VI. HOW TO GET VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL
Now just for a few moments let me show you from the Word of God, how, in practical every day life, to get the victory over the Devil. There are four things to be borne in mind.
1. Read first, James 4:7, "Be subject therefore unto God: but resist the devil, and he will flee from you." This teaches us that, we are first of all to surrender to God and then to resist the Devil and that, if we do resist him, for all his cunning and power, he will flee from us. Although the Devil is strong, it is ours in God's strength to withstand him and overcome him.
2. Now turn to I John 2:14: "I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know him which is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one." This passage teaches us that, it is when we feed upon the Word of God and store the Word of God in our hearts, thus having it abiding in us, that we shall be able to overcome the Devil. If we neglect the study of the Bible for a single day, we leave an open door for the Devil to enter. I have been a Christian for forty-three years, but I would not dare to neglect the study of God's word for one single day. Why not? Because there is a
Devil; and, if I neglect the study of the Word of God for a single day, I leave a window open for him to enter and leave myself too weak to cope with him and conquer him. But if we will feed upon the Word of God daily, and trust in God, we can resist the devil at every point. Though the Devil is cunning and strong, God is stronger, and God imparts His strength to us through His written word.
3. Turn now to Eph. 6:11: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Here we are taught that, in order "to stand against the wiles of the Devil" we must "Put on the whole armour of God." What that armour is, is found in the verses that immediately follow. This armour, this whole armour, this "panoply of God," is at our disposal. The fact that there is a Devil, that he is a being of such majesty, dignity, cunning, and power, that he is so incessantly plotting our ruin and to undermine our faith, is no reason for fear or discouragement. By taking "the shield of faith" we shall be "able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one," by taking "the helmet of salvation," and the "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God," and by "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," it is our privilege to have victory over the Devil every day of our lives, every hour of the day, and every minute of the hour.
4. The final step in the way to get victory
over Satan is found in Eph. 6:10: "Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might." The way to get victory over Satan is to give up all confidence in our own strength and believe in the almighty strength of Jesus Christ and claim that strength for ourselves. It is in the strength of Jesus Christ's might that we shall get the victory over "the evil one." In the strength of His might, as we have already said, it is our privilege to have victory over the Devil every day of our lives, every hour of the day and every minute in the hour. Hallelujah!
XIV
Is There a Literal Hell?
"In danger of the hell of fire."—Matt. 5:22.
My subject is "Is There a Literal Hell?" I wish that the things that I am going to preach to you were not true. God wishes so, too, "The Lord is longsuffering to usward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). But God has made us in His own image, with a moral nature, with a capacity for self-determination, with a power of choice; and men can if they will choose darkness instead of light. They can choose to trample God's saving love under foot. They can choose to reject the One who was wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, and upon whom the chastisement of their peace was laid; and some will so choose. I am sorry that they will. I would be willing to die to save them. The Lord Jesus did die to save them. But they spurn Him. So these things that I am to speak to-night are true and I am going to preach them in order that you may know them, and in order that you may be sure of them. I am
going to preach about hell to keep as many of you as possible from going there.
Is There a Literal Hell? Almost all intelligent people who believe that there is a future life at all, believe that men and women who sin in the present life and who die impenitent and unsaved will be punished to some extent at least in the life that is to come. They believe that whoever sins must suffer, and that the suffering which sin causes will not be limited to this present life. But, while almost all intelligent people who believe in a future life at all believe that there is some kind of future punishment, there are many that do not believe in a literal hell, that is, in a place of awful and unutterable torment. Is there a hell? Is there a place to which impenitent men and women will go some time after death and suffer agonies far beyond those that any one suffers here on earth? Some say, "yes," there is a hell. Many, even including not a few supposedly orthodox preachers, say, "No, the only hell is the inward hell in a man's heart." How are we to settle this question? How are we to determine who is right? We cannot settle it as some are trying to settle it by "counting noses." Majorities are not always right. Especially is it true that majorities are not always right in science and in philosophy and in theology. What the majority of scientists firmly believed a century ago the majority of scientists laugh at to-day. What the majority of philosophers once
believed, the majority of philosophers to-day regard as ridiculous. So majorities cannot always be right. And, therefore, we cannot settle this question by asking what the majority believe.
We cannot settle the question by reasoning as to what such a being as God must do, for how can finite and foolish man judge what an infinitely holy and infinitely wise God would do? Man never appears more foolish than when he tries to reason out what an infinite God must do. All these arguments about hell by reasoning as to what God must, or must not, do are stupid. A child of seven cannot reason infallibly as to what a wise and good man of fifty will do, much less can puny creatures of the dust (such as you and I are, such as the most learned philosophers and theologians are) reason infallibly as to what an infinitely wise and infinitely holy God must do. It is, however, far easier to believe in a literal hell, and an everlasting hell, from the standpoint of pure reasoning to-day than it was three years and a half ago. Nevertheless, we cannot settle the question as to whether there is a literal hell by reasoning even to-day as to what such a being as God must do.
There is only one way to settle this question right, that is by going to the Bible and finding out what it says, and taking our stand firmly and unhesitatingly upon that. We have seen the last three Sunday nights that the Bible is beyond an honest question God's word, so whatever the Bible
says on this subject, or any other subject, is true and is sure. Especially is it true that we must go to the Bible and find what it says in the matter of future punishment and future blessedness. All we know about the future is what the Bible tells us. All reasoning about the future outside of what the Bible tells us is pure guessing, it is a waste of time. We know nothing about heaven but what the Bible tells us, and we know nothing about hell but what the Bible tells us. On a subject like this one ounce of God's revelation is worth a thousand tons of man's speculation. The whole question is what does the Bible say about Hell? But while we are dependent entirely upon the Bible, the Bible clearly reveals all that we need to know. The Bible tells us a great deal about heaven, and it tells us still more about hell, and it is an interesting fact that the Lord Jesus Himself, whose authority many are ready to accept who do not accept the authority of the rest of the Bible, is the One Who tells us the most about hell, and the most clearly about hell. Indeed, all that I am going to show you is what the Lord Jesus Himself says on this subject.