Jentezen Franklin - Defeating the King of Pride - Part 1
I wanna share something today that I ran across in 1999, and I preached part of what I'm gonna share today, but I saw more this week as I looked into it. Whether you think this relates to you or not, I promise you that before you leave here, you're gonna see you in what I'm going to preach about, and I want you to know that I'm not just preaching to you, I'm preaching to me. This is something that I've kinda wrestled with all week long, and I thought well, you know, do I wanna preach that today or? And so, I'm gonna preach from Job 41, turn there with me. These are strange scriptures. I'll explain 'em in just a moment.
"Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook", Leviathan is, if you look it up in commentary, some say a sea monster, some say a marine animal, a serpent, a sea serpent. Ancient sailors would write on the sides of maps pictures of Leviathan, a serpent, it's scaly. A crocodile is literally what it means. "Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Can you put a reed through his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make," listen, verse 3, "Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever? Will you play with him as with a pet or a bird," like you'd take home to your two daughters is what he says.
Would you let your maidens, or your daughters play with this dangerous, dangerous, dangerous animal, beast? Would you make it a pet? A companion? Can you kill it? Listen to verse 8, "Lay your hand on him and remember the battle, you will never do it again"! Then I wanna, and I could keep reading 'cause every one of these are loaded with things that are pretty powerful that we'll explain again quickly.
Verse 14, "Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around? His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; One is so near another," the scales of this animal are so nearly connected to one another, "No air," everybody say, "No air. No air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted. Out of his mouth," verse 19, "Goes burning lights and sparks of fire". I could go on and on, but let me point out just quickly, verse 24. "His heart is hard as a stone," and stiff-necked it says in other verses.
And finally, the last verse really sums it all up. He identifies who He took a whole chapter to talk about. This is God speaking to Job, by the way. It's not one of His friends, it's God speaking to Job right before he gets deliverance, right before the trial of a lifetime is over, and this is what he says. "He beholds every high thing," the word high is symbolic of proud. "He beholds every high thing, He is the king," who've I've just finished describing to you in great characteristics of this spirit called Leviathan that you've been wrestling with, He said, "He is the king over all the children of pride". He is the king over all the children of pride.
I wanna talk to you about what blocks the air, what blocks the wind. The wind is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. What blocks it? What shields it? But it's even much more practical than that. Leviathan is mentioned five times in the scriptures. Over and over and over this ancient name that God would liken unto a king, which means, the king means he is a high principality. The Bible said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood". A lot of people don't like to talk about the devil in the pulpit anymore. A lot of preachers never mention him. The Bible never told us to ignore the devil.
The Bible said be aware of the devil, the Bible said be sober, be vigilant. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers". And in this remarkable chapter, God said to Job right before his breakthrough, "I want you to understand even though you think this spirit has not been involved in your life, it has been". And I'm gonna ask you a pop quiz, and I'm gonna give you four questions that will reveal whether or not the spirit of Leviathan, which is a water creature, which in other words, he lurks, he lurks at the bottom. You can't see him, he's in the murky water. This spirit operates among water.
Water is symbolic of the spirit, water is symbolic of where the spirit moves. Water means that he is attracted... There's actually a verse that says he likes to play in the water, names him, calls him Leviathan. Maybe they can throw that scripture up. And it says that's where he likes to play, down lurking in the water. Lurking and playing in the water. And so, this spirit is one that the church deals with. This spirit is one that ministries and Christians have to deal with. This one is sneaky and it lurks in the bottom, and it can get a grip in your life.
The name Leviathan literally means to trick or to twist. To twist and to coil. One commentary said it's like a corkscrew that you put in a cork. Once it's in there, it's extremely hard to get out and to pull out. And notice, that's why God starts the conversation, and He says, "Job, can you just take a hook and pull him out of the water"? And the answer is no. The Bible says pride goes before a fall, and destruction a haughty spirit before destruction. Destruction is a bad thing, and I've watched it, I've watched it in others. And I'm not preaching to you today only, I'm preaching to me that this is something we must be aware of, this is something we must guard, this will ruin your marriage, this will ruin your family, this will ruin your success, this will ruin your vision, this will wipe you out.
This is a big deal. When He calls it a king, He's saying this is a ruling spirit that every church, every person who's involved in the water, the moving of the Holy Spirit. Because you're anointed and the spirit is moving, that does not mean that this spirit... He's attracted, He likes to play there. So, God is saying that it'll be difficult to fight this spirit because most people when I'm talking about pride, your mind immediately says, "They really need that. I'm thinking of somebody who needs that. Boy, I wish they could hear this".
That's what you're gonna be thinking while I'm preaching, but you're in the wrong service today, and it's not gonna take me long, but I promise you. He gave Job four questions, a pop quiz, and He said, "If the characteristics of Leviathan, the spirit of pride, are in your life, these are the ways He will manifest". And He ask it in questions. Question number one, "Will he make many supplications to you"? Will he make many supplications to you? And the answer to all of these is no. Supplication is prayer. A spirit of pride will never allow you to pray. It wants to stop you from praying. A person who does not pray, whether you're saved or unsaved, there is a spirit of pride that can get in you that says, "I don't have to pray".
The reason people don't pray is really, mentally they won't say this, but mentally they think they don't need to pray. "I know what to do. I'm talented, I'm educated, I'm smart, I gotta take care of my own business and that's, you know, I gotta do what I can do and I gotta figure it out and I got problems, but I gotta figure it out, and I can do this". Will he ask supplications? The word supplication means to ask for help. And the answer is pride will never pray. When you really are free from that spirit of pride, it makes you understand, "I," Jesus said, "Am the vine and you are the branches. And without me, you can do nothing".
And one of the sure signs that Leviathan has a grip in your life is when you no longer feel the need to pray. And it's alright, because God sent me with the anointing to break you free from that today. God's gonna put a hook in His mouth. I can't do it, but God can. It's important to pray. And he will resist, he will resist prayer. Proud people don't pray, they sense that they don't have to ask for help. Some of you are addicted and pride won't let you ask for help. Some of you are here today and you're suicidal, and depressed, and defeated mentally, and pride won't let you ask for help, but supplication is to ask for help.
It's why the scripture said in Ephesians 6, "Praying with all prayers and supplication in the spirit". Philippians 4:6, "But in everything, by prayer and supplication," asking for help, "With thanksgiving, let your request be known unto God". But this Leviathan spirit hinders our prayers, it restricts us and causes us to depend on the flesh instead of depending on prayer and asking God for His help. That is a sign that pride has gotten its grip on your life. "I don't need to make supplication to God". But the Bible said this, when you say that, Hebrews 5:7, "Jesus made supplication with strong crying".
Prayers and supplication. The son of God, God almighty, and He's praying with supplication asking for God's help with strong crying and tears. Where has the prayer gone? Why is the desperation gone from the church? But pride says, "I don't make supplication, I don't feel the need to, I don't need the help, I can handle my own problems". Second question, he said, number one, "Will he offer supplication"? The answer is no. Notice the second way pride manifests. Leviathan's lurking, you can't see it on the surface. But the scripture said, he asked, "Will he speak soft words"?
In other words, I think I preached this in '99, 25 years ago, right? This is crazy. One of the ways you can tell if Leviathan is manifesting in your life is by the words that come out of your mouth. When you become proud, you can't speak soft words, kind words, gentle words. You can speak the truth in love, the Bible said. But proud people think that they have a right to be harsh, and mean, and angry, and demeaning with words. It's angry, it's, "I'm right and I'm", and He even gave the illustration. Did you read it in Job where he said, "And fire comes out of their mouth". It's like a fire breathing dragon when they walk in the room. That's pride on somebody's life.
And just because you're... The Bible warns, it says in Proverbs, "The rich man answers harshly". There's a spirit about that that because I am so successful, I can talk to you any way I wanna talk to you. That's pride manifest. Because I have a degree or I have my this or that but never, ever, ever allow pride to make you feel like you are better than anybody else, that they're so beneath you. That is a evil, wicked spirit, and it goes before destruction. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a downfall. Oh God.
And the way that I manifest that is not only by prayerlessness, but I manifest pride by harsh words, hard words, speaking to people ugly, speaking to people, you have to say things with the right spirit. Fire breathing dragons. The Bible said, "Never give an office to a novice lest they become puffed up and fall into the snare of the devil". What was the snare of the devil? Pride. That's why God took a whole chapter and He said, "I wanna break down and warn people. Once they get in the water, once they get in the church, once they get washed and baptized in water, that it's possible that the enemy will come back into their life, submerged, low, and he's there and he's subtle, and he starts through pride, and it shows up first through prayerlessness and then it shows up through harsh words".
You can tell if a person is proud by the way they talk. And I'm praying today, "God, forgive us and forgive me". I don't know about you, I'll talk about me. Oh God, I don't want pride to be heard in my conversations. The more He trusts us, the more He blesses us, He does not want it to make us arrogant and harsh with people. Then He gives a third question.
Verse 4, "Will he make a covenant with thee"? No. No, he will not. He's a covenant breaker. The spirit of pride does not keep covenant. Marriage is a covenant. The New Testament, the word of God is a covenant. The first covenant God ever made with man was through Noah and Noah's ark and he said the sign of the covenant is the rainbow, but a group of people called "Gay Pride," has taken the rainbow and made it their symbol. I mean, just the name, "Gay Pride".
And God's warning that the number one spirit that will cause a fall and cause destruction is when pride says, and the Bible said the pride gets so big that it creates scales and the scales like lust, and perversion, and offence, and gossip, and lying, and these scales get so tight together. He even said the heart is so hard, his heart is a stone, that the air...did you read the verse? The air cannot get in. The air represents the breath, the Holy Spirit. Genesis, God breathed breath into the nostrils of man.
John 20, Jesus breathed on them and they received, it said received the Holy Ghost. Acts 2, the upper room. There came a mighty, rushing wind. But when this kind of spirit gets a hold of you and you're prayerless, you don't pray, you don't ask God for help, and you have harsh words, and you're cussing everybody out, and you're saying whatever, "I don't care what nobody thinks," you have Leviathan. And then on top of that, he becomes a covenant breaker.
They asked Jesus. They said, "Moses and the law said we can divorce our wife if we don't like her. What do you say"? And Jesus said these words, He said, "He told them that because of the hardness of their hearts". Oh Lord, have mercy. See, marriage is covenant. But when pride starts getting in a marriage, you start saying, "I don't have to put up with this, I don't have to talk to you, I don't have to be around you, I don't have to do that".
That's pride, folks. And I'm preaching today because I don't know any other way to do but preach what the Bible says 'cause the Bible's right and our attitudes are wrong. And when we got harsh words, and when we got no prayer, and now we're covenant breakers, covenant breakers. Marriage covenants begin to be broken, and that's where uncleanness comes in. The lust, Jesus said the devil only has three weapons. It will never change. He always comes with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
And so, what these spirits do is they gather around him and they... Lust comes, and bitterness comes, and unforgiveness comes, and malice comes, and hatred comes, and unforgiveness comes, and they just, they seal things up so that the wind of the spirit, you can't even talk to people 'cause you're so offended to them, you can't even get around them, and what has to happen. And you can't deliver yourself from this stuff. I love how it started. "Can you just take a hook and pull it out"? No, it takes God, it takes a move of the spirit. God said, "I've got a hook and I can put it in the jaw of that demon, and I can pull it out of you, all that hurt, all that stuff, and you become humble enough to say: I'm sorry".