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Alright guys, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 27. Paul mentions this phrase and he says, give not place to the devil. Then he proceeds to go on about not quenching the spirit and things of that nature. Before that verse he tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger. I was reading that recently and I was like, wow, give not place to the devil. Hmm. You know, and so I'm thinking like, wow, if Paul's warning us, give not place to the devil, then that means we can give a place to the devil. And therefore we don't want to go down that road. We've got enough trouble with evil and wickedness in this world. But to additionally give the devil a place in our lives is definitely not something that I want to subscribe to. And I know it's not anything that you guys want to subscribe to either. So the question is, can a Christian be possessed by a devil? You hear that a lot in churches today. And obviously the answer is no. The devil can't possess you, but he can possess space next to you. So this is a study on how that looks and how to prevent that from happening. Okay. The reason why Paul gives that warning is because it is very possible for us to give place to the devil. We definitely don't want to do that. Now, one of the things that I'm going to bring up here, and I think this is probably more so the bottom line for the whole sermon, and it comes out of Zechariah chapter number three, and here's what you're going to find. Joshua the high priest is doing what he's supposed to, helping rebuild Jerusalem, getting everything back in order. In Zechariah, one of his jobs, aside from also being a prophet, was to comfort people and to be an encouragement unto the people while they build under oppression. Remember, people did not want them to go back to the land. They did not want them to rebuild. They met a lot of opposition. They met a lot of resistance and things of that nature. And that's obviously a picture for you and I in spiritual warfare today. One of the things I'm going to say is this. When we were lost, the devil had us captive. But now that we're saved, he wants us to be inactive. And that's what happens when you and I give the devil a place. So do me a favor. Really pay attention to this. If it helps you, let us know in the comments. And here's Brother Josh reading Ephesians chapter number four. Ephesians chapter number four, beginning in verse one. And through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another be ye angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil let him that stole steal no more but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you brother Evan would you please pray for us all right amen Ephesians chapter number four so I'm going to title this sermon when all hell breaks loose all hell breaks loose and what this is about is verse 27 so let's look at it here real quick well Paul says neither give place to the devil okay so that's really what this sermon is about it's about giving place to the devil so we're going to take a look through the bible this evening and answer the question is it possible for a Christian to be possessed is it possible for a Christian to have to really struggle with devils in his life his or her life what does that look like what's the deal with that and if that's possible how do we overcome it okay now a lot of times when you hear this sermon preached and I think I've probably done this in the past several years ago you'll read this verse here and then just basically say well if you don't do anything in chapter four here all the stuff before and all the stuff after then you've just given a place to the devil now obviously if you ignore the word of God and you're not doing these things you open yourself up to all sorts of issues I get that I understand that but what does that look like to give place to the devil okay I heard somebody not too long ago say well because I gave my life to Christ okay he's always in me therefore devils can't attack me they can't come into my life they have no business so on and so forth sounds cute sounds good but the question I have is why is Paul saying all of these things in chapter four and then oh by the way neither give place to the devil you know why he says that because you can give place to the devil now you can keep your place there for a little bit later but go to psalm chapter 109 we're going to look at two old testament passages just by way of introduction so go to psalm chapter 109 back in the old testament and so this evening we're going to prove this statement to be true and you're going to see this play out especially if you take this subject and even study it further and that is the devil cannot possess you but he can possess space around you he can possess space next to you so in other words he can't possess your body but he can possess your life okay and so you say well I don't believe that well I'm going to show you that that is the case here very quickly now in psalm chapter 109 I preached a sermon about this several months ago I believe that David's talking about a lot of people here but specifically I would say probably doe egg the edamite is the main subject here but I want you to look at verse four real quick so I want you to see how how wrong I was the other day when I preached about your neighbor I'm just kidding but he says this in verse four for my love they are my adversaries but I give myself unto prayer and so obviously David here explaining how he's feeling okay he's on the run from saw all he did was love and he got hate in exchange okay now his solution well I'm just going to give myself in a prayer verse five they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love and of course we see that all the time in our lives David definitely no stranger to that now here it is I want you to see this here look at verse six so this is what David's response is to those that rewarded him evil okay for good and hatred for his love verse six set thou a wicked man over him you see that singular there now obviously David had a lot of adversaries okay he had a lot of adversaries but he singles out one person here whom I wouldn't doubt is probably doe egg the edamite if you're not familiar with that story you want to go read that back in first Samuel this is story where this edamite basically simps up to Saul and he's like hey I saw David I know where he's at and Saul's like cool now I know I can trust you kill all these priests okay so doe egg had no problems doing that and of course that's an extremely wicked thing and so David loving his neighbor righteously says this set thou a wicked man over him and let satan stand at his right hand and so what I think the bible is trying to tell us here is that satan has a role and responsibility and we as believers would do well to understand what that is and to keep him in this type of a situation here remember paul said something very similar about hymenaeus and alexander who made shipwreck over their faith he said hey I've delivered them unto satan so that they can learn not to blaspheme okay so obviously the devil is a tool and I've said that before he's a tool to be used used in accordance with the word of god this is what David is saying here though about this man who has done him but not only him but obviously the lord wrong okay so obviously he's got a place here and David understands what that place is remember David is under inspiration of the holy ghost here these psalms were meant to be sang they were meant to be meditated on and to be learned you go out and tell people these psalms today and they're like that's probably from the quran or that's probably from something else that's not the bible because the bible says don't judge obviously extreme ignorance look at verse seven so he says when he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin okay so I just wanted you to see that there that he has a place so in other words we don't want to give him an additional place now go to zechariah chapter number three zechariah chapter number three so just go forward there in your old testament to the book of zechariah zechariah chapter number three now zechariah is what we call um a prophet in the medo-persian empire so he was a prophet under the reign of darius and so this is really the time period before what we're studying on sunday nights which would be esther and zechariah's job along with the prophet hegai was to comfort the 50,000 that came back into the land to rebuild the temple and to reinstitute things as god had stated and now during the beginning of this rebuilding process here well it's really not the beginning it's more like the pickup because obviously cyrus allowed them to go back and then of course some people rose up and put a stop to the work for about 15 years and then when darius comes on the scene god orchestrates everything to where they're allowed to go back now but the resistance that's what I want you to see so they're starting to do a good work they're starting to do what god had prophesied what god wanted now look at verse number one and so the bible says this says and he showed me so this is zechariah here talking and he showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord now look at this and satan standing at his right hand to resist him now why does it say he's standing at his right hand well the right hand in the bible is symbolic of uh our source of power and ability okay and that's what the devil attacks he wants to attack your power which our power comes from god it comes from our willingness to follow the lord and to follow the statutes of the bible but he wants to resist our ability okay and obviously he's not happy about the jews going back into land and beginning to rebuild and to institute things again so he's trying to resist okay now look at what the lord says in this vision here in the next verse in the next verse look at verse two it says and the lord said unto satan the lord rebuked thee oh satan even the lord that hath chosen jerusalem rebuked thee is this i'm sorry is not this a brand plucked out of the fire now you can leave your place there and go to matthew chapter number 16 so you can see that in that passage that the devil is seeking a permanent place to resist the work that zechariah joshua haggai and the jews are trying to complete you can think of it like this okay take a let's take the situation of a uh a prisoner and a guard okay as long as the prisoner is in his cell following the protocol going along with a program the guards typically won't mess with the prisoners okay all is well and that relationship works and there's peace in that situation but the moment that the prisoner decides you know i don't like this anymore i don't want to be here and decides to try to buck the system what happens well then the guards start to rise up and resist and try to put them back in their box and so i say that to say this when we were lost the devil had us captive okay that's what the bible says the bible says that when people are lost the heathen okay that they are captive by the devil at his will so what i'm going to say is that when we are when we were lost the devil had us captive now that we're saved he wants us inactive that's the goal here in zechariah he's trying to produce inactivity he wants to stop joshua from encouraging the people and doing his duty to the lord he obviously wants to stop zechariah and his encouragement to get things done and to get things rebuilt so you're there in matthew chapter number 16 i want to show you now a live example in the bible about how fast a person can potentially give place to the devil so matthew 16 look over at verse number 21 the bible says from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go to jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day so this is obviously what christ is teaching here and it's not going to be received well okay but this is the truth this is his words what he's trying to get these guys to finally understand now look at verse 22 then peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from the lord this shall not be unto thee obviously you can see how close peter is to jesus where he thinks that this behavior this resistance is okay but look at the response from jesus to peter in the next verse but he turned and said unto peter get thee behind me satan thou art an offense unto me for thou savorous not the things that be of god but those that be of men and we've all heard the word savor before we all most of us in here probably when you get hungry maybe envision a steak right with good seasonings just a savory steak a savory cheeseburger for me you know both whatever the case is okay something that's appealing something that is very good and jesus is telling us that the devil savors the things that are basically um attributed to men okay what does the flesh desire okay well the flesh desires to elevate man to elevate the flesh and so jesus is telling the devil in front of peter hey thou art an offense unto me for thou savorous not the things that be of god the things that be of god were what jesus just said hey i'm going to be killed i'm going to be crucified but i will raise again the third day okay that went against the the vision that peter and the other apostles had they were like hey we want this whole old testament scene to come back hey we want jesus to be king right here we want the romans kicked out and we want to be your benaya the son of jehoiada and your mighty men and just take on the entire world that sounds cool we can do that we've read about that that program's great but this whole resurrection deal and this whole you know giving the fruits to the the the heathen you know the gentiles we're not too down with that now go to luke chapter number 22 and of course jesus says hey at this moment in time hey you have given place to the devil so what's the lesson in this for us well when we decide you know what we're going to start to savor the things that be of men over the things that be of god well then we're beginning to give place to the devil in our lives and i said the devil can't possess you but he can possess space in your life so let's look at something else here luke chapter number 22 and of course old peter again you know peter the reason why peter gets in so much trouble is because he pictures all of us everybody's gone through a peter phase everybody can relate to peter there here's here's the deal okay there are people that can relate to peter and there's people that lie and say oh i'm not like him i learned my lessons from reading the bible i don't make these types of mistakes and those people are alive and they are well you know how i know that because they email from time to time or they call the church and let me know okay verse 31 and the lord said simon simon behold satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but i have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou are converted strengthen thy brethren so sift you as wheat okay what does that mean what does a person do when they sift wheat well they take the wheat and they have this device where they shake it real hard and it separates the wheat from the chaff so basically the devil's like hey i want to test this guy i want to see if he can survive that process i want to see what this guy is made out of why because it's painful and i think he'll quit i think he'll probably give up that's why jesus says but i have prayed for thee he doesn't say i have stopped him from sifting you but he says i have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not so he's going to allow this to happen okay which you see obviously leading up to and just immediately after the crucifixion of jesus christ you see the attitude that peter had he's he's not happy obviously he's confused didn't understand the things that christ taught but it all gets worked out in the end what does that mean obviously what that means that christ's prayer actually benefited helped him out he got converted onto what he's been trying to convert him onto this whole time and he went forth and began to conquer get people saved start churches do wonderful works for god and another acronym that kind of came up for uh sift is satan's intentions for thee he has intentions for us and that is to remove our ability to serve god and he does that through various ways the bible says that we're not ignorant or we should not be ignorant of his devices he's got many many things that are out there that draw our attention away from the things of god and on to the things of men and at the end of the day we know that that takes us away from serving the lord now you can leave your place there and go to john chapter number eight john chapter number eight and so let me also just say this okay the devil can't take you to hell but he can put you through hell okay and that is another goal that he has um he can't take you to hell but he can definitely put you through hell on this earth and that's okay okay that's okay if you're in a situation like peter where he's decided you know what i want to you decide you know what i'm gonna stop okay savoring the things that are of men and i'm gonna dedicate you know my time for church soul winning reading the bible doing the things that obviously we always talk about and the things that we always preach about okay when you make that decision all hell is going to break loose why because the devil is upset that he cannot take you captive so of course he would love nothing more than to make you inactive okay so it's like we spend our whole lives just ignorant of the devil and the lost but then when we're saved it's like we're just constantly fighting okay resist or running away or or whatever the case is now john chapter eight very familiar verse we're going to look at here verse 44 look at this so of course jesus speaking to this mixed multitude of people here and he says this says ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it i think every christian ought to meditate on this on a regular basis okay because the better that you know this verse right here these attributes of satan of the devil the easier it is for you to prove what is good and what is evil okay and the problem as you all know when you do that is you raise the hounds of hell right people start saying oh you're too judgmental you're too this you're too that you're too fundamental you're too extreme we don't like that you need to calm down go to second corinthians chapter number two second corinthians chapter number two you know what but as long as we understand that we're doing the right things as long as we understand hey okay we understand the attributes that this guy has we understand his mission and his motive we know that he would love nothing more than to take up space or a place in our lives then guess what you can rest in peace that you're not having to deal with that okay so let's look at something here second corinthians chapter number two look at verse number 10 so paul says this to whom you forgive anything i forgive also for if i forgive anything to whom i forgave it for your sakes forgive i it in the person of christ forgiveness is a very very important thing in the body of christ it you know obviously deserves its own regular full dedicated sermons but here's the point and here's kind of what happens or could happen if we don't forgive our brothers and sisters in christ look at verse number 11 lest satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices one of his devices you're going to see here in just a moment in fact go to john chapter 13 one of his devices is to get into your thought life okay is to get into your thought life and to get into your situations and start getting you hey that person did you wrong man you're gonna take that huh that brother did you wrong you're gonna take that you're gonna put up with that no you're gonna throw up a wall you gotta do something about that you've gotta get yours okay that's what he wants and if you give him that place in your heart in your thought life then guess what you have now succumbed to his will he has um more than gained a foothold in your life and will definitely cause inability in your life now here's an example of that in john chapter number 13 look at verse number two the bible says and supper being ended the devil now look at this the devil having now put into the heart of judas iscariot simon's son to betray him now when i'm talking about this that you know don't give place to the devil okay don't give place to the devil or the devil does this i'm not saying that he's omnipotent he can just run everywhere all the time okay go read the first two chapters of job and you'll see how he operates obviously he's fast obviously he's an angelic creature and he can go up in between heaven and earth and he can roam around the earth okay but he has an army with him okay and though he may not personally possess space in your life he definitely has someone that will follow orders and will do that okay and you say well he's got to get permission yeah he's got to get permission all right he's got to get permission to destroy you he's got to get permission to take things from you but he doesn't have to get permission if you give him a position in other words if you say well i'm gonna ignore the wisdom of the bible here and just do my own thing because i know that i'm right okay well then what are you doing essentially like i always say you're basically cutting a hole in your hedge of protection and allowing inviting this guy or one of his cronies into your life and giving them space allowing them to set up shop go to hebrews chapter number two hebrews chapter number two and look down at verse number 13 you know again i'm not preaching this so that you're like oh man every time i make a mistake boom devil's like right there on me okay that's not necessarily the case okay i want to give you a little bit of encouragement now uh and we're going to start right here in this chapter yeah verse number 13 the bible says this and again i will put my trust in him and again behold i and the children which god hath given me verse 14 for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy now look at this he might destroy him that had the power of death that is devil okay remember the devil satan is not an equal with god okay he is a created being that has to obey orders okay he has to obey orders and this is just another proof text that christ has destroyed this individual destroyed taking this power away from him okay and so really in believers lives and what you're going to find if you stick with this long enough is that when people say you know i feel like i'm just under attack by the devil okay and a lot of times they actually are they they know that they realize that you're gonna find that they have done something of their own free will more often than not that has invited him in to their lives look at verse 15 and deliver them okay and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage and so again it goes without saying okay before we were saved okay we were taken captive by him at his will and his goal is to get us inactive verse 16 for verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of abraham wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to god to make reconciliation for the sins of the people okay and so why am i reading this well i'm reading this to start the encouragement process and to let you know that it is relatively easy to get this guy kicked out of your space because he's already been defeated he's already been destroyed okay verse number 18 for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to secure them that are tempted now go to mark chapter number five mark chapter number five and so obviously that's a reference there to matthew chapter number four in where the devil uh had tempted christ and promised him all these things oh all you gotta do is worship me and i'll give you this okay remember the devil doesn't give gifts okay everything that he offers has strings attached to it but what paul is telling us here is that christ has been through that he's been through this battle in the flesh for us therefore he is able to comfort us in our times of trials and tribulations when we are under attack you know sometimes we invite the intent the attacks you know our own selves other times we find ourselves in a position like the high priest joshua where we're just doing the right thing and he's there resisting either way doesn't matter okay we serve the risen christ greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world okay so look down here at uh mark chapter number five look at verse number one let's take a look at something it says and they came over onto the other side of the sea into the country of the gadarenes and when he was come out of the ship immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit interesting how it just says an unclean spirit like singular and i bring that up because if you're familiar with the story you know that this is legion but look at verse number three who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him no not with chains okay now why is that well because this guy was possessed with a legion of unclean spirits with devils okay and so therefore that process didn't just affect him it affected other people so they have to bind this guy up with the physical because that's the only way that they could restrain him but even though he's bound this way he's still terrorizing the community still terrorizing other people verse four because then he had been often bound with and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces neither could any man tame him and you know that's really a whole lesson there that a lot of people need to learn today you know especially in regards to the government and the demonic activity that takes place there a lot of people think that we can do these physical things or we're just going to rise up and i'm going to use the second amendment you know yeah that worked back in the day who's to say it'll work again you know what works is what you're gonna see and that's using the word of god that's jesus christ the one who's defeated that's the only answer you know people say well trump's the answer to all of our problems trump's gonna bring everything back in store he might change a couple things if he even gets elected but the only thing that would ever change this country to go even remotely close to what it was is a turn back to the savior verse number five and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones who's ever seen somebody do that hey i've seen that several times in my life um i've seen that in high school where people are cutting themselves and they don't know why you know and of course back then i didn't understand why now i believe a lot of times that's due to some sort of demonic activity um what else oh i was in the military obviously and i'd seen this a couple of times where somebody just snaps and they just start cutting themselves and trying to hurt themselves i watched a guy literally swallow an entire bottle of aspirin one time to try to commit suicide you know and because i was there like well you gotta watch it okay i had to go to the hospital with this guy while they pumped his stomach and did some horrible procedures to him to teach this guy a lesson which i obviously won't get into but what can cause people to do this well sometimes obviously it's just mental issues or it's just you know somebody's got this situation in their mind where they've deemed this is so bad i gotta get out of here like prison okay and sometimes the military can be like that but to do this kind of bodily harm you know sometimes is an indication of demonic activity and that's definitely what we see here verse six but when he saw Jesus now this is so important here okay look at this but when he saw Jesus afar off he ran and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice and said what have i to do with thee jesus thou son of the most high god i adjure thee by god that thou torment me not so we're talking this evening about not giving place to the devil okay so what do we see here right off the bat when Jesus shows up to demonic activity okay demonic activity manifests automatically right so Jesus on the scene here okay what happens this guy runs up and it's the demon speaking here and saying what have i to do with you jesus thou son of the most high god i adjure thee by god that thou torment me not so the presence of Jesus manifests devils that's why we spend so much time reading scripture preaching scripture memorizing scripture using scripture because this will manifest not only does it bring up all kinds of wisdom in our life but it also manifests demonic activity okay and it allows us to prove and hold fast that which is good so the presence of Jesus manifests devils so what happens to the guy that gets saved and just puts aside the bible says i'll take the grace and run he's still saved okay but that individual is giving place to the devil and is in able incapable many times of being able to prove anything and oftentimes these guys wind up having major issues so the solution is if you feel that you've been given uh a place to a devil or the devil is to get right to the word of god because this will manifest jesus said i am the word he is the word of god so therefore if there is demonic activity if there is something like this going on the word of god will manifest it look at the next verse for he said unto him come out of the man thou unclean spirit okay so what do we see next here well we see that jesus commands this devil to come out of the person of course the pentecostals today love to play this game and pretend that this happens i don't know if you guys know this but there are people that drive around uh two pentecostal churches random pentecostal churches and they will pretend to be possessed by devils okay these people are actors um and i mean we've seen it jessica and i have seen we've been in these churches and seen these people flopping around like a fish on the floor pretending to be possessed and then all of a sudden like they'll look is anybody paying attention to me and if you could just tell by their countenance they're completely faking it you know and and it's always just like what are you doing here but that's obviously people trying to act like they're in this but the application for us today because the death of you know christ has already happened he's already defeated death he's already stomped the devil out it looks different today it looks different for us okay and so you say well what do you do well you get to the word of god okay you start seeking the wisdom that's from above and what that in turn does is it helps us out tremendously it helps us to be able to command these things in our lives to get out look at the next verse it says and he asked him what is thy name and he answered saying my name is legion for we are many and then of course we don't have time to really get to the rest of the story but i want you to go to first timothy chapter number three first timothy chapter number three i just want to give you a couple more verses here about giving place to the devil okay first timothy chapter number three look at verse number six so obviously paul's giving timothy the requirements to become a pastor and look at verse number six so he says that this individual if he wants to be a bishop and wants to be in ministry verse six not a novice okay now we love novices we need new people we need to reach people we need babes in christ we need them okay but not for the ministry okay not for the ministry not a novice now what's the problem with being a novice okay well the problem with giving a novice responsibility like ministry is the following less being lifted up with pride now look at this he fall into the condemnation of the devil you see that phrase there fall into okay again the devil has many devices he wants a place in your life okay he wants to resist you he may want to sift you okay but all around us what he is also doing is setting traps for us to fall into and that's what we don't want because if we fall into one of his traps well obviously we've given him place look at the very next verse paul says moreover he must have a good report of them which are without meaning without the faith without salvation outside of the camp so to speak and lest he fall there's that phrase again look at that lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil and i go to first peter chapter number five so again another thing to watch out for okay is he sets traps for us so that he can gain a place in us in our lives that is the first peter chapter five you probably already know where we're going to look but it gives us what i believe are just two very simple things that we can remember and apply in our lives to make sure that we're not ever going to give him place and now it's easy to preach ephishians 4 and just be like okay follow all these things and that's great there's nothing wrong with that okay but i want to give you something that you'll never forget two things right off the bat here that if you remember these things okay the odds of you giving him place are going to be practically zero first peter five look at verse number eight here's number one be what is that next word sober be sober okay now the low-hanging fruit here okay the gravy is obviously the alcohol the drugs the intoxicants okay we get that but like we talked about on sunday romans chapter 12 is very clear if you are lifted up with pride you are not sober you are intoxicated pride is a drug it is an emotional spiritual invisible drug that plagues more people than heroin coke fentanyl all that crap okay be sober understand that you are one in seven billion people understand that you are a sinner that is forgiven understand that any gift that you have any ability that you have was given to you by god therefore he gets the praise so be sober and here's number two be vigilant what does that mean it means to be alert especially to danger if you don't have sobriety you do not have vigilance you show me an arrogant person well i don't you know i'm this i'm that i'm this and that i'm right on the on the trip i'm right on this that's great but if you're puffed up with pride i know for a fact you are not vigilant it is 100 impossible for you to be vigilant to be alert to danger spiritual danger if you're puffed up with pride it's not going to happen be sober be vigilant here's why because your adversary the devil notice whose adversary yours okay the devil has an extremely high vested interest in you in me in this church and in our brethren in the body of christ because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour and he starts by gaining a foothold he starts by getting a place in your life taking advantage and then going through the sifting process he stalls he isolates he fools and he traps that's what he does in that situation look at verse nine the application is always this whom resist steadfast in the faith he doesn't say whom resist steadfast in the latest andrew tate video or the latest inspirational video that you saw on youtube you know some of those videos not andrew tates you know may have their place they might give you some value you might hear something tony robbins says hey that's pretty cool that makes sense that's cool okay but at the end of the day that stuff is all physical okay people that get hooked on these influencers for their motivation they just remind me of the legion they just remind me of the guy who's possessed with the devil and the people that are surrounding him trying to contain him using physical things earthly things earthly wisdom to try to restrain it okay and jesus shows up boom problem solved done deal okay so whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world so we have to understand that when we are under attack we're feeling like we're under attack maybe the devil's put a thought in your heart in your mind which he does do and he has the ability to do especially if we allow him okay is to realize i'm not alone in this there are other people that have gone through this and we already know and we've already looked at there is a solution for that okay but if you could just remember these two things okay sobriety and vigilance you get those down sobriety and vigilance and you're not going to give place to the devil because you're going to understand um all the things surrounding ephesians chapter four and verse 27 you're going to follow those things you're going to want to do those things now go to james chapter number three real quick and james we're almost done almost done quick one tonight james chapter number three so i kind of mentioned this at the beginning you know it's pretty obvious if we just throw you know paul's letter to the fees you know i don't really need to follow that i'm just i'm good to go man it don't really matter i'm saved i'm good to go whatever okay to throw that stuff out and to say i don't need church okay i don't need church i don't need this i got goals i got things in my life i'll come back to it later in life to do that is foolish to do that is going to give the devil place in your life and here is an example of what that looks like james chapter three look at verse 13 so james says who is a wise man a wise man and endued with knowledge among you let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom again that you can attribute that right back to that sobriety right back to that vigilance okay meekness with wisdom if you got a good conversation with that new man guess what show it by your actions show it by what you do verse 14 but if you have bitter envying strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth you know what that is that's all over ephishians chapter four okay all right aren't we supposed to treat our members righteously not lie to one another for we are members of one another i mean that's i think that i think i read that somewhere okay now look at what that is though verse 15 this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish okay so obviously to take ephishians 4 to take all of these things just be like you know what i watched a few documentaries i got a few sermons under my belt i know the truth now i'm good to go i'm gonna go tell everybody in the world every doctrine because i'm right but you haven't read a lick of the bible okay that is problematic and those people oftentimes wind up turning on us later on in their lives and it's because they have false sense of wisdom verse 16 for where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work which of course is not just my job but all of our jobs to seek and prove whether or not these things are taking place among us verse 17 but the wisdom that is from above is first pure than peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy okay go over one more chapter and we are done right here and the grand solution okay it's just a repeat of what i've already been saying james 4 look at verse number seven here's the cure submit yourselves therefore to god you know that it takes sobriety it takes you realizing you know what i've been hitting my head on every ceiling at church in my parents house in my neighbor's house at work and that's probably why nobody likes you know that's a that's a sobering thought to actually realize you know what i don't know it all in fact i'm not really as good as i think i am okay it takes it takes humility to submit yourself to anything the flesh don't want to submit to nobody man not god not your boss not anybody okay and so when you can get to this point here okay again you are throwing up walls you're patching that hedge of protection that god has around you submit yourselves therefore to god very easy to say but again again you gotta bring yourself down hey resist the devil and he will flee from you resist the devil and he will flee from you why does james say that because he wants you he wants a place in your life he wants to take advantage of you and stop your ability to go out there and get other people out of his captivity he doesn't like jail breakers okay it bothers him we say that all the time because it's true verse 8 draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts ye double minded so again these are guarantees here you know there's not a lot of guarantees in life okay you go to work you go talk to your family oh i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do that you tell yourself i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do that a lot of times it doesn't pan out but one thing two things that are guaranteed for you for me if you're under attack like this or you know somebody who is the solution right here submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you that takes sobriety and that takes vigilance i'm telling you if you can remember those two things you will do well in spiritual fights verse 8 one more time draw nigh to god look at this guarantee and he will it doesn't say he might i have to bring this up because so many times people are like i just don't think god likes me you know i'm doing this and i just and i'm still going through this and i'm still going through that it's like yeah you're not alone a lot of us are going through things a lot of us are okay the problem may be that you're on social media looking at the highlight look people don't always just post their problems and their real spiritual battles on social media it's usually only the good stuff okay so get off of that stuff and realize it's not about you necessarily okay your call to action is very simple you draw a night to god you say you know what i got these issues this is this is my book right here i'm gonna do what this says i'm gonna make these changes guess what there is a 100 guarantee there is something that will definitely happen what is it he will draw an eye to you okay just like zechariah chapter three okay joshua the high priest doing the right thing trying to get things going and the devil's right there messing with him trying to resist him and stop him from his mission and who's there right next to him it's god what does god say hey is not this a brand plucked out of the fire or not you a brand plucked out of the fire okay this is so important for us to understand because again this mindset can just creep in and it comes from the enemy that you're you've done too much bad you've done too many things bad god god can't use you god can't deal with you and it's over you might as well hang it up you don't speak clear enough you don't want to knock those doors what if something happens what if somebody recognizes you from work what if you wind up in the news blah blah blah who cares you draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you and by doing that you're already implementing that sobriety and that vigilance that is our definite keys to success so remember the devil cannot possess you but he can possess space near you and let's stop right there bow our heads and have a word of prayer thank you so much lord for these teachings in your word i just pray that you help us to remember these things but furthermore lord we just pray that you help us to comfort others in these things as well and we thank you for all that you do for us in jesus name i pray amen