<TITLE>03. Par 12-16</TITLE>L-12 Now, Jesus said, in Mark 16, "In My Name they shall cast out devils." Now, I know that's an old saying that people--or, there is an old saying that... And it's not so old either. People don't believe in demons in this day. But the thing to do, to my opinion, is know your enemy. And--and know your enemy, and train for the contest that you're going to have when you meet him, because you're going to meet him. And know him, know his, know what his strength is, and then train for this contest when you do meet him. For it's one thing sure, you're going to meet him. And so you train for the contest.
Now, training for a contest is just like a boxer. His--his enemy that he's going to meet out there in a contest to fight, a real good fighter usually knows and studies his opponents, studies his licks, knows where he fights for, whether he leans forward, hangs back, fights right-handed or left-handed. He studies all this. And then if he's a good, smart fighter, he gets him a sparring partner that'll fight just like his opponent fights, for he'll know all of his licks when he gets to that place.

L-14 And I think that's a very good thing for Christians to do. That's right. And now if you want to start training, start with John 3:16, the Golden Rule. Start right out with that, and that'll get you on the floor. And then train for the--for the knockout punches, because you're going to have to use them. Everybody knows that. You have to train to hit your enemy. And always, God uses His Word. We must remember that God uses His Word to defeat His enemy. If God could think or could've give His people anything better to defeat the enemy with, He would've done it. So as I've always said, "When God makes a decision, that's the best that there is. He never has to alter His decisions." So the first decision God gave His people in the garden of Eden to combat the enemy, was His Word. They were fortified with His Word.

L-15 And now, the enemy is going to study the--our a-strategy with the Word. And now, Satan studied that all out so perfectly, till when he come to Eve, he had the--the best a-strategy he could use upon her, and that was to reason with the Word. Now, you never want to reason with God's Word. Just believe It. Don't try to explain It. Don't try to figure It out. Now, you cannot figure out God, so God is the Word, and It's just made to believe. And that's our Strength, just accept the Word. And anyone knows that a seed in the right kind of ground will produce its kind. And we just take the Word.

L-16 And now, Eve begin to stop to reason, when he--she quoted the Word to him that God said, "You should not eat thereof, for the day you eat thereof that day we die."
And Satan never disagreed with her. He said, "Certainly, that's right." But he said, "You see, you need some new light." Something a little different from what God said. "And if you do do this, you'd be just a little smarter. Your eyes will be open."
But she said, "Well, God said we would die."
He said, "Oh, surely..." See, there you come, just that much, "Surely you won't die." But God said you would, and that settles it. And that--that broke that great tug-of-war then and pulled the whole human race into death, because Eve listened to a reasoning against God's Word. Now, it's a shame that she did it, but it's done past. But now, we're still fortified, and that link was made up in Christ Jesus. We know that. God gave us our best Defense, just simply to trust His Word.


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