This sermon delves into the concept of godliness as a mystery of iniquity, highlighting the contrast between Christ and the Antichrist. It emphasizes the importance of understanding that Satan counterfeits everything that God represents, urging listeners to be vigilant and keep their minds focused on the Lord to combat spiritual oppression and distractions. The message underscores the desire of the Holy Spirit to express God's likeness through individuals, drawing parallels to Adam's fall and the ongoing spiritual battles faced in daily life.

And coming against this mystery, the godliness is a mystery of iniquity. And one is Christ, and one is the Antichrist. Everything, I want you to know, this is something you have to understand. And this has been lost from the church. The fact that everything that God is, Satan has the counterfeit of. And you're going to see this very clearly tonight. And you make sure that it's not taken away from you. Because you're warned to be sober, which means serious. You're also warned to be on the alert all the time. And you cannot take every thought captive unless you keep your mind on the Lord. I want you to know that you can work and do anything and keep your mind on the Lord. Alright, now there is a spirit. There is a spirit of Christ, which is the Holy Spirit, that wants to make an expression through you of God. God wants you and He created you to be in the likeness and image of Him. Now this is what He first did with Adam. And Adam fell. Adam became earthly. If you remember in the first chapter, He made Adam in the likeness and we make him in our likeness and our image, right? And since that time, there is a process to bring mankind back into the image and the likeness of God. Who caused Adam to fall? Adam got tested, didn't he? You're being tested. You're aware of that. Alright, now the opposite of the Spirit of God is the spirit of Satan. Or another way to say it is his demons. And they do not have a body. And they move, they control this whole world system. You've got to understand this. I want you to understand clearly that everyone out there in this world that have not made Jesus Christ Lord are in the image and likeness of Satan. They walk, talk and act like Satan. And you're going to see this in the world system tonight and tomorrow night and you're going to have understanding about it. But this spirit of Satan, these demons, are looking for ways to enter into the trees of the field which we all are in this world. And they want to come in to be an expression of Satan. In other words, they want everyone in this world to be in the image and likeness of Satan. You choose. And they come in and you receive either this word right here which performs its work in you. This is seed. You know this is seed. Right here is the land in your heart. And I'll get into more of that later on. I might get ahead of myself. But the mystery of godliness is this. The mystery of godliness is a process where God is manifested in the flesh. The mystery of iniquity is the opposite. It's a process where Satan is manifested in the flesh. Now, we're going to first look at the mystery of godliness. And I have to quote some scripture because I don't have time. They're just little parts. You wait till I tell you to turn the scripture before you turn because I'm going to make reference to them. They're on your notes. Does everyone have these lists of scripture here? I tell you what, when it comes break time, you won't have to have it now. But when we come back at break time, we'll pass these out. We'll have everyone to hold up your hands that haven't got this list of scripture. We will pass it to you then because you'll have a list of every scripture we're going to use. But in 1 Timothy 3, it tells us that great is the mystery of godliness. And see, when the time came for Jesus to redeem men from the curse of sin, it became necessary for the Lord to lay aside His heavenly glory and become a man, didn't He? And then He took on our name in covenant. He became known as Son of Man. You see, Christ did descend from the throne. He laid aside His crown and robes. He arrayed Himself in a garment of a servant. And by doing so, He subjected Himself as a servant, didn't He? And so He took on the earthly. And in us making covenant with Him, we took on the heavenly. Now, we know in 1 Corinthians 15, which is part of your note, Jesus was the second Adam. He came back to reverse the order of where the first Adam is veiled. Now, we'll get into that later on. In 2 Corinthians 5, we know that He's the firstborn of all creation. We know that we are a new creation, right, in Christ Jesus. He is the firstborn of that new creation. That's a holy people. That's a covenant people, separated from the world into righteousness. And that's the way we're supposed to be today. So, we also know in 1 Timothy 2 that when Jesus returned to heaven, He returned with a glorified flesh body, is that correct? And watched Him descend into heaven. For there is one God mediator between God and men. The man is Jesus Christ. And so, now, we see that everything... I want you to remember this. Always remember this. Everything that is godliness, there is a counterfeit. See, like a form of godliness. Here's godliness. A form of godliness is not godliness. It's a counterfeit. It's perversion. All right, now, I just want to give you an example of what's taking place in this world in the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of godliness and the opposite they are. So, you'll have an understanding about it. See, Christ came in His Father's name. The anti-Christ come in the name of Satan. Christ humbles Himself in this world. The anti-Christ exalts Himself. See, that's what the world does out there. They exalt theirself. Christ is despised in this world. The anti-Christ is admired in this world and the ways of anti-Christ. Christ does the Father's will. The anti-Christ does Satan's will. Christ came to save. The anti-Christ came to destroy. Christ is the true vine and the anti-Christ is the vine of the world. See, there is a difference, a counterfeit. Jesus is the truth. The anti-Christ is a lie. Christ is the Holy One. The anti-Christ is the lawless one or the one of sin. Christ is the Son of God. The anti-Christ is the son of perdition or Satan. Christ, the mystery of godliness, is manifested in the flesh. So now let me just tell you what's been going on over the years is the fact that Satan saw they couldn't stamp out the church by violence and persecution because the more he did, the more it grew. So he changed his tactics. And today and right now he's seducing the church to conform to the world. His hope that there'll be a gospel, and there is, of social service or take the place of the gospel of grace. And then he'll divert and pervert all the attention of the church. Now, as a new Christian, well, let me just share something with you. We're not in image-building of anything except the Lord Jesus Christ here. We've already decided that we don't have to be anything because we aren't anything, okay? The only way you become important is to have God, to have Jesus. So let me just clearly tell you something, just a little testimony about myself and about grace. When I was just a small boy and I started in school, I saw that I was a little quicker than some of the children. And something happened in my life. The other children became quicker and I became slower. I was a very demonized little boy. And these bad manners got worse. For instance, I lived next door to a jail. I was paid sometimes to curse people, was a little five-year-old boy. Locked in a cell, bullpen with other prisoners, just a joke. You know, a little boy just paid to, I mean, encourage to fight other little boys and things like this. So you kind of know who's in control of that kind of atmosphere and I could go on and on. But I became more and more a tormented person. By the time I got, managed to get into high school, I couldn't even study. I absolutely could not concentrate. As I grew older, when you're tormented like this, and this is what you see in the world out here, I turned to drinking because there had to be some kind of escape from the torment I was in. I did not turn to Jesus because from what I had seen as a little boy, there's nothing, I didn't even know anything. I went to church and didn't even know anything about Jesus. I didn't understand about Jesus. But later on, there were drugs. I was involved in drugs when it wasn't even popular to be involved in drugs because it was an escape. It's just the devil and Satan. I acted like Satan. He had control of my life. And I came to a place, as you will grow worse, that I had to have help. And I went to a veteran's mental hospital, and I went there for six months. And I look back on my life, and it's hard for me to even think back there because it's like thinking about another person because it really was. But in this hospital, I knew I was a hurting, hurting person. And I knew something. If life is like this, why was I ever even born? And you cannot relate to this unless you've ever been into a place. And most of you, to some degree, have. And I came to a place after six months, and my trust was in a man here who sat across the desk from me. At the end of six months in this hospital. And this man was going to give me all the answers to my life because I poured my heart out, and I told him things I've never told anyone in my life because I was told to do that. And see, let me just remind you right then, right now, that my problem was not mental. My problem was spiritual. This man never could help me, not like we were in the process of me getting help. But in the meantime, you know what the church would tell me? Jesus can't help you. Go to the nut house. And you know, the drugs and whatever, and you stay there. Jesus can't help you. So we came down to this day where I sat across the desk from him, and I'm not only sitting in my chair, I'm leaning forward because I poured out for six months. I want the answer to all of this wreck and hurt and understanding that why my life is like it's been. I could have inferiority. Inferiority would come over me, just like you would take hot syrup and pour it over the head of someone, and it would just run right down in my shoes. And when it was to happen, I would wish I was anywhere dead. And it had always been there. And then this guilt and condemnation for being so different would come on me, and I was just tormented to pieces by demons. This man leaned across this desk at me, and he told me, he says, Milt, when you first came here and you shared some of the things in your life, I bothered. I bothered to call to your home territory to see if these things were true. Quite frankly, Milt, I thought you were lying, and I found that they were very true. Now, he says, Milt, and here I'm leaning a little more forward, and here comes the answer. You need a religious experience, but he said you can't have one. Now there's my answer. Six months. I need, the only hope he tells me, the only thing that can help me, but I can't have one. And he turns around and he says, you can't have faith. Well, I didn't know anything about the religious experience, but if it's any kind of help for me, do you know who I was talking to? I was talking to a demon. What do you think happened to me when I turned and walked away from that desk and left that place? Do you think I became better? No. I had put my trust in a man, and he had blocked me off with those words from the Lord. I'm turning there. So I became a very hostile, a very tormented man that became more tormented. I went to, and later on there was another, there was another veterans hospital. There was another mental hospital. Well, I went back to that town in North Little Rock, Arkansas later on, and there was in this church, in this Baptist church I was in there, there was a psychiatrist who had been saved, and she began bringing the patients. I mean, she was just excited about Jesus. She began bringing the patients, and this one patient that I was seeing, and Jim Hilton was with me that day, and this lady had been left in a mental institution since day one. She had never really been able to function. I mean, she was just out of this pitiful. She was under psychiatric care at the time, and immediately when she sat down, the first thing she said, I've already told God I'm going to kill myself. I said, honey, don't say that. Don't talk that way. Of course, I knew who was talking to her, and I just began loving her and talking to her. And soon she said the same thing again. I've already told God I'm going to kill myself. And so I just began to love her, and then just the spirit of love was just in this room. And see, I could relate a lot more than anyone around knew to this lady here, because the Lord had already done something in my life. And I began watching the Lord as I was talking to her. I watched the spirit of God, and I began to see, watching him setting her free right there, sitting in front of me. And the Lord spoke to me, and he asked me, told me and Jim to get out of the room. He wanted to love her. And I told her, I said, the Lord wants us to leave this room. You've never known how much the Lord loves you, and he's wanting to love you right now, but he wants us outside this door. And I'm not going to come back in this door, because the Lord wants to love you. And see, the spirit of God was already on her. Pitiful lady. So anyway, Jim and I walked outside, and pretty soon she came to the door, so happy. The Lord had just been loving her, and she saw the reality of God's love. And we talked a little more, and then she just became freer and freer as we sat there and talked, and pretty soon her mind was just like that, just as quick as it could be. We didn't even get to lay hands on her. And this lady got up, and we were just rejoicing, and we walked out, and first thing, the staff member of the church who knew this lady, he looked at her, and I remember his mouth just falling open to his chin. What he was seeing and what he was watching as she talked, and the joy that he saw in her face. She's totally a different person. This lady walked right past him. She went out on the parking lot there, out the back door there, and we walked out with her. And at that time, that psychiatrist drove on to the parking lot. She got out of her car, and she saw her, and she took a run to this psychiatrist, and right before she got to her, she left the ground, and landed right around her neck and her legs around her hips. This is the truth in Jesus' name. And I thought about over there in Acts, that man that was in front of the church that Peter came by and healed, that began leaping and praising the Lord, and finally she got down from that woman, and she got a hold of her shoulder and began jumping up and down and praising God, and so joyful and so happy. Now, see, you can't, I could relate to that a lot better than many of you could. But to know that, to torment at this woman, I mean, she's with, she's dead all her life. You know something? Before the week, I was casting the demons out of the psychiatrist. And I went in, I didn't think anything about it, and I went in the motel room, and said, Lord, how sweet he is. And that's how he'll come and just show you and show you things. And he said, now, Mel, I want to just show you what's happened to your life. Grace. You remember when you was in this town before, North Little Rock, Arkansas, in this hospital. And then, Lord, let these series of things happen to show me that Jesus, through me, came back and helped the psychiatrist. Are you seeing what I'm telling you? So, it's an interesting thing that someone with such a broken life that I come to a place where I was dying. I'd make a mockery of God because it was controlled by Satan. I remember, as a steel rigger foreman, that Hal would think this was smart. Now, let's sing our song. And I would have them to sing Oh, When We All Get to Heaven. And then, later on, when I came to a place of death and dying, where I was crawling around on the floor with saliva running off my mouth. See, I was no longer that 220 pounds of romping, stomping hell. I was not, there's no one tough. Okay? And no tough folks. That, someone had made a mockery of God. That God came into a place where I was dead. See, I was not only zero, but I was less than zero in His grace to give me life. And to heal me. And one night, this happened. And Jesus became Lord of my life. And the next day, I was a totally different person. And to believe that you could walk out of such a world of despair and step into another world. And for these 43 years, I had never really, I had seen form, but I hadn't seen this. And I wanted everyone to have what the Lord had given me. And a short time thereafter, with just a grateful and a thankful heart, I remember sitting in a service where they sang, When We All Get to Heaven. And that was my undoing. Because I remember singing it when I was in darkness. And it humbled me before the Lord. So I'm here to tell you folks, as I stand before you, that I'm someone who has received grace. It's an interesting thing that the Lord would take someone whose life had been broken and torn apart, and everything that got around me would happen to it too. My family, my children. I couldn't be anything but a tool of Satan. But the Lord began immediately to show me the powers of darkness. And they continued. Over the years, just to beat my ears off, as I've continued to learn about, but that was my part. So you've got a part, you're in school, and the Lord teaches you where you are. This was my school, and the Lord had me in it. And immediately, I wanted to help God out, get rid of all the demons, and do many things to help God out, and I just had to come to the end of all these things, which I did. And then the Lord put me in a place where he could do something through me. I used to go to lay revivals. I would go with church members out to tell people about Jesus. See, I want you to remember that. For three years, I couldn't even care on a conversation. I'll say a couple of sentences, and my mind was somewhere else because the brain cells had been destroyed through drugs, drinking, and through being on the heart and lung machine longer than anyone survived it at the Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. And the Word, the Word began restoring my mind. See, you remember, I couldn't even get out of school. God's Word, it's life, and it's health. And God's Word began restoring my mind, began restoring me. And then the Lord began a series of things which I won't get into. See, I think it's important for me to relate this to you because I want you to know the Jesus in me. I want you to know the grace of Jesus in me. I want to boast in Jesus, and this is what I'm doing. I'm not drawing any attention to myself, and you know it. I know that one of the first people I ever led to the Lord was a Satan worshiper in the jail. First time I ever witnessed someone in jail, a Satan worshiper. He tried to kill himself three times, and the last time they took him to the doctor, he had no pulse. He didn't have any pulse or blood pressure. Cursed the doctor. But I watched this man just in a simple, just two or three scriptures, whatever, and I watched him transform before my eyes, and God just chose to do that, just to work with him. You know, God can work with you. It never was us. And if God chooses to, He can make you look pretty good in your carton right there, and if your carton wants to enjoy this glory, anyway, He'll just sit you down, which He's done to me several times. But anyway, I began learning about the enemy, and then I came to a place in 1980, folks, where I just came to the end of a lot of things because I used to say, and my wife used to say it, used to make chills run over when I'd say it. I'd say, God, I love God so much, I'd say, God, you do everything to me you want to do. You do it whether I like it or not just to please you. You do it. That's why I just love the Lord, and I continually say that, and he began doing it. And the chips began to fly, and the flesh began to fall. And I could talk a lot about that. But anyway, when it seemed like there was just a thread between the Lord and me, and in that thread, He let remove. And then, see, that's got me up. And then when He reached down and got me to show me, it never was me. I had such a zeal for the Lord to do things that, you know, to get His approval. I always wanted God's approval, and I was going to do it through works and things, you know. And the Lord just let me, just teaching me to come to a rest. And so, in 1980, I went, I was invited to come to a revival at Jim Hilton. I was there to preach just a four-day meeting in Graceland Baptist Church in the greater Louisville area. It's the largest Baptist church in the greater Louisville area. It's the largest southern Baptist church in Indiana. And I was asked to come up there just to go witness. I took a Baptist pastor and a Methodist pastor with me and went up there just to go out and witness. The revival had already been in about its sixth week, probably. And during this time there that I was only to spend three days, there became a situation of a man who was demonized, and I had never, ever, ever, ever, ever the farthest thing from my mind that anything would ever be dealt with in a church with demons. Because, see, I had seen some things dealing with demons. But I had, I saw some error and perversion in it and so it became a lonely place from what I did know because I've always been very much afraid of error. And I hope you do. I think that's one of the first things I encouraged you the first day I was here. But anyway, I saw that the man who was trying to deal with this person had good intentions. But I knew that the Lord had put something in my heart that you know the Holy Spirit doesn't behave himself unseemly. You don't just run in front of the Lord's one that works these things out. And I was all ready to leave town. This was our third day. And as this person began to deal with this, and I knew if the Lord didn't remove this person from this situation that I would go ahead and return to Cleveland. This fellow all of a sudden had a headache that he just didn't need to sit down, but he was laid out. And I knew the reason for that because I knew what was in my heart. And so I told him when this happened, I said, I believe the Lord wants to use me with this person right here. We moved to another location. This pastor had about 10 members in his staff. And we moved to this new location. And I began casting demons out of this church member. Now what I know now, what took me, you know, for 11 hours, I dealt with this person. In five minutes, I could do what took 11 hours. But see, I was walking in one light I had. But for 11 hours, and I wouldn't let him take him to a restroom, and I wouldn't go myself until those demons were gone. And I want you to know that the glory of God came in that place. And that pastor and staff, now I want you to know this pastor taught in Southern Seminary. As a matter of fact, he's been teaching there this summer. By the way, let me just say it, Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, across the river. And as I was dealing, this was an intense thing, because like I tell you, when you're through a lot of things, you just walk where you are. You don't get boxed in to anybody's experiences and things. And that's where I was. I was just walking in one light I had. That's how you get more light. But it was such an intense thing where I was. And I heard such crying and brokenness, and I absolutely had to let this go. And I had to turn around. And I looked back and that pastor had a hand up in such brokenness that I saw in this man's face and weeping and crying. Because let me tell you what he was seeing. He was looking back through the years of his ministry. When he had been dealing with all those people, and what in reality he had done, he saw that he had been dealing with the symptoms rather than the source. And it broke his heart. On the Sunday morning, he came before this congregation. He actually bent double over the altar, repenting and said, I haven't led you in and told you the whole counsel of God. And he repented. And he, I'm not going to get into some other things. All right, now, instead of staying three days at Graceland Baptist Church, I stayed there for three months. And all I did is this revival continued over four months. All I did was cast demons day and night. I was church members. I started with the staff of the church. I went to probably six or seven churches and next year, I mean pretty soon, you know, I already knew that people who were walking in the walls had a demon problem. But I had never comprehended anything that I run into there. See, I was finding out from the demons. I found out, I learned how they got ground. I found out what they'd been doing in them. And it always drove me back to here. You can't walk and experience this, folks. But I saw something I'd never heard of before. I saw the church top to bottom in bondage. The whole bunch, just like Isaiah 1 says, from the top to the bottom, it's sick. After three months, I was walking in the walls myself. And I had a rest and I left. But I'm not going to, I've got into a series. I was just going to go teach a pastor a deliverance and the Lord propelled me into a situation the pastor couldn't share with us, you know, as a small church, about the things I related to him. And so this is the Lord. It's still school. I didn't have the most off-the-wall, strangest thing that someone like me would ever have anything to teach or say to anyone. I couldn't even talk. And as I look back now, and I knew it was a test because the Lord had many things to say. And here the opposition came, but I stood and I said it. And then, not only would his church go into revival, but pretty soon there was four Baptist churches that met together in Etobicoke, Oklahoma. And I'm not going to get into all the experiences and things that relate to that God did there. But anyway, we went to either six or seven Baptist churches within the next year, and every pastor needed deliverance from demons. I gave a testimony in January at a conference that Brother Peter Lord was here at and spoke at the end of it, and I mentioned something about demons. And I saw the shocked look over some of their faces as I made some relation to demons in my testimony. And so I stopped and I just made this statement. I said, If Christians can't have demons, then the top evangelists and pastors in the Baptist denomination are lost because I've been watching the Lord set them free from demons. And it got real quiet. So see, all this thing drove me to the Word, and this is not a time. Let me just go ahead and tell you, God only works with people that represent God, say what God says. It's not a day and it's not a time, a back door, side door. I've already said to you, the demons and folks have been running this thing long enough. And I'm going to tell you what God and his grace is moving. And there is a shaking. There's never been a time of trouble, and everyone is going to make a decide whether they're going to come to hear the covenant or whether they want to be part of the world church. And that's exactly what's going on. I want you to know that the church, who's top to bottom, is in bondage. They're in slavery. They're forced laborers. Doesn't sound like they're too smart, does it? And that's exactly the state of the church right now. Now, let me ask you something. Do they need to be told the truth? Absolutely. That's the thing that God works with, is the truth. Well, I relate this, so I think it'll help you to take better notes because of what we're going to get into in the Word. I want you to know where I'm coming from. I want you to understand something about the grace of God, and I want you to understand something about the state of the church and what the grace of God is trying to do for the church right now. Now, we have an enemy. Very plainly, the Word says he's killing you. He's destroying you. He's stealing every relationship and every joy and everything in your life that can be meaningful. They're right there to take it from you. And I've said it this morning. I'll say it over at First Baptist and Mary Donnell, and I want to say it to you. I want you to know this very clearly and very plainly. I don't care what position as men look up to men in this world. I don't care if they own the top of the penthouse, if they're ha-ha-ha dancing on one foot, or who they are or what reputation they are. If Jesus Christ is not their Lord and their incumbent, they're slaves of demons. They're slaves of the powers of darkness. And they are manipulated, and Satan is manifesting himself through them, and they're just like puppets that demons play with. And that's what God lets happen to a people who's wise in their own eyes. That's what pride is. And these things are happening to them. It's just slow. The destruction of the powers of darkness comes just like a moth eating away on something. It comes just like rottenness. It's a slow thing, the judgment of God. God's a very patient and long-suffering. God is not mocked. You can be sure of that. And you can be sure of one other thing, too, that this Word is a lot... God is a lot more serious than this about this Word, and our traditions have taught us and showed us. The Word says, as God says, in the last days there's going to be a church that's asleep, a church that's falling away. See, people are waiting for the world church to start instead of looking and seeing what they're sitting in. I want to ask you some questions just for you to answer. And I know, as I share with you here, and I know that this is an exception to the rule here, because you have been dealing with the powers of darkness for a long time, but you know it is an exception. And, you know, there's been a lot of persecution, a lot of words and things, and it always will be. I mean, that's a promise for you when you do the walking of things of God. Have we really known anything about the enemy? The church today is ignoring the war. See, if you don't ignore the devil like others, then you have an extreme view. If you don't ignore the devil like others do, then you've gone off the deep end. If you don't ignore the devil like others have done, then you always have a label, and this label is supposed to intimidate you. Sometimes maybe you're called charismatic. That's supposed to ruin you. And I will apologize for any charismatic people, because that's just how the enemy has turned one against another in the body of Christ. At the same time, I'll say that charismatic needs just as much help as a Baptist. I mean, the whole bunch is in bondage. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm just not narrating this to Baptists. Can you imagine now Paul? Did Paul deal with the powers of darkness? What would have happened to Paul if someone had come up to him and said, Paul, you see a demon behind every bush? I bet if someone had ever said that to Paul, we probably wouldn't have got two-thirds of the New Testament, would we? Paul would have just laid it down and quit. He would have probably said, God, I can't deal with that part of the Bible anymore because it's making my ministry look bad. My carton isn't looking good, God, so I can't deal with this part of the Bible anymore. I won't be able to write this. The Holy Spirit won't be able to write this word through me anymore because I need to build an image. No, it didn't happen at all. I doubt if that could probably move Paul at all, would it? And once again, I want to tell you, if someone ever tells you that I see a demon behind every bush, I see 50. And I'll be glad when the church sees them too because that's just exactly what's going on. See, the church, once again, has been intimidated and fearful because the enemy has been prevailing against the church. And it's been a real convenient thing for the powers of darkness. Satan has never been more successful than he is right now. He comes and goes as he wishes. See, here is the enemy. It's already defeated. And the people are wise in their own eyes. They're wiser than God. See, in any way, the enemy and the demons lead. They hold congregations together with fear, make them fearful. In other words, don't go over there where you... First, they use someone to abuse or merchandise the truth, and then they make this congregation fearful to deal with any part of this Bible where someone over there has abused it. So then the congregation, so the people who shepherd it, the elders, the shepherd, they protect them from error, and then they hide the truth from them. I want to ask you where all this comes from not to talk about demons. It's not in the Bible. Where did it come from not to... Where did this come from to fear demons? It's not in the Bible. It's abomination of God to fear demons. You're supposed to fear God, not demons. Where did this come to ignore the devil? It's not in the Bible. It didn't say ignore the devil and he'll flee, did it? Where did this come from not to resist the devil? See, there is a little more to it than saying, Gray, there's he that's in me than he that's in the world every six months. And quite obviously the stained glass isn't keeping them out, is it? Is it any wonder that people don't know how demons deceive them? Should you know? Well, let me ask you. Could any of you possibly have been deceived? Or are you too smart? Well, let me ask you another question. Could the people who's taught us been deceived, since they don't like that part of the Bible? Do deceived people know they're deceived? Turn with me to I Timothy 4, please. I know you're all familiar with it, but I think we need to look at it. I Timothy 4, verse 1. But the Spirit explicitly says, I mean when he explicitly says, I mean that's probably what God means, that in the later times, are we in the later times? I want you to mark that, that some will what? Looks like they're going to fall away. They're going to depart from what? Looks like they departed from the Word of God, doesn't it? Huh? Departed from covenant, is another way to put it. Well, let's see what the problem is. The next part says, they're paying attention to deceitful spirits. Oh, deceitful spirits are still going to be around in later times. What does deceitful spirits do? They deceive people, don't they? Isn't that right? These deceitful spirits are demons. And this causes people in the later times to depart from the Word of God, to fall away. Well, now let me ask you again so you'll know. Can a deceitful spirit deceive you? He surely can. Let me just put it another way. He will without the Spirit of God. And the next part, that the people are going to fall away also, depart from the Word, depart from covenant, fall away from the faith, because, what is that last part? Doctrines of demons. Now, we're talking about an enemy that's stronger than you are, and smarter than you are, that can make you believe that bitter is sweet, and darkness is light. Except, you have a covenant partner stronger than them. There's only one. His name is Jesus. And let me suggest to you that he only comes his way. There's conditions. Right here it is, right there. And it's nothing for us to pass judgment on. It's something for you to do. It's not for you to analyze. It's something to walk in. And this is the way he comes. Let me ask you something. What about doctrines of demons? Well, if you was going to deceive a people, where would you go first to try to deceive them? Would you try to go to the ones that teach it? Then you got the whole bunch, right? The pastors that's here, and you'll know that, that in most seminaries, they only make a vague reference to this scripture. They don't understand it. As a matter of fact, I know a friend the other day at a well-known seminary. He asked him, he said, why don't we teach these young men about the war they're in? And the head of this seminary said, I guess we're just fearful of what people will say. That's a good reason to go ahead and let people be killed and destroyed and go to hell, isn't it? Now, when I say these things, and I make references to them, I don't try to imply that I have anything more than a part of Christ. I don't have all the answers, but we're talking about my part right here. It's come time for my part. So, well, I don't have a little Jesus in me, and someone has a big Jesus. I just may just go ahead and tell you, I've got a big Jesus in me. So I just go ahead and say what he says. I want to ask you something. I want you to, I want you to think about this subject. Do you remember I've asked you before, do you ever notice how easy it is to think on how hard it is to, well, your mind stays full of what's wrong. Isn't that right? How hard it is to keep your mind on Jesus. Where do you think those last pictures come from when you go through the shopping center? See, I used to think everything in the world after it thinks of all these pictures and everything comes through their mind, they think that's their own. See, if someone pulled a lever in there and their heart's in agreement with them, who do you think it comes to talk to you when you start to pray and shows you all the other things you do? A little oppression, a clouded mind. Who do you think that talks to you when you start to pick up your Bible to read it? Who do you think that's speaking to your mind right there to tell you to put it off and to find other things to do? And then when you do get to it, your mind just drifts off when you begin reading the Word and look at the Word. Is that right? Isn't it interesting? You don't have that kind of problem when you read the newspaper, do you? Who do you think it talks to you when you want to go down to the altar down here and just act like a child and humble yourself before the Lord? And you know that the Lord has spoken to you to do that, and this is the foot of the cross right here. This is where the altar really is, the foot of the cross. This is where people come together to worship and praise the Lord. And then you sit back there as those thoughts come to your mind, and these thoughts will tell you what old Terry Brown over there, how you're going to look in Terry Brown's eyes if you humble yourself before God Almighty. And you notice when you get down the altar, what happens? Well, many times your mind gets full of what people are thinking behind you. That's them. Every time you go to witness to someone, tell anyone about Jesus, you can tell them 25 straight things right down the line while you're sharing with them. The demons are filling their mind full of doubt and speculation. That's why they'll take one off-the-wall thing and they didn't hear it. They look at you right now and not hearing a thing. You say, you know it. I can't receive it because they've been programmed like the world. They're led by their thoughts, everything that goes in their mind. Now, you just go try to tell someone the next time you witness to them, say, now listen, there's going to be a demon talking to you while I'm talking to you. See, that goes to show you that until a person's heart or through prayer is turned to the Lord, the Lord won't remove that to where he can hear the Word of God. See, God does let people believe a lie and go to hell forever when their heart do not turn toward Him. You ever see anyone with car fever? Of course, you've never had that problem. You ever notice anything you can get your hands on, any kind of bondage you can get in financially or whatever, you've just got to have that piece of steel with red paint on it. You've got to have it. Your heart is just pulled toward it because all these pictures show you how it's going to open doors for you and how you're going to look. You've got to get in that red painted piece of steel. And then you go ahead and get in all the bondage. You know what the Lord says? See, the way that your heart goes to that piece of steel that's going to start rusting in a few days is the same way He wants your heart to come toward Him. You may idle out of that red piece of steel. Of course, we can notice them over in India a lot easier than we can around here, can't we? Where they paint the stone and kind of bow down to it. And then you go, see, they're talking to you all the time. For instance, when you go, you go ahead and get your red car because you're self-centered and it isn't idle and you want it because your carton wants it because your carton will look good in it. And you notice when you get it and you drive it and you start to pull in right here, something up here says pull over a little. They can see you better if you pull in over here in your red painted steel. Is that right? And then you get out and you go in to buy you some clothes. And you go in and you start looking at the clothes. They really talk to you then. And you see this clothes and particular thing and these pictures there and they're telling you how you've got the prettiest carton in town. Remember that scripture in Jeremiah 10, 14? All mankind is stupid and devoid of knowledge. I told you we was going to laugh when we find out what all the enemy does to us. No wonder they laugh all the time. Isn't that right, Danny? See, that was a demon of pride. See, he's proven me a liar. He's building up a self image for you. He's building a lie around your carton there that you wouldn't want anyone to think you didn't have it put together. Because he knows he keeps you full of pride you'll never get to God. Because God resists the proud and he gives grace only to the people that humble. And a proud person doesn't really even need God. See, a satisfied person becomes proud and a proud person forgets God. The same ones that attack you when you stand up to give a testimony or something. In these church buildings someone stand up to share a testimony or something every spirit of fear in the house will run and hit him right there, right in there. I'll just cover you up. I mean, this could get contagious here, people getting free. We've got to stop this. It might spread. Let me just tell you what they're really doing. All the time they're dividing your home, folks. Where do you think this tension comes from? Where do you think all this... Hey, listen, let me tell you something. When you first answer a telephone particularly, you know, now that I minister a lot you know, immediately I always get this dark, you know how that person is imposing on me. Anybody in ministry, the enemy always tell you how people impose on you. I don't know how much that pleases God. Jesus didn't get to eat a meal sometimes. But that means there are times that people do do it. But see, because the enemy use some to impose then everyone, the enemy gets you to thinking that everyone imposes. Some do impose. I mean, they're just very thoughtless. But when you run into acquaintance or whatever and someone, do you notice even around the church do you notice the negative darts, the suspicions and things that come to you to that person? Who do you think is talking to you? Dividing this congregation and every congregation. Most places they go out in different doors. They come, they should have stayed home and read the Sunday paper. They've been a lot better off. On each side of where you live they're being divided. Everywhere they're being divided. Even where you work. It's division. Enemy of the powers of darkness who control this world. Now Isaiah 65 and we won't turn there too said that these people are rebellious. They walk in a way that's not good. What is the way that's not good and people are rebellious? They're led by their thoughts. Now let me tell you something. Everyone is led by their thoughts. But when you're in covenant with God you have the spirit of God to discern your thoughts. And you become sensitive to good and evil. You know immediately. You know. You've got this word in your heart and you know right here what doesn't line up with here. See. That's when you the spirit of God works with you. And this is how Satan controls the whole world. He leads them by their thoughts. He has these things programmed in him. And he automatically and this is how persecution comes against you when you start walking in the Word. You know when you start lining your life up in the Word. Isn't it interesting things? How family and friends and things start coming against you. Right? See that's the war. I want to do that. We need to turn to 2 Corinthians 10. The mother scripture I know you're familiar with but we need to see it before we go on to where we're going. 2 Corinthians 10 please. 2 Corinthians 10. I praise you Lord. Praise your name. You're so precious. Boy need something? Alright now we're fixing to look at the war folks. We're not supposed what does the Lord say over and over? I wouldn't have you to be ignorant unless you've got something else worked out. Then be ignorant. But he also says I'll not bless your ignorance. Because I've already told you I've no respect for any people. My word's not for private interpretation. I'll lead you in all truth. So if you want to go somewhere else to receive all the truth and be led in all truth just do it. Work out something else. But hear what he says in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh we do walk in the flesh don't we? We're tied to this flesh although we're in the heavenlies. We do not what? What's that word? I want you to circle war please. I appreciate the way you're talking back to me. You're warring according to the flesh. You don't war. Our war is not with the flesh. For the weapons of our what? Now are we talking about a war right here? Do you understand that this this is an eternal war? This is much more serious a million times more than what Russia's doing. You understand? This war is much more serious than what's going on in Russia or in this world. This spiritual war. For the weapons of our warfare now did we read something have we already read something in covenant about these weapons? Huh? Did we read about them in Ephesians 6? That when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ may I present to you that that's the weapons this is talking about. The weapons of our are not of the flesh but it's divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. Isn't that wonderful? But if you don't have the weapons on what do you got to do? I'll tell you what you do just hang in there. You've got something else worked out your eyes and your own eyes. Verse 5 We are destroying speculations thoughts and imaginations. That's what it is. That's what our weapons and might ain't got to do. We destroy all this stuff. An ever lofty thing put thought right there. Every lofty thing or thought that's raised up against the word of God. Put word word of knowledge of God that's what he's talking about. We tear it down and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Does your Bible says taking every thought captive? Did God put that in his Bible? Did he put it in there for you to analyze or did he put it in there for you to do? Huh? Alright. Then do it right? You with me? Okay. So we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Now does it sound like you're winning the war when you're doing what? You're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Now when do you start doing that? I'd just start making sure I had on all the weapons wouldn't you? That'd be a good place to start and see if I have a if I put on if I've made covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Alright then. See demons are looking for bodies to be an extension of Satan you know that. See the powers of darkness use people they don't even suspect it. Can't you just see trying to go explain this to somebody a reality? Absolutely not. I spent a few years trying to do that before the Lord began using it. I've been trying to use take my logic. Let me just share something with you right now. If you ever go to share and talk about the powers of darkness and expose them to someone you better use the word of God to do it or they beat your ears off. Now if you ever see yourself coming under attack when you're talking about the powers of darkness go get your Bible. That's what gets the powers of darkness off of you. When you start saying the word of God. And that's the only way you can communicate spiritual things anyway. Particularly something like that. But the powers of darkness use people they don't even suspect it. They capture people and they don't even know it. This is the kind of things that the demons are all the time this is why people don't recognize their recognize them in their mind and their thoughts. But this comes through their thought life. It's all the time they're all the time telling them how to please their carton. See your flesh is in agreement. Your flesh lacks demons. If it's alive. Because they come to tell you how to please yourself. They come to tell you in every situation they're watching. They come and shoot darts to tell you how to take advantage of every situation for your carton. You take advantage. Do you know how we could shake someone's hand? Smile at them. Saying one thing while something else is going on in their hearts. That's deceit. It's happened to all of you. Jeremiah calls it you speak peace to a neighbor while you set a trap for him in here. See that's their control of your life. And see in the world this is called clever and smart working out all the angles. The angles. That's deceitful scheming. That's the opposite of just speaking the truth and love. Seeking advantage for the carton. They're telling you how to live for yourself. They're telling you how to be wise in your own eyes. They're telling you how to be the center of everything. Boy cartons are like that. Do you know it? They tell you how to make a name for yourself. All the time. How do you take advantage where you'll be get attention and how you'll be noticed. Cartons welcome those kind of thoughts. See what they're telling me what they're really telling me you be Lord. What you need to do you need to be Lord. You need to be God. You be Lord. And when you're Lord Satan is Lord. Because when you go after the carton they're pulling all the levers. You're a puppet and a fool. See can you just see the world in the church today? See the world in the church is doing the same thing the world out there is doing. They're making a name for themselves. Boasting in their works. Isn't that true? See their mind is full of their works. That's what they are out there in the world. Why not just tack a little religion on it in the church? See the cleverest scheme of the devil is to make men think he doesn't exist. See the church see we watch we get probed enough of the idol there that see we we think like the world does. We just see the see the devil in a little red suit and then you know we just have amused tolerance for the devil just like the world does. Although it's in the word of God differently. It's not because we want approval of the world because that's where our heart is. A lot of times. Well why does the devil not want you to know he exists? Because if there's no enemy there's no defense. If there's no defense he comes and goes as he likes. He runs the whole show. He stays in hiding. He can make a big scene and he's beginning to do it because he so obviously has everything bound up. See if in the average church this demon wants to manifest himself they don't do that. Not until the word stopped or anything because if people want to ever see it they would start reading their Bibles. And they sure don't want them to do that. They want to feel safe behind the stained glass. Satan's never been more successful than he is now. I want you to know that. I want you to remember these schemes again. Once again the inner man is to kill you, destroy you, deceive you, perverted doctrines. Flesh lives for this carton wants to live for the world and the spirit the inner man wants to live for heaven. Let's just divide these. And another way to say it the inner man lives for heaven and the outer man the flesh wants to live for the world. The outermost man of course we know is a physical body so we speak the inner man as a spirit. Now isn't it quite evident? Isn't it quite evident in the world that everyone in the world out there makes all their decisions and they live for this carton. Just temporal things. Isn't that right? All their decisions is based on that. Now here's something I want you to understand. That everything Satan is you are in the flesh. Any person in the flesh is the same way. Everything Satan is you are in the flesh. Now we know as far as the flesh is concerned that we're beautifully made but it's the nature the cursed nature that is just like Satan. So that's what he comes to make alive in people. See Satan are these things and so is people in the flesh. Deceitful? You're deceitful when you're in the flesh. Satan is full of pride. You're full of pride in the flesh. Satan is full of rebellion. You're full of rebellion in the flesh. This is a curse. Satan is selfish? So are you in the flesh. You hate Satan's slander? So do you. Gossip and slander in the flesh. Satan is full of ego? So are you in the flesh. Satan is full of idolatry? So are you in the flesh. Satan is full of hate? So are you in the flesh. Satan is full of anger? So are you in the flesh. Satan is full of murder? So are you in the flesh. You know how it's programmed in the world. Just step right over the top of the bunch. Get to the top. Make a name for yourself. Seeking advantage for the carton. Satan is full of resentment and unforgiveness? So are you in the flesh. And on and on and on. You know what all these are saying. I. Me. My. That's what's in it. See that's the opposite of love. All of these are the opposite of love. It's all selfishness. Self-centered. Flesh. The curse. Now the fleshy man acts just like Satan. He's selfish. He's self-centered. And he's lord of his own life. He doesn't consider God in his thoughts or motives. That's why God said to flesh you had to die. This fleshly man you know what he does? He welcomes anger. He welcomes these. Well let me just put it this way. Who is the God of this world? Alright. Now let me tell you who the gods of this world are. Demons. The gods of this world are demons. And you know in Daniel in different places he said you praise the gods of wood and stone, silver and gold. That's what they come and they speak these thoughts, the worries and the pleasures of the world they bring to you. That's wood and they make your heart go to the wood. They're the gods of wood. See they pervert your heart from going from you know like toward the steel I was talking about. They have your heart to go to the steel rather than to the Lord. They pervert it. Are you hearing me? They have your heart, they come with these thoughts and everything to get your heart, to get your heart in agreement so your heart will go after silver and gold. So you're seeing who the gods, see they build idols up here. They speak of idols and they build an idol in your heart. And when you get in agreement with your heart, your heart goes to the idol and you know who's behind every idol? A demon. Are you seeing that? So they are the gods of this world. So they come along and you just welcome the anger and unforgiveness and greed. They are all the time there to tell you and see when you can get in agreement with your heart with them, they talk to you there and they move in, you welcome them. You know I asked some people in one seminar, what floor do you live on? See this is a house. Gets to be a pretty big bunch of folks living in that house. So the fleshly man his thoughts stay on himself. He's wise in his own eyes, pride, deceived. This is the way of the world and the people of the world, you know it? They live for the temporal, the old men are just like we've been saying just a plain old carton, I just can't find a better name for it. The temporal, just live for the temporal. See this carton began dying recently. It was born the day it was born. Do you know that? It's temporal. So they live for the world, the people of the fleshly, they live for the world, they find their portion in the world, which when you find your portion in the world you know what you're doing? You're rejecting God. They live for the temporal things rather than the heavenly things. And I want to tell you something, that Satan does not come to you and he say bow down and worship me. That's not what he does. He simply comes at old nature, at old pride, unforgiveness, all these things that's already in the flesh. He comes along and just intensifies those self-desires, stirs them up. They come alive. And then his selfishness, self- centeredness, I, me, my. And this self- centeredness, your mind just stays on yourself, becomes self-love. Self-love, self- love becomes self- worship. That's how you worship Satan. That's how the people of the world worship Satan. That's where their heart is. So the demons come along and they say come alive flesh. Come alive resentment. Come alive unforgiveness. See it's already there. Come alive pride. Come alive hate, jealousy. Come alive envy. And see they're supposed to be dead. So Satan comes along and he says come alive Come alive hate. That's how the people of the world worship That's how the people of the world worship That's how the people of the world worship of the world worship That's how the people That's how the people of the world worship That's how the people of the world worship That's how the people worship to do? He said, I've chosen you to go bear much fruit. Well, you're not going to bear any fruit until you choose death against the desires of this carton. So he said, so we put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is covenant, and we make no provision for the lust of this carton, right? The lust of the flesh. You know what your Bible said? And we understand that that's covenant now, don't we? Well, another way to say it is in Mark 8, it says, deny yourself, take up your cross, lose your life for my sake and the gospel. Now I want you to listen very closely to what I'm fixing to say to you. Now you remember the scripture that says, now listen to this, he who seeks to save his life, his carton, is going to lose it. But he who loses his life, flesh, for my sake and the gospel, that's covenant, is the one who's going to save it. Now you're seeing that, aren't you? Are you? See, you lose the desires and lust and choose death to the flesh. See, that's, if you try to save it, you're going to lose it. If you lose it, that's what covenant was to begin with, wasn't it? That you die to yourself? Was that when you were in covenant with the Lord? He died, do you die? Or is this a game? Or you think you tricked God? Wasn't that covenant? Wasn't that how to make covenant? You die. You choose death. And then you come into covenant. Let me tell you another way to say this. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. Now what would happen to the blood of the Lamb? See, that's a victory at Calvary. This is the way it all ends over in Revelation. Do you know how we overcome today? Everything comes through the blood. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. We overcome by a victory that's already been won at Calvary by the Lord Jesus Christ for us, right? So we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. And our testimony is not where we shook some preachers on. Our testimony is to say what God says. That is covenant. We and the Lord are in agreement. We say what He says. That's what moves the spiritual realm. So now we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the victory at Calvary, the word of our testimony, which is the word of God, and love not our carton until death. Have you seen it? That's the way you overcome. That's the way they overcome over in Revelation. They love not their life until death. So, you know, it says what if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul? In other words, one soul is worth more than the whole world. I don't know what I'm mentioning to you, but Isaiah 40 says this whole world is meaningless and less than meaningless. This world is just like a drop in a bucket of speck of dust on the scales. The only thing that matters to God is righteousness. Righteousness is everything from God's point of view, right in the eyes of God. What matters to God for you to be right in His eyes, not how do you appear to others, but your motives and everything to be right before Him. And this is what He looks at. And this is how He wants to bless you, when you just put your motives and everything before Him. And He makes allowance for the mistakes and things that we make. That's that compassion. That's that loving kindness, that God kind of love that He has for us. See, the sins of the flesh lead us from the will of God. Fleshly sin, you know what the sins of this carton, this fleshly sin strike back at God's right to control our discipline in our life. It's rebellion. I, me, my. It shakes His fist right in God's face. So we're to die. I continue to say that we're to die to such things as resentment and gossip and greed. We die to these things of jealousy, hate, and envy. We die to lust and pride and fear and murder. All those things are simply saying, I'm Lord, me, my. You die to it. It's going to be so important where we're going to, folks. This is, I'm doing a whole lot of talking tonight, and I'm having to explain a lot of things. I'm telling you, we're getting to foundation. We're going to get into some of the most exciting things. But these things, and many of these things, most of you probably already knew, but we've still got to go through them. All these things are the fruit of Satan. That's why I said it's I, me, my. Everything I, me, my is a fruit of Satan. See, God's love is being a channel of giving. Love doesn't hoard anything up. Everything it gets, it gives. And then that's why the Lord says that I give you more. Give and it will be given unto you. A full measure, shake it together, press down and run over. Will I give unto you? As you give, you'll get more. You become a channel. And that's the happiest any human being's ever been, when he's given to people that he loves. And that's so, that's how we resist the devil and die to the flesh, and now we're going to take a break. And when we come back, I'm going to show you, in the Old Testament there, how a demonized man thinks. I'm going to show you how that God sent a demon, the demons on this man right there, and I want you to watch all these things, what happens to him. Questions are going to be answered. You know we just can't do six days and one night, can we? So that means you just keep coming back. But here what we're doing, we're building a foundation where you've got understanding, you know the truth, and what's the truth do? Set you free. This is coming up in Jesus' name. You hear me? I mean it's coming up, and that's good. All right, now, let's look at that demonized man, see how he acts over in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel, that'll be 1 Samuel 15, okay? 1 Samuel 15, praise the Lord, for a refreshing in the second half. You know what fear is, it's a lie. Fear is a lie. There's a lady come up here a while ago, and your will is stronger than any fear. What would you expect the devil to do to you while you're trying, about to find out, and do you think he's going to fight back? How do you think he's going to do it? Do you think he'll try to put confusion, sleepiness, tiredness, weariness? He's all the time wanting people to say, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. If he can just wear them and beat on you enough, then you just back off from him, and then just keep hanging in there. All right, in 1 Samuel 15, you know, that's the thing about the church, it doesn't know anything about persevering in trials, or temptations, or whatever. We just, first when it comes along, you know, we're just supposed to just fall apart, and say, it's not worth it. Now, in chapter 15, verse 10, then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, I regret that I made Saul king, for he's turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands. Well, we go on down to verse 19, Samuel goes to Saul, you know, he told him to destroy all the livestock and everything, and he didn't carry out the command of God. And then Samuel, who's a prophet of God, says to Saul the king, in verse 19, why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? In other words, another way to say this, why don't you obey the word of God? But rushed upon the spoil of the goods, and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Yes, it's all about that, and Samuel said further in verse 22, and Samuel said, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offering and sacrifice? And he turned around and said, I'm going to sacrifice all these livestock, it's going to be an offering and a burnt offering and a sacrifice. But he said, has the Lord as much delight in burnt offering and sacrifice as in obeying the word or the voice of the Lord? But to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to heed than the fatter realms. For obeying, let me tell you another way to say this, for obeying to God's word is as a sin of witchcrafts or of divination. Is that what your Bible says? And since subordination as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, I have indeed transgressed the covenant, the command of the Lord and your words, because why? Why did he transgress it? Because he feared to the people and listened to their voice. You remember over in John, it said, many of the rulers came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were not confessing him, lest they be put out of the synagogue, for they love the approval of people rather than the approval of God. Isn't that interesting? Whose approval do you want? Amen. Now, we see later on in chapter 16 that God rejects Saul as king, and then in verse 13, then Samuel took the horn of oil, and he goes to David, and he anoints David in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now that God in God's eyes, David's the new king. And then verse 14, I want you to watch. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit, you know who that is? Why don't you just write them in there? And an evil spirit, the demon from the Lord, what? Terrorized him. He said, sick him. When did the Lord lose control over them? Huh? That's absolutely true. They haven't got out of heaven for God yet, have they? Isn't that good? Now verse 15, Saul's servants then said to him, behold thou, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. In other words, when you choose evil, you get evil. Isn't that what we've been seeing? That's absolutely true, isn't it? So in verse 23, so it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp, and you see what praise would do with this evil spirit that departed from him. Now I want to tell you something. You're going to see on Saturday, let me just tell you what's going to happen. We're going to take authority. We're going to take authority over a bunch of things. And then when we get to taking authority, we're going to begin praising the Lord. And during this time of praise, many of you are going to know a freedom like you've never known in your life, because it's during a time of praise that the enemy is going to depart from you. I want you to know that. Now, if you look with me in chapter 18, we already know that David kills Goliath here, and then that Jonathan and David in the first three verses, they make covenant. You remember we looked at that before, didn't we? And David has the Spirit of God on him, and he looks pretty good, doesn't he? He killed this giant with a slingshot and cut his head off. And 1 Samuel 18, verse 7, and the women sang, verse 7, and the women sang as they played, and they said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Then Saul became what? Angry. Boy, they were bragging on David instead of him, wasn't he? Well, it sounds like, you know, he already had a demon problem. Look how he reacts to everything, see? They're already on him, aren't they? So he just becomes displeased and angry. Now, for this thing displeased him, and he said, they prescribed to David ten thousands, but to me they prescribed thousands. What does that sound like? Jealousy. I, me, mine. So you know he was talking to him there. Now, what more can he do but have the kingdom? And Saul looked at David with what? Suspicion from that day on. In other words, you can see here's a demonized man, and you can already see some of his problem. He has anger, he has hate, murder, fear, dread, jealousy. Now watch how a demonized man acts in verse 10. Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God, they just keep coming, doesn't they? Came mightily upon Saul. Now, I'm going to tell you when the devil comes on you, you act like the devil. Do you know that? And so he raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual, and a spear was in Saul's hand. Well, let me ask you something. Where does the evil spirit talk to you at? Right up here in your thoughts, don't they? Don't they tell you? Lust, greed, anger. Don't they first tell you up here, be angry. Lust, there's the picture. Jealousy, or hate, or murder, they put it in your mind there first. Well, let's see right here in verse 11. And Saul hurled the spear, for he what? Well, there he goes. He thought murder. Have you seen it? These people are rebellious. They're walking away. It's not good. They're led by thought. See, that's where the enemy is talking. So he thought murder. Now, you're going to see this over and over. I will pin David to the wall, but David escaped from his presence twice. Now Saul was a what? Now, there's the fear. Mark that. He was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul, hadn't he? All right? So in verse 14, and David was prospering in all his ways. Why? Because he's in walking in covenant with God, for the Lord was with him. And then verse 15, when Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he what? That's more of the enemy right there. You see more, you see the kind of spirit that's on Saul. And all Israel and Judah loved David, and went out and came in before him. See, he went out, and he's blessed coming and going. Then Saul said to David, verse 17, here is my older daughter Moab. I will give her to you as a wife. Only be a valiant man for me, and fight the Lord's battles. Now he's offering his daughter to David, for Saul what? Now I want you, I hope you're marking thought as we go through, because what he's thinking right here is murder. Because look, my hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. See, he's trapping him. He's thinking murder. Wonder who's using Saul here to try to kill the anointed, huh? A daemon, Jim. That's where persecution comes from, through others. The enemy controls, that's how it'll come against you. So he offers his daughter, let's see in verse 19 if he keeps his promises. And so it came about at the time when Moab, Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel, the Maholothite, for a wife. In other words, he didn't give it to David, or to Orwell. So there's a lying spirit. See, he's just lying, he's just full of the devil. Do you see that? In verse 20, now Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David, and when he told Saul the thing was agreeable to him. And Saul what? Here he is. Let's see what he's thinking, then we can tell where it's coming from. Let's see what kind of fruit he has. And Saul thought, I'll give her to him that she may be, what? She may become a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. You know what he's thinking right here? Jealousy, murder, and deceit. You see? Well, let's just read one more about 25. Saul then said, Thus you shall say to David, The king does not desire any dowry, except 104 skins of the Philistine, to take vengeance on the king's enemies. Now Saul what? Now what he's planning right here is murder, to make David fall by the hands of the Philistines, and over and over. And then you see up there in verse 29, he becomes more afraid. Now see, you watch the spirit, you watch God remove the hedge, he puts the demons on people, and you watch and you see what happened to Saul's life. And you watch how the demons, you know, work in his life. And there's other scriptures there that's on part of your notes there. But I want you to turn with me now to Galatians 5, please. I didn't cover all those scriptures, there's some more over in the 19th chapter, but we saw enough of them. Galatians 5. Now, I want you to begin reading with me, please, in verse 13. Galatians 5, verse 13. For you were called to freedom, who? Brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the what? Do you understand that that's what the enemy always does? They seek for you to take an advantage of the flesh, and the opportunity of the flesh, for through love serve one another. Now, here's what we're used to in verse 15. But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. And see, when everyone's taking opportunity for the flesh, this is what happens. They bite and devour one another. Now, 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not care out the what? The desire of the flesh. Can I say it another way? If you walk in covenant, you'll not care out the desire of the carton. Now, in verse 17. For the flesh, what does the flesh do? Sets its desire. I hope you mark that. The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are what? They're in opposition. The flesh and the Spirit are in opposition to one another. And I want you to understand this. So that you may not do the things that you what? You, God's Word says you may not do the things that your carton pleases. Is that what your Bible just says? Won't you just write after that, the lust of the flesh. You can't do them. I mean, you can't do them. And walk in covenant with God. All right, now, verse 18. But if, there's a condition, if you're being led by the Spirit of God, you're not under the law. I tell you what, the Spirit of God's written in your heart, and you're walking in the Spirit of God. Why don't you put Romans 8, 4 after that. Sometime you want to look that up. Or we might look at it later. All right, now I want you to forget as we go into verse 19. I want you just to forget totally about demons. Let's just leave the powers of darkness totally out of the picture right now. And we're going to look at what's in the flesh without demons. I mean, it's already there. Now let's look at it. Verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are what? I mean, they are evident. Here's what is evident in a person, when it's in the flesh. Which are? Immorality. That covers a lot of territory, doesn't it? Impurity. Sensuality. Living for the, you know, just the feelings. Idolatry. Sorcery. That covers a lot of territory. Enmities. Strife. Jealousy. This is all just the flesh. Forget about demons. Outburst of anger. Disputes. Dissensions. Factions. Envying. Drunkenness. Carousing. Now, you ever hear someone say, that's just my flesh? Why should it be just a demon? Now, read them this scripture then. Let's read the rest of it. In verse 21. And things like these of which I what? God says I forewarn you, just as I have what? I have forewarned you. Reckoning God warns you about something, so you better be warned. That those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Is that plain? So when someone says, that's just my flesh, they might have a serious problem with a place called heaven. Because it's not supposed to be there. Does that justify it? Because you say it's just the flesh? It's still the devil, the nature of the devil. Now, if I can read that one should practice such things, shall not see the kingdom of God, not inherit the kingdom of God. Is that what your Bible says? Well, what do you think? That the enemy comes, this is already in a person's flesh, forgetting about the powers of darkness, is it not? What do you think? That's the curse that came, that came in the ball. Now what do you think the powers of darkness come to? Are you already seeing that all these things are in the flesh, are in agreement with Satan and his demons? They come to stir it up. How do they come to stir it up? They come with thoughts. Come alive, jealousy. Come alive, idolatry. That's how the whole world is controlled out there. And then you come into covenant with Christ and you're supposed to die and put all these things aside. Is that right? And you become a new creation. All these old satanic ways are supposed to pass away. You do not, no longer conform to this world. You're transformed by the renewing of your mind to become the image and likeness of God. Is that correct? You no longer walk, talk and act like the world out there. That's been the world in the church. That's deception. When the world comes in the church, the devil comes in to run things. Now the opposite of all this, you want to see who's in control of somebody's life in verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. See everything God is, Satan has the opposite of, just right there. That's the flesh. And so against such things there is no law. Now we're getting ready for another refrigerator verse. Now I'll tell you what, I hope you put this one at the top. Now let me ask you something first. Do you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? Didn't you reiterate this every morning? Now those, that would be you, who belong to Christ Jesus have what? You've crucified the flesh with its what? Passions and desires. You're dead to it. Is that what your Bible says? Have you got your scissors with you? If you don't like it, just cut it on out. Or if you've got something else worked out, just cut it on out and hang in there. Now 25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become what? Well we'd never do that, would we? We sure won't become boastful. I think this is the first place that I ever heard anybody say, we sure won't boast about our nickels, noses and numbers. We sure, you'd never catch us doing that. No sir. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another in what? Envying one another. And in chapter 6, I want you just to understand, if any of you think you are anything, you're fixing to get knocked out of your cells here in verse 6. I mean 3. For if anyone thinks he's something, when he's nothing, he deceives himself. That's the world out there deceived. They think they're something when they compare themselves among themselves. You know the world out there likes winners, don't they? They'll kick a loser to death. You ever been kicked on out there? Well see the interesting thing, no matter who they are or what they've got, before they ever get to Jesus they have to admit they're bankrupt and corrupt. By the way, Jesus only takes losers. See it's just the opposite of the world. In other words, he says, if you exalt yourself, I'll humble you. Sick them. And if you humble yourself, God lifts you up and makes a name for you. Because when he lifts you up, you're not making a name for your carton, brother. You're out making a name for the Lord Jesus Christ, boy. Isn't that something to be able to have the grace to boast in Jesus, huh? Boy, if I can just find more ways to get out of it to get him in it, I like what he does. I think one or two of you do too. When God says, do not be deceived, when God Almighty tells these little earthen vessels, do not be deceived, is it possible, is it possible that you might not be smart enough that you just could be deceived? Is it possible? Well, he says it right here. So when he says, God says, do not be deceived, we might just well look and be sure we're not deceived about what he's talking about, right? Okay, now people who have something else worked out and already have all the light don't have to read scripture like this. Verse 7, do not be what? Deceived. Which means you could be deceived, is that correct? All right, do not be deceived, God is not what? Malked. For whatever man sows this, he will also reap. For the one who sows to his what? There is his own flesh, shall reap what? Corruption, but the one who sows to the what? Spirit, shall from the Spirit reap what? Well, there's eternal life again. Boy, that makes salvation real interesting. You know, sometimes I get the idea that some people that think they know what salvation means may not know. They might have been deceived about that too, do you reckon, in the midst of all the deceiving. Huh? You know, we might learn how to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Huh? Let me find out about all the things we might have been deceived about. If I can read right here, the man that sows to his flesh is reaping corruption and the one that sows to the Spirit is the one that's going to have eternal life, is that correct? In verse 9, And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we what? Do not grow weary. Does it sound like something's going to try to make you weary when you're walking out of the Spirit? It sure does. There are trials, there are persecutions, but the affliction, the light affliction God calls that we go through right here is not to be compared with the glory.