Once again, this morning, our text is taken from Romans chapter 16 and the same verse, verse 20. So please turn to Romans 16 and verse 20. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Now unless some of you think that I am trying desperately to simply make this series as long as I possibly can, I would remind you that last week's study left no time for consideration of the last sentence of this verse. And even though the words contained in this sentence are very familiar to us, and they're often repeated I don't think that we should overlook it. And particularly in this context. So we're coming back this morning to look at the last sentence of verse 20. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Now I think I should go back and I'll say a few things about the opening part of the verse which we studied last week. The opening part of verse 20 reads, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. You will recall that as Paul draws this great epistle to a close, He chooses, back in verse 17, to take up a very melancholic subject. It's the subject of spiritual war. Spiritual war, particularly within and against the church. Paul speaks about people coming into the church, using smooth words and flattering speech to gain a hearing for words that are contrary to the words of the apostles. It's not that all of their ideas are so radically wrong. Some of them are just slightly wrong, small distortions of truth. And very often what they speak is they use words of truth, but they give it a different emphasis. They exaggerate some ideas found in the writings of the apostles so they can obscure the main idea. These small departures, these small distortions are enough to produce conflict and division within the church. Do you know that churches have been divided over the issue of what kind of juice ought to be put in the communion cups? That's right. Churches have divided over those kinds of issues. Surely that is a distortion of the main thing. The issue is not so much to lead people into wrong doctrine, although it has that effect, but the real issue is to divide the church of Christ. Paul makes a very hard statement about people who do that. He says they are not the servants of Christ. They're serving their own agenda. They serve their own bellies. They have a personal cause and that's what they're serving. But then we come to verse 20. And without any explanation as to what he means, Paul begins to talk about Satan. He is inferring that Satan is behind this entire affair. That Satan is the one who furnishes the ideas and the energy whereby wrong ideas are circulated in the church and Christians are confused and set at war against each other. Now, if you were here last week, you know we devoted a good amount of time to the discussion of Satan. It's not a happy subject. I suppose that's why we don't talk about it a lot. But we have to talk about it here because Paul brings it up and he does it without giving us an in-depth explanation. So we have to go into the Bible and dig around and try to discover what Satan has to do with it. And we endeavored to do that last week. And I suppose I would have to say in all candor, a part of the time devoted to the subject of Satan and spiritual warfare last week was a feeble effort on my part to compensate for the fact that we don't talk about that very much. We don't talk about the devil very much. We don't talk about demonic activity very much. But if you were here, I hope you were impressed by the amount of information contained in the Bible on those subjects. I read that extended statement from Robert Raymond's systematic theology, describing the various works that are attributed to Satan in the Bible. I hope that struck you. There's a lot in the Bible about Satan, and there's a lot in the Bible about Jesus going to war against the devil. And I've come to feel convicted that we haven't talked about that enough. We should have talked about that more than we have. I should have talked about that more than I have. In fact, preparation for last week's sermon has brought me to the personal conclusion that Satan in connection with his demonic hosts, the demons being angels who joined Satan and his rebellion against God in the beginning of time, that Satan and his demonic hosts are involved in virtually all the blatant and destructive acts of evil that occur in this world. I think I've been inclined to think that Satan was only involved in some acts, not most, but occasionally it rear his ugly head. Honestly, I've come to think differently. I've come to think that Satan is involved in one way or another in essentially all the blatant acts of evil and ungodliness. and wrong doctrine and church division that occur in this world. Now, please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not getting you and me off the hook. I'm not denying human depravity. I'm not denying human guilt for real words and acts that are sinful. We are the ones that shouted each other We're the ones that make accusations against each other. We're the ones who engage in lust. Human beings are the ones that pull the triggers, that drive the vans into crowded groups of people. No, I'm not denying human depravity. I'm not denying human guilt. Neither, and this is important, neither am I suggesting that Satan is ubiquitous, that he is omnipresent, that Satan is everywhere. Satan is a finite being. He can only be at one place at a time, just like you and just like me, he's a finite being. Let me ask you a question. How many angels did God create in the beginning? How many? How many angels fell and left their first estate when Lucifer rebelled? How many? Do you know? Let me ask you something. What if there are more demons than people? Demons don't die, people die. People, generations of people come and go, the demons don't die. What if there are more demons than people? We know that one man had a whole legion of demons, just one man. You see, we need to at least acknowledge what we don't know. And we don't know how vast the demonic host is. And we don't know their treachery. What we do know is that they are stronger and smarter than we are. That they move swiftly with great cunning and that their iniquity is mysterious. You say, well, pastor, I'm beginning to get a little nervous here. Are you trying to make us afraid of the devil? No. We know it's possible for Christians to become utterly preoccupied with the spirit world and with Satan, and to engage in all kinds of vain speculations about the works of the devil. I'm not trying to get you to go there, But let's be honest, that's really not our problem. I don't think any of us have engaged in that kind of extremism. You know where I think our extremism lies? It's in denying the devil. It's in being nonchalant about the devil, not taking him seriously. There's an old book written by a Puritan named Thomas Brooks, the title, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. Have you ever read it? When was the last time you read it? I would urge you to get a copy of that book, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. One of the main points that Mr. Brooks makes in that book is this, and I quote, Ignorance is the mother of mistake, the cause of trouble, error, and of terror. It is the highway to hell. It makes a man both a prisoner and a slave to the devil at once. Ignorance unmands a man. It makes a man a beast, yes, makes him more than the beast which perishes. There are none, listen, there are none so easily and so frequently captured by Satan's snares as ignorant souls. They are easily drawn to dance with the devil all day and to dream of supping with Christ at night. The prophet said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Christ said, you are an Arab because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. Now, technically, I suppose we cannot be charged with being ignorant of Satan. We know about him, we know the Bible teaches about him. But I wanna suggest, beloved, that in refusing to think about him, in refusing to give serious consideration to what the Bible says about him, to his devices, to his constant warfare against us and against our families and against our church, that in this respect, we have fallen, many of us have fallen into a practical ignorance. So in connection with our text, I want to provide some evidence of what I'm saying. I'm making a charge, a loving charge, okay? I'm not gonna take you to court. I'm just making a charge to your conscience. And the charge is we have ignored the devil. We have minimized His presence, His power, His cunning, and His activity. And I wanna demonstrate to you why I say that and some of the implications of that if I'm right. First of all, I wanna ask you a question. Have you obeyed Christ in the way you pray? Have you obeyed Christ in the way you pray about the devil? Turn to Matthew chapter six, Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter six, verse nine. In this manner, therefore, pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. This has come to be known as the Lord's Prayer. Now, I wanna make some observations, some basic observations about this prayer. Number one, this prayer was not given that we should simply repeat it, that we should pray it verbatim. Now, I don't know of any reason to say it's a sin to repeat it verbatim, but that's not why it was given. It was given to be a model to us. Christ said, in this manner, Pray like this. This is an outline for our most important praying. Let me repeat that. This is an outline for our most important praying, not all our praying. Because in addition to this praying, Christ invites us to pray all the time. and to pray about any and everything that happens to us. I don't know about you, but I live on these two passages, Philippians 4, 5, and 6. The Lord is at hand, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. I don't know how I'd live without that text. Troubles come, unexpected trials come, big troubles, small troubles, but they're too big for me. And I feel pressed and I'm tempted to fret and worry and lose sleep. God doesn't want his children losing sleep over their troubles. In everything, pray. Engage in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your minds. The other text I can't live without is 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Now that's a critical verse. We don't, we rush to verse seven, but that's critical. Beloved, do you understand that everything that happens to you in your life is under the direct control of your heavenly father? Christ, our savior rules providence. So whatever happens in the providence of God, it's at God's command. And so whatever happens, whatever else we do in response to what happens, we must humble ourselves. My father has done it. I must humble myself. So Peter says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Realize it's the hand of God that's on you. But then as you are humbling yourself, Peter says, humble yourself, casting all your care on him because he cares for you. He may have ordained a burden. He may have ordained a trouble. He knows what he's doing. He loves you. Everything is gonna work together for your good. Humble yourself and don't fret. As you are humbling yourself, cast your care on him with the assurance that he really does care for you. Don't you love those words? Don't you love those invitations? I hope you do. I live off those words. Those are invitations to prayer at any time, under any threat, in the midst of any trouble. And to me, it's a great thing that God says, I want you not to worry. And I want you to throw your cares on me. It can't get much better than that till we get to heaven and we don't have any cares. But beloved, do you understand that these prayers are not our most important prayers? You might call them emergency prayers. The Puritans used to call them ejaculatory prayers. They're the prayers of a moment. They're prayers of desperation. They're prayers wrought out of trouble. They're not our most important prayers. The Lord Jesus, back in Matthew 6, is providing instruction for our primary praying, our most important praying, our prayers of devotion and worship, the prayers that ought to frame every day that we live in this world, the prayers that optimally ought to begin every day and perhaps end every day. If you haven't studied Matthew 6 recently, I implore you to go back. It will teach you how to pray your most important prayers. And it will teach you that the first thing, the most important thing that you pray about is the glory of God. Oh Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Make your name glorious in the earth. That's the most important thing. The second most important thing is to pray for the health and prosperity of his kingdom. Your kingdom come in its power, in its glory, cause the gospel to run, cause the church to be built in the earth. Then thirdly, we're to pray that the word of God would prevail, that the word of God would have dominance over human minds and thoughts, over human activity, over human governments. Your will, oh Father, your will, your will, your revealed will, may it be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Perfectly. Now it's only after we have prayed for God's honor, for God's cause, for God's kingdom, that we're invited to pray about our things, we're invited to pray about our material necessities, even spiritual forgiveness comes after we have sought the glory of God, the advancement of his kingdom, the triumph of his word. The fact that we are to ask for our daily bread indicates that this kind of praying is to happen not occasionally, not just on Sunday, every day. We're to pray every day for our food. That means we're to pray every day for the things that are outlined in this text, every day. We're not to presume that God's gonna give us our food or that His glory is going to be predominant in our generation. We're to pray for these things. We're not to think that yesterday's prayers will suffice for today. We're to pray every day. for these things. How are you feeling about your prayer life right now? You pray like this every day. Well, the reason I ask you to look at this prayer is actually found at the end of the prayer. We're to pray like this every single day, and do not lead us into temptation. Oh Father, your providence rules over all. Don't allow my steps to walk into a snare. Don't allow me to walk into a trap. Don't allow me to walk into temptation. Instead, oh Father, deliver me, save me from the evil one. You can do that. You have the power. You have the glory, it's your kingdom. That's how we're to pray every day. Listen, listen, this is the Lord Jesus. speaking, giving instruction to us. This is our Savior. This is the one who died to save us from our sins on the cross. Our Savior says, you are to pray like this every day. You are to pray against the devil and against his temptations every day. You're not to presume, you're to pray. Okay, how many of us actually pray like that every day? It's a new day. The devil has plans for me. Don't let me, oh Lord, don't let me walk into his traps. He's stronger and wiser than I am. Don't let me be overcome by his devices. Deliver me. You pray like that. Christ said pray like that. Do you? Let me engage in some foolish talk for a minute. Maybe Jesus didn't know how strong we would become. Maybe he didn't know how smart we would grow up to be. Christians. Maybe he didn't realize that we would come to the place that we don't need his help. We're stronger than the devil and we're smarter than the devil. Or maybe Christ was too preoccupied with Satan. I mean, he had just come out of a wilderness and 40 days of temptation by the devil. Maybe the devil was too much on his mind. Maybe Jesus was preoccupied with Satan. Perhaps he had an exaggerated view of Satan's power and cunning and danger. That's foolish, right? That's foolish. Our dear Savior understood that the spiritual warfare being waged against him and against his church would be such that his people would have to depend on him consciously every day. Are we doing that? When was the last time you prayed that the devil wouldn't get the best of you? That he wouldn't deceive you? If you haven't been praying like that, I'm gonna make a bold prediction. If you haven't been praying like that, I'm gonna predict the devil has gotten the best of you. And he has deceived you. Well, that brings me to another question, perhaps even more important. What can the devil do to us? What is the danger that we face from Satan? What can he do? He's a defeated enemy. His doom is sure. So what can he do? He can't do anything, right? I ask you to listen closely to a testimonial that the apostle Paul gave. He's testifying as to the way he lived his life before he was converted. While he was still in the kingdom of darkness, still serving the God of this world. This is what he said. Indeed, I myself thought that I must do many things contrary to the name Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem. Listen, and many of the saints I shot up in prison. having received authority from the chief priest. You get that? I put real Christians in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue, and I compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." That's Paul's testimonial of how he attacked Christians in his unconverted days. And I submit to you that in his unconverted days, he was serving the God of this world. It was Satan who was fueling his malice, driving him mad to extinguish the name of Jesus from the face of the earth. And this is the same spirit that works in all the sons of disobedience. What can the devil do? I cast saints in prison. I consented to their death. I pursued them. I compelled them to blaspheme, to repudiate the gospel, the name of Jesus. I chased them. Last week, I read briefly from Revelation chapter 12, seen in heaven. I wanna read three verses from Revelation 12, not in the order they're found, but in order to give you a picture of what is going on right now. Revelation 12, 13. Now, when the dragon saw, that he had been cast to the earth. He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. And the dragon was enraged with the woman. And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Do you get the picture? Satan cast out of heaven. He's raging in this world against those who serve God and bear witness to Jesus. Verse 11 reads, and they overcame him. and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to death. Christians win. Christians overcome, but they have to engage the enemy. They have to speak the word of their testimony and plead the power of the blood. And they can't prize their own lives too dearly if they're gonna win. What can the devil do? Can't touch me, I'm a Christian. What about the saints in prison? What about those people who are being beheaded? Are they Christians? In Matthew chapter 26, we have that awful account of Jesus on the eve of his crucifixion. It was on the eve that he dismissed Judas and the devil entered Judas and led the soldiers to arrest Jesus. And Jesus, seeing what was happening, realizing that the eternal plan of the Father was being unfolded, was troubled more than any human in this world has ever been troubled. In verse 31 of Matthew 26, Jesus said to his disciples, all of you, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. They didn't think that would happen. Peter said, I'll die before I deny you. Then we're told in verse 36, Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to the disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with him his three dearest friends, Peter, James, and John. And he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, my soul, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death, stay here and watch with me. They had never seen Jesus like this. They had never seen him so cast down and they had never heard him plead with them to pray for him. He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will, Then he came to his disciples and found them asleep. And he said to Peter, what? Peter, Peter, you said you would die with me. Couldn't you watch and pray for an hour? And then he said this, watch and pray. Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. I know your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. He went a second time and he prayed the same words and they came back and they were all asleep again. So he went away a third time and he prayed and he came back and they were still sleeping. And he said, are you still sleeping and resting? Well, the hour is at hand. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. My betrayer is at hand. And then the events unfolded. Jesus was arrested. And later this text, records this very simply. Then all the disciples forsook him. All the disciples forsook him and fled. They couldn't stay awake and they couldn't pray. And he said, if you don't, You're gonna fall into temptation, but they were not convinced. So they went back to sleep, and the trial came, and the tempter came, and all of them were overcome, and they all fled away from him. Beloved, Satan, listen, Satan cannot destroy the souls of those who believe in Jesus. Okay, he can't take believers to hell. He cannot destroy their faith ultimately. But listen, this is what he can do. He can subject us to intense hardship. He can turn us into cowards who virtually have no witness before a watching world. That's what he can do. And then, beloved, what about your unconverted children? What about your unconverted children? Do you realize if you have unconverted, unregenerate children, that their hearts are predisposed to follow the world where Satan reigns. He's the god of this world. And he has made the world to look like the county fair to young people. Remember the county fair? All the bright lights and the happy sounds. The devil has made the world to look like the county fair to unregenerate young people. It looks like the happiest place in the world. It's a place they can't wait to go. But you know better, don't you? You know behind the bright lights and the happy sounds, there are traps, there are holes, there are vices, there are evils, there are addictions, there are people there waiting to take hold of your children and take them captive. The devil is a master tempter. He's had thousands of years to perfect the craft of temptation. And he specializes in tempting the young. And one of his leading temptations is this. Look at the world, it's a happy place. Listen to the sounds, they're happy sounds. Not like the sounds at church, not like the sound, happy sounds, bright lights, what could be wrong? It's a happy place. You have to watch out for God. God doesn't want you to be happy. God has designed his word to keep you from the joy of life. He wants to steal from you the happiness of the carnival. Don't listen! Don't listen! And some of you young people, you're listening to the carnival. You can't wait to get out into the world. Parents, Christian parents, you are the primary barrier between your darling children and the ravages that Satan has prepared for them in this world. And your children need for you to be strong. They need for you to be winsome. They need for you to be able to show them Jesus in the beauty and excellency of his grace. But what happens if we're not watching? What happens if we're not praying? What happens if we are not concerned with the devil's temptations, his lies and his snares? What will happen? I'll tell you what will happen. Not only will we not be able to present Jesus in his true colors of grace and mercy and holiness, I'll tell you what will happen. We ourselves will fall victim to Satan's temptations and we'll become a stumbling block to our own children. I've raised three teenagers by God's grace. All of them are following Jesus, and they're in Christian marriages, and I'm amazed at that, praise God. But I'll bear witness, raising teenagers was by far the hardest part of parenting, by far. And why? Well, I think I've tended to blame my kids. I blame them. They were stubborn and headstrong and they wanted to go their own way. But I've come to realize there was something else going on. The devil was attacking me. And I wasn't smart enough to figure out what was happening. And you know what happened? I would find myself irritated with my wife. And she would find herself irritated with me. And we would begin, perhaps, to fuss a bit, to quarrel a little bit. And we became preoccupied with things that had nothing to do with eternity or the souls of our kids. You know what the devil was trying to do? He was trying to make Christianity appear as ugly as he could. Set mom and dad quarreling with each other, using harsh words, using vindictive words, angry, pouting. And then he comes to the kids. Is that what you want? Is that what you want? You want to spend all your life like that? Look at the world. Listen to the sounds. Look at the, it's fun out there. Here, it's war. Get out of here. And sometimes our kids look at us, their parents, professing to be Christians and acting like unbelievers. And they say, I don't want that. What can Satan do? What can Satan do? My dear brothers and sisters, nothing has happened... Are you with me? Nothing has happened yet in your experience of Christianity that makes you immune to Satan's attacks, either upon yourself or upon your marriage or upon your family or upon your church. There is nothing that excludes you from having to watch and having to pray in order to be victorious. over Satan's devices. And if you're not watching and you're not praying, there is a sense in which you are losing. You say, well, I can't lose my soul. You can lose your children. You can lose your testimony. You can lose your light before a watching world. What this brings to me, finally, briefly to the words of our text. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Your happiness, your happiness, your usefulness, and for the Christian, for the Christian, those two things go together, happiness and usefulness. The Christian is the happiest when he is being the most useful. Your happiness and your usefulness to Christ in this world requires, listen, it requires that you be crushing Satan under your feet every day. And you can. You can. 1 John 4, 4, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You can crush him every day. But in order for that to happen, you have to be very close to Christ. And you have to have Christ very close to you. And that's why when Paul wrote about saints crushing Satan under their feet, he then prayed, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. That's what we have to have. Do you know what the grace of Christ is in this text? Do you know what it is? What is the grace of Christ? The grace for which Paul prayed. The grace that you need every single day. It's the undeserved presence of Jesus Christ. actively exercising his kindness and his power over you and in you to keep you and make you strong and lead you in paths of righteousness and to enable you to be wise enough to defeat your enemy. That's a grace of Christ. It's Christ being near, exercising himself to supply you with fresh thoughts, perception, understanding, discernment, power, strength, so that you won't be overcome. That's what you've got to have. You've got to have Jesus. Say, I've got Jesus. How close is he? Remember he said, abide in me and have my words abiding in you. For without me, you can do nothing. To abide in Jesus means to live in his word. to soak in the Bible so that your thoughts become conditioned by his thoughts. So that when you're tempted to rail at your wife, you're tempted to be impatient, the word of Christ will come to mind. And you'll remember that Christ has commanded you to lay down your life for that woman. You don't be fussing at her, you don't be yelling at her. You bear with her. You love her. And you see, when your thoughts are ruled by the Bible, Satan is cut off at the pass. And his attempts to seduce you into sin are frustrated. Then you're made strong to stand. And you can give your children the witness that there is nothing in the world like Christ. There is nothing like a Christian home. There is nothing like a Christian marriage. What difference does it make if you pray every day against Satan? It makes a difference between being light and salt and being darkness and tasteless. Beloved, my concern, believe me, is not to make you fearful. It's not to make you apprehensive. We win, okay? We win. But my desire is to make you alert and to make you watchful You're not home yet. This is a hostile world to Christians, and we have to behave like warriors. We are more than conquerors. We win, but we have to behave like warriors, and we have to fight. May God help us. May He renew our humility and our felt need for the grace of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, forgive us. Please, please forgive us if we have been sleeping when we should have been watching and praying. Forgive us who are Christians if we have been mesmerized by the carnival of the world and have been somewhat seduced into seeking pleasures that have a capacity to ruin us or to ruin our children. Father, please, please deepen the work of your grace in our hearts so that we have a very strong faith in Christ coupled with a profound sense of our need for Christ. And may Satan be crushed under our feet every day. And may our children grow up to be able to say, that that family in which I lived showed me Jesus and made him attractive to me. Hear us, forgive us, restore our souls, renew a right heart within us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.