law, is right, I am guilty, because I'm doing, what I'm not supposed to do, what I don't want to do, he said what I would not, that's his will, is not to do it, but he's doing it, pay attention to that, verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, but something's dwelling, in his flesh, for to will, is present with me, but how to perform, that which is good,

[42:23] I find not, for the good that I would, I do not, notice in verse 19, but the evil, which I would not, that I do, now if I do, that I would not, it is no more, I that do it, but sin, that dwelleth, in me, so sin, that dwells, inside of you, Paul, can overpower, your will, I would not, and I, this I would, but I don't, but this I would not, and that I do, it's not me doing it though, it's sin, that dwells in me, he seems to say, that sin, is more powerful, than he is, and it dwells in him, and is working in him, and is overpowering, his desire not to do it, now don't, don't misunderstand, say I'm just giving everybody, an excuse to sin, let's just finish this, verse 21, I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil, is present, with me, when I would do good, in verse 22, for I delight in the law of God, after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring, against the law of my mind, and notice this phrase, bringing me, into captivity, to the law of sin, which is in my members, oh wretched man, that I am, so Paul is overpowered, he's brought into captivity, he's held captive, by the law of sin, which is in his members, it's not me doing it guys, it's sin that dwells in me, sure Paul, that's a great excuse, we're reading what the Bible says here, whether you've ever heard this, or anybody's tried to articulate it or not, it doesn't matter to me, this is what the scripture says, and I'm putting some scripture together for you, trying to make sense of this, that Paul admits to being overtaken, and overcome, by sin in his flesh, it dwells, which is an action verb, it dwells in his flesh, now you might have expected, a better testimony from our apostle, from the man that says, be ye followers of me, and yet here's his testimony, of how he can one hand say,

[44:46] I have fought a good fight, and then on the other hand, tell us, oh I've lost some, I've lost some battles along the way, to an enemy that's stronger than me, to one that I could not subdue, to one that I could not defeat, this is a scary thought, but it's a true, thing to be bringing out, that sin is dangerous, it is deadly, it is powerful, and while sometimes, it pretends to be harmless, it is destructive, and don't be a fool, let the word of God warn you, and scare you, and tell you to stay away from it, every little bit you let in, it's going to get in, and work, and earlier in the chapter, in verse number eight, Paul says, but sin, taking occasion, by the commandment, wrought in me, all manner, of concupiscence, all kinds of abominable, and forbidden, desires, and lust, when sin got in him, it just brought, all of that out of him, and he found himself, overtaken, as Galatians six says, a man overtaken, in a fault, now, some of this,

[45:59] I'm probably going to leave you, hanging with, but to bring it back, to Exodus chapter nine, we're looking at, an ugly picture, a picture, of a sin infested world, and it's the work, of the devil, innocent, and harmless things, turned into horrible devices, of debauchery, things that were pure, are polluted, and the spread, of sin is so rampant, that the Bible says, death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, there's no escape, not one, there is none righteous, and whether you like it, or not, and whether this sits well, with you or not, or gets you spooked, we live in a world, that has always been, influenced, by powerful, wicked, spiritual beings, things, I'm not talking, Ouija boards, and witchcraft, I'm talking about, in your own heart, whether you like it, or want to think of this, as true or not, let the book speak, it's the spirit, that now worketh, in the children, of disobedience, we wrestle against, flesh and, not flesh and blood, but spiritual wickedness, in high places, they've always been, interested, in this world, the rulers, of the darkness, of this world, the God of this world,

[47:24] Christ calls him, the prince of this world, the prince of the power, of the air, takes harmless things, and perverts their use, and perverts their purpose, into something defiling, and against God's nature, and the plague, of the boils, as it were, sin, in us, dwelling in us, is going to stay there, until God takes it away, or until God delivers, us, like Paul prayed, who shall deliver me, from the body, of this death, we're told to stand, in the power of God, church, we're told to put on, the whole armor of God, and without that, I can promise you, you can't resist anything, if you don't put on, Jesus Christ, you're not tough, you're not wise, you're corrupt, that sin will have, its way with you, you're dealing with, a being that is so higher, and so much wiser, than you'll ever be, in this life, ever, you could live, 3000 years, and amass, much wisdom, and knowledge, you're not touching him, he's been around, longer than that, by the way, and he was created, that way, with ultimate power, and ability, and he's our adversary, and what we saw, in Exodus, was evidence, of a supernatural hand, it was God's work, but the picture, and the boils, and the plague, relates to sin, in us, and you don't see yourself, as that ugly, and as that destroyed, but you are, your flesh is filthy, your flesh is, covered with boils, with blanes, breaking forth, left and right, and if it was the new man, subject to that,

[49:14] God says, no, I'm going to create, a new creature, because I will not be subject, to that old man, that sin dwells in him, I'm not coming near it, and so he creates something, created out of righteousness, and true holiness, that he can live in, and dwell inside of you, in the new man, understand at the very least, this morning, there's some unexplainable things there, it's evidence of spiritual wickedness, there's some things, you wouldn't expect, it just doesn't add up, it's because there's a spirit behind it, this world is going to hell fast, like a bullet, there's a reason, there's ungodliness, I'll close with just one thing, this is a comment for some of you, that you may not like it, you may, I just read this in a book yesterday, and it was refreshing, it was a study about the king Josiah, and a study how, try to really abbreviate it, was that he was a righteous guy, doing really good things, but he got involved with a king of Egypt, that was going against the king of Assyria,

[50:18] I think or Babylon, and the Lord came in there, and Josiah went against the word of God, but it might have actually been God, doing something, crippling him, because of something he was doing, with these other nations, I don't have time to talk about all that, but the writer, he took that, and he kind of, took a picture from that, to former President Trump, and when I read that, I was like, oh here we go again, another Christian Baptist, trying to make Trump, the hero of America, but he did a really good thing with it, was what he said was, President Trump, in his four years, there's not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not, so we don't, it's not about his character, it's about the work that he did, and the production, and how he was trying to make America great again, and again, I'm not equating that to the word of God at all, just in its own realm, and he in fact was doing some big moves, and really doing some things, to get America back on track, and the author made this connection, and this thought, was God is against America,

[51:26] God, America's sins are too far, and too big and grievous, that God is not forgetting them, and he associated that back with Josiah, it was there, that he would not overlook the sins, of the previous generation, and so whether the king was good or not, he was not gonna, he was gonna still punish that sin, and the point was, he said, God would not give, even if he won the election, God would not allow him, to continue making America great, because America has to be brought down, and the thought was, a pretty good one in my opinion, was God gives, Dr. Huckman said this, he'll give, eventually every nation will get the government, that it deserves, and he said, God will not allow a man, to make this place great again, because it's gotta be brought low, because of its sin, and immorality, and debauchery, and anyway, I just close with that thought, if you take it, take it or leave it, or how it applies, to how things are, out of our hands, and things are wicked in this world, and you can pray for revival, but God's gonna deal with sin, and he's gonna judge, and it's the last days, and what else would you expect, so we'll close with that, it kind of got off topic for a second, but I kind of feel like it relates, but let's be dismissed this morning, and mothers, happy Mother's Day, when I pray, we'll be dismissed, and please mothers, come up here, grab a flower, if you'd like one, take it with you, and if you're a man, you're not a mother, so no matter what the spiritual influence, of our day says, okay let's pray,

[53:01] Father we are grateful, for the word of God, it is holy, it is so high, and above us, and it applies right, where we are today, it's truth, Lord thank you for truth, thank you for, for steering us away from air, where the world promotes some things, they're wicked, and he promotes them, as being acceptable, and justifiable, and yet we know from your perspective, they're abominations, and they're filthy, and Lord help us to stand, in the power of God, help us not to be overcome, by evil, by the sin that dwells in us, Lord give us victory over our flesh, give us the power of God, in the new man, and Lord help us to have eyes, aware to the sin, that's in our life, to the things that are influencing us, through technology, and through this world, help us to resist it, and to care enough about you, to try to please you, help us to be holy, the way you've created us, and help us to be righteous, and to do those things, that are pleasing in your sight, and may Jesus Christ, be pleased and glorified, and we pray this in his wonderful name, amen, amen, you're dismissed, is, we're dismissed, and 건�马, may we hold on to the wind, and be must we stand?

[54:34] fill in 용itas, amen, and alone, we pray this in thy 하나, and be based.