Devils Don't Die

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

"LORD, how long wilt Thou look on?"

He is tired and says so: "I'm kind of in a paradox tonight. This is my, I don't know, fourth or fifth service this week — something like that. I'm slurring here. I'm done. It's all a blur at this point. And so my body is tired, but my spirit's just in the vein — I'm ready to go, ready to move. So if you'll give me just a minute, we'll get that spirit man pumped up. He'll take over the carnal man, and we'll get this thing having Holy Ghost church together." He honors his friend Brother Collins and Bishop Sutton and his wife — "some of my favorite people in the whole world" — then reads the psalm at length: "Psalms 35 and 11. David writes: 'False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not. They did tear me, and ceased not. With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.' Verse 17 — in desperation, and in frustration, and in confusion, David stops and says: 'Lord, how long wilt Thou look on?' Can I just put it in common terms? He says, 'How long are You going to look the other way? How much longer is this going to last? Rescue my soul from their destructions, and my darling from the lions.' God will help us tonight. I want to preach — I feel a heavy burden on my heart to preach to someone who feels as if you just can't make any headway in living for God. I want to preach to you, I thought that the Lord gave me: Devils don't die."

Scriptures: Psalm 35:11-17

David, high and low

David is the mirror: "There isn't anybody — with the exception of God Almighty — that the Bible refers to more than the writer of this psalm, the man David. He was the shepherd. He was the king, the warrior, the poet, the musician. He was a strategist. He was a lover. He was a hater. And the list continues on and on and on. He is the patriarch of all kings, who the Bible says lived right in the eyes of the LORD... David, in my opinion — I think it's very obvious from reading the Word of God — was a man's man. He killed a lion and a bear. He killed a man three times his size with just a sling and a stone. He killed 200 Philistines for the hand of a beautiful woman. He played a concert for a king. And that's only to name a few of the things that he did — all at the ripe age, before the ripe age of 19 years old. I'd say undoubtedly that if you were living in David's era, he's the guy that everybody wanted to be like. He was the hero. And as sure as we see all of his heroisms, and we see how great David was, we can turn the page and we can look at the low lights of David's life, and we can see that that same man that was fearless and faithful was indeed faithless and fearful. He was an adulterer. He was murderous. He was envious. He was bitter. He was wroth, and quick-tempered... If you read the Book of Psalms chronologically, it could be said that David needed to be on medication, because it seems as if he was a manic depressive. One day he would shout and dance the glory of God, and the next day he was cursing the day that he was born. One day he was on the mountaintop, and the next day way down in the valley. For David, when he was having victory, nobody in the world could have bigger victory than David. But boy, when David was down in the dumps, he writes and he tells us that nobody was down as low as him. And the truth of the matter is, if we are honest with ourself, when we walk and we look at ourselves through what we call the mirror of the Word of God, you can see a little bit of yourself in the life of David. Every one of us have faithlessness, and every one of us have faithful moments... When you're having it right, ain't nobody doing it as good as you are... But on the flip side of that, when you're having a bad day, ain't nobody having as bad a day as me. And somebody comes to church and tells us how bad they got it, and we'll just look at them and laugh and say, 'Oh yeah? Well, you oughta been with me today. You ought to walk through what I walk through.' It's in these moments that we become professional praisers and professional pouters, just depending on what end of the spectrum we are." The psalm's setting: "Most theologians would assume [he wrote it] about the Philistines, at the time that he was fighting for them. And he's talking about how they stabbed him in the back, and how they talk bad about him, how they ran him down the road, how they turned against him when he had done so many good things for them. When bad things happen, it's our natural reaction to ask God why... 'God, how long will You let this happen? How long are You going to let me go through what I'm going through?' Which brings us to our subject matter tonight: how do you respond when God looks the other way? He said, 'Lord, how long are You gonna keep looking over there? I'm right here. I am in my trouble. Here I am in my trial — and You're looking the other way.' The thing about it is, when God looks the other way, the only thing that remains is for us to understand who God is and what God does... Where are you, and who are you, when all the lights are turned out and it's just you and God, and there's nobody here to see you shouting, there's nobody here to hear you run the aisles? And who are you when the battle really gets bad? What's your identity when God looks the other way? Let's just be honest: it's not fair when God looks the other way. It's not fair when God's people have to walk through things that it seems, from the outside looking in, they should not have to walk through. It's not easy when God looks the other way. And it seems to me that when we get in this place where God is looking the other way, it all boils down to each and every one of us, as an individual, to that one battle that sticks with us everywhere that we go. Abraham — it was doubt. Moses — it was his temper. And you can read on: Jacob — it was his lying. And Noah — he was a winebibber. And all of those good things. You can call them character flaws. You can call them battles. You can call it whatever you want to. But the truth of the matter is, it was a hindrance to keep them from going."

The Philistine has a purpose

"We can see in 1 Samuel chapter 17: long before David ever writes this psalm, David was a champion of God's people. He kills Goliath. But oftentimes the truth is that promise and peril have the same origin. Oftentimes the characteristics that cause some people to adore you will cause somebody else to be appalled by you. Oftentimes you can't be a one nation's hero without being another nation's most hated. And so this battle prepares David to become a mighty man. And to add insult to injury, David kills 200 of their strongest soldiers just to get the girl of his dreams. And so indeed, our enemy was born in David's life that day, that would dog him until the very day of his death... He's talking about the people from which Goliath came — the Philistines. And David is taking his time as he's walking down through the history of his life: 'I was just doing my job as the hero of Israel, and now the Philistines are relentless, and they won't stop.' Can you imagine how frustrating it had to be for David? David, the man of war. When the Jebusites would come, he would defeat them in battle, and they would never return. When the Amorites — it was a little battle here and a little battle there — but the truth of the matter is, when he defeated them, most of the time they never returned. But David looks up, and everywhere that he looks, it's the Philistines. It's battle after battle. It's one day after another, the same fight. David goes here and out, and the Philistines are a constant thorn in his flesh. And David says, 'How long will You look the other way? I thought You were the God of victory. I thought You were the God that would put the enemy under my feet. I thought You were the God that would let me bruise his head. And now here it is again, and I'm fighting it again. It's back in my face one more time.' I might not be preaching to everybody tonight, but I know when I feel in the Holy Ghost, I'm preaching to somebody. I don't know if it's depression. I don't know if it's addiction. I don't know if it's gossip. But whatever your Philistine is, I'm here to tell you tonight that that Philistine has a purpose. That Philistine — God allows that Philistine in your life. You see, David was called to be a warrior. But the truth of the matter is, if you don't keep the Philistines in your life, you'll forget what it's like to pick up a sword, and you'll forget how to pray. If God doesn't keep the Philistines in your life — hey, I know you get frustrated sometimes, because it seems like the devil's always there — but if He don't allow that devil to keep on you all the time, you'll forget what it's like to pick up the Word of God and go back out on the battlefield and fight one more time... Can I tell you that maybe, just maybe, God sees something in you that only a Philistine can perfect? God sees destiny in you that only a Philistine can draw out of you. I know it's frustrating. But don't get frustrated in the process, because God is doing a great work in you, and He's allowing your enemy to do it." The test of which it is: "How do I know if it's the Philistine sent by God to pressure me, or it's the devil sent to destroy me? I'll tell you how you know: it's always found in the deliverance. Whether God delivers you from, or God delivers you through. If God delivers you from it, you can rest assured it was sent to destroy you by the enemy. But if God delivers you through it, you can rest assured that God allowed it, because there was purpose in what you went through... Just because the devil didn't die doesn't mean that God doesn't still have you in His hand. Just because you're still walking through the battle doesn't mean that you're not anointed. Hey, I'm not the originator of this, but the truth is: it's not a sin to struggle. I'm telling somebody on a Wednesday night, the devil's trying to convince you that because you're fighting, that you're dead — and because you're fighting, that you're dead to God, and God don't care about where you're at. But can I tell you: the fact that you're fighting is showing somebody else, and it's showing God, that you got enough faith to hold on. Keep on fighting. I don't matter how many devils come your way. Keep fighting. Keep believing... The Bible tells us that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace. See, God brings you out sometimes to bring you in. When He brings you out, that builds your faith in God. But when He brings you in, that builds God's faith in you."

Scriptures: 1 Samuel 17

When the Philistines weren't there

David's fall is the counter-proof: "When we preach about David's greatest accomplishments, what do we talk about? Come on, help me talk back to me: Goliath. We talk about David's greatest failures — what are we talking about? Heard it four or five times: Bathsheba. You can read that in 2 Samuel chapter 11, where the Bible tells the story about David and Bathsheba. He's standing out on the rooftop, and he's looking out, and he sees her, that she's fair to look upon. But this is what happens when you don't have a Philistine in your life. You want to know how I know? You can look chronologically: it's the greatest gap that David has of victory in his life from the Philistines. It's the longest period that he's had to go without somebody digging at him, and somebody trying to slip in the back door and take the kingdom. And I won't have them put it up tonight, but you can go and read it for yourself: 2 Samuel chapter 11 — it tells in verse one what the Bible says. At the time that kings should have been at war — 'David, you should have been fighting. But you were—' It was just too easy. You know that there is such a thing as too much victory?... I love to shout. Y'all know I love to shout. God have mercy, I love to shout. I love to dance. I love to run the aisles. But the truth of the matter is, if you only know how to live for God and to shout, and you don't know how to live for Him on Tuesday and Monday when all hell breaks loose, and you can't live for God — I'm going to ask you a question: can you live for God with the Philistines staring you in the face, and telling you that you'll never be anything and you'll never amount to nothing? Can you live for God when the Philistines are breathing down your neck and speaking out threatenings? Can you live for God in the trial and in the test? Everybody can live for God when they got a little money in their pocket... But if you're not careful, you'll get complacent. And complacency will bring you to a place in revival where you won't even recognize that the Spirit of the LORD is wanting to use you, and the Spirit of the LORD is wanting to anoint you to go to the next level. But you're so comfortable. I know this ain't popular preaching, but that's what I feel in the Holy Ghost right now, to tell somebody: you better thank God for that trial. You better thank God for that test. You better thank God for that Philistine that's breathing down your neck. It's the only thing keeping you saved. It's the only thing keeping you anointed. It's what's keeping you going back to the house of God. That thing — I don't know what your Philistine is — but I'm telling you, it's drawing destiny out of you. Devils don't die. They just keep coming back, and keep coming back, and keep coming back. But when you learn how to live for God in the face of the Philistines, God keeps giving victory, and keeps giving victory, and keeps giving victory. You see, God never designed this thing for you to win it all at one time. God never designed it for you to just step out all at once. He wants little bit by little bit, so that you can understand the purpose of what you're going through is so that somebody else can know that there is a God that can draw you out of the deepest, darkest depths of despair... When you're called to be a warrior, when God puts that sword in your hand, you got to use it. I understand it's frustrating. But if you don't fight the Philistines — the next thing you know — when you're anointed to be a warrior, that's just what you are. You'll never be anything else. You might be a king, but you'll be a king that's a warrior. You might be a worshiper, but you'll be a worshiper that's a warrior. When you're anointed to be a warrior, and you walk in that, and you fight the fight, and the Philistine blood is on your sword — if you're not careful, when the Philistines aren't there, your sword will still be bloody. The problem is, it'll be the blood of Uriah, your brother. When you don't have Philistines to fight, you start getting into places, and you start fighting the wrong people. When you're anointed to do something for God — anointed to fight against Goliath and fight against the Philistines — but there's no Philistine to fight, you'll start talking bad about the ministry: 'Who do they think they are? They don't recognize who I am, and what I've got. They don't recognize the office that I'm in.' Oh, Nathan had to come down and tell him, 'Hey, bud, don't you ever forget who you are. And I know you've had a little bit of victory, and you've got a head, but don't ever forget where God brought you from. David, don't ever forget: before you were a king, I anointed you to kill Philistines.'"

Scriptures: 2 Samuel 11

Jacob's limp, Paul's thorn, Saul's end

The pattern repeats everywhere: "Throughout the Book of Genesis, there's this young man by the name of Jacob. He has a problem: every time Jacob faces any kind of adversity — go read your Bible — Jacob runs. Esau gets him in a place where he has to, for lack of a better term, say uncle. He's got him cornered. There's nowhere to go. And what does Jacob do? He runs. You see, years later, Jacob and Laban — they're not getting along together like they were at one point in time. And what happens? Jacob runs. Until we find that Jacob and God get in a wrestling match. And in this wrestling match with God, the Bible says that he's touched. And when he's touched, he's halted. And he goes through the whole name-change process... It's a common misconception — and it's one you can read about in so many different books — that this is one of the places that the Bible contradicts itself. The Bible doesn't contradict itself. But the Bible says Jacob looks up and he says, 'I have seen the LORD face to face, and yet my life is preserved.' Moses said, 'No man shall see My face and live.' And so who's lying here — is it Jacob, or is it Moses? But you have to get the revelation: Jacob did die, and Israel started living. 'No man shall see My face and live' — that's what happened right there. Jacob died... God touches the hollow of his thigh, and he's halted, and now he has to walk with a limp. He's not a whole man. He's not the man that God once had. And he could have had all of that, but because of this one thing in his life — now let me ask you a question: don't you think that the same power that halted him could have touched him again and healed him? But Jacob has the revelation that every time I've ever come up against adversity, I've ran. And so in order for me to be the one that God wants me to be, God has to take away my ability to run. And so now Jacob's walking with a limp, and he walks up to Esau, and he begins to speak with him. You know, he falls down on his face. And Jacob becomes the man God wants him to be — all the while with a limp. He's the father of many nations, with a limp. He's wounded, because God has to put something in his life to keep him from doing what he's always reverted to doing. God puts a thorn in his flesh, if you'll allow me to say it that way." Paul is the New Testament form: "It doesn't matter to me what you think the thorn is. Some say it was sickness. Some say it was his spouse. Some say — that's irrelevant. He had a thorn. And he said he prayed — Paul, now, I'm talking about the greatest apostle that's ever walked, as far as I'm concerned; he wrote over half the New Testament — and he said, 'Thrice I besought the LORD to remove this from me.' And all I could get out of God was, 'My grace is sufficient.' 'God, don't You see? Why are You looking the other way? Like I said, I know I'm not preaching to everybody tonight, but I'm preaching to somebody. Why are You looking the other way, God? Don't You know who I'm Paul? I've done all of this. And all You're going to tell me is, Your grace is sufficient? All You're going to do is hold me by the hand?' I've got a question for you tonight: can you hold on to God by the thorn, if that's all you have to hold on to God by? Can you keep holding on to God? Can you hold on to God with the Philistines standing, looking you in the face? What's it going to take to keep you at the altar? Paul gives us the revelation. He already knows — he's smart enough to get it. He says, this messenger from Satan was sent to buffet me, because he knew himself, 'lest I should be exalted above measure.' See, Paul was a great man of revelation. Paul was a great man of understanding. Sat at the feet of Gamaliel, done all this great stuff. But he had enough spirit in him to understand that if You leave me alone long enough, I'll get haughty, and I'll get lifted up in myself because of the abundance of my revelations. And the next thing you know — I can preach about Hymenaeus and Alexander, and all those guys that Paul knew — that's what happened to them. They got lifted up. And Paul said, 'That could be me, if I don't have the thorn.' You want to know what the enemy's plan was for David? He was supposed to end up just like Saul. That's what happens when you don't have a Philistine in your life. You start questioning the Word of God, questioning the man of God. 'Now, I know the preacher said to do it like this, but wouldn't it be a shame for all of this good stuff that could be a sacrifice unto the LORD?' And look at the king — we can bind him, we can make fun of him, we can parade him through the streets. But Saul, don't you understand that obedience is better than sacrifice? So you know what your problem is, Saul? When you were little in your own sight, there wasn't a Philistine to keep you humble. There wasn't a thorn in your side keeping you at the altar. That was the trial by fire, making you come out as pure gold."

What do you do when God says no?

Dominion is redefined the same way: "We have totally miscued what spiritual dominion, and victory, and authority is all about. So many times we think of it as just walking in so much dominion that every spirit that comes in automatically falls down and just curls up in the corner and cries. But real dominion understands that it's constantly pushing, and things are constantly pushing back. Want to know what dominion is? Dominion is when you come to church when you don't feel like coming to church — that's a piece of dominion. Dominion is living for God when the devil said, 'You know how many times you failed?' and you come back and you say, 'Doesn't matter how many times I fail, I'm gonna keep living for God.' You want to know what walking in spiritual authority is? It's when the pressure comes, and you don't cave — you just keep pushing back. 'David, I want you to do great and mighty things. But you're not going to be known as the man of war if there's not a Philistine in the way.' That's who we all want to be. We want to be the guy that everybody shouts and dances in the street: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' But nobody wants to go through the process, because everybody wants deliverance, but nobody wants development — because that hurts. You know what development does, David? That gets all of the you out of you, so that when all is said and done, he's a man after God's own heart... What do you do when God won't deliver? What do you do when God says no? What do you do when God leaves the thorn? I'll tell you what you do: you recognize that this is making me who God wants me to be. I mean, if I can persevere, if I can live for God through this, if I can walk with God, if I can hold on to His hand — everything, hear me, everything's gonna be fine. You come out the other side of this, you're gonna see the purpose of it. You might not see it right now, but you're going to see the purpose of it." The altar call names the season: "I want to open these altars right now, with somebody who feels as if David has, to where God has just been looking the other way. 2020 was a year that felt like God was looking the other way. And here you are in February of this year, and God's still looking the other way. I've prayed, and it seemed like I get no answer. I've requested of the LORD, and there's no voice. God's not talking to me. God is silent. God's not moving. God's not working. It seems as if God's a billion miles away. But I'm telling you today: that thorn has a purpose. What you're going through has a purpose. That Philistine has a purpose. Come on, I wish you'd find somebody and pray with them right now... I'm telling you, we're going to have victory. We're going to shout and dance. But I'm telling you, right now is a moment that God wants to reassure somebody: just because you're struggling does not mean you're lost."