Jentezen Franklin - Defeating the King of Pride - Part 2
So, I'm gonna preach from Job 41, turn there with me. "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 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. 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.
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. 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, 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. 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. 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. 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 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. Forgive me". In repentance, in contrition, in brokenness. Families start loving one another, forgiving one another. Not stone cold, hard hearts, but tender hearted.
Please listen to me. I don't know what kind of weak little gospel we've been preaching that makes people think that they can be rebellious, hard hearted, the wind, the move, the breath of God can't even get to you, no prayer, harsh words, cussing people out, saying whatever come to your mind, and then just be alright with the Lord. That is not what this book teaches. We need to get in the altars, and we need to say, "Take the hook and get this junk out of me. I wanna be humble, I want to have the spirit that you had, Jesus". How long, how long are we gonna go? Life is short, life is going by. Pride won't let us even love people that we're supposed to love.
Verse 4, He asked one last question. He says, "Will thou take him for a servant"? And the answer's no. Pride will cause you to have a difficult time serving people. You will not want to serve people when pride gets a hold of you, you wanna be served. But Jesus was a servant. "Well, I just come to church and, you know, whatever". Serving is a position of humility. Leviathan doesn't want you to serve. Bible said, "After he had eaten dinner, Jesus arose from the table after He ate". It says that, it's all in one sentence. "After He ate, He arose from the table". And He took a basin, bring it over for me, Demetrius, thank you. And he took a towel, they didn't know what He was doing, but He's about to clean the water and make sure that Leviathan's not in the water of His church.
Ralph, come here. Ralph picked me up at the airport last night at 1:30 in the morning, 12:30. He and Dwayne. Sit down, take your shoes off. One of the greatest servants, he's not paid, he's not paid a penny. When our women's ministry bus broke down on their last trip, he gets in his car and drives three and a half hours, gets things worked out. He's in everything that we do, he's there all the time, he serves me behind the scenes all the time. Jesus said, "I want my church to not be a bunch of religious, proud people". You have big shots and celebrities that they treat one way, and then they get around other people and look down on 'em like they're nothing but pieces of insignificant trash.
And so, a great example is Jesus, after he had ate, that's what got me. "He rose from supper and laid his garment aside and took a towel, girded Himself like a servant, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciple's feet and wipe them with towel which He had girded". Jesus started going around that room with a towel and a basin, and He said, "If I," in that same chapter. He said, "If I, your master, do this to you, you ought to do this to one another".
And He began to wash His feet. Lord, bless Ralph, bless Karen, bless his family, bless his business, he's great in business. Bless the work of his hands, bless his children, one day his grandchildren. Bless his ministry. He does things as unto you. Use him, anoint him, keep him by your power. Bless his health, bless him, make him an encouragement to many as he is, use him, oh God. Jesus didn't just wash their feet but that's the thing that I saw, He washed Judas' feet. Not just the good ones, He washed Judas' feet. I'm getting this, "I know what you're gon' do and I'm already forgiving you, I'm washing you. I know what you're gonna say Peter, you're gonna deny me three times, but I just, I have a spirit of humility," Jesus said. "And I'm washing your feet".
And He didn't just wash 'em, but He dried them. This is the picture of Jesus, this is what believers do. If I've hurt you, I'll wash you. If you've hurt me, I'll wash it away. Please forgive me and I forgive you. God, heal our family, God heal our church, God heal, I don't care if you're democrat or republican. That silly stuff that we get all high blood pressure, I love you. I'm called to love you. Come on, church. And when the world sees this kind of church right here that says, "I don't care who you are, I don't care how much money you have or don't have, I don't care, I'm called to love people, to serve people, to wash people. Can I have your foot"? Hallelujah. Glory to God.
Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way Lord. What would happen if siblings washed each other's feet? If husbands washed their wives' feet, wives wash their husband's feet? People got in one mind and in one accord and said, "God, I've been so arrogant, I've been so haughty, I've in so stupid, I've been a covenant breaker, I've been harsh, I've been too prayerless, I've depended on me more than I've depended on you". That is the very heart of God, and here's the deal, this is why it's so important. The moment that we did that, the air found passage.
The Holy Spirit finds a way to bring the fresh wind and move of God into a church, into a home, into a marriage, into a family, but right now there's too many scales, too hard. But I wanna close with this verse, thank you, Ralph, in Isaiah. "In that day," says the Lord. I love this. "I will sever, I will use my severing sword, great and strong and I'll punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent". Leviathan that twisted, he's a twister. That twisting serpent, "I will slay that reptile in the sea".
But notice what it takes, it takes a severe sword. Dull preaching won't pierce through. It takes severe messages sometimes, it takes preachers getting up and preaching and saying the scales of lust, because it all starts with pride. But then the scale of lust, the scale of uncleanness, the scale of addiction, all of that, it all groups together and cuts off the air. But God said, "I'm gonna send strong, severe swords". That's what He's doing here this morning.
Right now, America doesn't need dull preaching, right now we don't just need to feel better 'cause we went to church. Sometimes, we need to come in here and feel like, "That pierced me, that broke me. I need to fall on my face and cry out in repentance to God". What would happen if every teenager did that? Instead of rebellion and stiff neck and, "Ain't nobody gon'", what if you've become so hard, not even the wind of God phases you. God's calling you. He's calling you to an old-fashioned altar this morning. Repent of pride because pride goes before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction. But He gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, and in due season, He will exalt you.