Jentezen Franklin - Praise Is Our Purpose - Part 2
If you have your Bibles, I'm gonna ask you to open them with me to the Book of Ezekiel 28:11. "Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Son of man, take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre, and say to him, "Thus says the Lord,"'" Now, there's a section in this study Bible that... I have a study Bible I'm reading through right now, It's Adrian Rogers' study Bible, and he has a whole thing on the side, On The Power Behind the Throne. It saying it's a letter to the King of Tyre, but sometimes when you read the Bible you have to understand the setting, and this is really talking about Lucifer.
These scriptures are talking about Lucifer. When he was in Heaven, his name means, "Light Bearer," Lucifer, one of the three archangels; And this is what He says, "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty," Lucifer, Satan was perfect and is still, I would imagine, perfect in beauty. He doesn't look like some horrible demon, terrifying, perfect in beauty. "You were in the garden, the garden of God, every precious stone was your covering," This is astounding. He had all of the stones that is mentioned, the sardius, the topaz, the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, all of those stones are the exact same stones that were in the high priest's breastplate.
Lucifer was in Heaven, light bearer, he was Heaven's worship leader, and he had those stones in his created being and body. The next part of the verse says, "The workmanship of your timbles," or tambourines, or percussions, and pipes, wind instruments, trumpet, saxophone, anything that requires wind to produce the sound, they were created in him. "They were prepared for you on the day you were created. You are," or were, "the anointed cherub," A cherub is a singer. A cherub is an anointed angel singer. "You were the anointed cherub who covers, I establish you, you were on the holy mountain of God," The Holy of holies. "You walked back and forth in Heaven, in the midst of the fiery stones, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you".
I think it's pretty astounding when you understand that Lucifer was created by God for a divine purpose, and it was to praise and worship and bring glory to God. When I think about how important praise is, how important worship is, how that when Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, you and I, the high priest in the Old Testament would wear those same stones on the breastplate when he would go into the Holy of holies, because we are Satan's replacement, we are Lucifer, the light bearer's replacement. When we sing, and when we worship, and when we praise, and when we speak praise to God, and thank God, and give Him honor, and give Him glory, we are literally taking His place.
And I'm so thankful today that whom the son sets free, is free indeed. That we are liberated, and we are set free, but we are here for a purpose. He did not just save us to save us. As a matter of fact, the Bible said in 1 Peter 2:9, "You are a chosen generation, you are a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, you are a peculiar, a special people in the Earth". Who's he talking to? The people who have been washed and cleansed and save by the blood of Jesus Christ. And He says, "Here's why you're chosen, you're royal, you're holy, you're peculiar people, He says that you would show forth the praises of Him, who's called you out of darkness into this marvelous light".
That's not just some figure of speech. He said, "There is one purpose for which you have been saved, now that you are saved, that in whatever you do in life you give praise, and glory, and honor to God, you replace Lucifer with your praise. You don't take the glory, you don't keep it inside to yourself, but you give God the glory, and you give God the praise". There's something powerful, Lucifer, he was Heaven's choir director, he was the worship leader in Heaven, until iniquity was found in him and he was dismissed, and he was demoted, and he was distanced from the throne of God. And you and I sinned, and Jesus, God put on skin and came down, and bled and died, and carried a rugged cross to pave a way for us to come back to Him.
But when Lucifer sinned, God said, "You are banned from the throne room, I will never allow you back. There is no way back". Why? What did he do that was so horrible? Did he murder masses of people? No, his sin was pride, self-exaltation and rebellion, that's the inwards sin. But notice this, the outward manifestation of inward pride and self-exaltation was the refusal to worship. See, worship is not this out here that you do on the outside, worship is what's on the inside. If you don't have any worship, do you have anything on the inside? The more you have going on on the inside, the more your outside wants to express what you feel.
What I want you to see is this, when Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, 1/3 of the angels went with him, they're now demonic powers. But some of them, the Bible said, were cast into a compartment of Hell. And this is all in the Book of Jude, three things happened... By example of what happened to the angels that were cast out, three things happened to people who refused to worship. Number one, the Bible said, "They were cast down," in the Book of Jude. "They were cast down, they kept not their first estate, that of worship, but they cast them down into hell". They were cast out.
When people don't worship, they get down, they get cast down, they get down. If you're in a valley, you have to learn to praise your way out of that valley. You don't have to live down, you don't have to live depressed. I got things that if I think on those things, they'll depress me. If I let my mind just think about it all the time, I can have the greatest victories going on all around me and Satan will whisper to me, "But that should steal your joy, but that should make you sad, but that should make your heart heavy, but that should worry you silly".
And I've learned that if the enemy is trying to put me down, all I gotta do is open my mouth and say, "I'll praise the Lord at all times, His praise will continually be in my mouth". And you can't stay down if you'll keep praising the Lord. The second thing that happens to people who refuse to worship is they get down. The second thing it said, the Bible said, "And they were bound with chains". You get down, and the next part of that verse said, "And they were bound with chains".
And then you get bound. You get down, and then usually people who don't praise the Lord and worship much, they end up getting bound. Because what happens is they get down, and when they get down, because everybody goes through seasons of attack, and if you don't learn how to praise the Lord, you get down and then when you get down, you start going back to the old things that God set you free from and you end up bound. The Bible said, "It's like a dog going back to its vomit". The Bible said, "When an unclean spirit is cast out of a man, he's left clean and swept. And if he's left empty, and he doesn't get filled up, that demon comes back with seven more demons, and the state of that man is worse than the beginning".
You have to stay full of Jesus. You have to stay full of the Holy Spirit. You have to stay full of worship because that's the key. So, he got down, they were cast down, bound with... just bound, you just bound, now you're picking up stuff that God set you free from. And then, the last thing is so important, and here it is. You see, if you don't worship, the story teaches us in Jude, Satan and Lucifer's story is if you don't worship, because Lucifer refused to worship and said, "I'm not going to praise God and worship God anymore". One out of three angels joined him. If you don't worship, you encourage somebody else to not worship and it might be your children. The reason we have so many teensicles is because we've got so many popsicles.
And you taught em' how to throw a ball and you taught em' how to kick a football, kick a soccer ball and hit a golf ball, you're a wonderful dad. But have you ever thought him how to worship by example with body language? Have they ever seen you suppressed self-exaltation and pride and say, "I'm not ashamed to praise the one who was stretched out in agony on a cross for me". And the lesson of Lucifer is not only did he fall by not worshipping, but he calls others to not worship. If I as a father and a grandfather worship, one thing I have, I know, I know I can go to Heaven with peace knowing I have imparted worship to my children. They have experienced the power of praise and worship.
Can we stand up on our feet? Would you lift your hands? Would you lift your voice? Would you give Him your personal praise with your breath? Would you take a moment and speak a praise phrase? Thank you, Lord. I praise you, Jesus. I honor you, Lord. I magnify your name. Oh, I praise you, I praise you, I praise you. We give you all the glory. Come on, join me. Join me. We praise you. Join me, worship team. Join me. Give Him all the glory. Give Him your verbal praise just for a moment. Let's just praise him because angels are moving on your behalf. Praise Him because God is blessing our families even when it looks like it's not working. And as that song says, "Even when it feels like it's not working".
God is doing something for people who learned how to praise, because praise is our purpose, praise age the angels in Heaven. There is no war between Satan and the devil, but there is a war between demonic spirits and angels. And we aid Heaven we get to vote with our praise who wins that battle in the Heavenlies. Right now, begin to praise the Lord over the battle in the Heavenlies turning right now with the power of praise. If you feel down, if you feel bound, if you feel like you're not free and you want to be, get out of your seat at every campus, and come down to the front and throw your arms up and begin to worship the one who died and rose three days later for you.
Wherever you are in this room just, there's freedom for you, maybe you're bound by something, maybe you're down and you can't shake the valley of depression you've been in. I've given you a formula for victory this morning, you can praise the way out of that valley, you can praise your way out of that addiction. I want every parent, and I want every grandparent in this room to lift up your hands toward Heaven and I want you to start praising God with fervency for salvation coming to your whole household.
I want you to open your mouth and I want you to see any family member that you're believing God to really touch and really feel, I want you right now just to begin to praise God by faith. Praise is the language of faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for, listen, the evidence of things not seen yet. That praise is the language of faith, so start praising Him like that son has come home. Start praising him like that daughter or that grandchild has been set free. Begin to praise Him all over this room, praise Him all over this room, praise Him all over this room. Lift Him up over your family, lift Him up over your family and praise. Don't even ask Him, just praise Him. Don't even ask Him, just praise Him. This is how we fight our battles. We're gonna be done in a minute.