Five Open Doors to the Enemy

And that's where we'll be first, and then you can also open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

We're going to look at a lot of Scripture today, as you're used to, from Pastor Robert.

But I want to talk to you today a little bit about freedom.

In the body of Christ, there's a lot of misunderstanding, in my estimation, a lot of twisted thinking when it comes to the area of bondage and freedom.

And the reason for that really is quite simple.

The reason for that is because people become consumed with bondage.

They become consumed with what they're being freed from.

And I want to tell you that in the heart of God, there is for you a plan not to just free you from something, but to free you to become something.

That's what's in God's heart for you.

A lot of people that I've ministered to down through the years, it seems as though their approach to God is this: that if they're ever able to stop drinking beer and stop looking at pornography, that that is the sum total of what Jesus died on the cross to give them.

It's as though their thinking is they may have never become anything at all like Jesus.

But if they arrive at the pearly gates and there's not sufficient evidence found to keep them out, that that's really all they're living for.

And I want to tell you that in the heart of God, there is for you exponentially far more than that.

That God has in mind for you something that's so great that if he were to open it to your eyes today, it would frighten you.

That's how big it is.

That's how wonderful it is.

God brought you to Gateway Church, not just for you to receive, but for you to give back.

And there are gifts inside your heart that have yet to be expressed and revealed.

And what God brought you here for is to get you freed and then to release you into something that's so dynamic and so real and so wonderful that I'm convinced that if you were able to see it today, you would lay down whatever petty sin issues you're dealing with and dabbling in right now, and you would seek God with all your heart.

I want to share with you today some revelation that the Lord graciously opened to my wife and I six years ago.

And when my wife and I received the things that I'm going to share with you today, it absolutely changed our lives.

It changed the way we relate to God, to each other, to our children, changed the way we minister.

The truth is, the Bible says that we can give ground to the enemy.

Think of it in terms of opening doors.

If you were to hear someone knock at your door and you were to peek out the front cover, the window to see who was knocking on your door, and you saw a large man dressed all in black with a machine gun and a machete over his shoulder, you would not open the door to him.

But a lot of Christians, people in general, without having any idea who they're opening the door of their lives to, open the doors to things a lot worse than that guy I just described to you.

Let me tell you two ways quickly to know if you're in bondage.

There are others, but I think these are two primary ways that we know we're in bondage.

Number one is this is that if you live with fear, if you have lived with fear for any length of time at all, regardless of what it's fear about, if you live with fear, that's bondage.

And I want to tell you right now, you don't have to leave here today with that fear.

Jesus will free you up today.

But here's the second way that you can know if you're in bondage.

If you have a sin, the Bible calls a besetting sin, that you confess and you want to leave.

But you go back to.

And you confess and you go back to it, and you confess it and you go back to it.

And what the devil tells you is if you keep going back to it, God will not forgive you of that.

Well, let me tell you the truth.

The Bible says that Jesus is faithful to forgive.

Every time you confess that sin, God forgives you.

But the reason you continue to go back is because there's an iniquity there.

And what God wants to do for you is release the iniquity off of your life so that you do not continue to go back to the sin.

That's what's in God's heart for you.

John 10.10 says, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

And I want you to notice something that Jesus says.

The thief will not come unless he gets to do one of these three things, or all three.

Steal and kill and destroy.

He has no other purpose in your life than that.

He has no other reason for coming to you than that.

But here's what Jesus said in John chapter 10, beginning in verse 1.

John 10 · chapter mention

He said, Most assuredly, I say to you, that he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way.

The same as a thief and a robber.

Now, what is some other way?

You can't get through the door because you know who the door is, right?

The door is Jesus.

We can't come through the door, so a thief always looks for some other way in.

What are the other ways that demons get in?

I want to share with you five today that I think will be meaningful to you.

One is this generational curses.

Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 5, says this, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

Well, you might say, well, that doesn't sound fair to me.

That today you're saying that I'm struggling with something that I didn't actually participate in.

That's actually the truth.

We have no problem conceiving of the reality that there are physical iniquities that run through family generations.

Things like heart disease, cancer, some say alcoholism, and there are various iniquities that run through family generations like that.

We have no problem conceiving of that.

But the truth is that it's not also, it's not only true in the physical, it's also true in the spiritual.

Things like addictions, sexual problems, poverty, racism, occultism, Masonic curses, chronic illness, and barrenness and divorce and suicide and untimely death.

All of us have had ancestors who did not serve the Lord.

All of us.

That's what all of us in this room have in common.

We have all had ancestors who refused to bow their knee to God.

And the truth is that their iniquities have been visited upon you and me.

And the Bible calls them curses.

Now, here's what a curse is: a curse simply is a predisposition toward a sin.

It's not the sin.

Now, if you read from the New International Version, it's a good translation.

But it wrongly translates this word.

The New International, the NIV translation says that it's the sin of the fathers that's visited upon the children.

It's not the sin, it's the iniquity, and the two are very different.

The iniquity is the inward bent or the tendency toward a certain sin.

Lust is the iniquity, and adultery is the sin.

Hate would be the iniquity.

Murder would be the sin.

The iniquity is the inward movement.

The sin is the outward movement.

Now look what God says in Isaiah 65, verse 7.

Isaiah 65:7

God says, your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together.

Says the Lord.

God Himself says, let me tell you why all these bad things are happening to you.

Because of your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together.

God did not say it's only because of your sin, your suffering.

He said it's because of your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together.

Well, Leviticus 26, 40 says, But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, and verse 42 goes on to say, Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham I will remember.

Look again at Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 2.

Nehemiah 9:2

Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquity of their fathers.

Nehemiah actually says that they stood for a fourth of the day.

Six hours they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

Jeremiah 14, verse 20 says, We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:20

The truth is, you have no idea the filth that your ancestors got themselves into.

But the iniquities will continue.

Not from them, but to your kids and to your grandkids and to your great-grandkids until somebody in your family says, here's where it stops.

This is where it stops.

And I'm asking today that that be you.

And Father, we appropriate by faith the blood of Jesus over our family and all our iniquities.

And we ask, oh God, that you today would end the continuing iniquities in our family.

In Jesus' name.

And let me tell you what's happened.

We have seen our children freed up from things that we ourselves suffered from.

It's a work that only God can do.

And God wants to do it in your life today.

Generational curses.

Here's the second thing: unforgiveness and bitter root judgments.

Ephesians 4, 26 and 27 says, In your anger do not sin.

And do not let the sun go down while you're still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

You know you can give the devil a foothold.

And there's something very significant about anger that's not settled before the sun sets.

You know why you'd choose not to settle your anger before the sun sets?

Because you want justice.

Because you want them to repent of what they did to you, and you're willing to harbor something unhealthy until they do it.

Well, let me tell you something from experience.

Don't hold your breath.

Most people are not prone to come back and say they're sorry.

Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 14, says, Pursue peace with all people.

Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.

Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

If we allow a root of bitterness springing up, the Bible says, many will be defiled.

The word for defile here literally means sexual sin.

But let me tell you what happens when there is a root of bitterness.

The very next phrase actually says, lest there be a fornicator among you.

Now I want you to notice something very peculiar.

There are many people that have a propensity toward sexual immorality, and the root of that is actually a bitter root of unforgiveness against a person that hurt them, and it may have been 20 years ago.

Now there's no way that you and I could actually connect those dots.

Is that fair to say?

But there's some here in this room today who struggle with some sort of a sexual problem.

It may be some leaning toward pornography or whatever it is.

And it's only by the grace of God and the power of his word that will connect the dots between this iniquity and a bitter root of unforgiveness that you may have been harboring for years and years and years.

God says this is the way it works.

And God will release you from that iniquity.

But you've got to let go of the unforgiveness.

Matthew 18, there's a parable beginning in verse 21 called the parable of the unmerciful steward.

And in this little parable, there's three characters.

One is a master who forgives a guy a debt of what is the equivalent in today's dollars of$52 million.

Forgives him.

Well, the guy then goes out and finds a guy that owes him$44.

$44.

And he says, pay me back what you owe me.

The guy says, I don't have$44 today, I can't pay you back.

And he throws him in jail.

Well, that's all fine and good, but guess who catches wind of that little transaction?

The master.

And I want you to notice what Jesus says in verse 32.

Then his master, after he had called him, you don't want to be called back in by God.

Amen.

His master said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?

And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.

And so my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother's trespasses.

Now I want you to notice something here.

Who is it that turns you over to the torturers?

It's not the devil.

It's God.

You know who the torturers are?

Demon spirits.

Now let me ask you a question.

Why would God turn a person he loves over to demon spirits?

I think that's a good question.

Let me help you understand this.

You need to understand that God will only act toward you in loving ways.

God will never violate you or dishonor you or act toward you in any way that is in any way other than with complete unconditional love.

That's the only way God will ever move into your life.

In complete love and mercy.

But God, you see, imagines for you the greatest possible thing for you is that you're close to Him.

There is nothing better for you that even God can imagine on this earth than that you're close to Him.

But there's nothing more opposite of God than unforgiveness.

Now listen.

It's actually the most loving thing that God can do for you is to turn you over to torturers.

And the reason is this, because whatever it is the torturers will do to you is not as bad as what unforgiveness will do to you.

See, Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way that seems right to a man.

But in the end leads to death.

And when you choose by an act of your will to harbor unforgiveness, you ramp up onto a road that will lead to death.

And what God says is, I've got to get him off of that road.

The end of that road is drugs, suicide, and misery for you.

And so God will do whatever it takes to get you off of that road.

Let me tell you what unforgiveness is.

Unforgiveness is like drinking poison hoping it kills somebody else.

And what forgiveness does is, forgiveness sets the captives free, the first of whom is you.

I've counseled people who said, but the person that wronged me is dead now.

So what do I do with that?

You know what you do with that?

You forgive them anyway.

They don't have to be alive to be forgiven.

Because the real issue is not with them, it's with you.

Forgiveness is about you and God.

And in God's thinking has very little to do with the person that hurt you.

Let me also tell you this: to forgive somebody does not say that what they did to you was okay.

You're not saying it's okay.

All you're saying is, I am not going to be infected by that disease.

And you have that choice.

Unforgiveness will do things to you that you don't want done.

It's one of the ways demon spirits gain access to our lives.

Here's the third one: hurts and trauma.

Hurts and trauma.

Robert talked a couple of weeks ago about how Satan tries to take advantage of people during moments of trauma.

About eight years ago, when they were doing road construction on Airport Freeway just east of 820 there, you know, just over from Northeast Mall.

I was driving there westbound, and there was a motorcycle up in front of me that was going way over the speed limit.

He changed lanes and he hit the embankment there on the little bridge right by Vinegan's there.

You know what I'm talking about?

He hit that, he hit that embankment of that bridge, his motorcycle flips up, and he falls all the way down to the ground below.

Well, I pulled over and stopped and ran down the embankment and ran back there, and what I found was not a pretty sight.

By God's grace, the guy lived.

But let me tell you what happened for two years until I got this revelation right here.

For two years, I was convinced that I was going to die in a car wreck.

Because what happens is that when we bear witness to a traumatic event, there's a split second of a moment when the wheels have been set in motion.

There's no way to stop it or reverse it.

It's just it's like when I saw that motorcycle hit that embankment.

It's too late for anything else to happen.

And there's a moment of real fear.

And the enemy gets a hook in your soul and he begins to lead you around by that thing.

Until you have the wisdom to cut that thing off.

When I was 11 years old, my family had been out.

We came back home after an evening.

I was the first one to walk into our house.

And I entered the house and there were burglars there.

And at the age of 11 years, I went from being the most secure little boy on earth to the most insecure.

Because the safest place on earth that I knew of was violated.

And I remember laying in bed, the rest of my family didn't affect them this way for some reason.

I remember laying in bed, the rest of my family is sound asleep, and I would lay there in bed, sweating profusely and just shaking with fear.

And I could hear footsteps in the hall outside my room.

And I thought somebody's out there and they're about to come in here and do horrible things to me.

Listen, there are people here today, and you lay in bed at night, and you imagine horrible scenarios that have never happened to you.

But you just imagine that somebody is going to break in and do something horrible to you.

And you're gripped with fear.

I want to tell you right now, you do not have to live that way any longer.

You don't have to live that way any longer.

Matthew 12, verse 20 says, a bruised reed he will not break.

Matthew 12:20

And a smoking flax he will not quench till he sends forth justice to victory.

It's a prophetic scripture about Jesus.

And what it says is that Jesus will be gentle with bruised people.

Let me tell you why a lot of people remain in bondage.

A lot of people remain in bondage to fear because they're afraid that if they tell somebody that they lay awake at night and imagine these things happening to them, that people will either think they're silly or weird.

And so they just hold on to it.

Let me tell you another scenario.

Some people have been hurt years and years and years ago by somebody.

And there's a wound in your soul because of that wounding, because of the way somebody treated you.

And you're afraid that if you tell somebody what happened to you, that they will reject you.

And so what you do is you choose to hold on to that bruise and that wounding.

And God says simply, it doesn't have to be that way.

Listen, Jesus will never scold you for an area of bondage.

He won't scold you for that.

Jesus will gently heal you, and he will mend your soul back to health.

But I want to tell you something this morning.

All fear really is fear of death.

It's not really being afraid of the dark.

You're afraid that something in the dark is going to get you and kill you.

It's not really being afraid of heights, you're afraid you're going to fall off and die.

It's not really being afraid of snakes, you're afraid a snake's going to bite you and it's going to kill you.

All fear is really a fear of death.

Well, look at Hebrews chapter 2, beginning in verse 14.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, talking about Jesus here, he himself likewise shared in the same, that is flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Listen, fear is bondage.

And Jesus will set you free.

You do not have to live with fear and rejection and wounding any longer.

Jesus is here today to set you free.

Wounding and trauma.

Here's the fourth way that the enemy gains access to us: witchcraft and the occult.

You might say, well, I've never been involved in witchcraft.

Really?

1 Samuel 15, verse 23 says, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

1 Samuel 15:23

And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Anybody in here ever been rebellious?

Okay.

Anybody in there ever been a little bit stubborn?

Never.

Alright.

Just to get that settled.

Look at Deuteronomy chapter 18, beginning in verse 10.

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or who casts spells, or who is a medium, or a spiritist, or who consults the dead.

You can see that on television today.

Don't do that.

Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.

Now, honestly, when we think about witchcraft today, we think about an old woman dressed all in black with a pointed hat and a pointed nose, and she's smiling a toothless grin and stirring over this boiling cauldron of who knows what.

That's what we think about, isn't it?

That's what the entertainment industry would have you believe witchcraft is.

That's not what witchcraft is.

There are ways that God's people today dabble in witchcraft and don't even know it.

Have you ever called a psychic?

You've been up late at night in a hotel room, and here's this large woman who says she can tell you your future, and you've been wondering, should I move to Seattle?

Maybe she knows.

You just opened the door to something that you can't deal with.

Ever go to a seance when you were a kid?

Ever play with a Ouija board?

You ever read your horoscope, believing that it will tell you your future?

Astrology?

Study how the stars line up, read tarot cards or had your palms read by a fortune teller, played Dungeons and Dragons, Light as a Feather, Bloody Mary, my little nine-year-old girl this week had friends at a Christian school that invited her to play Bloody Mary.

If you don't know what that is, thank God.

But it's as demonic as it comes.

It's the enemy trying to get a root in my daughter.

Let me tell you something.

The enemy is very crafty, the Bible says.

And all of these things are ways that the enemy is looking for to gain entrance into the lives of God's people.

There are even some aspects of Halloween.

Why would anyone dress their little girl up like a witch?

You say, well, we're just playing.

Why would you make light of the very darkness that Jesus came to destroy?

I don't think Jesus thinks it's funny.

We need to renounce Satan and his kingdom and everything that we have done to involve ourselves in that.

Because it's nasty business.

Witchcraft in the occult.

And finally, here's the fifth one: continued sin and strongholds.

Look at Romans 6, 16.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey.

Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness, you are the slaves of the one you obey.

And when you continue in a sin, what you're doing literally is building a fort for the enemy to live in.

You're building a pattern of thoughts and behaviors and habits that the Bible names a stronghold.

Now you need to know something.

Strongholds are not built overnight.

And strongholds are not destroyed overnight.

Strongholds are disassembled the same way that they're built.

And that is one brick at a time, one decision at a time.

But let me tell you something that I've learned the hard way by experience.

And please listen, experience, they say is the best teacher.

It's not.

Experience can actually kill you.

Wisdom is the best teacher.

God's giving you wisdom.

Okay?

Well, let me tell you something that I had to learn by experience, and that's the hard way.

That a bad habit is a lot easier to break once the demons are gone.

That's true.

You can be delivered from an addiction in a moment and still have to walk out the good habit of not participating in that sin anymore.

In Mark chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, there's a very interesting story about a guy that met Jesus.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

It says, Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gatherings.

And when he had come out of the boat, immediately there met him, out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one could bind him, not even with chains.

Because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been pulled apart by him.

And the shackles broken in pieces, neither could anyone tame him.

And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

Now, can we agree this guy's in bondage?

Is that a safe assumption for us to make this morning?

Luke tells us that he was naked and actually lived in the cemetery.

Okay, anybody live anybody here live in a cemetery?

Everybody's dressed.

It'd be safe to assume that this guy had more company than anybody that's here with us today.

Is that right?

Alright.

He had some company.

But look what it says in verse 6.

When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him.

As much bondage as this guy was in, Satan could not stop him from coming to Jesus.

And when he came to Jesus and worshiped him, he got free.

Listen, there are demons and there is demonic bondage, but Jesus can set you free.

Whatever bondage that you're in today, Satan does not have the power to stop you from coming to Jesus to get free.

Because if he had the power to stop anybody, it would have been this guy right here.

I want you to know that today, you can be free.

I want you to stand up right now.

And as you stand up, we want to minister to you today.

We have recently brought on a full-time pastor of Freedom Ministries.

His name is Bob Hamp.

He's one of the finest men that I've ever known in my life.

And Gateway Church has one of the strongest freedom ministries of any church I've ever even heard about.

And we can minister that to you if you'll give us a call.

Okay?

But what I want to do today is I want to lead you in a prayer.

And I want to ask that you just open your palms upward to the Lord.

You're simply saying to God, God, I'm not holding anything back.

I want all that Jesus died to give me.

I don't want anything withheld from me.

That's all you're saying by just opening your palms and saying, God, I am a person in need of you today.

And I want to ask that you would repeat this prayer after me.

Father God, I come to you in Jesus' name.

And I confess my wickedness and the iniquities of my fathers.

And I apply the blood of Jesus by faith and ask that you cut off the continuing iniquity in my family.

I confess that I've harbored unforgiveness.

And I release every person from every hurt that they've ever done to me.

And I choose, by an act of my will, to release them in Jesus' name.

I renounce Satan and his kingdom and all my involvement in that.

And ask your forgiveness.

And I thank you today for the freedom that only you can give.

In Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.