Satan undoubtedly controls the machinery of this world. Then wherein is the "victory that overcometh the world"? Let us keep in mind the power, resources, opportunities, organization, and management of Satan; also the blindness and bondage of sin, and--the Free Agency of Man. So long as man remains carnally-minded and free, the Enemy has undisputed right of way; while the heart is carnal, impure, unsanctified, the controlling motive power of man's life "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." He has in his own bosom a traitor, an alien to the government of God. "To be carnally minded is death," says Paul. The "old leaven must be purged out"; we must "put off the old man (carnal mind) and his deeds, and put on the new man, etc." This putting off is absolutely necessary. Jesus cannot only defeat Satan, but He can destroy the "works of the devil"--one of which is the alien principle of our nature. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil." The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus--the God-Man--is an everlasting Atonement and a propitiation for sin. Sin is the Rubicon of our battle; once we solve, in all its fullness, the problem of sin, we rob Satan of his fulcrum power. He came to Jesus and found nothing: no availability, no sin, no yielding, no fellowship. He was tempted, but _without sin_. Our victory must be twofold: first, through the merits of the Everlasting Blood Covenant we may be saved from sin unto salvation--reconciliation, forgiveness. Then by the fuller benefits of the Atonement we may "enter into the holiest by the Blood." Only the pure in heart can stand the approaches of Satan by way of our natural appetites. The triumphs of modern surgery are only possible by means of sterilized instruments. Please observe--with all the meaning that can be couched in language: the sinful, unregenerated heart is not only in danger of being overcome, but is already in blind bondage to Satan. The power of sin, both actual and original, must be broken by the pardoning grace of God through faith in the Atoning Blood; and the heart cleansed and empowered by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The second inevitable concomitant of victory is copartnership with Jesus, the Captain of our salvation--"looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." Diabolus and his minions cannot stand before this Name. His final overthrow was when Jesus cried out on the Cross: "It is finished." Now at the sight of Jesus, the Cross, or the Blood, the phalanx of darkness slinks away. Let us lay hold of eternal life by an unfaltering faith in the Blood that cleanseth, and "The Name high over all: in earth, in heaven, in hell." "And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony." Amen and Amen. XXXIII THE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT