In this sermon, the preacher discusses the power of the beast and the spirit that is released on the earth. The beast is given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies against God and his tabernacle. It is also given the power to make war with the saints. The preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding the victory of the cross of Jesus over the works of the devil and encourages believers to walk in dominion and authority over every demonic activity.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Otherwise, you're naked. You come with your Bibles. Otherwise, you won't know where we're at. Boy, what a precious Word's been coming forth Tuesday nights here. Last few Tuesday nights have been incredibly moving, the power of the Word that's come forth in the communion. Don't miss, if you haven't been to a Tuesday night service here at Times Square Church, you're really missing something. We meet at the Lord's table where He heals and sanctifies people and it's been marvelous. Boy, that message this morning from Brother Phillips, I'm still chewing on that. I'm still drawing life from that. All day long today. Hallelujah. And then Friday night, the prayer meeting. Last Friday, Gary brought forth a powerful Word. Last two Friday nights. You know, this Friday night prayer meeting, we're not just beating the air. We're here Friday night praying that God move by His Spirit. We've had people say, we've been praying for years for Revival New York City. Well, here's a chance to come and really pray and seek the Lord. And you know, even in the prayer meetings, God's saving. God's saving people. Every service we've had, people have been saved and lives changed by the power of Jesus Christ. It's been amazing. The Lord's really put in my heart tonight, this 11th chapter of Isaiah. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to read through the first 10 verses, I believe. First 10 verses or so. Will you follow me? I'm reading from King James. Whatever version you have, you'll see it very, very clearly. I'm going, my message, the lion shall eat straw like an ox. And verse 1, There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And shall make him a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Now, here's my message. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. There's the message. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play in the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an end sign of the people, to which shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. That's as far as I'm going to read right now. We'll get to the rest. I'm going to cover the whole chapter tonight. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you have so impressed this chapter, and this truth upon my heart, bringing to my own heart the need to see the victory of the cross of Jesus. And Lord, I pray your Holy Spirit come upon me tonight with an unction and anointing from on high, that we can convey to this people tonight, gathered here at Times Square Church, the absolute power of the cross of Jesus over all authority of the devil. How you broke down principalities and powers of darkness. And we can walk now without living in fear. We walk without living in bondage. Lord, we take absolute dominion and authority over every demon spirit, every activity of the enemy, every evil thought. Lord, we cast it out of this place, that the word of the Lord should go forth with unction and anointing of the Holy Ghost. Lord Jesus, open our eyes tonight. We want to hear what you have to say. Spirit of the Lord, give me words beyond my own wisdom. Come and bring it out of my heart, Lord. You put it there with fire. Bring it out with fire. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. Now, by nature, the lion doesn't eat straw. He's carnivorous. That means he's a bloodthirsty flesh eater. Lions are proud. They're fearless. You know the typical picture and the image of the lion going after its prey, its loud roar, its mane standing up, and it tears into the flesh. In fact, the lion killer is a type of macho man. But the prophet Isaiah sees a picture, a vision of a future day of glory that's coming. In his mind, and I'm telling you it's already here, and that's my message. I'm going to tell you that right off. Now, I'm not talking about some future day. I'm talking about what Isaiah saw, and we're living in that day and don't even understand it. We're living in a day of absolute authority, reigning and ruling with Christ Jesus, and we're still talking about something off in the future. But Isaiah saw a day when no one would fear the ferocious lion. The lion would be grazing harmlessly like a dumb ox. He would be stall-fed, eating off the land itself, and the little children would walk by it. No one would be fearing. The lion would be absolutely harmless. Isaiah pictured in his prophetic mind this incredible time and place. In some future, he didn't see it. In fact, all the prophets knew, the Scripture said, that they weren't prophesying to their day, but to our day. They all knew that. They were looking to our very day, the day in which we're living right now. And he saw that there would be no demonic power over a certain people out in the future. The wolf would no longer roam the night, seeking to kill the little lambs. You know who the little lambs are, don't you? These are the little ones that have come to Jesus. The wolf would lie down with the lamb, toothless, harmless. That stalking, leaping, leopard, bloodthirsty, ready to pounce on its victim, would be eating calmly with the goats and the lambs. The little babies, goats and lambs, would be eating together. The growling, hungry bear would be feeding in the fields peaceably with the cows. Again, the young ones lying down together. The little babies would crawl over snake holes, and they would not be touched. In fact, the little toddler would stick his hand into the viper's nest, and it would be harmless. He would not be bitten, it would be harmless. Now, many Bible scholars have put this into the millennial reign. The millennial reign, for those new converts that are here, represents a 1,000 year reign of peace that many theologians believe is coming, where Jesus Christ will rule and reign for 1,000 years. And it is taken from Revelation 20. You don't have to turn there, but I'll read it to you. The 20th chapter of Revelation, beginning at verse 2. And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and He bound him 1,000 years, and He cast him into a bottomless pit, and set a seal upon him until 1,000 years were fulfilled. Now, my message tonight is not about the millennial reign. Now, that's an entirely different message, and I don't want to get into that tonight. I'm not here to say that I'm putting down the theology that has been here for many, many years, 1,000 years or more, of this reign of Jesus Christ. But I can't believe and cannot accept that you can tie all of this 11th chapter of Isaiah into some distant future time. In the first place, in the millennium, there's no devil, is there? He's bound and He's cast into a bottomless pit. Is that correct? Did I just read that to you? That He's cast into a bottomless pit. In that 11th chapter, we have the baby reaching down into the snake nest, don't we? We have a lion, and that's the type of the devil, and there's no lion. He's bound and in the bottomless pit during the millennial reign. So you've got a clue here that He's talking about a time before Jesus comes. He's talking about a people before Jesus comes. He's talking about a place of absolute rest. In fact, the prophet said, His rest shall be glorious. Hallelujah. His rest shall be glorious. I'm telling you that place is right now. I'm telling you that that place Jesus prepared when He went to the cross. Jesus is the door into this place, and this place is called the holy hill of God. The holy hill of God, Mount Zion. And there are people who live in this. They've gone through the cross. They've gone to repentance. They've forsaken their sins, their iniquities. They've laid them down. They've died with Jesus Christ. They've moved into resurrection life. And in this holy hill of God, they have clean hands and a pure heart. And God hears their cry, and they're not afraid of the lion because the lion's eating grass. This is the holy hill of God. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time. Look at verse 11. And it shall come to pass in that day. In what day? In the day when the lamb lays down with the wolf. In this day when God begins to take away the wrath of Satan against God's people. These holy mountain dwellers are going to enter a second exodus. There have been two exoduses. There are two exoduses in the Bible. In fact, if you look at chapter 11 verse 16, the last sentence in that whole chapter, He said the second exodus is like as it was to Israel in the day that He came up out of the land of Egypt. How many know that's the first exodus? When God took the Jews out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea. That was the first exodus, wasn't it? And the prophet Isaiah said there's going to be another exodus. God's going to bring out another people. When He brought them out of Egypt, the Bible said He brought them out to Himself. He was looking for a people who would not fear anything. He was to be God. He was to be everything to them. And so He said, I'm going to have a second exodus. The first people failed God. But God has always been looking for a people. I mean from the very beginning, He's been looking for a people after His own heart. Who are not living in fear of darkness. Who are not living in fear of the devil. But are totally laid upon Him. Totally dependent upon Him as Bob was preaching this morning. Look at verse 11. Chapter 11 verse 11. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time. To recover the remnant of His people which shall be left. From Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathos and Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. Now don't let all those words scare you. And don't think that that's tied down to the Jews returning to Israel. I'm going to show you something far beyond that tonight. If you just have ears to hear. The second Exodus is not thousands of Jews flying on Pan American Airlines to Israel. And I'm not trying to be facetious. In that day. Verse 10. In that day there shall be a root of Jesse. That's Jesus Christ. Which shall stand for an enzyme. Enzyme or a signal to the people. That's the cross of Jesus. To it shall the Gentiles seek. And His rest shall be glorious. All of those who come to the cross. All of those who lay down their sins in iniquity. They're going to enter into a place. That holy hill of God is a place of rest. They'll remain at the rest of the children of God. It's still here. It's still for us today. Why are we looking out there? Why are we talking about something out there? I hear people talking about a revival that's coming. We even talk about praying for revival. But folks, we believe it's already here. We believe that revival is lives being changed. Marriage is being healed. That's here. In that day when the wolf lies down with the lamb. When the lion's eating straw. When the snake can no longer do the young one's harm. And I believe that this is a vision that God has given to Isaiah. To show us the absolute victory of the cross of Jesus Christ. Over all demonic powers. God wants his people to understand the complete ruin and shame the devil experienced through the cross of Jesus. How he brought his kingdom down. How he shattered and shamed the devil. There are Christians here tonight living in constant fear of the devil. You're living in fear of curses. In fact, God told me in prayer this afternoon that I had to begin to pray the first invitation I'm going to give tonight. For those who are under some satanic curse. We had a brother up here this morning. At the altar. Who's been worshiping. Who was into occult worship and devil worship. And there's some of you here right now living in fear because a grandmother, a mother or somebody in your past. You believe put a curse on you and you live under the constant fear of that curse. We see that all over New York City. There's more witchcraft and occultism in this city than any place I know in America. New York City is full of it. And there are those that are living in constant fear of Satan. You're afraid of demons. You're afraid of the devil hounding you and devouring you. That you're not going to make progress. Just when you think you're going to make it and grow strong in the Lord. The devil is going to come and just swallow you up. You live in that fear. And God tonight through this Word wants to set you free from that fear. He wants you to see that even the little baby Christian. Who doesn't have the wisdom. Doesn't have the maturity to stay away from the snake hole. Even though he makes that kind of mistake. That God's not going to let the devil destroy him if his heart is still seeking the Lord. Now the poor Christian doesn't go around sticking his hands in snake dens. You know that don't you? But we have the toddler here. We've got the baby. Those are the baby Christians that are coming here. And sometimes accidentally they stick their hand in a snake den. You know that's exactly what happened to Paul. Turn to Acts 28. I just want to show it to you. Because this is fulfilled perfectly. Tremendously when you look at what happened to Paul. Sticking his hand accidentally in the snake nest. Look at Acts 28. 28th chapter of Acts. You do have your Bibles don't you? Are you going to go with me? Acts 28. Verse 3. Let's look at verse 3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks. And laid them on the fire. There came a snake out of the heat. And fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hanging on his head. Get that picture. Paul reaches in. He's a man of God. He pulls his hand out. He's picking up wood for the fire. And there's a snake hanging on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the beast. Venomous beast hanging on his head. They said among themselves. No doubt this man is a murderer. Whom though he hath escaped the sea. Yet vengeance suffers not to let him live. And what did Paul do? And he shook off the beast. Into the fire. And he felt no harm. How be it they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly. But after they had looked a great while. And saw no harm come to him. They changed their minds and said he's a God. You know what the story is? Remember what it says. Look at verse 9. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. Who? The serpent. The snake. The devil. Demon powers. There are times that accidentally you run into these situations. You're surrounded by them. And a viper tries to attack you. What do you do if you're on God's holy mountain like Paul was? With clean hands and a pure heart. You shake it off in the fire of the Holy Ghost. And you feel no harm. The scripture says. Having spoiled principalities and powers. He made a show of them openly. Triumphing over them. Colossians 2.15 He made an example of the devil and all the demon powers. Now for a lion to eat grass is the greatest sign of shame possible. Can you imagine this roaring, flesh eating lion. Lying down eating grass. Total shame. Total humility. And God wants us to get the picture. He made an open show of him. Awkwardly. Shamed him before the whole world. Stripped him of his authority and power. And if he's a god, he's a tin god. We don't rail against the devil. And I'm not railing against the devil. I'm preaching what the gospel tells you here. And what God is saying. I'm going to bring to myself a people in these last days. Who will walk on this earth with a perfect peace. And they're going to walk with an understanding that no weapon formed against them shall prosper. And that God will humble and shame the devil before their very eyes. And no harm shall come to them by any demonic power. If you're walking in the Holy Ghost, there's no such thing as being cursed by the devil. I've had all kinds of false prophets come to me. And because I don't listen to their false prophecies. I've been cursed by the best false prophets in the world. I've had them leave their shoes in my front door. And I don't even know what that means. They told me it's a curse. I'm collecting shoes from false prophets who are cursing. The Bible said their curses fall on their own heads. Let any witch walk up to you and say, If you don't do what I do, I'm going to curse you. Let them curse. They're cursing themselves. They can't touch you. I want to show you that open shame. Go to Daniel. I'll show you that open shame that God... Boy, you can't get ahead of our God. Oh, does He keep the books. Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar, his power and authority gets so great it reaches into the heavens. Go to Daniel, the fourth chapter. Daniel, fourth chapter. Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Okay. If you go to Hosea, you're too far right. Go left. And if you find Ezekiel, just go one more. I'm not being facetious. This is for our young converts. All right. Daniel, the fourth chapter, verse 22. This is Daniel speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar. It is thou, O King. Thou art grown and become strong. Now Nebuchadnezzar, here's a type of Lucifer, the devil. Thou art grown. You can read devil into this. Thou art grown and become strong for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king Saul watched her and the holy one coming down from heaven and saying, Hew the tree down and destroy it. Yet leave the stump of the roots. Now I'll tell you what I want you to do. I want you to go over to verse 25. They shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. And here's the curse upon pride. Here's the curse that came upon Lucifer at the cross. And they shall make thee to what? As a what? Make you to eat grass as oxen. They shall wet thee with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass of thee. Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. God took this mighty king. His nails grew. I've seen these people on the streets. Have you seen those long nails of the insane that walk these streets? Demon possessed people. And for seven years, King Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride, he was driven out by his own people and he was out in the fields eating grass like a dumb ox. That was a type of Satan. That's the type of the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ over all the power of iniquity. Made him to eat grass as the dumb ox. King Nebuchadnezzar. Oh, by the way. Remember, I think it's in Exodus 5. When the children of Israel were in bondage, the king saw the activity of Moses and the people and he thought they had too much time. So he said, take away their straw. Take away their grass because they would use the straw, the grass to make the bricks, to hold it together to make a stronger brick. And he said, just take their straw away. And that's exactly what Exodus 5 says. I will not give thee straw anymore. You know what God did? God counted every single blade of straw. It's called the straw bondage. And these Jews, God's people, had to scrounge the whole country on their hands and knees after the fields were cut down. They were down on their hands and knees with the whole nation mocking them as they're trying to pull up the roots and just find a little bit of stubble so that they can mix it with the bricks so that the bricks will not fall apart and then they'd be beaten to death. And you know, God counted every blade of grass because Pharaoh was a type of the devil. He counted every blade of grass. And when the Bible says, the lion shall eat grass like an ox, I know where God got the grass. God made him eat every blade of it. He's still eating it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm not talking naturally. I'm talking spiritually. You know that, don't you? He made him eat every blade of grass. Remember what Jesus was about to go to the cross and He said, Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Hallelujah. Now shall he be cast out. Do you know that the devil's already been put to an open shame? Do you know that I'm not waiting for Jesus to rule and reign because He's already ruling and reigning in my heart? He's already ruling and reigning in the body of Christ. We're seated already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the Bible said. If we're seated there, He's ruling and reigning. We've got a whole bunch of Christian politicians waiting to take over the government. I don't want the government. I want Him to have it. It's all in His hands. We get the idea that if He comes down here on earth, He can do a better job than He's doing now. I think you're doing a pretty good job right now, don't you? And the Bible says He triumphed over the enemy. You know what that word triumph means? It's a picture, Bob Priest once heard of a great conqueror, and he's coming home from battle, and he's got the general of the opposing army in chains, riding before his chariot, and his victorious army, and the streets are lined. In fact, that word triumph means a triumphant procession. It's a procession when he's marching into his city. He's marching into the capital, and you see this roaring lion that everybody was afraid of, and you see him in chains, bound and muzzled, and he's going before this mighty conqueror, and he's triumphed over him. He's absolutely descriptive of all his power and authority, and that's what the word triumph means. He came off the cross, into resurrection life, totally triumphing over the devil. And we have every right to enter into that triumph. We have every right to sing and shout at this church over the victory over the devil. We have every right to clap our hands as though the king were coming down the street, and the enemy right in front of him, humbled and broken with grass in his teeth. Hallelujah! Boy, God's been burning this into my heart. Jesus said to the seventy disciples when he sent them out, Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nothing by any means shall hurt you. And you know the Bible says when they returned, they began to rejoice that the devils were subject unto them. He said, but don't rejoice at that. Rejoice that your names are written in the book of heaven. And the Lamb's book of life. In other words, don't look at the power. Bob preached that this morning. Look to him who gives you the power. But when Jesus saw them come back with glory, the Bible said he rejoiced mightily, and I looked it up in the Greek, it says he danced for joy. Can you imagine Jesus dancing for joy? Father, look at the glory. They see it, they see it. They have the power and the authority over the devil. They're not afraid. I've got a people not afraid. He danced for joy. I've got a whole message we'll preach. The day Jesus danced for joy. Don't tell me he didn't dance for joy. He wept, he cried, he was a feeling man, touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Hallelujah. I believe Jesus had as much laughter as I have when I'm with my grandchildren. Hallelujah. You shall pick up serpents. This is Mark 16, 18. And he's talking about if you pick up serpents, they'll not hurt you. If you drink anything poisonous, it will not harm you. And I couldn't understand that for a long time because that's been taken out of context by people in Kentucky called the snake handlers. They're Pentecostals who bring rattlers right into church. That's where that song came from. That guest speaker saw them bring up the snakes and said, where's the back door? He said, we don't have one. And he said, where do you want one? These snakes are brought in to church and they reach in to this den of rattlers and they're supposed to have faith that if they're bitten, they'll not die. Many have died. But when we were writing The Cross and Switchblade, John Sherrill, a great writer, I think one of the greatest writers this generation, he and his wife, Tibby, they wrote, they speak with tongues, and The Hiding Place and many, many great books, including working with me on The Cross and Switchblade. And while we were writing that book, John said, David, go home and study Mark 16, 18. He said, I've got something in my heart about that. And he began to share it with me. And I went home and began to study. He said, that's for you and the minister you're involved in. And I went home and I began to study it and began to see the spiritual significance of it because when you go out to... The Bible said, he that breaketh in a hedge... Didn't He say, go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in? And he that breaketh in a hedge shall be bitten with serpents, the Scripture says. And that serpent you met, Jesus called the wicked vipers, didn't He? He said, you generation of vipers. And so, these are snakes, really. I say that lovingly because Satan lives in them. There's a viper spirit. And when you go out witnessing on the streets, and our street teams need to know this. You're dealing with poison. You're drinking poison everywhere you turn. By the way, just going to work in New York, you drink poison. It's on the buses, it's everywhere. All the nudity and all the filth, you're drinking poison night and day. First two years in New York City, I walked these streets, I'd go home at night after being in some of these dens. I would go down to Greenwich Village and go into those gay bars to pull out a young boy because his sister's out there saying he's only 14, 15 and they're just destroying him. And go in and feel the filth and go home at night and pound my fist in the pillow and say, God keep me sane! Until I read that verse. And then I understood what God was showing to John Searle. And if they pick up serpents, shake it off! By faith, if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. In the process of reaching ungodly people, in the process of working for God in this wicked city, you're going to have all of that. Oh, but when you walk in His righteousness and by faith, it shall do you no harm! The Bible says. Now that doesn't mean you go down there looking for it. You go down there witnessing. I'm talking about the witnesses for Jesus. You shall pick up serpents. If you drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt you. Bible... This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. This is the reason for the cross that He might destroy the works of the devil. Hey, young converts, you know this. God's trying to make this personal. You know how He's worked in your life. How He's tried to get the habits so ingrained in you that He could treat you like a yo-yo and give you enough string to go to the altar, give you enough string to go to church, enough string to read your Bible, but be so ingrained in you that He could just pull in the string at any time and bring you back to the palm of His hand. And the Lord is saying, no, the cross was to cut the string. So you're not that yo-yo anymore. That He destroys the works of the devil in your life. Every habit. Everything has been built up in you. He has come to break that chain. To cut the string. Glory be to God. You know, Peter warns us that when you walk with the Lord, there's going to be a roaring lion. In fact, you don't turn there, but 1 Peter 5, 8, 9, Be diligent, brethren, vigilant, because the adversary, the devil, your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith. Now, those who are steadfast in holiness, those who are steadfast in righteousness, they're not compromising with the spirit of the saints, they're not playing games with God, they're not going to church. By the way, I wouldn't want to go to church where you're comfortable in your sins. If you go to church where you can commit adultery, you can go out and cheat on your husband and wife, and you can come and raise your hands and sing and shout and talk in tongues. You better get out of that church. You're going to hell faster than anybody out in Times Square. You better get out of it fast. Better to go to church where somebody really shoots the arrow right at your heart. Better to go out of church hating me as much as you hated any man and go home and repent. Hate any one of these men, but go home and repent. Read anything we say and hate it, but let it get a hold of your heart and change you. Then you come back hugging us. Saying, thank you for loving me enough to tell the truth. Hallelujah. The one who loves you is not the one who... In fact, who is it that Peter's talking about at the roaring lion you're going to divide? I thought you said, Brother David, that he's eating grass. Why should we be vigilant? Well, the Bible said if you're vigilant walking in holiness, he'll just flee from you. He sees you and he runs back to his grass head. He'll flee from you, the Bible said. He prefers grass to you. He will not touch you because you resist him steadfast in the faith. You're walking in his righteousness before the Lord. We know that whosoever is born of God does not practice sin, but he that is born of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not. He that keepeth himself. From what? From the spirit of the saints, from the wickedness and the vileness and you run to the cross. Hallelujah. The wicked one cometh. That's what Jesus said. The wicked one cometh and hath nothing in me. He can't touch anything in me. Well, who is the devil roaring against? Well, I want to show it to you. Go to Ezekiel. The 22nd chapter of Ezekiel. I want to show you who he's talking about. He's not talking about those on the holy hill. Those on the holy hill don't have a roaring lion. I want you to see it. Ezekiel 22. Ezekiel 22. The roaring lion goes after those who make no difference between the holy and the unholy. Verse 23. Beginning to read. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the Lamb that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. There's the roaring lion. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things. And here it is. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane. Neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean. And they have hid their eyes from my sabbaths and I am profaned among them. Verse 27. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls to get dishonest gain. Her prophets have dobbed them with untempered mortar seeing vanity and dividing lies and saying, Thus saith the Lord when the Lord hath not spoken. Or how many times you've been in church when a man says, Thus saith the Lord and God hadn't said a word of it. God hadn't said a word of it. They've imagined it out of their own heart. Hadn't come from their knees at all. Hadn't come from the seeking of the face of God. Now Christ is revealed in the 13th chapter of Revelation. If you'll skip over Revelation the 13th chapter, I want to show you a blaspheming beast. And there's some of you living with him. Some of you working with him. And I want to expose him. Revelation 13. I'll show you a beast here that the same description of the one that's been stripped of the authority in Isaiah 11, verse 2. Revelation 13, verse 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and had the feet like the feet of a bear. And his mouth is the mouth of a lion. And the dragon. Now, didn't I tell you on the 20th chapter of Revelation that the dragon, Satan. In fact, that's what the Bible says. Dragon, Satan. Gave him his power and his seat and his great authority. Now, look at this for just a minute. He's like a leopard. He's got the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. It was given power by the dragon. Now, this is very symbolic. I want you to listen to it very closely. It's not just a meaningless... It's not just symbolic, rather. It's not symbolic. It's not just meaningless prophecy. This is very, very personal. And it's something that has to do with our everyday living, our everyday life. There was given unto him, verse 5, there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things. Now, remember, there's a beast. There's a spirit. There's a power that's released on the earth. And this power, this beast was given unto him a mouth, verse 5, speaking great things and blasphemies. And power was given to him to continue 40 and 2 months, verse 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints. Let's go to verse 9. Also, if any man have an ear, let him hear. Do you have an ear? Do you want to hear? What are we talking about here? Look at verse... chapter 13, verse 6. And he opened his mouth and blasphemed against God to blaspheme his name. And, look at this word, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. Alright, listen to me, please. Give me your good eye and your good ear, please. Some of you, every time you walk out the door, you face this very blaspheming beast that we're seeing here by the prophet, or by John in Revelation. You see that beast, that spirit of the wolf that would devour you. Every time, some of you go to work, you're walking right into a pack of wolves. Isn't that right? They'd just as soon chew you up and spit you out. How many go to work like that? You're working in a wolf's den. I mean, the leper's there. He's ready to pounce on you, waiting for you to make a mistake and get your place. That demonic spirit, and this beast is a blaspheming beast. And this beast not only blasphemes the name of God, he blasphemes everybody on God's holy hill. And I want you to know something. The reason you walk down the streets and you hear people cursing out loud, the devil intends for you to overhear it on the job and everywhere you walk, because it's not only aimed at God your Father, it's not only aimed at Jesus Christ our Lord, it's aimed at every one of His children. It's aimed at you to try to destroy your faith, to try to demoralize you. He has no other power, no other authority to come at you with this filthy, blaspheming spirit. Have you ever heard such blasphemy in all of your life? As you've heard in the past year or so? This country has become the most blaspheming, filthy, foul-mouthed society on the face of the earth. You pass this beast almost every day going to work and coming back, and I've said some of you live with him. That man that you live with? Now, don't go home and say I call him a beast. But see, every time you go out the door now, there's a lion crouched, there's a leopard prowling, there's a bear ready to tear into your spiritual life. But praise God, there are some promises you and I have. Zechariah 2.5, if you just mark them down, don't turn there. I just want to go through some of them. For I say that the Lord will be unto you a wall of fire around about you, and I'll be the glory in the midst of it. Zechariah 2.8, and he that touches you touches the apple of my eye. He's talking to the devil. See, you touch one of my children, you're touching the apple of my eye. How do you think the devil is ever going to get around the wall of fire? He can't dig under it, he can't climb over it, he can't get through it. Inside that wall of fire, Jesus is the glory therein, the Scripture says. Hallelujah! Zechariah 3.2, and the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, and the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is this not a bran plucked out of the fire? Is this not a... You know that word rebuke, I looked it up, it means a strong reproof. It means... In fact, it means rebuke of open shame. It ties into that whole thing. He puts him to open shame. He rebukes him before the whole world, before every one of God's people. He's been rebuked. Is this not a bran plucked out of the fire? And I can say that to every one of you who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! We can stand here right now and say it in the power and authority of His Word. Is this not a bran plucked out of the devil's fire? Now, lest there be any doubt at all, and I'm not going to preach much longer, but if there's any doubt, go back to Isaiah, the eleventh chapter. I want to wrap this up and tie it all in together now, Isaiah, the eleventh chapter. Lest there be any doubt about the complete victory of Jesus at the cross over all the power of the devil, I want to show you that the Lord tied it down so there'd be no mistake about it. I want you to go back to Isaiah 11, and let's start verse 15. Verse 15, And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day when He came up out of the land of Egypt. Now, that looks complicated, but it's not, when all He goes, just opens it up, and I want you to see it. Alright? I want you to follow me very closely now for just the next five minutes or so. These are some of those glorious promises in all the Bible for our time, of how to enter into rest and confidence that you never again in your lifetime, if you walk with Jesus, ever have to fear the devil. I want you to look at verse 12. Verse 12. Let's begin right there. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel. Now, that means that God's going to... What better describes Times Square Church than He shall assemble the outcasts? Hmm? How many of you are an outcast? If you haven't been kicked out of your church, or preached out of your church, or embarrassed out of your church, some of you are so starved, you're skinny sheep, you're sitting here tonight so skinny, you can hardly understand what I'm saying. And I'm not very deep tonight. You're starving. You're starving. This morning, if you came to service, I had a woman, she said, I've never heard anything like this this morning while Bob was preaching. There was a pure word. She said, My heart was burning in me. She said, I'm so starved. I'm not standing here putting churches down. There are other churches in this city preaching the gospel. And thank God for them. We pray for them. Here, Friday night, we pray for all the churches that are preaching the gospel. Verse 12. This is the promise of this last day. Through the cross, He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel. He'll gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And that's what He's doing right now. He's gathering every outcast from every church that's been starving. He's putting together a body, a pure, holy body. Hallelujah. He's bringing them together right now. That's what this church is. This church is a hospital for outcasts. Bring your broken legs. Bring your broken wings. Hallelujah. Bring your bleeding ulcers. I'm talking spiritually. You know what He's going to do? He says, I'm going to start binding them together under the ensign, under the cross. All those scattered sheep, I'm going to bring them together. Verse 13. Read that. These people that are on the holy hill are not going to have any more envy. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart. The adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. And Ephraim shall not envy Judah. And Judah shall not vex Ephraim. There's not going to be any fighting here. These people aren't fighting. They're not envious. There's no confusion in this body. They're all speaking the same language. And nobody fighting. Not in the ministry. Not in those in the pulpit. Not in those in the pew. Because God has swept out all the envy and all the vexation. It's all God. Because these are on God's holy hill. The adversary shall be cut off. Means all opposition of Satan is ended. Oh, he'll fight. He will roar. But it means nothing to those who are walking in his righteousness. Hallelujah. Now look at... Here's where people get all mixed up, but they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the West. And everybody said, those are the Jews flying back on Pan Am and Elk, you know, Tel Aviv Airlines. No, not at all. Do you know that since this was written there's been five in gatherings of Israel? This is not the first time the Jews have gone back. They've gone back five times. There's been some great in gatherings. Study your church history. See how many times they went back to Jerusalem, back to the Holy Land. When it says they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines, look at the rest of it. They're in a battle. They shall spoil them in the East. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon shall obey them. This is victory. It's talking about victory when it says, you know, they flew upon the spoils, they attacked them, they went after them, and the word here in the Hebrew means they swept down on them and covered them with their wings. They went against the Philistines and the Philistines, you know what that means in Hebrew? It means wallowing self-pity. It means here's a church that God's going to bring such victory over demon powers and all the opposites and the enemy. God's going to sweep out all self-pity. The church without self-pity. There's no place for self-pity in the house of God. This is a house of victory. He talks about Edom. You know what Edom means? That's a despiser of God's holy things. That's another word for Esau. I despise the inheritance of God. Moab, that means born of incest. That's sensuality. This church is not going to be full of sensuality. It's not going to be full of idolatry. I'll tell you what, the services here are getting so hot that all the idolaters can't sit here because there's something in the seat. The fire of God's in every seat. They can't sit here comfortable. I'll tell you what, you come here more than three times, are you cheating on your wife? We're going to find out. If we don't tell you, the Holy Ghost will tell you. You're not going to go telling lies. You're not going to go home beating up your wife. You're not going to be telling lies. You're not going to be envious of other brothers and sisters. You're not going to walk out here vexed and confused. You're going to hear righteous words from the pulpit. You're going to see unity here. You're going to feel the unity there. Glory to God. And here's the boy I like this, the Egyptian sea. Look what he's going to do. Do you know that there are two exodus and two Red Seas? The Lord, verse 15, the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea. You know what that's saying? That every wave of the devil, everything he throws at you, God's going to take that big wave and He's going to turn it into seven little puddles. That's what it means. He's going to turn it into seven little puddles. You can walk over it and dry ground. It's all there. Read it. Look at it. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea. That's the Red Sea that we face. That's anything that stands between you and the fullness of Jesus. That's everything that stands between you and walking with clean hands and a pure heart. The Lord said, if you seek Me and everything is in you, I'll take that Red Sea and I'll take that big wave and He says right here, and I'll shake My hand over the river. Do you know what that means? Boy, I saw it today. I got up and started shouting. Do you know what it is? It's a menacing finger. He said, I'm going to stand over the river of the devil and I'm going to shake My finger at him. It's a menacing finger of Jesus. He said, I'm going to send My wind. That's the Holy Ghost. I'm going to dry up those rivers and I'm going to stand before the devil in your life and say, Enough! Have you ever... My dad had one of those fingers. Nathan had one of those fingers. David, thou art the man. Can you imagine the finger of God? And He shall shake His finger at the devil, His menacing finger, and says, No more! You're defeated. You can't touch this child of Mine. Go, He said. Hallelujah. There it is. He shall shake His hand over the river and shall smite it into seven streams and make men go over dry sod and there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall be left from Assyria. Assyria means prosperity. It means successful. Now, I'm not talking about the success gospel, though I believe that once you really get full of the Holy Ghost and the love of Jesus and you begin to get your eyes on heavenly things, the prosperity preaching doesn't mean much anymore because you've got your eyes fixed on Jesus. You don't want the things of the world anymore. They lose their value. It doesn't matter whether you're driving a Mercedes or a Pushmobile. You have something beyond all this. You can look and say, it's all going to burn anyhow. It's all going to burn. But he's not talking about the prosperity gospel in itself. He's saying, up to this time, the devil has been prosperous. He's been successful in getting you down and bringing you under fear. But there's a highway now of holiness and there's no lion on that highway and I'm not going to let you be hassled anymore. The devil is going to deliver you from Assyria, from the successful attack of the devil. He's going to deliver us all. Glory be to God. Gary preached the other night how mad he was at the devil. God's trying to bring a holy anger within his people that we will no longer be raped, spiritually raped by the adversary of our souls. No more plundering. God said, you be faithful to me and I'll be faithful to you. You give me your clean hands and a pure heart. I'll cleanse you. Bob preached this morning. God said, I'll create in you a clean heart. I'll do it right now. I can do it tonight. God's going to break the fear of the devil in this church. This church is not going to walk in any fear of Satan. Everybody in this city is going to know it that hears about us. Everyone out there is going to know it. And every opposition of the devil, every spirit that's unlike Jesus that walks in this place is going to have to bow its knee to the authority of Christ and the cross of Jesus. Glory to God. And there will be deliverances. Hallelujah. We don't scream at the devil here. You scream and yell at him. We've been in meetings, Bob and Don and I have been in meetings where we've had deacons try to shake the devil and demons out of people. All you're telling the devil there is that you don't have the power and the authority. And all you have to do is say, Satan, your battle is not with me, it's with Jesus. It was finished at the cross. You don't have any more power. The only power he has is what you give him. You give him an inch and it's all false. There's nothing to it. Are you afraid of Satan? Are you afraid of the devil? Are you afraid of curses? Are you afraid of these things? The whole city of New York is scared of the devil. We're going to have a people walking in righteousness and the glory and authority and power of the Holy Spirit that's not walking in fear. Hallelujah. Let's pray. This is the conclusion of the tape.