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My message, the sifting process.
The sifting process.
Please go to Luke 22, if you will,
please.
22nd chapter of Luke.
I want to read to you just two
verses, verses 31 and 32.
I tell you what, if you will, let's
start at verse 28.
He's speaking to his apostles.
Ye are they which have continued with me
in my temptations.
And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as
my father hath appointed unto you, that you
may eat and drink at my table in
my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.
Now folks, that is something to hear from
the master.
The master says, I've appointed you as a
kingdom.
You're going to eat and drink at my
table in my kingdom.
You're going to have a throne judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.
Look what happens immediately.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan
hath desired to have you, that he may
sift you as wheat.
But I prayed for thee that thy faith
fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brother.
He said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to
go with thee both to prison and death.
He said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock
shall not crow this day before thou hast
thrice denied that you even know me.
Heavenly Father, I can't preach this kind of
message this morning unless your spirit rests upon
me and that you give life to the
letter.
I acknowledge my utter total need and dependence
upon you.
And I ask you, Lord, to speak through
this vessel, broken as it may be, I
pray you speak through it, that everyone will
hear something from heaven.
And for those, Lord, that are so confused,
those that are so burdened because of what
they're going through, I pray that you cast
light this morning, that you give light in
their darkness.
And when the service is over, their heart
will leap for joy because they understand the
Lord is with them and he will never
forsake.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Here in Luke 22, Jesus has just sat
down with his apostles.
They've had communion.
It's the Passover.
And Jesus closed the communion service with these
solemn words, the hand of him that betrays
me is with me on this table.
Now you think of the audacity of that.
You think of the terror of the devil
possessing Judas.
And Jesus takes a piece of bread and
sops it in the vinegar and wine and
he reaches out to Judas.
And that is the hand of the devil
himself taking the bread, which is a type
of his broken body, as if to smash
it in his hands.
The utter arrogancy of the devil himself being
at the Passover, not only at the Passover,
being at the table and stretching forth his
hand to the master.
It's an awesome, incredible moment at this communion
table.
I have seen ever since that Passover, it's
been that Satan has brought down those who
have never been delivered from a besetting sin.
How did Satan get a hold of Judas?
Nobody falls overnight.
Nobody just suddenly is demon-possessed.
No one is suddenly given over to this.
Satan entered him because he had a history
of covetousness from the very beginning.
The Holy Spirit dealt with him because he
walked with the Holy Spirit.
He walked in the presence of divine love.
He walked with the living word.
And there was nothing that could be said,
there was nothing could be preached, no miracle
that he had seen, nothing could touch that
sin that was in his heart and he
was given over to it completely.
And this man absolutely was possessed of the
enemy.
There are mighty men, I've seen men that
have been mightily used of God and I've
seen them fall to the right and to
the left.
Many of them were my friends and my
acquaintances.
They are no longer in the ministry.
They have failed.
They have gone out into deep sin and
to gross sin.
Some of them have been close to the
Lord because you see, Judas was recognized as
one that followed him, one that had been
with him, one who had performed miracles, but
all the time he was a worker of
iniquity.
I had a minister call me at one
time and he said, I've got to talk
to somebody, Pastor Dave, and I think I
can talk to you.
He said, I'm in my mid-fifties and
he said, I just came from a trailer
where my preacher, father and mom live.
They spent 50 years in the ministry.
My dad's in the eighties, he's in his
eighties now and they're poverty stricken after 50
years of ministry.
They can hardly make a living.
And he said, I sat in that trailer
and the spirit came upon me and I
said, I will never ever end up like
my dad in the ministry.
There was something laid hold of me, a
spirit laid hold of me and said, I
will not die in poverty.
I will never give myself to this.
I don't care how I have to do
it.
And what he's saying, I will, and I'll
deal, I'll do anything, but I will never
end up in a trailer.
I will never end up in poverty like
my father and my mother.
And the truth is I followed that man,
hearing of it.
He did will, and he did deal.
Real estate, shady real estate deals.
He was the leader of over 300 pastors,
a leader, an official of the denomination.
And I'll never forget though, this cry, this
cry of covetousness based out of fear.
I will never be that.
You see, these kinds are easy marks for
Satan.
Judas was an easy mark because he had
this mindset.
There's another well-known evangelist.
I wouldn't mention his name.
You would all recognize it.
He fell into deep sin and the nation
was shocked and multitudes were shocked.
And just before he was to be exposed
nationally, I had his telephone number because he's
a friend of mine.
And I called him and I said, certainly
this can't be true.
And I said, they're going to crucify you.
And he said something I'll never forget.
He said, David, when I was 10 years
old, I started watching pornography.
At 10 years of age, he said, in
all my ministry, I've been harassed.
All my ministry, I've carried this burden, which
means at times he would slip back into
this, but it was not something that happened
overnight.
He had been set up as a mark
and there was no victory.
There was never a time that there was
genuine victory.
You see, this was no problem for the
devil.
He was able to lay hold of a
Judas.
There are many like Judas.
They come to church.
They worship.
You can't tell.
They look holy.
They look righteous.
They may be casting out devils, healing the
sick.
But you see, there's a problem in that
life that's never been dealt with.
There's a besetting sin.
It can be covetousness.
It can be lust, whatever it may be.
And it's an easy mark for the devil.
He can come in and he moves in
and he possesses.
So Satan enters into Judas.
So Judas now has one man and he's
going to go after the disciples one by
one.
He's going to go after these apostles one
by one because he knows the kingdom of
God is coming.
The scripture says after the Passover there was
also a strife among them.
Now, can you imagine this?
They just had communion.
The Lord has told them he's going to
be parting.
He says, I'm going to be crucified.
They didn't understand any of this.
If you follow the context of the other
gospels, you'll find that they never did fully
comprehend.
And here they are.
There was a strife among them.
Which of them should be accounted the greatest?
Now, who's going to take over when he's
gone?
Who's going to be the greatest among them?
Fresh out of communion, striving, arguing, who's going
to be the greatest?
This had to be a smorgasbord for the
devil.
This must have been a gleeful time for
him.
And he says, now who do I go
after?
Can you picture Satan saying, well, no, Nathaniel,
no, because Jesus said there's no guile in
him.
It can't be John.
He's always leaning on the bosom of the
master, and he'll whisper to the master, and
I can't get to him.
And he goes down the line, and he
remembers that Peter has been told that his
testimony was going to be the rock upon
which Christ built his church.
And his thinking is, if I can get
the rock crushed, if I can crush this,
I get the foundation.
I go after Peter.
There was a decision made at that time
to go after Peter, the apostle upon whose
testimony Christ would build his church.
He made the decision.
He would approach the master.
He would approach the Lord and ask or
pray that he could be given a season
with Peter to sift him as wheat, the
Scripture says.
Now remember, Satan could not get to Job
without God's permission.
And he was told that he could only
go so far.
He couldn't kill him.
He could touch his body.
He could take him through trials that he
could not comprehend.
And he was going to take him through
this without explaining to him that God had
allowed it, and that there was an eternal
purpose to it.
Peter, I'm sure Satan argues with the Lord,
because he brings forth his strong reason.
He comes before the throne.
He said, look, you testify to the world
that this man so believed you, that you
were God in flesh, that you were willing
to build your church on that testimony, that
he said you're the very son of God.
And I'm telling you, he's not a rock.
I'm telling you, let me have a time
at Peter, and I'll break him.
You'll find out you don't have a foundation
stone upon which to build.
You have nothing but sand.
And he goes and prays and asks, to
pray means to ask, and he asked for
permission to sift him as wheat, the Scripture
says.
Jesus had just told Peter, now listen to
it again, and you'll understand why the sifting
process had to come.
I appoint unto you, he's speaking to Peter
and his apostles, I appoint unto you a
kingdom, as my father appointed unto me, that
you may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.
Peter had to be ecstatic.
See, now he's absolutely secure, he has a
promise.
He knows he's going to heaven, he knows
he's going to be redeemed, not only be
redeemed, he's going to have a throne, he's
going to have a crown on his head,
and he's going to rule and reign.
And he knows that he's going to sit
at the master's table at the marriage supper
of the Lamb, and all through eternity he's
going to eat at the Lord's table.
Now that's security.
That should be enough to keep any man
through the rest of his ministry, and the
rest of his time, in faith and confidence
in the Lord.
I have a promise from God.
He's going to take me through this life,
he's going to use me, and then in
eternity I'm going to be useful all through
eternity.
What an incredible word he received.
But suddenly, in that holy contemplation, these shocking
words from Jesus, Simon, Simon, Peter, Peter, he
emphasizes it because he has an awesome word.
Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat.
Can you hear Peter's response?
Can you imagine what he said?
Because he was always quick to answer the
Lord whatever popped into his mind.
Very impetuous man, and he says, I'm sure
he said, What?
Satan is going to get at me?
You're going to allow him?
He came and asked you, and you said,
Yes?
I'm the man who walked on water with
you.
I'm the one of all the disciples who
recognize publicly your godness.
That you are God in flesh.
When others doubted, I didn't.
What about resist the devil and he'll flee
from you?
What do you mean you're going to let
the devil have a time at me?
You're going to let him sift me?
You see, this is an agricultural society at
that time.
Everybody knew what sifting was.
Two by fours, four this, four, about four
feet, four feet, four foot square.
And a screen, just a regular screen, so
that it is tight enough that grain can't
go through, but all the grit and the
dirt and the bugs fall through, and it
leaves the grain of the kernels of the
corn and the wheat in the sieve.
It's called a sieve.
One man on each side, the shovel in
the corn and the grain, and shake it,
really shake it until there's nothing left, but
the grain and the kernel.
And the question is why?
You see, that's a good thing.
You're getting rid of all the dirt.
Why would the devil want to sieve the
man and bring out fruit?
Why would the devil want to shake this
man and get all the dirt out of
him and all the thing, and have nothing
left but kernels of grain and wheat, whatever
it may be?
Because you see, the devil's not omniscient.
He's not omnipotent.
He can't read minds.
He is hoping that when he shakes Peter,
there's nothing left in the sieve, that all
his faith evaporates, that there's nothing left that
God can use.
He's going to shake him.
He's going to stir him.
He's going to put him in the sieve,
and the Lord has given him permission, just
as he gave permission for Job to be
tested and tried.
Lord, where is my protection?
You see, this sifting process is not for
everybody.
Overconfident, Peter had no idea whatsoever what he's
about to face.
His answer was, Lord, I'm ready.
I'm ready to die for you.
I'm ready to be crucified with you.
Lord, I am ready.
Boy, did he not know what was coming.
He was not ready.
Folks, you can't be ready for sifting.
There's nothing you can do in the flesh
to prepare for what comes in what the
kind of experience that I'm going to explain
to you in just a moment.
Because you see, I'm of the opinion that
God allows Satan to sift over confident Christians
who think they can do it on their
own, who think they're ready.
They're ready to die for Jesus.
Bless God.
If the devil comes around me, I'll trample
him, and I'll chase him, and he's gone.
I hear that boasting arrogance all over the
United States, and that, folks, that's preached from
pulpits and everything else.
Yes, we are victorious over the devil, but
I want to tell you something.
There are things that you go through that
you don't understand that the devil is behind
it.
It is the devil himself, and he has
been given permission to sift you.
Boy, am I going to get letters on
this.
Beloved, you've got to understand there are movements
in the spiritual world you and I don't
understand.
You can rail against the devil all of
you want, but angels don't do that.
I don't rail against the devil.
I don't glorify his power, but I'm not
ignorant of his devices and the fact that
in the spiritual world there are things going
on that you cannot comprehend.
You cannot understand, and we may never understand,
but we understand his eternal purposes in allowing
it.
Unless you get afraid and you say, I
fear then, Brother David, you're saying the devil
could get to me at any time he
chooses.
Unless you fear that the devil can bring
you down at any time.
Let me tell you, the only saints, now
listen closely, the only saints that God allows
Satan to sift are those he intends to
use to rebuild his fallen church.
Those who come out of the shaking and
the sifting time with their faith intact, I
can prove to you from the word will
be used to restore the house of David
that's fallen down.
And that house of David is the house
Jesus is building in the last days before
he comes.
That's the house he's building right now, and
we're a part of that house.
See, to the other disciples Jesus instructed them
to go get a sword.
That's spiritual warfare.
Look at me.
He said, I'm going away.
He said, I've been with you and I've
been protecting you, but now you're going to
have to live by faith, and go get
a sword.
And what he's warning them is that there's
spiritual warfare.
You're going to fight like you've never fought
in your life.
You're going to go through things you've never
gone through before.
And he's telling these 10 others, you're going
to go through a fight.
But you see, there's a difference between spiritual
warfare and sifting.
Peter was the only one being sifted.
Following me?
You see, there's a difference.
You see, there's a battle that no sword
you have, there's no human sword can touch
it.
It's a battle beyond you.
There's nothing you can do to prepare for
it other than seek God with all your
heart and believe and walk in faith.
But there's going to come a time that
you're going to go through something that you
don't understand.
Peter was not living in sin.
Peter loved Jesus more than he'd ever loved
him in his life.
And just a few hours before he had
taken a sword in his own hand and
cut off the servant of the high priest,
he was ready to fight to the end.
Five hours later in this sifting, he denies
him, he even knows him.
Satan injects into the mind of this man
doing a sifting.
You see, he's ready to fight.
He's prepared for spiritual warfare all right.
He's going to defend the Lord and he
does.
And it's estimated it was just five or
six hours later, Jesus is before the high
priest and Peter is warming himself by the
fire.
And you remember what happened, don't you?
The maid looks at him, the maid just
looks at him and melts him, scares him
to death, just staring at him.
How is it that he can take a
sword just hours before he cut off an
ear?
Thank God the Lord healed the ear.
How is it that five hours later a
woman can stare at him and he breaks
down?
And she says, aren't you one of these?
He says, no.
No, I'm not.
Another person was there that evidently saw him
cut the ear and he said, you're one
of them.
He says, I'm not one of them.
See, he is now in the sieve.
He doesn't know where these words are coming
from.
First time he said it, he bows his
head.
Where did that come from?
My God, I said, I don't even know
him.
Because you see, the enemy is shaking him
now.
He'd been given permission to take Peter through
something so deep and so profound that he
was going to come out of it and
speak and preach to a world who will
tell him, you don't know what I'm going
through and Paul or Peter is going to
be, I said, I've been there deeper, further
and wider than you've ever known.
And he's going to have a wisdom that
God brings forth.
He's going to go through a warfare, not
just a spiritual warfare, but this is going
to be hand to hand combat with the
devil himself.
So he's being sifted now.
He's in that sifting process and the devil
is shaking everything in him.
And finally, a third time, someone comes to
him and said, I know you were with
him.
And he stands up and he says, I
don't even know the man.
And he begins to curse according to one
of the gospels.
And even while he's cursing, when he's saying,
oh no, the man, he is bewildered.
He's befuddled.
Where does this come from?
This is not Peter.
This is not, this is not me.
This is not my flesh.
And when Jesus looked at him, the Bible
said, and the Lord looked at Peter and
I'm telling you, that look wasn't saying to
Peter, how could you do this to me,
Peter?
That look from Jesus was not, how could
you blaspheme me after all I've done for
you?
That's not what it was at all.
Jesus looked at Peter and he's trying to
say, Peter, you don't understand this.
Hold on.
I'm praying for you.
Just like I've told you right now, you
don't hear a word, but I'm interceding for
you.
The devil is trying to destroy your faith.
I need you, Peter.
And you're going through it.
Hold steady.
Prayed for you that your faith fail not.
He didn't say, I pray for you that
you won't go through this sifting process.
I pray for you that your faith fail
not.
And when you're converted, strengthen your brothers and
the proper translation.
When you have returned, when you are totally
restored, then you're going to have something to
give your brothers and your sisters.
You see, God doesn't let anybody go through
the sifting unless in his foreknowledge, he knows
the conclusion.
He knows because he's praying.
I get this in your mind, please.
If the devil can pray to get him
and get an answer, do I have to
tell you the rest?
If the devil can ask and get his
request to take him into a sifting process,
how much more is God going to hear
the prayer of his own son to bring
him out and give him faith and victory?
Hallelujah.
Don't tell me you're going to listen to
the devil and shut out the ear and
the cry of his own son.
And you have a father, you have a,
you have a savior right now.
No matter what you're going through, you've got
a man at the throne of God, who's
touched with the feelings of your infirmities.
And God's going to answer his prayer, even
though you're in the sieve, even though you're
being sifted.
Jesus said, I'm praying for you.
And you better believe he's going to answer.
It's going to be answered.
You're going to come out of it.
He didn't say, I'm praying that you avoid
this.
He said, I tell you, Peter, in all
honesty, the cock shall not curl this day
before you shall deny me thrice that you
don't even know me.
Go to second Corinthians, if you will, please.
Second Corinthians, first chapter.
Why does God allow chosen servants to be
sifted?
Verse three, beginning to read, blessed be God,
even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the father of mercies, the God of all
comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulations,
that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble.
Why is God allow sifting?
That we who are being sifted may be
able to comfort them which are in any
trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in
us, the word abound, they're overwhelmed in us.
So our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
And whether we be afflicted, it's for your
consolation, your salvation, which is effects on the
enduring of the same sufferings which we also
suffer.
For whether we be comforted, it's for your
consolation and salvation.
And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing
that as your partakers of the suffering, so
also shall ye be also of the consolation.
Oh, hallelujah.
God takes certain people through deep waters, through
crises they can't understand.
He brings them through victorious so that they
be a testimony, so that they be comforters,
they are builders, rebuilding the house of God
that has fallen down.
Hallelujah.
You see, Peter's sifting had nothing to do
with temptation such as lust, fornication, or apostasy.
The sifting has to do with how we
react when God allows Satan to directly attack
the promises God has made to us.
He would have you believe that when you're
in a crisis, all the good things God
has told you, every promise that he's made
to use you, to bless you, is just
a figment of your imagination or a dream
that you've concocted.
Did you get it yet?
You see, this is the attempt of the
enemy.
Peter has just been told he's going to
come forth and he's going to have this
crown, all the good promises God has made
to him, and he's headed for the upper
room.
And the devil is coming along trying to
get him so discouraged and get him doubting
the Lord and trying to get his mind
so full of evil thoughts that he would
say, well, how could that be because you're
such an evil-minded person?
You're not worthy of these promises.
I want to tell you something, folks.
When you're being sifted, the devil will come.
First of all, he'll try to make you
feel absolutely unworthy.
He'll try to deny every promise God has
made to you that it's a lie or
that's a figment of your imagination.
How would you like a thought to be
planted in your mind, your good Christian mind,
your sanctified holy mind?
How would you like a thought to take
hold of you that says, bow down and
worship the devil?
How would you like to have that?
It's exactly what happened with the Son of
God.
Bow down and worship me.
Now, folks, I don't know whether you understand
this or not.
I have seen this over the years.
The godliest men I have known, and God
has blessed me over the years to allow
me to meet and associate, not closely, but
have some fellowship with some of the godliest
people God has ever used.
One was a carpenter from Canada.
He's in his late 80s now.
I read two or three of his books.
It would just melt me.
The man just exudes holiness.
And I invited him to come to our
home.
I've done this on a number of occasions.
I'll bring him from England.
I'll bring anybody from anywhere in the world
to sit down and just see what makes
them tick.
I want to get something from them, from
the Lord.
And he attended one of my meetings while
he was there.
He comes up to me after the service.
He said, David, you've got to pray for
me.
In the middle of your message, I've been
bombarded with evil thoughts.
Bombarded.
I was so shocked.
I stepped back.
I first thought, is he righteous or evil?
Until it began to happen to me.
Never once a thought of leaving Jesus.
No, no, no.
It's thoughts that would tend to believe God
is unfaithful.
Thoughts that you're going to fall.
Thoughts that your children are going to be
killed or maimed or lose their heart for
God.
I mean a million kinds of lies.
It'll come.
Now, of course, nobody here knows what I'm
talking about.
You're sitting there saying, thank God.
One of two things you're saying, boy, we
must have an evil pastor.
I know you know what I'm talking about.
But you see, he's trying to get this
man to doubt the promises of God about
his future and about his present.
For me, one of the most touching scenes
in the New Testament is found in John
21.
Don't turn there.
You see, even though Peter is now restored,
Jesus did come and he walked through the
wall and he appeared before Peter and the
disciples when they were in a closed room.
And certainly that loving look of Jesus assured
Peter of God's love, the love of the
Father, the love of the Son to him.
He knew that, but he's still in the
sieve.
He's still being sifted and he said, I'm
going fishing.
When it says I'm going fishing, he went
back to his career.
He went back to his fishing career and
he seduced a few other disciples to go
with him.
And what he's saying, I'm washed up.
I'm done.
I am finished.
I sinned like no other man sinned.
I denied Christ.
I denied.
I sinned against light.
There's no hope for me.
God cannot use a man like me.
I'm forgiven.
That's fine.
But I'm a fisherman and that's it.
There's nothing left for me in the kingdom
of God.
God can't use me.
And how many there are like this, pastors
and Christian workers everywhere who were might have
used to God, who loved the Lord and
have gone through a great trial and they
failed.
Peter failed.
Every grain went through the sieve.
There was nothing left, but hey, there was
nothing with dirt and grit left in this
man, as far as the eye can see,
as far as human nature.
But God saw something more than that.
God said, I've reduced him to nothing.
Peter now is no longer going to be
an impetuous man.
He's going to be able at least to
listen to me.
So he goes fishing and they fish all
night and they get nothing.
You remember the story early in the morning,
early in the morning, Jesus is on the
shore and he's cooking fish and bread.
And he sees the disciples nearing land.
And he said, have you caught any fish?
They didn't recognize him at first.
And they said, no.
And he said, cast your net on the
other side and a great haul of fish.
And John says to Peter, that's him.
That's the master.
Peter throws off his outer garment, jumps in
the water and swims to the shore.
They gather in the fish.
You remember what Jesus said three times?
Peter, do you love me?
Yes, I do.
Again, Peter, you see, Jesus said, come and
dine.
He wanted to bring it back into communion
because all service comes out of communion.
And he wants to stretch out his hands
and feed Peter now.
I want to show you something that to
me, it melts my heart.
You see, I preached just last Sunday about
making sure we understand God's love for us.
How he loves us.
You have to be convinced of God's love
before he can truly use you.
If you doubt his love, you really aren't
free to be used wholly to your fullest
extent of God's eternal purpose.
But this is something different.
The third time he asked Peter, do you
really love me?
And Peter, not in anger, I'm sure, he
said, Lord, you know I love you.
You see, Jesus knew all along that Peter
loved him.
He knew it all along.
And he didn't want Peter to say this
for the sake of those standing by in
earshot.
It's not for the other disciples.
Jesus knows that Peter is now assured of
his love for him.
But he's trying to get Peter not to
doubt his own love for Jesus.
He's saying, keep saying it, Peter, till you
believe it.
And you're in a sieve, you're being sifted,
but that sifting is going to stop the
moment you are wholly convinced that you love
me with all your heart and you're not
going to listen to his lies anymore, that
you must not love him because of your
failure.
You have to be convinced, first of all,
that God loves you completely, unmerited, unconditional love,
that he loves you through your failures.
But then there has to come a time
when you say, God, you know my heart.
I can say that before you now.
With everything the devil has tried to throw
at me, I can tell you now that
I know my heart.
I love him.
I love you, Jesus.
You know I love you.
I'm not perfect.
That has to be in your heart right
now.
Lord, I don't doubt your love.
I'm convinced that you love me with everything
that you have in your being.
But now, Lord Jesus, I'm not going to
let the devil rob me anymore.
Tell me I don't love you because at
times I fail you or I say something
wrong or that the enemy puts evil thoughts
or some thoughts in my mind.
Now, folks, don't walk out here thinking Pastor
Dave walks around with a bunch of evil
thoughts in his mind.
I'm an old soldier.
I've learned a few things.
But this is a wonderful thought, a wonderful,
wonderful thought here, how Jesus just reaches out
to him.
Now, I'm going to close in just a
minute.
But I know what it's like to enjoy
what Peter enjoyed, the touch of Jesus, a
special touch on my life, that precious promise
that my last days are being fruitful.
I've heard that from Pastor Carter.
I've had people from everywhere saying, Brother Dave,
your best years are ahead of you.
I'm not saying it for my sake.
I'm saying that for everyone in this house.
Perhaps you too have tasted this special.
You've had a special touch of God in
your life.
You know he's touched your life.
And you've had sweet communion with Jesus.
You've been given promises that you'd never walk
alone and that there's a crown of glory
that awaits you in heaven.
And then suddenly you find, as you see
with Peter yourself, in a face-to-face
life-and-death struggle with the devil.
Folks, there are things that happen in our
lives that are not flesh.
Because you see, the flesh lusts against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh.
Who do you think is going to win
that battle?
Where is anyone here that thinks the flesh
can overcome the spirit of the living God?
So it goes into a deeper level.
It goes into this realm of a test
where God, he does not give you into
the hands of the devil, but the Lord
has to step aside for just a while
while the enemy is allowed to bring you
into a realm that you've never been before
to test you and try you.
And some of you are going through that
right now.
I know exactly what that's about.
Job, when he went through his sifting, cried
out, show me why you're contending with me.
What is your controversy with me, he said.
In other words, Lord, what is this deep
trial all about?
Usually the sifting of the enemy has to
do with the mind, has to do with
depression, it has to do with those lies
in your home, and it has to do
with lies from humans and from enemies, and
it can be almost anything.
It's usually not a battle with lust or
things like that for those who've walked with
God and loved Jesus.
The enemy knows he can't get you in
that realm, but everyone has their own button
the devil can push, so to speak.
He knows how to touch something in you,
maybe family, maybe your past, the way you
were brought up, something that just gets to
you, and he takes you into it deeper
than you've ever gone before.
You're being sifted, but Paul the apostle confirms
everything I've been saying in 2 Corinthians, back
to 2 Corinthians.
With this, I'm going to close.
2 Corinthians, fourth chapter.
I want to nail this down so you
leave here without any doubt of what I'm
talking about.
2 Corinthians, the fourth chapter, beginning to read
verse five and six.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus
the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake.
For God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
Now, listen to me, please.
Look this way, if you will.
I'm going to show you how sifting times
are sandwiched in between revelation and usefulness.
It's always sandwiched in between.
Look to what Peter or Paul has just
heard.
God's commanded.
He said we don't preach ourselves.
See, he's past that point.
There's no ego in him.
I'm not preaching myself anymore.
He points everyone to Jesus Christ.
This whole message is Christ.
He's come to a place in his ministry
and in his work, in his testimony.
Everything is Jesus.
The light has shined out of darkness.
There's revelation shining out of his heart.
He preaches revelation.
There's a light of the glory.
He's bringing to the people the knowledge of
the glory of God.
Immediately sandwiched in that, in verse 8, we
are what?
Troubled on every side and yet not distressed.
We're perplexed but not in despair.
Persecuted but not forsaken.
Cast down but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus that the life also
of Jesus might be made manifest in us.
For we which live are always delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake.
That the life also of Jesus might be
manifest in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us but life
in you.
Now look at me please.
You see he's just coming.
Listen to the words.
Trouble, distress, perplexity, despair, sense of forsakenness, persecution,
cast down, dying, death.
It's all there but Paul suddenly is giving
a revelation as why he is going through
all of this and it's a revelation if
you'll accept it why God is allowing the
enemy to get to you for a moment.
He was allowed to sift Jesus for 40
days.
The Bible says he left him for a
season.
You know how long he left him?
Less than 24 hours because he goes from
there into the temple and in the temple
he says that remember he told them that
there was only one widow that was delivered
and she was a Samaritan.
They got mad and the devil possessed that
whole crowd and took him to a cliff
to throw him over.
Jesus walked away.
That was the devil possessed people.
The devil came within 24 hours and tried
to kill him.
Don't be afraid folks.
When you come through the sifting and your
faith in Jesus Christ holds fast and it
will hold fast because Jesus is praying for
you and he says you're going to be
restored.
That is when God uses you.
Sandwiched in between.
Out of that comes verse 14.
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord
Jesus so raise up us also by Jesus
and present us with you for all things
are for your sake.
Paul said I'm going through this for you.
Folks you're going through it for your family,
for your children, for those around you on
the job.
You're going through it for others.
That the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many redound to the glory of God
for which cause we do not faint though
our outward man perish.
Even though I'm being sifted I'm not going
to faint because God has an eternal purpose.
He's going to use me to his glory.
He's going to rebuild his church that's fallen
down through my experience.
Let's stand please.
Hallelujah.
Lord I'm looking for those who know what
I'm talking about.
I'm looking for those this morning that have
been so depressed and down because they don't
understand why after loving you so much, caring
so much, and working for you that they're
still being so hounded by the enemy.
Oh God, oh my Lord let us not
faint.
Let us realize that we just have to
stand still and trust in the prayers of
our heavenly Father, our Savior standing before the
throne of God that he will give us
strength and power and he will bring us
through.
Hallelujah.
Just as sure as Christ was driven by
the devil into the wilderness to be tempted
of the enemy as he is in the
world, so are we.
You're going to bring us through to victory
that you may use us mightily for your
kingdom's sake.
If you're here and you're not right with
God, you're backslidden, I want you to come.
But if you're here this morning and you
say, Pastor David, I'm going through the thing
you're talking about.
I am being sifted and I know it's
the devil.
I know the enemy has been taking me
through a time of terror in my life
and I want to know and understand.
I want to know and understand.
I want faith right now.
I want my faith build up that I'm
not faint in this process and I'll understand
that God has chosen me for this purpose
because he wants to use me.
He needs me.
Folks, it's because he needs you.
It's because he has plans for you to
use you.
Come quickly.
Make your way upstairs.
Go to the stairs on either side and
come down.
In the annex, if you will, please just
step forward between the screens.
Please don't block the screens.
I'll pray for you.
There's no distance in prayer and I'll pray
for you there as you're standing in front
of between the screens and here in the
main auditorium.
If the Holy Spirit's speaking to you, you
obey him.
No one should press you.
That should be the call and the wooing
of the Holy Spirit.
Do you remember what Ananias told Paul when
he was told by the Holy Spirit to
go and pray for him?
He said, tell him to prepare for suffering.
That was because he was such a chosen
loved man.
You may feel that you're suffering more than
people around you and you may be, but
this suffering is always an emblem of his
love.
He knows the power of his own prayers.
Understand that.
He knows his power.
If you know this afternoon, if you can
just be convinced, convince your own heart right
now that no matter what I'm going through,
no matter what the trial is, it could
be in your home life, it could be
on the job, it could be poverty, it
could be almost anything.
Your problem won't be my problem.
Mine's different than yours and you're different than
everyone else around you.
Everyone goes through different things.
Some things that bother you, I'd probably laugh
off.
And things that would burden me, you'd probably
be able to laugh it off.
So God knows that.
He's kind and he's patient and he's loving
and he's caring.
He doesn't want you to carry that burden
anymore.
Now, what you're going through may not just
dissipate right now.
You may bind the devil, you may try
to cast them out and everything else.
And the Lord just says, ride it out
by faith.
Just be still and know that I'm God.
Just ride it out.
It's going to come to an end.
It'll pass away.
If you'll just trust him, that's all.
Folks, it boils down to faith.
There is nothing else you can do but
believe and trust his word.
That's the rock.
That's the way he brings you out.
And I want to tell you, I will
not let the devil call anything in me
unclean that God has cleansed.
When he was up there, he was told,
don't call that unclean which I have cleansed.
He has cleansed you with the blood.
No matter what thoughts the devil tries to
put in my head, I'll never let him
tell me I'm unclean.
I'm in a struggle sometimes, but he'll never,
he'll never ever convince me that I'm dirty
or I'm clean because I've been sprinkled by
the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord.
I want you to pray this.
And in the annex, will you pray this
with me now?
Heavenly Father, I come to you now with
all my struggles and all my hurts and
things I'm going through that I don't understand,
things that trouble me and they confuse me.
But I know you have everything under control.
Forgive my sins.
Blot out my transgressions.
I come to your love, Jesus.
And I know in my heart, I stand
here now because I do love you.
I love you with all my heart.
And I reject the lies of the devil
that I don't love you.
You know I love you.
And I know you love me.
And I rest in that.
And in Jesus name, I am not filthy.
I am not unclean by the blood of
Jesus.
I am clean.
I am holy in Christ.
And the devil's a liar.
And I rejoice in a clean heart and
clean hands.
Raise those clean hands and thank God right
now in Jesus name.
I am clean.
I am clean in the name of the
Lord Jesus.
I am cleansed.
I am righteous in the name of the
Lord by faith.
Clean and holy and righteous.
I'm so glad he took my sins away.
Beloved, listen, before we dismiss this service, in
the annex, wherever you may be, how many
times did Peter say it to Jesus?
I love you?
Three times.
I want you to just keep saying it
over and over all day today until you're
convinced.
Lord, I love you.
I love you.
Lord, you know I love you.
You know my heart.
I love you.
I haven't arrived.
I've still got battles, but oh Jesus, I
love you and I know you love me.
Folks, that's when the devil has to flee.
That's when the shaking is nearing an end.
Hallelujah.
That's when the sifting comes to a very
near end.
You know when the sifting stops, you just
don't suddenly, oh it stopped.
No, you just wake up one morning, oh
thank God I have his love and he
loves me.
You just wake up one day and it's
there.
Hallelujah.
Here in the main auditorium and upstairs, you
come down and go through exits eight and
nine and get your, there's no charge for
the book and I don't know which one
of the books they're right now, but and
also preaching tape and some refreshments and some
New Yorkers and in room 204 in the
annex.
Let's sing it with everything in us.
I'm so glad he took my sins away
and while we sing it, would you embrace
as many as you can.
We don't like to mix the sexes here,
but if all you want to do is
shake hands, find somebody you don't know, make
yourself known.
I'm so glad, next service three o'clock
and six o'clock.
This is the conclusion of the message.