The Devil’s Design of Destruction

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI …

Now, I’m not sure if I should admit this, but when I was a teenager, I was, I was just an absolute huge fan of action movies. Made no difference how gory it was, I just, I was almost addicted to action movies. It was all I watched, was just constant action movies. Uh, you could qualify, testify this with my parents and check with them, we, our family didn’t have a great filter for movies at the time, and so I watched all manner of things at a young age. I remember watching Braveheart when I was, like, I don’t know, 10 years old or something. I thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen.

But one of the things I absolutely loved about action movies was where there, there is a small group or a weak individual who manages to conquer and overcome great odds. I think that was one of the major themes that I loved in action movies. Great courage, great strength, where the underdog comes out victoriously just by steadfastly sticking at it.

And there’s a sense in which th- that’s the sort of story we’re engaged in with Nehemiah, aren’t we? It’s, it’s, it’s a story filled with action, and we’re following the life of an underdog. Not Nehemiah, I mean, he’s a governor, he’s got the support of the king, but the people of God surrounded by enemies on all sides. They’ve got enemies to the northwest and the northeast. They’ve got enemies to the east of them, and towards the south as well. They’re surrounded by people who do not want them to prosper. And behind all of those enemies is the devil. Behind all of those enemies is the enemy of God’s people, because we battle not against flesh and blood, do we? The people who want the church to fail, as I’ve said before, are not the primary problem. They are simply tools being used by the devil to seek to malign the glory of God.

Last week, we saw the way that the devil attacks through derision, didn’t we? The way that he mocks the people of God and uses words to try and discourage them and dissuade them from their labor. And in today’s passage, we consider the devil’s design of destruction, the devil’s design of destruction.

And just like last week, I very simply want us to look at the way that this devil attacks, the way that the enemies of God attack, and the way that God’s people are to respond, as we see it here in chapter 4.

So firstly, we see the attack of the devil. As I said last week, we do not want to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes, do we? So that that way we can ward off every attack, we can hold up the shield of faith and ward off fiery arrows and darts.

So what do we see here? Well, firstly, I want you to observe the anger of the enemies of God’s people towards God’s people. Have a look at verse 7 with me. “When Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabs, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.”

Now, you remember last week that I said to you that one of the, the core things that the devil seeks to do through derision is to discourage the people of God, to get them to stop working, right? But it didn’t work, did it? We saw last week at the end of this section in verse 6 that the people of God just labored on. They had a mind to work. It’s a wonderful verse. As the people are mocking, as the people are making fun of them, they just faced down, they cried up to God, and they put their heads down, and they got to work. There’s work to be done. We haven’t got time to be discouraged or distracted by all these, uh, all these verbal assaults coming our way, the fiery darts of the devil. There’s far too much to be done, and so they labor on.

And so then when we arrive in our verse, we find that the wall is now half-height complete, all the way a- around Jerusalem. And of course, news gets back through the spies all the way to their enemies, to Sanballat and Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, the Ashdodites, and they are enraged. They’re wild. They are angry.

And you’ve gotta ask the question, why are they angry? Well, firstly, obviously, they’re angry because their, their attempt failed, right? The first attack failed. But do you note that they don’t stop? It’s important for you to notice this. They don’t stop. “Oh, well, we gave it one shot, but they’re too strong for us. They’re not dissuaded by our mouthing off, so I guess we’ll just give up and go home.” No. They’re angry. They’re filled with anger because their derision failed, firstly.

But secondly and primarily, because the enemy of God hates when the Kingdom of God advances. And what’s happening? The wall’s going up. Do you remember back in the previous chapter, in chapter 2, when we were told that the enemies were angry because someone came to seek the welfare of God’s people? ‘Cause all they sought to do is to do some good for God’s people, and the enemy hated it. Well, how much s- how much more now that the walls are coming up and the Kingdom’s advancing? That’s the last thing the devil wants. He doesn’t want the Kingdom of God rooted in place with a wall around it, neither do the enemies of God’s people as humans.

And brothers and sisters, it’s no different today. The devil hates that we are here. Do you realize that? The devil hates that we’re here. He doesn’t want churches in Karaka. He doesn’t want churches in South Auckland. He would love nothing more than just to be one big lovely church in the center of Auckland and none anywhere else. And every time a church plant happens, the devil doesn’t rejoice, does he? Because he’s our enemy. He hates it. He’s angry.

But there’s a third reason I, I think subtly in the background here, and, and it’s always present. It’s the reality of envy and jealousy. You see, one of the reasons that God’s people are hated by the devil and his minions is that they are envious and jealous of what we have. You see, the devil knows Don’t, don’t misunderstand the devil. He knows more than you do about theology. The devil knows he cannot un-save the elect. But what he can do is destroy their joy. What he can do is disettle their peace, and dissuade them from seeking to save others. You see, the devil hates that you love God, because he never loved God, could he? He rejected God. He despised God because he wanted to be God. And the very fact that we as a church would say, “We’re not God, the Lord is, and all glory and praise to him,” he hates that.

And one thing envy always does, envy always, when left to sprout, leads to a destructive heart. This is what’s so deadly about envy. Envy will always lead to a desire to kill the object of your envy. And so, we see their anger, firstly.

The second thing we see is they’re plotting. Have a look at verse 8. So, they’re filled with anger, and they all plotted to come together and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. They plotted together.

A- anger, anger always finds an outlet, right? Anger unrestrained will always find an outlet. Anger not repented of and done with will always find an outlet. And these men are angry, and they will do something. And so, the very next thing they do, they are angry, they draw up a strategy board. They get out the round table and they sit around it and they begin plotting. They begin exactly what Psalm 2 talks about, “The nations plot in vain.” But they still plot, don’t they? Just because it’s vain doesn’t mean they don’t do it. They still do it. And so, they plot and scheme for the downfall of Jerusalem.

Guys, we’ve got to do something about this. The wall’s still going up. Pay attention. Look, let’s get all of our military experts, let’s get all of our best thinkers and come up with a strategy to overthrow the Israelites, because they’re going on ahead. We can’t have this. And the devil is stoking them, isn’t he?

But do you notice that they’re doing it together? The- these people, generally speaking, have nothing in common with one another. Yes, they’re part of the same broader kingdom, but Sanballat and Tobiah are governors of different civil states underneath the broader empire, and they’re, it’s, they’re not like all friends here. They’re effectively opposing enemy states who are forced into subjection under the same king. And the same thing with the Ashdodites and the Arabs and the Ammonites. And yet, do you notice how incredibly peaceful they are all of a sudden? Any old bitter rivalries are thrown out the window, right? Why? Because we have a common enemy.

The people that oppose the Church of Jesus Christ will gladly lay down all of their differences in order to attack and destroy God’s kingdom, the church. All of them.

And so, they plot and they scheme. And, and this is just the work of evilness, isn’t it? We- we’re told in Ephesians that one of the marks of the people of God is that they dwell in the light, they dwell in visibility, in openness. But, but wicked people dwell where? In the darkness, behind closed doors. They scheme and plot in secrecy. And that’s hinted at in the fact that, in verse 11, they say, “They will not know. We’ll come in while they’re unawares. We’ll jump them from behind.” This is the way the devil works. You will not necessarily see him coming.

But then notice the goal of this plotting. They say, in verse 8, that we want to come and fight to cause confusion in it. Why would they want to do that? Well, the people of God, they’re all together working in unity, aren’t they? Do, do you remember what happened at the Tower of Babel? Everyone spoke one language and the Lord says, “Well, while they speak one language, almost nothing will be impossible for them. So, let’s go down and we will mingle and mix their language so that they will be confused and unable to understand one another.” And then what will happen? Well, they’ll stop building, won’t they? And what happened? As soon as the languages changed, everyone goes their own way, and the tower stood there and was never completed.

What’s, this is exactly what they’re trying to do. Satan using this, this threat of aggression, which we’re gonna have a look at in a second, in order to stop God’s people from working, because if he can get in among us with violence, he can very quickly stop us doing anything useful for the Kingdom of God. This is the goal, that he would derail what we’re doing here through their plan, and we see their plan in verse 11. We’re told, “Our enemies said, ‘They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.’”

Now, you have to appreciate, this is a very bold word. But, remember, Nehemiah got given permission from the high king to come and do this, right? So, he has the blessing of the king, the blessing of the empire to do this, and yet the enemies of God’s people are not concerned about that. They are unbracingly convicted that they must oppose God’s people and God’s kingdom, and so they put together their plan. Firstly, they will act with secrecy. We looked at that already. But secondly, notice, they will destroy them and put an end to the work.

When derision does not work, what option do you have? Well, your option is give up or kill the person, right? We, we see this in a very lesser way in schools. You mock someone, and if mocking doesn’t work, well, then you beat them up. Sounds cruel, but that was my experience in high school. You mock a person, and if you don’t get what you want, you turn to violence. And this is exactly the tactic of the devil as he attacks the Church of God. He will malign us and deride us mock us in an attempt to discourage us, and if he does not succeed, he will turn to arms.

And if you follow church history, that’s exactly what you see. It begins with a propaganda war, as a communist regime begins explaining to everyone why the Christians are dangerous. “But if they will just toe the company policy, we won’t hurt them.” That’s h- what’s happening in China. “If you just join the Chinese church, you won’t have a problem, will you?” “They’re dangerous, you see,” the Chinese government says, “the Christians.” And if you won’t toe the company policy? Well, it’s to prison you go. And it turns to violence.

This is always the track that the devil follows in his attack. He begins with slander, he begins with derision, and if it doesn’t work, he turns to violence. And brothers and sisters, he will do the same thing in our country unless God, by his grace, withholds it from us.

And so, we see the attack of the devil, it, it starts with anger. It turns to plotting, and it manifests itself in this desire to destroy, kill, and annihilate God’s people.

And I think there’s 3 particular lessons that we can learn from this that I’d like to point out to you.

Uh, firstly, you must remember that you should never expect love or friendship from the world. God’s enemies are not your friends. We must have that in the back of our heart. Yes, you can befriend non-Christians, I’m not saying that, but those who hate God, hate God’s people. Those who want to dethrone God, want to destroy God’s people. And so, there is no friendship with the world and with God. That’s the way it works. There are 2 kingdoms and we must choose which one we’re a part of. Do not look to be welcomed by the people of this world. It always runs out eventually. You start a friendship with an unbeliever and everything seems wonderful until eventually it hits a biblical issue and you have to take a stand, and then your friend in the workplace becomes your bitter enemy. Do not expect friendship from the people of this world, brothers and sisters.

There’s a second lesson we learn from this, and that is that you need to beware of the temptation of envy and jealousy, that the enemies of God’s people are fueled by envy. And I think there’s just a, a r- a reminder here, a warning here for us of the deadly danger of envy. Do not allow the devil to gain a foothold in your heart by becoming envious of other people, the people of this world, the people of our church, or other churches. It might be tempting to think to yourself, “Oh, I saw a church the other day that had air conditioning. Wouldn’t that be lovely?” I know it’s a cheesy thing, but all of a sudden you begin to become envious. Well, what are you doing? You’re giving into the very thing that fuels our enemies to destroy us and opening your heart up to the temptations of the devil. Do not give a foothold to the devil.

The third lesson we see here is that there are only 2 sides in this world, and everyone must be on one. There are no peacekeeping corps between the 2 kingdoms. You are either in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. And if you are in the kingdom of darkness, well, with Jesus I would say repent, for the kingdom of God has come, and become a child of God. Come to the light and be saved. But if you are a subject of God’s blessed kingdom, then remember whose side you’re on.

Isn’t it sad when we see fellow soldiers turning on one another? I mean, what would you think if you were in World War II in one of the trenches and the guy standing next to you shot the other guy standing next to you? It’s a bit of an awkward situation, isn’t it? Or if the 2 guys standing to your left start having a fist fight in the middle of a battle. You’re sitting there looking at, at Nazi Germany marching towards you and those 2 dudes are having a fisticuffs to the side. You’re thinking, “Well, this isn’t a very good sign, is it? We can’t even sort ourselves out.”

Brothers and sisters, we don’t have time in the kingdom battle to turn on one another and devour one another, nor to make enemies of other believers. We can get so caught up with throwing rocks at other churches and other Christians that we lose sight of the fact that there is a whole kingdom of darkness in front of us to repel and to advance with the light of the Gospel so that we lose sight of the warning of Christ to John, “He who is for us is not against us.” Leave them to me, leave them to God, He’ll sort them out. You keep your eye in the battle, keep yourself in the fight. And I think that’s a good reminder for us.

And so, we see the attack, brothers and sisters. But let’s consider the response, the response of Nehemiah and God’s people.

There’s one thing that Well, there’s lots of things I- I shouldn’t say there’s one thing I respect about my dad, but one thing in particular that I really love and respect about my father is his steadfast resolve in work, in mission, in church. Like, just unrelenting. I can remember my father all but ripping a tendon off of his leg, and- and he went to the- the doctors and the doctors said, “We need to put a cast on it.” And he said to them, “But if you put a cast on it, I can’t put my foot in my gunboot. So, how am I gonna milk the cows?” And they s- basically said, “Well, that’s a you problem.” He said, “Well, I guess I just won’t have a cast then,” and just went home. And he just bandaged it up and just rammed it into a gunboot and dealt with it.

I can remember my father- seeing my father violently ill in the cowshed, milking cows and just emptying his stomach and then going back to milking the cows without ceasing. S- I think he told me, something like 30 years of work, he never took a sick day, just worked tirelessly, and on the mission field. I’ve- I’ve- I’ve shared stories with my father, or he’s shared with me, stories of great conflicts where he likened it to being in a boxing ring, being knocked down, and told to stand back up over and over and over and over again. And he just never flinched and never gave up and he just walked back in the ring again. Unrelenting resolve to fight the fight of the faith. I’ve always respected that about my father, because I’ve always wanted to be like that.

Don’t you? Don’t you wanna be someone that is just dogged in your resolve to do what’s right, to be unflinching before opposition? Well, that’s what we see here in this section from Nehemiah and from God’s people.

And so, we’re told what they do in verse 9 to begin with. Have a look at verse 9. “We prayed to our God.” What a wonderful verse. “We prayed to our God.” They hear the news. “They’re gonna come and kill us!” Do you know what they don’t do? “We better start sharpening our swords right now. We better draw up a defense plan.” They say, “We better get on our knees. We need to pray.”

And- and do you notice? This is Nehemiah’s life and diary, right? D- did you notice he uses the plural, not the singular? It doesn’t say, “And I prayed.” “We prayed to our God.” When all of the people of Jerusalem hear the news that their enemy is coming, they fall on their face before the living God. Why? Because the battle belongs to the Lord. Amen. Because they know their history. And the history of God’s people is that God is their great deliverer, that God is their strong tower, that when the people of Israel have all relied upon themselves, they fell on their face, but when they relied upon God, they found out that the Lord is mighty to save. Because God is not weak, but He is able to withstand His people, withhold His people from the threats and the destruction of the enemy of God’s people.

And so, they prayed. And brothers and sisters, this should always be our first response. Not our 7th, not our second, but our first. When, when, when destruction is threatened, when hatred is directed, when animosity comes towards us, and yes, when mockery comes, and next week, Lord willing, when division comes, the first response is to fall upon our knees and cry out, “Father in Heaven, have mercy. us. Deliver us from our enemies.”

But it’s not, we only prayed, is it? They didn’t only pray. And so, we’re told in verse 9, “We prayed and we set a guard as a protection against them by day and night.” And this is fleshed out in verse 13, “In the lowest parts of the space behind the wall in open places, I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears, and their bows.”

So, what Nehemiah is saying is that the spots where when you looked at the wall you saw stuff, I positioned men there with weaponry. Why? ’cause there’s not very many of them. They can’t station people on every part of the wall. There’s hardly any people living in the city. They don’t have enough men. But they can put people in the visible parts so it looks like there’s lots of soldiers.

And what, what we’re seeing from Nehemiah is great intentionality, right? He’s str- strategizing. He’s thinking. He’s talking with other military people. He says, “What would be the best thing to do? How can we defend ourselves?” It’s prayer and intentionality. It’s not one or the other. It’s not all labor and forgetting about dependency in prayer. It’s not all prayer and forgetting about dependency. It’s laboring in prayer and laboring with our efforts and laboring with our minds and hearts.

And we’re to do the same in our Christian life, aren’t we? We’re to, to set guard. To set guards over our lives. This is why Jesus says to the disciples, “Be alert. Pray.” Remember, he comes back in The Garden of Gethsemane. He doesn’t say to Peter, “Could you not pray for 12 hours? Could you not pray for hours?” He says, “Could you not keep watch? Could you not keep watch?” Now, what was he meant to be doing while he was watching? Praying. But it’s a both-and. We must set a watch on our lives because, as Peter says, “We have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion, and if you get sleepy, he will eat you.” That’s the concept.

Now, children, I’m sure you don’t want to be eaten by a lion or the devil, so we must learn to keep our spiritual eyes open at all times, fighting off the devil and his temptation, being on guard from that which would come towards us.

The other thing we see here, he prays, they set a guard, and then he encourages them. So in verse 14, “Do not be afraid.” He says this to the nobles, the officials, and everybody else, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

He, he does that thing that I always love in war movies when the commander stands up and delivers the epic speech and everyone gets rallied for war and off they go. It’s exactly what we see here. He rallies the men and he encourages them in the faith. He tells them to do 3 things.

Do not fear. Do not fear. Why? Well, because there’s one who is greater that you should fear. Doesn’t Jesus say that? “Do not fear he who cannot destroy your soul, but fear the one that can destroy your body and your soul in hell.” So, do not be afraid. Brothers and sisters, it can be, it can be terrifying when you think of the idea of, of the devil persecuting us. I remember a young lady once I was teaching catechism to, and, and I would pick her up and take her to catechism class. And she said to me once, “I don’t know if I could face persecution. I don’t know if I could face persecution.” She was just afraid at the thought of it. And I said to her, “Well, you don’t have to face it right now. But God will give you the grace when you need to, if you need to.”

And you see, it’s, it’s with the comfort of knowing the presence of our God that we don’t need to be afraid, because he’s always with us.

But the second thing he tells them is, in keeping with that, “Don’t fear. Instead, remember the Lord who is awesome. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome.” Remember your captain. Remember your king. You don’t fight alone. Though the enemy rages, you’re not by yourself. You have a king who is far more valiant than anyone.

Know what? I mean, what’s the devil going to do when the Lord marches into battle? It’s a joke, right? There’s no battle here. And everything the devil does is under the sovereign hand of the Lord, and so he cannot attack us or harm us, or harm us any more than the Lord lets him. He goes and he comes in keeping with the sovereign word of the Lord, so that when he wants to attack Job, he cannot touch his body because the Lord says, “You can go thus far and no further.” And when the Lord allows him to afflict, afflict Job’s body, God says, “You may not kill him.” And the devil’s powerless, he can’t kill him. It’s not like the devil decides to obey God. He literally cannot kill Job because God has said, “Thus far and no further.”

And remembering the Lord enables us to remain steadfast and firm because everything that happens, happens according to His

But then he also says, “Remember your family.” It’s a wonderful note. Can you imagine the soldiers and Nehemiah looking on at the men who will risk their lives and saying to them, “Fight for your brothers. Fight for your sons. Fight for your daughters. Fight for your wives. Fight for your homes.” And can you imagine those soldiers picturing in their mind their, their homes filled with their wives and their children, and thinking about their precious little ones that they love? I mean, that’ll spur you on to battle, won’t it? “If I fail in my duty, they’re the ones that are gonna wear it.”

And this is a wonderful motivator for us, brothers and sisters. When you’re in the fight and you’re feeling afraid and you’re feeling discouraged and you’re thinking about giving up and the devil’s attacking you, spiritually assaulting you, firing arrows at you, Nehemiah and the Lord says to you, “Remember your brothers and sisters.” Remember the people at RBC. Remember your children, remember your parents, remember your Christian friends. I mean, what a letdown to them it will be if you fail in your faith, if you stumble and fall. What a discouragement it will be for the rest of the family if you fall into sin and you allow the devil to win over you. It’s a great motivation. It’s a great corrector. One of the greatest correctors, not the greatest, but one of the greatest correctors when you are being embattled with temptation from the devil is to turn your eyes away from the thing that tempts you, away from the devil, and remember your people. Remember your family whom you fight for, because we’re in this together, aren’t we? And if one of us stumbles and falls, doesn’t our whole body hurt?

And so let us fight for one another with all of our might and strength.

And there’s one more thing we see in the response here, and that’s just that lovely verse in verse 15. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all took a lovely holiday. We all got back to work, right? We all returned to the wall, each to his work.

Battles will come and go. What do you do when the battle finishes? You pick up your hammer and you get back to work, and that’s what they did. You see, often, the devil will not get us in the battle. He will get us just afterwards. He will inflict t- temptation and anger and slander and accusation on us, and we will stand firm, and then immediately afterwards, we will become discouraged and saddened and depressed. And he will offer us dainties, and we will fall into them head over heels, because we did not do that which was necessary, get back in the saddle, get back into the fight, get back into the work.

Brothers and sisters, the work must press on. The work must continue.

I think there’s, there’s f- lots of things, but 5 particular encouragements or uses that I’d like to draw to your attention.

Uh, firstly, it’s obvious, but in all warfare, in all spiritual warfare, your primary weapon must be prayer. God has given you armor. He has given you armor, but how is the armor to be used? Ephesians 6. With all prayer. Putting it on and using it in all prayer. Why? Because the spiritual armor of God will not avail you without prayer. It is prayer that oils and fuels the weaponry of God so that it works. Be busy in prayer, brothers and sisters, if you want to succeed and stand firm against the devil. It’s too late to begin praying when the attack comes. That’s the temptation, right? We don’t pray, and then attack comes, and we go, “Ooh, I better start praying now,” but it’s too late. We must make hay while the sun shines with our prayer life.

Secondly, we must be alert at all times, lest the devil catches us napping. If you stop paying attention, the devil will catch you. That’s the way it works. One of the m- one of the commonly repeated phrases in the New Testament is, “Be alert, be watchful, be sober,” so that you can resist the devil, right?

Thirdly, in conflict, in conflict, when you’re in the moment of conflict, fix your eyes upon your king. Fix your eyes upon Christ. It is by looking to Christ through prayer and spiritual exercises that you will prevail, so keep your g- uh, gaze fixed upon him. Don’t look away, but look to him who is steadfast and immovable.

4th, do what you’re doing right now. And what I mean by that is gather with God’s people. Remember one another. What’s one of the best ways to remember one another? Be with one another. Remembering is done best in person, isn’t it? The best way to remember the love you have for your wife is to be with your wife and love her, to enjoy the wife of your youth, as the Bible would say. And so, the more you gather, the more you will remember, and the more you’re together, whether it’s Sunday or Wednesday, or other opportunities, do so. And in doing so, you will prop one another up, because sometimes you will be weak and I will be strong. And sometimes I will be weak, and you will be strong, and we can support one another in the fight that lies ahead of us.

But lastly, don’t tire from well-doing. Ro- Rob and I have a, a, a friend who’s loving retired life. He’s a Christian man just loving retired life. And we’ve often spoken to him and encouraged him to get in the game, to get in the fight. “You’ve got years of service to live. Get out there and do it.” And he just sits and relaxes. Brothers and sisters, life’s too short. Life’s too short to enjoy a fat retirement. And don’t we have 2 wonderful saints that inspire this to us every week we gather? Who just tirelessly served the Lord, even in their old age.

That’s what it means to be a believer, because there’s no such thing as retirement in the Christian life. We have retirement in the new heavens and the new earth. This side of glory, it’s all labor. It’s all work, it’s all fight, until Christ returns. Your fight may look different and change in different seasons, but you should be always fighting. So do not tire from doing good.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus said that he came to bring a sword, didn’t he? “I did not come to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword.” So we should not be surprised that people will hate us, that people will oppose us. And so Jesus says to his disciples in John 16: “In this world, you will have tribulation.” That’s a lovely thought, isn’t it? Jesus is just about to leave the world and leave his disciples, and he says to them, “In this world, you will have tribulation.” Talk about the prosperity gospel for you.

And what does he say? “But take heart, I have overcome the world.” Take heart, brothers and sisters. Whatever the devil might bring, Christ has already overcome, and will enable you and I to overcome, even if it’s all the way to death.

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