Allen Jackson - An Exit Strategy
So, to get started with, there’s just some fundamentals you need to know. One, when we talk about engaging with evil, recognizing that evil exists, understand it’s fundamentally a truth encounter. It’s not a power encounter. We’re no match for the devil. We’re not gonna outthink him, we’re not more powerful than he is. In fact, the Bible reminds us in a very humbling way that our heroes of the faith all struggled because of his plots and schemes, isn’t that true? Abraham and Ishmael, Moses the murderer, David the adulterer, Paul the angry, violent man, Peter the one who denied the Lord. I mean, nobody gets through without the challenges.
So, the platform, the basis of our freedom, the imagination that we can be free is about God’s truth; love the truth, the Bible says. Buy the truth, don’t sell it. There’s nothing more valuable than God’s truth. Yield to God’s truth, humble yourself. Freedom is found on the pathway that is defined by God’s truth. That’s why reading your Bible is so valuable. The second beginning point I would invite you to, is to be aware, but not to be afraid. Sometimes when we talk about unclean spirits, unholy spirits, demonic spirits, fallen angels, there’s kind of a creeping sense of fear.
That’s not the objective. You just need to be aware. You need to be aware, you need to understand the limits, you need to understand what gives it access to your life, and then how to find freedom when that access has been gained. It’s not a point of fear, it’s just a reality. In the same way that your body has the most amazing immune system, the most fabulous; there’s so many layers to it, it’s so effective that the overwhelming majority of the things that would diminish you, you’re not ever even conscious of. But occasionally, there’s a pathogen or an attack or something in our midst that has been a bit more effective at negotiating that immune system, and we have to pay a bit more attention. You don’t need to live in fear, you just need to be aware.
The same thing is true spiritually. In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus has just calmed a storm, he spoke to a storm, and the wind and the waves got quiet. Do you believe that spiritual forces could affect natural phenomena? Jesus did, he speaks to the storm, then he turns to his disciples. This is what he says to his best friends. «Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith»? His expectation is by now they’d have a little more faith than that. What do you think he would say to us? Woo, but look at… then it describes their emotional condition: they were terrified. They said, «Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him».
See, when you bump into an authority that you didn’t believe existed or you had failed to recognize or you stubbornly refused to acknowledge, it’s frightening. And if you haven’t taken the Word of God and allowed it to inform your imagination and your thoughts, when you bump into expressions of evil, it’s terrifying. I don’t know if it’s true or not, I read the story that was told of Martin Luther, the reformer. That he woke up one night and the devil was standing at the foot of his bed. And Luther said, «Oh, it’s just you,» and he rolled over and he went back to sleep. If it’s not true, it should be. Aware, not afraid. And the third piece is, it’s really not optional, if we’re gonna walk in God’s freedom, we have to learn how to be filled with the spirit of God.
Stop the debate, stop limiting what you’re inviting him to do, humble yourselves. If you spoke in an uninviting way about him, if you’ve mocked the Holy Spirit, if you’ve made fun of what you don’t know, repent. Repent, we need his help, Ephesians 5, verse 15, «Be very careful then how you live». That’s a pretty sobering warning. «Be very careful how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore don’t be foolish, understand what the Lord’s will is. Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit».
It’s pretty plain instruction. Jesus made wine, I’m not tryin' to pick a fight, but I am trying to read you the Book. Spend less time getting drunk, be filled with the spirit, be filled with the spirit, and then he gives you the behaviors that flow out of that. «Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,» that’s not about what you just read online or saw on CNN or heard on your favorite news channel. Give yourself a different perspective. «Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ». The church has been too carnal for too long. Again, we’ve imagined our future was secured by things other than God, so we can be pretty sloppy, a little lazy.
So, the beginning points, alright? It’s about a truth encounter, you wanna be aware, but not afraid, and you want to consciously think about on a daily basis behaviors you’re gonna engage in to see that you remain filled with the spirit. Now, let’s add to that, we’ve gotta cultivate the will to resist evil. Not my idea, 1 Peter chapter 5, this is the big fisherman that Jesus recruited. He wrote these two letters near the end of his life, he’s not the brash young man we meet in the Gospels, he’s been tempered by a great deal of life experience, he’s been ministering since Jesus’s ascension on the front line of the church.
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, Peter was the one that got sent to the Gentiles the first time to Caesarea to Cornelius’s home, he had to explain his actions to the very agitated Jewish Christians back in Jerusalem, then Peter had to yield a bit of the floor to the rising voice of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. He had to walk through some challenges with that, so by the time we get to the epistles that he’s written, they’re tempered by a lot of life. Very valuable, valuable words to us, chapter 5 and verse 6, «Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time».
If you want to be promoted in the kingdom of God, the doorway to promotion begins at humility. You can humble yourself, or you can be humiliated; I would encourage you to humble yourself. Verse 7, «Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,» don’t be anxious, he said. There are things in the world that will make you anxious, there are life circumstances that cause anxiety, I’m not denying they’re real, I’m not suggesting you don’t have reason. The instruction we’re given is to cast all that anxiety on the Lord. You cannot live an anxious life and listen to the Spirit of God at the same time.
Again, we’re developing an exit strategy, how do we walk in peace centered in God’s truth, so that no matter what comes in the Earth, we land in the place God has for us, ready to accept an assignment, to make a difference? Cast all your anxiety on him. I would encourage, you need a daily routine for offloading that anxiety. Recognize what causes it, and then limit your exposure. Cast all your anxiety on him, be self controlled and alert. Did you know self control is one of the fruit of the spirit? You have to intentionally cultivate it. We live in a culture, a society that has diminished the value of self control. Well, I can’t deny how I feel and all, but you can admit that your feeling’s not good.
«Well, that’s what I wanted to do,» so? We have all kinds of language around license to ungodliness, and we’re exposing ourselves to evil. Peter is trying to help us here from his life experience and the direction of the Holy Spirit, «Be self controlled,» he said, «and alert,» aware. Now he tells us why, «Your enemy,» do you realize that you have a spiritual enemy that’s far more deadly than the Taliban, or ISIS-K, or L or M or N or O or P? It’s far more deadly than COVID; 99%, more than 99% of the people who contract COVID survive. Ninety-nine percent of the people subject to the devil’s schemes don’t survive them. He’s a far more devastating enemy. Do you have a plan on purpose? «Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour».
Here it is, verse 9, resist him, «Resist him, standing firm in the faith,» and then we’re given some motivation, «You know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings». Suffering’s universal. You know, one of the things that suffering does when it touches your life, it convinces you that you’re unique. Nobody has suffered the junk I’ve suffered, right? I mean, I know you’ve suffered, but your suffering was small, my suffering, huge, right? It says, «Resist the devil standing firm in the faith,» remember that you have brethren around the earth.
Can you imagine the conversation with an Afghani Christian today? When you told them about the oppression you’re enduring, «Well, they’re making me wear a mask». You think you’d get a lot of sympathy? Because we have brothers and sisters around the world, the assignment is to resist him, and then the God, the promise, «The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory, after you’ve suffered a little while, will himself restore you».
God is our restorer, but look at the outcome. It says it’ll make you strong, firm, and steadfast, you’ll be better at the end than you were at the beginning. But the pathway is an intentional choice to resist, to overcome evil with good, and it’s not just about you and your wife, your two kids, us four and no more. We’re the light of the world, we’re the salt of the earth, we don’t just stand against it when it comes inside under our roof, we stand against evil in the earth, that’s the assignment. When God said, I’ll make you a holy nation, a royal priesthood, I’m gonna make you my treasured possession amongst all the peoples, so that all the peoples will see the distinction of a life yielded to God. That’s not just about me and my own.
Now, I want to take the balance of the time we’ve got and walk with… this is the closing prayer, but it’s gonna take me a few minutes. There’s actually seven steps there to a choice for freedom in your life. I want you to have 'em in your portfolio, you can tuck them in your Bible, you can take a picture on your phone, you can commit them to memory. They will serve you, you can help somebody else when you find somebody and they’re in a place that they don’t want to be, when they feel like they’re dominated by a habit they don’t want to be dominated by, when they’re in a place where the darkness seems oppressive, the discouragement is so heavy, they have no hope, what do you do? You know, if you can come be with God’s people, that’s a wonderful thing, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to consider a time when we don’t have the freedom in the way we do right now; you need to be prepared.
Seven simple things, it begins by confessing your faith in Christ and his sacrifice on your behalf. That’s the same for all of us, that’s the truth that brings freedom to us. Apart from that, we have no authority to be free, apart from the freedom that’s ours in Christ, we are under the dominion of Satan and his kingdom. It’s what makes Jesus so essential for our world, it’s why we have to preach the gospel in the whole world. Governments will not bring freedom, economic upticks will not bring freedom, education will not bring freedom, freedom comes to us fundamentally spiritually. That’s the message of the church, folks. Confess your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and his sacrifice on your behalf.
Romans 10:9, it says, «If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved». It’s not a bad thing to do on a daily basis. Jesus, I thank you that you died for me, that you were raised to life that I could be justified, thank you today. Each one of these, I put a little sentence statement that I’m just gonna ask you to say out loud with me, we’ll do each one and then we’ll do them collectively before we dismiss. Let’s read this one together: Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you’re the Son of God and the only way to God, and that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead, amen.
That’s number two, repent of all your rebellion and sins. The fundamental sin is our rebellion, but any sin you’re conscious of, the Bible tells us to confess our sins. We’ve kinda drifted away from that, we think somehow the Catholics took that to a place that wasn’t healthy, so we don’t wanna think about that. You’ve gotta acknowledge your sin. You do, you’ve got to say, God, I’m a sinner, and this is what And I don’t mean just back in the day before you made your first profession of Jesus. You’ve got to give attention to that on a regular basis.
Mark 1:15, this was Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry, «The time has come, the kingdom is near. Repent and believe the good news»! Repentance opens your capacity to believe God. If you have a difficult time believing the Bible, if you have a difficult time believing who Jesus is and cooperating with the Holy Spirit, ask God to show you what you need to repent of. There’s a sentence prayer there, let’s say it together: I give up all my rebellion and all my sin and I submit myself to you as my Lord.
Number three, claim forgiveness of all your sins. Alright, once you repent, you’ve got to receive the forgiveness, you gotta forgive yourself, you’ve got to be willing to do it. 1 John 1:9, if we claim, «If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us of our unrighteousness». If you’ve acknowledged your sin, you’ve repented of it, let it go. It doesn’t define you any longer. So, I brought you a prayer, let’s say it together: «I confess all my sins before you and I ask for your forgiveness, especially for any sins that exposed me to a curse. Release me also from the consequences of my ancestors' sins».
Number four, forgive all other people who’ve ever harmed you or wronged you. Mark 11:25 says, «When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive». Forgiveness begins as a decision, it’s not an emotion, your emotions will have to catch up. There’s a prayer there, «By a decision of my will,» together, «By a decision of my will, I forgive all who have harmed me or wronged me, just as I want God to forgive me. And in particular I forgive», you can work on that on your own, there’s names you’ll put in there. And I’ll tell you how to identify 'em, if there’s a name or a circumstance that comes to mind and you get an inner response, you need to forgive. There’s somebody still eliciting an emotion from you, maybe 40 years ago, you say that’s silly, maybe somebody that’s deceased, it’s not silly. You need to forgive them. Remember, this is about truth and freedom.
Number five, renounce all contact with anything occult or satanic, the pursuit of any spiritual insight, guidance, or power other from the spirit of the living God is destructive, and it opens a doorway into your life to unclean spirits and their activity. It’s a long passage in 2 Corinthians, it’s helpful, it says, «Don’t be yoked together with unbelievers». Our church, the church in America for decades had spent time figuring out how we could do just precisely the opposite of that. I don’t want us to be angry at them or condemning of them, but we’re not supposed to be indistinguishable from the unbelievers. Our lives are supposed to be different. How you recreate should be different, what you dream about should be different, your aspirations for your children should be different than the unbelievers. We’re not where we were two years ago, it’s a different season, we’re not in Egypt.
«What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Satan? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols»? Do you get the idea? We’ve got to come out from amongst them. We’ve got to be delivered, we have to want to be free. We’re wearing too much camouflage, we don’t even wanna be around people that are that godly. We’re not sure what to talk to them about, it feels awkward, we don’t want to tell them what we’re dreaming about, we don’t wanna tell them what we’re excited about, 'cause we recognize intuitively, we’re standing in a different place, so we get mad at them, we criticize 'em, we blame them.
I’ve been there. There’s one sentence there, let’s say it together, «I renounce all contact with the occult or anything satanic. I cancel all Satan’s claims against me». Then you want to pray a prayer for release from any curse. We may come back and look at blessings and curses in some more detail in another session, but Galatians 3:13 says, «Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us». That certainly includes the forgiveness of your sins, but it’s not limited to that initiation into the kingdom of God. Let’s make the prayer together, «Lord Jesus, I believe that on the cross you took on yourself every curse that could ever come upon me, so I ask you now to release me from every curse over my life. In your name, Lord Jesus Christ, by faith I now receive my release and I thank you for it».
And then the last step, and this is you’ve got to believe that you have received and go forward in God’s blessing; again, your emotions will have to catch up with that. Some of this stuff has been with you for so long, some of you have been angry for so long, it’s how people know you, oh, you’re that angry person. Or people walk around you on eggshells, and you’re kind of proud of it. They don’t set them off, or something else. Some of this has been with you so long, and you’ve got just a sense that there’s a portal towards being free, and I’m saying you’ll have to take this and live with this, meditate on this. I will take this prayer and say it two or three times a day every day until I began to find a new freedom, that the Spirit of God will begin to show you some ways to respond.
Maybe some people to whom you will apologize. Maybe there’s been some things in your home you need to get rid of. You may have to change some habits and some patterns, realign some relationships. The question is, to what extent are you willing to resist the devil, to choose freedom? Or do you think you can accommodate all of that, and you’ll be okay? It’s a decision to make. The spiritual world is real. And you can’t accommodate evil and expect the spirit of God just to overcome what you’re accommodating. You’ve got to do the part we’ve been asked to do. There’s that last sentence there, we better say it, «Lord, I now open myself to receive your blessing in every way you want to impart it to me». Then I gave you the summary, it’s all those statements, why don’t we stand, we’ll read them together. My time’s up, but we found a pathway today, let’s read this together.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you’re the Son of God and the only way to God, and that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. I give up all my rebellion and all my sin, and I submit myself to you as my Lord. I confess all my sins before you and ask for your forgiveness, especially for any sins that exposed me to a curse. Release me also from the consequences of my ancestors’s sins. By a decision of my will, I forgive all who have harmed me or wronged me, just as I want God to forgive me. And in particular, I forgive whomever of whatever. I renounce all contact with the occult or anything satanic, I cancel all Satan’s claims against me. Lord Jesus, I believe that on the cross you took on yourself every curse that could ever come upon me. So, I ask you now to release me from every curse over my life in your name, Lord Jesus Christ. By faith I now receive my release and I thank you for it. Lord, I now open myself to receive your blessing in every way you want to impart it to me, amen.