I'd like to welcome you to our service if you'd like to turn to the Psalms 140, the title of the Messiah. Here in this chapter, the song for him because of his adversaries and set up snares and gens to trap only one person that can deliver him from the slight to preach about is the beware of the snares of the flesh. the world and the devil. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent man who have purposed to overthrow my goings. The proud have hid a snare for me and cords. They have spread a net by the wayside. They have set gins for me. Here in verse five, it talks about a snare, it talks about cords, it talks about a net. But then at the end of the verse, it says, they have set jinns for me. That little word jinn in verse five means a trap. I've asked two of our young men that are hunters in our church to help me today in the message, and obviously you won't see this on video, but they're going to be setting some traps for us and letting us see as an illustration what a trap does and how it wants to hold you back. And it's an intentional trap. Someone designed that trap. Someone made that trap. so that it can ensnare animals and not all the time to hurt them but just to be able to take them and put them somewhere else and to get rid of them off of your property or something. And these young men are going to explain to us what these traps do and what they're designed for and then they're going to demonstrate also what happens when someone gets snared inside one of these traps. But in verse one and two, God warns us to watch who you hang out with. You may say, well, I don't hang out with evil people like it's mentioned in verse one and two, and violent people who imagine mischiefs in their hearts, who are continually gathering together for war. And I'm gonna say, well, good. I'm glad you don't hang out physically with people like that. It's a wonderful thing. But let me ask you this. Who are you hanging out with on the internet? What videos are you watching and what shorts and reels and all these things are you looking at? And who are you allowing to influence you and what you read and what you see on your phone, on your video game consoles? See, you may not be hanging out physically with people, but you're allowing yourself to be influenced by things that will ensnare you and trap you in this life. You see, David's not hanging out with these people either. He has no desire to be around those type people. But can I just tell you that those people are real. They are there and they are out. to destroy him. The Bible says that we, too, have an adversary that is real, and he's out to destroy us. In 1 Peter 5, 8, it says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. The Bible tells us that we have three adversaries. We have the flesh, the world, and the devil. And we battle the flesh more than any other of the two adversaries. You see, we wake up every morning and we have to face ourselves. We are, many times, our worst enemy. You see, our flesh only wants to do what the flesh wants. Our flesh is in a constant battle with our spirit. You say, well, what does that mean, my flesh? I'm not talking about your skin and your fingers, your eyes, your ears, and things like that. But let me illustrate for you, if you would, the flesh and why he's our enemy. The flesh is our enemy. Let me give you this first illustration. I don't feel like going to church today. Well, that's not your spirit saying that. Because your spirit would say, get up and go to church. Now your flesh, that's your enemy, your flesh is going to say, why this don't feel like going today. Well, I'm just going to stay home and do this or that or play video games. Or it's just too hot for me to come to church. It's too cold. You see, that's the flesh. And that flesh will trap you and snare you and keep you from being where God wants you to be and doing what God wants you to do. Well, I just don't want to go to church. It's just not entertaining. It doesn't entertain me. You see, that's the flesh. Well, we just had our vacation Bible school a few weeks ago, and two of the young men, they could have had a faithful attendance that day by Friday, but they laid out one day simply because they didn't like corn dogs. They did not like what we were serving for food, so they just said, I'm not going because I don't like corn dogs. Well, that's the flesh talking. That's the flesh. The young man that went to knock on their door told them, said, that's wrong. You ought to come to church because you want to be with the Lord and close to God and learn from Jesus. Not because we're having corn dogs. Well, I just don't like that old-fashioned music, that God-honoring music. I like that worldly music. I like that music that's got just a few mentions of Jesus maybe here and there. I just want to hear an uplifting message to make me feel good and to satisfy my itch and ear. All that's the flesh. And you better be careful because that old flesh will ensnare you and trap you and keep you from what God wants for you. You know, God told every prophet in the Bible to warn the people. He never sent somebody and said, go over there and make them feel good about their sin. No, he said, you go and warn them. According to the Bible, the preaching of the Bible is threefold. It's reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Two-thirds of our preaching ought to be negative, and one-third should be positive. God told Ezekiel, if he failed to warn Israel, and if he failed to look out and be that watchman that God sent him to be and to warn Israel, then their blood would be on his hands. John the Baptist, he came preaching on sin. He came preaching on repentance. Jesus came preaching the gospel of repentance. Praise God that you can't repent of our sin and our beliefs and turn to God and believe on him. Thank God for all that. But in order for somebody to get saved, they're going to have to come under conviction that they have sinned. That means you're going to have to point out someone's sin. They're gonna have to come to the place where they say, because of my sin, I have broken God's law and I'm separated from God and I'm under condemnation of death. And by the way, all that's negative. But here's the positive. Jesus died and took your place on the cross so that you could have everlasting life and whosoever shall believe And Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection can and will be saved. Well, you better be careful lining up or giving in to the flesh because you'll get caught up in its snare and it'll trap you. Look at verse 3. Verse three speaks of another type of adversary. And this adversary is more subtle even than the flesh. The flesh is always in your face, but this other one's a lot more subtle than our flesh. It's called the world. And I'm not talking about the stars or the sun, the moon, the trees. God created all those things and he said they were very good. But in verse three of our passage, it says, they have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their lips, Selah. He said, you better stop right here and think about what's just been said. Many people have fallen victim to the world's ways and the world's way of doing things and all that their mindset, if you would, that goes against God. In Ephesians 2 it says, and you, that's talking about those that have been saved, hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom all Also, we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Hey, before we were saved, all of us, before we were saved, we all walked according to the course of this world. You say, well, what is the course of this world? Well, I'll tell you what it is. It's what everybody else is doing. Everyone else listens to rock and roll. Everybody else listens to Taylor Swift. Everybody else listens to rap and country music. Oh, everybody else is dancing to the beat of the world's music. Everyone else is listening to bad words and saying bad words. Everybody else is lying and being disrespectful. Everyone else is drinking alcohol. while everyone else is going to parties. Everybody else is smoking and vaping. Everybody else is smoking pot and doing drugs. Everybody else is dressing to show off their body. Everyone else thinks it's okay for a boy to be a girl and a girl to be a boy. Hey, can I just stop right there? That's the course of the world. You're not following after God. You're following after the course of what everybody else is doing. You better be careful. That'll ensnare you. It'll trap you. God created male and female and he made no mistake when you were born a girl or a boy. Any other view on gender is a perversion of the truth of God's Word. But where do you hear that kind of stuff? You don't hear it from God. You don't hear it from God's Word in the Bible. You hear it out there in the world. And that's the one, that's that second enemy out there that you've got to be careful because it wants to trap you and ensnare you. They want you to believe what they want you to believe. In verse 3, I mean, look how they're subtle. They have sharpened their tongues. like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their lips. See, you better be careful because they will ensnare you with their words, but yet they got poison in their lips. This world has a sharp tongue. That means it can persuade you into believing a lie, but it won't show you the poison that lies underneath their lips. The world will tell you that sin will not hurt you, that you can do what you want, believe what you want, live your best life now. You don't have to listen to God. Oh, but the world will never tell you that the wages of sin is death. Only God loves you enough to warn you about the consequences of falling snare or falling being snared by the world. Only God will warn you. For our last adversary is the devil. You see, the devil wants everybody to listen to him. He does not want us to listen to God. The devil lies to everyone. He'll tell you that you're young and you don't need to be saved. You don't need to live a pure life. You can just do whatever you want to do. You don't need to go to church. You can just follow that world crowd. Hey, it's much easier just to go with the flow there, and nothing's going to happen to you. You see, the devil's a defeated adversary and he wants you to be defeated as well. The devil wants everybody to go to hell where he's going. You see, God wants everybody to go to heaven though. And there's only one person who can keep us or deliver us from the adversary. Look in verse four. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent man who have purpose to overthrow my goings. The only way for an animal to be delivered from one of these traps that we've demonstrated is if somebody else delivers him. Someone else is gonna have to help them get out of the trap. And we see here that these traps have been set and David's cried out to the Lord, to the only one that can preserve him and keep him and deliver him. Look at verse one, he says, deliver me, oh Lord, from the evil man. Preserve me from that violent man. You see, only Jesus can save us from our sin. Jesus took all our ugly sin in his body and he died on the cross in our place. Jesus paid the price for us. He was wounded for our transgressions, the Bible says. He was bruised for our iniquities. He died for us so that you and I could be set free. We don't have to be trapped. See, you can keep going the way of the flesh, you can keep going the way of the world, you can keep going the way of the devil, and you'll die and go to hell. Or you can believe that you were guilty, that you should have died for your sin, and Jesus took your place and gave his life so that you could be set free. The choice is yours. You see, God does not force you. But wouldn't it be sad to miss heaven because you fell victim to the adversary? See, you can stay trapped all your life. You can stay trapped thinking, I'm alright, I'll be alright. You can stay trapped all your life, and when you die, you will lift up your eyes, being in torments of hell. And by the way, in hell, you're trapped forever. There's no escape, there's no delivering you. Christian, are you acting like a Christian? Or have you been listening to the flesh and the world and the devil? If you're saved, then your flesh is at war with the spirit. The adversary's raging and all he wants to do is to destroy your testimony. As a Christian, have you been listening to the wrong kind of music? being affected by the world, the world's ways, doing what appeals to your flesh. You've been listening to bad words or been singing the wrong kind of music and cursing and maybe not living for God, disobeying your mom or dad and being disrespectful to others. Hey, you better get it right or else there's a snare, there's a trap that's waiting for you. You say, preacher, how do I get out of such a trap? How can I avoid falling into those traps? In 1 John 1, 9 it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Once you tell Jesus that you're sorry for your sin, then you need to get away from that traps, from those snares, and you need to get away as far as you can from that sin. Why? So that you don't get trapped. again. Only Jesus can deliver you from the trap of sin.