 If you have any father, we come to you under the name of Jesus. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the class we are about to have. God, we pray that as we listen to the class, you will help us to open our minds and heart and listen to it and understand the deep truths that are being talked to us by the Master. Because we bless our God. But we pray that we won't just listen to the words, but we will be doers of the word. We will be someone who walk in your holiness, in your righteousness and the things that you have did for us Jesus. Be with us, help us to understand Holy Spirit, you guide us, you lead us all. And we pray for good life, a connection throughout the session. I pray for all my classmates, be with us and guide us in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. So, we've kind of come into the last few sessions of our topic, which is living in holiness, learning to overcome and maintaining the standards that God has set for us so that we can live in a way that is honourable to him. So, after having discussed so many different things, we finally came to the three main concluding practical topics of overcoming the flesh, overcoming the world and overcoming the devil. So, we have finished overcoming the flesh. We covered that over two sessions. So, last week we kind of started off with overcoming the world. We in fact did spend some time looking at it. But we know we will finish the topic today and we will also begin with the third one which is overcoming the devil. So, in your notes, there are some practical points given about how we overcome the world. And we looked at the first point which was to set our desires on things above. We looked at it in some detail. So, we have a few more points to go. All of these points are there, the scripture references and the points are mentioned in your notes. So, we'll right now look at the second point on how to be an overcomer in overcoming the world. So, the second point in your notes is basically the importance of staying sanctified by the word and the spirit. So, we know that God uses the word, the Bible, the scriptures. He uses the scriptures and he uses his Holy Spirit to sanctify us, to set us apart so that we are different from the rest of the world. So, these are the two main instruments that the Lord uses in setting us apart. So, it would be good if we can pay attention to these two things. The word of God, first of all, learn what it says and then learn to practice it. And the other, the Holy Spirit because he's the one who leads us and guides us and shows us in which direction to go. So, these two things mainly are what God uses to set us apart from the rest of the world so that we are not going in the direction that the world is going. So, if we could have one person read out John chapter 17 verses 14 to 20 because there are a couple of nice things that we see said in this passage. John 17, 14 to 20 please. John chapter 17 verse 14 to 20, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. The word is truth. As he sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Yeah. So, over here Jesus says, I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. So, because our human representative, the perfect representative Jesus, he was able to sanctify himself. He was able to keep himself apart now through his spirit, through his Holy Spirit. We also will be able to do the same thing if we place our faith in him. So, he is not asking us to do something impossible. It is something that he has already achieved. And so, when we place ourselves under his covering and we choose to learn from him, he imparts this skill to us as well. So, in the same way that he sanctified himself and he went to the cross and accomplished all that is required for us to be able to live a victorious life. So, in the same way he set himself apart and did those things for us, now through him, through faith in him, we too will be able to live sanctified lives. And how exactly is the sanctification brought about? In this prayer Jesus prays, I am not asking you to take them out of the world. But Lord, he says, protect them from the evil one. And how does God protect us from the evil one? It says in verse 17, sanctify them, set them apart by the truth. Your word is truth. So, he protects us from the evil one through his word. His word is like a compass. It shows us in which direction we should be going. So, because we have many earthly responsibilities to fulfill, you know, we looked at the three main things that the world stands for, you know, the term world, what it stands for in Biblically. And we looked at one of the things that the world represents is all the cares and responsibilities and the pressures that we have. So, the natural instinct is for us to, you know, go hurrying about the entire day trying to catch up on all the things that need to be done. But when we have the Holy Spirit leading and when we have the word of God leading, they serve like a compass. They tell us, okay, now you go in this direction, you know, go and fulfill that responsibility. But now, no, now it's time for you to go into my presence, go and spend time in my presence. So, it helps actually when we choose to plan out our lives, schedule our various duties and responsibilities in leading, you know, through the leading of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. We kind of will end up having a more balanced lifestyle. So, the Holy Spirit and scripture are able to make sure that we are moving in the correct direction and pleasing the Lord through our lifestyle. The third point in your notes is it talks about living by faith with a renewed mind. And, you know, we are very familiar with 2 Corinthians 5-7, which says live by faith. For we live by faith, not by sight. So, this point applies more to the other aspect of the world. The world also represents all the hardships and the trials and the difficulties that we go through. So, when we are going through those pressures and difficulties, rather than becoming anxious, rather than allowing those things to, you know, make us feel disappointed to an extent where we just go away from God, rather than allowing that to happen. You know, we choose to live by faith because, you know, Romans 8-28 talks about how in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. So, even when things are going completely wrong, we choose to believe, you know, we choose to live by faith. We choose to believe that even in these negative things that are taking place, even in all these things, God is working for the good of those who love Him. And it also says, who have been called according to His purpose. So, God has called us according to His purpose with a specific plan. So, even though things are going badly, He is working out His purpose. He has called us for something. So, He will fulfill that calling. And so, now we choose to live by faith. We choose to continue renewing our minds and telling our minds, no, it's alright. Even though things are going negatively right now, even in these negative circumstances that I'm facing right now, God is at work. And He is working to fulfill that calling that He has, you know, because He has called us according to His purpose. So, that's the assurance that Romans 8-28 gives. So, God does not take away trials and difficulties, but He helps us to overcome those. And, you know, 1 Peter 1-6-7, which we have looked at earlier. But then, you know, if we could just read that once more as a reminder to ourselves, if someone could read out. 1 Peter 1-6-7, please. 1 Peter 1-6-7, in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while, if need be you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than the gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to place on earth and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yeah, so the reason that God operates in this way, the reason He allows these trials and difficulties is because it builds us up in the faith. For Him, our faith is more precious and more important than all the treasures in heaven. You know, because our faith shows Him that we are trusting Him, that in spite of all the things that are happening, we still believe in Him, that we still hope in Him. And so that is why I ask these trials to show, you know, all the principalities and parts that see, even though all these trials are coming into the lives of my children, look at the faiths that they have in me. You know, they're still holding on to me. So it results in praise and glory and honor, you know, for the name of the Lord Jesus when He is finally revealed. So this is something, so when we are going through trials, we can tell ourselves, you know, this is happening because God knows that I will continue trusting Him. So by, you know, holding on to Him in these trials, I am proving to Him that I really believe in Him. And one day, you know, the Lord's name will be glorified because I'm responding with trust. I really believe that even in these negative things, God is working, you know, for the good, you know, of His kingdom and for my personal good. So we choose to believe these things. And as we are believing it, our faith gets stronger and stronger. And then it's demonstrated to everyone, you know, how trustworthy our God is. And God gets honored because of the trust that we have placed in Him. And so, you know, like it says in 1 John 5.4, it is our faith which overcomes the world. You know, that's what it says in 1 John 5.4. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. So we choose to believe, you know, like it says in Romans 8.37, that we are more than conquerors through Him in even the most difficult and, you know, most impossible situations. We choose to continue believing that we will be all conquerors, that He will bring us out of those situations. And even as we live in that way, you know, our faith is the seed through which the victory comes. Because we are refusing to believe, you know, that we will be drowned by those difficulties. We are refusing to believe that the calling of our life will be crushed out because of those difficulties. Because we refuse to believe those falsehoods. Because we are holding on to the truth and believing that, yes, through Him we will have victory. Because we are asserting ourselves in that way, you know, God will indeed work out all things for our good. So another way of overcoming the world is, we renew our minds daily and we choose to live by faith. And then there's another point mentioned in your notes which says, be spiritually minded and earthly wise. Because that's one way of overcoming the world. And Matthew 10.16 is the verse that has been given for this point. You know, if someone could read out for us, Matthew 10 verse 16. Matthew 10 verse 16. I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. So it is important that we should, you know, be holy even as God is holy. So we stay innocent as doves. We do not do anything crooked, you know, to overcome the world. We don't use crooked tactics to overcome the world. We remain innocent as doves. But at the same time, we, you know, choose to be clever. We choose to be wise with the wisdom that God has given us. He has given common sense to everyone. It is very, very vital to use the common sense that God has given. And also this divine wisdom which God imparts when we are in difficult situations. So we need to use that wisdom to be really very, very wise. Why? Because we are going to be living among wolves. We are not going to be living in a safe place where everyone only has our good in their hearts. No, we are going to be living in a very crooked world where everyone wants to work against us. So yes, we choose to remain holy. We choose to be as innocent as doves when it comes to, you know, crooked schemes, crooked methods. No, so we don't resort to those things. Rather we look to God and we say, Lord, I'm living in this very, very evil world. Now you give me your heavenly wisdom to deal with these situations that I am facing. So when we, you know, have that kind of an attitude, in fact, it says in Romans 16, 19 to 20. Yeah, someone could read out Romans 16, 19 to 20. Romans chapter 16 verses 19 to 20 for your obedience has become known to all. Therefore, I'm glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your aid shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Yeah, so over here, you know, Paul says, everyone has heard about your obedience. You are people who choose to follow what scripture is telling, you know, and that's the right way to be. Because, you know, this actually, this passage is in the context of false teachings. So there were false teachers coming and trying to lead people away from the truth. But these Romans were trying to be careful. They were trying to obey what is scripturally correct rather than being led away by these false teachers, you know. And so he says, that's a really good thing that you're doing. And so he says, be wise in good things. You know, what the scripture says, that's the way to conduct yourself in the world. The world uses all kinds of crooked means and methods to, you know, get their jobs done. You don't need to be like that. You be wise about what is good. Choose to continue, you know, following scriptural methods. So be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. So don't be like the world which is, you know, using crookedness to get what they require. You be innocent about those things. So even as you hold on to the Lord with the right attitude, God himself, the God of peace himself will crush Satan under your feet. So you don't have to go around doing crooked things, you know, to get the job done. You just hold on to the truth. You use the godly wisdom that God imparts to you in these difficult situations. And even as you continue to do what is right, you know, through his divine wisdom, he himself will personally crush Satan on your behalf. You know, it's what, so Luke 16, 8 talks about, you know, worldly wisdom, not godly wisdom, but worldly wisdom. If, you know, if someone could read out, Luke 16, 8. Luke 16, 8, the master commanded the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. Yeah, so this is an observation that Jesus makes. He gives a story in which crooked methods, you know, leads to some level of success. So in this particular story, we have a manager who's supposed to be managing the business of the owner. So, I mean, I suppose, you know, they're selling some kind of goods or commodities or something. And all these people who are supposed to pay, you know, once you get your, you know, your consignment, you're supposed to pay for it. But then all these people have been rather careless in making their payments. And even this manager also has been rather lazy. He's not followed up with them. He's not collected the payments. And then when the master gets to know about this, he is extremely angry. And so, you know, he says, and I want to see the accounts. I want to see the figures. How much, you know, loss have you cost me up to now. So this manager, he very cleverly starts changing the accounts, you know, so that it shows like as if someone owes him, you know, maybe 10,000. He makes it look like as if that person actually owed only 5,000. So there's some kind of illegal understanding made between that the person, the customer and this manager. So the customer benefits because he only has to pay a smaller amount now. And the manager, he can show like as if, you know, the loss was lesser than it actually was. So he resorts this to this kind of crookedness. And it says over here when the manager, when the owner of the business gets to know about this, he says, oh, that's a clever way of dealing with it. So in fact, he kind of, you know, compliments the crooked thing that has been done. And then Jesus says, when these people of the world, they are more, you know, clever in dealing with their own kind. They know how to manipulate. They know how to, you know, twist the truth to achieve whatever they want. And the people of the light, you know, the people of the light, the people of God tend to be a bit innocent about these things. You know, it's the observation that God makes over here. So over here in this story is Jesus saying that we should use crooked methods? Definitely not. Because Jesus says, no, he says, I am the way, the truth. So he would never ask us to resort to something crooked. But what Jesus is pointing out is that we are living in a very evil world where in fact evil is praised, where in fact evil is commended and glorified. We are living in that kind of a setup. So in such a setup, it becomes even more important for us to move in, you know, divine wisdom. To use one example, you know, of Paul when he was, you know, this happens in Acts chapter 22 verses 21 to 29. You know, it's just like a bit of a lengthy story. But over here in Acts 22, 21 to 29. This is happening in Ephesus, where, you know, the efficient people are very, very upset because their pagan religions are losing importance. A lot of people are becoming believers. And so they are very upset about it. And so at that point of time, they, yeah, you know, so Paul begins to explain. Well, I'm not sure whether this is the efficient story or not. Probably not. No, this is not the efficient incident. This seems to be happening in Jerusalem. Okay. But yeah, so in this passage, Paul starts explaining why he's, you know, giving the message to the Gentiles and why he's trying to bring them into the kingdom of God. So he starts explaining that and the crowd gets really angry and they, you know, get ready to attack. So at that time, the commander of the Roman commander who is supposed to maintain peace in the city who can't allow all this kind of rebellions to be happening. So he comes along and he asks that Paul should be flogged. And we see that in Acts 22 verse 25 onwards. If you know, if you, if someone could just read out Acts 22, 25 and 26. Acts 22, 25 and 26, as they stretched him out to flog him, Paul, Paul said to the centurion standing there, is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty? When the centurion heard this he went to the commander and reported it. What are you going to do? He asked, this man is a Roman citizen. The commander went. Yeah, no, no, that's all right. So at that point when, you know, Paul could have been very badly beaten up. God gives him this divine idea, you know, so he, he God says to him probably, you know, why don't you use your Roman citizenship to, you know, get out of this particular situation. And so he speaks up and he says, you know, I'm a Roman citizen and you people are getting ready to flog me now. Isn't that illegal? I can actually take legal action against you for what you're doing right now. And once the centurion gets to know about that, he immediately goes running to the commander and says, you know what you've given the order for a Roman citizen to get flogged. And it's pretty dangerous thing to do because you see that this commander, in fact, he had to buy his Roman citizenship. So on the other hand, Paul never even had to do make any purchases. He was literally born with a Roman citizenship, you know, because of the particular place where he would have been born. So, so, so Paul uses this strategy at this particular point of time to deal with the world. So in times of crisis, it is good for us to say to the Lord, Lord, we are living among wolves. You have centers among wolves. So yes, I will follow the scriptures and I will stay as innocent as a dove. But also Lord, could you give me the divine wisdom I need to handle the situation in the correct manner so that I can be as shrewd as a snake? Because that's the instruction you gave. So Lord, I really do want to be as shrewd as a snake when dealing with the worldly people. Show me what to do. Show me how to handle it. And the Lord can actually provide us with some idea where we can actually overcome that particular situation. So these are just some of the points that are there in your notes about how we can be people who overcome the world. So even though the world is working against us, we can actually, with the help of God, overcome the world and be victorious. So we have in fact now covered overcoming the flesh and overcoming the world. We'll quickly get into our third main chapter which is overcoming the devil. So when it comes to overcoming Satan, we first of all have to understand and fully absorb the fact that we are dealing with someone who has been completely and thoroughly defeated. Now if this fundamental fact, this fundamental truth is not established in our minds, we would be fearful. We would wonder whether we really can have victory and we have all these negative thoughts coming into our minds. And so the very first thing about overcoming the devil is that we should be so clear in our minds that we are dealing with someone who is completely defeated. Because when we can recognize this basic fact, it gives us the confidence to use Jesus' name and by his authority to get things done. On the other hand, if we are not very clear about what our status is, our legal status is and what Satan's legal status is, we can actually kind of get led in the wrong direction and we can end up in defeat unnecessarily. So maybe we could read out, maybe we could start by reading out 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 6 to 8. 1 Corinthians 2, 6 to 8 please. This is Corinthians chapter 2 verses 6 to 8. However, we speak wisdom among those who are matured, yet not the wisdom of this age nor of the doers of this age who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages of our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Okay, so we have now started off this topic by looking at this passage which talks about how these rulers of the age were very limited in their wisdom and their knowledge, very, very limited. And so they thought they were coming up with a very great scheme, but actually the scheme which they tried to come up with totally backfired. Okay, so it really helps to understand the background. Why we are saying that Satan is just defeated, he's useless, he cannot really stand up against us once we understand the authority that we have. So here in this passage, it talks about how the rulers of this age, who are the spiritual rulers of this age, they are the dark forces, Satan and his fallen angels who have been given temporary authority for a temporary amount of time. So they are the ones who are ruling this age and look at what 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 6 says about them. It says, we speak a message of wisdom among the mature, not the wisdom of the age or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. These rulers of this age, they are literally coming to nothing, slowly by and by, they are losing whatever grip they had. So once upon a time, they might have thought that they are very powerful, but it's been being proved to them day by day that they are literally coming to nothing. They are not going to succeed, they are not going to be able to accomplish their evil purposes. And in fact, it's clarified in verse 8 where it says, none of the rulers of this age understood it for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You see, before the fall of Satan and his angels, at that point of time when Satan became proud and then he kind of tempted and instigated the other fallen angels to join him, they tried to fight against God and they discovered that it's not possible to fight against God because they are just mere created beings. God on the other hand is uncreated, his infinite, he has always existed. There's simply no comparison between the Creator and these created beings. So they really lost very badly and they were thrown out of heaven. So when Jesus chose to become a human being, completely 100% human, he chose to be as helpless as us. They thought, okay, now we finally have a chance. God in all of his infinity, we can't handle. But Jesus in his humanness, this is something that we can't tackle. And so they started to come up with the scheme, the rulers of the age, this Satan and his fallen angels. They began to come up with the scheme of getting this human Jesus killed because they thought that if they could do that, then part of the Godhead, that part of the triune Godhead would be dead. So they thought that would somehow cripple God. So that was probably their intention. And so they did not understand that God would use this very scheme that they are thinking of and turn it around and bring about the greatest victory. So which is why it says over here, the rulers of this age, it says over here, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory. So God had a clever scheme up his sleeve and why was he doing that? He was doing it for us, for our to help us so that one day we will be able to share in this glory. And so he allowed the rulers of this age to go ahead with their scheme of having Jesus crucified. And then it turned out that actually this was a very, very bad move because earlier only God had authority over them. Now a whole bunch of human beings, mere human beings would end up having authority over them. And that is not something which they anticipated. So God did this mystery, it says over here, this hidden mystery, he did it because he had destined us for glory. So for our sakes, he allowed the scheme of the evil one to go through and as a result of it, now we are destined for glory. So we are now in a position of strength. Why? Because on that cross Jesus Christ, when all of our sins were placed upon him, what does it say in Romans 8-3, he condemned sin in the flesh. You see, he had never committed any sin. So how could sin have any hold over him? It was our sins that he was bearing. But he himself was not under the control of sin. So even though our sins were heaped upon him, sin could not control him. He condemned sin in the flesh is what Romans 8-3 says. So he was able to come out victorious, something which the rulers of the age had not anticipated. So when he came out victorious having condemned sin in the flesh, now we believers who place our faith in him and live under his protection, we too can come out victorious because through him sin in the flesh is condemned. We are no longer under his control. It no longer has legal authority over us. So as long as we were prisoners under sin, Satan could exploit us. He could oppress us. He could make use of us. But now we are not under the control of sin. So legally he has no control over us. So he can only use illegal methods maybe to try and overcome us. But legally he has absolutely no control left over us. Which is what is explained to us in other scriptures which we will look at a little later. Because I think we've covered all this earlier so no point in again repeating it. But yeah, maybe we can look at Colossians chapter 2, 13-15. If someone could please read out Colossians 2, 13-15. Colossians chapter 2 was 13-15 and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made a life together with him having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way having made it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and passed he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. So it's been very clearly, see we need to understand this fundamental truths. So that will help us to be very confident in our dealings with the devil. So we were dead in our sins. We were in a completely helpless condition. But what did Jesus Christ do for us? Colossians chapter 2 was 14. He cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness which was standing against us which was condemning us. So as long as we were under sin, we were legally indebt towards God. God had asked us to do certain things and we had failed to do that. Now we were legally indebted towards God and because we were in that legally indebted condition, Satan could take advantage of us. He could gain control over us. He could suppress us. But that is no longer our legal status. What does Jesus Christ do? He takes all our legal indebtedness. He nails it to the cross and he gets on to that cross and he pays the punishment. So that all those legal debts are taken care of by Jesus and because he did that, now it's in verse 15 it says, he disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them. So in front of all the angels, in front of all the created beings in the spiritual realm, he demonstrated and showed that these powers and authorities no longer have any legal authority over my people, over those who place their faith in me and come under my covering. These powers and authorities no longer have any control over them. So if these powers and authorities want to harm us in any way, they would have to resort to illegal methods. But legally, there's nothing that we can do. So to use an example, we are living in places where the government is functioning and the law is in place. The law is functional to an extent. So some gangster can't walk up to me and say, I demand your wallet, give it to me, otherwise I'll beat you up. He doesn't have a legal authority to threaten me and demand my wallet. Why? Because I do have legal authority, you see on my side. I can say, no, there's a policeman standing over there and if I just give one scream, the policeman will come to my rescue. There's nothing that you can do. So maybe earlier when we had no legal rights, people who can't defend themselves would have been helpless. But now the law is on our side. So in the same way that gangster can't legally come walk up to me and say, you know, I'm more powerful than you, so you better hand over your wallet. I said, no, I may not be as strong as you and I may not be as muscular as you, but there's a policeman standing over there and if I just call out to him, he will come and deal with you. So we have God on our side. We have the legal authority on our side. So Satan, if he at all wants to do something to us, he has no longer any legal authority. He would have to use illegal methods, which is what we see. He tries to trick us. He tries to deceive us. He tries to bring pressures upon us where we no longer can, you know, we become blinded to the facts and we start, you know, believing in wrong ideas. So he tries to come up with all these tactics, but legally he has absolutely no control. So if we continue to renew our minds and start teaching ourselves about the authority that we have in Christ, he can't take advantage of us. You know, we can resist him by saying, this is who I am and this is the authority that I have. So I refuse to submit to you. And if we do that, he's helpless. There's nothing that he can do. When we resist him in that way, he will have to turn around and flee from us. You know, so we have high authority in God today, which is why it says in Revelation 12, 11, they triumphed over, you know, the adversary. They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. So they stood upon the finished work of the cross. So even though the adversary was trying to accuse them and trying to bring them down, they said, no, we know who we are. We know what our status is. We don't have to give in to you. We don't have to be afraid of you. And they used the word of their testimony. They declared these things. They spoke out these truths about who they are in Christ. And so the adversary was unable to have any control over them. So the one main thing that we need to understand is that on that day, after our legal debts were nailed to the cross, after Jesus finished paying the price for all of those debts and all the debts were cleared, we now, you know, if we place our faith in Jesus, we come under his covering. So now we are under his legal authority, which, you know, and he has placed that authority in our hands and we can use it in the name of Jesus. So we are in a position of strength. It's only when we forget our legal authority. It's only when we allow Satan to deceive us and lead us away. It's only when we go out of the protection of, you know, of the Lord by doing something sinful. It's only during those brief periods of time that Satan can, you know, have control over us. But as long as we stay under God's covering, we are in a position of strength. So this is one fundamental fact that we need to remember all the time, you know, when it comes to overcoming the devil. The second point in your notes is, you know, being aware of the enemy's tactics. So now because he has no legal standing, he is now forced to use all kinds of, you know, deceptive tactics. And the first, you know, tactic of the enemy, which is mentioned in your notes is mind games. He tries to use different mind games, try to deceive us in the mind in different ways so that, you know, we will not use the word of our testimony to fight back against him. So what are some of the mind games that he plays with us? One thing, of course, we know is, you know, tempting. That's the main, in fact, one of the main tactics that Satan uses is that he takes our particular area of weakness and he tries to tempt us in that particular area because we know, right? Not all the same temptations will work for everyone. I mean, for most of us, if somebody were to bring a packet of drugs and give it to us, we would not even be interested. I mean, what on earth are we supposed to do with a packet of drugs? So those are not temptations which Satan would even bother using with us because we will not be tempted. He will bring us temptations in our specific areas of weakness. Just to use an example, you know, Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, Jesus had finished fasting for 40 days and nights. So for him at that point of time, his hunger level would have been extremely great and so his finished his fast, he's out in the wilderness, there's no source of food nearby. So all he has to do is he has to wait over there in faith believing that God will in some way provide for him and he's been waiting over there and nothing has happened as yet. And now Satan comes because you see at that moment that is the area of weakness where Jesus has overcome with hunger and so Satan thinks, now let me attack Jesus in this particular area. So he comes to him and says, you have your divine powers with you. You can very well use it if you wish to. It's going to be easy for you. Why don't you convert the stones into bread and eat because it looks like your father is taking time not giving you the food which you need and Jesus responds to him and says that rather follow God's word than eat the bread which you are offering. So Satan will catch us in that weak area, in that area of need, in that area where we are at that moment very vulnerable and helpless. He attacks and tempts in that area. He tempts us to do something sinful to satisfy our need rather than waiting upon God to fulfill that need. So we should be stubborn and say no rather than giving into what Satan is suggesting. I will continue to wait for God and God will come and meet my need. In fact, we see that in the case of Jesus as well after Satan has left and gone. The angels they come and no they minister to him. So they would have provided him with the food which he needed. So one tactic of course is temptation. Satan tries to attack us in our areas of weakness. Another tactic is Satan being the accuser which we saw in Revelation 12 verses 10 to 11 where he is called the accuser of the brothers and sisters. So there are usually two main kinds of accusations. One, he tries to tell us that we are worthless, that we don't really have much value, that we are not really very very important or precious in God's eyes. Because of the way we are, we are imperfect people, we sin sometimes, we don't always walk in victory and holiness. So Satan tells us look at what you are like. A person like you really can't have much value in God's eyes. So he tries to devalue us and the other thing is outright condemnation where he says you are somebody who is always failing. So because you are always failing, how can you expect the favor of God to rest upon you? So he devalues us trying to make us look at ourselves in a very low light and if that is not working, he picks on the failures which we have had and he says see you failed in this, this, this. So now because you are a failure, how can you expect God to work on your behalf? So these are in fact the two main ways that Satan uses in bringing accusations but we need to go back to scripture and fight Satan with scripture when he comes to us as an accuser, when he comes to us in this capacity as someone who is slandering us. John 1515, if someone could read out, John 1515. John chapter 15 verse 15, no longer do I call you servants. For a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my father, I have made known to him. So there's something that we need to understand over here. Jesus was not pretending that these disciples of his are perfect people. In fact, he knew in the next chapter what's going to happen. In the very next few chapters, these people are going to betray him and run away when he's getting arrested. So Jesus is aware of that but knowing all of those things about them, this is what he says to them. He says, now onwards you are no longer servants, now onwards you are my friends. So it's not like I said Jesus is unaware of what they are going to do. He is very much aware of what they are going to do and in spite of that he says, you know what, your status is not just that of servants, you people are my friends and he says everything that I have learned from the father I have made known to you and in that sense he will continue to make known to them all that is required because servants are not given details, they are not given inside information. On the other hand, a friend is told everything. A friend is given all the details because a friend is like an equal and so Jesus knowing who they are, what they are going to do, this is the status that he gives them. He says, you are my friends. So whenever Satan comes to us and devalues us and says what is your worth and you can say my worth is that I am the friend of God. You on the other hand are the condemned one because that's what it says in that scripture which talks about how the spirit has come to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. That last portion of that passage it says, you know, it talks about Satan as the condemned one. So we, our status is that we are friends of Jesus. Satan, what his status is that he is the condemned one, already stands condemned. Whatever legal rights he had already taken away. So his status impact is pathetic. On the other hand, even though God knows that we are imperfect people our sins were forgiven on the cross by him. At the moment of salvation, all our sins, past, present and future sins were forgiven. So he regards us as friends. That is our status, you know, and we'll dwell a little further on this concept. You know, even when we come back from the break. So right now, you know, we'll go for the break and if we all can log in at 11 without fail. All right. Yeah. Thank you.