John Hagee - Joseph, The Seduction of the Pit
Here are things to remember when you get in the pit. First, intolerance of your condition creates your future. Say that with me. Intolerance of your condition creates your future. The problem is some start looking for ways to get accustomed to the pit. You read books on how to adjust to darkness. Or if life is always just a bowl of cherries, why am I always in the pits? Misery loves company. How many of you've ever heard that? Misery loves company. Several years ago, I was the guest speaker of the U.S. army in west Berlin Germany. While I was there, Diana and I were taken on a tour that included the Berlin wall built by the communists to keep their captive citizens in east Berlin from fleeing to west Berlin and freedom. Laying in our bed at the hotel, we could hear machine gun fire of the communists trying to kill people in east Berlin from climbing over that wall to freedom in west Berlin. It was a lesson for us in how precious freedom really is.
Our guide said to Diana: she said, "The tragedy of this wall is not that it was built, but the tragedy of this wall is that we grew accustomed to it". "We grew accustomed to it". Rather than fight communism, we grew accustomed to the slavery of communism. Hello, America. Are we becoming conditioned to political abuse? Freedom is not free. Too many Americans are trying to become accustomed to the slavery of socialism, socialism that is now trying to control the public schools where critical race theory is indoctrinated and transgender indoctrination is happening to your children where they're being taught: are you really a boy or are you really a girl? It's time to stop this madness in America and save our children. America has become accustomed to mass murder of innocent babies in the womb of its mother. It's the pit that's soaked with blood of innocent babies who never had a chance to live.
I assure you that the death of every one of those precious babies, God will avenge it in the future. And he will avenge it of the American people. You can count on that. America's economy is being destroyed by career politicians who never worked a day in their lives. But they are taxing the American people into poverty. America was not born so that the super rich could control and enslave the rest of the population. Abraham Lincoln, in his address at Gettysburg, addressed America to be a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. That does not say, "We, the rich, will tell the rest of you what you're going to do". This is our country also! We have a voice in how it's run! The pit is not your destiny. The pit is not your potential. The pit is not God's will. "Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers".
The palace is your destiny. Get that in your mind. The palace is your destiny. God's absolute best is your destiny. You are a child of the king. You and you and you are royalty. You are destined to wear a crown of life. You are destined to wear a dazzling white robe of righteousness. You are destined to live in a mansion created by the architect of the ages. Your future is so dazzling that Paul said, "The half has not entered the minds of men what God has prepared for his own".
Remember when you're in the pit that Satan always attacks the person who's next in line for a promotion. Satan attacked Joseph because he knew his potential. Joseph would save the Jewish people from starvation and death. Actually he saved the Egyptian people and actually the people of the world when you read the biblical text. But let's stay with this one point. Consider the potential of the Jewish people. The Jewish people would produce Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jewish people produced king David. The Old Testament prophets, they brought to us Jesus Christ. Saint Paul, who is the father of the New Testament church, who wrote most of the New Testament, he was there.
Without the Jewish people, no one would be in this building today. Satan attacked Jesus because he knew his potential. Jesus would shed his priceless blood at Calvary to liberate and set free every human who confessed him, because he is the chain breaker. He is the Waymaker. Jesus was raised from the dead, proving life and all eternity. "Because he lives, we shall also live". Jesus will return in the near future to Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords. He'll put an end to this "Who owns the land of Israel" noise. He will rule the world with a rod of iron for a thousand years.
What's the rod of iron? This. This is the rule book for the future. The lion is going to lay down with the lamb. Jesus will then cast Satan and the antichrist and the false prophet into hell. The church triumphant is going to rule the world for a thousand years of perfect peace. Happy day. Happy day! That's on the way. Hallelujah! Hello, America, the end of the world as we know it is staring us in the face. You know society is coming unraveled. You know this nation is coming unraveled. Let me tell you this book describes that very clearly. What in the world is about to happen? I'll tell you what's about to happen. King Jesus is about to stand in the clouds of glory. The trump of God is going to sound. The dead in Christ are going to rise. And we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to be with the Lord in the air. It could happen any time, because Jesus is Lord! Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
Are you under attack? Is your family under attack? Is your business, your marriage under attack? In the Bible, when you're under attack, you're the next one in line for promotion. The deeper the pit, the greater the promotion. Satan attacks you when false accusers point their finger at you and lie about you. How many of you've ever had someone to lie about you? That's most of you. Isaiah 54:17 said, "Every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn". I'm looking forward to that day. Don't let your enemies torment you. You turn the wrath of God loose on your enemies and let God take care of them, because he most assuredly will. Hmmm. When in the pit, remember losers focus on what they're going through: champions focus on what they're going to.
Which are you? Are you focusing just on the problem of the moment? Or like a champion, do you have your vision on where you're going to? You say, "Oh, pastor, you just don't know what I'm going through". It's not what you're going through, it's what you're going to that makes the difference. We're going to a royal coronation. We're going to a reunion of friends and family in God's tomorrow that will never end. We're going to the marriage supper of the lamb that lasts for seven years. Man, that's going to be some party. We're going to return to earth with Jesus at the end of the tribulation and we are going to rule and reign for a thousand years.
There are no more tears. There's no more death. There's no more crying. There's no more pain. There's no more sickness. There's no more suffering. There's no more hospitals or funeral homes. There are no good-byes. There are no farewells. There are no wars. There are no financial worries. There is no fake news. There is no cell phone. Thank you, God! How do you react to people who are in the pit? Listen to this. Your reaction to someone in trouble determines God's reaction to you the next time you get in trouble. Joseph's brothers threw him in the pit. They laughed. They sat down and ate. They were untouched and they were very unconcerned. How do you react to someone who's in trouble?
The Bible says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". How do you react to widows and orphans? Why? Because James 1:27 really takes a very powerful verse of scripture and says, "Pure and undefiled religion", get that, "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in trouble". I assure you there's not a church in a hundred that knows that scripture or preaches about it. Cornerstone Church has built the sanctuary of hope. It's a home for children to live and not die, to have hope for tomorrow, to be loved rather than aborted. I want to thank you, church, and those of you, our television partners across America, that have made this possible. Thank you.
When you're in the pit, remember this: those who created the pain of the present do not control the peace of God for your future. Your bitter divorce, pain, does not control the pleasure and joy of your future. Crawl out of that pit. Put your hand in the hand of God and move onto your future. The Bible says, "Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are lovely, pure, of good report, think on these things". Your business crisis is painful. It doesn't not control your prosperity. The betrayal of your family is pain. It does not mean there will not be a day of sweet reunion like Joseph and his brothers. God can bring you, your brothers, your sisters, your sons, and your daughters, your aged parents together again. There will be tears of forgiveness and there will be rejoicing, because only God can do that. Only God can do that.
When you're in the pit, remember Satan's favorite weapon of attack is those who are closest to you. Joseph's brothers threw him into the pit and sold him for the price of a slave. Jesus was sold by Judas for the price of a slave. When Satan throws his knock-out punch, he will not use a stranger. He will use someone you love. That's a Bible pattern. When you're in the pit, remember you will never win a spiritual battle logically. Joseph had to learn to trust God. God does not ask you to understand him, because you do not have the intellect for that. God does not ask you to defend him. He is Almighty. God doesn't ask you to explain him. God only asks you to trust him. The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths".
I'll share with you quickly three pits that Satan prepares for you. The first pit is the pit of offense. Anyone who has trapped an animal knows that traps need two things to be successful. One, it has to be hidden, and then it must be baited with something that the animal likes to lure them to the deadly trap. Satan is the master of deception. He is shrewd. He is subtle. He is seductive. His most powerful bait for every Christian is offense. People say, "Well, no one can offend me". Please. Luke 17:1, "It is impossible that no offense should come". Write that verse down, Luke 17:1. "It is impossible that no offense should come".
You will be offended in your life at some point in time, many times. Satan will make sure you are offended. The fruit of offense produces hurt, anger, resentment, jealousy, division, bitterness, rage. I'm leaving this church. I'm quitting this marriage. I'm quitting this job. I'm out of this Bible study. I've been offended. I wasn't recognized for bringing colored toothpicks to the annual church barbecue. 2 Timothy 2, "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all", listen, "That they may come to their senses and escape the snare", the snare is a trap, "That they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will".
Paul is saying to Timothy, once you are ensnared in this, you become the instrument of the prince of darkness himself. Those who quarrel or fall into opposition with spiritual authority are in Satan's trap. They have taken the bait of the offense. Saint Paul said, they are captives to do Satan's will. Every offended Christian in every American church, in Paul's opinion, is an agent of Satan himself. They spread division. They spread discord. They spread deception, because they have fallen into the trap of the offense. Their carnal logic says, "I have been hurt. I have been mistreated. I have been misjudged. I am justified in my behavior".
No, you're not! Look at Joseph. He was doing the will of his father. He was thrown into the pit. He was hated. He was sold into slavery. Slavery led him to prison for ten years. Here is a man who was justified in screaming, "I've been mistreated. I've been abused. I'm angry. My resentment is justified". And if I'd have been there with him, I'd say, "You're right". Joseph's response, 13 years after his brother sold him into slavery. His brothers are standing before him. Joseph is royalty and he has the power just to snap his fingers and those brothers would have been killed instantly right where they were.
The second time they come, Joseph says in Genesis 45, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery". Listen. "But do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here: for God sent me here before you to preserve your life". "Moreover he kissed all his brothers and he wept over them". Wow! Just get a picture of that. He had the power to kill them, but he kissed them. Does that describe you? What's your response to an offense? Resentment? Bitterness? Anger? Think about it. Paul says you have taken Satan's bait. And you are now Satan's agent in your family, in your church, or in your business.
The second pit is the pit of failure. Who here has not failed? I certainly have miserably sometimes. But God always comes by and says, "Stay the course". Falling into a pit does not make you a failure. Staying in the pit makes you a failure. Get up and get out of it!
And lastly, the third pit is the pit of success. It's true that nothing succeeds like success, and it's also true that nothing destroys like success. Move lives have been destroyed by success than failure. Multitudes fall into the pit called success and fail to grow. They fail to develop. They fail to reach their potential. They are stagnated. They're purring over their successes. Listen. The minute you get satisfied with what you've accomplished, stagnation sets in. This is true of individuals. It's true of churches. It's true of marriages. It's true of your business.
There are churches and church schools being destroyed, not by bad people but by good people who have stopped growing. There are churches in America that have been destroyed by success. They have become comfortable. Comfortable churches stagnate and rot. I want you to hear that. Comfortable churches don't take a stand on difficult issues. If America wants 4,000 abortions a day, let's not call it mass murder: let's call it pro-choice. If the ACLU wants to take down the Ten Commandments out of every school, let's just call it pluralism. If transsexuals want acceptance, let's just call this an alternative lifestyle, better still, let's ordain them, bring them into the gospel ministry so they really feel appreciated. This is going on in the church of America right now.
If those who can work refuse to work, let's just give them a government check and call it welfare. The Word of God says, you get nothing until you work for it. Do that! If we refuse to discipline our children, let's not call it parental cowardice: let's call it building self-esteem. If we use God's name in vain, which by the way according to this book, will send you straight to hell, let's call it freedom of speech. If we are addicted to pornography, let's not call it lust: let's be comfortable and call it art appreciation. If we mock the Word of God, refuse to read it, let's not call it paganism: let's call it enlightenment.
If Israel is under attack, fighting for survival, as Iran is racing toward obtaining a nuclear weapon, let's not get involved. Those people have been fighting since the birth of Ishmael and Isaac. Let's give the land to the Palestinians and call it land for peace. Not now, not ever. That land belongs to the Jewish people according to the authority of God. Woe to those rotting religious corpses, singing "Amazing grace" in a dead church. If you join that church and lived according to New Testament holiness, you would have to backslide to be in fellowship with those people. Woe to those who look at their church and say, "This is good enough". It's not good enough until there's a national revival sweeping this nation from coast to coast!
Why did we build a magnificent church school for our children? We did so to liberate them from American paganism. They will only know, when they get to be adults, how blessed they are. Why are we expanding our television ministry, remodeling our church, building the sanctuary of hope, becoming defenders of Israel? Because we're not going to get comfortable in the pit called success. Our objective is not comfort. Our objective is victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's not good enough until there's a revival of righteousness sweeping America that will not tolerate the forces of evil that are destroying this nation. God bless America, and God, bring us back to the old-fashioned gospel of Jesus first, the Word of God is true: all else is deception. Give the Lord praise and glory in the house of God.
Can we stand together? High up in the swiss alps, there's a memorial tablet placed in honor of a famous climber who went out one day and he never returned. Beneath his name are these simple words, "He died climbing". I think saint Paul would have appreciated that inscription. Paul writes, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to the things that are forward, I press, I press, I press toward the mark... of the high calling in Christ".
Paul did not whine his life away when he was beaten, when he was stoned, when he was taken to prison. The day before his head was cut off, he wrote to the New Testament church, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course". To the last day, to the last hour, to the last breath, I gave it my all. I died climbing. Are you? Or have you become complacent with where you are and what you've accomplished? Rise and shine: for the light and the glory of God is looking for a way to manifest itself in your life. Something good is about to happen to you, because God wants you to have the palace. Give the Lord praise in the house.