The Devil's Touch

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

The word that the Lord has given me this morning is incredibly important for some. And I'm very well aware that this word may only be for some. And if this word is not for you, you are going to recognize things in this word of spiritual understanding and perhaps revelation that you have received in your relationship with Jesus. That is going to give you an incredible opportunity to practice something that is a little bit of a lost art in the church. So, this is a great day for you. No matter who you are, either this word is for you and God is willing to do an incredible miracle for you, and you're going to walk away singing and jumping, or you're going to realize this morning that God did that miracle in your life as well. Maybe you can explain it a little bit better after this morning. And you're going to have an opportunity to practice rejoicing with the truth.

The word speaks about rejoicing with the truth. Now, my wife—I'm going to pick on my wife for a minute because she can handle it—my wife is one of those people that really had to learn to obey the word and to learn to rejoice with the truth. Because if it wasn't new and if it wasn't a revelation that my wife had never heard before, it was kind of a so/so time with the Lord. She was kind of always waiting for that new thing to hit her. And I remember us having the first conversation. She didn't like it. I didn't like it. But we were having that conversation where I said, "You know, when you recognize, hey, the Lord has already shown me that and that and this thing and that thing—now you can enter into rejoicing with the truth, ’cause you already know these truths. And now you have to become an extrovert and kind of rejoice and make sure that the devil hears and sees that you are rejoicing because you already own or know this truth, and that the people around you recognize that you are rejoicing. Because now they realize, ‘Oh, you recognize that. How come I don't have that? I need this.’"

All of a sudden, now the body of Christ is working together to get the same message across. Amen. Amen. So if you are here and this word is for you, there is no shame. I want you to absolutely disregard everything any human being will ever think of you. Because if this word is for you, God is seeking after you. And he's seeking to do something for you. You're going to come out winning if you respond to God and not to people. Amen. Now, if you recognize God has already done this—practice time for you, rejoicing with the truth. Amen. Amen. The title of this message is The Devil's Touch. The Devil's Touch. I believe that this morning you're going to understand how to recognize a little bit of whether or not the devil's touch is in your life, or you're going to be recognizing how the devil's touch used to be in your life and how clear as day it is that you are born again.

Now, you may be in church, you may believe in God, and you may believe that you have been a Christian for however many years. That doesn't mean this word is not for you. I'm asking you to hear this word with your heart and to test your life face to face with this word. And if there's any measure of this word that seems to line up with your life, simply flee to Jesus this morning.

We sang about it already. That is what I believe to be God's heart for you this morning, because he is ready to break the devil's touch off of your life. And for the rest of us that recognize all these things already happened—rejoice with the truth. But I myself was a believer in God. I believed God. I had a respect for God. I believed the Bible was God's book. I believed angels were real. I believed heaven was real. I believed hell was real. I grew up in Sunday school. I wasn't allowed to miss it. And Sunday school wasn't convenient for the kids like it is here at Safe House. It wasn't during the service.

From 2 or 3 years old, you had to sit through quite a long service for a little one. And then in the afternoon, I believe it was 3:00, we had to show back up at church and do Sunday school for the kids. And then in the evening at 6:00, we had evening service. So I mean, I did it all.

I was at Sunday school. I wasn't really allowed to miss very, very often. I think if my mom is watching, I think, Mom, that it was probably less than five times in my lifetime, vacation excluded. Thank you, Mom. I went to camp every single time I could, because I loved going to the camps that the church would put on. And I even had experiences with God—real actual experiences with God. But I remember this one particular time at a camp where, for the first time in my life, the Lord revealed a scripture to me, and all of a sudden divine understanding was given.

A veil was lifted for a moment, and I could see a measure of what Jesus had done paying for sin. I wept and I wept and I wept. I couldn't stop weeping. In my teenage years, multiple times experiences with God. Yet in secret I lay under the touch of the devil. My entire life laid under the touch of the devil. So—a believer, church attending, Sunday school going, camp enjoying, service not missing, experiences with God—check mark. Yet my life (and this is before my life went into any of the extreme sins that I lived in), my life lay under the devil's touch. And nobody would have known on the outside. Church, when you are touched by the devil, there is a secret you and there is a public you. When the devil's touch lays on your life, in secret, you are not behaving the way you would like to be yet. And in public, you are walking out what you hope to be one day. But when somebody sees you in secret, they're kind of surprised if they didn't know you very well yet.

Or the way they hear you talk in secret with maybe other types of friends—if those people come around you that you wear your public face around—they would kind of be surprised, or look at you like, "You talk like that? Or you do like that? Or you like these things? Or you pursue the material like that? You love the material in this world like this? You're willing to talk about it, think about it, watch about it, work for it? Like you—you have a love life towards the material things of this world? I didn't know." When you are touched by the devil, there's always a way that you behave in secret different from the way that you behave in public. That's one of the first marks. James 3:6 – And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

The tongue has a touch from hell. It has a touch from the devil. And I remember so clearly talking about that secret me and the public me. I remember being a teenager coming home from school, and my tongue was different around certain people than around other people, and other people being my parents. And I am on the ferry crossing the river on my bicycle with my friends. And the F-word had just barely left my mouth—or a hand landed on my shoulder—it was my father. He was just coming to say hi. And I remember feeling so caught, because the secret me was different than the public me. And for just a split second, and in only a small measure, that secret me for a moment felt like it was in the light for a second. You ever felt like that? Don't answer. But I remember so well what it is like for your tongue to be set on fire by hell, and around the right people you can finally let it out. And that's really what my tongue wants to do. That's really how my tongue would like to speak. That's really what is coming out—touched by hell. 2 Timothy 2:26 "And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."

Having been taken captive by the devil to do his will in secret. This is the person that in secret they do things that they would like for certain people groups not to know about or not to see. At the very least, they would not want to do them in public, but they want to do them so bad that they will create a secret. So they're allowed to do it anyway. They will flee to darkness.

’Cause darkness promises this: If you partake in darkness, then you can have your secret and you can do what I put in your heart. The devil’s speaking. You can do what I put in your heart. No one will ever know. You won't have to give it up. And you can still go to church. You can even have experiences with God. You can attend. You can not miss any service. And have your secret. I can hear my little baby niece Mimi in my head: We don't do secrets. We only do surprises.

The devil says, We do secrets so that your secret life doesn't become anybody's surprise. You get to keep it. It is hidden, and publicly you are allowed to look like the man that you want to be when you are a proper grown responsible adult Christian. But for now, there's a secret—taken captive by the devil. Shackled up to do what? To do the devil's will. Not to do God's will. Not to love others as yourself, but to just love yourself. To just do what you want, when you want it, how you want it. That's not freedom. That's captivity. I love to tell people that say, "Why would I follow Jesus? I'm free to do whatever." I love to then stop sinning. You can't stop sinning. You are taken captive to do somebody else's will, and he has deceived you to believe that this is freedom. Then stop saying those words from your mouth. You can't, even if you would try, because your tongue has been touched and you have been taken captive to do someone else's will.

I lived that life while I was a believer. I lived that life while I was partaking in everything that a proper Christian, for all I understood, partook. There has to be an escape, church. There has to be an escape. I'll read it to you again: And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil. What's the snare? I'm allowed to have a secret. I believe it with all my heart. I've said it since the day I got saved: Secrets are the Christian killer. Here’s the devil's snare: If you hide this from certain people, then you will look better than you are. But the real you will slowly catch up. You'll grow out of it. That is how he will sell you the secret—It's temporary.

The devil never tells you how long or how much it's going to cost you. When he comes to you with a proposition, he never tells you how long you're going to be stuck in this and how much it is going to cost you. He simply tells you, Make a little secret. Do it in secret and you will be okay. You already believe in God. You already go to church. You have a touch from God. You can testify about your touch from God.

Church, you can have your touch from God and never be born again. Your life has to line up with God's word. You're going to see it in the word. He makes it very, very clear to us.

There has to be an escape. We have to escape what the devil wants you to do with your speech, with your body, and with your life. Those are the things the devil has an opinion about—your speech, your body, and your life. We have to escape that, because we get taken captive and we have to break free from that captivity. But the people of God, and I believe too long, have been impressed with the devil. Have been maybe sometimes somewhat even afraid of him. Almost like if the devil sets his heart or in your household—I mean, you just hold on and hope for the best. There's very little you can do about it. We even see this attitude in angels. Let me read to you Jude 1:9: Yet Michael the Archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed with him about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

Even angels have a hard time coming face to face with the devil and telling him off and standing against him. And somehow people in the church of the living God have kind of adopted that timidity, have adopted that careful behavior. Even though Jesus didn't die for angels, Jesus didn't give his name to pray into angels, yet the church behaves as if this at times is a problem for us as well. Now, let me begin to give you the good news. 1 John 5:18 – Here is how you know that you are born again. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Now in the Greek, that word for “does not sin”—does that mean when you have become born again, you live from there on out a perfect life like Jesus and you do not make sinful mistakes? That's not what it means in the original text.

This three-word word means “does not miss the mark and so not share in the prize.” It is a competition kind of word. It is an archery kind of word, where there's a bow drawn and an arrow flies, and if the mark is missed then you miss out on the prize for that competition. That's the word. So, that’s what this verse is saying: We know that whoever is born of God does not miss the mark and lose out on the prize. Whoever has been born of God, serves Jesus, runs the race, is going to get his or her reward when he comes home because they are going to be doing the Lord's will consistently. Because they are no longer captive to do the enemy's will consistently. They have been broken free from that captivity. And now they do not walk out a lifestyle, if you will, of sin—missing the mark and by that missing out on the prize.

We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. Now that little word “touch” means this: it means set on fire or to attach oneself to. Now I have testified about this for 14 years, and I never knew the scriptures literally say this until I was preparing for this word. I often tell the story—it’s also in my book—where I struggled with demon possession before I got saved. And I would describe it this way: I would be going about my day normally and I would be somewhat normal in that moment. And at the flick of a switch, it was like a fire filled my entire chest and burned so painfully, so heavily, as if I was being stabbed with knives from the inside out. And instantly, a clear message would be spoken on my mind. And you can describe it as an idea popped into my mind as to what sin I would go and do next. And the promise was there, unspoken: If you go and do this sin, I will leave you alone. The pain will go away and I will give you peace for a moment. And I would go, and I would do whatever unspeakable sin was placed on my mind. And the fire would come out and it would leave me. And sometimes it would leave me alone for a day.

Sometimes it would leave me alone for 5 days. But it would always return with a new assignment placed on my head. And if I would obey, then I would be given a little bit of peace—simply the devil training me to do his will. When the touch of the devil is on your life, there is a setting on fire that happens when he shows up to make you his puppet, and he attaches himself to you. And the rest of the time you are maybe—it looks like—completely normal in church, enjoying worship, loving the people of God, having a respect for God. Maybe you even claim to love him. But when the enemy shows up, you go flat on your face. There is nothing you can do about it. And there's a touch on your life. And that scripture is not true for you. The enemy does touch you. The wicked one is allowed to touch you. But the word says when one has become born again, the wicked one does not touch him. You may do some dumb stuff. You may abuse your free will to maybe run back to a sin or this, that, or the other. You still have your flesh. But you are not captive. You are not forced to do a thing. Sometimes we are just human. Sometimes we are just fleshly. But there's a grand difference between the touch of the devil on your life—where you really are not given a choice—and simply stumbling in your flesh.

When the devil’s touch is on your life, you can stretch it, you can do whatever you want to do, you can try. But sooner or later, you are going to fall captive—taken captive to do the enemy's will. And we have this amazing scripture that says when one has become born again, the wicked one does not touch him. But at the same time, an amazing scripture like this does also give us the understanding that since the devil does not touch him, he does touch. He does set on fire. He does attach himself to people who are not born of God yet. They may be in the church. They may be in Sunday school. They may be out on the street. In every case, when a man is not born again, when a woman is not born again, if the devil wants to, he is allowed to touch you—to set you on fire. And sometimes, and I've seen this in people, people set on fire for something as simple as purchasing something—a new truck. And the moment it happens to them, they can't think of another thing. They can only search after this one thing. They can only figure out how to finance it, how to get it. And it doesn’t go off of their heart, off of their mind, until they finally get it. And they get it. And now that drive leaves and they're given peace again.

It's the exact same thing—it’s the devil touching people to do his will. Because if he can get you having enough payments in life, then you will forever work for money. You'll never be able to work for Jesus. You'll never be able to spend your life doing the will of God. You will be able to spend your life only doing the enemy's will. And the enemy's will for your life doesn't look like Satanism. And it doesn't look like gross, unspeakable sins all of the time. The enemy's will for your life is for you to not commit and step into all that God has designed for you to walk out, so that you may come home not missing the mark, receiving the prize, and hearing, "Welcome home, good and faithful servant." That's what the devil seeks to do in your life—to get you to miss that mark. So, what have we learned from the scriptures so far? Five things if you're taking notes. Number one: A person touched by Satan secretly has an evil tongue. Number two, a person touched by Satan has secret actions. Number three, there has to be an escape in order to be free. Four, even angels don't dare to rebuke the devil. And then number five, however, the person born of God does not get touched by the devil.

That's the summary of all the scriptures that so far we have looked at. A person touched by Satan secretly has an evil tongue. A person touched by Satan has secret actions. There has to be an escape in order to be free. Even angels don't dare to rebuke the devil. However, the person born of God does not get touched by the devil, does not get set on fire by the devil, the devil doesn't attach himself to that person, doesn't get harassed in anywhere close to the same way. But let me tell you how the worldly mind thinks because you may have heard this. You can hear it in movies. You can hear it in shows. You can hear it on the street. You can hear it on the job. I've heard churchgoing believers say this: "Well, everybody got their demons. We all fight our own demons. We all struggle with our own demons." That kind of talk. I'm here to tell you, church, I ain't struggling with my demons. I ain't got my own demons. The wicked one does not touch the man, does not set on fire the man, does not make the man or the woman that has been born again do what he wanted them to do, because He that is in me is greater than he that lives in the world.

We do not all have our demons. We do not all have demons that attach themselves to us. We do not all have struggles that will always overcome us any time they show up to present themselves. We do not all struggle with fear. We do not all struggle with anxiety. It's not true.

That's what the worldly mind will have you believe: "Oh, we all struggle. It's okay that I'm here being touched by the devil." If that is what is happening, you're not okay. You're not born again. You may be a believer. You may have come and you may have some experiences with Jesus, but He does not have your life and He has not come to live inside of you. Because when Jesus lives inside of you, the devil doesn't show up. I'm going to show it to you from the Word because I want to talk about how to get there. How do you go from being a church-attending person who believes in God—which there are so many of them—and how many times, and I say it lovingly, but I really… this is one of the most motivating things in my life. How often do you meet a church person that sets your heart on fire for Jesus?

How do I get there? From being a church-attending person who believes in God to being a man or a woman who can openly say: "The devil don't touch me. I know angels don't dare to rebuke the devil, but the devil don't touch me. I can rebuke him all I want. He doesn't attach himself to me. He can't set me on fire anymore. That's a done deal in my life. I was caused to become born again by the power of God, by what He did on the cross. And ever since that day, the devil hasn't dared to come even close to me anymore." But I want you to see this in the Bible. I'm going to take you to the story of Saul and David. King Saul. David is not king yet at this time. And I will read to you one verse from 1st Samuel 16:18:"Then one of the servants answered and said, 'Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person, and the Lord is with him.'”

Here's Saul—anointed of God, believes in God for a good measure of his time, did everything he could to walk with God. And here Saul is being harassed by an evil spirit. The Word says tormented by an evil spirit. And a lot of people have some confusing thoughts about this passage because it says that God sent him an evil spirit. Now, what that shows me is that God was in control of this situation, and God was trying to teach you and I something. Because the Lord could have commanded the devil to send one of his workers, and he would have had to do it. Yet God didn't do that. God sent an evil spirit of God to go and torment Saul. And then God also sent David into the same situation. It's very important that we realize God is doing this for a purpose and not to contradict himself. God wasn't sending an evil spirit into Saul's life because God's ultimate goal was for Saul to be tormented by a spirit. Because if that was God's goal, he wouldn't have sent David. God was trying to explain something to you and I through this story, through this journey that both Saul and David were on. And there's many things we can learn from this story. But I want to look with you today at what I understand the Lord to be teaching you and I about the touch of an evil spirit. Because this story is a prophetic foreshadowing. Who else do you know came from Bethlehem, just like David the Bethlehemite? Who else was called into a story of torment?

Let me read to you Acts 2:29–30: "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne." You see, as we see David in this story, where Saul is being tormented and being touched by this evil spirit, and we see David coming into this story knowing that the Word tells us that David had a prophetic ministry—when we read a story like that, our prayer should always be: "Lord, I know that you had a prophetic ministry on David's life. Lord, what are you trying to point forward to through this story of David's life? What are you trying to teach me today? What are you trying to explain to me? Does anything in this story have a prophetic message about the Messiah, the Son of David, who also was born in Bethlehem?"

So here we have Saul—believed in God, a man touched and tormented by an evil spirit. And David comes on the scene. And the moment David comes on the scene, the spirit leaves.

What is God trying to show you and I, who need to escape the snare, the touch of the devil? What is he trying to get across to you and I? He's foreshadowing the Son of David. He's foreshadowing Jesus Christ, who would come and who would crush the head of Satan. So that wherever the evil one is touching people's lives, and wherever the evil one has a grip on people and has taken people captive, whenever the presence of Christ the Lord, the Son of David, comes into the room, the serpent has to let go and he can no longer touch that person.

Now we know—give God glory, hallelujah—we know that David left, and the spirit would come back, and David would have to be called to come and play skillfully on his instrument again, and the spirit would leave again.

But the Son of David says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Church, when the Son of David has come into your story and you have become born again, the evil one does not touch him. The evil one does not touch her. There's a liberty. There's a freedom that causes worship to arise, that causes joy to come into the darkest of homes, that causes hope to be seen and understood in the most desperate of situations. When a person has gone from being captive by the devil to being set free by Jesus, and the devil can't touch him anymore—even though the devil used to control that person in secret—when that person has been set free and knows their own weaknesses, and that person says, "The devil doesn't even touch me anymore," there's a joy that is born. There's a testifying that is born. There's a boldness that is born that begins to rebuke the enemy and all of his work, and begins to tell people that there's liberty and freedom because the Son of David has come into our torment and into our situation.

But when the devil has attached himself to you, for those that are with us online, you can't get away from it. It's always a matter of time before he shows up again. It's always a matter of time before he demands something of you again. Before he sets you on fire again to do this, that, or the other thing. And the fire won't leave until you obey. All that needs to happen, we learn this from this story of Saul and David. All that needs to happen is for you to say, and you have to say this. You don't get the shortcut around this. You have to say it. You have to confess.

And this is what I couldn't do for so long. A believer partaking in everything Christian—whatever that means. A believer partaking in everything Christian. And in secret, captive. Taken captive by the devil to do his will. In secret, my tongue touched, set on fire by hell. It is because for so long I couldn't say it. But all that needs to happen is for you to say and openly confess just like Saul did. I'm being tormented. The devil's touch is on my life. My tongue is set on fire by hell. I'm taken captive by the devil to do what he wants me to do. Somebody bring in the son of David from Bethlehem. Somebody go and get this David, this king, this everlasting king. Somebody call on Jesus, because Jesus needs to come into my life and free me from the devil's touch.

Oh, I believed that Jesus could do it, church. But I never wanted to stand in front of people and say, "This is who I am. I'm taken captive. I'm bound to do what the enemy wants me to do. I know the kind of man or the kind of boy at the time that I would like to be, but I can't. So, I have to be the real me in secret with the devil. And publicly, I'm just trying to look good because I don't even know how to live like this."

Until I finally, in the light, called on the son of David with all of my heart. And ever since that day, I can say with the scriptures prophetically, church, the enemy, the wicked one, he does not touch me anymore. Now, the son of David tells you he will never leave you nor forsake you. He will never let you be ashamed ever again. He will never let the devil touch you, set you on fire, take you captive ever again. The battle will always be won in your life. You'll live that victory. You won't be touched by the devil and you will always, in every way, shape, or form, escape the snare of the devil. He won't have a grip on you ever again. Israel and the people of God in its time were so looking forward to the time that this would be reality. Let me read to you a couple of these prophetic scriptures. Psalm 9:3: "When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence." Oh, I love to say these kinds of things because I'm not supposed to be able to say it. Yet, it is true because of Christ Jesus causing me to become born again.

When my enemies turn back—because the devil will try, he'll try to turn back—but when my enemies turn back they shall fall and perish at your presence because the son of David don't leave me. So, the devil cannot come and return and touch and torment and set on fire.

I know my weaknesses. I know the devil's much stronger than I am. But I know who doesn't leave my side. And when the devil turns back, when my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence, Lord.

Leviticus 26:6: "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid, and I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land." The Israelites never lived this. This was pointing forward to your life, where in your life, God would take away every fear, every anxiety, everything the devil used to throw at you, everything that used to make you afraid, everything that used to ruin your life, everything that used to be a battle for you. And the sword shall not go through your land. Zephaniah 3:15: "The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, your guilt. He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil." The son of man, the son of David, will never leave your side when you have become born again. And the evil one, the wicked one, will not touch that man or that woman. Church, this is a good place to practice your rejoicing with the truth. Church, amen.

I want to encourage you in this, church. You got to understand, devil's listening. There may be some demons, some strategies devised against you online, against people here in the house, and they have their orders and there's a strategy. There's a warlike behavior among the kingdom of darkness trying to battle out how can we get some souls. And there may just be fallen angels. There may be demons that are assigned to you to make you destroyed, to make you captive, to make you obey the devil and get you into captivity to do his will. Maybe some are listening. They used to be yours, but they can't touch you anymore. And they're now assigned to somebody else, but they may be around. They may be listening. So, when you rejoice with the truth, I want you to understand, you are letting the dark empire, the kingdom of darkness, know that that truth is already yours and that you fully understand it. That's why you want to let the enemy hear a shout of glory. Amen.

Church, the devil cannot touch you. He cannot set you on fire. He cannot attach himself to you anymore because Jesus doesn't leave your side. And I want to just encourage you to let the devil know that you're happy now. Let the devil know that Jesus has come into your life. Let the devil know that he can no longer come anywhere close to you. He cannot touch you. And let him know that you're happy now. You're not on the road to death. You're not on the road to captivity. You're not on the road to powerlessly always have to obey the devil and be ashamed of yourself, be ashamed of your actions, be ashamed of your tongue. I have been made happy by Jesus Christ who has set me free, and you cannot touch me. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.

Church, all of these, what I like to call prophetic dream scriptures, they were dreaming for the times to come. They all point forward to a time when the heavenly Messiah would come and set you free. These prophets were talking about your life. They were talking about what Jesus is doing today in your life. That you may come to the place where you simply speak and prophetically walk out Psalm 23:5 and you say, "Lord, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. I had sin, but I'm not captive anymore. I called on Jesus. The devil doesn't touch me anymore."

That's why we rejoice. That's why we give glory. That's why we flee to Jesus with all of our heart. Because there's a difference between being a benchwarming believer in church and being born again, church. There's a difference between being born again and being hopeful and believing in God. There's such a great difference. We know. And I suggest you let the devil know that you know. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, does not miss the mark, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. I may only be speaking to the few, and most of you may be rejoicing with the truth. If that is the case, to God be all of the glory. But to you online and to you, whoever you are in this place, I want you to know that you can be free. You can be free. Turn to Jesus. Become born again. Become set free from the devil's snare. Because when you are born again, the wicked one will not touch you. Oh, to be under the touch of the devil. I so clearly remember what it is like to be set on fire by the devil, or to have the devil attach himself to make you do something. It had never been on your mind. You didn't come up with the idea. And once you accomplish this thing, there's no real reward in it. It just kind of goes away all of a sudden. It's the enemy attaching himself to make you do what he wants you to do, and then he'll leave you alone for a moment.

Some of you, you've been taken captive to do the enemy's will as far as materialism goes in your life. There are certain things that come on your heart, they come on your mind. It's urgent, and you got to pursue it and you got to get it done, and you got to—and it takes your time. It takes your attention. And then when you accomplish it, there's no real reward. And a day later or a week later, there's a new assignment. There's no satisfaction. There's no peace. Some of you, you say, "The devil's been trying to abuse my body. He's been trying to tell me that I've been made wrong, that I'm not made in the image of God, that God did the wrong thing when he made my gender, that God did the wrong thing when he created my sexual orientation, that God did the wrong thing when he made me look like the way I like and don't like the way I look."

The enemy is trying to destroy and constantly attach and set on fire your thinking and your heart, and it's all suffered in secret.

The devil always seeks to destroy you in secret, church. That's why this is such a hard message for me to preach, because you're always tormented in secret. And it's such a big step to go from that deep, painful, long-term secret and to turn and repent and step into the light and choose to believe that the son of David, when you call out to him with all of your heart, will never leave your side and you will never be drawn back into those shameful, broken decisions ever again because you won't be captive anymore. He won't touch you anymore. Devil won't touch you anymore. Some of you, you've been hiding aspects of your marriage and you've been trying to make it look better than it is. And in secret, that's what your marriage really looks like. Disconnected. I get to spend on this, so you get to spend on that. Disconnected financially. Disconnected in the heart. Disconnected maybe even physically. All that suffering happens in secret. And Jesus says, "If you come to me with all of your heart, you take every plan you had for your lifetime and you put it on the altar. You take every intention you had for spending your life, every goal, every single thing you wanted to achieve for yourself or for your kids, and you put it on the altar. You give it to me. Let me take it away so that I can give you a new life. I will never leave you nor forsake you, and the wicked one will not touch you."

If that is who you are, you need to acknowledge your situation. You need to turn from your sin. You need to forsake the world and run to Jesus this morning. Now, I'm going to ask those that have rejoiced with the truth this morning to come forward when the altar call comes forth. What is this going to do? It's going to make it very easy for the one and the two that say, "I need that life where the wicked one doesn't touch me anymore." It's going to help them step out of secret and into the light because they're not alone. So, if you've been rejoicing with the truth, you say, "Listen, I live that life. The devil does not touch me. He doesn't set me on fire. He doesn't move me to do his will. I am rejoicing with this incredible miracle." If that is you, when the altar call comes, would you come forward to help somebody so that they're not alone here at the altar? So, here's the altar call. If you need this word and the wicked one does not touch him.

For those that are online, let somebody know that is close to you. For those here in person, if you say, "God, that has to become my story. It has to become my story. That the wicked one does not touch me anymore. If this is possible, if this is what it is like to be born again, then perhaps I am not born again yet. I've been touched by God. I've had my experiences. I may even believe in him, but I'm still being harassed by the devil." There's freedom for you. And I want you to understand why it is so important to come forward to an altar when there's a word that washes over you online and here in the congregation. Why it is so important to respond publicly. Jesus himself says, "Whoever confesses me before man, I will confess him before the Father." There's such a powerful thing spiritually that happens when you publicly say Jesus is whispering to my heart. He is alive. I bear witness that he's alive. I bear witness that he speaks, and I am going to let his voice lead me.

It's just symbolic that you come to this altar. This altar has no power. But when you respond in your heart and you respond publicly, I'm telling you now, there are things the Holy Spirit delivers. There are words the Holy Spirit speaks into people's hearts at the altar ministry that doesn't seem to happen many other places. And so, if a word comes forth from this pulpit or worship comes forth and it seems to touch your heart, that's your indicator. Then you know the Spirit of God wants to do something for me personally at the altar. It's not about obeying no pastor. It's not about putting your trust in the person that is going to pray over you. That is saying, "I believe the Spirit of God is trying to get something to my heart. I believe he will meet me at that place, and I'm going to wait there. I'm going to seek after the Lord there, and I'm not going to let go of God until he has accomplished this work that he is seeking to start in my life this morning." So, if you say this morning, I need that level of freedom. I need to be able to say, "And the wicked one does not touch him." If that is what you desire, together with those that rejoice in the truth, would you come to the altar? Would you join me here at the front so that we can pray together and declare together and worship together so that Jesus may receive all of the honor and the one and the two that need to come forward because they say, "I'm the captive. I'm the one that's being tormented in secret and I need this to become my story." By coming forward, you're helping that person.

-Pastor Stan Mons