This message is one of the Times Square
Church pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge,
P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or
calling 903-963-8626.
None of these messages are copyrighted and you
are welcome to make copies for free distribution
to friends.
Go to Psalm 23.
Anybody know what the 23rd Psalm is?
I want you to look just at verse
4, please.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for thou art with me, and I
ride on thy step to comfort me.
My message, I will fear no evil.
I will fear no evil.
I'm asking God tonight to set a whole
lot of people free from fear, bondage, and
that you'll have hope tonight and you'll never
again fear.
God, take all fear out of your life
about your old sins and your old problems
and your old failures and the devil will
never be able to lie to you again.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your manifest
presence here tonight.
Jesus, you have been so close to us.
Now, Lord, we come to the table of
the Lord.
We come to the food.
We come to your word.
And I pray, Lord, that you sanctify me,
purge me from all iniquity, give me clean
hands and a pure heart, that I may
minister the word in righteousness.
God, speak your truth to our hearts.
God, help us tonight to shake off all
bondage and all fear through the power of
your word.
Lord, it's truth that sets us free.
Truth.
And we come to your truth.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Recently, a young man came to me and
said, Pastor Dave, God has really helped me.
He's delivered me some drugs and alcohol.
But he said, I still fight one other
battle.
There's another sin in my life having to
do with lust.
He said, I enjoy a few weeks of
victory, maybe even a month at a time.
Then suddenly the old temptation hits me and
I collapse again.
And I fall back into my old sin.
And he said, I get so upset and
I feel so guilty about it.
And I can't understand why God won't take
it away.
It's always there.
It keeps coming back.
And because, he said, I really want to
please the Lord and I want to be
free.
But Pastor Dave, he said, I'm afraid my
old sin is going to win.
It's going to control me and ruin me.
He said, what am I going to do?
I'm afraid that this one thing that's still
left in my life is going to take
me back to my old ways.
And he said, I live in fear.
He said, I tremble about it.
There are multitudes of Christians in the Church
of Jesus Christ today, all over the world,
who dearly love Jesus.
They love Him passionately.
And they yearn to live a life free
from bondage to a controlling passion or sin.
And they've known seasons of victory.
They have periods of deliverance.
There's still that lingering hold.
There's that something there that doesn't let go.
And it's deep inside.
It's in the mind.
It's so impressed.
It lingers.
And they live in fear, constantly afraid they're
going to be seduced back into their old
lifestyle.
One young Christian boy became habituated to a
very strong narcotic.
He was in the hospital.
He'd been operated on for cancer.
And in his rehabilitation, they give him this
very, very strong, in fact, this narcotic went
into a drip needle, and he could turn
it on any time.
And he was just hooked when he came
out, terribly hooked.
His father, a Christian doctor, and he started
stealing the drugs from his father's medical case.
And his father recognized.
He knew the drugs were missing.
He couldn't figure it out.
And the Lord dealt with this young man.
He's a Christian, and God dealt with him.
And he went to his father and confessed.
He said, Dad, I've been so hooked.
And he told me later, he said, Pastor
Dave, I was so hooked, I could smell
it.
Even when it was in the medical bag,
right through the leather, I could smell it.
I could taste it.
I would salivate.
And he said I would tremble.
I had to have that.
Even though I knew it was sin, I
knew it was wrong, it was destroying, I
just had to have it.
Well, when he confessed it, the Lord healed
him.
He marvelously healed him, and he's serving the
Lord today.
But I'll never forget, he said, Bro.
Dave, it was frightening.
I went for so many, and I couldn't
break it.
It was just a nightmare.
I cried, I prayed, I wept, and I
couldn't shake it.
I was literally hooked.
I've had a man confess about gambling habit.
And, folks, if you think drugs something, gambling
habit.
This addiction is one of the worst addictions
on the face of the earth.
When he tells about selling furniture, selling radio,
television, iron, every piece of furniture, one by
one, selling it, selling the clothes off his
back.
Losing family, losing everybody.
And afraid any time he needed money, he
would go to his relatives.
He'd go to other friends until finally he
had no friends.
Relatives didn't want him around.
They knew he was a gambler.
And every time he got a dollar, he
would sweat because he knew what he was
going to do with it.
And so there's just no way.
And there are many, many that have never
been able to get deliverance from the problem
of gambling.
There are so many Christians that have given
up because they said the battle is too
intense.
It'll always be there.
There is absolutely no victory.
It's impossible to get free.
I'm addicted.
I can't help it.
I have met on the streets of New
York many drug addicts over the years, and
especially in the last three years.
And I would be walking the street and
these drug addicts would come up to me
and they'd say, for the day, they knew
me by name, said, don't you recognize me?
It would be John.
It would be Frank.
It would be Jose.
And they said, well, I'm Frank.
Don't you recognize me?
I was at Teen Challenge.
This was a number of years ago where
I was at Timothy House.
I spent a whole year at the farm
down in Raresburg, Pennsylvania.
I served the Lord for a whole year.
And I can tell as he's talking to
me, he's stoned.
He's either stoned or crashing.
And I'll say, son, what happened to you?
And almost inevitably, the answer goes, well, David
didn't work for me.
I guess I was too hooked.
And he said, to tell you the truth,
I was never really free.
I was always bound.
It was always in my mind.
I guess it's too much for me.
Maybe I'm just too bad of a sinner.
He said, I guess there's no hope for
me.
So many, many times, I said, look, you
know the way.
Look, you know where the Timothy House, you
know where Teen Challenge is.
Just go.
Tell them I sent you back.
You know the way.
And most of them say, well, I can't
make it.
I've tried.
And after a year, if I can't make
it, what hope is there?
What can be done?
Listen to me, please.
I've got something for you tonight.
If you sit in this building and you
are still carrying the burden of sin, a
past sin, a habit, an addiction, a besetting
sin, you have not been able to get
the victory over.
You cry over it.
You love the Lord passionately.
But you say, there's this one thing.
I can't shake it.
It's there, and it brings fear on me.
And the devil keeps telling me that one
day it's going to get me and take
me back to drugs or alcohol, promiscuous sex,
gambling, whatever it may be.
Now, folks, if you really want to get
down to the nitty-gritty, you can include
overeating.
You can add all of these things that
control our life, life-controlling problems.
They control it.
I know people that are as addicted to
food as anybody is to drugs.
Every time they get down or depressed, they
eat, they eat, they eat.
Now, forgive me for what the young pastor
said this afternoon, that he loves food, but
I can say this, he's not addicted to
food, and that's the difference.
There are addictions to all of these things,
covetousness, gossiping, all of these things.
But let me talk to those who are
under the burden, still under the burden of
a life-controlling bosom problem or habit.
I've got news for you, wonderful news, good
news about how to get free and stay
free.
Hallelujah.
No guilt trips.
I'm not going to pound you, because that's
not what the new covenant is all about.
In the old covenant, it was do this,
obey, or else.
And God wanted us to know that we
couldn't do it in our own strength and
our own power, so Jesus came.
Jesus came and shed his blood, and he
made a new covenant, and now God says,
I'll give you the Holy Ghost to do
everything that I command you to do.
I'll enable you to do it through the
power of the Holy Ghost.
So everything the Old Testament demands through the
blood of Jesus Christ can be accomplished through
the power of the Holy Spirit who abides
in us.
Hallelujah.
Under the new covenant, we're able to obey
God in every commandment.
We're able to fulfill the law of God
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, the key to understanding how to win
over every sinful habit and every demonic stronghold,
the key is in the Old Testament.
The Bible makes it very clear that everything
that Israel went through was a pattern, an
illustration for those of us.
We're to go into the Old Testament, and
we're to look at how they won their
battles and how they lost their battles, and
that's a pattern, an illustration for us.
And let me read it to you to
prove it.
The Scripture says, they were overthrown in the
wilderness.
Now, those things means their battles and their
defeats.
These things were our examples to the intent
or for the purpose that we should not
lust after evil things as they also lusted.
Now, all these things happened unto them for
example, and they are written for our admonition
or for our teaching upon whom the ends
of the world are come.
Now, nothing could be clearer than that.
If you want to know the secrets of
God in the New Testament, all New Testament
victories are based on the illustrations or the
patterns of the Old Testament.
You go back in the Old Testament, and
God allowed them to go all through this,
all through these things to teach us upon
whom the ends of the world are come.
So, I'm going to take you and do
exactly what the Scripture instructs us to do.
I'm going to take you into the Old
Testament.
I'm going to take you to Deuteronomy 7
in particular.
Go to Deuteronomy 7.
In this chapter, you're going to see all
the secrets to overcoming every enemy that's in
your life.
Hallelujah.
Are you ready?
Get into Deuteronomy 7.
Now, I'm going to give you the three
keys, the three keys to overcoming any habit,
any besetting sin, anything that's ingrained in you.
And these things that fear, that we fear
so much, all right, how many have it?
Do you have Deuteronomy 7?
Now, just leave it open on your lap
there.
Now, look at me for just a moment,
please.
Now, when you get into the Old Testament,
Egypt is a type of the old world.
That's the sin world.
Pharaoh is a type of Satan.
When you read Pharaoh, you're reading Satan in
the New Testament.
When you read of the taskmasters, you're reading
those stronghold habits that drive you, that beat
you, that won't let you go, that are
always driving you.
Those are the taskmasters of Egypt.
And all of those Egyptians who took their
straw and everything else, those are demonic strongholds.
The Red Sea is a type of passing
out of the world into salvation.
That's a type of being saved.
The wilderness is the kind of experience that
we go through, where God's testing us to
see if we really believe in his salvation,
where we are taught to grow by faith
so that we can prepare for another crossing,
and that's the Jordan River, and that's moving
into the realm of the Holy Spirit and
the fullness of Christ.
So all of these things are teaching things.
There are lessons.
Now, you have to believe that.
You have to understand that, or nothing that
we read here now is going to mean
anything to you.
Now, folks, this has helped me in my
life more than I can describe to you.
This has been a powerful tool.
It's been how God has taught me to
live an overcoming life.
I go into these, and I read these,
and I apply it, and I appropriate it,
and I say, Lord, you said it, that
I'm to go in the Old Testament.
But all these things are written for my
sake for the last days.
So I accept it.
I believe it.
I'm going to give you the three keys
now.
If you will look at this and believe
it, not only believe this word right here,
before I'm finished tonight, in the next 30
minutes or so, God's going to free you,
and you're going to walk out of here
singing and leaping, and never again in your
lifetime will the devil be able to lie
to you or seduce you or get you
down telling you're going to fall because you
can put these three keys, lock them in
your heart, and say, devil, you can't take
them from me.
All right, are you ready for key number
one?
First of all, victory over sin begins with
this.
Don't be afraid of your enemy, no matter
how strong they seem to be.
Don't be afraid of your sin.
David said, I will fear no evil.
I'll not be afraid.
Now, folks, the devil works on the premise
of fear.
The only way he can hold you is
through fear.
Sin loses all its power when fear is
gone.
The devil wants you to fear your past,
fear your problems.
Now, look with me at verse 17, please.
It's also saying in thine heart, these nations
are more than I.
How can I dispossess them?
Now, you know what those nations represent?
Those represent all the giant sins.
All of these enemies of Israel represent sin,
habits.
They were in the land.
They were established in the land.
They were rooted.
These are rooted, deep-seated sins.
If you shall say in your heart, these
nations or these sins are more than I,
how can I dispossess them or how can
I put them out of my life?
Thou shalt not be afraid of them, but
shalt well remember what the Lord thy God
did unto Pharaoh and unto all of Egypt.
He said, you remember what I did at
the cross with the devil?
I have proclaimed victory, and I put him
to an open shame.
You're to remember that, that you are not
to be afraid.
Hallelujah.
It's Moses saying to the children of Israel,
he's saying, children of God, listen to me.
You are not to go about thinking that
the enemy is too powerful or too entrenched,
too strong to fight against.
You're not to live in fear thinking that
your enemy is going to overpower you and
destroy you.
You're not to go around depressed thinking, how
am I going to get rid of this?
How am I going to get victory?
God says in the word here, he said,
I'm teaching you, you've got to learn from
this.
Don't be afraid of your enemy.
Some of you sit here now, you came
to this meeting, and I'm praising the Lord,
but down deep inside, you have never gotten
rid of the fear of your enemy or
the fear of something in your path.
Or maybe this has such a hold on
me, it's going to destroy me, it's going
to ruin me.
Moses said, you can't think that way.
Your first step to victory over all your
powerful enemies is to say, I will not
fear my enemy.
My enemy is not too strong for me
because it's not my battle anyhow.
See, the devil works by fear.
Remember the ten spies that came back with
an evil report?
The Bible says they discouraged their brothers.
And what happens?
The devil moved in with the spirit of
fear into the camp, and they went around
everywhere saying, giants, walled cities, impossible.
We cannot defeat this enemy.
Let's quit.
Let's give up.
And that's exactly what God is trying to
tell us here now.
You can't go the way of the report
of the spies, those evil spies that brought
that terrible report back.
He says, don't report that to your spirit.
Don't let the devil whisper in your ear,
this is too big for you.
This is going to destroy you.
This is the end.
You've tried and tried.
This enemy is bigger than you.
Your drug habit is bigger than you.
Your alcohol habit is bigger than you.
The sin habit is bigger than you.
God said, I don't care how big your
enemy looks.
I don't care how strong he appears to
be.
Don't be afraid of him.
Don't be afraid.
Now, if you listen to the lies of
the devil, he's going to tell you your
sin habit is going to overwhelm you, that
you'd better give up because you're never going
to be able to fight it.
Moses cried out, dread not, neither be afraid
of your enemy, because the Lord your God
is going to go before you, and he
shall fight for you.
Now, go to Deuteronomy 20, and let me
show you something, please.
Deuteronomy 20.
What's the Bible say?
You know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.
I'm not giving you something out of a
psychology book.
This is the living word of God.
Let the devil know that.
Verse 20.
I mean, chapter 20, verse 8.
When thou goest out to battle against thine
enemy, you see horses and chariots and a
people more than thou.
So if you look in your habit, you
look in your sin right in the face,
and it looks so big, looks so overpowering,
be not afraid of them, for the Lord
thy God is with thee, which brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt.
It shall be when you are come nigh
unto the battle that the priest shall approach
and speak to the people, and say unto
them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day
unto the battle against your enemies.
Let not your hearts faint, fear not, do
not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of
them, for the Lord your God is he
that goes with you to fight for you
against your enemies to save you.
The officer shall speak to the people, saying,
What man is there that buildeth a new
house, is not dedicated?
Let him go home, return to his house,
lest he die in the battle, and another
man dedicate it.
You know what he's saying here in the
following verses?
If you're going to walk by fear, you
might as well go home.
Quit the fight.
You can't fight with fear.
You can't resist the devil of fear.
And what man is he that hath planted
the vineyard, and hath not yet eaten it?
Let him go also and return to his
house, lest he die in the battle, and
another man eat of it.
What man is there that betrothed a wife,
and hath not taken her?
Let him go and return unto his house,
lest he die in the battle, and another
man take her.
The officer shall speak further unto the people,
and they shall say, What man is there
that is fearful and faint-hearted?
Let him go, return to his house, lest
his brethren's heart faint as well as his
heart.
You know what God's saying?
Look at me.
Doesn't matter what anybody else says or thinks.
God says, I say, Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
Don't listen to these voices that come to
you from all around you.
We can't do it.
It can't be done.
It's hopeless.
It's helpless.
Those are demon spirits.
Those are spirits of wickedness coming to try
to destroy you.
Don't listen to them.
My God said, I don't care how big
my enemy looks.
I'm not to be afraid of him.
Hallelujah.
Glory be to Jesus.
God said, if you'll not be afraid, and
if you'll take a step of faith now,
if you will not be afraid, and you
stand still and see my salvation, I'll make
the enemy afraid of you.
Folks, God never intended that His children go
around running from the devil.
They're supposed to be able to wait.
God said, I'll put the dread of you
in their hearts.
Well, let me read it to you.
And all the people of the earth shall
see that thou art called by the name
of the Lord, and they shall be afraid
of thee.
Deuteronomy 2, 4.
They shall be afraid of you all through
Deuteronomy.
And I will put the dread of thee
and the fear of thee upon the nations
that are under the whole heaven, and they
shall hear report of thee, and they shall
tremble, and they shall be in anguish because
of thee.
And folks, those demonic strongholds, when they know
that you're no longer afraid, they begin to
tremble.
And that's the way the Bible says, they
will flee in anguish because the devil's just
waiting around.
He'll whisper and lie to you until you
begin to tremble.
Then his presence will know, I'm going down,
he's going to destroy me.
No, no more talk of going down.
No more talk of backsliding.
No more fear.
I curse it in Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Take it away, oh God, take it away.
God's not waiting around, you know, just to...
Well, let me put it this way.
Thou shalt not be afraid of them, for
the Lord your God is among you, a
mighty God and terrible.
That word terrible is wonder worker.
God said, the reason you don't have to
be afraid is very simple.
It's because I'm with you.
What did David say?
I will fear no evil, for thou art
with me.
God's saying, now come on, common sense.
Who's got the power?
Who has the might?
I'm a wonder worker.
I'm mighty among you, he says.
I'm the wonder worker.
You don't have to explain it to the
devil.
You don't have to explain it to yourself.
God says, don't be afraid, because I'm going
to go through it with you.
I'm with you.
I didn't leave you.
When did I leave you?
When did I forsake you?
When did I stop and say, you go
your way, I'll wait right here for you.
God's not waiting around until you get better.
He's not waiting around until you try harder.
Some people think, oh, if God could just
see me working at this harder.
If God could just see me trying harder,
maybe he'll help me.
No, you try all you want.
That doesn't count with God.
God doesn't look at that at all.
You say, well, we're supposed to resist the
devil only in the power of the Holy
Ghost.
Not until he comes.
You can't resist the devil in your own
power.
No way.
And he brought, I'm reading to you now,
Deuteronomy 6.23, and he brought us out
from Egypt that he might bring us in
to give us the land which he swore
unto our fathers.
Look at me, please.
Moses said, look, God brought us out to
take us in.
A lot of people come out, but they've
never gone in.
They're still in the wilderness of fear and
unbelief.
And God says, I brought you out of
sin, not so you could spend the rest
of your life fearing the devil and fearing
your own problems.
I brought you out to bring you into
peace and rest in me.
I brought you out to bring you in.
Folks, walk in tonight.
Come on in to the promised land of
absolute faith and confidence.
God's with me.
Folks, young people, especially young people, listen to
me, please.
The devil wants you to believe that every
time you fail or every time you don't
get it right, so to speak, that God
just, the Holy Ghost just flitters away and
God just drops you for a time and
he hides from you until you've got it
all worked out.
That's blasphemy.
That is absolute blasphemy from the devil.
God said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you.
What kind of father would I be if
my children, when they're in trouble, I'd leave
them, I'd forsake them if I'm not there.
Folks, I'm always at the other end of
that telephone.
Every time I get a call, I'm there
for my children or grandchildren.
I'll always be there and I delight in
helping them.
And I want you to know that my
God stays with you no matter what you're
going through, no matter how you fail, God
is not going to forsake you.
God said, I'm still with you.
You may not see it, you may not
feel it, but I'm with you.
And don't believe the lie of the devil
that God's forsaken you, that God's waiting for
you to work things out a little better.
Hallelujah.
You say, how can I get rid of
my fears, Brother Dave?
Because I really want to be free of
this fear of going back or falling.
You deal with your fear by constantly reminding
yourself that God loves you, that he's promised
to never leave you or forsake you, and
you ask the Holy Spirit to help you
jettison, shake off all your fears.
What's key number one?
Be not afraid.
Say it.
Be not afraid.
Key number one again?
Be not afraid.
All right, key number two.
God must supernaturally deliver you from all your
enemies, supernaturally.
The battle can't be won in human strength.
And boy, this is illustrated powerfully in Exodus,
the 14th chapter.
Don't go there, but this is Israel in
panic because here comes Pharaoh with his army,
and he's bearing down mountains on two sides
and the Red Sea in front.
And they can hear the hoofbeats.
They hear the wagon wheels of these chariots
out of Egypt, Pharaoh and his army.
This is the devil coming with everything out
of hell, coming with temptation and lies and
every conceivable thing.
And Israel is in absolute panic at this
time.
And then suddenly fear overwhelms the camp, and
they begin to say to Moses, why did
you bring us out here to kill us?
Why did you bring us out here to
expose us?
Better to have died in Egypt.
At least we would have had a decent
burial.
And now we're going to be overwhelmed.
We're going to be overpowered, and we are
helpless.
There's nothing we can do.
And, folks, that's where the devil would like
to get you.
He likes to get you in panic.
He will come with every lie.
He'll come with temptation.
Pharaoh's army, the devil's army of imps will
come against you.
He'll throw everything out of hell at you
so that you will come to this place
of fear.
It's too great.
I can't help it.
There's no use.
And they begin to murmur and complain.
And Moses rose up.
He said, fear you not.
Stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord.
Tomorrow you will see the Egyptians no more
because the Lord is going to fight for
you, and you shall hold your peace.
Can you picture them taking it on their
own human strength and everybody jumping in the
river and trying to swim across?
And they're walking with babies held up, and
the water gets too high and too swift.
And you see the babies being destroyed.
You see people screaming.
It could have been absolute chaos.
They would have been tripping over each other
and their wagons, and there would have been
sheep and donkeys and all their animals running
all over the hills.
It could have been absolute chaos.
And that's exactly what the devil tried to
create, chaos.
That's why it's so important to stand still
and say, my God told me I don't
have to be afraid.
This looks bad.
The enemy looks like it's more powerful than
we are.
But he said stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord.
And God said, if you'll stand still now,
not be afraid, and if you'll just trust
me now, that I am stronger than your
enemy, that I am with you.
You're not out here all by yourself fighting
this battle.
Come on, get this, you fellas from Timothy
House now and the girls also from Sarah
House and everybody else in this congregation has
been delivered from an addiction or habituating sin.
Let me tell you, you don't have to
go around in panic.
You don't have to go around in fear.
You may have temptations coming at you from
all sides.
By the way, you know it's not a
sin to be tempted.
And even when you fall into temptation, he
said, if we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father.
He still doesn't leave you.
He's still there.
He's still loving you through it all.
There's no need for panic.
And this could have been an absolute scene
of panic, but God came on the scene
and he said, look, this has to be
done supernaturally, absolute power of God, a supernatural
deliverance.
Deuteronomy 130, the Lord your God, which goeth
before you, he shall fight for you.
Deuteronomy 322, you shall not fear them, for
the Lord your God shall fight for you.
Over and over, all through Deuteronomy, Exodus, all
through the Old Testament, God said, Stanfield, I'm
going to fight this battle.
I'm going to defeat your enemy.
Now, folks, listen to me, please.
If you're going to gain victory over an
old sinner habit, there's one thing you've got
to learn above all else.
And some ministers never learn it.
Some Christians never learn it.
They go all through their lifetime struggling.
And it was brought up this morning and
this afternoon very well.
Some people are bound by legalistic habits and
the teachings of people that bring them into
all kinds of bondage because they're trying in
their own strength to please God, trying to
do it in their own strength.
When I grew up as a young Pentecostal
lad in a preacher's home, I was never
allowed to go to a high school football
game.
That was sin.
That would bring great reproach on the name
of the Lord.
My sister was not allowed to belong to
an honor society.
She was an honor student.
And Mom explained it to the church.
We pastors, we have people in this church
that believe any connection with the world is
sin.
So my sister was, I remember how she
wept over that.
She couldn't be a part of the honor.
She couldn't join the honor club.
All it was was students who had high
honors.
She had high honors.
She couldn't.
And she had to wear certain clothes.
In those days, the girls had to wear
stockings to date that are very popular, but
then it was awful.
My sister cried.
She had to go, but she had to
look like a Christian.
When I first came to New York City
and up on 101st Street in Spanish Harlem,
there was a little Pentecostal church there, and
I went up there.
There were 15, 20 drug addicts I was
working with, and there was a little church
there.
And I asked the pastor if I could
bring those kids into his church and have
a service there.
And he looked at the girls who they
had pants on, Levi's.
And he said, I will never let a
girl in my church who has pants on.
Never will one go in there, because I've
got three teenage girls in our congregation.
I don't want them to be intimidated.
I don't want them to be, what do
you think, I don't want them to backslide
like these girls.
And here are these girls weeping, crying, wanting
Jesus, and I'm not even allowed in, because
they have Levi's on.
And you see, we try in our own
human strength, we're always under the commandments of
men, and the commandments and the prohibitions of
men bring all kinds of guilt and fear
that God never intended.
God did something for me one day.
I was reading in 1 Timothy.
Let me just read.
I was reading this.
Now, the Spirit speaks with expression that in
the latter times, some shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry and commanding to abstain from meat, which
God created to be received with thanksgiving.
And here are a whole group of people.
God spoke to me.
He said, David, you've spent so much of
your lifetime forbidding things that I didn't forbid
and commanding things I never commanded.
And many of you do that.
We do that.
We forbid things that God never.
They're going around forbidding people to marry.
God said it's not good for a man
to be alone.
God said marriage is honorable.
And there were people living under this bondage.
They wouldn't dare.
There were so many in those congregations that
would have liked to get married, but that's
a sin.
God never forbid it.
But man forbid it.
And they're commanded, you can't eat meat.
And there's some people that go past the
meat market or smell roast beef.
Oh, I'd love to have a slice of
roast beef.
But their pastor said it's a sin.
And so all their lifetime they labor under
this.
If they lust after meat, they're condemned the
rest of their time.
How many things have you brought on yourself
with guilt and condemnation that wasn't from God
at all?
Some man or some past teaching got a
hold of you.
There's no power in your flesh.
God doesn't honor flesh.
Flesh can't be changed.
Flesh will always be flesh.
God gives you a new heart.
There's a new man.
God doesn't deal with the flesh.
He does away with the flesh.
God doesn't accept flesh.
No flesh will be honored in his presence.
There's only a new man, hallelujah.
King Hezekiah saw a huge army of Assyrians
coming, much greater army than his.
His was just a little motley group.
And here comes this multi, multi thousands of
soldiers.
In 2 Chronicles 32 it tells about it.
How does he get to victory?
He says, be strong and courageous and be
not afraid nor dismayed for there be many
with us.
There are more with us than with him.
But with him is the arm of flesh.
But with us is the Lord our God
to help us.
And he will fight this battle.
And the people rested on the words of
Hezekiah.
Remember David going up against the lion?
That's you going up against your sins.
And the devil would like to say, You
know Max, you're going to be chewed to
pieces.
Look at David, little David.
This day I'm going to smite you.
I'm going to take off your head.
And all this assembly shall know that the
Lord saves not with sword or spear.
For the battle is the Lord and he's
going to give you into my hands.
Hallelujah.
God puts the Holy Ghost right in us.
That God is with us.
He is bigger than any sin.
He's bigger than any habit.
He said, I'm in you mighty.
I'm a wonder worker in you.
Forgive me for screaming but I'm getting a
little excited about his word here.
God by his own omnipotent power drove all
of Israel's enemies out of their lives.
They shall no more be able to stand
before thee.
For the Lord will drive out all your
enemies before you.
The Lord will drive out all of your
enemies before you.
God said, you've heard it said, Who is
able to stand before the children of Adam?
Those are the children of the giant.
Who is able to stand against these giants?
And that's what God said, you hear this
from the devil.
Who are you to stand up against such
a powerful enemy?
And then God came back and answered.
He said, understand now this day that the
Lord thy God is he which goes over
before you as a consuming fire.
He shall destroy your enemies.
He shall bring them down before your face
so that you will drive them out and
destroy them quickly just as the Lord has
promised you.
Glory to God.
That's good.
That's powerful.
Why don't you say a bigger amen than
that?
My goodness, he's saying.
God further warned.
He said, don't think I'm going to deliver
you because you're righteous.
Not because you're good.
He said, you're a stiff necked people, but
I love you anyhow.
And I'm going to deliver you because I'll
tell you why he's going to deliver you.
I'll show you in just a minute.
He said, not for thy righteousness sake or
the uprightness of thine heart.
For thou art a stiff necked people.
Let me go on.
There's something else here I've got to show
you.
There's a powerful message here in Deuteronomy 9
.5. Turn to Deuteronomy 9.5. It says,
not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness
of thine heart, that thou go to possess
their land.
But for the wickedness of these nations, the
Lord thy God doth drive them out from
before thee, that he may perform the word.
Listen to me, please.
That he might or may perform the word
which the Lord sware unto their fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
All right, now look at me, please.
Now this, if you get this, it's a
revelation from the word, not because I'm giving
it to you, but it's right there just
in plain view.
If you will take this and absorb it
into your very spirit, it can change your
life.
Now listen to me, please.
The Lord thy God doth drive them out
from before thee, that he may perform the
word which he swore to your fathers.
God said, I'm going to drive out all
your enemies because I gave my word to
your father, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And my Bible tells me in Galatians 3
.7 that I'm a child of Abraham.
I'm his seed.
Every believer is a seed of Abraham.
And he said, to you, Abraham, and to
your whole seed, I make you a covenant
promise.
I will be your shield as long as
you live, and as long as this earth
stands all as your seed, I will be
a shield.
I will defeat all your enemies.
I made a covenant promise.
And folks, I claimed that in my life,
and that's why God keeps me.
I claimed that.
I'm a seed of Abraham.
And God made a covenant that's unbreakable.
He can't break that covenant.
It's impossible.
God says, I'm your shield.
Is the devil coming against you?
I'm your shield.
Temptations, I'm your shield.
I'm going to deliver you until the end.
Hallelujah.
And then he said, because I love you.
I love you.
Hallelujah.
Folks, when the enemy comes against me, Isaac
goes, Jesus loves me.
God loves me.
I don't care what anybody thinks about me
anymore.
God loves me.
All right.
Key number two, you can't deliver yourself.
It has to be supernatural.
Say it.
You can't deliver yourself.
It has to be supernatural.
And God's promised to do it supernaturally, hasn't
he?
All right.
Key number three.
You've got to get this, because here's the
whole premise.
Deliverance comes little by little.
And oh, here's how the devil has destroyed
so many Christians.
Because they wanted it all at once.
And if it didn't happen all at once,
then it's not scriptural.
Listen to what the scripture says.
Look at verse 22 in chapter 7.
Verse 22.
And the Lord thy God will put out
those nations before thee, or those sins before
thee, by little and little thou mayest not
consume them at once, lest the beasts of
the field increase upon thee.
And in Exodus 23, 29, 30, it says,
I will not drive them out from before
thee in one year, but little by little
will I drive them out from before thee
until thou be increased.
Now listen to me, please.
The moment you come to Christ, you're guaranteed
a final total victory.
That's been settled at the cross.
Legally, all the power of the devil has
been destroyed.
He has no legal hold on you whatsoever.
Now, that is not in question.
By faith in Jesus' blood, I am justified
before the Father.
Not by any works that I have done.
Jesus, only God only recognizes one man.
Now, folks, are we not bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh?
Is there not just one body?
He's the head, and we are all a
part of that body.
Do you understand that when the devil attacks
me, he attacks the body of Jesus himself?
When he attacks you, he's attacking the body.
Do you think the head's going to let
the devil get by with it?
No way.
But he said, I'm going to deliver you
little by little.
Now, folks, I'm not suggesting that you cannot
get a sudden, complete deliverance from any inference
sin.
There have been many, many in teen challenge
over the years, drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, name
it.
I have seen instant deliverances.
I've seen God do it in just a
moment of time, as far as the physical
habit, but then the mental habit has still
been there.
Sometimes two years, three years.
There are some that have lingered a long,
long time.
I have watched those who don't want to
go through any kind of experience of struggle
or test of faith.
They don't want to go through any spiritual
warfare whatsoever.
They say, God, I came to you.
I want instant deliverance.
And I've seen many who've had that instant,
no battle deliverance, no testing, no weeping, no
crying before the Lord, getting to know him
in intimacy.
And usually the Bible, the Lord said, I'm
not going to do it all of a
sudden, lest the beast overwhelm you.
And I have seen the beast of pride
come in, and I've seen people absolutely eaten,
swallowed up by a beast of pride, because
they were able, there are others all around
us still struggling to pray for me.
I'm still going through a test.
I'm still not in my mind.
I'm not delivered.
Now, I'm not talking about those who go
out and take a shot.
No, no, no, you don't do that.
But you see, you still have this mind
battle.
It's still there.
And I've seen many who've been delivered, and
then the beast of judgmental spirit comes.
Listen, let me tell you something.
Some of the most impatient, uncaring people I've
met have been those who have never been
through the test.
They have been suddenly delivered of a sin,
a deep-rooted sin, been delivered, and look
down on the rest and begin to judge.
Well, God just took it from me instantly,
and you're still struggling.
What's the problem?
The compassion's gone.
There's no compassion.
You sit here tonight, and you say, Brother
Wilson, I'm still struggling.
Listen, let me tell you something.
Some of you fellows that are here, a
year ago, you couldn't go six hours without
a fix.
How long has it been now?
How long has it been?
A little, a little.
This mind habit, he's changing the mind.
We go from grace to grace and glory
to glory.
The Lord is doing a work.
Why didn't he deliver you the night you
got saved?
Why was it all over then?
Because of the beast.
It would have devoured you.
Now, you're on your knees, you're crying, Oh,
God, deliver me.
God, and you know what God said?
Yeah, call, cry.
You're learning.
You're learning to trust me.
You're learning to lean on me.
You say, Brother Wilson, I'm fully delivered.
Oh, don't despair, folks.
He loves you.
Your battle is his battle.
He says, you stand still now, and you
trust me.
You keep crying.
Folks, he bobbles every tear.
And some of these people never learn to
cry.
Some of these people have learned to do
nothing but boast.
I was a drug addict, and I came,
and bless God, I never had another thought
of drugs, and I'm not making fun of
that.
But folks, I looked at that man a
year later, and there's not that depth.
There's not been that battle cry.
They've not walked through it with the Lord,
and the Holy Ghost learned his ways.
Hallelujah.
You're learning his ways, little by little.
You're not what you were even last week.
You're just a little closer to Jesus.
Faith is growing.
You know him a little better, little by
little.
So what are you afraid of?
You say, well, I might fall, Brother Dave.
Let me tell you something.
First of all, you don't fear that.
And even when you get down, you don't
fear that.
Now, if you have it in your thought,
well, Brother Wilkerson's making it possible for me
to just go out and get another fix,
and Jesus loves me, I'll come back tomorrow.
No, that's not the way it works, because
you see, you have a love for Jesus
in your heart, and he's already bent your
nature toward him.
Your nature's not completely changed, yet that he's
changing your very nature, and that nature is
being changed.
Hallelujah.
You're putting on the new man.
The old man's getting weaker and weaker, and
the new man's getting stronger and stronger.
Hallelujah.
But until you're able to stand complete in
the new man, he has all the power,
all the patience, and all the love that
you'll ever need.
Now, before closing, let me...
Oh, my goodness.
I'm sorry.
I don't preach that long, usually.
Let me quit with this.
There was a...
I read the story of a man by
the name of Lutinus.
Lusitanus, a very godly man who was deeply
involved in the work of God, worked long
hours, fasted, prayed, just giving himself to the
work of God, knew the Lord intimately, a
great man of prayer.
And the devil came to him in his
prayer room one night to harass him.
And he said, Lusitanus, he said, why do
you work so hard for the Lord?
You fast, you watch, and you wait, but
you're not doing any more than I do.
He said, so you're not a drunkard.
He said, devil said, neither am I.
You're no adulterer, are you?
He said, devil said, neither am I.
Devil said, I don't drink.
I don't curse the way people curse.
And he said, you say you watch and
pray.
He said, I never sleep.
He said, what are you doing that I'm
not doing?
And for a moment, it shook Lusitanus, and
then he stood up, and he said, oh,
devil, I deny myself.
I trust God, and I walk humbly with
him.
And he said, that's something you can't do
because if I brought you down, you've never
trusted God.
And he said, that's something you can't do
when the devil left.
He said, it's not when I don't smoke,
I don't drink, but I walk humbly with
my God in full trust.
I trust my God.
Hallelujah.
Will you stand, please?
I said, you ought to be shouting before
this is all over.
Just raise your hands and thank God that
he loves you.
Say, Lord, I thank you for loving me.
Lift your hands and love him.
Right now, Lord, I love you.
I thank you that you're going to see
me through.
I'm not going down.
I'm going over.
I'm going in.
Hallelujah.
I'm going in.
Holy Spirit, I thank you for your precious
words.
Holy Spirit, you anointed every word that's in
this book.
You moved upon holy men.
These were your words from the Father, and
I thank you for them.
They set us free.
No one who calls themselves by your name
Jesus needs fear.
We will say with David, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me.
Hallelujah.
Glory be to God.
Thank you, Jesus.
The only ones I want to come down
here tonight to this altar are those who
are about to give up, and God sent
your word tonight, but you were about to
give up.
I was at the end of my rope.
The devil tried to literally destroy me and
take away my hope and my joy, and
I've just about been overwhelmed, but tonight I
don't want to walk out of here the
way I came in.
I want total victory.
And if you're not right with God or
you're backslidden, you come with these that are
coming now.
Balcony on the main floor.
Get out of your seat and come here
now.
This is deliverance night.
God wants to deliver from the spirit of
fear, but I'm not giving you the spirit
of fear.
Love and power of the sound mind.
Up in the balcony.
Go to the stairs.
Either side.
Come down any aisle.
Amen.
Are you totally convinced as you stand here
now that God's not mad at you?
Amen.
Can you say that?
Say it.
God's not mad at me.
Are you convinced he loves you passionately?
Do you believe he loves you?
Absolutely.
How many believe God's with you tonight?
Raise your hand.
Can you say God's with me?
You wouldn't have come down here.
God walked right down the aisle with you.
He stands with you right now.
He's here.
Hallelujah.
You know he wants to deliver you from
your fear so that you can walk out
of here tonight saying I don't know how
he's going to do it, but that's his
work.
That's his job.
He said you give that over to me.
I'm going to fight your battle.
He said I'm going to weaken your enemy
so much that if I put the sword
in your hand, all you have to do
is chase him.
Amen.
Yes, they had swords.
They had to fight, but the enemy had
been so weakened by hornets.
God said I'll send hornets ahead of you,
and I'll sting them, and I'll make them
so weak, and that's what the devil's doing.
He's weakening.
The enemy in you is getting weaker and
weaker, and the Christ in you is getting
brighter and brighter.
Hallelujah.
I'm going to stand here and say I've
seen little by little God changing me.
Raise your hand, please.
Little by little, little by little, God's changing
me.
Hallelujah.
Well, then I would presume you understand that
God's just trying to say if you quit
trying to figure this out, and you just
cry to me and call on me and
love me, spend time with me in my
presence, leave all your problems with me and
leave all the battles with me, you just
spend time with me, and I'll take care
of all this other stuff.
I'll take care of the enemy.
I'll tell you what to do.
If God wants you to have a part
in it, He'll tell you what to do.
He'll explain it.
The Holy Ghost will talk to you.
You don't have to fret about it.
He's faithful.
Hallelujah.
Glory be to God.
Lord, I'm praying now for victory over fear
for all of these that have come forward,
that they'll be able to walk out of
this building tonight and be absolutely free in
you.
Lord, we come against all spirits of fear,
anxiety, depression.
God, remove that.
I want all of you who came forward,
raise both hands, lift them up, and pray
this with me right now.
Jesus, I give you my fears, I give
you my doubts, and I give you all
my battles.
I turn them over to you.
Remove my fear.
I trust you, Jesus, to do everything that
you promised in your word.
I accept your love.
I accept your promises.
And I will not be afraid.
I will trust you for supernatural deliverance, little
by little.
Thank you, Jesus.
Just thank Him right now.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Glory to Jesus.
Hallelujah.
This concludes side two.
This tape was obtained from World Challenge, and
our mailing address is P.O. Box 260,
Lindale, Texas, L-I-N-D-A-L
-E, Texas.
Zip is 75721.
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God bless you now.
Goodbye.