Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Satanic Wiles Pt.3

Let’s turn to Ephesians. We want to continue to look here at the armor of God, the preparation for this hour that we’re in, the warfare, and realize that as we’re pressing toward the mark, the prize, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, we’re going to be opposed. As we are looking to more effectively go out and represent the Kingdom of God, it’s not going to be without opposition. The Scripture tells us clearly that when the word of God begins to affect your heart, you receive it with gladness. The Scripture says, then what? Immediately the enemy comes to try to steal the word out of your hearts. Someone was talking to me—I think it was either Monday or Tuesday—I was here at prayer and someone came and was talking to me about the Lord ministering to their lives, and how they’d been seeing some great victories in their family and home, and then suddenly it just felt like discouragement and doubt began to come in right in the midst of all of this great victory, and they were just wondering what was taking place. Of course, what’s taking place at that time—it’s in our victories that we need to pray. Jesus went to the mountain to pray right in the middle of all the great victories and miracles. That’s when the enemy comes and tries to put discouragement upon us, and tries to steal the word of God out of our hearts. So don’t think it strange concerning the fiery trials that you might be experiencing psychologically, spiritually, whatever. The more desire there is to press in to the image of Jesus, the more opposition there is going to be. So don’t believe those doubts and those lies that the enemy is trying to put on you in the midst of your pursuit. He’s a liar, he’s the father of it, and there is no truth in him, amen?

Let’s look at Ephesians here for just a moment. We want to continue to stir our hearts up and look at some of the things that we need to recognize are within us that will give place to the enemy. There are things that, unless this armor is working effectively in our lives, will bring us down in the midst of these battles that we’re involved in. We talked about a lot better people than us going down, and the Scripture says in Ephesians 6, verse 10, "Finally, my brethren, be strong [how?] in the Lord [not in your own resolve, not in how many Scriptures you’ve memorized, not in how long you’ve been a Christian, not in who your parents are, but strong how? Say it again:] in the Lord [personally], and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand [If you don’t put it on, you won’t stand. What are we standing against?] against the wiles of the devil." We’ve talked about that aspect. The word "wiles" means the cunning devices. Satan doesn’t come and just take us straight on and try to get us to involve ourselves in some type of heinous crime or some type of overtly lascivious behavior, but it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine. And we’re going to talk about how to recognize those things in our lives so we’ll be safe. Recognize those tendencies. How many of you’ve been trying to become more honest with who you really are? It’s your escape, it’s your victory to really know your own heart, to not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, which is all of our natural tendencies, because you’ll come down, period. So be careful with these wiles. Recognize the fact that Satan comes as an angel of light. He’s going to come as something that might be good, acceptable. Something that we could somehow justify as being virtuous—well, I’m just a person who is diligent, that’s why I spend so many hours on the job, and I’m a person who is a man of my word, I just give it too many times. All of these different things that we find ourselves in trouble with. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, [verse 12] but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day."

In the last days iniquity is going to abound, the love of many is going to wax cold. There is one way to stand in this last day. Become aggressive, not passive; don’t sit back. Begin to attack the enemy. Don’t try to fortify your life and be so concerned about what we can do to protect ourselves from this evil generation. ATTACK! Begin to go out boldly and share the gospel. I’m not talking about attacking the ideologies of our day or the big political problems that we may see in our government and in our society. I’m not talking about any of that kind of activism. I’m talking about boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. That will cause you all the trouble you can handle. Just telling people the truth, just out sharing Jesus, that He’s the way, the truth and the life and that no one can come to the Father but by Him, amen?

Did you hear about the fundamentalist group that’s being taken to court now for hate crimes because they published some brochures on how to reach Jews? I can’t remember the other group—it may have been Hindus or somebody like that—with the gospel, and so now there is a suit that’s taking place that these are hate crimes now. That they are somehow saying that these people are inferior, that they need something in their lives and that they are going to hell. The fact is they are, without Jesus, amen? It’s not going to take long until that becomes… Right now, it is philosophically the standard of this country. It’s going to begin to be enforced, and for you to share the gospel could put you in jail. It’s not far around the corner, are you ready? Are you ready to write some prison epistles? This is the thing that’s at hand, and it’s something we need to be very aware of. There are all kinds of rights for everybody except Christians proclaiming the gospel. It’s going to become more and more evident in this generation that we’re living in. Now think about it, it seems ludicrous to us that somebody would say that telling an individual that if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and that you can’t go to heaven, is a hate crime. That’s the new fad today, isn’t it? It’s something that you and I are going to be confronted with. Are you ready to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, what? Stand.

We talked about the withstanding in our personal lives and going back and confiscating in this evil day, in our own personal lives, the territory that Satan’s taken in our hearts. Look at your own lives personally. Don’t look at the times, and the generation, and the signs that are around us. Look at your own heart and ask yourself, is this an evil day in my heart? Are there places that have been given to the enemy that I once possessed by faith and through holiness and through diligence and through a pursuit and a zeal for God that are no longer possessed—in my Bible study, in my prayer time, in my evangelism? Let me encourage you this evening. Take it back, praise God. Withstand. Set out against the principalities and powers, resist the devil and what will happen? He’ll flee from you.

So we need to understand this hour that we’re in and to then begin to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves the question, if I’m not withstanding, why? And what is it that I can recognize in my own life, the tendency, that’s given place to some strongholds in my life—and every one of us has them. Each one of us has, as we’ve shared before, different areas in our lives, the besetting sins that really hinder us from our pursuit and our representation of the Kingdom of God. When I talk about besetting sins, don’t just think about, "you know, my besetting sin is pride." That’s everybody, so you’re not special in that area. It’s expressed in many different ways, but the root, the real sin, the cause of all of the sins in our lives is pride, or selfishness, or self-exaltation, all of these things that are the root in every one of our lives. It just expresses itself in many different ways.

We’ll pick up where we left off Sunday. We were talking about looking at different individual’s lives and seeing if we could somehow identify what it was that gave place to Satan in their lives, because that’s what you’re going to be dealing with. Everything that comes is common to man—the temptations that we face. Jesus was tempted in all ways and yet what? Without sin. He was tempted in every way that was common to man. There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, the Scripture says, but with every temptation He makes the way of escape. So we understand that the primary way to escape is to identify, first of all, what’s going on, and then to resist the enemy, he will flee from you; dealing with whatever it is that’s revealed and of course letting true Biblical conviction manifest itself in our lives. With that conviction then comes a godly sorrow and true Biblical repentance where we fall on the rock and we’re broken.

We talked a little bit about out of Genesis 13, the aspect of Lot and his wandering eyes for the good life. And he lifted up his eyes and looked and he beheld the Garden of Eden, the Sodom and Gomorrah region. He chose that for himself rather than honoring the man of God. I just used that as a contrast to show how so often the man of God represents the Lord in so many different ways. How do you perceive yourself? Do you perceive yourself as someone deserving? I deserve that. I’m as good as anybody else! And a misapplying of what God is doing in our lives. We talked about Esau. I think this is something that’s very, very evident, especially in men’s lives, and that’s the fact that they so quickly cater to the ease of their flesh. We talked about Esau and how he despised his birthright. The despising of the birthright was the glorifying of his own personal ease. The birthright carries with it—listen to me—the birthright carries with it not just blessing, but responsibility. Men are so willing to offer up their responsibility for a life of ease. How many homes today have men absolutely abdicated and given the control of the home over to their wives? Not because they are necessarily hen-pecked into it, but because they just don’t want to be bothered. Just plain old selfish, slothful, despising the call of God on their lives to oversee their homes and be the head of their wives, the priest of their households. Someone whom their children can follow, that they can look to and say, follow me as I follow Christ. Esau despised that birthright, and it was so easy to give it up to just appease his flesh, personal weakness, a lack of character. As Paul said, I put my flesh under. We talked about the disciplines you remember a little bit; we talked about coach Knight and how people are horrified. I saw people still talking about it the other day on this one show—they are horrified! I’m not condoning everything this guy’s done, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, I’m just talking about how humorous it is that people are horrified to the point of thinking this is... You would have thought this guy abused an animal or something.

You all saw the latest big article on these people who are into animal rights and different things, and how it’s to the place of being ridiculous right now to where this man makes the statement that he sees no more value in his own child than he does in an ant. (I don’t either, I think they ought to both be stepped on; somebody that stupid, that guy needs to be removed.) But anyway, he has his own beliefs and his first amendment right to speak them, and as long as he’s not proclaiming Jesus, he’ll have a forum.

So the day we are living in, we need to see the ease that man desires. That’s where we left off Sunday and we want to pick back up with another one of the men in the Scriptures. Ladies, I spent today on you. I’m going to have a lot of trouble just sticking with the men today, because I spent a lot of time ladies, thinking about your problems. They were much easier to identify than man’s. Now because of the call of God on my life, I’ve had to spend my whole life, or most of my life, two thirds of my, four fifths of my life, or whatever it turns out to be, in basically studying humanity. What does God have to say about folks? You find out that we’re all alike. I’ve preached all over the world, whether it’s in Haiti, or Korea, or Africa, or India, or in Europe, it doesn’t make any difference, wherever I’ve gone, wherever I’ve preached, I’ve found everybody’s alike. There is no new thing under the sun; flesh is flesh. So it makes it easy to go out and proclaim the word of God. That’s why when you stand and share in these different areas, when you come and all you’ve done is give your life to trying to understand these things, you can be pretty accurate when you’re talking to someone, listening to them. I’ve heard that before, all that’s changed is time, date, face, but I’ve talked to this person before, we’ve been here, because there is no new thing under the sun. You begin to understand the motivation behind it, the principalities and powers that are the impetus to these things. I just want to encourage you to begin to be that aware of your own life. We give ourselves too much credit—I’ve shared with you before this phrase, we’ve said it so many times in the last decade, I want to say it again. Realize man’s tendency to judge others by the word and by truth. We judge others by the facts, and we judge ourselves by our intentions. It’s so important for us to begin to deal with our own hearts, as to who and what we really are.

We talked about the lack of character of Esau and the lust of the eyes of Lot, the lust of the eyes of Gehazi. Remember how he was just overwhelmed by the garments that were offered up to the man of God; when the man of God wouldn’t receive these things, Gehazi, the servant, ran after him. The man who had had his eyes opened so that he could see the spiritual messengers. He saw the power of God bringing blindness upon the enemy, and all of the miracles that were evidenced, and yet in his heart this wickedness and this desire, this avarice to have and thinking somehow he deserved these things. Here again the man of God says you’re not going to buy me off. I’m not interested in the material; I’m here to serve God. It’s not going to be said that any man made Abraham rich.

I’ve talked over the years about people who have criticized us and our lifestyle and the way we’ve lived. It doesn’t cause me at all, I don’t even bat an eye, because I know my heart, I know what I’ve turned down and I know how I received what I have, praise God, and so I make no apologies. God blessed me. He gives, He takes, blessed be the name of the Lord. So you don’t have to make apologies when you don’t have it in your heart, but you don’t know, do you, until that time comes. Let me ask you a question, are you given to compromising for the garments, the wedges of gold like Achan, who brought the judgment into the house of God and to the people of God? Examine your hearts tonight. I’m talking you—not just men, I’m talking to the women. What is it that motivates you? Because, women, we’re going to see that if you’re the Achan in the household, how all the dripping, and the crying, and the pouting, and the whining, and all the different things begin to influence the direction of the household, and men who aren’t willing to stand up and bring the reproof and the rebuke and the instruction into righteousness into their households, the household is going to be destroyed by this very lust for other things. Let me ask you this evening, how many of you are satisfied, how many of you are content? Godliness with contentment is what? Great gain, praise God.

We were blessed on this last trip. As we were going, I shared with you that prior to going on the trip, we went to Fort Lauderdale a couple days to rest up in preparation for dealing with our family. As we were there, I got—as I have a tendency to do—I got in a little bit of a hurry and so not having enough of a base, I just thought it’s only Fort Lauderdale, give me some of that oil, and so I oiled up and I looked like a French fry. So I got fried and cooked, and wasn’t able to get out a lot, but on St. Thomas, I had purposed to get out, because I was on a mission. For about ten years now I’ve purposed to do something, that I wanted to do something for my wife—I haven’t done anything for her for the last ten years so I thought, I need to do something here and it’s been on my heart for so long. Proverbs 31:10, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." And my wife’s price is far above rubies. But just as symbolism, I desired to buy her some ruby jewelry so that she would know that I see her always as this virtuous woman. I’ve looked for years for the right jewelry, and I finally found what I was looking for, some beautiful jewelry. In the midst of this thing we ran into the designers of this jewelry. They happened to be in St. Thomas on a promotional thing. For any of you who have been to St. Thomas, they have some of the most fabulous jewelry stores there. We went into this one shop, we walked up to this one case and we were looking, and I thought, "Oh man, that is some nice stuff." The lady said, "Isn’t that beautiful?" So I said, "yeah, it’s gorgeous!" She said, "are you interested in these?" I said, "no, we can’t afford those." She said, "Well how much do you think it costs?" I said, "Cheapest thing in there is at least $40,000." She said, "Man, you got it right on the nose." I said, "I know." I said, "I really like that $250,000 one there. What else do you have?" So we went to another part of the store and we were looking at some different things. But anyway, we ran into this designer and got to talk with them. I want to try to make this story short.

It was a very interesting story how as we began to share with them and strike some kind of a deal we were getting into here. This is a designer; this person makes one of a kind type jewelry stuff. We were talking with them, and I got talking to her husband. We talked about money, and she said, "Well he’s the money man." So I got talking to him. His parents, he’s a second generation diamond person out of Israel. His parents are very, very wealthy. They do, I think just that segment of the business does hundreds of millions of dollars a year and her family is a designer family out of Italy that does leathers and purses, so they decided to design jewelry. And as we talked to them, I got to sharing the gospel with them. As soon as they said Israel, I started talking about Abraham. I was trying to find out if the guy was a Jew. So I started talking to him about Abraham and how God chose Abraham not because of his righteousness, but because he would train his children and his children’s children. He said, "Oh man, our family..." he started talking about his family. You could see he was a real family man. So I started talking to him about that. We weren’t getting anywhere with Abraham so I went to the New Testament about raising your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and we began to talk there and I was getting to him. And he starts calling his wife, he keeps interrupting and saying "Hey, you’ve got to come and hear what this guy is saying, this is really interesting!" And she is still trying to sell Janet on the jewelry and telling her all this kind of stuff. He said, "Man this is... tell me some more!" So I’d share some more with him. He said, "will you come out to Arizona and visit us?" He said, "love to have you come to our house for dinner," and this kind of stuff. I said, "I’m sure that won’t happen but..." and we continued to share. He said, "well you all have some very nice jewelry." We were in a jewelry store prior to that and this lady was showing us a few things because I was trying to get an idea of all the price ranges and all this kind of stuff. This lady was showing us this stuff, and finally I catch her looking over her shoulder. I thought, "What is she doing?" She said, "I’m looking for the manager." I said, "Well, what for?" She said, "None of this stuff is near as nice as the stuff you have on," and I said, "I know, but we’re just looking and trying to get an idea of where things are." She said, "Oh I just wanted to tell you." Well I said, "I appreciate you being truthful." So in this particular store we’re talking with them—and the whole purpose, and we got off on this—the whole purpose is sharing the gospel and how God opens doors of opportunity. So we left them all of our E-mail stuff for them to check out the web site, he gave us his personal number for his home and all of these different things. So here’s this guy, some jewelry guy out of Israel, hundreds of millions of dollars, and he wants us to come and tell him more about Jesus. Just out about Father’s business. Now you can love the gold, or you can let God bless you, and it’s all a matter of purpose.

In Joshua 7, turn over there, I want you to see this because it’s so important. In this day that we’re in, it’s my understanding—and don’t get me wrong as we refer to this—but just in hearing some of the pastors talk and some of the things coming back from some of the captains, you know it’s been a hot topic over the last year in our Young Adults. Many of you have been blessed of God and able to come up in an area, in a time of the technology and God’s blessed many of you. So a lot of the talk about the market and investing in this and investing in that and not a thing wrong with wise using of your finances, it’s a Biblical mandate to be wise. But guard your hearts, beloved, in this affluent society that we live in. Guard your hearts in the midst of this prosperity that we’re experiencing as a people nationwide and even more as a region. It’s not all across the country—there are still a whole bunch of people who don’t have. They are not poor by Biblical standards, but they don’t experience the affluence that we have. Like those where my brother lives, he lives in the Silicon Valley, and it’s ridiculous! Their real estate is probably 35 to 40 percent above ours, so if you get an offer to move out to San Jose or San Francisco, stay here, unless you get a 40 percent raise. As you begin to look at some of these temptations that are out there, the scriptural principle is, don’t make me so rich that I forget you, or so poor that I steal. Godliness with contentment is great gain, and yet Joshua 7, verse 20 says, "And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight [Man, he checked it all out, didn’t he?], then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." I sinned against the Lord!

What kind of a hold does the wedge of gold or the Babylonish garments have on you? Can you really answer that truthfully? Are you willing to give up the ministry beside the man of God for the trinkets of the world? Would you rather have your eyes open so you can see the chariots of fire, or would you rather have your time consumed with all that glitters from the earth? Because, beloved, if the tendency is there, the day will come when you’ll sell out the anointing for the gold. The day is there when that job will be irresistible and you’ll answer something like this—and don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, I’m not talking about exclusivity here. I’m not talking about the fact that we’re the only place around where you can encounter God. I’m talking about the fact that many of you have spent your lives here and you’re part of the community and suddenly you begin to hear yourself say: "Family is the most important, this has changed my life!" And then you begin to hear yourself say, "Well, you know, there are churches other places." And it’s being spoken because somebody is going to give you some more money. It’s being spoken because there is going to be now that job that is more desirable. "It’s something I’ve always wanted to do." Esau! You know that that pleases me momentarily, this is where my pleasure is. All I’m saying is, know your tendencies and ask yourself, "Do I have the armor of God on?" Because if the armor is not on, you’re going to go with your flesh, you’re going to go with your natural tendencies, you won’t stand. How important is it to daily put on the whole armor of God?

Putting on the whole armor of God is waking up in the morning and dealing with those tendencies, putting that flesh under, understanding that today the devil is out to destroy you. Every spoken word needs to be weighed and analyzed. Everything that your eyes fall upon, you need to understand, can destroy you in a moment. Whether it’s just opening up that lust book, whatever it might be—Sears catalog, Sharper Image, Neiman Marcus, K-Mart—and your eyes fall upon something, and you think, "I’ve got to have that!" It wasn’t even in your thinking until you saw it. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand. Can’t you recognize it for what it is, when you weren’t even thinking about it and in one moment you have to have it. I’ve got to have that. And so we begin to realize who we are and the Gehazi and the Achan that’s in us. Just achin’ for that thing, just achin’ for that gold and those garments. You begin to realize the tactics of the enemy. Oh, how we need to guard our eyes as the Scripture tells us! Job said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look upon a maid." That didn’t mean he walked around with his eyes closed and was banging into stuff. He talked about realizing what’s in his heart and the need to guard his heart against looking to the point of lusting. We all know there is looking and there is lusting, and it’s a fine line and people can go round and round about it. But those particular areas that we have to guard ourselves against—every man in here has to deal with that tendency. And Satan—if you’re going to study the Scriptures, men, I want to talk to you in these next minutes that we have left—if you’re going to study the Scriptures, you’re going to see one of the greatest methods of bringing the men of God down are women that are moving with satanic wiles. Don’t you think for a moment that they just happened across your way; they are demonically sent. Every day you hit the streets, the devil is out to destroy you in this particular area. The ambition on the job, the Babylonish garments, the maid, the "ho" (prostitute) that may be trying to do her work, and they both are instruments; and you need to see it for what it is.

Judges 14. I want you to see something here. I’m talking to the guys more right now than the ladies, especially as it pertains to physical lust. Most—most, not all—most women are not as motivated by sight as men. Men are predominantly motivated by sight. That’s why, women, the Scripture says to you to dress modestly. I’m going to talk about that as we talk to the women, I’m surprised that we’re doing it, we’ve got through here and we haven’t segued over to the ladies. It’s an area that in so many churches is taboo. People don’t even like to talk, think about it. Anybody who reads the Bible knows that this is one of the big topics, isn’t it? So many references to this lust that is in men’s members that has to be dealt with as it pertains to the physical. The lust we saw of success, the pride, and the lust we saw of material gain, properties, and the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah. Don’t think for a moment that the sin Lot got drawn into in Sodom was the desire for sodomy. When you read the Prophets, you understand that the sin of Sodom was their wealth, their avarice, their prosperity; it was all of the land and the beautiful homes and the prosperity and the fullness and the idleness of time that produced the sodomy, the Scriptures tell us. It’s where it will take you. You can’t even imagine that in your life! It’s where it will take you. It’s what’s in your members. It’s the end of having nothing worthwhile to do for the Kingdom, and I’ve got to find something to do, I have so much time, I’m so wealthy, I have so much time on my hands, and you’re thinking—I know how we think in this—"I’m not that wealthy." Compared to the world, you are that wealthy. You are not spending your time out chopping wood, drawing water. You have more time on your hands, idle time, than 99 percent of the population of this world, and it’s dangerous.

The Scripture is speaking to us in Judges. It’s interesting. Look with me for just a moment down at chapter 14. I want you to get this in your thoughts, men, especially. Samson, in verse 2, comes back to his father and he says, "I have seen a woman." "I have seen a woman... Get her for me to wife." "I have seen a woman." What does seeing a woman have to do with choosing her for a wife? Well, I just saw her and fell in lust, I mean, love. All of these fantasy, mental images, all of this stuff, it’s a lie! It’s all a lie! Everything that the enemy can bring, or that the flesh can conjure up is fantasy. Fantasy is not reality; it’s unattainable. If it were reality, it wouldn’t be fantasy, right? You can’t go home and airbrush your wife. Go home with five gallons of collagen; blow her lips up, pf-f-t! These women are great. You can stick them on the fridge, pf-f-f-t. And silicone.... Have these women stopped to think what they are going to look like at 70? Everything is hanging, but one thing! Not real. "I have seen a woman." You need to deal with the fact that Job said, "I made a covenant with mine eyes..." You need to understand how everyone is effected in these areas, and how you have to guard yourself. This speaks of the lust of Samson, but there is a very similar statement made about David that I think is important, that I’d like to address. It’s in 2nd Samuel, look over there for just a second. I want to look more here, not at the looking, but the cause and how we can get ourselves, (2nd Samuel 11, verse 2) "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. [and] ...took her," verse 4 says. We all know the story, don’t we? David would not have seen the woman if he had been doing what? If He’d been out at battle his troops where he belonged. If he’d been withstanding or setting out against the enemy, he wouldn’t have found himself in this situation. It’s the idle time.

When I talk about idle time, I’m talking about time that’s away from the Kingdom. Much of our busy time at work is idle time. We’re doing stuff for the company or whatever it is we’re doing, and we’re caught up in the secular realm. We find ourselves—and I know we can’t at all times–we have to give our energy and time to the process at hand. I understand that, but beloved, I’m talking about being able to pray without ceasing as you are going through the day. I’m talking about keeping these things; think upon these things, Philippians tells us, these things that are true, and good, and the virtuous. Think on these things. What are you doing with the idle time of your mind? Are you building yourself up in the most holy faith? Are you praying in the Holy Ghost? If we give place to any of the secular, the idleness of all of the clamor of the world’s system, we’re going to find ourselves contending with some of these things like David. If you’re busy about the Kingdom and warring against the enemy, you don’t find yourself in this particular position that David did. I think David’s circumstances were different than Samson’s, but the outcome was the same. Samson was out looking; David was just not withstanding, but they both saw a woman and, accompanied with that weakness of Esau, gave themselves to the momentary satisfaction and the consequences, as we know, were devastating. Is there a way back? Yes there is, there is a repentance, and there is the killing of more in your death than there was in your life, as Samson, after having had his eyes put out and the Spirit of the Lord being taken from him, and him not knowing it. He shakes himself and he says, "the Spirit’s departed and I didn’t even know it!" The brokenness and the remorse of David as his child is dying—not because of the people that he slew in war in obedience to God—but because of the man he murdered for his own lust, he was a bloody man and not able to build the temple of God. Oh, there is a way back but there is a cost. Do you know who you are tonight? Do you keep justifying? "I can handle it man, yeah, I can handle it. I can handle flirting with this girl at work. I can handle watching certain movies. I can handle whatever it is magazine that I buy. I can handle it." No, it’s handling you, and you are lying to yourself, and the full armor of God will protect you from yourself. When you put it on and the helmet of salvation is in place, you think differently. You are no different than anybody else. I’m here to tell you that you are not better than David, and we need to understand these areas that war against our soul.

As we prepare for closing tonight, these things that drive us, what about ambition? You know the ambition is so interesting. Luke 22:24, it says that the disciples they reasoned or argued among themselves, who would be the greatest among them. And you know we might talk about it in the secular realm, "Hey man, I’m working for this promotion and I’m going to excel above these others." That competitiveness, whatever it is you might be doing. If you’re going to be out playing golf, you know, man, you know! "I’m just playing for the enjoyment of the game—and to beat everybody else in the foursome." Now you say, "that doesn’t motivate me, I’m not motivated that way." You’re not? You may not express it, you may not be as vocal, you may not even be as motivated by it, but let me ask you to really look into your own heart for just a moment and ask you the question, would you rather have won or lost? "Oh, I like losing." Well, you are stupid, and you are a liar, okay? But other than that, you’re a bad golfer. Own up to where you are! Deal with it! And this ambition, the ambition, who is going to be the greatest? It may not be overwhelming, but you see that ambition, it can be an ambition that may not be vocational, it may be the ambition to want to be the favored child, the Jacob instead of the Esau.

We took a picture on our cruise. One of our cousins gets a lot of flack, Jeff, he always wants to let all of the other grandkids know that he is the favorite. "Grandma likes me best." And she does. And so he always signs his different cards to everybody you know "Number 1 Grandson." So on the cruise we sent him a photograph as my brother, and my cousin, Tim, and I were there, we got a picture all of us with Grandma on our cruise holding up number 1. Now it doesn’t mean anything because Grandma’s paid for many cruises for him over the years. Jeff is one of those people who definitely embarrasses you in the vaunting of himself and an interesting, interesting kid. The ambition to be favored, the preferred, secure, all of those that are natural tendencies begin to be a problem when they have to be pursued because there is no contentment in the beloved. Our acceptance is in the beloved. The moment you lose satisfaction or contentment in your relationship in Jesus, and you’re not satisfied, you have to somehow gain it through recognition. Many times what we’ll we do is we’ll work hard and we’ll become a servant and we’ll labor and we’ll stay up late and we’ll forgo many different things and it’s to be accepted. It’s an ambition to be accepted, not to get a lot of money, not to even get a title, just to be accepted, just to get the pat on the head, the pat on the back, whatever it is. What’s motivating you? Ambition isn’t the guy that’s driving the Mercedes and living in the penthouse. Ambition can be down here where you are the servant, the servant of all whom Jesus said is the greatest, but it has to do with motive. It’s a servant’s heart, not a person who is being driven to be accepted. So you begin to deal with your own heart and you see that ambition can express itself in many different ways. Who is the greatest? Jesus said, the servant of all, the one who has emptied himself. You see ambition for self-gain as opposed to ambition for the glory of God become the real issues. Put on the whole armor of God. Deal daily with your tendencies that you might stand.

Father, we thank you for the word of God and we ask that you would reveal our hearts to us in this time of warfare as we stir our hearts to be about your business. We know that the enemy’s going to come to immediately take the word of God out of our hearts and it’s vital that we would come to grips with where we are. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it’s not of the Father, but of the world. You say, "Man, when I do that, I’ve got so far to go." Yes, you do. "And man, it’s ugly." Yes, it is, but Father loves you. That’s what the blood of Jesus is all about. The ability First John says, to walk in the light, as He is in the light, that you might have communion with Him, that His blood can cleanse you from all sin. If you don’t have communion, if you’re not walking with Him in the cool of the day because of your own striving and your own justification and your own fear, if you’re not able to just walk up to Him as who you are and know that you are accepted in the beloved, then there is no light and there is no cleansing of the blood. When you are able to come and just say, "Here’s what it is today. Jesus, I want to be like You." And First John goes on to say in that same chapter, you confess your sin and He’s faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you. But there is no true confession without true conviction and there can be no real repentance and reconciliation until there is the reckoning. "For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:" (Rom. 7:18) and without Him I can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Thank you for it, Jesus.

Let’s stand before Him tonight. Hallelujah! Just worship Him. Just thank Him for the free gift of your salvation tonight. Thank Him for the grace that protects you. If not for the grace of God, you would have been destroyed today. If it wasn’t for the grace of God, the hedge that’s around you, if it was not there, the enemy could have taken you at his will, but thank God, there is a hedge tonight. Thank God there is a rear guard tonight, the glory of the Lord is our rear guard. Thank God He’s watching your back tonight. Thank Him for the shield of faith that quenches all the fiery darts of the enemy, because we’re at war. We’re at war. War is dangerous. For a second lieutenant in Vietnam in 1967, from the time he went to the front lines, his life expectancy was less than 15 minutes. War is dangerous. You are at war. You are in far greater danger than those second lieutenants in Vietnam. Because without the grace, without the favor of God, without the blood of Jesus, without the glory of the Lord, without the hedge, without the cleansing, without the washing of regeneration, the washing of the water of the word, without intercessory prayer, you have no hope. But having done all, stand.

As Dan plays for us and we’ll take a moment just to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, to rejoice in that assurance that the battle isn’t ours, but it’s the Lord’s. To speak out like the great servant, "We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." It’s in your weakness that His strength is perfected—not in your weak behavior—in the acknowledging of your weakness that He can make you strong. Oh, thank Him for the victory tonight! Just rejoice in the victory tonight, for the greater One that dwells in you! Hallelujah! Just thank Him for the victory that’s been won in the blood of Jesus. Rejoice that in all of these things, we are more than conquerors. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. There are no principalities or powers, there is no height or depth, length or breadth; there is nothing that separates me from the love of God. If He is for me, nobody can be against me. You don’t earn it; you can’t do it in your own strength. He will make you strong. Hallelujah! Yes, Lord, with all of our hearts, with all of our might. Let’s sing it together. Let’s exalt Him this evening. Hallelujah!

Singing, "To Your majesty, and Your beauty I surrender. [Oh, we do, Lord, we just offer it tonight.] To Your holiness, and Your love I surrender [oh Lord, hallelujah!]. For you are an awesome God, who is mighty [You are, Lord]. You deserve my deepest praise [You do, Lord]. With all of my heart, and all of my life, I surrender. [Oh, You are an awesome God.] "For You are an awesome God [Hallelujah!] who is mighty [Thank You, Jesus] You deserve my deepest praise [Oh Lord]. With all of my love, and all of my life, I surrender." Glory, glory, glory, just worship Him. Just take a moment and worship Him. Thank Him for His working in your heart tonight. Thank Him for the great mercies that have manifested on your behalf. Do you know what kept you from choosing the garments and the wedge of gold? The grace of God. You know what kept you from pursuing and running after the world like Gehazi? The grace of God. You want to understand what it was that caused you to go out to the battle instead of taking ease in the palace? The grace of God. It’s not you, but it is a choice, because all of those men had the same opportunity to appropriate the grace of God. The natural tendency is to do everything they did, but there is grace to help in the time of need. Just be aware, just be aware of what’s going on. What is it that’s happening right now? Who is putting these garments at my feet? Who caused this person to catch my eye? What’s going on here? And then show the integrity of a Joseph and say "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against [my] God." (Genesis 39:9) Of course, there is the natural appetite, no one will know. God will know. The one thing that is common to all of us is the original sin, the forbidden fruit, just wanting to have that that you’re not supposed to have, and to think it’s so much better. And it’s bigger, and it’s brighter, but all of the devil’s apples have worms. Make it real, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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