In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need to resist the devil and overcome his attacks. He compares the inability to physically fight or outrun the devil to the need to employ spiritual weapons. These weapons are identified as the Word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. The preacher also shares a personal story of a man who had bitterness and hatred in his heart towards the person who caused harm to his daughter, but through confession and forgiveness, he was able to overcome these negative emotions. The sermon concludes with the importance of recognizing the enemy and seeking to have our minds and hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience through faith and right thinking.

In the Old Testament, Joseph's brothers were insanely jealous of him. In fact, they were so jealous, they sold him to a traveling band of Ishmaelites as a slave. They took the coat of many colors that their father had given him and gifted him the blood of a goat and handed it to their dad after they had torn it and said, apparently, a wild beast has devoured Joseph. Well, no wild beast had devoured Joseph, but they lied to their dad and their father believed a lie and Jacob went into mourning and grieving that lasted for years because he believed something to be true that wasn't true. That's what deception is. It's in essence, believing a lie. And I believe tonight that there's a lot of unnecessary grieving and mourning among the people of God because we have believed things to be true that simply are not true. Our family used to, in the old days, used to like to go to local zoos whenever we'd go to a town that had one. We'd go and see these animals. You know, back in the old days, we used to watch Wild Kingdom, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with old Marlon Perkins or whatever his name was, wrestling down those wild animals. And you know those animals, they had such a fierce desire to regain their freedom. They would fight for all they were worth, all they were worth to be set free. But they'd be taken captive and then they'd ship them off to a zoo somewhere. And these animals would grow accustomed to their captivity. In fact, some of them grew accustomed so well to that captivity that they were able to reproduce in captivity and their little offspring were born behind bars, accustomed to having people gawk at them, having their meals served on a platter. They've never known life in the wild. They've never known what it is to be free. Perhaps these little ones think that they're living in normal conditions because they've never known life any other way. You know, I believe it's possible to live in spiritual bondage so long that we think we're actually living a normal Christian life, when in reality we don't even realize that we're in captivity, that we're in bondage. I want you to take your Bible tonight and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 3. We're mighty concerned in our day about environmental pollution, but I'll tell you what's even more epidemic than environmental pollution, and that is mental pollution, wrong thinking. I want to tell you, if you think wrong, you live wrong. If you believe wrong, you are wrong. And the Bible says that we're engaged in a battle. We're engaged in a warfare. And this battle is laid out here in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 3, where Paul writes, for though we walk in the flesh, though we walk in a physical body, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Now we're engaged in a battle. We're engaged in a war. And God says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Underscore the word stronghold. The word stronghold having to do with a mental fortress of wrong thinking, a system of incorrect thought, a mental satanic beachhead. And the Bible says we have weapons powerful through God to pull down these mental satanic strongholds and beachheads. Notice in verse 5, casting down imaginations, underscore that word imaginations having to do with the mind, the thinking apparatus and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Underscore the word knowledge having to do with the mind, having to do with the mind and bringing every thought and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Underscore the word thought. Now note the words that we have here pertaining to the warfare we're engaged in. Thoughts, knowledge, imaginations, strongholds telling us tonight that there is indeed a war on the saints and the war on the saints takes place largely between the years. If you think wrong, you live wrong. If you believe wrong, you are wrong. And the Bible assumes we're all we're all born in a fallen world system with a nature that is contrary to God. And brother, when you get converted, then you're on a lifelong adventure to pull down all those satanic fortresses, cast down every wrong imagination and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Look over in the book of Hebrews with me this evening and another passage along these lines. Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds. Now notice this. He's going to put his laws in our hearts and in our minds. He says he will write them and their sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more? Hey, is that good news for bad people or what? Putting our sins as far as the east is from the west. More good news. Look in verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness, boldness to enter into the holiest. Now, how are we going to get into the holiest by self-improvement, by rededication, by trying harder? No, you're going to get into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, by a newly slain way, which he have consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. In other words, we get into the holiest by the means of the blood of Jesus. Everywhere I go, people pray the same way. And I've prayed that way myself. Lord, I want to get nearer to you and God. I just want to get closer to you, Lord. But dear people, I want you to understand tonight you can't get any closer to God than what the blood puts you close to God. You can't get any nearer to God than what the blood puts you near to God. And brother, at the last day, thank God, the blood can speak for us. And thank you for that marvelous, marvelous song. I got too excited for this church, listening to that song, sitting down there on the front row. And brother, if you don't get excited about that, you may have a problem. But brother, that is just wonderful. We get into the holiest, nearer, nearer to God. I could never be for in the person of his son. I'm just as near as he closer, closer. I could never be for in the person of his son. I'm just as close as he. Oh, there's more good news. Look here in verse verse 22. The Bible says here, let us draw near with a true heart that is a tested heart in full assurance of faith. No unbelief, no doubting having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Now I want you to look at that phrase, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. I believe tonight it's possible for a genuine child of God who is sincerely trying to serve the Lord to accept and express thoughts that come directly from Satan himself. You recall our Lord when he told his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem, he was going to die. He was going to rise again. Peter began to rebuke him far, be it from the old Lord. And our Lord turned to Peter, his right-hand man and said, get thee behind me. He had accepted thoughts that came from Satan and became a mouthpiece for the devil. And our Lord rebuked the devil in the apostle Peter. You recall in the book of Acts and a nice and Sapphira sold the property light about it. Satan after Pentecostal, Peter filled with the Holy ghost, a little wonder wonders for anybody. He stood when Ananias came and told the lie. And he said, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy ghost? Satan had filled his heart. How many of you think it's possible to be filled or controlled with the Holy spirit? Do you believe that here? How many believe it's possible to be filled or controlled with the unholy spirit? Why Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy ghost, Luke chapter nine, verse 55, Jesus and the disciples going through Samaria, no gallons of fresh cow milk there. No roles from Ashley Johnston there, those Samaritans brother, they didn't, uh, they didn't do anything to accommodate the Jews. They didn't get along. And the disciples were fed up with it, the lack of hospitality. And the disciples said to Jesus with this ill treatment, Lord, do you want us to call down fire on these people? Like Elijah, a little display of apostolic authority, Lord, we've already cast out a few demons. God, you want us to take care of this bunch and call down fire on them like Elijah. And our Lord rebuked them and said, you know, not what manner of spirit you are of, you know, not what manner of spirit you are off of the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. You know, not what manner of spirit you're off. Do you people, you're either under the control of the God of the Bible or you're under the control of the God of this world and your homes. You have a living room. And when you invite other friends and family over, you entertain your guests in your living room. Our mind is like a living room because every visitor that comes into our life will enter in through the avenue of our minds. You don't gain access to everybody that knocks on your door. Do you? I'll tell you, if you live around here, you probably don't let everybody in the house that knocks on the door, but how many unsuspecting Christians will allow entrance to every thought that comes knocking at the doorpost of their mind? Dear people, when you entertain satanic suggestions, they drop down into your spirit and before long they flavor your entire being. They possess your entire being. And that's why the Bible says that we have the helmet of salvation and we have the shield of faith to quench the fiery thought darts of the enemy. Satan has the ability to withhold information from the minds of men. For the Bible says the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that do not believe. Satan has the power to keep information from the minds of people, but I believe Satan has the power to introduce information to the minds of people. He said thousands of years to study the human race and with expert timing, precision timing, he can shoot his fiery thought darts into our minds with such precision that if we're not very spiritually alert, we'll not even be able to discern they're not our own thoughts. We'll just think that they're just coming out of our own hearts when really they're satanic inserts. And my brothers and my sisters, that's why God has given us weapons mighty through God to pull down strongholds, cast down imaginations and to shield these fiery thought plants, these fiery thought darts, these fiery thought missiles from the enemy. The Bible says, be transformed by the renewing of your minds. We've got to think right because if we think wrong, we live wrong. If we believe wrong, we are wrong. And that's why tonight we got to go on the offensive and capture these mental beachheads. They tell us the 12,000 thoughts go through a person's mind on a given day. That's a lot of thoughts. Some of these thoughts no doubt come from God for the Christian, because the Holy Spirit has power to bring things to our remembrance. How many of you've ever had that experience? The Holy Spirit bringing things to your remembrance. How many of you have had the experience of the unholy spirit bringing things to your remembrance? What about these thoughts? If they do not come from God and we don't try to conjure them up, then where do they come from? I believe that God of this world is going around planning and deceiving and speaking lies into our hearts and minds continually. And that's why tonight we need to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Now what's an evil conscience? I guess there's a lot of things you could say about an evil conscience, a polluted conscience, a violated conscience. Oh, dear ones tonight, when we have an evil conscience, the heaven ceases to be open and we have a sin consciousness and we have a lack of positive assurance. And one telltale sign of an evil conscience is when we have plaguing, obsessive, preoccupying, continual, obsessive, persistent thoughts, wrong thoughts, kind of like a phonograph record. Young people don't even know what I'm talking about. Brother, you know, you know, it's bad when you have to use illustrations that nobody understands, but I'm going to use it anyhow. In the old days, we had phonographs. They were records, believe it or not. And brother, these things would turn around on a round on a turntable and the needle there would read the music and would fall into the groove as it went around. But when those phonograph records got scratched, the needle would fall into the same groove every time, every rotation and play the same thing, the same tune over and over and over and over again. And when a person has an evil conscience, they tend to rehearse the same old garbage over and over and over and over again. And evidence of an evil conscience. You see, what kind of evil conscience are you talking about? Well, the options are as broad as the options for sin. But let me give you a few examples tonight of an evil conscience. What about accusation, accusing thoughts, accusing thoughts? The Bible says Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He's an accuser. He's an accuser. I was in a church one night and I went out the back door and a big, big Burley kind of guy met me at the back door. He didn't have a little dab of real cream. He had at least a quarter of the tube slicking his hair back there in that church there that night, he was a big Burley brush kind of a guy. And he shook my hand, looked me right in the eye. And he said, brother, Harold, and a deep gruff voice. He said, brother, Harold, I'm what you call a militant fundamentalist. Now what he meant by that was he couldn't get along with anybody. And he was really excited about it. He said, I'm a militant. I am a militant fundamentalist. And I looked at him and I said, well, brother, I think God will probably give you victory over this. If you pray about it. Well, he didn't see the light on that point right there. Satan is the accuser of the brethren and where Satan doesn't go personally. He just sends a critic. One time praying, hide the great prayer, man of India was praying and he began to pray for a certain preacher that had followed away from God and grown cold. And he got on his knees to begin to pray. And he said, Oh God, you know, how cold. And then it was going to give God an update on how bad this brother had gotten off. Lord, you know, how cold prayer is not giving God information. He already knows. And all praying. I'd said when he got those words out of his mouth, Lord, you know, how cold he said God put a stay on his lips and said, praying, hide, you know, better than the devil that accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God, accusing the brethren in prayer and praying. I'd said that he stopped criticizing the brother and telling God how bad he was and started thanking God for the times he had walked with God and found out later that man had a revival that extended to the life of his entire church. Listen, a continual, a plaguing, persistent spirit of accusation and criticism is indicative of an evil conscience and unresolved guilt. What about an evil conscience of anxiety? Oh, people were so anxious. What are people going to think? Don't worry about what they think. What are people going to say? How are we going to pay the bills? What are we going to do? Anxiety, nervousness, brother. I want to tell you, God's not giving us the spirit of fear, but a power and a blob and have a sound mind. All of this constant, persistent anxiety is a lack of faith and trust in God. Maybe it's just sin. It's the wrong way of thinking. You know, what about enticing thoughts? Fantasy thoughts, sensual thoughts, mental immorality, if not physical. How many of us have had our minds so baptized in this garbage? It's just a one-track thing. We just rehearse these same episodes over and over again. Brother, there's power in the blood of Jesus tonight to cleanse our minds from an evil conscience of immorality, if you will, enticing thoughts. What about an evil conscience of bitterness, concentrating on how people hurt us and took advantage of us? The Bible warns us about a root of bitterness and the gall of bitterness. I was in California, Southern California. A man hit the altar one night. He wept his soul out for over an hour, sprawled out all over the altar. After, after the service was over, I went up to him and I said, sir, what in the world was that all about? And he told me the story. His little girl had been run over by a drunk teenage driver, didn't even have a license. She's in the hospital for nine months in a coma for six months. The doctor said she'd never be normal. He said, Harold, I want to tell you, I've had such hatred in my heart for that boy that ran over my little girl. He said, I've even thought about taking his life. He's just getting honest. He said, tonight I've confessed my hatred and bitterness to God. And he said, I think if that young man came in the back door, he said, I could, I think I could look him in the eye and reach out my hand and shake his hand and say, son, I want to tell you, I love you. He gets it free. I went back a few years later. Oh, Mike was in the church. I said, brother, how's it going with that bitterness issue? He said, still free brother. I said, amen. I said, how's your little girl? And he pointed her out. She was normal for any girl, like any other child, her age, she was completely restored. The doctors don't know everything, you know, but God had to heal dad of his bitter spirit before I think God could do anything in that girl's physical body and evil conscience of bitterness. I was in Martinsville, Virginia, and a lady stood one night with this testimony. She said, I used to be a relatively happy person till eight years ago when my brother was shot and murdered. And she said, I don't think I've enjoyed living a day since. And then she said this last night, I went home and got on the telephone and call the father of the boy that shot and murdered my brother. And I'm not saying this was the right way to go about it, but this is what she did. And she said, I asked that boy's father to forgive me for all the hatred I had in my heart for his son. And she said, I want to tell you, I think today is the first day I've enjoyed living in eight years. Life is too short to go around with an evil conscience of unforgiveness and bitterness. And by the way, if you don't forgive the heavenly father, we'll not forgive you fit that into the theology somewhere. What about an evil conscience of torment and evil conscience of guilt? I want to tell you something, child of God, if you ever confess your sin to God one time and repent of it and get reminded of it again, it's not God convicting you. It's the devil trying to condemn you. If I'd only never done that. Oh, I wish to God I'd never said that. Oh, I wish I'd never seen that. And these thoughts of guilt coming like raindrops on a tin roof, beating down with such rapidity so as to overwhelm us. And so plaguing, so obsessive, so preoccupying, it can actually cause a person not to be able to function correctly in life. We were in Maine in a series of meetings, brother Don, I think has been to this church. And we had a prayer room in this church where people would go to the prayer room and seek God and they would meet with God one-on-one. And then we'd have afterglow where people could verbalize how God was speaking to their hearts. A lady came to the prayer room the first night and we had the afterglow and she sat there looking deeply distressed and deeply troubled. I could tell something was mighty wrong. She left the afterglow. She didn't stay. She came the second night, deeply disturbed and left came the third night, deeply distressed of distress, written all over her face. And she left. She came four or five nights and nothing happened. And finally she came another night and boy, she was sitting in the afterglow and there was a glow of heaven on her face. And I said, dear sister, would you like to tell us what is happening? I was curious to find out what was going on. She went into no detail at all, but she said that something that's bothered me for so long. And tonight God has set me free. She said it's affected every area of my family in my life. And God has set me free. She gave before the church and gave testimony going into no morbid detail at all. And the people were just thrilled that finally the cloud had lifted for this dear sister. She even went 40 miles away and gave testimony in the church. Before I left, I got a letter from this dear lady and she shared with me how that as she was growing up, she had been abused sexually by her brothers. And this is so ridden her with guilt and torment for all of her life that she was totally liberated from this mess. And brother, I want to tell you this power in the blood tonight to take away this kind of trash out of a person's heart. I went up a few months later and talked to a pastor. I said, preach your house sister, so-and-so doing. He said, she's still got the victory, brother, still got the victory. Brother, I want to tell you tonight, God doesn't want you to live your entire Christian life laden down with guilt and torment. Brother, I want to tell you that's an evidence of an evil conscience. What about an evil conscience of unbelief, unbelief? The Bible says whatsoever is not a faith is. See it, you know, a lot of sinful praying going on, a lot of sinful seeing going on a lot of sinful church attending going on because whatsoever is not a faith is seeing, you know what happened? I think we've been programmed for failure. We've been programmed for defeat. You know, they tell me baby elephants, elephants, when they're born, they take those baby elephants when they're young and tie a big rope around the front, right foot, drive up an iron stake in the ground. And the baby elephant not known for his intelligence, you know, he will pull and struggle and strive to get away and being, he can't figure out he can't get away. He just keeps on trying to get away and pulling and tuggling. You know what they're doing? They're programming him for failure. And after about several weeks of pulling and tugging and struggling and trying to escape the baby elephant with his peanut brain, finally figures out I can't get away. So he stops trying to get away. They programmed him for failure. When my boy was young, we went to a circus one time. I've already asked forgiveness. So you can forgive me too. Amen. But I went to a circus one time and we went out behind the civic center and we saw these giant elephants. We wanted to see these mammoth beast. And there was one elephant. I'm telling you the truth, a huge elephant. And they had a piece of Baylor twine around his front right foot stuck into a crack in the pavement with a stick stuck in there. And this giant elephant that could have pulled the whole tent down, didn't try to escape because he didn't believe he could escape. He'd been programmed for failure as a child, as a small elephant. And I wanted to know how many of God's people have been programmed with unbelief and we've been programmed for defeat and we've been programmed for failure. We've listened to these lies of the enemy. You'll never be able to live for God. Those people are exceptional people. Let me tell you something, friend. Let me tell you something, dear people tonight. The best of men are men at best. And there isn't a perfect person in this church and there's only one in the universe and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And with him, we can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us. You can't live the Christian life. Of course you can't. But brother, you need to get your eyes off yourself and put your eyes on him. Unbelief, unbelief. I wonder if we've not manufactured a theology of despair to justify our half dead condition in the North American church. Well, these are the last days. Everybody's going to fall away. The apostasy is going to set in. There's going to be a great, great falling away, you know, brother, and evil men are going to act worse and worse and perilous times are going to come and it's going to get worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. Well, brother, I know it's going to, I know the world is going that way, but let me tell you something, friend. I don't read in the Bible where the true people of God have to follow the world down the tubes to destruction. And I do not believe that God ordained us to be a bunch of lay to see in dead beats. You don't have to be an usher to be a dead beat. You can be a dead beat church member. Amen. Thank God for the repentance of these brothers. But anyhow, brother, let me, let me get serious with you here. Listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. God has not preordained us to sit around and live in defeat and despair. And we don't have to follow the world down the tubes to destruction. And we don't have to follow the ecumenist back to Rome, brother, we can do what's right because Christ is in us and he's the hope of glory. And according to your faith, so be it under you. I read today where Jesus didn't do many mighty works in his own hometown because the atmosphere of unbelief was so oppressive. It stifled the son of God from doing thing, doing anything in his hometown. He said a prophet is without, without honor saving his own hometown, unbelief, unbelief, unbelief. Brother, you believe in God to work in your own heart. I'm believing God for, I don't know how much victory is available and how much sanctification is possible, but I believe there's more than I've got. I'm believing God for it. You believe in God to work in your family, save your children, convert them, brother, not make a decision, convert them. Believe in God to work in your church, according to your faith, according to your faith. So what, what, what would happen if God could find a bunch of people that would dare to believe God and would fast and pray and put it all on the altar and go all out for God? Who knows what could happen in our day? Unbelief. Oh, there's a million types of evil consciences, fear of man, fear of pain, fear of loneliness, fear of death, fear of rejection, evidences of an evil conscience, an evil conscience of discouragement, depression, rebellion. We could talk about a hundred different things, but how are we going to get delivered from an evil conscience? Let's talk about this tonight. The Bible says right here, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. I believe a New Testament reference to an Old Testament incident. Take your Bible and look over in Exodus chapter 12 at the Passover. I believe a prescription here for deliverance from an evil conscience, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, which means that salvation is not just a judicial pardon and lifting of guilt, but brother, the blood of Jesus can reach down into the hidden recesses of our hearts and sprinkle us from a felt sense of guilt and sin, a deliverance from an evil conscience. Now look in Exodus 12 verse 22. Here are the instructions to the father for the Passover. You should take a bunch of hyssop as an herb, a bush of some sort and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lentil in the two side post with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out the door of his house until the morning for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he see it, the blood, the blood is for God. When he see it, the blood upon the tent lentil, the top of the door and the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door. Judgment's going to pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer. Now note this phrase will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses, to smite you, dear people. That father was to take that, that, that Paschal lamb, that, that sacrificial lamb and was to split the throat of the lamb. And the blood was to drain out in a big basin. And the father was to take that in the family and go, go outside the door and was to take that hyssop and was to paint, paint the blood on the sides of the door, the side post and put it on the top of the door. I want to tell you that blood was available for every person in Israel, but dear people, it required faith in order to make that application of the blood. And dear people, let me tell you something tonight. It's your duty before God to repent and believe the gospel. You say, well, God is just going to do what he wants to do. It's your duty tonight to repent and believe the gospel. Nowhere in the new Testament do we find that it's all in the court of God, but brother, God's commanded all men everywhere to repent. Blood was available, but it was their responsibility to make application of that blood. And dear people, when they got the blood on the door in the most conspicuous place, they all ran inside the house. They huddled around the table and God said, judgment's coming through the death angels coming through. And God said, when I see the blood, never forget brother, we sang about the blood tonight, precious songs about the blood. The blood is for God first. It's always for God. God had to reconcile himself before he could reconcile a sinner. He had to reconcile his own justice, brother, before he could reconcile a lost soul. And he said, when I see the blood, I'm going to pass over. And he said, I'm not going to allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And if you save tonight, the blood has already been applied from God's side. Judgment is already passed because it's passed in the person of his son. But dear soul tonight, somehow we need to, by faith, see our minds under the blood. We need to see the doorpost of our minds tonight painted by the blood of Christ. We need to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience tonight. Somehow we need to have our hearts, our minds under the blood of Christ, because when we shielded with this precious blood, and I'm telling you, I think it's a, it's a subjective thing. Brother, I want to tell you, Helen, all his demons came to feed us when we get our hearts and minds under the blood. When I became a new Christian, I had such a mixed up mind, such a mixed up life. Oh, brother, I often tell people my wife is better by grace than I am by nature. And that's the truth. And when I came to the Lord, I had a lot of baggage, brother. And, you know, I used to pray in those early days. I used to pray this kind of prayer, Lord, help me not to have these evil thoughts. Brother, if I prayed that once, I prayed it a million times and God never helped me not to have the evil thoughts. And you know what I found out? Don't ask God to do for you what he told you to do for yourself. And I finally figured it out. He's given us weapons mighty through God to pull down these mental strongholds, cast down these awful imaginations. And by the grace of God, bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, brother, crying out to God and asking for a good. You need to get your mind and heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. You need somehow tonight by faith to take the resources God has given and have that heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. God can deliver us with right thinking. You said, brother, how are we going to get our minds under the blood? How are we going to get our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience? Well, number one, we need to recognize the enemy. We need to recognize the enemy. Somebody came to watch me one time and said, Mr. D, I think I have a demon. I think I'm demon possessed. Will you deliver me? That's the way we are today. You know, a quick fix. And watch me. He said to the fellow, you let the devil in, you cast him out. And brother, if the devil's operative in your life, it's because you open the door and you've got to recognize you've got a problem. And brother, we need to recognize the enemy because Satan is out to rob us of our joy. When thoughts are introduced into your mind, diagnose the source. Did I try to conjure this up? No. Would God bring this thing to me? No. Well, if you didn't come up with it and you're sure God had nothing to do with it, go ahead and assume the enemy of your soul had everything to do with it, brother. Diagnose the source. Recognize the enemy. He's active. He's out tonight to destroy our thinking and our minds. Do any of you all ever have a problem thinking wrong? Getting the right. I mean, you just can't get the right perspective, the right attitude on the situation. And you know, you're not thinking right. And you know, it recognize, recognize you have a problem. Number two, to be delivered from an evil conscience, we need to renounce the hidden deeds of dishonesty to Corinthians chapter four, verse two renunciation means we're taking back the ground that we've given to Satan. Let me tell you something tonight, child of God. If you're not actively taking ground from the devil, he's probably actively taking more ground from you. The Christian life is not static and it is not passive. We're not on a picnic. We're in a warfare and the warfare is largely taking place right in our minds and in our souls. We need to renounce the hidden deeds of dishonesty. This is not passive. This is something we must actively participate in. You say, what do we need to take back? All the ground we've given to the enemy brother. Some of us have to repent of the music we've listened to. We need to repent of the occult practices we've been involved in. We need to repent of our past sins by the grace of God. A lady came to a church service one night and she said this, you came forward. She said, I'm a new Christian and I don't have many new Christian friends yet. And she said, I went out with my old friends last weekend. And she said, I feel so bad about it because I smoke dope. I feel real bad about it. And you know what I thought? I thought this is a good sign. It's not a good sign. She went out and smoked dope, but it's a very good sign. She couldn't smoke dope and get away with it. Converted people can sin, but converted people cannot continue in sin without discipline and chastisement from a holy, a holy heavenly father. We led that girl in a prayer of renunciation of that sin where she'd given ground to Satan. I believe what we're talking about here. Renunciation. It's refusing every lie, breaking every contract that we've ever made with the devil and brother. It's a burning, every bridge connected to the old life. You remember the old Testament where Elijah, they were out there building that a Bible school and they were out there cutting those trees down. And all of a sudden the ax head flew off the handle over into the muddy Creek and they couldn't find it. And they told Elijah about it. He said, well, where did it fall? And he stuck the ax handle down into the water. And what happened? That ax head swam up. Did I get that right? Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, whatever you don't actually had came up brother and got on the end of that handle. He felt that thing, felt that thing. And there it was. What's the point of the story here? The point of the story is that, um, the point of recovery is at the place of departure. And whenever you get off track, that's where you're going to get back on track with God. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesses and forsakes shall have mercy. Renunciation is repentance. It's, it's getting back on track where we got off track in the first place. The point of recovery is at the place of departure. And dear people, when we recognize we've got a problem, then there's this matter of brokenness of repentance of renunciation. And thank God brother, we can come and be cleansed when we come with an open repentant heart. But there's a third point to have the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and that's restitution. Paul said he had a conscience. He exercised himself continually have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man. Let me tell you something tonight, child of God. There's only one thing that will ever put you right with God and hear me tonight. Only one thing that will ever put you right with God. And that's the blood of Jesus Christ. It's not trying harder. It's not implementing principles. Please hear me tonight. The only thing that will ever put you right with God is the precious blood of Christ. And I wanted to write, have you been washed in the blood? Have you been washed in the blood, brother? That is a victory song. You don't go around chasing, chasing around, trying to put things right with people in order to get right with God. Brother, you better put things right with God through the blood and then go to seek to put things right with people, not in order to get right with God, but because you are right with God. And if you go chasing around trying to put things right before you put it right with God, you're likely to put more wrong than you'll ever put right. And you got to get that conscience clear. Oh, it's a good thing to have a clear conscience, isn't it? Isn't it wonderful, brother, to get all that mess just dealt with? I remember when I first heard these principles, brother, I thought, man, this is radical. And brother, I had to go clear my conscience with my father, with my mother, with my brother, with a shopkeeper, with all the people that knew me the best. Oh, it was hard. But as I went, as I went, man, it was like loads of weights coming off my shoulders. And I said, man, this is tremendous. This is the way to live with a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man. Now we've taken care of this side. Now we're ready to go on the offensive. Recognize we have a problem. We've let the devil in. Renounce the hidden deeds of dishonesty. Repent. Make restitution where necessary. Put things right where things have gone wrong. Now this disarms the devil. In Berwick, Pennsylvania, and a lady came before the congregation. Here's what she said. She said, I want to ask the church to forgive me for divorcing my husband 10 years ago and bringing reproach on the name of the church and on the name of Christ. And I'm asking the church to forgive me for the sin, the public sin I committed. That's the first time I've ever heard that testimony in a local church, putting things right where things have gone wrong, personal sin, personal confession, private sin, private confession, public sin, public confession. Lady stood in front of a church in Florida and she said, I'm not used to talking to you face to face. She said, I normally talk behind your back. A public sin of gossip needed a public confession. And the spirit of God came into the meeting. We went on for five more days. Nothing would have happened, I don't think, if she hadn't got that thing cleared. But brother, we talked about putting things right. This disarms the devil, this clearing of the conscience. Now we're ready. Now we're ready to go on the offensive. And James 4, 7 says, resist the devil and he will. Do you believe that? Wouldn't it be good if that was true? It is true. It is true. He will flee from you. Well, it'd be a blessing to see him hoofing it off instead of running you down every now and then. Wouldn't that be a blessing? How are we going to resist the devil? Well, in revelation, they overcame the accuser by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they love not their lives, even unto death. How did they overcome the blood of the lamb? The word of the testimony we're leaving tonight to get around Atlanta. So we won't have to drive a travel trailer tomorrow morning with a bunch of crazy people around the beltway down here. I mean, they cut right in front of you, brother, and you can't stop those things on a dime. But anyhow, if we're on the way home tonight and all of a sudden we get run off the road and here's a bunch of thugs that come, come toward me with a bunch of crowbars and here they're coming after me. And you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to run as fast as I can. And if I get cornered, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pick up a stick and try to get them before they get me. But brother, you can't outrun the devil. And how are you going to do battle against an immaterial being like Satan? You can't outrun him. You can't fight him all physically. So what are you going to do? You've got to employ the weapons, the word of your testimony and the blood of the Lamb. You know, these Georgia troopers down here, these state police, they have delegated authority from the state of Georgia. People have no respect for them per se, but they do have respect for the power that's standing behind them. They have delegated authority. And Jesus said, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me. And lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. Brother, as co-regents and co-laborers and co-joiners with Jesus Christ, we have delegated authority and we were not designed to be victims of the devil, but to be more than conquerors through him that loved us. Yes, we're in a battle, but brother, the victory is already won. Now, how did Satan put Jesus put Satan to flight in the wilderness temptation? He did it with a verbal rebuke of the scripture. I'm not advocating carrying on lengthy conversations with the devil. I'm not advocating that at all. All I'm saying is that Jesus rebuked the devil with a scripture verse. He refused those satanic thoughts that were coming into his heart and mind and he put them to flight. Now, how are we going to resist the devil? Let me suggest to you tonight, when you get your mind under the blood and you have your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and by faith, you see the blood on the doorpost of your mind. When those thoughts come knocking and Satan comes to defeat you in your heart and mind, point to the blood and speak to the enemy, point to the blood, speak to the enemy. Don't try to stand in your own strength. You don't have any, you failed every time and you'll fail again. You better look, look away to a savior brother, who is mighty to say, and when he comes point to the blood, speak to the enemy, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Old dogs can learn new tricks. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. I know without him, I can do nothing. I figured that out a long time ago, but brother, we better figure out something on the faith side that I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. You say, what if I get messed up? Repent of it, Johnny on the spot, put that thing right, put it right with whoever went wrong with and get back under the authority of Christ and fill with the spirit of God and resist the devil and he will flee from you. All my dear people, I believe we have delegated authority. And then as we recognize we have a problem, as we renounce the hidden deeds of dishonesty, as we make restitution and put things right on a human level, as we begin to resist the devil, then one of the greatest weapons we could ever have is this weapon of rejoicing. The weapon of rejoicing. I really believe God's people ought to be a joyful people. I believe God is a joyful God. I believe there's something right about taking pleasure in God. Well, you know, we all came in the building tonight. We brought our own atmosphere with us. Some of us brought a more pervasive atmosphere than others, but we all carry our little personal atmosphere around us. And that's why sometimes when you go to church services and everybody comes in, they bring their own little atmosphere and it's kind of like they're just there when they come in the door, they're kind of pouring their cup into the into the into the bucket. And then when they all get together, you have a collective atmosphere. And if the atmosphere is stifling and oppressive, it's because of the personal collective personal atmospheres of everybody that came in. And brother, everybody's to blame. But if you go into a church where everybody's coming in the door, they face the same problems, same circumstances, same temptations as the others. But instead of murmuring and complaining and griping and walking in the flesh, they repented. They believe God. They begin to thank God. They chose to rejoice anyhow. And you come into a church service like that and you know what the collective atmosphere is like. There's a tremendous liberty. There's a sense of God. Why? Because God inhabited the praises of Israel. God inhabits praise. One man said praise is God's address. You want to find God, you'll find him in the midst of an unceasing stream of praise. You know, in the book of Revelation, what's going on up there, brother, they're seeking praise to the lamb in the midst of the throne. And I want to tell you, we we better rehearse for heaven here by learning to rejoice and learning to praise our God, because God draws near when people praise. Why do we sing all these songs when we come to church? Why is Christianity a singing religion? Because God inhabits praise. He loves to be praised. And brother, this is the greatest weapon. This is the greatest weapon. I want to tell you, this is not a temperamental trait. This is something we can do whether we feel like it or not. I don't think rejoicing is an emotion. First, I think it's an act of the will. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will be glad and rejoicing. Never mind how I feel, brother, if I live by my feelings, I'd never get out of bed most days. Some of you are like that. And brother, we've got to learn to rejoice in God. I want to tell you, friend, Satan is allergic to praise. But God inhabits is the praise and habits, the praises of his people. You know, in the Bible, in the Bible, the words have meaning. These names have meaning. And the word Judah, the Bible named Judah. You know what it means? It means praise. It means praise. What a weapon. And First Chronicles, the Bible says Judah, the tribe of praise, prevailed above his brethren in judges. It says Judah, the tribe of praise, defeated his enemies in numbers. It says Judah, the tribe of praise was first in battle. They didn't send the bow and arrow squad out first. They sent the choir out first. Why? Because brother pay praise paves the way in spiritual warfare in the Old Testament, as well as in the new. And the Bible says in Revelation, Jesus Christ is the lion of the tribe of the lion of the tribe of praise. Isn't that intriguing? He's the lion of the tribe of Judah. Our God loves to be praised. And dear people, I believe like Joseph, the Bible says he worshiped leaning upon his staff. Isaac went out in the field at even time to meditate. We need to develop the discipline of learning to rejoice in God. We need to learn to develop the discipline of singing these hymns to the Lord in our hearts and meditating on a good theme in our hearts, brother, because this is the greatest weapon you have against Satan is the weapon, the offensive weapon of rejoicing. And we got a lot to rejoice about tonight, do we not? I want to challenge you people to go on a three day quarantine from now to Sunday. Don't ask God for one thing, but spend the next three days thanking God for everything that you fail to thank him to for until this point. I'll tell you, if you'll do that, you come in here Sunday, brother, you'll get the lid off of this place. I think God would show up. I'm serious. Praising, thanking when all else fails, try, try praise. And then finally, once we recognize we have a problem and we renounce or repent and make things clear by restitution and begin to resist and begin to walk with God and we begin to implement this discipline of spiritual rejoicing, then it's a it's a believer's daily renewal because the Bible says the we're to be renewed day by day. Somebody says, well, I don't know if this prayer advanced thing is going to last or not. Can I say something to you? God never intended for you to have one experience in life that would set you up from now to Jesus comes. He intends you to have spirit experiences in life that puts you back on track. So you'll learn to walk in the spirit. And brother, if you'll walk in the spirit, you can make it from now to Jesus comes. And if nobody else walks with God, you can walk with God. And if everybody else goes back to apostasy, you don't have to go to apostasy day by day. The inward man, the inward man, the inward man, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Ephesians four, Colossians three, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Do you know why we have devotions every day? Folks, do you know that the purpose of devotions is not to get them over? It takes more than a chapter a day to keep the devil away. Why do we have devotions? The purpose of devotions is to secure the presence of Christ for the whole of the day. The reason you pray and read your Bible and meet with God and worship the Lord in the early hour is not to get it over and get on with life. The reason you do it is to secure the presence of Christ for the whole of the day. You meet God in the morning, that his presence goes with you throughout the day. George Mueller said that his first order of business every day was to get his soul happy in God. How many of you know what I'm talking about on this point right here? John Piper said he was a Christian hedonist, a Christian hedonist. He thought it was right to take pleasure in God and we glorify God by enjoying him forever. There's something right about a man or a woman, a young person that learns to enjoy fellowship with God and enjoy the presence of God and to get his soul happy in the Lord. And I'm not talking about just an emotional boost here, brother. I'm talking about coming into contact with God. Renewal, renewal. So we get on this book and God speaks to our hearts and he feeds our souls. And brother, we move with God throughout the day. We have a sense of God. We have leadings from God. And brother, his mercies are new every morning, are fresh every morning. And that's why every day we've got to come back to God to get emptied out of any sin that might be there and get filled with the spirit. It's a day by day proposition. It's a day by day proposition. I don't think you're ever going to have one experience that's going to set you up for life. I do believe you can have a daily emptying, a daily cleansing, a daily filling and a daily empowerment and a daily meeting with God. You know why? Because we've got a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners like us plunged beneath that blood can get cleansed from all our empty stains. Oh brother, what a blessing to walk with God. And brother, I believe God wants to sprinkle our hearts from an evil conscience, an evil conscience. I meet a lot of believers and I think they're more sin conscious than they are God conscious. They're more aware of their guilt than they are God's grace. And brother, though your sins be as scarlet, they can be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they can be as wool. Dear people, tonight God doesn't want us to go around condemned from here on. He wants us to be free because if He makes us free, we can be free. Free indeed. Hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Do you know that tonight? Do you know that tonight? How many of you know what it is to have an evil conscience? You know what that is, don't you? I mean, you're beat down, you're played with all these besetting thoughts, brother, these thought patterns, brother. Let's employ the weapons tonight by the grace of God, mighty through God, to pull down the strongholds. Pull them down. Took a while to build them up, might take a while to get them down, but we've got the weapons, brother. Pull them down. Cast down imaginations. And then think about the other part, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Well, this sounds like we're on the winning team, doesn't it? Sounds like we're not working for victory, we're working from victory, brother. Satan's a defeated foe, he's still alive. God left him here to perfect the church, and in the meantime, we can be more than conquerors through him that loved us. How many of us tonight need to have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience? Brother, we need to get our minds under the blood. How do we do it? Recognize that we have a problem. We've allowed entrance and ground to Satan. Renounce the hidden deeds. Repent of those things. Come clean. Bring them forth. Put them right under the blood. Admit them one by one. Put things right. Make restitution where need would be. Begin to resist the devil, and he can flee from us. How do we resist? Point to the blood. Speak to the end. Brother, there's wonder-working power in the blood of Calvary. Stand on Calvary ground. Then what? Well, begin to rejoice. Begin to rejoice. And brother, what a weapon. What a weapon. I don't care if you're melancholy or sanguine or penguin or any other kind of thing, brother. You can learn to rejoice in God. And don't be hung up on this psychology mess. Burn that and get this book, brother. It'll help you right here. And then get your mind renewed day by day, day by day. Come every day to God. Every morning, brother, come and tell God the state of your soul. You don't need to read your prayers. You go to the doctor. You don't need to read to him what's wrong with him. You can talk to him about yourself. Well, brother, you can talk to God about the state of your soul. Tell God the whole thing. Bank on the blood. Believe God. And never mind how you feel. Go ahead and do what's right. Your emotions are going to catch up somewhere down the line. Don't worry about it. And brother, we can walk because we have mighty weapons, weapons, mighty through God to pull down these strongholds, catch down these imaginations and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. May God enable us tonight to walk as a victorious people because we have a victorious Christ. And brother, if you mess up, just repent. Don't mope over it. Don't don't don't get so full of pride that you beat yourself down with it. Just get to the cross and repent and get right back up. And you don't have to stay down forever. Brother, just immediate acknowledgement, immediate confession, immediate repentance and get up, brother, and walk on in the victory that God has provided for us. Hearts sprinkle, sprinkle, having our conscience sprinkled from an evil and evil conscience. Let us stand for prayer. How many hearts tonight need to be sprinkled from an evil conscience? Oh, you've got those plaguing, persistent, preoccupying, obsessive thoughts. And tonight God's spoken to you about the need for a fresh sprinkling of the blood recognition, renunciation, restitution, resist, rejoice, renew alters open for believers tonight that would like to come and just get a fresh application of that blood to their hearts and their minds by laying bare, having your heart sprinkled tonight from an evil conscience. How many here tonight in the auditorium? You really need tonight to come and you need to appeal to the God of heaven for the forgiveness of your sins, because tonight you're cut off from God. You're alienated from God. You're not a child of God. You know nothing of God's forgiveness. You know nothing of God's grace. But tonight you believe the gospel. You believe that you've sinned and you've broken God's law. You believe that Christ died for your sin. And tonight you want to receive Christ as your Lord and your savior. We would invite you tonight to come and take Pastor Huggins and if that's you tonight and say preacher tonight, I need to be born of God. I need God's forgiveness. Preacher, I need to be saved from the guilt of my sin. I want you to point me to Christ. If that's your heart tonight, we invite you to come. Our brother is going to lead us in just a verse of invitation him after we pray. And I'm going to invite I'm going to invite unbelievers who need the saving grace of God to respond by publicly coming tonight and taking Christ as savior. And for Christians that need a fresh cleansing to fall here and alter a prayer and say, God, I want to be sprinkled tonight afresh from an evil conscience. I see the way of the cross leads. Father, tonight I pray that needs might be met. I pray for believers to leave out of here free in Christ and free indeed. God teaches this Calvary way of rejoicing. And father, I pray tonight for some for some outside the fold outside the family of God that tonight they might flee the wrath to come by taking Christ is their substitute as their savior.