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Morning, we're in Proverbs chapter number 20.
In Proverbs chapter 20, the Bible reads,
The just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him.
A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
Diverse weights and diverse measures, both of them are alike, abomination to the Lord.
Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right.
The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty, open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
It is not, it is not, saith the buyer, but when he has gone his way, then he boasteth.
There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.
Every purpose is established by counsel, and with good advice make war.
He that goeth about as a tale bearer reveal the secrets, therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed.
Say not thou, I will recompense evil, but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.
Diverse weights are an abomination unto the Lord, and a false balance is not good.
Man's goings are of the Lord, how can a man then understand his own way?
It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry.
A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is upholden by mercy.
The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the grey head.
The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you for this church and for our pastor.
Just ask that you be with him now, please strengthen him and fill him with your Holy Spirit.
Just ask that you would bless the message that he's prepared for us, and may it edify the congregation here,
and may it bring you honor and glory, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Okay, we're in Proverbs chapter 20 this morning.
Look down at your Bibles at verse 14.
It says, It is not saith the buyer, but when he has gone his way, then he boasteth.
And the title of my sermon this morning is making a deal with the devil.
Making a deal with the devil.
Make no mistake about it.
Satan, Lucifer, the devil, he is definitely in the business of making deals with individuals,
and seeking to barter and negotiate with Christians, with unsaved people.
Sometimes in the Bible, even with God himself.
In fact, he's willing to make a deal with anyone.
If you remember, in the book of Job, God comes to Satan and says,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth,
a perfect and upright man, one who feareth God and is true with evil.
And then, you know, Satan tells him, you know, does Job fear God for naught?
And he begins to tell him that he's blessed his house, the work of his hands.
He says that he's blessed his substance and its increase.
And he says, But put forth thy hand now, touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And, of course, we know at the end of the story of the book of Job,
that even though he proposed that to the Lord, the Lord ended up winning the deal
because of the fact that God knew that Job was a perfect and upright man.
He was a man who feared God and is true to evil.
And therefore, Job came forth as gold.
But the point that I'm making here is the fact that Satan will seek to strike a deal,
not just with the celestial bodies, not just with God himself,
not just with the unsaved, but even with Christians.
Now, point number one regarding this sermon, regarding making a deal with the devil,
is that, first and foremost, is that we need to recognize that Satan is actually a great buyer.
Now, what do I mean by that? Well, Satan is able to convince you that what you have isn't really that valuable.
In other words, he's able to cause you to believe or persuade you that your possessions do not have value
and you shouldn't sell it for the price that's on the tag.
And he tries to get you to sell it for a more inexpensive price
and really just cause you to think that the virtues that you possess,
the things that you have, aren't really that valuable at all.
And in fact, this is what we see in Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 14.
What it says here that the buyer says,
It is not, it is not, saith the buyer, but when he's gone his way, then he boasteth.
So what's this referring to?
It's referring to someone who's coming to a seller and he looks at the possession,
he looks at the merchandise and he says, this is nothing.
You know, you're selling it for this amount of price, for this amount, look at the price on the tag,
it's all scratched up, looks like it's been used, doesn't even look all that nice.
You think it's worth this much? It is not, it is not.
And so when he actually purchases it and he convinces the seller to sell it to him at a cheap price,
what does he do? He leaves and then he boasts about it.
He begins to brag, oh look how much I got this for.
You know, look how much I was able to talk down the price on this individual, on this seller.
Now this is exactly what Satan does.
You know, Satan will come to you and he will come to unbelievers, but he'll come to believers as well,
and he'll try to convince them that the possessions that they have, the virtues they have, aren't really that expensive.
Oh, you know, you think about the young people in our world today, a very important virtue is what? Virginity, right?
And he tries to come to the young people of this world and say, oh that's not really that valuable,
why don't you go out and sell it for a one night stand?
Why don't you go out and sell it by living a life of fornication and living a life of whoredom?
You know, it's not really that valuable.
And what happens is when that person ends up selling their innocence and their virtue for a cheap price,
Satan goes and he boasts about it. Why? Because Satan is not only the tempter of the brethren,
the Bible says that he's the accuser as well.
So after he's done tempting you to commit a particular sin, after that he goes before God and he accuses you to the Lord
because of whatever transgression that you have committed. He's a great buyer.
He's able to convince you that what you have isn't really that valuable at all.
He wants to talk down the price on the possessions, the virtues, the convictions, the standards that you have,
and try to get you to sell it for cheap.
Now go to Genesis chapter 25, if you would, Genesis chapter 25.
We're talking about making a deal with the devil. When you make a deal with the devil, just recognize he's a great buyer.
He's going to tell you it is not, it is not, but make no mistake about it.
Once he's talked you down on the price, he's going to go and he's going to brag about the fact that he got one over on you.
And he is the person, he is that individual who knows how valuable your possessions are,
who knows how valuable your Christian values and standards and convictions are,
and he's trying to get you to sell it for cheap.
Look at Genesis 25, let's look at an example of this. In verse 29, it says here,
Now Jacob is also known as the deceiver. He is the supplanter.
In other words, he's basically, in this particular instance, he's like a picture of Satan.
Because Satan is a liar, and the father of it.
And it says here that Jacob sawed potage, sawed is just a past tense of seethe.
So he sawed potage, and Esau, which is his brother, came from the field and he was faint.
So Esau is a man of the field, he's working outside in the field, and so he's exhausted, he is hungry,
he's probably malnourished because he's been working all day.
So he comes to his brother, look at verse 30,
Now the birthright is pretty expensive.
I mean this is something that is very valuable, it's designated for the firstborn,
it's something that God esteems as being very highly,
and in fact in these days the patriarch would also esteem it as being something that's extremely valuable.
Yet Jacob wants it, he wants him to sell him his birthright.
It says in verse 32,
This is a perfect example of the buyer saying it is not.
Oh you know what, just give me your birthright and I'll give you this food.
He obviously saw that Esau was vulnerable, he's tired, he's malnourished,
so he proposed to buy his birthright with a bowl of beans.
I mean that's not something that's very valuable, I mean first of all I hate soup.
I don't hate it but you know, it's pretty close to hating, I'm pretty close to hating it.
Unless I'm sick or something like that, or unless it's raining and it's pho.
Those are the exceptions but for the most part I'm not really a big fan of it.
But you put beans in it, I'm definitely against it.
I'm not a big fan of lentils.
But you know what, to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
And so with Esau he's at the point to die, he's faint, he's hungry,
so he feels like he has to just sell his birthright which is far more valuable than that bowl of lentils
and he ends up making this grievous mistake of despising his birthright by selling it for a bowl of lentils.
This is exactly what Satan does.
He will seek to find you in a vulnerable state where he feels like, well I can take advantage of this person.
You may think to yourself, well you know I'm never going to find a spouse.
You know I'm never going to find a wife, I'm never going to find a husband,
so therefore I'm just going to sell my birthright to marry a believer in the Lord.
I'm going to sell that for marrying an unbeliever.
Where the Bible tells us what? The Bible tells us be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And you know what Esau, instead of going to Jacob maybe he just should have gotten a mom.
Like, bowl of lentils? I'll just go get some meat. None of this vegan stuff.
I'm not into this vegetarian meal you got going on here, I'll go get some venison, amen?
But he despises his birthright and here's the thing is that Esau at the end of the day,
he ended up regretting that decision that he made but it was already too late.
Why? Because of the fact that Jacob was obviously a great buyer.
And so he was able to convince him and find him in a state of vulnerability,
convince him that his birthright wasn't as important at that moment,
but then later on he recognized that he made a huge mistake.
Go to 2 Kings chapter 18, 2 Kings chapter 18.
When making a deal with the devil you need to realize that he's a great buyer.
He can try to convince you that the possession that you have isn't really all that valuable.
Going to church and living a life of purity and innocence and righteousness isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
You can go out and have some fun and sell your Christian virtue for a bowl of lentils,
but let me say this, when you make that purchase, when you sell your birthright,
you're going to regret it in the long run.
Look at 2 Kings chapter 18, 2 Kings chapter 18.
In this particular story we see that Hezekiah is being invaded by the Assyrians
and we see that the king of Assyria sends forth his general, which is Sennacherib,
to essentially threaten Hezekiah and intimidate him
and we're going to see that Hezekiah essentially capitulates initially
to some of the threats and the propositions that he makes.
Look at verse 14,
So, they're being invaded, they're being encompassed, and Hezekiah capitulates because he's afraid and he says,
you know, I've offended, it's my fault, what are your terms and services? What is it that you want from me?
So then the king is constantly advertising his products to the world and specifically to Christians.
Constantly trying to get them to buy into sins and transgressions to destroy their life
and obviously he's not going to show you a man vomiting on the floor,
wallowing in his own vomit and his own urine when he's trying to sell you the idea that drinking alcohol is fun.
He's going to wrap it in a package that looks fun and it looks great and everyone's having a great time,
but, you know, the end of it are the ways of death, right?
What do I mean by that? You know, he's a great seller because of the fact that he lies to you
and he never really delivers on his product now, does he?
Now we know that Satan is a deceiver. The Bible tells us that we're not ignorant of his devices,
that he is a liar and the father of it and it's for that reason that whatever he sells to Christians,
whatever he tries to get them to buy into, we know for a fact that it's not all that it's cracked up to be according to the Bible, right?
I mean the Bible tells us that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed
and when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.
Why? Because for the wages of sin is death.
So even though sin is pleasurable for a season, listen to me, the pleasure of that sin is very short lived and it brings forth death.
And Christians need to make sure that they keep in mind that when temptation comes from Satan,
he tries to sell you a bill of goods, he tries to sell you that lemon.
Yeah, you may drive it around the block and it may work and it looks really clean and it was detailed
and it looks like it's running like a brand new vehicle and all the numbers inside say zero.
And he's like, yeah, take it for a spin.
And you take the car off the lot, you drive it around the block and you're like, wow, this is actually really nice.
But hold on a second, you're going to find yourself in about an hour off the 405 freeway with the blown gasket,
with the motor cracked, with your transmission going out.
And even if you don't find yourself that very day off the 405, somewhere down like a week from now, you will.
And two weeks from now you're going to be calling Mark, right?
You're going to be calling the pastor, you're going to be calling the man of God to help you to fix the problem
because Satan sold you a bill of goods.
Because that's how it works, my friends.
You know, Satan is always making sin look exceeding, wonderful and pleasurable.
And you know, the Bible again says that sin is pleasurable for a season.
You know what, that initial high, that initial enjoyment, that initial excitement of sin is there,
but it is very short lived, my friends.
And in fact, the Bible tells us, you know, stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant,
but he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
The Bible tells us that bread eaten in secret is sweet to a man, but afterwards, listen to this,
thy mouth shall be filled with gravel.
So when the seller gives you that leaven, that bread of sin, oh, you know, the initial bite,
oh, you know, it's fresh out of the oven.
It's nice and warm and fluffy and that initial bite is just delicious.
But let me say this, the more you chew, the more you realize that the ingredients that you thought
were supposed to be in the bread are not really there.
Thy mouth shall be filled with gravel.
Essentially showing us that the long-term effects of the decisions that we make,
of the product that we purchase from Satan, doesn't please at all.
And in fact, it leaves us wanting for more.
It leaves us in devastation.
The ramifications of committing certain sins and transgressions is horrible.
And you know, the Bible tells us that thou shall mourn at the last when thy body and thy flesh are consumed.
And the Bible says that you'll say, how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof?
It says that I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me.
Essentially showing us that you will be regretting it in the long run.
You see, Satan is really good at selling you something that's only going to work short term, right?
He's good, you know, you think of like lottery tickets.
Most people get their dopamine kick buying the lottery ticket,
but they never actually get the actual climax of dopamine from winning, right?
Because you never win.
You think of sin, this is what sin does to you, this is what Satan does,
is that he will sell you a bill of goods and cause you to think that, oh man, this is great, it's enjoyable,
this relationship is great, this drug is great, this party life is great, this whatever, fill in the blank, is great.
But afterwards your mouth will be filled with gravel, you're going to regret it, it gets old after a while.
Yeah, the initial state of drinking or sipping alcohol may give you a little buzz, it may get you a little drunk,
it may make you a little more social, right?
But you know the ender of is cirrhosis of the liver.
You know the ender of is potentially getting raped.
You know the ender of is you finding yourself in a ditch somewhere in a drunken stupor not knowing where you're at,
getting robbed or having some, you know, bad thing happen, some evil befall you because you bought the product,
thinking that it was actually worth something, okay?
You're in Genesis, go to chapter 3, are you in chapter 3?
Let's look at another example of this.
It says in verse number 1 of Genesis chapter 3,
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the trees which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Now, obviously what we see here is that Eve is exaggerating, okay?
Because God never said ye shall not touch it, she's adding to what God's commandment was, right?
Says in verse number 4, And the serpent said unto the woman,
Here's the pitch, Ye shall not surely die, okay?
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil.
So what is it that Satan is trying to sell to Eve?
What he's trying to sell is the knowledge of good and evil.
And he's selling it by proposing if you eat of this fruit of the tree, you're not going to die.
And you know what? He's halfway right.
Because of the fact that once she eats of the fruit, she's thinking she's going to just fall over and die.
And that doesn't happen.
You know, the sin of eating that fruit, the full extent, the full ramification of disobeying that command
doesn't happen immediately, although we know that they begin to die spiritually, but eventually they do die.
You see, that physical death that Satan was referring to didn't happen right off the bat.
It came somewhere long down the road, and in fact, here we are today, okay?
People dying like every day, and we're going to die, okay?
But thankfully we have salvation, and we shall never die, spiritually.
And of course we will be resurrected.
But the point that I'm making here is that Satan is a great seller because he was able to convince Eve
that she would not die if she purchased this temptation of eating of the fruit of the tree of good,
of the knowledge of good and evil, and ultimately the ripple effect of that transgression,
the ripple effect of that disobedience damned the entire world.
So just think about what your sin can do, not just to yourself, but how about the ripple effect that it'll have on your family?
How about the ripple effect that it'll have in your marriage?
How about the ripple effect that it'll have in your church?
And to those around you and those who you influence, it could affect a lot of people.
Turn to Exodus chapter 8, if you would. Exodus chapter 8.
So we see that when you make a deal with Satan, we've got to recognize that he is a great buyer.
He's able to convince you that the product that you have, the possession that you hold, isn't really that valuable.
Don't make such a big deal about what you have and what God has given to you and your inheritance.
It's not really that expensive. People don't really value those things anymore.
Don't go overboard on that. Just sell it for cheap.
Sell it for cheap. Sell it for a good time. Sell it for drugs. Sell it for a woman. Sell it for a man.
Sell it for something so you can just have that initial kick, but then you realize what I'm selling it for,
what I had actually was more valuable than this, and now it's gone.
I think all of us have been swindled at one point or another.
Whether by a buyer or a seller. This is like Jacob in Esau.
But not only that, we see that when you make a deal with Satan that he's a great seller as well.
He's able to convince you that the product he has can make you happy. It can fulfill you.
And the first initial thing that we see with the buyer is that he finds you in a vulnerable state.
Well, that's the same thing when he's trying to sell something to you.
He tries to sell you sin when you are in a vulnerable state.
Let me say this. That's why it's important for you to be in church. Why?
Because once you're in church, you recognize, you hear the preaching of God's word,
it kind of realigns your thinking how you're supposed to think as a Christian,
you read the scriptures, and then you understand the end of that person who buys into what Satan is selling.
And then you're like, that was a stupid thought. I don't know why I wanted to do that.
I don't know why I thought that was okay. But if you're not in church, you're like, well, I'm reading my Bible.
Yeah, but if you're not in church with other believers, mature than you, with the pastor,
kind of helping you realign your thinking, you're vulnerable to a lot of things.
You're vulnerable to a lot of the temptations. You're vulnerable to the seller known as Satan.
Now think about the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness. Satan tried to sell him a lot.
He said, you know, if thou be the son of God, you know, he says, command that these stones be made bread.
And of course, Jesus hit him with that epic verse, you know, man should not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.
And then he tells him, you know, he takes him into a high mountain,
he shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
and he tells him to worship him, that he can have all of these things as long as he bows down and worships him.
And Jesus says, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, only him only shall thou serve.
Which is kind of ridiculous that Satan would even think.
Because he's like, all these things have been given unto me. He's like, yeah, by God, Jesus is God.
Like you only have this ability because God gave you that ability, okay, that authority and that power.
Which by the way, you know, the principle there is that sometimes we don't realize how stupid the offer is.
You know, Satan comes like the godfather, he's like, I'm going to make you an offer that you can't refuse,
and tries to convince you that that offer is just a limited time only.
You know, you got to buy it now. There's only so many in stock.
And, you know, if you don't do it now, it's going to go, but then you think about it, it's just like, it's going to be there tomorrow.
And in fact, you know, Satan always has this Black Friday type of advertisement, does he not?
Or it's just like, you got to get it. But then, like, you start moving the prices and they're not cutting down the prices,
they're actually raising the prices on you.
It's just like, oh man, it's, you know, it's $49.99 only for Black Friday.
But then you remove the price and it was actually like $29.99 the week before.
But he's good at convincing you that you're getting a deal.
And he often operates on, or he takes advantage of your sense of urgency because you think you just need that right now.
It's like, oh man, well if you don't get it now, well what are we going to do? The sale's going to go away.
Well, first of all, you're not even getting a deal. Okay?
Secondly, you don't need it. Just wait it out.
And what I'm talking about is the fact that Satan, when he finds you in a state of vulnerability,
in a state of panic, you know, you're not doing well at your job, or your family's not doing well,
your marriage is not doing well, things aren't just going well in your life.
You feel like you have to make a decision right then and there.
And you know who's always there to sell you something when you're in that condition? Satan.
He's always present to sell you something. He's at, what are those corner stores called?
Where it's just like cash. You know what I'm talking about?
You can get a cash loan. What is that called?
Check what? Check cash. Right?
Where it's like you can get a loan like right now.
You know, you're low on funds and you're just like, I need money right now.
So you go there, but then the interest rate is just crazy. Right?
It's like a ridiculously high. Well that's how Satan works.
You know, oh yeah, he'll give you a loan. But just know this, the interest on that loan are extremely high.
The ramifications on the loan that Satan has given you will put you into so much debt,
it would have been just better for you to just be broke.
You understand what I'm saying?
It's like, you know, a person thinks, well, you know, I'm just never going to find anybody,
so I'm just going to find the most random person online and just develop a relationship.
But you know, the interest rates on that relationship after it's over and done with,
you would have thought to yourself, I would have been better just single.
I would have just, I should have just waited.
That's how Satan works. You understand what I'm saying?
But he's always there when you have a sense of urgency.
You know, he's always there when he feels like you have a sense of urgency,
when you're vulnerable, when you're feeling depressed, when you're feeling down,
when you feel like, well, I've got to do something right now.
But really, you don't have to do anything right now. Just wait it out.
You know, any time Christians are feeling a sense of depression or they're feeling down,
and they feel like they have to just make some sort of crazy decision,
like just move to another state by next week, you know what I say?
I just tell them, like, just go get a burger, go take a nap, go to sleep,
sleep on it for a couple of days, and you'll find that at the end of those couple of days,
you'll probably change your mind.
Because you know, the initial is just like, I got to do something.
I got to move to Texas. I got to move to Arizona. I don't know what we're going to do.
It's just like, why don't you just wait it out? Why don't you just wait it out? Just wait.
Do you really have to do something right now? Does a decision need to be made at this moment?
Most people want to make that decision at this moment to kind of placate their own conscience.
But really, what some people have to do is just wait upon the Lord.
But what I'm saying is that the buyer, the seller, which is known as Satan, he's always there.
He's the car salesman. You know, you stop by a car lot and he's just like,
Man, I feel like I need to buy a car. You know, you get all those sharks.
And they will feed into that sense of urgency as well.
Oh yeah, you definitely need that. That's exactly what I understand completely.
I got a family too.
You need the most expensive car on the lot. Absolutely.
And you know what? We have a deal today. Don't tell anybody I told you this.
Every salesman does something like that.
I remember when we signed up to LA Fitness. He came with me.
The guy was like, you know, we're trying to talk him down to the price.
We're trying to be like Satan. You know, just talk him down.
Tell him that what he's offering us is not as valuable.
But we're trying to talk him down and he's just like, alright, I'm going to do something for you guys.
I don't do this for a lot of people.
And he looks left and looks right. We're just like, come on.
He's probably raising the price on us, really.
That's what they do, right? It's just like, you know, just don't tell my boss this.
I'm going to do this for you guys because I see that you guys are struggling.
I see you guys really need this.
And then it makes you feel like, oh man, he's doing us a favor or something like that.
And obviously, as Christians, we should know that Satan is never doing us a favor.
He has no sympathy. He has no empathy for us.
He doesn't have us. He doesn't favor us. He wants to destroy our lives.
He wants to steal, kill, or destroy, the Bible says.
He does not have our benefit and mind. He doesn't want to help us.
He's going to try to sell you a bill of goods.
Satan is like a car shark salesman.
Satan is like that, you know, your stereotypical Craigslist car salesman.
You know, all capital letters, must go now, you know.
And I'm not against, if you've done something like that, I'm not against you as long as you're honest.
You know, you say as is.
But if you're just like, great condition, only drove, you know, to church,
only went to church on Sundays, stayed at the speed limit,
pulled over every 15 minutes or, you know, I don't know.
You know, don't break fast and drove in a slow lane.
I just need to get rid of this, you know.
That's like Satan.
You know, it's like the Craigslist people, the stereotypical Craigslist individual who says this,
you know, oh, I need to rent out this three bedroom, two bathroom apartment house,
actually this house for $900.
We're missionaries and we're out of the country right now.
You guys ever seen something like that? That's very common.
Anybody who's looked for an apartment initially has always run into those people.
Or it's just like, we're looking, you know, hey, we're trying to rent this house out, you know,
has a yard, has a backyard, comes with a playground in the back and three bedroom and two bath for $950 a month.
We're just trying to get, you know, we're Christian missionaries.
We're just looking for someone in need.
And it's a scam.
It's a complete scam.
And it's just like, oh, we can't pick up the money so we need you to wire it to us.
We need you to wire us the down payment or, you know, the first and last month's rent or whatever.
But it's a complete scam. Satan is scam likely on your phone.
You know, scam likely, it's constantly calling you trying to scam you.
Trying to get you to buy a scam likely from India.
Trying to convince you that you've overdrawn on your bank account.
Why? Because it's trying to put you in a state of panic and urgency.
You understand what I'm saying?
You've overdrawn on your bank account.
Oh, someone has hacked your account.
Someone has hacked your email.
We need you to send us your password.
Someone has hacked your phone.
You need to give us your bank account number.
It's like, what?
But you know what?
The simpleton, the Bible says the simple pass on and are punished.
What is a simple person?
Someone who believes every word.
That's why we've got to be vigilant as Christians and recognize that, you know, Satan, like that scam likely,
will likely try to scam you.
And say, not today, Satan.
You know, when Satan calls that scam likely, you just hang right up.
You just hang up.
You know, and I know some of you like to answer every once in a while and just kind of troll them or whatever.
I don't got time for that.
I just hang up.
Look, I don't even answer phone calls, even if it doesn't say scam likely.
If it's just the number that I don't have on my phone, I don't answer.
I just never answer.
Even if they call over and over and over again, I never, and here's my philosophy.
If it's an emergency, you should have called the police.
And if it's not an emergency but it's really important, you'll text me.
Or if it's not an emergency but you need my help, you'll leave a voicemail so I can hear your voice.
But if you call me with the number that I don't recognize, I'm just never going to answer.
It's like these people on Facebook who just think they could just call you on Facebook.
How many of you guys ever had that?
It's like some dude from Africa, you know, will constantly, greetings my beloved brother,
holy in the Lord, you know, son of God, believer of Jesus Christ, you know, peace be upon you.
And it's just like, I'm not reading this whole thing.
The greeting itself is just long enough.
And then I read the greeting and I'm like, he's asking for money.
That's what he's asking for. I'm not interested.
And then it's like, as soon as I go on Facebook, they're obviously like waiting because then they call me.
And they really think I'm just going to answer, I don't know you.
I don't know you.
The only people I answer are the people that I know.
What I'm saying is that Satan operates the same way as the scammers of this world.
He'll wait till you're vulnerable or he'll try to get you to think that you're in a state of vulnerability.
In a state of urgency that you must buy now, that you have to do something now,
because if not, everything's going to fall apart.
He's like, he's lying to you.
He's completely lying to you. Just wait it out.
Wait upon the Lord.
And so this is what it's like making a deal with Satan.
We need to recognize he's a great buyer.
He's going to tell you what you have.
It is not, it is not Satan the buyer.
And once he's purchased it for a low, low price, he's going to go away and he's going to boast.
You know, some of you have done that too, right?
You know, you're like, 70, I'll take it for 20, 30, 20, 25, 20.
And it's just like, all right, fine.
Okay, 19, then you just keep going lower and lower and lower.
There's nothing wrong with bartering.
But we're talking about in the context of Satan, this is what he'll do to you.
He's also a great seller.
He'll try to get you to think that his product is worth purchasing,
but it's not worth anything.
And in fact, it's worth purchasing something to avoid it.
It's worth paying the price to serve God so that you don't fall into those pitfalls of the scam-likelies of this world.
Okay.
Now where do I have you turn to? Exodus?
Point number three regarding making a deal with Satan.
Point number one, I said he's a great buyer.
Point number two, he's a great seller.
But point number three, he's also a great negotiator.
Meaning that he's good at convincing you that there's a happy medium.
Maybe you want to buy it for the price on the tag.
Okay, what are you willing to buy then?
It's like the car salesman, right?
Oh, you don't want this? Okay, which one do you want?
What price are you looking for?
He's good at negotiating because he's willing to take anything.
He's willing to take anything you have, even if it's just a little bit.
He wants to see what he can get out of you because he's a great negotiator.
Okay.
Now what are some of the things that he would try to negotiate?
Well, let's go through the story in the book of Exodus.
I read this this week and regarding the Exodus and the altercation,
the confrontation between Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh.
And when you read the story, you see that Pharaoh is a picture of Satan.
Okay.
He symbolically represents Satan.
Of course, we know that Egypt in the Bible commonly represents the world.
And we know that Satan is the god of this world,
who had blinded the minds of them which believed not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine unto them.
And so just as Satan is the god of this world,
in this particular story, we can see how Pharaoh can represent Satan,
who is the king of Egypt, wherein Israel is found.
Okay.
And Moses, of course, could represent Jesus Christ,
delivering God's people out of the clutches of Pharaoh who represents Satan.
Now the first thing we see here is the fact that God begins to plague Egypt
and send multitudes of plagues to make the land grievous.
And Pharaoh's heart becomes hardened.
He doesn't want to let the people go.
And God is doing all these signs and wonders.
So it gets to a point where Pharaoh, instead of saying,
I'm not going to let you go, he tells them that they can go,
but he wants to negotiate.
He wants to give the terms, his terms, as to how they can leave and serve God.
Okay.
So the first thing we see is that he's like,
Serve God, but do it in the land.
Look what it says in verse 25 of Exodus chapter 8.
It says,
That sounds good.
Right?
Sacrifice to your God in the land.
But hold on a second.
God doesn't want them to sacrifice, make those sacrifices in the land.
He wants them to do it in the wilderness.
Right?
He wants them to go to a specific area to sacrifice unto the Lord.
Those are the terms and services that God is proposing,
whereas Pharaoh, who represents Satan, is saying,
You can serve God, but just do it in the land.
Do it in the world.
Verse 26,
Now what does this represent?
Well, you think of churches that want to serve the Lord.
They want to win people and get people in the church,
but they do it by worldly means.
They do it in the land.
And, you know, you look at some churches out there,
and if you're to compare some of those church services to a concert,
there's pretty much no difference.
If you put to both of them side by side and you remove the audio,
and in some cases you don't even have to remove the audio,
you can see that they're pretty much the same.
Why? Because Satan came to them and said,
Oh, you can serve your God, but just do it in the land.
You can serve your God, but just do it like Led Zeppelin.
You could serve God, but just do it like cake pop.
Is that what it's called?
Not cake pop.
What's that Korean stuff called?
What's that Korean stuff that you guys like called?
What's it called?
Cake pop.
Oh, K-pop. K-pop.
There are a bunch of cake pops anyways.
Little sweet cake pops.
You know, they try to be as close to the world as possible.
Why? Because Satan came to them and said,
Oh yeah, sacrifice to your God, but just do it in the world.
Do it in the land.
Make sure that you're as close to the world as you possibly can.
Make sure you have a bar in your church.
Make sure you have a tattoo parlor in your church.
You say, well that's extreme. That's real.
People do that.
Make sure that you have a tattoo artist in your church
so you can get the Trinity tattoo on you.
You can get a Bible verse if you want.
Forget what Leviticus says.
You can get Leviticus tattooed on you.
Serve the Lord. Sacrifice to your God.
I'm not against you doing that.
What is he doing? He's trying to negotiate with them.
Saying, you know what?
If I can't pull you all the way and keep you in Egypt
under his subjection, under his rule, well that's fine.
Go ahead and serve your God.
Say that you're serving God, but just make sure you do all those ordinances in the land.
Make sure you do those in Egypt.
Folks, this is a fundamental Baptist church.
And we're going to remain a fundamental Baptist church.
We're not going to have the rock music.
We're not going to have the purple lights.
We're not going to have the smoke and mirrors.
You know, we're not going to have this church service like they had last Easter.
What's that guy's name?
Mike Todd.
Yeah, Mike, of course he would know.
Mike Todd, where it looks like some show at the Grammys or something like that.
Because they're not trying to compete with the world.
They are the world.
Those Christian churches are not trying to compete with the world.
They're not trying to win people over from the world.
They are the world.
In fact, they're a lame version of what the world's putting out.
That's all it is.
You know, they're just like, you know, the world is Bud and they're Bud Light.
The world is Miller and they're Miller Light.
Because there's actually nothing different because you still get drunk off of the world
going to these liberal churches because it looks just like the world.
The only difference is they don't cuss.
They don't strip naked, and in some cases they possibly do, you know.
I mean, there's instances where they've done stuff like that.
I remember in the 2000s there was a guy named Mark Driscoll.
And Mark Driscoll, how many of you know who Mark Driscoll is?
Okay.
Mark Driscoll, he had a church called Mars Hill.
A very controversial pastor.
But he had some Japanese punk rock band come and play at his church naked.
Just butt naked.
And then he'd probably be like, yeah, maybe that was a little too far.
Yeah, you think?
I don't even know if worldly people do stuff like that.
I mean, they might, but probably not very often.
Sacrifice to your God, but just do it in the land.
That's what he's saying.
By the way, Mark Driscoll blocked me on Instagram.
And I've never contacted him.
Like, my wife sent me something dumb that he was teaching, and I was like, I can't access this.
And typically on Instagram if you can't access this, it's because they blocked you.
And I'm like, why would this guy block me?
Maybe he ran into one of my realtors and was just like, preventative.
I'm just going to block him so that he doesn't make a video about me.
And so Satan is a great negotiator.
If you're not willing to come all the way, he's fine with that.
Meet him halfway. That's what he's saying.
He wants you to find a happy medium.
And you know what? Calvary Chapel and all these liberal fund centers, Harvest and all that.
All these churches are is Christians sacrificing to their God in the land.
Now what happens when you sacrifice to God in the land?
Well, you get a church full of unsaved people.
You get a bunch of Israelites who look, behave, and are Egyptians.
Pretty much.
Look at verse 28 of Exodus chapter 8, verse 28.
So he's a great negotiator. He'll try to get you to find a happy medium.
Serve God, but in the land.
And here's another negotiation that he'll try to get from you, or way to negotiate with you.
As he was saying, serve God, but just don't be an extremist.
Don't get too crazy.
Okay, look at verse 28.
Pharaoh said, I will let you go, oh thank you, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness.
Okay, if you don't want to do all that.
If you don't want to serve God at Harvest, at Calvary Chapel, at the liberal fund center,
at Sandals, at, you know, Cloak.
I'm just making names up.
Sandals is a church name.
So I figured you could just come up with any clothing and just, that's a church.
You know, at Raymond, at Cloak.
You know, what's another one?
Friends.
What?
Friends.
At Friends.
At, what do you call it, Breastplate.
That's probably a little too radical.
He says, okay, go sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness.
Listen to this.
Only you shall not go very far and treat for me.
So he's just saying, that's fine, go to the wilderness, but make sure you're close enough where I can keep an eye on you.
Don't go too far.
Okay, if you want to join a Baptist church, just don't go to a new IFP church.
You want to go to a fundamental Baptist, I get it.
You like the fundamental Baptist and King James and you like the soul winning.
But do me a favor, just stay away from those new IFP churches.
Those extreme, don't be an extremist.
But let me just say this, folks.
Christianity is extreme.
You actually can't be a Christian without being an extremist.
Because Christianity is the exact opposite of everything of this world.
In its philosophy, in its look, in its beliefs, everything is polar opposite to this world.
So when you actually become a biblical Christian, okay, you automatically inherit extremism.
Unless you didn't go very far.
Unless you're just on the border of Egypt and the wilderness.
Unless you're kind of playing both sides a little bit and staying a little in and out.
Because at the end of the day, fundamental Baptist Christianity is extreme and it should be extreme.
And if it ceases to be extreme, then it's no longer biblical Christianity.
Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
That's an extreme statement.
Now it's not extreme to us, because to us it's just like, amen.
But to other Christians that don't want to offend everyone, they're just like, well, you know, to each his own.
You know, what's right for me may not be right for them. What's right for them is not necessarily right for me.
And all roads lead to the same destination.
Yeah, all roads lead to hell, except for Christianity.
And even within Christianity, you have to have the right doctrine of salvation to go to heaven.
Because it's not by repenting your sins or doing good works or doing deeds.
It's just by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well that's a little extreme. Yeah.
You know, extreme Christianity is we're King James only.
And all the other Bibles are trash.
And you know what, that offends a lot of Christians today.
We're just like, well, I just prefer the H-I-G-L-O-M-N-O-P version or whatever.
I just prefer the New Jerusalem.
First of all, this is the New Jerusalem.
What you got is the Old Jerusalem, which generates the bondage.
Okay.
You know, I prefer the New Jerusalem.
I prefer the E-S-V.
I prefer, you know, whatever Bible that has these crazy amount of letters for an acronym.
It's kind of extreme to say, oh, you K-J-V only.
Yeah, it just rolls off the tongue, huh?
K-J-V only-est.
Rolls right off the tongue.
And yeah, it is extreme because of the fact that God's word in the English language is in only one book.
How do we know that?
Well, because of the fact that it's withstood the test of time.
And you can read it from cover to cover for years on end and never find a mistake, never find error,
and see that it is a superior translation to every translation that exists today.
That's right.
Not only in its translation, but just spiritually, how it's written.
Not only that, but also just in its accuracy of the information that it's giving.
Some of the information that these modern versions give, it's not even good.
Like, first of all, there's no poetic power behind it, these modern versions of the Bible, but also they're just inaccurate.
Their geography's all messed up.
And so, you know, if you think that being a K-J-V only-est is extreme, just say that being K-J-V only is just right.
If being right is being extreme, then I'm extreme.
If being correct and being accurate is extreme, then I'm an extremist.
Because being an extremist means that we believe everything extremely.
We believe that sin, listen to this, is exceedingly sinful, which means it's extremely sinful.
Well, not all sin, you know.
What sin for you isn't necessarily sin for me.
The Holy Spirit told me, you know, don't buy into this negotiation of Satan that says,
you know, if you're going to be a Christian, that's fine, but just don't go very far.
Don't, you know, don't go and wear the skirts.
Oh, you mean, like, don't look like a woman?
Folks, in the day and age in which we live, we need these extreme views so much the more.
Because, you know, this is what happens.
The world in which we live is a result of what happens when gender distinctions aren't made.
Like skirts on women and pants on men.
Oh, don't be so extreme like you wear, like, a suit to church or something.
Or don't be so extreme that, you know, you cut your long hair as a guy and you keep your hair long as a girl.
Don't be that extreme.
It's just biblical Christianity.
What's fine, you can go to church, but don't be so extreme that you go out and knock on doors and go tell people they're going to hell.
You know, that you're out there just giving the gospel, just go to the service.
Oh, don't be so extreme, go to one service, but don't go to all the services.
That's extreme.
And look, there's churches out there where you read a verse of the Bible and it's just like, well, that's a bit extreme.
Isn't there a meme out like that?
It's like, Christian reads the Bible, progressive Christian is just like, well, that's extreme.
But you think of the things that are just normal to us, that's extreme to this world.
Who cares what this world thinks?
Who gives a rip what the world thinks of our views, what the Bible says?
Pharaoh's not going to tell me how far I can go.
If God said I'm supposed to go three days journey, we're going three days.
We're not going a day, we're not going two, we're not going a half a day, we're going three days journey.
You shall not go very far, I'm going to go really far.
Look at verse 29.
Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee and will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, from his people tomorrow.
But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore, not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.
And Moses went out from Pharaoh and treated the Lord.
And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarm of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, from his people, there remain not one.
And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.
Now, a point that I want to make regarding this last verse here in verse 32 is that Satan is never honest about what he's negotiating with you.
Because it's a deceitful bargain.
Because he's giving you all these stipulations, and he's trying to see what he can get from you, but even when he gets from you, he's still lying about what his part is going to be.
Because we see here, he's still not letting them go.
And in fact, look at verse 27, go to chapter 9, and look at verse 27 of Exodus chapter 9.
It says, And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time.
The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
And treat the Lord, for it is enough that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord,
and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail, that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's.
But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.
Look at verse 34, And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunders were ceased, he sent yet more,
and hardened his heart, he and his servants, and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,
neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.
He's lying. So just realize that when you make a deal with the devil, he's never going to keep his end of the bargain.
If he says, well don't go very far, don't be extreme, you know what?
The people who are saying that are still going to criticize you, even if you take a soft stance on Christianity.
Whatever it is, whatever terms you agree to, they're still going to get on you for that.
Oh, you go to church three times a week? Don't be so extreme, go once.
Somewhere down the road they're going to criticize you for going once.
You're always at church. You're just always there, once a week.
You should go like once a month. And you know what?
If you agree to those terms and services, they will harden their heart yet more, and they will criticize you for that too.
You know, I remember we used to have fun together. It's like I go to church once a month now.
And you know what? The goal when negotiating with Satan, when he negotiates with you,
is to actually just little by little get you back to his side, to what he actually wants from you.
So he'll help you to find a happy medium, and then just little by little, he'll get you to inch a little closer to what his terms are,
his price tag is, his product, because that is the end goal he wants to win.
And so recognize that. When making a deal with Satan, he'll try to negotiate with you, to try to get you to serve God in the land,
go to some liberal, fun church, even though you know the truth.
And let me say this, if you are a Bible-believing Christian who believes in the King James Bible,
you believe in the right salvation, you know what the Bible says, you got no business going to some lib church.
Plain and simple.
Plain and simple. The only reason you would go to a lib church is because you feel like you can't handle the hard preaching.
But you know what? You need to man up. You need to Christian up.
Just come to church and just digest the preaching of God's word and stop eating that tofu meal of a sermon,
that vegan meal of a sermon, and come get the meat of the word.
Oh, it's just a little too much for me. You know, after a while you're going to be begging for more.
And then you're going to listen to sermons online, and then you'll develop an appetite for it,
and it'll be a part of your just regular routine to listen to and adhere to biblical preaching.
But you know what? Biblical Christians have no business going to Greg Laurie.
You're going to be malnourished there.
Hey, biblical Christians have no business sitting under Joel Osteen.
Or, I always forget the Joker's name. What's her name? Joyce Meyer.
For sure you got no business listening to Joyce Meyer.
How can you read through your Bible every single year and go through 1 Timothy and still listen to Joyce Meyer?
How can you listen to that and think, well, this is biblical. She has something to give me. She ain't got nothing to give you.
She needs to be in the kitchen making a sandwich. For her husband, her husband needs to be the pastor.
Because it's an abomination for women to be pastors. There I said it.
You know, the Bible says that a bishop is supposed to be the husband of one wife.
And so Joyce Meyer, if you're under that preaching and you're posting clips of Joyce Meyer
and you're posting quotes from her and Joel Osteen and all these heretics, shame on you, especially if you're Satan.
Get right with God. Get under some leather-lung hellfire preaching. Stop getting so offended and get into church.
You know, don't be this person. Don't allow Satan to say, hey, yeah, listen. OK, listen to the new IFB preachers because we got the Internet.
But don't be so extreme and actually go there. Right? Hey, listen to Steven Anderson.
Listen to Bruce Mejia and Roger Jimenez. Listen to those guys. That's great.
That's what you got the Internet for. But don't go so far. They actually like go to their churches. Right?
Isn't that something that Satan will negotiate you for? And, you know, I guarantee you there's a lot of people online who listen to preaching
and they listen to it online every single week, but they refuse to actually step foot in a fundamental new IFB church.
Why? Because Pharaoh has negotiated with them to not go too far.
Whereas us, we're like, hey, you still got two more days left in the journey, buddy.
You know, you made it one day's journey. You're in the church. Here's the two day. Go sowing with us.
Here's the three days journey. Go to three services. Because we're serving the Lord over here where God commanded us to go.
And sorry, we're not part of the scam likely crew. We don't answer the phone with scam likely calls.
We don't listen to Habib in India trying to sell me and make me think that, you know, I got hacked in my bank account.
We don't listen to that. You know, what we do is that we just go three days journey into the wilderness as God commanded us to.
And I don't care how far it is from the leaks and the onions and the melons of Egypt. If this is where God told me to go, that's where I'm going to go.
So you know what? Some of the Christians out there need to start going three days journey in and stop going a day's journey in.
Stop going two days journey in and go three days all the way. Three services all the way, man.
Alright, let's move on here. Look at Exodus 10 verse 8. So what's another thing He would negotiate you for?
Okay, serve God, but don't involve your family. Look at Exodus 10 verse 8. Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh.
And he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God. But who are they that shall go?
Nunya and Nunya. What are their last names? Business. Nunya business.
Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds.
We will go for we must hold the feast unto the Lord. He's like, I'm bringing my kids. I'm bringing my wife.
I'm bringing my kiddies. I'm bringing my dogs. I'm bringing all my animals, my fish and my bird.
Everything is going. For we must hold the feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you.
What a flatterer. As I will let you go and your little ones, look to it for evil is before you.
Oh, man, if you get your kids involved, just you better be careful with that kind of putting your kids under that kind of preaching.
Not so. Go now ye that are men and serve the Lord for that ye desire. And they were driven out from the president from Pharaoh's presence.
They say, Look, you know, just let the guys go. Let the husbands go. Let the fathers go. But let everyone else stay at home.
Folks, ask for me in my house. We will serve the Lord. Serving the Lord is a joint effort.
God expects for every father and mother and child and bring those stinking cats with you to bring those dogs with you.
Bring everything. Why? Because God wants it all. And he's not satisfied with just having one member of the family there.
Now, obviously, there's situations where you can't have the whole family there. People are being worked on.
Some people are not saved. Or, you know, there's a geographical problem or people are working, whatever.
But at the end of the day, the goal that we should be striving for as Christians is to get everyone in it.
You know, why is it good enough for you, but it's not good enough for your kids? Understand?
But this is the negotiation that Satan's trying to put forth. He said, Let the men go, but keep your little ones here.
Keep the little ones in the world.
You know, my friends, as Christians, especially as fathers, and I'm talking to the men now, it's our job to lead our family spiritually.
We determine the spiritual direction of our household. What church we go to, when we go to church, when we read the Bible,
when we go sowing, all decisions are made by man. Amen? Can appeals be made?
Yes, but at the end of the day, the decisions are made by the man in the household because he is the head of the household.
That's what the Bible says. And so, Pharaoh, you know, I know you want me to keep my little ones in the world,
in this Disney world that you've created, but I want my kids to grow up and serve God. I want them to serve Christ.
I want my wife to listen to pastor when he is preaching so she can submit to me.
I want us to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. I want our family to revolve around Christ.
So therefore, my whole family is coming with me. I'm bringing the whole shebang. I'm bringing the whole party with me.
Okay? And now one man is left behind. Don't negotiate with Satan and try to say, Well, you know, as long as I can go.
First of all, if that's all you can get, if you feel like that's all you can get and you can't get your family to come,
that's a different story. But if it is up to you and you do have the ability and the influence in your family to bring them to church,
bring them to church. We got enough chairs here. Line them all up here. We got a bunch of kids here.
You say, Yeah, but my kids just, they squirm and they move around. Join the club? They all do. They're all noisy.
You hear them in the service. Every time we're about to start, it's just like one loud... It's probably mine.
You know, some Tyrannosaurus Rex kids just bellowing out. It's just part of what the church is here. Train them here.
Well, you know, I just I just feel like, you know, know what you should feel like is that you just need to go in all the way.
Be an extremist and recognize that it's the whole family's coming. We're not just leaving a couple of Israelites back in Egypt.
Everyone's going with us. In fact, in fact, the Israelites actually took some Egyptians with them.
You know what that means? Bring your cousins, too. Bring your uncles and your aunties. Yeah, well, I don't know if they can handle this preaching.
Well, if you can handle this preaching, they can probably handle it, too. Don't be embarrassed of the preaching of God's Word.
Don't be afraid of what your family might think if they come to First Words Baptist Church. Bring them!
They might be more extreme than you. You might be in two days journey and they're like, Why haven't we gone three?
You might be coming in on a Sunday morning. They're like, Oh, they have us. I'm coming back Sunday night.
Or maybe that's why you haven't brought them. Let's move on. Look at Exodus chapter 10.
Lastly is that he'll try to negotiate with you and try to get you not to serve God with your resources.
Because he says in Exodus 10 verse 24, Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord.
Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you.
And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God.
Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall naught and hoof be left behind.
For thereof we must take to serve the Lord our God. And we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come hither.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he will not let them go. He's saying, Look,
I'm taking every dime and every penny that I got with me and I'm serving God with everything I have.
There's not going to be anything left in Egypt. Everything's coming with me.
And you know what? I don't know how much I got to take or how much I'm going to give.
I'll find out once he tells me. That's basically what he's saying.
You know what? Satan will try to get you to invest in the wrong things.
And yeah, be in church, go to church, but spend your money doing frivolous things that don't matter.
You know, the Bible tells us where your treasure is, there where your heart be also.
You know, invest in the things of God. Invest in the people of God.
You know, use your resources to buy someone a meal at church. Amen. Fellowship with them. Be a blessing to them.
Buy some groceries for them. Obviously, this is not something that takes place every week.
But the mindset should be that everything that we have belongs into the Lord.
And whether therefore we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, we shall do to the glory of God.
And so we need to recognize that when you make a deal with Satan, he is going to try to negotiate with you
and try to get you to lower the price a little bit and meet him halfway.
First of all, be like Moses and just don't make any deals with him at all.
Like Moses just shut him down every single time like, nah, I can't do that. Nope.
Stick to the price on the tag. Amen. He's like, well, can you give me $15.99? $40.
Okay, then $21.99. $40. Alright, alright. $29.99 and I'll throw in this free whatever. $40.
Stick to the price. Don't let him negotiate and try to get you to think that you have to serve God in the land.
That you shouldn't go too far. Don't get all post-trip on us now.
Definitely don't go down the rabbit hole of the Jews.
You know, and the rabbit bait doctrine and the homos and stuff. Remember, your cousin's gay.
Don't get too extreme. She's coming over. Don't get too extreme on those issues.
Okay, you're going to get extreme, that's fine, but don't expose your kids and your wife to that kind of thing.
Bring them too. Okay, fine. But at least leave your resources here in the world.
Purchasing frivolous things, investing in frivolous things. No, everything must go.
It's a liquidation of Egypt. Everything must go! Nothing's being left behind.
That's the only terms and services that we'll present when Satan is trying to make a deal with us.
Do not negotiate with him. Now look at Exodus chapter 12 and we're done.
Now what happened at the end when Moses won the deal?
Okay, because he got the better end of it. Obviously he denied Satan.
What happened? Look at verse 24.
And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, verse 21, excuse me, verse 24.
Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord.
Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones go also with you.
Actually, this is the wrong verse here.
Let me open it up here because I put the same verse.
Talk amongst yourselves.
This is an important point. I've got to make this point.
If I don't find it, I'm just going to NIV it right now.
1231? You knew what I was going to say.
Ah, thank you, Paul.
Look at verse 31 of chapter 12.
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise up and get you forth from among my people,
both ye and the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord as ye have said.
Also take your flocks and your herds as ye have said, and be gone and bless me also.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste,
for they said, We be all dead men.
And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs,
being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses,
and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment,
and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians,
so that they lent unto them such things as they required. Listen to this.
And they spoiled the Egyptians.
Now, what is the point of that?
Well, James 1-12 says this, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation,
for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life,
which the Lord had promised to them that love him.
You know, when we resist Satan and his temptations and his offers,
and we don't give in, we don't negotiate, we end up spoiling the Egyptians.
We end up coming out of Egypt with more gold, more silver, more treasures,
far more riches. Why? Because the promise from God is that if we endure temptation,
he'll give us a crown of life.
There's always a benefit, a greater benefit, to just resisting Satan
rather than giving in to his negotiations.
And people will find that when you don't give in to what Satan is offering you,
you'll find that what you get in church serving the Lord
is far better than what Satan had to offer.
It's worth more, you get more, you get paid more as a Christian serving the Lord
than negotiating with the supplanter.
You know, he's offering you a bowl of lentils. Are you kidding me?
You know, God makes our cup run over.
His cup runneth over. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he added no sorrow to it.
And I don't want to get too much into that because tonight's sermon is making a deal with God.
But this morning, we just want to give this warning of the fact that making a deal with the devil,
you need to recognize these principles. He's a great buyer, so be careful when he whispers into your ear,
devaluing what you possess. Also recognize he's a great seller.
He's good at making that lemon of a car look like it runs well until you've driven it around for a week or so,
then you realize that he sold you a bill of goods.
And then lastly, if he's not going to get you with either one of those,
you know, just recognize he's a great negotiator.
He's going to try to talk down the price as much as he possibly can and help you to find a happy medium.
But the goal is to completely resist it.
Stand your ground, don't give in, and you'll reap the benefits at the end. Amen?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Help us as your people to resist the devil and his temptations.
And we know that the car salesman will flee for a season.
The scam likely will stop calling for a season, but we know it's going to come again.
Help us as your people to resist him during the different seasons of our life
and to recognize that when he comes in a state of vulnerability, there's no time.
We don't have to have a sense of urgency to make some sort of decision
and accept the offers that he gives us during that season, Lord.
Help us as your people to rely upon you to wait upon the Lord.
And may we leave Egypt exactly how you wanted us to leave with everything.
Three days journey in and recognize that obeying you yields so many more results, better results, and blessings.
We love you. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.