The Path Into Bondage — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. I was just starting to rejoice that I was going to have extra time, and they took it away and said, you're starting early because you need to end early.

Praise God. You have a good morning already? Praise God. It's such a joy to serve the Lord, young people. I'm telling you, I'm down the road a few years. It's such a joy. I know the Bible calls it labor, but it doesn't seem like labor to me.

It's such a joy to serve the Lord. I want you to know that it is my sole delight to serve God with all of my heart. Let's stand for prayer. Can we do that? Just sing a little song and then have a prayer.

Can we do that?

Father, we love You. Thank You for loving us, Father.

O Thou God of the whole universe, how can it be that You love me? I thank You, Father, and I can love You for all eternity. How can this be? Lord, we want to just give this meeting to You and each one of our hearts to You, God.

We ask You again this morning that You would find Satan in every lying spirit that would hinder the heart of any here that would hinder my heart from hearing Your heart as I speak. We trust You to do that, Father.

We know that's no big deal to You at all because You are the Lord. We thank You for hearing our prayer. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want to give you a couple promises here at the beginning of each session.

Victory and Freedom Through God's Promises

Simply because I'm dealing more on the negative side of issues here for the next two or three days and I want to just preface what I say with beautiful promises, verses from the Word of God to remind all of our hearts that we're on the victory side of this whole thing.

We're on the victory side. Praise God for that. The title of my message this second session in the series on freedom from bondage is The Path into Bondage. We're going to discuss the path into bondage today.

But I want to assure you of the freedom that is yours if you will deal with the issues that are in your life. There is hope for you. You can walk in freedom. You don't need to be afraid of the devil. You don't need to be afraid of any evil spirit.

Your God sits on the throne of the whole universe and He's a billion times more powerful than any demon. You do not have to live there trapped and snared in a hole like we read about yesterday. Looking in 2 Timothy 4, just to read you a promise, Paul's confident faith in God, he says these words, and by the way, this is just before he lost his head.

2 Timothy 4, verse 16, he says, At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, though all men forsook me, the Lord stood with me.

Now, if you have that, you don't need any of the other. The Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Hallelujah. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work or every evil attack and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And not many days after this, they cut off his head and the Lord did preserve him unto his heavenly kingdom.

And he'll do the same for you, young people. I rejoice this morning and last evening to hear, as different ones have been sharing with me, that they're not going to play around. They started getting things right yesterday in their prayer group and I praise God for that and I want to encourage you, dear young people, as God begins to speak to you, you just respond to the promptings of the Spirit of God.

Tomorrow and Thursday we plan to get specific and deal with specific bondages in people's lives, but if the Spirit of God speaks to you about something in your life, you don't need to wait until tomorrow or Thursday when I say something about it.

You just move on it and let God minister to you. You do not have to wait. Turning now to James chapter one, as we look at our subject, the path into bondage, we want to look at James chapter one and preface the reading of these scriptures with these words.

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

There are three ways in which we are led into evil. Three ways. The world, the flesh and the devil. Three ways in which we are led into evil. The world is like a magnet that pulls on us. The Bible says it refers to the world as the spirit of the world.

The world is a spirit and it has a pull. It is like a magnet. That's the first way. The second is the flesh. The flesh, our flesh, is weak and it has sinful desires and if it's left to its own, it will go in the path of evil.

And the third way is the devil. And by that I mean evil spirits. They are active agents in suggesting evil. All these three elements were present in the temptations of Christ, our elder brother, when he was in the wilderness and also in the days after that, because the Bible says he was tempted of the devil forty days in the wilderness.

The Bible says after that, Satan left him for a season, but he didn't leave him for good. He was tempted of the devil during his earthly ministry. In fact, the Bible says he was tempted in all points like as we are and yet without sin.

Hallelujah! Praise God for that example. So, we want to just preface the reading of these scriptures with those words. Three ways in which we are led into evil. The world, the flesh and the devil. James 1 and verse 12, we read, Blessed is the man or woman that endureth temptation.

For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Now, this verse is for those of you who are on your feet today. You sit here. Your heart is clear.

You love God. Everything is clear. You're getting your armor on like brother Moses is going to tell you. That verse is for you. Bless God. That's how you should look at temptation when it comes your way.

Enough of this attitude of poor me. Enough of that. Blessed is every man and woman that endureth temptation. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

For love of God. Endure temptations, young people. For love of God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. For love of God. That's how you should look at your temptations. Not, oh no, here we go again.

No, wait a minute. Don't you know who the Lord Jesus is? Don't you know the great power that He has? Don't you know the authority that is in His name? For love of God. Endure temptations. Not yielding to them.

Just like your elder brother Jesus did. Amen? But now let's go on from there. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil. Neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved young people. Do not err. The pathway into bondage. These scriptures say that we are drawn away of our own lusts.

What does that mean? I want to just take a few minutes and look at the reality of what a temptation is. We're just going to break it down a little bit. I'm sure every one of you will understand because you've all been through temptation.

You've all been through this process. And I've been through this process. And that's why I can talk to you about it. Drawn away of his own lust. How does this happen? First of all, we are drawn away of our own fleshly desires.

No other reason than that. No influence from the world around you. No influence from an evil spirit. You, in yourself, that is in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And if you are left to yourself, and if you let your flesh, your flesh, without anything else, will draw you away into sin.

It can do that. A thought, an impression, a memory from your past can come through your mind. It doesn't have to come from the enemy. It doesn't have to come from the world. It's in your mind. You lived.

You did things in your past. You have a memory. I wish we could just push the delete button and wipe the whole thing away. But you can't. There are things in your mind and your flesh is your flesh. If you don't bring those thoughts into captivity, but rather choose to be captivated by them, you will be drawn away with your own heart's lust.

That's the bottom line, young people. A thought comes into your mind. What are you going to do with that thought? Bring it into captivity and go on or let it captivate you and you will begin to be drawn by your own heart's lust deeper into a snare that is set for you.

How Temptation Grows Into Sin

Number two. Drawn away by the world around you. The world is powerful. We are warned in the Scriptures how to behave ourselves and how to relate to this world around us. It's powerful. It's nothing to play with.

Drawn away by the world around you. You see something with your eye gates. You hear something with your ear gates. An evil thought springs into your mind from what you see or what you heard. If you don't take those thoughts captive, you will be drawn away by your own heart's lust.

And we all understand this illustration. We know it's that way. You have to live in a real world. God has put us in a real world that we might prove to the world that the grace of God is sufficient, young people.

It is sufficient. But the world is there. And it's real. And it will draw you and tempt you. But the question is, what will you do with the thought that comes into your mind when you see what you shouldn't be looking at?

That's the question. Number three. You're drawn away by the devil's temptations. The devil does tempt us. Christ was tempted of the devil forty days. The mind is infused by thoughts, evil thoughts, which come from wicked spirits.

In comes a thought. And many times, it's repeated. And that's kind of how you can tell whether it was just your thought or whether it's thoughts from the enemy. If it comes again, again, again, and again, it's probably not your thought.

It's from the enemy. But the question is, what are you going to do with that thought? If you don't take them captive, you will again, you will be drawn away by your own heart's lust. I once saw a children's lesson that I will never forget.

We were in Africa. My son-in-law, Darrell Nolt, was having a children's lesson. And I think, I think I'm right that Paul Clark, and he's here somewhere, he was helping him. And he was trying to illustrate to the little children that we need to take our thoughts captive.

And he was trying to show the children that you don't just let any old thought run around inside your mind. That it's dangerous. And so, he's trying to illustrate this. He's standing up there talking to the children.

And along comes Paul Clark, you know. And Darrell grabs him down on the floor and sits on him and said, What are you? And Paul said, I'm a thought. And Darrell said, What kind of thought? And he gave him some bad thought.

And Darrell grabbed him and picked him up off the ground and kicked him in the seat of the pants and sent him out the door. Well, amen! That's what you ought to do, blessed God. Just grab him and kick him in the seat of the pants and send him out the door.

Well, then he talked a little bit, talked to the children, and here comes Paul again. And Darrell saw him coming and grabbed him and pushed him down on the ground again and said, Paul said, I'm a thought.

Darrell said, What kind of thought? Oh, Jesus Christ is the Lord of heaven and earth. Or he said something like that. And Darrell got him up off the ground and put his arm around him and said, Boy, I like you.

You're a nice buddy. The little children got the hint. But I tell you what, I got the hint also. That wasn't just for the little children, dear young people. That is exactly what we need to do. If you will get a hold of that, you don't need to hardly ever worry about any of the rest of what I'm going to say today.

Because that's where the victory is won. Right there! But that's not my subject. If you don't deal with the temptation on this level, then you're going to be in trouble. And by the way, young people, temptation is not sin.

Many times young people think a thought goes through their mind, you know, and it's not a good thought. And they think, Oh, I'm so evil, you know. This thought went through my mind. Temptation is not sin.

And you should not be condemned or allow the enemy to condemn you just because a thought went through your mind. Sometimes he'll put some evil thought in your mind and then accuse you afterwards. But if you don't deal with the temptation on this level, that temptation becomes a strong desire through the lust of your flesh.

And now this thing is in your mind and it's staying there and it's broadening and it's expanding and it's becoming a strong desire. According to James here, he uses the word enticed. And that word enticed means to lure with bait.

To lure with bait. And many times when you get to this level right here, where the thing has come in and you've decided you're going to let that thing park in there, you kind of like that thought, you're enjoying the imagination of what is going on from the thought that came into your mind.

When you get into that place, it begins to create a strong desire in your mind. And young people, many times, the enemy is at work in this stage of the temptation. I mean, he goes to work. Go ahead. Go ahead.

You go and help yourself. Nobody will see you. What's the use? You'll never make it. And all those kind of things. Right at that moment. Right at that moment where that strong desire is just beginning to stir in your members, he's right there.

But by the way, you can still get out of this whole thing right there. Resist the devil, young people. Resist the devil. Sometimes young men come to me seeking counsel as they wrestle through moral issues in their life.

And God bless every one of you young men that are man enough to rise up in your heart and wrestle your way through the moral issues in your life. You will do yourself and your wife a favor for all the days of your married life.

If you will deal with those things. But young men come and they say, Brother Denny, I don't know what to do. Sometimes the thing just is on me and I just feel like I can't get out of it and I'm being bombarded with thoughts.

And a lot of times they try to resist the temptation. The Bible says resist the devil. And so I've told them, hey, when you get in that situation, why don't you just say,.

You wicked spirit,.

Get away from me in Jesus' name. You know what? They come back and say, Ha! That worked. Boom! Just like that. No more bombardments. Amen? No more bombardments. When you're in that second level there, you can be bombarded with impressions from the enemy.

Then, according to James, lust conceives. If you don't deal with it on that second level, lust conceives. The heart gives in to the strong desire and sin is committed. And that's a very sad thing when it happens.

It always happens first in here. Then it gets lived out in reality, in real life. But it always happens first in here, in the heart. Lust is conceived in the heart. I will. I'm going to. Then, the sin is committed in the life.

That's a very sad thing. Christians do sin. It should be the exception, young people, not the rule. I don't believe you're supposed to be going through life sinning and confessing and sinning and confessing and sinning and confessing.

That is not the normal Christian life, dear young people. It is not the normal. But sometimes, Christians do sin. This is not bondage. This is not bondage. What you do from here is very important. If you find yourself at that place, what you do from there is very, very important.

Repentance, Cleansing, and the Danger of Repeated Sin

If you fall on your face and you cry out to God in repentance, and you break your heart over that which you have failed before God with, Amen! Get up! Shake off that evil. Wash your heart in the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the everlasting covenant.

You can be washed and cleaned and get up and leave it behind. Amen? If in immense sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous, who was made a propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world, John says in 1 John 2, what you do at that point is very, very important.

You can repent and be clean, but if you don't, you are in great danger of being brought into bondage. I'm warning you. Sin that is finished is sin that is yield to again and again and again and again.

And sin that is finished bringeth forth death, young people. That is the path to bondage. Turn with me to Romans chapter 6, where this is so beautifully described by the Apostle Paul. Romans chapter 6.

I know you know these verses. Maybe many of you have memorized them. That's good to memorize them. It's more important that they dwell deeply in your heart. But in Romans, we see this process taking place.

Romans 6, verse 11. Paul says, after sharing with the church at Rome, the beautiful reality of living a life free from the plague of sin. He says these words. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed under sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And remember that. It's through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore, because you are dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

And those are beautiful verses that speak about the victory that is in Christ Jesus. But that's not our sermon today. Verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but you are under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid, Paul says. In other words, this is a terrible thought. Sin is a terrible thing. And to think that I'm going to sin because I've got 1 John 1 .9 in my back pocket just to take care of it if I do, that is deadly games to play.

You may as well put a rattlesnake in your pocket if that's your mentality. Shall we then sin? God forbid, Paul says. And then he reasons with them. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death.

Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Or of obedience unto righteousness and the end, eternal life. That's the choice you're making, young people. When you find yourself in that place which is a dangerous place, and this process of temptation has taken place, and you yielded to it, and things happened in your heart, and boom, you went and did something that you knew was wrong.

What you do with that is very, very important. Jesus said, we read it yesterday in John, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant or slave of sin. And again, he's saying, you give into it, you give into it, you give into it, you are going to become a slave.

How does this happen? Here you are. You sinned. You're guilty. You feel guilty. And you know you did. But you don't deal with it. Or you won't deal with it. For whatever reason, there could be many. The grace of God is not operating in power in your life from that moment.

Your conscience is cloudy. There you are. You are in a weakened state now. In that state, the world, the flesh, and the devil, guess what? They didn't run away and hide because you fell. They didn't run away and hide.

They are still there. In fact, they are more powerful because you are weaker than you were before. Often, accusations come at that point. Sometimes, they come from our own mind. Because we know I shouldn't have done that.

And we accuse ourselves. Oh, why did I do that? But sometimes, they come from evil spirits. You know, the accuser of the brethren, it says in Revelation chapter 12. The accuser of the brethren, you know, like Satan accused Job before God there, back in Job chapter 1 and 2.

Accusing spirits will come along at that time and give you a good old kick while you are down. You are a rotten Christian. What do you think? You call yourself a Christian and they will beat you with all kinds of words.

Anybody ever hear words like that? When you weren't right with God? Yeah. Sometimes, they are our own thoughts. But sometimes, they are from the evil one. He knows. He knows how to keep you down so you don't get up again.

And He'll do it by accusation upon accusation. That's one of His main strategies. Condemning thoughts and He will beat you with them. That weakens you even more. But, guess what? Danger. More temptation is coming.

The Path From Sin Into Bondage

Remember what I told you yesterday? You can't just say, I'm not going to be in this war. This war is your war. Whether you want to take your head out of the sand or not, there's more temptation coming.

And you are in a dangerous place. You're lost. Whatever area it is, is stronger because of your failure. And down the road to slavery you go. Now, please don't despair this morning. There is victory in Jesus Christ.

But, for the sake of our lessons today, I want you to see how this whole thing happens. Because, let's face it young people. There are young people not here today that were here a year ago. And you may know some.

They are on this road that we're talking about. And they sat here a year ago. And you are sitting here today. And I praise God that you're sitting here today and you're clear. But young people, it's no game.

Sin is no game. We need to learn that. I want you to see what is happening. I want you to see the seriousness of what is happening. I want you to see the seriousness of where you are. Sin will take you further than you want to go.

Like the little song says. And many, many, many people could give testimonies of that very thing. Oh, I just thought I was going to have a little sling. And the next thing I knew, I was way down the road.

Much further than I ever thought I would go. Ah, we've picked up the pieces and we've caught the tears in the prayer room many times. As people come in bondage and they'll say these words. How did I get here?

Well, young people, I'm telling you today how they got there. And I'm telling you because you may be there right now. And I'm telling you because I don't want you to go there. At this point you are on dangerous ground.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26 says these words as a warning to us. Neither give place to the devil. That person that we've been describing here, that person has given place to the devil. That person has given a piece of ground in their life to the devil.

That person has allowed the devil to get a foot hole in their life. The devil has a foot in the door and he's not going to pull his foot out of that door until you repent. He won't do it. He has every right to have his foot in the door.

You gave place to the devil. That word place in the Greek is topo, which we, where we get our word land. The devil has been given authority to work in your life and you can't stop him unless you repent.

Demonic Activity, Oppression, and Possession

Now take this warning young people. At this point, in this process of this path to bondage, wicked, unclean spirits are going to be working overtime in your life. They are tracking you now. They are like a wolf who sees a weak sheep out on the edge of the flock.

You understand? And they know who they can get. They are not going to go for that big ram in the center. No way. They see that weak sheep out there on the edge, sick and not eating very well and just kind of wandering off and then getting back in with a flock and wandering off and there they are, just watching.

Seducing spirits will be working in your life to depart you from the faith, to turn you aside after Satan. 1 Timothy 5 .15 says, Some have turned aside after Satan. Peter said to Ananias in Acts chapter 5, Why has Satan feel bind hard to do this thing?

That's where this person is at, who is playing around on the road to bondage and has refused to repent and deal with the issue in their life. They are in a dangerous place. Do you realize it? I want to say a few words about demonic activity, demonic oppression and demon possession at this point.

Every human being is subject to demonic activity. And if you stop and think about it, you know that statement is true. Every human being is subject to some measure of demonic activity, whether you are lost or whether you are saved.

But I would like to illustrate the degree of activity with a simple illustration of a graph or a scale. On one end of this scale, we are going to call it the normal demonic activity that every child of God deals with.

Paul dealt with demonic activity. Otherwise he couldn't have said, we wrestle against principalities and powers, against rumors of darkness and against wicked spirits. He couldn't have said those words if he wasn't having to deal with demonic activity in his life.

Temptations come. Sometimes evil spirits are involved in those temptations. That's no big deal. That's just the way it is, young people. That's over on this side of the scale, number one. And over on the other end of the scale, number ten, we will call that demon possession.

Demonic activity, number one. Demon possession, number ten. Now, to the ignorant, to get from one to ten is a gradual process to the ignorant. But to the knowing and the willing, it can happen in a moment.

In a moment. But to the ignorant, to the untaught, to the foolish, to the simple one, it is a gradual process. We, as we allow sin to continue, the activity of evil spirits increases in our lives. Don't you doubt that.

It increases in our lives. I'm going to give five categories here, and please, you theologians, you have mercy on me. I'm just giving these categories so that I can illustrate this. Number one, normal activity.

Number two, increased activity. That's that person who sinned and didn't deal with it, and there they are in a weakened condition, and here comes more temptations their way, and they're not ready to deal with them.

That's increased activity. Number three, oppressive activity, where they are being tormented at times, having despairing thoughts, and they're plagued with wrong thoughts continually. Number four, controlling activity, where these demons are now, I mean, they've got you eaten out of their hand.

Every time they want you to fall into that sin that you're in, they just lay things right out there, and you're just eaten right out of their hand. You can't stop anymore. That's controlling activity.

It's kind of like the cat and the mouse. You ever see a cat with a mouse? We have a cat at our house. I'm intrigued with that fellow. He'll catch a mouse, which is no big deal for him to do. He'll catch that mouse, and he's not hungry.

So, no problem. He's not hungry. He already had his meal. Maybe he got some eggs after breakfast or whatever. He catches the mouse, and he just lays the mouse there right next to him. And I've watched him do this.

And he'll even sit there. You think he's even got his eyes closed, you know? And he's just laying there, and the mouse is laying there, not moving. And you watch, and all of a sudden, the mouse, you know, it'll begin to wiggle a little bit.

It'll just begin to wiggle, and it gets up to run away, and the cat goes... You ever see it? How many ever saw that happen? Well, you know, that's comical. But that's not comical. If that's where you are, that is not comical.

That is not comical at all. I mean, you are so deep in whatever your sin, whatever your bondage is, that you get up a little bit. Maybe you hear a message, and you get up a little bit, and you're going to go away.

And you know, you watch the mouse. Then he settles back down. And the cat moves his hand away, muscles back into his arm again. Pretty sad picture, isn't it? And lastly, is possessing activity, which is on the tenth side, where these evil spirits, they live their evil lives through their victim.

To the ignorant, this is a gradual process. But it is a process, and it does happen, young people. It happens. It's nothing to play around with. Sin is nothing to play around with, I'm telling you. It's nothing to play around with.

Occult Practices and Other Rapid Paths Into Bondage

To some foolish ones, some foolish sins will put you in the middle of this scale immediately. For example, you go out and play with witchcraft. You go out just for fun, you know. You go to the carnival, and go in to see the lady that reads your palm, or whatever, you know.

Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Let's go in and get our farts intold, you know. Ha, ha, ha, this will be fun. You will put yourself in the middle of that scale when you do that, young person. You will put yourself in the middle of that scale immediately.

Some sins will do that. Utter rebellion will do that. I'm not talking about a struggle with your mom and dad about authority. I'm talking about you just say, that's it. I'm going to do what I want to do.

Oh, you just put yourself in the middle of the scale. We'll say more about it tomorrow. Bestiality. That's in the Bible, by the way. You just put yourself in the middle of the scale when you mess around with things like that.

In the middle of the scale. But for most of you in this room, if you are in sin, you're in that increased activity stage. That's where you are. If you're sitting here and you're in sin and you know you are, you know there's sin in your life and you haven't dealt with it and you're not sure you want to deal with it, you are in the increased activity stage.

For you, you should wisely get on your knees and break your heart before God over the sin that you're in, over your willful foolishness and be washed in the blood of Jesus. And it's just that simple, young people.

And let me encourage you. Deal with it on that level. Right there. Because it's not so easy when you get further down the road. For some, you may need to go deeper. And we will get into those specific areas of bondage tomorrow and Thursday.

I plan to spend the next two days speaking about specific areas of bondage. But for most of you in this room this morning, just get it out in the open and deal with it and go on your way rejoicing. Amen?

Like one sister, she came to me last night and her face was all lit up and she was bright and excited and she said, thank you, Brother Denny, for that message. And I want you to know I dealt with all of my issues today.

I'm not going to waste the whole week. And I blessed her for that. What a wise young person that is. I dealt with my issues and I'm not going to waste the rest of my week floundering around. I want to get a blessing out of Bible school.

Amen? So, for most of you, that's the way you need to deal with it. For the rest of you who sit here, you're clear and you're free, take a lesson from this lesson. Don't ever go there, young people. Don't ever go there.

You don't need to ever go there. I'm telling you. Yes, you may get tripped up. Yes, you may sin. Yes, you may. But you never have to go any further than that. If you're wise, if you're smart, if you at all love God, you never have to go any further than that.