Separation and Sanctification Exodus Series #15

13th chapter of Exodus. Take your Bibles and turn to the 13th chapter of Exodus. I’m not going to read it for you; instead, I’ll read it in the course of the message, which we normally do to try to save a few minutes here. But I would like you to have your Bibles open. If you don’t have your own Bible, please use the Pew Bible that is placed ahead of you.

We are winding down this series. It is by far not the last message, as this week I told you. That was months ago when we thought that’s where we’d be. But in the last few weeks, we’ve taken small bites of the message. These last several messages are very much wayma. They are very specific words of God.

And we’ve seen the momentous proposition in this entire series: covenant people of God first have to have a deliverance in their own lives, just as Israel needed a deliverance before they could ever come into their inheritance. There has to be a going out before there can be a coming out, a coming in.

There must be a going out first, and then an entering in second. We’ve come to understand that deliverance means different things to different people. It is the breaking of bondages, which entails a variety of different things in different believers’ lives: contracts, covenants, relationships, commitments to this world system that bind us, and from which God wants to free us.

And of course, Satan knows that once we understand God’s desire for deliverance in our lives, there will immediately be a struggle in which Satan will try to keep us. It’s been interesting to note in the life of this church; several people have even commented that when you start talking about spiritual warfare, things start happening.

Listen to me, friends. Things have been happening persistently. What happens is that spiritual warfare exposes the things that are happening. Satan is not neutral. Today, we come to look at the circuit or the direction of deliverance and the cost that spiritual warfare involves in setting us free in our lives.

In the 13th chapter, if you have your Bibles open, you will see in both verse 3 and verse 14 that God speaks to Israel, referring to this bondage as a house of bondage, twice. He uses that phrase, a most interesting one. Satan wants to keep the covenant people of God in a house of bondage, in a prison of bondage.

Of course, this analogy is true for the people of God: when we are set free from bondages, those bondages keep us from entering into God’s purpose. Getting Israel out of Egypt was no small thing, but I’ll tell you what, it was more difficult for God to get Egypt out of Israel than it was to get Israel out of Egypt.

The same is true for you and me in relation to this world system. It is far easier for God to redeem us from this world system than it is for God to remove this world system from our hearts. Let’s understand that the Bible uses the word “world” in probably three interchangeable ways in the English version.

Firstly, the physical world, the Earth. God created that; God loves that Earth. He has a 30,000-year contract on that Earth. Even after it’s renovated by fire in the coming judgment, that world will be a new Earth wherein righteousness dwells. God loves that world. It’s certainly not the world of people.

Here’s where evangelicals make a great mistake. We are not to separate ourselves from the world of people, even in their immorality; we are not to isolate ourselves from them. God loves that world; that’s why he sent his son, so that the world of people might be saved. The third sense of “world” is the world of maxims, slogans, and principles which relate to this life, and that is contrary to the principles of God’s world.

In other words, it is mankind without God, as they act upon a series of maxims, slogans, and principles related to this world and this life. So, the term “world” signifies the expression “God hates the world,” “a believer cannot love the world,” or “the love of the Father cannot be in you.” It certainly does not refer to the physical world or the world of people, but it refers to this world of objects, maxims, principles, and the community that prioritizes those matters.

If you’ve been around the church for a while, you understand that when people think of the world as pornography, excessive drinking, going to movies, and wearing certain kinds of clothing, the world is always out there.

But if you understand the way the world really is, it often appears more in the church than anywhere else. Those slogans, those earnest conversations, desires, and so forth. But God does hear. When he hears in a believer’s life a sigh for deliverance, he hears God say, “Israel is my son, let him go.” Please know that God is more willing to intervene for you, to bring you deliverance, than you are to have deliverance.

And to accept deliverance. God wants to intervene on your behalf, and he wants to free you from any system, habit, or relationship which devastates God’s purpose for you. And last week, of course, we studied the Passover, the final plague, which was the death of the firstborn son. In that awful final plague, we saw the images from that.

How to stay under the blood and to continue in that place. What it is to identify with God’s offering. What it is to know and understand the necessity of fellowship. And what it is as well to prepare ourselves for pilgrimage. Because you remember, Israel ate this Passover with sandals on their feet. With their stuff in their hands, with their garments pulled up under their belt, so that they were ready for fast travel.

After the death of the firstborn on Passover night, Pharaoh literally drove the people of God out. We’ve heard at this church for many years, there may be delay, but when God acts, it will be so sudden and so complete that we will not be prepared. And when they came out, when God’s people came out of Egypt, they came with their children, which Pharaoh had tried to keep.

They came with their livestock, which Pharaoh had tried to keep. And not only that, they came out with Egyptian gifts of silver, gold, and clothing. In fact, Exodus 12:36 says that they plundered the Egyptians in this manner. In other words, God’s principle of redemption is that out of the bondage, and as we saw last week, the bondage itself that is broken by the Holy Spirit will produce in your life great and unsearchable riches.

And what a solemn night this was, the birthday of modern history, the origination of the Hebrew nation. It was the first and only of the national institutions of the Jews that was given in Egypt, but the first. In fact, their calendar was to be reordered from this. And, of course, it is the basis of all sacrifice.

So, when you study sacrifice, you know the foundation is on this particular night. But, hear this carefully. Passover was meant to proclaim the future purpose of God’s people. In other words, redemption was supposed to reorder life so that nothing could ever be the same again. It’s no wonder that Paul said, “You are a new creation in Christ Jesus.”

Old things are passed away, and all things have become new. Of course, there was going to be a last-ditch effort by Satan to keep them. And you and I know the story that even after the Passover, the Israelites were learning and growing, even backsliding and experiencing restoration. But at least Egypt was behind them.

They had gone out. Sure, there were battles ahead. But they had gone out of Egypt. Pharaoh had let God’s son Israel go. And the real exodus was like the beginning of an intervention by God. And we come to see some very clear principles. God’s hand of deliverance upon believers is meant to lead them into a changed order.

They are freed in order to serve. Now that’s not good news for some of us. We were uncomfortable in bondage. Our shoes were too tight in Egypt. And we wanted deliverance. But we are not always happy with what the deliverance produces. In fact, this particular generation is so restless and searching.

But indeed, every generation itself asks these questions. Who am I? Where am I going? To whom do I belong? How do I choose? And of course, salvation or deliverance is meant to spell out for us what the future of our life is meant to be.

Many years ago, when I first heard Barbra Streisand, I believe it was her first album. As has subsequently continued to be true of her, she picks up songs that nobody else records. And she loves a certain kind of song story, because she is a real seamstress with songs. And she sings this song, and the words really influenced much of my life. Because of several of these phrases. Where am I going? Why should I care? No matter where I run, I meet myself there. Looking inside me, what do I see? Anger, and hope, and doubt. What am I all about? And where am I going?

Redemption is supposed to not only get us out, but it is an intervention of God. Redemption is an intervention of God toward usefulness. It’s not just for the purpose of release, but it is the purpose of conforming us and bringing us into God’s purpose.

Years ago I read Bob Woodward’s book on John Belushi. Now Bob Woodward is someone you know because he and his partner brought down the Nixon White House. They are the ones who exposed the Watergate crisis. And subsequently, in books and movies, his name has become synonymous with that event. And you remember John Belushi.

John Belushi for the Blues Brothers and Animal House and Saturday Night Live, which by the way is being reinvented on TV, as though we needed it again. Belushi was an extreme statement of the energy and the meism and the lostness of the late 70s. He made a lot of people laugh. In fact, one of the Time newspaper comments on the book Wired says this, “Endless rounds of drug blowouts, frazzled work sessions, showbiz parties. Belushi had a kind of reckless rock and roll comic sensibility. He was a volatile combination of Lou Costello and Vladimir the Impaler.” What a comment.

And of course, Belushi’s friends and intimates are still with us today. Dan Aykroyd, Robert Williams, Carrie Fisher, not to mention Jack Nicholson and Steven Spielberg. But the first person to discover Belushi’s nude, drugged, dead body writes of the room in this description. “The room was quiet. A glass of wine stood on the dresser. A script, the joy of sex, lay on an upholstered bar stool next to the bed. Other things cluttered the room. An early issue of the new April Playboy magazine with Mariel Hemingway on the cover. Isn’t that interesting, in that within this month she has taken her life as well. A belt sprinkled with silvery punk cleats, some powder on the table, and John’s red jogging shoes on the floor.” End of quote.

What a description. Alcohol, sex, pornography, masochism, punk. cocaine, and jogging. What a description. But here’s the fact, and I’m sure many of you don’t know this. John Belushi, like Woodward, Bob Woodward himself, John Belushi and Bob Woodward were both born in Wheaton, Illinois. Wheaton, Illinois, of course, we know for Wheaton College, but very few Christians know that Wheaton, Illinois was designed and built as the ideal Christian community.

That’s how it was founded. It was founded and built to be an ideal place where Christians would grow up. What a contrast. The usual liberal village voice from New York remarked concerning John Belushi and this book. He writes, “Woodward followed Belushi from one circle of hell to the next. Heralding and compelling.”

What a statement. From one circle of hell to the next. Now I’m not sure some of you in this room really remember or want to remember what Jesus said in Matthew 12. He said, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest, and he finds none. And then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. And then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it be with this wicked and sinful generation.”

Let me read that to you from the message from Eugene Peterson’s translation, which we often use in our worship. “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. But when it doesn’t find one, it says, I’ll go back to my old haunt. And on returning, it finds the person spotlessly clean but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. And that person ends up far worse off than if you’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place. That’s what this generation is like. You think you’ve cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you were not hospitable to the message of the kingdom, and now the devils are moving back in.”

What a principle! Deliverance and redemption must lead to purpose, or the last state is worse than the first. And of course, in this instance, the specific last state Jesus refers to concerns a generation. I think the most horrendous thing that we have done is to solve the problems of a generation and give it material substance without allowing it to fight its own battles of being.

Exodus 13 is a lot more than a parenthesis; it’s a divine imperative concerning spiritual warfare. It states that believers who get delivered and do not understand their purpose are in great danger because religious bondages are worse than the original bondages to sin. To paraphrase this, it’s one thing to get out of Egypt, but another to understand the principle of who or what you are in Christ Jesus.

Now look over this auditorium. Many of you wanted to get out. You didn’t want to go to hell; you wanted to be saved. On the other hand, you didn’t want to come in. What you’ve basically said through your life is that you don’t want to be a servant to sin, but you don’t want to be a servant to God either. And Jesus said, “You’re going to serve somebody.”

Neutrality isn’t possible, yet many of us remain neutral. We get out without fully entering in. We don’t understand how our life should be governed once we’ve been saved. Thus, we face an interesting dilemma. We’ve been redeemed and gotten out, but we’ve never fully come in. The latter state of our life is often worse than the first.

If you study Exodus 13, you’ll find five simple subjects. First is the subject of the firstborn, which is discussed in verses 1 through 16. Then, there’s the seven-day institution of unleavened bread in Exodus 13. This takes place seven days after the first Passover, but before every Passover thereafter.

Next, the principle leads to the phylacteries of the Jews—keeping the law before their eyes and on their hands. Afterward, the major subject is God leading Israel in a circuitous path, an important teaching that will be covered in detail on the 13th of October.

Lastly, the text deals with the bones of Moses and the subject of the Shekinah Glory, which will provide future guidance. These five paragraphs are united by the central concept that Passover deliverance must lead to a proclamation of life purpose, and redemption must reorder our lives.

These words are relevant to all of us because this is where we are. In these five simple subjects, I see: one, God is saying in Exodus 13 that the fruit of your life must be permanently affected by Passover, redemption, and deliverance. Secondly, this passage teaches that the appetites of your life must undergo an irreversible change due to deliverance.

Thirdly, it instructs us that by our actions, thoughts, and words—especially the issue of witness—there will be a change. If a person is delivered, they should show it. Fourth, the passage addresses how God will redirect us based on His purpose. Lastly, the passage talks about how the Holy Spirit becomes our confidence and assurance and changes the direction of our lives completely.

As I mention these five points from the passage and apply them to us, the Holy Spirit’s admonitions are significant. This is holy ground, evident to anyone with ears to hear. We tread on sacred territory within this passage, and my reference to Belushi this morning is not coincidental.

Freedom and truth carry tremendous responsibility, and failing to walk in them results in dire consequences. Please listen closely because some of you may not appreciate what I’m about to say. If not for the issues of heaven or hell, it might be better for some of you not to be saved.

Consider a simple formula: many non-Christians you know are more creative, happier, more resolved, and more productive in their lives than some saved individuals. Of course, you can’t remove heaven and hell from the equation, and I’m not suggesting you should.

I’m just saying that if you did take hell and heaven out of the equation, many people are redeemed more miserable than they were before they were redeemed. They are delivered, but they’re more unhappy and less useful on one side than they were on the other. You need to understand that a religious spirit is the hardest satanic spirit to break.

It’s an absolute barrier, and it is a religious spirit that comes into a life and is seven times stronger. A believer who has been delivered and cleaned up and everything is there, but they are empty. And that’s why these satanic spirits control much of the church.

Now the first point of Exodus 13, as I said, is that there’s an unalterable and unchangeable affecting of the fruit of your life. In verses 1 and 2, the Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me the firstborn, whatever comes of the womb, among the children of Israel, both of man and beast, it is mine.” This word, consecrate, or sanctify, is the first use in the Bible of the word “sanctify.”

It is subsequently used 16 times in the book of Exodus alone, in what little bit of Exodus remains. It means to separate, to cut off, to declare or observe as being clean and separated. And God has simply said this—now listen, friends, very logically—God says if your son had not been spared by the blood, he would be dead.

And because the firstborn has been spared by the sacrifice, the firstborn belongs to me. It was not killed, but understand something: it belongs to me. And the same with every animal. Now, did the Jews play a game with that? Yes. And God knew His people so well. He knew that there’d come an occasion when the firstborn cow is beautiful and strong, and the second-born cow is a weakling.

And so they want to switch it around and give God the weakling. And God said, that’s fine, just add 20% to your sacrifice. You’re going to give me the weak part of it? I’m telling you, I own every firstborn male animal in your future. And I own the firstborn son. There is a principle of redemption, of course, that’s given here.

But the principle’s far deeper than firstborn sons. If you’ve been saved from death, you belong to God. The principle is that if the blood of sacrifice has redeemed you, then you’re not your own. And as Paul says, you are bought with a price; therefore, you are to glorify God. It’s a question of ownership.

It’s a question of purpose. And God, in this instance, is saying, “these are mine.” I hold sovereignty over everyone whom I have redeemed from death. So the fruit of our life has to be unalterably affected. And you know, of course, the firstborn son was the one that had the double blessings and all the unique and special things.

God said, “I want the best. I want your hope. I want the aspiration. I want the firstborn because he is the one I’ve spared.” I don’t know why this is true. And if I were God, I would have changed it a long time ago. But when the gospel comes, it comes to the poor. But when the poor receive the gospel, because of the discipline of the gospel and the blessing of the gospel, the poor begin rising.

And pretty soon, that same group is the middle class, and pretty soon they’re the upper middle class, and pretty soon they are the wealthy of the nation, and they forget God. Why doesn’t God forget His blessing? Why doesn’t He let them stay where they were? Why didn’t God let you stay where you were when you really had a sense of dependence upon Him?

I don’t understand this principle, but it’s a principle. It’s like people talk about tithing. Honey, I’m not gonna bother you. I’m going to talk about this because that’s my responsibility under God. But I’m going to bother you about it. This pastor doesn’t check those kinds of records. I’m not going to see who’s tithing and who isn’t; someone should.

Most churches do. And when it comes to membership, that’s a legitimate issue. But I don’t do it. But people will say, “Well, I tithe,” when they mean “I give.” Tithe is 10% of all that you have—everything that has surfaced from. And people say to me, “Well, that’s the law, and Israel, I know Israel gave. No, honey, Israel didn’t give a tenth. Israel gave 32% of their income.

Because they not only tithed on all their substance, but in addition, they had their wood offerings and the grain offerings and the various offerings, and when you add it all up, it’s 32%. But you see, the problem’s deeper here, isn’t it? Because it’s your… It’s your misunderstanding of the character of God.

You think God is going to take something from you and not give it back. And that’s why you’re faithless on this subject. You think you’re a better manager than God is. Listen, honey, if you can’t manage the 10% that belongs back to God, He sure is not going to let you manage more.

And even if you may seem to have it for a while, the locus… We’ll come and eat it. As, as, as the word says, the unrighteous will be given the task of building up so that it will be given into the hands of the righteous. But of course, many folks are going to end up in heaven with nothing to show for because the Bible says you lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

So that’s okay, do it! This preacher isn’t going to stand on his head and spit BBs over the subject of tithing. But I’ll tell you this, if you’re going to stay free, you better make sure that the fruit of your redemption is committed back to the Lord. The freedom you have, the gifts of God you have, the blessings of your life, you better keep them on track because God clearly says that the fruit of your life is to glorify Him.

Now let’s look at the second point in this incredible passage. Passover not only proclaims the purpose by unalterably affecting the fruit of our lives, but it irrevocably affects the activity of our appetites. And of course, this is the whole paragraph about unleavened bread. You will see particularly in verse 6, seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day, there will be a feast of the Lord, and unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all of your quarters.

Now Christians are such extremists. One group is out here flying on the high trapeze, saying, “Praise God, I’m free to do anything I want to do.” And they end up in anarchy. Then there’s the other little narrow group over here who wear the corset so tightly that they think bulging eyeballs are the demeanor of the Christian life.

Don’t you see these extremes? God says, if you’ve been purchased by me, then your appetites are irrevocably affected. God has the right to put His finger on your appetites. Dr. Myers, F. B. Myers, says concerning this, “What is leaven?” He said it must stand for selfishness, which is characteristic of us all through the exaggerated instinct of self-preservation and the heredity received through generations, which have been a law to themselves, serving the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

We are by nature self-confident, self-indulgent, self-opinionated. We live with self as our goal, and around the pivot of “I,” our whole being revolves. Paul says it very interestingly in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. He says, “Purge out the old leaven so that you’ll be a new lump, since you are truly unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.”

Now here’s a description of the old leaven. “Put off the old leaven of malice and wickedness. And in your new life, have the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Again, I don’t want to be doubly emphatic here, but I think that the Eugene Peterson translation is very interesting. He says, “Get rid of this yeast, for our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kinds of ingredients.”

And I love the last phrase here. “Let’s live out our part in the feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but flat bread, simple, genuine, and unpretentious.” I like that. You choose that. And of course, here is exactly what Paul is saying to us. And God says to Israel, “I’m going to tell you this, when you come into the land, you’re going to keep this feast as a memorial, and I want you to understand it. There will be seven days of unleavened bread.”

Now God didn’t say to them, “Don’t ever use leaven again.” You see? That’s a Christian response. Well, bless God, if God doesn’t love leaven again for the rest of my life. Did you see that, Christian? Extreme. Honey, God just said seven days a year without leaven. Don’t put it out of your diet. Now leaven is yeast, and I’ve told you my story of yeast, how much, and still to this day, homemade bread is like, you know, a pied piper to me.

I can smell it wherever it’s coming from. And the time I tried to make it, I told you about that. The recipe said so much yeast, and I thought if so much yeast was good, so much more yeast was better, and so I socked the yeast to this thing, and I covered the towel and went out to do something else for an hour or so, and came back and found this science fiction monster all over the stove, all over the floor.

See, there’s nothing wrong with leaven. In fact, Jesus talks about the leaven of the kingdom of God. Leaven is something that changes the character or nature of it. But what He’s saying here is God needs control of your appetites. See, there’s a kind of Christian legalism that says the way to handle appetite is just to deny everything.

But that simply drives desire within. And most legalistic Christians live a very kind of perverted, underling kind of underground affectational life. And that’s not what the Word of God says. God’s Word doesn’t say, take leaven out of your diet. But He’s saying there should always be a time. And Eden, we’ve lived this out in our lives on numerous occasions.

I’ve lived it out in my own life many, many times when God has said to me, “You don’t take this out of your life, but I want a month without it. A month without television. I want a month without this thing in your life. This is a Lent.” And I’m not just referring to the 40 days of Lent that precede Easter, which we believe in and handle here.

I mean, one way that God knows how we’re doing is He asks for those things, and we find out who’s in charge of our life. I tell you, some of us criticize the alcoholic, and we never walk around without a cup of coffee in our hands. Well, honey, caffeine will kill you as quickly as alcohol. Or we criticize the alcoholic, and then we have a belly all the way over our belt.

You know, four or five dimensions. Honey, the alcoholic and the person who overeats die of the same disease, cirrhosis of the liver. You look at the liver of an alcoholic and an overeater, and they look identical. So much for your Christian attitude at this point. Now I’ve told you my vice: home-baked bread.

But if redemption is being walked out in your life by purpose, then there’s a direct hold that God has on your appetites. And there should be evidence in your life this week that God has said, “Son, Daughter, I want to know that that thing is under my control.” But there’s a third principle that is equally important, and we’ll begin that this morning. I’m going to teach on it tonight as well because it is so critical.

Exodus 13 declares as well that the proclaimed purpose that follows Passover means that your observable personality will be totally influenced. And of course, these are the passages, verse 9: “It shall be a sign to you on your hand, and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand, the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.” Verse 16: “It shall be a sign on your hand, like frontlets between your eyes. By the strength of the hand, the Lord brought you out of Egypt.”

Now, that’s what the passages are, and it’s out of these two passages (by the way, these are two of the four most important passages in reference to Hebrew prayer), the other two are in Deuteronomy 18. And out of this comes the curious habit that the Hebrews have of phylacteries, or tefillin. Every Israelite boy over 13, in real orthodox situations, is supposed to wear these small little cubic boxes made out of leather. In the leather, or in the little leather boxes, are parchments with these four scriptures written on them.

In fact, on the frontlet that he wears on his head, it’s divided into four cubicles, and each scripture is in a separate cubicle. The one on his hand, that is not true. Now, it’s interesting, and tonight I want to get into this in-depth, but we’re not going to do any of that this morning, as to what God intended.

I’m going to tell you here, I don’t believe God ever intended for a moment that they should wear a box with these scriptures on their hand or their head. In fact, you and I are just like that. We would rather be given something physically, religiously to do than to manifest the evidence in speech that’s altered.

In fact, in this passage, there’s an obvious change in construction, in the way the language is constructed, so that it’s very obvious that the two former things are to be done, which means you’re to keep this in front of your eyes. In other words, you’re to remember this all the time, and you’re to keep it in front of your hands — what you do. And then, if that happens, you will speak it.

It will be the thing in your life. So that the latter clause comes out of the first two, and that’s a very significant thing. In other words, the example is that the memorial of what God did before you will be before you in such a way that you will speak. Now hear me. There’s the issue. You will speak redemption. You will speak deliverance because the memory of this is so real in your life.

It’s interesting what Macintosh says about this. Human nature still finds the letter of many a commandment easier than the spirit, a ceremony easier than an obedient heart, penance rather than penitence, ashes on the forehead not a contrite spirit, and a phylactery rather than the gratitude and acknowledgment which ought to be as a sign on the hand and a frontlet between the eyes.

It’s just easier to be religious. Do you remember what Jesus said about the mouth? He said, “You brood of vipers.” And this is in Matthew 12 again. “Out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things.”

Then Jesus went on to say that every idle word will be judged, and you’ll give an account to God. Let’s look at that in Eugene Peterson. “You have minds like a snake pit. How do you suppose that you say it’s worth anything when you’re so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, which gives meaning to your words.”

A good person produces good deeds in words season after season, and an evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something. Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There’ll be a time of reckoning. Words are powerful. Take them seriously. Words can be your salvation, and they can be your damnation.

I’ll tell you, talking to someone long enough will reveal their true nature. Following this principle, many individuals who appear to be spiritual are not truly spiritual. Conversely, many who do not appear to be spiritual are deeply spiritual people. It’s fascinating how he speaks about three things here.

The hand, symbolizing practice or work. The eyes, symbolizing knowledge or thought. The mouth, symbolizing expression or speech. Ultimately, all of this culminates in personality. We can discuss deliverance and acknowledge its necessity, but without a clear focus on the intended outcome, this sanitized space becomes a breeding ground for even greater bondage than before; this principle is of utmost importance.

I’ve acquired a wealth of knowledge. I do not assert expertise in the matter of deliverance, yet I’ve gained extensive insights. I can generally discern from a person’s eyes what’s happening in their life. I want you to understand this clearly.

Someone might say, “I love you,” but their eyes could convey, “Maintain your distance.” Another person might shower you with flattery, yet their eyes reveal that this flattery is merely an excuse to exploit and distort your purpose. I’d like to emphasize something crucial.

I’m not discussing mere abracadabra. There’s a principle involved in living out these concepts. God aims to transform your personality so that the alignment between your words, your deliverance, and your life’s purpose becomes evident. God desires equilibrium. Your internal and external selves should harmonize.

That’s God’s desire. I’ve mentioned for years that if there’s anyone around you who doesn’t know your title or religious background but senses a distinct difference in your presence, someone who instinctively trusts you, then something is amiss if this isn’t the case. While some might argue that actions speak louder than words, the truth is, even if I don’t consistently live or act in alignment with it, the reality remains unchanged.

No, dear, I have news for you. Genuine deliverance is meant to manifest itself visibly and obviously. Now, the teaching I intend to elaborate on tonight is from 2 Corinthians 10. In the King James Version, this passage seems relatively straightforward. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.”

At first glance, it appears simple. However, a few years back, I had a wonderful learning opportunity with Jack Hayford, followed by discussions and extensive research, which has become foundational in my life. Let me read this to you in the New International Version, which, in my opinion, captures the essence accurately.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

There are two crucial words in this verse that substantially alter its interpretation from its initial appearance. Moreover, the context also clarifies this. These two words within a verse were part of a first-century discourse known as a diatribe. Some of you may be eagerly anticipating the upcoming presidential debates, such as Bob Dole’s preparations in Florida this weekend.

However, in the ancient world, a diatribe was an argument between opposing forces. The term “diatribe” itself conveys the idea of rubbing out or eroding. This debate revolved around two fundamental principles. First, a strategy was formulated. Having participated in numerous debates myself—facing opponents from the likes of West Point Military Academy, Cambridge, and Oxford Universities—I understand the hours spent crafting a strategy to counter the opponent.

The Greek term for strategy is “noēma.” In 2 Corinthians 10, this term is translated as “thought.” Yet, it encompasses the notion of strategy. The second facet of this discourse was to construct an argument or rationale. This is captured by the Greek word “logismos.”

And what is the purpose of the argument? To run out. The opponent’s thoughts, to rub them, and substitute your own thoughts in their place to give us a personal application. Before I kill myself, to appeal and gather the courage to give us a very personal application. Let’s imagine a statue of God Power – a design of who you are today in Christ. God never frees the man.

God never called him the man. If you think you’re saved, not called, honey, you can follow religion. Everyone who is saved is called; everybody who is elected. There’s a purpose. There’s absolutely no doubt about this in God. There’s a clear election of God’s purpose. Now, so God has a design for you. First of all, Satan designs a strategy against you. He knows what the strategy is. And then he designs a specific reasoning – something that is kind of opposed to God’s idea – and he tries to replace God’s idea with his reasoning and replace it with his own idea. So the last of these transpositions is just a question mark.

In other words, it’s as though God is saying to you, “I don’t want you to know who you really are; I want you to know who I want you to be. I want you to think you’re stupid, you’ve never made your mark on anything, you’re an alcoholic, you’re a pervert, you’re something else.” Now I have seen in the church how Satan uses clever strategy. He uses the word “prophetic.” And he targets a certain particular group of people who hold the prophetic in mind to do the same. Of course, the prophet is supposed to tear down in order to help build up. But they claim, through their pathetic denial, to tell things like they are.

Now what they’re really doing is a cruel thing.

Do you understand what I’m saying? They have a spiritual reason for doing this very cruel thing. Sweet is the offer of an earthly kind of thing. Let me give you an illustration.

They were born in San Francisco, twins. That’s right, a boy and a Jewish broad grin. They are the Buffalo Beach off. They are very hairy dudes, you know. I’ve always been interested in hair, right? I don’t know where my son got that trait from because I’ve only had beautiful hair my whole life, and I’ll cherish and pamper them in a pointless way.

My son has to shave the back of his neck. It’s incredible.

These guys are very, very fine young men raised in a very, very fine family. In fact, their father is a Christian, very, very devout Christian. Both of the men do something on the street: they sell themselves in homosexual perversion as prostitutes, basically. You know what I mean? The first of those young men, whose mouth came, is one of my best friends, and I introduced you to him.

One morning, a funny morning, helping the baby you fly over my head, Ross steps in. After he was converted, Rosalind immediately went to Bible college, ended up in one of my courses very early on, took in everything I ever had to offer, became a great man of God, still used to this day, married with several children, went as a missionary to Japan, and is now back in San Francisco. His brother is still living, and his brother came to Christ later on. He is still serving the Lord, along with Ross. Actually, I thought it was so funny, but it was just his point.

He said it was okay; he works every week with a group of, uh, sexually oriented young people who are trying to break free from their bondage and form connections. He mentioned that he meets with these guys, and he presented an image to illustrate his point. Imagine your life is like a computer, and as you’re driving down the street, you receive this message.

“I need to have a man. I need to have a man.” He said, “Type on the computer: You are a man, stupid.”

Do you see the difference? Satan says, “You’re this, you’re that. Look at how mature he’s become. You’ve always been this, and you’ll always be this.” He has been so effective with his reasoning and logic that he has eroded any concept you once had of being who God wants you to be. He has replaced it with something entirely different, something that is not aligned with God’s plan.

There’s room for change in this very service. And you might say, “Well, I’m just the age I am.”

That’s never who God wants you to be. It’s not your true identity. I appreciate what Fred shares in his wonderful ministry within this church. According to him, God only made two kinds of people: married and single. Anything else is a distortion of God’s purpose.

Many individuals might struggle within any of those categories, but the point is, God has a purpose in design. Anything else is somewhat materialistic and not aligned with what God intends for you to be.

However, Satan has meticulously crafted this argument. He has relentlessly worn away and chipped at your defenses, to the point where the substitute has taken the place of the real you. What charismatic nonsense! What’s your name? Where did you come from? Oh my god, you’re such a wuss. What’s your name? Um, what’s your name? I know where they all originated. They originated from here. Where do you truly belong as well?

What is right for you to do is reveal the truth about your life. You’d better shut up, or you’re in! Understand with me, son. We’ve got nothing to reveal from that slide. Know what that slide is! There are liars born in the pit of hell who will accuse those of good beliefs. And once you lose this money, we must capture that strategy and defeat it! And in Jesus’ name, seek no restoration of people to do exactly what God wants them to do. That’s why you need to keep your cotton-picking hedge off other people’s lawns.

With God doing the work, God save Saint Purple Headed Pink Raptors. I’d love to see this church fall in a world of purple heaven that would match these blue pieces I’m dreaming of. If that’s what the church has been working on forever, do that!

And to love and accept people. You don’t have to approve; love and accept them. And see God’s purpose for your house slowly and obscurely in his likeness. He has inside him the power of nature, God’s breath inside. And you begin to speak to him and affirm that life. And God begins to change and bring into existence the deliverance he intends.

I want you to bow your heads, please. And if you’re staring, keep your heads bowed with him. Please, everybody standing in his cause, bow your heads. Take some time again, see the passage. But did I have walls? Course? No. Looking around, “Oh, we just climb a truck course with you as we… really, why do God help discover? A real crime scene between the threat of your life being unleashed for God’s purpose.” This is a word of very personal conviction. There’s to be another one, aren’t there? Well, you must go. This one is not for you.

This thing belongs to me. Hey guys, what’s your gooseberry? Do you want to put a bone on again? God knows I’m all over this bone. So I can’t wait. How many of you said to ask, “What’s a no question, it was not the simple purity of deliverance producing the change in epitopes that God wanted?” This isn’t my life. That’s the area of struggle for me when I was a senior grad. It was the monopoly. You didn’t put the guy in the war. You didn’t put the guy back. It’s apathizing. Let’s stay useless, man. Let’s stay useless. That’s where the uselessness is about.

They’re my vicious personality. Sorry for failing to fall back into their witch’s natural bootlet and go on cheering. The hands, the allies, to the remembrance of blizzards comes the mouth of the word. Acknowledgement of who God wishes to be in the ordinary world. There’s a lack of follow-through and deliverance that needs to come into your hands.

That’s the wish of this world. In your personality, your heart, your mind, your words, your thoughts. I propose to you. There’s a song we sing here.