Greetings, friends, and new listeners. Welcome to the R.G. Hardy Ministries program. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today, because we know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Today's message by my father, Brother Hardy, is another devil-chasing message.
It's entitled "Give No Place to the Devil." The Bible tells us that Satan walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But we are to resist him steadfast in the faith, because if you don't, you open the door to demonic harassment.
So let's lend an ear to hear. Give no place to the devil. I want to read a scripture this morning, found in Mark, the third chapter. Twenty seventh verse, and it says, "No man can enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house." I want to preach on this morning: resist the devil; give no place. To the devil.
Very early in my Christian experience, the Lord let me know, as I was a obedient, believing child of God, that the only power that the devil had over me was what I let him have. I think I'm going to say that again. The only power. That the devil has over an obedient, believing child of God is what the child of God lets him have. We have to give place to the devil.
We have to give him the power, because Jesus said, "Behold, I give you power to tread upon serpents." And scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you. That's our legacy. That's what God, through Christ, has given to us—the church, the blood bond of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have power over the devil. Too many of God's children are buffaloed by the devil.
He fights a cold war. He talks them out of their victory. He tells them what he is going to do to them, and the fact is, he cannot do anything to them unless they let him do it. You have to give place to the devil, and in that scripture, it's in Ephesians, the fourth chapter. That's a command in the Greek.
Give no place to the devil. Jesus said, "I've given you power over all the power of the enemy. He cannot defeat you unless you give. Therefore, give no place to the devil." But James went on a little bit further and said, "Submit yourself to God." Resist the devil, and he will flee you. I've said it many times, and I'm saying it again.
I say it humorously, but it's the truth. If anyone is to be afraid, the devil better be afraid of an obedient, believing child of God that knows in whom he has believed. And acts on the power and the authority that Jesus has given unto him. The devils better be afraid. No wonder the Scripture says the devil believes and trembles.
The minute that he sees a child of God knows the truth and believes the truth and acts on the truth, the devil gets scared and gets weak-kneed. He begins to tremble. Because he knows that he can't buffalo them and hoodwink them, they know the truth. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Hallelujah! I'll give him a good clap.
Offer praise him, praise him, praise him. And the fact of it is. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. But you know that's First John four four. But I like the first part of the verse.
Most people just quote this last part. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. But I like the first part too. It says, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome." Them, we are not going to overcome. We have overcome them because greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.
We are already overcomers. Hallelujah! Through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. I'm getting excited early in this message. The only power the devil has over me is what I let him.
And one I got saved, I got the latch. And one of the latches: Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid. But believe and have faith in God. Hallelujah. I'm not going to let the devil have authority over me.
I'm not going to give him place. You see, Jesus has come and delivered us and set us free. Jesus is not going to deliver the child of God. He has already delivered the child of God. Colossians one thirteen said, "He has delivered us.
He has, he has delivered us out of the power of darkness, out of the authority of Satan. We're out of the authority. We're out of the power of Satan. We are delivered. He's not in a process of delivering us.
He's not going to deliver us. He has already delivered us." If the Son, and if you let Him, if you believe, if the Son shall make you free, not set you free, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be—I'm going to say it negative—bound by nothing. If the Son shall make you free, and He wills, if you believe, then you are not under the authority of anything of the devil. Another scripture says, "In nothing be terrorized by that adversary. Nothing be afraid of him, but submit yourself to God, and then turn around and, in the mighty name and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, resist the devil, and he will flee you." He tries to talk us out of our victory.
Or he tries to get us to open the door or the gate so that he can come in and have place in our lives, but we're not to open that gate. I said we're not to open the gate and let the enemy come in. You see, we're sons; we're not slaves. And a son, it's up to him if he wants to do it. You see, a slave has to do it.
But a son, he can do it or not do it. And we're the sons of God. God has delivered us out of the power of Satan. And in order for Satan to get power back over us, we got to open up the door and let him in. But I'm not going to let him in.
I'm going to keep him on the outside where he belongs. I'm going to keep him on the defensive. I'm going to resist him in the name of Jesus and the power and the word of God, and he will flee me. I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf. Nothing that he says bothers me because I know he doesn't have power over me.
But instead, God has given me power over him, and I am going to use that power. But the devil he tries to trick you to get you to open the gate and let him in. There is a story. That will illustrate this real good in Greek mythology. I don't know how many of you have ever heard about the Trojan Horse.
Probably everyone. And the story of the Trojan Horse is if the enemy came against Troy, the city of Troy, and they tried to break the gate down, knock the walls down, and enter in and conquer that city. But they couldn't do it, you see, because the cities in those days were fortresses, and the walls were so thick of some cities that they could have chariot races, four and five chariots side by side, racing around the city. A type in our modern day is the wall of China. How wide that is!
You can drive cars up and down in it. And those walls were so thick that the enemy couldn't breach or knock them down. The gates were so strong they couldn't break them open.
So the enemy made a horse. He used trickery, and that's what the devil tries to do. He knows the word. He believes the word, and he trembles that someone else will believe the word and put it in action.
So what he does is try to trick. The child of God, like the enemy of Troy tricked the Trojans, and they made a big horse and gave it to him as a gift. And the Trojans thought, "Well, this is a peace offering." They realize that they've defeated, and they can't knock our walls down, and they can't break through our gates, and we're safe and impregnable in this great fortress. And you know what? The child of God is safe in the fortress of the power of God.
We got a wall of power all around us. Peter said, "We are they that are kept by the power of God. The children of God that have faith in the Lord are kept by His mighty power." And I don't have to try to describe. How great his mighty power is! When he spoke, the worlds into existence.
When he put the sun and the moon and the stars in space. When he called Jesus forth out of the grave, his mighty power that he's able to subdue all things unto himself. We're kept by that, but that Greek word is a military word, and it means we are garrisoned. We are garrisoned. You see, in cities.
They would have garrisons of soldiers to protect the city, and Jesus has claimed us as His own and His possession, and He has put a garrison around us, a garrison of His dudumus, of His mighty power, and no enemy can defeat the power of God. It's power of God around us and God in us. Hallelujah! Amen. And who can defeat us?
For the Bible said, "If God before you, and if you're a believing, obedient child of God, He is. Then who can be against us? And what? And who can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, the Lord? And who can defeat us?
Nay, in all of the things that the life, and the world, and the devil, and demons throw at us, we're more than a count." Conquer through Christ that loves us and has given Himself for us. We're more than conquerors. Not more than been delivered, but we're conquerors. That means we take place in the conquest and the defeat of the enemy through Christ in His power and faith in His word. We're more than conquerors of the enemy.
So the Troy people saw that horse outside left by the enemy. Watched the enemy steal away, but he was tricking them. They opened gates when they thought it was safe, and they wheeled that big horse in. And it was near nightfall, so they locked the gates up and went to bed, being confident that they were safe. Behind the impregnable walls and gates of their city, but they had let the devil in because inside of that horse it was hollow, and inside that horse were the enemy soldiers.
And while they slept, they come out of that horse and open the gates. And this is the scripture: Let him that thinks him stand take heed lest he fall. Don't receive any gifts from the enemy. We have a saying: Don't lift the gift horse in his mouth, and beware of Greeks bearing gift. Beware of the devil and his promises.
He's going to promise you everything. Amen. Amen. But that's a trick to get you to open up the gate and let him in and give him place. And you know the story after that.
When they opened up the gates, the enemy had just went back a little bit and was lying in wait. And when the gates were open, they rushed in and conquered the inhabitants of that city that were behind an impregnable wall and a gate they couldn't break through. But they opened the door to the enemy and let the enemy in. And God is telling us, though we're Kept by the power of God, though greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world. That we've got to keep the wall of righteousness up, and don't open up the gate and give place to the devil.
But that we got to be vigilant and be sober and watch and pray that we don't let the enemy trick us. And a lot of people in this last date are letting the enemy trick them by receiving the gifts of the enemy, by the devil telling them, "You can do this; it's no harm. You can do the other; it's no harm. You can have fellowship with this and that." But my Bible said that we are to come from amongst them and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. How many say Amen?
But we are to keep the walls of righteousness up. That we are to keep the gate secure and locked. That the enemy won't be able to get in. That we give no place to the devil. That we don't let up.
You know how you give place to the devil? You let up in your prayer life. You let up in your devotion. And you let up in your church attendance. I am not going to let the enemy move me out of my prayer closet.
I am not going to let the enemy take me away from feasting on the Word of God. For man shall not live by bread alone, or only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I'm not going up the enemy. Let me get a mind that he said would be in the last days. Forget not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see that day, and we're in that day, the last day.
We're in that day when many are forgetting the assembly. Of God and the enemy, they're giving place to the devil, and the enemy is getting in and getting them to do the no harm things. But the Bible said the little foxes are the ones that spoils the vine. And when you do not have a regular church attendance, you are disobeying the Lord, and God's power will not be in operation to deliver you. I'm not going to come out of my prayer closet.
And I'm going to feast on the Word every day, and I'm going to get in God's house that I might worship Him and be sustained from His presence. For it is His presence that sustains you. For here is the time of refreshing from the time of the seasons of the presence of the Lord. Give no place to the devil. Resist him when he brings suggestions to break your.
Of victory, when he tries to get you to let up in your prayer life, when he tries to get you to not read the word and study the word of God, when he tries to keep you home out of the service, he's got a trap. He's got a trick for you. He wants you to receive his gift, and you're going to open up the door and let him in, and the enemy's going to come and conquer you. But if you stay behind the power. Of God, if you stay behind the garrison of the anointing of God and keep your experience up, greater is He that is in you.
If He's in you, if you haven't leaked out of the spirit, how many say Amen? But you can leak out of the spirit, though the outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. You must renew the spirit, and if you renew the spirit day by day. Then He'll be in you, and greater than the trials and the tests of the enemy all around you. I'll give him a good clap.
Amen! What a powerful word by God's servant, Brother Hardy. Give no place to the devil. Do you know that this verse of Scripture, Ephesians 4:27, in the Greek text actually says, "Stop giving place to the devil. Stop an activity already in action." Because as Christians, we often open up the door to the enemy when we make provision for our flesh to fulfill the lust thereof, or we allow Satan to intimidate us with a spirit of fear which has torment, or we disregard the laws of health and jeopardize our bodies to weakness and disease.
It's time to stop giving the devil place, stop giving him an opening and an advantage over us, because we are not ignorant of his. Devices, his schemes, or his motives. This is another devil chasing, head bruising message you need in your spiritual arsenal. It is available on CD for a love gift of ten dollars or more to the Radio Ministry. Ask for offer one eighty nine.
Our mailing address is Brother Hardy, P. O. Box one seven four four, Baltimore, Maryland two one two zero three. Or shop online at rghardy. dot org.
That's rghardy. dot o r g. There you will find other faith boosting and spiritual arming messages by my father, brother Hardy, and myself. Again, the mailing address is P. O.
Box one seven four four, Baltimore, Maryland two one two zero three, and the offer number for the message "Give No Place to the Devil" is one eighty nine. Until next time, this is Sister Sharon saying, "Maranatha."
