Introduction: A Time of Grace and Mercy
The peace of the Lord be with you and with your household. I give thanks to the eternal God, to the Almighty, to the Creator of heaven and earth, for this time that He grants us. It is a time of grace, it is a time of mercy. Every time we present ourselves before the Word of God, every time we expose ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit, it is a time of grace and mercy, because it is not for everyone—it is only for those upon whom the Lord has had mercy.
We cannot see these times of exposure to the Word as simply an opportunity to learn or know more about the Bible. These are times of grace, these are times of mercy. Why and for what purpose? Because the Lord is near to coming, closer than we ourselves can think. But the people of God are not prepared, the Church is not prepared to receive the coming of Christ Jesus.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
We know the parable from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25, the parable of the ten virgins. This parable illustrates what happens with the believing people, with the people of God, with the children of God. Five were prepared and the other five were not. They had the knowledge, they had the commission, they had everything—lamps, lanterns—but they were not prepared for the unexpected events when the bridegroom came. Only five were prepared.
This parable is showing us that exactly the same thing will happen at the coming of Christ Jesus. Many of us have the knowledge—Christ is coming, it is the message that is preached, it is the message that is proclaimed. “Christ is coming and coming soon, come for Your Church, Lord,” we say on many occasions. But the great reality of the Church is that it is not prepared to receive the Lord.
Therefore, I give thanks to the Lord for these times, because it is not to receive knowledge, it is not to know more, it is not to learn more—it is precisely to prepare ourselves, to be ready to receive the Lord. And that is the purpose.
Present Salvation and the Need for Deliverance
We are studying the topic of salvation and we have established that salvation is not only eschatological. Salvation has a present aspect while we are still living on the face of the earth. Within the present aspect of salvation, we have studied that healing is also salvation. And the second topic we are studying is that deliverance is also salvation.
Everyone Needs Deliverance
Many people—and I am speaking of men and women of God—do not have knowledge of what deliverance is. In a large majority, I dare say that more than 80% of God’s people believe that deliverance is only for those who made a pact with Satan. I refer to those who invoked the demon and made a pact with him, a pact of wealth, a pact of protection, whatever the case may be.
But I have to tell you: everyone, without exception, everyone needs deliverance. Why? Because the Word says it clearly: “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. And the apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, says clearly: “We were dead in trespasses and sins”.
The Sticking Point
This is the sticking point for many men and women of God, who say: “But I already accepted Christ Jesus, that is, I passed from death to life, I am already out of the enemy’s reach.” I want you to expose yourself to this Word.
Did you accept Christ Jesus? In fact, many did not repent of their past life. And the Word of the Lord says that to enter the kingdom of God is through repentance. Many have not repented of their past life—that is, they left it, they abandoned it, they no longer practice it—but that does not mean you have left it completely.
If we have not repented of the past life with all its deeds, with all its perversity, with all its evil and with all its sin, it is still in effect to this day. And that past life in effect, of sin, of perversity, of evil, is being dragged along and reaching all those who accepted Christ Jesus.
Things Don’t Change Overnight
Number two: things don’t change overnight just because you accepted Christ Jesus, if there has been no repentance. All the things that were practiced continue, continue following the person who accepted Christ Jesus. There lies the need for deliverance.
We have illustrated this in cases such as, for example, when the people of Israel left Egypt. They ceased to be slaves, they changed their clothes, they changed their way of dressing, they changed their footwear, they changed all their customs, their way of conducting themselves—they changed everything. But there came a moment when what was still in the heart came to light. “We remember”, they said, “we remember what we ate in Egypt”. And that is nothing more than the evidence that the past life still in effect is still pursuing the person, which has moments of reactivation.
It is a real reactivation and it is a legitimate reactivation. And on many occasions there are those who say: “The enemy tempted me.” No, you were not tempted. The apostle James, in chapter 1, verse 14, says: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’ or by evil, but each one, according to his own lust, that is, according to what is still inside, is what seduces him and what leads him to reactivate part of that past life”.
The Lack of Spiritual Growth
The purpose is to show you that while a person is in Christ Jesus, is forming part of a congregation, is forming part of a church, but has not gone through a process of deliverance, that past life is still active, is still in effect and is still reaching the person’s life, their actions, their works, everything they learn.
Now you could understand why there are men and there are women who have been part of a congregation, who have been part of a church and have had years, but nevertheless there has been no growth, there has been no development. There has been no growth in faith, despite the fact that in some cases they have 10, 15 and in many cases even more years of being inside the church.
In other cases there are those who say: “But I was born inside the church.” Yes, but that is not a guarantee, because the Word of the Lord establishes the conditions to enter the kingdom of heaven. There are people who were indeed born within a church, but if they have not repented, if they have not gone through the process of repentance, they have not entered the kingdom of heaven, even when many times they are forming part of activities or internal ministries within the church.
The Children’s Bread
It is important that we understand because when Jesus said clearly: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs”, He is speaking precisely about deliverance. Who is the children’s bread for? Who is deliverance for? It is not for the world, it is not for those who are submerged in acts of perversion or sin—it is for those of us who have come out, it is for those of us who have accepted, but who are still being enveloped by a life that is still in effect in them.
Gaining Authority Over the Forces of Darkness
In this teaching we are going to begin a series that has to do with authority. How do we gain authority before the forces of darkness? Of course, having gone through deliverance. If a person does not go through deliverance, if a person does not enter into a process of deliverance, they cannot gain authority. And this is the first thing I want to establish.
You cannot gain authority before the demon if you have not broken, if you have not cut, if you have not undone the ballast of sin, the ballast of the past life that is still in effect. It cannot be done. It is necessary that we cut the umbilical cord that binds us so that then we can now gain authority before the demon.
We will present this teaching in three consecutive teachings. Today we begin precisely with one of them: how to gain authority before the demon, before Satan, before the forces of darkness. Or it could also be: What comes after deliverance? What follows after deliverance? What is our responsibility?
First Key: Holiness
The Arm of God’s Holiness
Number one: through holiness. I want to take you to the Word. In Isaiah, in the book of the prophet Isaiah chapter 52, in verse 10 it says:
“The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”.
See the relationship that the prophet by the Spirit of God establishes regarding deliverance. Deliverance, which is also salvation, is established through holiness. There is no other way. We, men and women of God, cannot innovate the Gospel message. We cannot, we must not. Why? Because we would be rising up against God.
The Word Cannot Be Altered
The Word of God is established and does not permit, does not tolerate that man, that woman want to alter the Word of God. Today there is apostasy within the Church and apostasy means precisely alteration of the Word of God. Many of us say: “There is no need to be so strict. There is no need to be so radical, just believe—God looks at your heart.”
Look for it in the Word. Look for it in the Word and you will realize that this is philosophy, religious philosophy, but not the message of the Word of the Lord.
“Let me go bury my father”, one of His disciples said to Him, and Jesus responded in a forceful, radical way: “Let the dead bury their own dead, you follow Me”. And on another occasion the Lord presented the teaching: “If anyone puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he is not worthy to be My disciple”.
The Gospel message does not allow alteration. Altering or wanting to alter the Word of God is known in the Holy Scriptures as apostasy. And the current church, the contemporary church—it pains me to say it—but the contemporary church is plagued with this. Why? Because they are not following the teaching, the doctrine of the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven, but rather they are following philosophy. It is a religious philosophy.
The Direct Relationship Between Holiness and Deliverance
I return to Isaiah chapter 52, verse 10. See the relationship that the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, establishes between deliverance and holiness:
“The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”.
The relationship is a direct relationship. To be able to enjoy the deliverance that God has given us, to be able to gain authority before the demonic forces, before Satan, it cannot be done without holiness. This is what we have to understand. And this is what we have to know how to establish—it is not only knowing it, but establishing it in our lives and walking, of course, according to this Word.
Because what good would it do us to say, even to memorize this verse by heart, if we do not put it into practice, if we do not exercise it, if we do not execute it. What good would it really do us—it would do us no good. On the contrary, it would constitute a judgment upon us. Why? Because the Word says that “to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin”.
Therefore, knowing the Word without carrying it out is equivalent to entering into judgment before the presence of the Lord. And let me tell you, since we are at this point: there are many men and there are many women who are right now going through judgment processes and they don’t know it. Many of them are seeing that as coming from Satan and they are rebuking. How is it possible that they don’t know what they are going through? Precisely because they have altered the Word of God and are following their own conclusions, their religious conclusions.
The New Testament Message
This regarding the Old Testament. I want to take you to the New Testament. I go to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. In verse 14, see that this is the message of the entire Bible, because some say: “We are no longer under the Old Testament, we are under the New Testament.” Erring, as Jesus said: “You err, not knowing the Scriptures”, because the Word of God has not expired, it is the Word of God. God has not changed.
But see what Hebrews chapter 12 says in verse 14:
“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord”.
Without holiness no one will see the Lord, and salvation comes from Jehovah. Therefore, then, if without holiness no one will see Jehovah, without holiness no one will maintain the deliverance that God has given them.
And this is very important that each one, men and women who confess ourselves as children of God, who have said “I accepted Christ Jesus,” keep in mind and above all things that we walk according to what the Word of the Lord establishes: how to gain, how to maintain ourselves in the deliverance that God has given us—through holiness.
What Is Holiness?
A Mistaken Concept
Many of us have a very mistaken concept of what holiness is, because again, I repeat, many of us are walking by religious concepts, not by the Word of God. We have accepted everything we have heard or everything we have received as valid, believing it is in the Word of God. When you study the Word of God, you realize that much of what we have heard from a pulpit, much of what we have received, is not within the Word of God.
And I was saying, many of us have a mistaken concept of what holiness is. Holiness has nothing to do with clothing, holiness has nothing to do with attire, holiness has nothing to do with rituals, it has nothing to do with any of that. Much of that knowledge that prevails today within many Christian circles arose in the Middle Ages and is still maintained precisely because there is no depth in the Word of God. We do not enter into the Word of God to deepen and to know.
Simply, in many cases, men and women end up repeating what we hear from other people, we end up copying what we hear from other people, and there is the failure that is multiplying. And I would say better: recycling, recycling all the perversity in which we have lived to this day.
Without holiness no one will see God.
The Biblical Definition of Holiness
What is holiness? I am going to present it to you as the Word of the Lord presents it, because we have to walk according to the Word, not according to religious dictionaries that many of them, or concordances, are not founded on the Word, but on declarations from theological halls that are far removed from what the Word of the Lord establishes.
I want to take you to Ephesians chapter 6, a text well known by all of us, verse 12. If you have the opportunity to do so—which I trust you do, because if we are exposing ourselves to the Word, we must have the Word in front of us—look up verse 12. We all know it:
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, we all know it. But despite knowing it, many times we discard the exercise of deliverance. Here it says clearly: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Our struggle is against Satan and against all the hierarchy that Satan has developed in the entire world and that he has stationed in the entire world, the hierarchy that he has established.
All, all have struggle. And it is not only those who practice perversity, no—all without exception. Who are all? All those of us who have accepted Christ Jesus, all those of us who have confessed ourselves as children of God.
Why? Well, if you go to the book of Genesis in chapter 3, the Lord Himself said: “Your seed, your seed”, He said to Eve, “your seed shall bruise his head”—shall bruise the head of the serpent’s seed. And then He continues saying: “And the serpent’s seed shall bruise your heel”.
There it is. And it is not only about the woman’s seed being Christ. Well, if we are all children of God, what applies to Him also applies to us. Therefore, then, although we say: “Well, but the woman’s seed is Christ,” brother, by extension and by affiliation to the body of Christ, this affects us.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Who are all of them? Us. Us, those of us who form part of the body of Christ.
Holiness Is the Absence of Contamination
Now observe the following: we are clear and understood that we are at war and it is a spiritual war, and to enter into spiritual war authority is needed. Very well, how do we gain authority?
In the same book, Ephesians, go to chapter 5 now. It may be on the same page. Go to chapter 5 and let’s read in verse 27. Observe what it says:
“That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish”.
This verse is explaining to us what holiness consists of, what holiness is, how the Word defines it. Holiness is the absence of contamination. Holiness is the absence of contamination.
In a man of God, in a woman of God who is walking in holiness, there cannot be—hear it well—there cannot be contamination.
The Spiritual Law of Authority
Why are there men? Why are there women who even though they are part of a congregation, who even though they are part of even a ministry, do not have authority before the demon? Why? Precisely because they have contamination.
There is a law and it is a spiritual law that I want to present to you now: We cannot rebuke what we ourselves sponsor. We cannot rebuke what we ourselves sponsor.
If there is contamination in our lives, if there is contamination in our lives, how are we going to rebuke Satan if there are elements of Satan in our lives? How are we going to rebuke him? There is no authority. There is no authority.
And this is the great problem that exists in men and that exists in women of God. Why? And what am I referring to? Because unfortunately they have made connection with the world, they have made alliance with the world, they have integrated the world into their belongings. And therefore, they cannot have authority. They will never have authority.
We cannot rebuke Satan if there are parts of Satan in our lives. And this is something that, although it is in the Word of God, many of us resist abandoning, abandoning the world.
What is holiness then? Absence of contamination.
The Contamination That Prevents Us From Having Authority
I want to take you to Second Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 1. This is also a well-known text and it is unlikely that there are those who know it, even by heart:
“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness”.
In the 1960 version it says “from all contamination,” in the 1909 version, which is the one I am using, it says “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness”. And see the sources that produce filthiness: of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
See that all the passages we are using are also using the word holiness or sanctification, which is holiness—absence of contamination.
The Case of Achan
We cannot… I am remembering the case from the book of Joshua in chapter 7. See what the Lord said when what happened concerning Achan’s trespass occurred. It says in chapter 7, verse 11:
“Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things”.
Take note: “They have taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff”.
Verse 12 says: “Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies”.
And what I am reading did not only apply to the people of Israel. This is the great problem that many of us have: “Ah, but that was for Israel. That was for the people of Israel and what does it have to do with us.” This also applies to us, brothers, this applies to us.
I continue reading, verse 12:
“Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you”.
What is holiness? Holiness is the absence of contamination.
You cannot rebuke the demon if there is contamination in you. You cannot. The Word does not give you support in this, it does not give you support. The Word does not authorize us.
The Sons of Sceva
In Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 19, surely you have read the case of some sons of Sceva, a chief priest, the Word says. Who heard Paul, attended to Paul and put Paul’s teachings into practice, and they found a person who was possessed and they rebuked the demon.
The demon interacted with them and said to them: “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” And you know the account: he went against them and beat them, harmed them, so much so that they ran out naked from the presence of the demon.
We cannot, as long as there is contamination in my life, as long as there is contamination in my house, I cannot rebuke the demon. As long as there is contamination in your life, as long as there is contamination in your house, as long as you tolerate contamination among yours, you will not be able to rebuke the demon. On the contrary, you will turn your back on him. That is what we just read: Joshua chapter 7, verse 12—you will turn your back.
And this is what in reality we find in many believers’ homes today.
The Origin of Many Illnesses
There are some people who do not like to hear that the illness you are going through has not come from God, that the illness—which you have accepted—is due to the fact that you have subjected yourself to elements that do not come from God. It has not really come from God, but rather it is the demon who has taken occasion in your life.
Why? Many of us say: “But I don’t harm anyone, I haven’t spoken badly of anyone, but I’m going to church.” We say: “I’m going to church, I’m congregating two, three times a week.” And we have said on other occasions: attending or being part of a church is not the guarantee. The only guarantee we have is the Word of God.
If we do not walk according to the Word of God, we have no guarantee before the demon. While a man of God maintains contamination, while a woman of God maintains contamination in their life, in their house, among their garments, among their belongings, in their property, they will not be able—they will turn their back on the enemy.
That is what it means: instead of you making him run, making him flee, you are the one who is going to run away. And that is what has happened in many homes—the person runs away from the presence of the enemy.
The Statute of Holiness
Look, there is a situation here in the book of Deuteronomy very important that I want to mention to you, in chapter 23. See that all of this was established and is established as a statute from the Lord, and statute means something that God wants done that way. Otherwise, you will not be able to resolve absolutely anything.
Look at what it says in chapter 23, I am going to read verse 9 and verse 10:
“When the army goes out against your enemies”—pay close attention to this—“then keep yourself from every wicked thing. If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp”.
The texts we are reviewing are telling us that no one, no one, no one can have, can gain, develop authority if they are still sponsoring the work of Satan or allowing it or tolerating it.
It is not you, it is not your husband, it is not your wife, but if in your house there is someone who is doing it and you are permitting it and you are tolerating it, it is equivalent as if you yourself were doing it. Why? Because the Word of God says so, the Word of the Lord establishes it that way—that he who does not prevent something from continuing to be executed is equivalent to him also doing it himself.
Therefore, then, to gain authority before the demon, number one: holiness. And this is the teaching we are presenting today: holiness. Without holiness no one will see the Lord, and therefore, if we do not see the Lord, it is because the Lord has withdrawn, it is because the Lord has retired, and therefore we cannot have the benefits of salvation if the Lord has withdrawn.
We cannot deceive ourselves, we cannot say: “Well, the Lord left, but I am enjoying, I am experiencing the Lord’s benefits.” The Lord’s benefits belong to the Lord and He gives them when He is in the midst of His people.
Separation From the World
Now I want to go to Second Corinthians again, but this time to chapter 6, verse 14. Up to verse 16 is also a text that many of us know, but I repeat: we are not living according to it.
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people’”.
Look at how it ends, verse 17:
“Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you’”.
The Danger of Alliances With the World
There is a large amount of God’s people who have made alliances with the world and have introduced the world into their house and have taken elements of the world and have planted them in their house.
Know that in ancient times, in the time of Manasseh, a king who ruled the kingdom of Israel, it reached such a degree that he introduced a pagan goddess into the temple of Jerusalem and presented her—hear well—presented her as the wife of God. In the prophetic books it is presented as the jealousy that makes jealous. He introduced this pagan goddess, placed her next to God’s altar and presented her as God’s wife.
And when we read or hear, surely we say: “Wow, how horrendous, how horrible, how difficult. How was it possible for him to do that?” Know that we do the same thing. Know that we are doing the same thing today. We have introduced the world and we have introduced it and we have given it the character, the value of our property, of our belongings.
While there is contamination, we will not be able to gain authority. While there is contamination, what we are going to do is turn our back on the enemy.
The Apostate Church
Today—and I have to say it—today, the contemporary church is an apostate church, it is a contaminated church. It pains me to say it, but I have to say it. And many of God’s people, many of God’s people are a contaminated people, they are an apostate people, they are a people who walk in the vanity of their thinking, in the vanity of their heart.
A couple of days ago I saw an image, we are in the final days of the month of December, and you know the celebrations or pagan festivals that take place on December 24-25, in which—by the way—many of God’s people participate, despite the fact that we know and confess that it is a pagan festival. We participate in one way or another.
Know that a couple of days ago I saw an image where half of the image was a Christmas tree and the other half was a cross. See what apostasy has developed within the Church. What apostasy the Church is walking in today. What apostasy the ministers of God are walking in. What we are living is abominable.
The Responsibility of God’s People
Let us review our society and we are going to find that it is a society where there is violence, a society where there is crime, where there is robbery, where there is abuse. And one asks: Why? Why? Because God’s people, God’s people are walking in apostasy.
I want to take you to the book of Lamentations, chapter 2, we are going to read in verse 14:
“Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions”.
See what verse 16 says:
“All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, ‘We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day we have waited for; we have found it, we have seen it!’”
Many of our societies are under the government of Satan. Many of our societies are under the government of Satan. And the question is: Why? And the answer is: because there is a people who lost their saltiness and are no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Because there is a people who boast that they are light, but who walk to the tune of the darkness that governs this world.
How are we going to have authority that way?
The Questions That Demand Answers
What is holiness? Holiness is the absence of contamination. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. One chapter earlier, in chapter 5, in verse 27, the apostle by the Spirit of God says:
“That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing”.
We cannot have authority before the demon if we still participate in the demon’s things.
I go again to verse 14, Second Corinthians chapter 6:
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers”.
Do not be yoked. And the Spirit of God is not saying: “If it pleases you, don’t be yoked.” No, because it is a statute of God. It is not “if you want,” it is not “if you decide.” No, it is a statute of God. The Lord is saying: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers”.
And then He asks a series of questions. And you know that a question needs an answer.
First Question: Righteousness and Lawlessness
“What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?”
We present ourselves as righteous people, but we tolerate what the unrighteous do. When we present ourselves as righteous but tolerate the unrighteousness of others, it is equivalent to as if we were also doing them.
Second Question: Light and Darkness
“What communion has light with darkness?”
The question: What communion has light with darkness? The answer is: none, none.
Why then do we tolerate? Why then do we walk according to and conduct ourselves as the world conducts itself? Why then? And you know what we do: acts of silence so as not to be confronted.
In the Old Testament, in the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the people say to the prophet: “We have made a covenant with death”.
That covenant with death, I asked the Lord what that means about the covenant with death, and the Lord spoke to me and taught me: covenant with death means vow of silence.
Third Question: The Temple and Idols
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”
None. Why then are we introducing pagan things into our properties? Why are we introducing accursed things then and accursed customs? Because it is not only objects, but accursed customs that we are introducing into our environments, into our practice, into our conduct.
He says: “For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people’”.
If God sees contamination in the midst of us, the Lord withdraws. If He sees contamination in the midst of us, the Lord withdraws. There is no authority in our life. Therefore, then, it is important that we understand the need to live in holiness.
God Looks at the Heart
In First Samuel 16:7 it says:
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’”.
When people say: “It doesn’t matter what happens, because what Jehovah looks at is the heart,” but when the Word is telling us this, what God is telling us, the answer is in Romans 12:3:
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”.
God is telling us that we do not evaluate ourselves. Let us not think: “Since I don’t do this, I don’t do that, God forgave me this, God forgave me that, well I’m fine.” That would not be the foundation by which we are going to evaluate ourselves, but by the Holy Spirit who is, who convicts us.
And at given moments, David said: “Lord, bring to light what I have, see if there is sin in me. And what is hidden from me, let me see it”.
Well, we have to present it in the same way, as David did, and say: “Lord, search my heart and see what is there and let me see it, bring it to the light.” For what purpose? To bring it, to work on it.
Conclusion: The Decision Is Today
It’s vital that we understand: the only way to gain authority is through holiness. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. This is the message of both the Old and New Testaments. It’s not a religious message; it’s the message of the Word of the Lord.
So today, having been exposed to this Word, we must make decisions. The decision isn’t for tomorrow; the decision is today.
You’ve put your hand to the plow; don’t look back. Because Lot’s wife looked back, she became a pillar of salt. Don’t look back. Don’t look at what you left behind. Don’t look at what you gave up. Don’t even look at what once attracted you in the past. Why? Because the Lord is calling you to a new life.
It’s not just “accepting” Jesus Christ; it is repenting of everything we have done, so that we can then live in holiness. Without holiness no one will see the Lord.
The Promise of Restoration
Ezekiel 37:13-14
“And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Final Prayer
Father, tonight we give You thanks, Lord, because as we have been exposed to Your Word—O Lord—Your Word is the plumb line; Your Word sets the boundaries; Your Word declares Your will; and Your Word brings judgment.
Woe to the one who hears the Word, says “What a great message, what a great sermon,” yet is unwilling to walk in it and make correction in their life; that person brings judgment upon themselves.
Lord, in the name of Jesus we release Your Word and this time, Eternal God, over every person to whom You have sent correction tonight. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
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