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My message tonight is called Evil Men in
the Plan of God.
Evil Men in the Plan of God.
Psalm 94.
Father, I thank you for the anointing of
your Holy Spirit.
I thank you for your strength and your
power in this house tonight.
And I know in my heart, Lord, that
you love with an unfathomable love every person
who has come into this house tonight.
From every background, from every situation, every kindred,
Lord, every kind of situation imaginable.
Lord, you know them all.
You are walking in the midst of every
trial.
You're walking in the midst of every difficulty
with every person who's come here tonight.
And you love us, you love every one
of us, Lord, with an unsearchable love.
And Lord, I ask tonight for an anointing
of that love to literally fall like an
ocean from heaven upon every heart, upon every
life.
Lord, that you would bathe us in that
love and that you would anoint your word
to release every heart, to release every life
from every grip of darkness that would be
against, formed against the testimony that you would
want to form in the hearts and lives
of your children.
I thank you, Jesus, that you're my comforter,
you're my guide, you're my friend, you're my
strength, you're my life.
You are everything that I have.
I cherish you, I treasure you.
I ask, Lord, tonight that I might be
able to bring you out of the words
of this Bible, Lord, in a way that
people can lay hold of it and take
it home as a treasure, O God.
A treasure that they can hold close to
their heart for all of eternity.
We love you tonight, Jesus, in this house.
We want to tell you that we love
you.
We thank you that you send your word
to heal us and you send your word
to deliver us.
So I stand in the strength of the
Holy Spirit tonight and I thank you, God,
that your purposes will be accomplished in every
life and at every heart.
We give you all the praise and all
the glory.
Father, in Jesus' name, hallelujah.
There's nothing that's any greater a need in
any one of our lives.
You're welcome.
There's no greater need in any one of
our lives in this hour that we're living
in than to know Jesus, to desire him,
to have his heart.
I'm going to be speaking on Sunday a
message called Keeping the Fire of God and
there is no other way than to love
him and to desire him and to do
it his way.
I feel that some difficult days are ahead
for all of the world, not just New
York City, but the entire known world.
There are some difficult days ahead of us.
But in the midst of those difficult days,
the good news is that we have a
great, big, powerful, wonderful God.
And he said, I will hide you under
the shadow of my wings until these calamities
are over past you.
Hallelujah.
One of the things as a young Christian
that I had a hard time to understand
is how evil men can so seemingly prosper
against the righteous.
I remember when I was young in the
Lord that it was so hard for me
not to strap on my sword and, you
know, there were, before I got saved, folks,
I've got to be honest with you tonight,
before I got saved there were some people
that they would look at me the wrong
way and they'd wear their teeth on their
shoes.
And I tell you that with a, not
with a boastful heart or anything like that,
that was not the right way to live.
But when you get saved, it's sometimes hard
to lay down those tendencies and to let
God fight for you.
And sometimes it's a cry that comes into
the heart of even those that have walked
with the Lord for quite a season.
It's O God, in Psalm 94, he says,
O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, O
Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself,
lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth,
and render a reward to the proud.
That's Psalm 94.
Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long
shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard
things and all the workers of iniquity boast
themselves?
They break in pieces thy people, O Lord,
and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger and
murder the fatherless.
Yet they say the Lord shall not see
and neither shall the God of Jacob regard
it.
Understand, ye brutish among the people and ye
fools, when will you be wise?
He that planted the ear shall he not
hear and he that formed the eye shall
he not see?
He that chastised the heathen shall he not
correct?
He that teaches man knowledge shall he not
know?
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that
they are vanity.
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O
Lord, and teachest him out of thy law,
that thou mayest give him rest from the
days of adversity until the pit be digged
for the wicked.
For the Lord will not cast off his
people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
For judgment shall return unto righteousness and all
the upright in heart shall follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the
evildoers?
Or who will stand up for me against
the workers of iniquity?
Unless the Lord had been my help, my
soul had almost dwelt in silence.
When I set my foot slip, with thy
mercy, O Lord, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts, within me
thy comforts delight my soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with
thee, which frameth mischief by law?
They gather themselves together against the soul of
the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.
But the Lord is my defense, and my
God is the rock of my refuge.
He shall bring upon them their own iniquity
and shall cut them off in their own
wickedness.
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them
off.
And we hear the anguish of the psalmist
in Psalm 94, verse 1.
Lord, show thyself.
And I believe with all my heart that
that's certainly been the cry of my life
at times and quite possibly the cry of
some of your lives in this house tonight.
It seems that there are wicked workers that
have been raised up against you.
Not necessarily outside of the church, sometimes even
inside of the church.
False apostles, deceitful workers raised up and throwing
evil words and evil suggestions in your direction.
And there's a cry that's in the heart
Oh God, show yourself.
Don't let these people prosper in what they're
doing.
In verse 3 he says, How long shall
the wicked triumph?
You see, many, many righteous people throughout history
and even today find themselves oppressed by evil
persons whose schemes and scorning and oppression can
make even the most noble of saints see
the wicked sometimes from a false perspective.
As if they are in a position of
triumph.
And that's what the psalmist is saying.
How long shall the wicked triumph?
Folks, they're not triumphing.
They may have won one battle but the
war is not over yet.
You get to the end of the book
and you see that they haven't triumphed at
all.
In reality, they're not in a triumphant position.
They are completely under the authority of and
in the plan of God.
It's a hard truth sometimes to hear but
there are evil people who even fit into
the plan of God.
They're part of the plan of God.
And I'm going to show you how this
works.
Now one of the classic examples of this
is Judas.
Now go to the book of John, please,
chapter 6.
John chapter 6.
Now Judas was one of the 12 disciples
that were chosen by Jesus.
Judas did not just slip in to the
inner circle of those that had been selected
to follow Christ.
He was chosen and he was chosen for
a particular thing or a multitude of things
probably that were in his life.
In Simon Peter in verse 68 in John
chapter 6, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, he
said, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life and
we believe and are sure that thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered them, he said, Have not I
chosen you 12 and one of you is
a devil?
This spake he of Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon, for he it was that should
betray him being one of the 12.
Now go to John chapter 12.
John chapter 12.
Verse 6.
Now this is a situation where Lazarus had
been raised from the dead.
They're in the home of Mary, Martha and
Lazarus and Mary took a pound of ointment
of spikenard very costly and anointed the feet
of Jesus and wiped his feet with her
hair.
The scripture says, The house was filled with
the odor of the ointment.
And now one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, which should betray him, said was
not this, why was not this ointment sold
for 300 pence and given to the poor?
He said this.
He said not because he cared for the
poor, but because he was a thief and
had the bag and bear what was put
therein.
So first of all, Jesus says, I've chosen
a man and this particular man is a
devil.
In other words, the devil's heart is manifested
in him.
The devil controls him.
The devil controls how he thinks and what
he does.
And not only that, but he was a
thief and this didn't catch Jesus by surprise.
Jesus knew this was a man who was
a thief, but he needed him for his
particular plan and purpose to be fulfilled.
He didn't care about the poor.
He was the treasurer, in other words, for
this group.
And he was dipping his hand in the
bag continually and using it for his own
purposes.
And God the Son knew that.
Now, in John chapter 13, go ahead.
The disciples now are at the Last Supper
and Judas is full of himself.
He is a son of pride.
Just like the devil was a son of
pride.
In John chapter 13, let's begin at verse
21.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled
in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you that one of you
shall betray me.
Then the disciples looked one on another doubting
of whom he spake.
Neither was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of
his disciples whom Jesus loved.
Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he
should ask who it should be of whom
he spake.
He then lying on Jesus' breast said unto
him, Lord, who is it?
Jesus answered, He it is to whom I
shall give a sop when I have dipped
it.
When he had dipped the sop, he gave
it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
And after the sop, Satan entered into him.
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest
do quickly.
Now, this is an incredible scenario here because
the sop and dip, if you were living
back in those days and you wanted to
hold a banquet and you were sitting around
a table and wanted to honor a particular
person, you would take a piece of bread
and dip it in the wine and the
person you handed it to you would, in
effect, be honoring that particular person.
And so Jesus knew who was going to
betray him.
He took the bread, he dipped it in
the juice which represented his blood and then
he gave it to Judas, a man who
was full of pride.
He's sitting there at the table, the others
are listening, they're trying to understand what the
master plan is for the life of Christ
and the mission and the purpose of Christ.
But Judas is sitting there and he has
it all down in his own heart.
He says, I'm above the others, I have
the plan.
And when he was, when Jesus handed this
to him, I believe that he took that
as a sign that his plan was, in
fact, the right one.
And Satan entered into him.
He was a man who was blinded by
his own ambition, totally blinded.
Some say he just betrayed him because he
was a thief.
Others say he betrayed him because he just
didn't like the way the plan was unfolding.
He knew that Jesus could raise the dead.
He knew he could walk on water.
He knew he could still the wind and
the waves.
He was a zealot and he wanted the
kingdom of God to come quickly.
He wasn't willing to wait and have it
done God's way.
He was a stubborn man, full of pride.
And perhaps he took that as a sign
that it's just you and me, you've got
the plan.
Yes, he was, in fact, in the plan
of God, but not in the way that
he thought.
I've often thought, just as a police officer,
a former police officer, that if Judas just
betrayed Jesus for the money, usually when I've
seen a man betray somebody's life just for
money, they're usually so hard and so calloused,
they walk away and don't care what happens
to that person.
If it was just for the money, it
really doesn't make sense to me he would
go back into the temple and cast it
down and go and hang himself.
If he was that depraved and that given
over.
Certainly that is in the realm of possibility.
But I kind of feel in my heart
that Judas felt, I'm going to give the
kingdom of God just a little push.
I know who this man is.
And I'm going to force his hand.
I'm going to send him into the midst
of all of the religious and pharisaical system
and the Roman legal system.
And I know with one word he can
blow them all down.
And I've heard him talk about his kingdom
and I'm tired of waiting for this kingdom
to come.
And so I'm just going to give him
a little hand and maybe get a few
pieces of silver for myself along the way.
He was a thief.
He was a man driven by ambition.
He had the heart of the devil in
him.
But Jesus had chosen him because he was
part of God's master plan.
You see folks, without a Judas there wouldn't
have been a Calvary.
There had to be a betrayer.
There had to be somebody who would go
and fulfill the Old Testament scripture that says
the price that I was bargained for was
30 pieces of silver.
Judas was the son of perdition that was
prophesied about in the Old Testament that he
would be lost.
He would be the one that would be
used to betray the Son of God.
And in reality his soul would be lost
and could never be redeemed.
Now, Psalm 59.
If you'll turn back there please with me.
Psalm 59.
Deliver me, the psalmist says.
David says, for mine enemies, O my God,
defend me from them that rise up against
me.
Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and
save me from bloody men.
Judas thought that his plan was unfolding.
The Pharisees thought that their plan was unfolding.
Everybody that hated Christ thought that their plan
was unfolding.
And yet, even though there were many evil
people involved, not only Judas, the plan of
God was going ahead full steam for you
and for me, for our redemption.
Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and
save me from bloody men.
For lo, they lie and wait for my
soul.
Verse 3.
The mighty are gathered against me, not for
my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
They run and prepare themselves without my fault
and wait to help me and behold.
Thou therefore, O Lord, God of hosts, the
God of Israel, awake to visit all the
heathen.
Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, say
thou.
They return at evening.
They make a noise like a dog and
go round about the city.
Behold, they belch out with their mouths.
Swords are on their lips.
For who, say they, doth hear?
But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them.
Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
In other words, God has a master plan.
And even though it seems that evil people
are prospering for a season, God says, the
word of the Lord says, God shall laugh
at them.
He shall have all of them in derision.
Absolute confusion.
Because of his strength, David says, will I
wait upon thee?
For God is my defense.
God is my defense.
Even evil men have a purpose in the
plan of God.
There were some who would say here tonight,
now how can evil men possibly be in
the plan of God for my life?
How can I understand this thing?
I'm going to give you three examples of
how evil men can be used.
I mean, obviously, if I say men, it
includes women too as well.
That can be used as part of the
plan of God for your life.
Now, go to the book of 1 Samuel,
please, in the Old Testament.
1 Samuel.
Do you love his word?
1 Samuel.
Now, firstly, evil men are sent to purify
and test the motives of the righteous.
I want to say that again.
You know, if you have a pen tonight,
we're going to be doing a little bit
of a study in a moment.
It would be wise to get it.
If there's anything you can write on in
your Bible, any piece of paper you can
get a hold of.
I think this will help you because every
one of us in our lives encounter people
that we just know, we hope they come
to God, but some of them won't come
to God.
And some are just given to evil.
And we say, Lord, how can these people
be part of your plan for my life?
Now, firstly, evil men are sent to purify
and test the motives of the righteous.
Now, in 1 Samuel, chapter 24, just go
back one chapter.
Now, David has been pursued by Saul and
Saul has wanted to kill David.
And you know the story about how Saul
went up into a cave and David and
all his men were in the cave and
some of the servants of David said, here's
Saul.
He's come into the cave.
Just let's kill him.
God's delivered him into our hands.
Now you see in 1 Samuel, chapter 24,
verse 10, David said to Saul, verse 9,
says, David said to Saul, wherefore, hearst thou
men's words, saying, behold, David, seeketh thy hurt.
Verse 10, he says, behold, this day, thine
eyes have seen how that the Lord had
delivered thee today into my hand in the
cave.
And some bade me kill thee, but mine
eyes spared thee.
And I said, I will not put forth
my hand against my Lord, for he is
the Lord's anointed.
Moreover, he says in verse 11, my father
see the skirt of thy robe in my
hand, for in that I cut off the
skirt of thy robe and kill thee not.
Know thou and see that there is neither
evil nor transgression in my hand, and I
have not sinned against you, yet you hunt
my soul to take it.
Verse 13, he says, as saith the proverb
of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the wicked,
but my hand shall not be upon thee.
Now, this is very noble of David, very
righteous of David.
He says, in other words, he's saying, wickedness,
if I were a wicked man, he was
saying, in effect, then I would do a
wicked thing.
He said, but my hand shall not be
upon thee.
In other words, he's saying, I am a
righteous man.
I will not do this thing because I
know you are the Lord's anointed.
And he says in verse 15, he says,
the Lord therefore be judge, and judge between
me and thee, and see and plead my
cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
Now that's a right attitude, it's a right
heart.
David says, the Lord will judge between you
and me, and the Lord will plead my
cause, and the Lord will deliver me out
of your hand.
Now, this is wonderful, and this is admirable
in the heart of David.
And there are many, many people who come
to church and profess to love God.
It's, if I were to preach a message
tonight on loving God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor
as yourself, there would be many, many people
respond to the altar and say, yes, I
do love God, and yes, I do love
my neighbor.
And there are many who profess in church
to love God and their fellow man.
But God may allow an evil man to
be placed before you to test the truth
of this profession.
Or as God already knows all things, to
expose an area of your heart that requires
a deeper working of grace.
We can easily, anybody in the house of
the Lord can say, I love, oh God,
I love people just the way you do.
You see, this is what David was saying.
I will not touch the Lord's anointed.
I will, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but
my hand will not be upon you.
And he's making an incredible pronouncement.
But in chapter 25, all of a sudden,
things begin to change.
Maybe David's feeling very good about himself.
I could have killed him, but I didn't.
You know, sometimes we can get to feeling
pretty good about ourselves.
When certain circumstances happen in the workplace, in
our community, in our home, I could have
killed him, but I didn't kill him.
I could have slayed him with my tongue.
I could have slandered him.
I could have turned him in.
I could have done this.
I could have done that.
But I didn't do it because I'm not
wicked, because the spirit of God is within
me.
And we come to church feeling pretty good
about ourselves.
Say, Lord, I love my neighbor, oh God,
just like you love my neighbor.
And then all of a sudden, just one
chapter over, there's this man called Nabal.
This happens virtually in a breath from what
happened with Saul.
And David's men used to live in the
wilderness and they used to guard his sheep
and guard everything he had.
And then David sends a group of young
men over to Nabal to say, listen, we're
hungry and we protected you when we were
in the wilderness.
Now we need some sheep and we need
some food and we need some bread and
things like that.
And Nabal rails on the men when he
comes and he says in verse 10, he
says, Nabal answered David's servants and said, who
is David?
And who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away
every man from his master.
Shall I then take my bread and my
water and my flesh that I have killed
from my shearers and give it unto men
whom I know not whence they be?
In other words, Nabal says, David's just a
runaway slave.
That's all he is.
Run away from his master.
Why should I help him?
Now, in verse 13, and David said to
his men, there's a little change in heart
from just about a couple days before, gird
on every man his sword.
And they girded on every man his sword
and David also girded on his sword.
And they went up after David about 400
men and 200 men bowed by the stuff.
In other words, David said, there's not going
to be, by morning light, there will be
one male person left in the camp of
Nabal.
We're going to kill the whole works of
them.
This man has rewarded me evil for good.
Now, what a change from his attitude just
a chapter before towards Saul.
You see, evil men will be sent to
purify and test the motives of the righteous.
And whenever we set out, there are some
here tonight that are, you're setting out to
do something to somebody that's harmed you.
You didn't intend, you wouldn't have done it
a month ago and you maybe wouldn't have
done it a year ago, but something happened.
It just is another person, it's just another
circumstance.
Sometimes it hits you unaware.
I mean, you can stand seemingly in the
face of all obstacles and all trials and
you could have somebody come against you with
the power of a hurricane and you can
stand and resist them with a humble spirit
like David did before Saul and say, I'm
not going to do this thing.
I'm not going to raise my hand.
But all of a sudden, somebody of insignificance
and that neighbor was just an insignificant person.
Somebody of insignificance comes and tells a lie
about you at work or starts a rumor
about you in your neighborhood.
And it seems like you had all the
power of heaven at your disposal to perhaps
turn away from one situation, but the next
one, something gets into the heart and you
say, that's enough.
That's absolutely enough of that.
I'm going to put an end to this
right now.
And so David takes 400 men and there's
no doubt in his mind what he's going
to do.
I'm going to kill him and I'm going
to kill every man in his camp for
what he's done to me.
What a different heart from what he had
had before Saul when he was in the
cave.
But how many know that the word of
the Lord will always come and stop us
from doing things that are not right in
the sight of God.
Very often, evil men will be sent to
purify and test our motives.
And in verse 23, the word of the
Lord now came through Abigail, the wife of
Nabal.
When Abigail saw David, she hasted, in verse
23, and lighted off the ass and fell
before David on her face and bowed herself
to the ground and fell at his feet
and said, Upon me, my Lord.
Upon me, let this iniquity be.
Let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in
thine audience and hear the words of thine
handmaid.
Let not, my Lord, I pray thee, regard
this man of Belial, even Nabal.
For as his name is, so is he.
Nabal is his name and folly is with
him.
But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young
men of my Lord whom thou didst send.
Now, therefore, my Lord, as the Lord liveth
and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord
as withholding thee from coming to shed blood
and from avenging thyself with thine own hand,
now let thine enemies be as they that
seek evil to my Lord.
Be as Nabal.
In verse 28, she says, Listen, I pray
thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid.
For the Lord will certainly make my Lord
a sure house because my Lord fights the
battles of the Lord and evil has not
been found in thee all thy days.
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee
and to seek thy soul.
But the soul of my Lord shall be
bound in the bundle of life with the
Lord thy God.
And the souls of thine enemies, them, this
is God, shall he sling out as out
of the middle of a sling.
And it shall come to pass when the
Lord shall have done to my Lord according
to all the good that he has spoken
concerning thee and shall have appointed thee a
ruler over Israel, that this shall be no
grief unto thee nor offense of heart unto
my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood
causeless or that my Lord has avenged himself.
But when the Lord shall have dealt well
with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid.
In other words, she's saying, God's going to
establish you.
God's promises to you are sure they are
true.
There's only one thing that can really hurt
you in all of this, is that you
lose all trusting in him.
And this is what the Lord was saying.
The word of the Lord came to David
through Abigail.
And the Lord was speaking through this humble
handmaiden of the Lord and he was saying
to David, You have trusted me all this
time and I have defended you and I
have avenged you and you have seen that
I can even put your enemies right in
your hand.
David, why would you spoil our relationship?
Why would you spoil it by setting out
to shed blood now?
By avenging yourself?
So that when I have established you as
king of Israel, this thing will be a
grief to your heart.
It will be a continuous grief throughout your
life.
You will have you will always remember the
time that you didn't trust in me and
the time that you took things in your
own hands.
And folks, I want to tell you something.
When we take things into our own hands,
it has repercussions for years after sometimes.
Better to let the Lord defend us.
Better to hold our peace.
Better to trust him for strength.
Better to hear his word.
I believe this word tonight has come and
is turning some of you back from doing
something that you would regret for many, many
years to come.
David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel which sent thee this day
to meet me and blessed be thy advice
and blessed be thou which has kept me
this day from coming to shed blood and
from avenging myself with my own hand.
We are not to avenge ourselves with our
own hand.
The book of Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter
5, verse 43, Jesus said, You have heard
that it has been said, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies.
Bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you.
That you may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven.
For he makes his son to rise on
the evil and on the good and sends
rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love them which love you,
what reward have you?
Do not even the publicans or sinners, in
other words, the same?
And if you salute your brethren only, what
do you more than others?
Do not even the publicans so?
Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father
in heaven is perfect.
Number two, evil men are sent to confirm
the fact that the righteous are on the
pathway of truth.
Let me say that again, evil men are
sent to confirm the fact that the righteous
are on the pathway of truth.
Look at Matthew chapter 27 with me please.
Matthew 27, evil men in the plan of
God.
Jesus was on the pathway of truth.
Judas had betrayed him.
The devil thought he had him.
The scribes and Pharisees thought they had triumphed
over him.
In verse 39, in Matthew chapter 27, it
says, This is the end of salvation.
Passed by the devil.
Jesus was on pathway of truth.
scribes and Pharisees he had over him.
Passed by the devil.
he had triumphed over him.
which were crucified with him.
Cast the same in his teeth.
In other words, he cast the same insults
at him.
There were evil men all around him while
he was on the cross at Calvary.
And what they were doing is confirming that
in fact he was fulfilling the will of
God his father.
They were confirming the fact that he was
on the pathway of truth.
Matthew chapter 5, if you go back there
with me, Matthew chapter 5 verse 11.
Jesus said, Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and say all
men are of evil against you falsely for
my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is
your reward in heaven for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before you.
Blessed are you when men shall revile you.
When people say evil things about you, if
you know in your heart you love God,
you know you're walking on the pathway of
God, then family members or some ex-family
members come and start telling you you're insane.
People at work start telling you you're an
idiot and you've lost your mind.
People in your neighborhood start vicious evil rumors
about you and even those that perhaps you
trusted at one time start things about you
but you know in your heart, you know
in your heart that you're on the pathway
of truth and they begin to revile you.
Then Jesus said you are blessed when men
shall revile you and when they see evil
against you falsely for my sake, he says
rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is
your reward in heaven.
These evil persons have been sent to confirm
the fact that you are indeed on the
pathway of truth.
Don't get bitter, get blessed.
You can walk out of some of these
situations and say, Lord, I'm blessed, I'm blessed,
I'm blessed.
God, I know my heart is clean, I
know my heart is pure, I know my
pure, I know my heart is pure, I
know my heart is pure, I
know my heart is pure, I know
my heart is pure, I know my pure,
I know my heart is pure, I know
my pure, I know my know my know
my pure, I know my pure,
I know
my pure, I Don't be envious against the
workers of iniquity in other words.
Don't shout out to me and say Lord
How long will the wicked triumph over me?
This is God's part in verse 2 He
says for they shall soon be cut down
like the grass and wither as the green
herb Hallelujah, God says fret not don't be
envious I'm going to cut them down like
the grass and they're gonna wither up and
just die.
They're gonna go away verse 3 our part
again trust in the Lord and do good
Trust in the Lord and do good now
Here's God's part so shalt thou dwell in
the land and verily thou shalt be fed
God says I will look after you even
in times of famine even in difficult times
You will be fed you come into the
house of God.
There'll be a preacher there He'll open this
book and there'll be food for you You
will learn what it is to triumph over
the powers of darkness trust in me and
do good do good in verse 4 he
says delight thyself also in the Lord delight
thyself in the Lord and He shall give
thee the desires of thine heart.
My part is to delight myself in the
Lord my part When things start going in
a difficult way against me Is to go
home and open this book and begin to
delight myself in the ways of God Say
Lord show me my heart lead me in
a pathway of truth Lord, don't let me
ever Stretch out my hand and begin to
take vengeance in my own strength Help me
to control my tongue Let the words of
my mouth the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in thy sight Oh Lord, my strength
and my Redeemer help me to walk in
a godly way I want to delight myself
in you delighting ourselves in the Lord is
saying Lord What would you do in a
situation like this?
How would you respond Lord?
Give me the power of the Holy Spirit
Captivate everything in my heart Lord that is
unlike you that wants to respond in a
manner that will bring disgrace to your name
That when you finally give me the victory
Lord I it will be a reproach on
you that I have taken this thing into
my own hand that I have done Harm
to another person that perhaps may have been
able to come to you through this Delighted
the Lord and he will give you the
desires of your heart Verse 5 commit thy
way unto the Lord and trust also in
him in other words commit What is Proverbs
chapter 3 verse 5 say trust not in
yourself?
Don't lean on your own understanding in all
your ways acknowledge him and he will direct
your paths Commit thy way unto the Lord
trust also in him and he shall bring
it to pass.
God is faithful God is faithful I have
walked almost 20 years with the Lord now
and I have seen this time and time
and time and time again Fulfilled I have
been working on a church I remember my
younger years and in came the sand ballots
and the Tobias's and all the ones that
want to slap and Scorn and say even
if a fox runs on the wall, it's
going to fall over I've heard their evil
words and it's been I've had to ask
God for every ounce of strength of him
That's within me not to respond to them
and like kind There were people that were
sent into the church to get To try
to sow bitterness in my spirit so that
it would begin to come across in Everything
that I would preach in the pulpit and
thus take away from what Christ wanted to
do among the people It has been a
constant battle, but I want to tell you
I have seen the faithfulness of God I
have watched everything that he said in this
psalm come to pass I've watched every enemy
fall and I don't delight in it.
The book of Proverbs says don't delight when
your enemy falls I don't delight when my
enemy falls like I grieve for them I
wish that every man could come to the
saving knowledge of Christ but reality says that
there are some and the Word of God
says there are some who just fitted to
Destruction who will never come to the knowledge
of God.
They will never turn from their sin They're
just simple evil man, and somehow they find
themselves part of the plan of God Commit
your way unto the Lord and trust in
him and he shall bring it to pass
Verse 6 as he shall bring forth thy
righteousness as the light and thy judgment as
the noonday Folks there might be somebody telling
lies about you at work this very day
But if you will commit yourself to the
Lord delight yourself in him trust in him
not be envious Don't fret against evil workers.
He said he will bring forth your righteousness
as the light and I judgment as the
noonday.
I Remember one time being in the workplace
and I won't say what kind of a
workplace it was but there was a man
who absolutely hated me because I was a
Christian and Because I wouldn't do some of
the things that some of the other people
were doing And I remember he walked into
the office one day and he pointed his
finger at me and he said common You're
gone.
You're you're gone out of here.
You're finished.
You're gone And I guess to make a
long story short about five years later.
Everybody else was gone and I was still
there Hallelujah Hallelujah, God will fight for those
who stand for truth There were some things
that just wouldn't do because they weren't right
they were wrong and I simply just wouldn't
do it Because I had come to Christ
and he was now the Savior of my
of my soul and it says commit your
way He will bring forth your righteousness as
the light and I judgment as the noonday
Rest in the Lord verse 7 and wait
patiently for him fret not again with Thyself
because of him who prospers in his way
because of the man who bringeth wicked devices
to pass fret not There's somebody I'm speaking
directly to somebody's heart here tonight There's somebody
sitting here tonight.
That's the people are slandering you left and
right because of your testimony for Christ But
the Lord's Word it's like it's like Abigail
when she stood before David She said don't
do this thing Don't raise your hand in
your own defense Humble yourself in the sight
of God humble yourself before those that close
your mouth and don't raise your hand Rest
in the Lord wait patiently for him and
fret not because of him who prospers in
his way because of the man who brings
wicked devices to pass verse 8 cease from
anger and Forsake wrath fret not thyself in
any wise to do evil Now don't do
any kind of evil cease from anger and
forsake wrath.
Don't do anything that is wrong This is
what God's saying verse 9.
Now.
This is God's part.
That's our part.
This is God's part now for evil Doers
shall be cut off But those that wait
upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth
For yet a little while and the wicked
shall not be Yea, thou shall diligently consider
his place and it shall not be Folks
I have seen this over and over and
over and over and over again I have
been in places where evil men have risen
up against me They have opened their mouths
as if as if they could say anything
they want somehow They're not going to stand
it under any kind of the judgment of
God I have made a choice to do
it God's way made a choice to go
into the prayer closet made a choice to
ask the Holy Spirit for strength that only
God can give when you're in those situations
You know, especially a situation like naval especially
where what's within your power to literally wipe
somebody off the face of the earth You
can open your mouth and destroy them.
But God says hold back.
Let me do this thing Don't don't shed
blood yourself.
Don't defend yourself.
God says I'm going to establish you I'm
going to raise you up and don't let
this be a blight Don't let it be
something that will hinder our relationship because you
have not trusted in me and you've taken
this thing into your own hand Just a
little while he says and you will diligently
consider his place and it shall not be
And over the years I've seen person after
person after person rise up against the work
of God and now 15 18 20 years
later.
I look back and I diligently consider their
place and they're not there anymore I don't
even know where they've gone to most are
not even living for the Lord anymore They
weren't living for God.
Anyway in the first place the whole being
in the church was just a religious pretense
They were simply evil men in the plan
of God and folks.
I want to tell you something Don't avenge
yourself vengeance is mine saith the Lord.
I will repay I will repay But the
meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight
themselves in the abundance of peace The wicked
plots against the just and gnashes upon him
with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at
him for the Lord sees that his day
is coming The wicked have drawn out the
sword They have bent their bow to cast
down the poor and needy and to slay
such as be of upright conversation their sword
shall enter into their own heart and Their
bones shall be broken These are promises of
God a little that a righteous man hath
is better than the riches of many wicked
For the arms of the wicked shall be
broken But the Lord upholdeth the righteous The
Lord knoweth the days of the upright and
their inheritance shall be forever They shall not
be ashamed in the evil time and in
the days of famine.
They shall be satisfied But the wicked shall
perish and the enemies of the Lord shall
be as the fat of lambs.
They shall consume Into smoke shall they consume
away?
Hallelujah Hallelujah Evil men are sent to show
the righteous the power of God that's available
to those who walk in the truth Father
help us Help us father help us Holy
Spirit Help us to have the heart of
Christ Lord you had a betrayer sitting at
your very table and yet you told him
do what you do it do it quickly
You knew that his end was coming You
knew that disaster was before him You knew
that he had been selected because God's purposes
had to be fulfilled God help us to
understand tonight That when evil men come our
way sometimes you have a plan you have
a purpose in it Sometimes you are working
out an area of character in our lives
Sometimes you are showing us or desiring to
show us your power We Know one thing
tonight That if we walk in truth That
evil men will never triumph over us never
The father I asked tonight for courage and
for grace and for strength for everyone who's
come into this house To be able to
lay down all grievances All setting out to
do evil to another person Responding in like
kind speaking unkind and evil words about others
That attitude of heart that says I'll get
them before they get me Lord We would
rather have you as our defender We would
rather that your plan your purposes be worked
out And if possible, we would ask that
you would save these people that are being
used to cause harm and good to others
in our lives Lord, we're not asking for
their their their demise.
We're not asking for their their death or
hurt Lord we asking that you would save
them Lord turn them around and use their
tongues for righteousness use their lives for truth
When you're on the cross, they wag their
heads and tongues at you Lord, and you
said father forgive them They don't know what
they're doing and many of those were found
among those in the day of Pentecost who
came to you and were Saved and gave
their lives for the truth Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah Would you stand with me?
Now there are people tonight That I honestly
believe that this word has been sent just
like Abigail was sent to David to stop
you from doing something I've felt it so
strongly in my heart today to stop you
from doing something to stop you from speaking
some things To put an end to an
attitude of heart towards another person Whether that
person is unsaved whether that person is a
Christian or not a Christian or professing Christian
is not the issue Somebody has done something
They've done evil or doing evil to you
and you've either taken or attempted to take
matters into your own hands.
I Want to give you an opportunity tonight
David said Oh Blessed be the Lord and
thank you God for this word that you've
sent to me For you have stopped me
from doing this thing and we know that
God was going to raise David up and
he would be a mighty Shepherd King over
Israel And God sent this this word to
stop him from doing something that would harm
his relationship with him And I believe tonight
that God has sent this word to stop
some in this house from doing something that
would harm your relationship He wants to raise
you up.
He wants to use you wants to give
you your your heart Give you a righteous
heart and a righteous life that will be
a signpost to many to find the kingdom
of God And tonight at this altar, you're
going to be able to say Lord.
I've released this situation into the hands of
God I need grace now to forgive I
need grace to pray for these people.
I need grace to bless them Lord I
come to this altar tonight for strength If
that's you tonight Would you slip out of
wherever you are and would you come to
this altar and we're gonna pray together and
believe God for a mighty Mighty miracle in
your life tonight a mighty miracle The Lord
is he loves you and he has sent
a word to stop you from doing something
That will be harmful to your soul If
we confess our sins Bible says he's faithful
and just to forgive our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness Now Jesus tells
a parable Of a man that was forgiven
a great great debt But then he went
out and found somebody that owed him Something
that was so insignificant in comparison to what
he owed And he went and took that
man by the throat and choked him and
said pay me what you owe me You
know and very often that's the attitude of
many of our lives We're forgiven a great
great debt and we come to the Lord
and say Jesus.
Thank you Lord.
I could never have repaid you I cursed
your name.
I Bet you there's nobody this altar hasn't
cursed the name of the Lord sometime before
you maybe there's somebody raised in a Christian
home That hasn't but very very few You
I've lied about you and to you.
I did things Lord that dishonored you and
There was no way I could ever repay
What I had done, but you forgave me
the debt.
I Owed you a debt that was so
great That only your shed blood could ever
have paid what I owed to God and
you came and you forgave me And in
our hearts we have to say Lord, how
how could I take vengeance against somebody that
does anything to me Anything that anybody owes
me in comparison to what I owed you
is so insignificant that I'm not justified in
Not releasing them from the debt.
And that's what you've come to this altar
to do tonight You've in effect in releasing
them from the debt you release yourself from
Just a torment that the scripture says comes
on those who refuse to forgive But we
need God's grace.
Don't we to do this?
But he's willing to give us grace and
I'm gonna ask you on behalf of the
Lord tonight to do something Everybody here has
come to this altar with a particular person
in mind or persons that have hurt you
and tonight you need grace But as you
release them, we're gonna ask for the grace
that starting tonight that you can pray for
these people You can not only forgive them,
but you can pray for them.
And then as the opportunity arises you can
bless them Do do what God would do
you can bless them You know, you'll have
to let the Lord speak to you about
how to do that a nice card perhaps
Maybe bless them by just asking their forgiveness
if that's possible to do that So I've
harbored things in my heart against you and
I'm gonna pray for you boy If you
want to bring somebody under conviction in your
workplace or neighborhood You say I'm I'm gonna
forgive you for what you've said and I'm
God spoken to me I'm gonna pray for
you every day.
No, I'm gonna pray for you You talk
about bringing somebody under conviction hallelujah hallelujah Pastor
David preached the message one time about he
said get even with your enemies by praying
for them and loving them to death just
love them just love them Right into the
kingdom of God But we need his strength
Let's pray together tonight Lord Jesus Thank you
For sending your word to me Just like
Abigail came to David and Stopped him from
doing something wrong tonight Your word has come.
I Love your word and your word is
stopping me from taking some situations Into my
own hands, I released this situation and I
released the people involved From their debt to
me.
I forgive them for the wrong things that
they have done and I released both them
and this situation Into your hands Jesus tonight
I need grace to forgive and I want
to thank you for giving me grace.
It has to be you and your strength
in me.
I Need grace to pray for my enemies.
I need grace to bless them Show me
some way that I can do kindness to
those that have done wrong to me.
I Love you Jesus and I thank you
that I can come to you and find
forgiveness for my sin and grace to help
in my time of need I Thank you
tonight Lord that you have enabled me To
put the sword of my wrath Back in
its sheath again.
I can raise my hands up to you
and Trust in you with all of my
heart.
I Love you, Lord.
I love you.
Lord.
I love you Lord Now teach me tonight
To love my neighbor as much as I
love myself Thank you Lord, thank you for
the truth of your word that has set
me free Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah,
hallelujah Hallelujah folks There's nothing better for the
soul After you get saved in forgiving those
who have wronged you release them release them
write it off.
Let it go Release them.
It's not worth harboring anything It's not worth
keeping it because all it will do is
bring you into bondage and give the enemy
an avenue to torment you Hallelujah, this is
the conclusion of the tape