Setting Fire to Satan's Harvest — Carter Conlon

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Setting Fire to Satan's Harvest

I'm going to talk to you today about setting fire to Satan's harvest. It's time. Now, you might not understand where this is going, but if you'll hold on, by the time you get to the end, you're going to see, and I think experience, a cry of incredible victory.

There's a sense of that victory in this house today. I thank God for it. Psalm 77, please, if you'll turn there. As you're turning, we'll pray. Father, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, you're the only one that can make your word live. Your word is a living word. I thank you for your presence. God, I bless you with all my heart. Oh, Jesus, if you didn't come when we gathered, it would be such a waste.

It would be so empty. But you do come and you have come. Today, I need you to be the Lion of Judah. Sometimes you come as a healer. Sometimes as a comforter. But today, I'm asking for the Lion. God, devour our enemy.

Devour our enemy. I pray for wisdom to be able to speak very simply, methodically. I pray, God, that the authority and passion of your heart would be animating me in everything that I say and do. Oh, Jesus, the hour is late.

It's dark out. We need to hear from you. God, speak to every heart. And if the enemy has planted a harvest, set it on fire. Father, I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Psalm 77, setting fire to Satan's harvest.

Psalm 77 and the Seed of Complaint

The end of verse 3, where the psalmist says, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Now, the word complain in the original text means to think about something and then to end up speaking derogatorily about it.

Or it can even be about God. It can be about people. But to meditate on something, arrive at a false conclusion, and then to begin to speak in a derogatory or demeaning way about things that, in the case of the psalmist in Psalm 77, these are things that he didn't understand.

And he arrived at a conclusion. And the false conclusion started him on a path of complaining. And when he complained, and of course, that's the devil's designer. Satan is the master complainer. And he loves it when he finds this open door into any person's life, but especially a believer in Jesus Christ.

If the devil can get you complaining, he can plant his seed in the very center of your heart, in the very center of your life. And before you know it, a very, very dark harvest, overpowering the life that would be yours or mine in Christ, begins to grow within us.

The psalmist in verses 7 to 9, because of this complaint, and here's the evidence of his spirit being overwhelmed. Faith is gone now, and doubt about even the integrity of God is beginning to overwhelm his heart.

And in verse, listen to the questions he starts asking. Will the Lord cast off forever? Will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? In other words, does God make promises and not keep them?

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Is he preoccupied with the cosmos and the order in the heavens, and he's forgotten to be good to me? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And you see, this is where complaining will lead to.

When the heart opens, especially to a complaint against God, which is exactly the seed, as it is of Satan himself, gets into the heart, we begin to complain against God, ultimately. It can be a veiled complaint.

It can be a complaint against churches. It can be a complaint against leadership in the church. It's always veiled. We never have the courage as Christians to just say, I'm mad at God. We find something in the lesser order, as it is of God, and we get mad at that.

But ultimately, we are mad at God, and the complaint is against him. Now, if you go ahead to Ezekiel chapter 28, we find in this chapter what historians and scholars say is a veiled description of Satan himself.

Even though it's about a man who's the prince of Tyrus, you find in the scripture this moving in to the description of the devil himself. In Ezekiel 28, 13, he says, Thou hast been in Eden. Now, the king of Tyrus was, in a sense, not there, the garden of God.

Think of the devil now as we begin to read the scripture. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, the gold, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covers. Now, some say that one of Satan's responsibilities, in a sense, was to move together and, in some measure, at least worship or lead the worship of God. And I have set thee so.

Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, verse 15, till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou hast sinned. Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. Now, this is a veiled description.

You look at any commentary and there's an agreement on this. This is a veiled description of Satan himself and exactly what happened at the time that he fell from heaven as it is. And I see in this scripture the devil himself being there.

The Bible declares he was adorned perhaps more than any other of God's creation at that time. He was given a position in heaven. But it got into his heart, a complaint as it is. He said you were perfect until iniquity was found in you.

Lawlessness really is what it means. Got into your heart. And I'm only supposing this. But as I meditate on this scripture, I can see Satan's standing there. All of the created heaven as it is, perhaps by the millions are worshiping God.

He has an anointed place. And but he feels that his place is not sufficient. I'm not appreciated here. How many times does that seed gotten into people who are serving God in the body of Christ? And that's the beginning of the complaining that overwhelms a man or a woman spirit.

I'm not appreciated. All I do for God. Yet nobody seems to notice. And what he's really saying is nobody's worshiping me. Everybody seems to be focused on God. And I wouldn't mind just a little piece of the action here.

I wouldn't mind a few faces to turn towards me and begin to give me praise as well. Has God forgotten me? Surely I was destined for more than this. And that's the seed. I think of the number of people in the body of Christ that are given a place by God, because the Bible says clearly the Holy Spirit places us in the church as he sees fit.

So it's not our choice. It's God's choice. But if we are not content, if we can't say, like, Paul, I've learned to be content that my identity is not in ministry. It's in Jesus Christ himself. My reward is not the volume of what I do or how much people say about it, but the fact that I am walking in obedience to God.

That is where my reward lies eternally. But a seed can get into the heart that says I was destined for more than this. I'm more talent than what is being used here. I'm a prayer warrior and they have me in a yellow jacket leading people to their seats on Sunday morning.

And I'm destined for more. And the enemy is right there saying, you're right, you're right. You're destined for more than what you're doing right now. And you see, as these thoughts go unchecked, they start as just a seed.

They start as just a thought. But they will lead to a conclusion, as with our psalmist in Psalm 77, that God is unjust. His order is wrong. Where he has me in the body is not right. I deserve more than this.

I belong in another place than where I am now. We deserve more than we've gotten from him. And you see, it leads to a wrong conclusion. And the wrong conclusion ultimately leads to a complaining against God.

And the complaining against God leads to a spirit, as it is, that is overwhelmed. The psalmist said, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. In a sense, covered over. Heaven becomes brass. I can no longer hear the voice of God.

I'm no longer content in anything that I'm called to be or do, even in his name. And if it still goes unchecked, it leads to rebellion. It leads to a lawlessness in the heart. And folks, it goes on all the time in the church of Jesus Christ.

Satan's Rebellion and the Fall of Humanity

Revelation 12, 4 and Jude 6 leads us to the conclusion that Satan drew a third of the angels with him from heaven. A third of the angels. Can you imagine? They were created. They never had to be redeemed from their sin.

They lived in the presence of God. And only eternity will reveal how long that had been. They saw the glory. But this one complainer rose in their midst and led a third of them into rebellion against God.

Almost inconceivable. You know, I deserve more than I have. And finally finds the first angel that agrees. And then the two of them go to a third and the three of them go to a fourth and the four of them go to a fifth.

You see, they're not bound by time as we are. We don't know how long this took. But eventually, a third of the angels in heaven found themselves in agreement because they probably received that same seed.

Yes, we agree with you. We're destined for more than just standing at the throne and worshipping God ourselves. Revelation 12, 4 says,. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

In other words, because of this lawlessness, a third of the angels were cast out of the presence of God and cast down to the earth. Jude 6 says,. The angels which kept not their first estate left their own habitation are now reserved in chains, as it is, to everlasting destruction.

The second half of Revelation 12, 4 says,. The dragon stood before the woman, which is the technically Israel is about to deliver a child, Jesus, who is about to be the one who brings a church into the world.

And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born. That's been the mandate of the devil since his own fall from heaven. It's such an incensed hatred against God in his heart.

He said, Not only am I going to destroy you in your exalted place, but I'm going to destroy everybody who would worship you. And the enemy has come down, the scripture says, with great wrath because he knows his time is short.

And he says, God, you're going to kick me out of heaven. So I'm going to deprive you now of that which is closest to your heart. I know you see the enemy knows God. I know you created men and women in your image.

I know you love them with a passionate love. I'm going to take as many as I can from you and I'm going to torment them for all of eternity to devour the child. Peter warns the church of his day, says, Beware, your enemy.

The devil stalks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Peter was aware of this in the spirit. He's standing as it is still looking to devour. The seed of Christ. Jesus and John 8, 44 taught that Satan lies now from an inwardly corrupted nature that cannot embrace truth.

He said he is a liar and he's the father of lies. And when he speaks a lie, he's just simply speaking of what he is. He was a murderer in the beginning, Jesus said, and no truth abode in him. He's a liar.

He's the father of lies. In other words, he cannot speak the truth. It's not in him anymore. There's not a measure. It's not a portion of truth within him. He will take God's truth, but even speaking it, he speaks it as a lie.

He cannot speak it honestly because he is corrupted. Ezekiel 28, 13, we read it just a moment ago. He says, Thou hast been in Eden. This is the Holy Spirit speaking through Ezekiel about Satan himself and said, You were in Eden.

And it's in Eden that Satan succeeded in drawing the creation of God, Adam and Eve, into his complaint. Adam and Eve were there as the angels had been. They were living in the presence of God. Everything was in divine order.

They were co-laborers, as it is with God. He was bringing creatures that he created to them. They were naming them. And they were tending the garden, as it is. And Satan came with his complaint. Remember, we're talking about a complaint.

And my spirit was overwhelmed. And he came and he brought a complaint to Eve and ultimately to Adam and said, Listen. You see, God has given you less than you're entitled to. You see, you only have the knowledge of good.

But there's much greater knowledge than this. There's a knowledge of good and a knowledge of evil. You see, God's only given you half. His order is wrong. You deserve more than he's given you. You only know about good.

But he knows about good and evil. You see, all you have to do is step outside of what he has said. And you too can become gods yourselves. You see, that was what was in Satan's heart. He wanted to be God.

He wanted to be worshipped. He had a complaint against God. Now he brings that seed of complaining. He plants that seed into Eve and subsequently into Adam and tells them, Where you are and what God has made you is not good enough.

God has withheld from you. And you deserve more than God's given you. And there's so much knowledge outside of the knowledge of good. God knows good and evil. But you only know good. So, if you'll just step outside of what he has said,.

And you'll take matters into your own hands, Your minds are going to be open. And he said in Genesis 3, 5, You're going to become as gods. And you're going to know good and evil just like God does. And think of the benefits of this.

And think of how wise you're going to become. And they bought into the lie. And the lie was a complaint against God. That's what it was. It was a complaint. God hasn't been good to you. He's only given you half of what you deserve.

So, he drew them into his complaint against God. Adam and Eve partook of that which God forbade them to touch. And the knowledge of evil now became part of the fallen nature of man. Now, every man, every woman, every child, every born, Now was born with a fallen nature.

This ability as Satan has to take evil and try to call it good. This knowledge of evil that became part of the fallen nature of man through an open door called complaint. Now, I'm laboring this. It's important to understand this.

How did the devil get in to humanity? He got in through a door called complaint. Remember, the psalmist said, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Go to Psalm 58, please, if you will with me. Now, in Psalm 58, the psalmist, it's David actually in this psalm, and he speaks now about the fallen nature of man.

The Fallen Nature and the Spread of Complaint

You and I are born with a fallen nature. I suppose you know that by now. You're probably aware of it. If you've been in the world any length of time, might be a baby or two in the sanctuary that don't know it yet, but they are born with a fallen nature as well.

And the fallen nature got in through the seed of complaint. It's important that I labor this point. Now, in Psalm 58, David says, verse 3, The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

Did you touch that? No. Did you break that? No. As soon as they can, they will lie. You dress them all up and curl their hair and put them in a frilly dress, put nice little green shoes on them or whatever, but they'll still lie to you because it's in the nature.

It's in the fallen nature of every man. Now, the lies get bigger as the people get bigger and they get sneakier because the human heart is very skilled at putting a tuxedo on its lies. But from the womb, David says, they be born speaking lies.

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. They are like the deaf adder that stops the ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Now, this is the fallen nature of man.

As men grow, but without the knowledge of God, their mouths become poisoned like the seed of the serpent that is in them. And the poison is spread from person to person by the bite of complaint against God.

I hope you can see this. I hope you can understand this. And they eventually become so deaf, they're like the deaf snake that has no ears. That's what he's saying. They're so given to devouring the heritage of God.

They're so given to complaining against God and against anything of God and against anything that represents God that they can't hear anymore. I've met people like that in the church of Jesus Christ who sit and sing the songs with us, but they can't hear anymore.

You can't reach them. You can't get through to them. They're like a deaf adder. They're like a deaf snake, David says. They just go around biting and devouring and complaining. And you try to speak to them, and you can't get through to them.

They won't hear you, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers. In other words, God says, I send a word of truth that can bring them calm. They have a troubled spirit, and I send a word that can bring them to calm, but they will not hear, no matter how cunning the preacher might be or the soother or somebody I send to speak to them.

They might have an incredible ability of craftsmanship, of taking the word of God and making it simple, but they're so hardened in their complaint against God that they can't hear, and their troubled nature can never be brought to rest.

Adonijah's Ambition and the Danger of Following Complainers

Go back in your Bibles, please. I want to show you an example of this very quickly, to 1 Kings 1. And in this chapter, we find one of the sons of David. His name was Adonijah, or Adonijah, however you prefer to pronounce it.

And now you're going to see in this story the seed. I've been following a trend of thought here. Satan complains against God's order. He draws a third of the angels with him. They're cast down to the earth.

They have great wrath because he knows his time is short. He engages in war against the creation of God that is you and I, and the only way that he can destroy the creation of God is he has to plant a seed of, especially those that have the knowledge of God, he has to plant a seed of complaint, which is the seed of the serpent, in your heart, and nurture it and water it and keep you blind to what it really is that is animating you.

And we see this repeating itself all through biblical history. This is only one story, but I want you to see the pattern. The pattern doesn't change. It was set in heaven. You see it in Ezekiel. You're going to see it again in 1 Kings.

Then Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself. 1 Kings 1, verse 5. Think of Satan now. The son of Adonijah, the son of Haggath, exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Does it sound familiar? I'm not content to be the king's son.

That's a wonderful place to be. Many here, I hope you'd be content. I hope you are content being the king's son. But he prepared him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, why is that done so?

And verse 7 says he conferred with Joab, the son of Zariah, and Abiathar, the priest. And they, following Adonijah, helped him. So the very first thing that a complainer must do is find people with a like spirit.

Joab had a complaint against David because David at one time had replaced him with another man who he murdered to keep his position. And Joab had an issue against King David. And Abiathar was at the house of Eli and knew that God Almighty had cursed his own priesthood.

And Abiathar had issues against David. And so this man who exalts himself and says, I'm not content to be where I am, starts looking around for people that have an open heart to a complaint. And think about it.

Remember Absalom. Oh, if I were only king, I'm telling you there'd be justice around this place. Everybody's question would be answered. Hogwash. The day he got to be king, nobody would get within 500 feet of his door.

He conferred with Joab and Abiathar, the priest, and they followed Adonijah and they helped him. And now, but here's where it gets interesting. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Reah, and the mighty men which belonged to David were not with Adonijah.

Thank God for mighty men and women in the body of Christ. Thank God for those who say, no, I'm staying where divine order is. I'm not losing my might following this man who thinks he wants to be king.

No, God has an order. If he's to be king, God will make him king. He doesn't have to tell me. God will tell me. I will know. I'm not going with it. I'm not going there. Folks, don't ever go with a complainer.

Don't ever follow a self-exalter. Don't do it. And now you see this whole crew except for the true prophets, the true priesthood, and the mighty men of God. The discontent, in a sense, who are not given to turning to God.

And in verse 9 it says,. And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen. You see him. He's going to an altar now and he's making a big spiritual production about the fact that he's going to be the king. And fat cattle by the stone of Zohelith.

And that's really significant because the word Zohelith in Hebrew means serpent. It means actually slippery serpent. And so he goes to the serpent stone and he begins to offer sacrifice there. The seed of Satan is in him.

The seed of Satan is in everybody who's following him. You see the whole scenario that happened in Ezekiel all again repeating itself throughout history. And verse 10 says,. But Nathan the prophet and Benaiah and the mighty man and Solomon his brother he called not.

He calls everyone except those who remain under the authority of God. Oh folks, I don't care. Well, I really don't want to care what men say. But I'm telling you, I want to stay under the authority of God.

There's safety under the authority of God. Hallelujah. It's so important to know your place in the body and stay there. And know that you have a great reward in heaven. Even if all you're called to do is give a cup of water to a thirsty soul.

If that's what God has called you to do, you're going to real cities. If you'll just stay there and be faithful to God. You look at the history now. Joab is slain at the altar. He grabs hold and can't find mercy anymore.

He stopped his ears to the voice of God. And subsequently he's slain right at the altar. Abiathar, after Solomon becomes king, is banished from the priesthood. He's put forth, the scripture says, as a polluted man out of the priesthood.

And Adonijah is slain by his own ambition. Even under Solomon, where he's found mercy, he still cannot stop his quest for power and authority. And ultimately oversteps his boundary to the point that it costs him his own life.

And he's slain under the reign of King Solomon. Now go ahead again with me to Psalm 58, where we were just a moment ago. And I'm going to show you there's a reward for those who choose righteousness. Those who won't go the way of complaint.

The Reward of the Righteous

There's a reward. Now, in Psalm 58, remember, David started by saying the wicked go astray when they be born. In verse 4, they have poison in their mouths. They have ears that are shut. Verse 5, they will not hearken to the voice of charmers charming ever so wisely.

There are people even in this church today, I mean, I hope not, but certainly possible. You're not going to be able to hear me. I'm standing here, I believe the anointing of God is on me and on this word.

But you're given to complain, it's so deep, there's such a harvest now, you're probably not able to hear me. David says, break their teeth, oh God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, oh Lord.

I remember one time there was a man in Canada that started criticizing me. He was another minister and he started criticizing me everywhere and inventing rumors. And I met him on the street one day and he had no teeth.

And he was trying to talk and you could hardly make out what he was saying. And when I finally could understand what he was saying, his dog had gotten, he had false teeth, and his dog had gotten in the glass and taken him out and chewed up his teeth.

And I remember thinking of this verse, break their teeth, oh God, in their mouth. That man stopped complaining about me. You know, he just stopped complaining. And if he was, nobody could understand what he was saying.

Let them melt away as waters which run continually. When he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. It's so graphic. David is saying, when he bends his bow to shoot the righteous, when he lets it go, let his arrow break in two and not even get ten feet after he lets the string go.

He says, as a snail it melts, let every one of them pass away. Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath.

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Verily, he is a God that judges in the earth.

Now folks, there is a reward for the righteous. For those who choose to walk God's way. For those who say, like Paul, I have learned whatever state I'm in therewith to be content. I've learned to have all things and to have nothing.

I've learned, I've learned God, you've taught me, my ears have been opened. You've sown peace in my heart. There's a reward for me. Now you ask me the question, well, what is the reward? Go ahead, quickly please, to Psalm 142.

Pouring Out Complaints to God

And we're going to talk about what this reward is. And you're going to be surprised when you see this. Psalm 142. It's David again. Now he's in a cave. And he's being pursued by religious insanity in his generation.

And he says in Psalm 142, I cried to the Lord with my voice. And with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. Now here's the interesting thing in verse 2. I poured out my complaint before him.

Now just, if you're going to complain, do it in the right place. Do it in the prayer closet. God, I don't understand this. I don't think it's good. I don't like it. I don't think it's fair. But do it to him.

Pour out your complaint in the right place. He doesn't despise the honesty of your heart. I showed before him my trouble. In verse 3, when my spirit was overwhelmed. Remember, the psalmist in Psalm 77 said, I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed.

But here this psalmist, David, says, when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then you knew my path. In other words, God, you knew why I was where I was. And you knew how to get me out. You showed me that everything was in order.

It's not out of order. You are just, not unjust. You are fair, not unfair. I'm not being triumphed over. You are triumphing over an evil reign as it is. That reign had become evil over Israel. And this is all part of the process.

And because he poured out his complaint in the right place. You see, when you pour out your complaint to another complainer, you're just going to get back the voice of the devil speaking into your ears.

But when you pour out your complaint to God, God's going to say, no, you don't understand. Let me just unfold some things to you and show you what's going on here. You're not being triumphed over. The devil is not winning the victory.

And then he says, Then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I have walked have they privately or secretly laid a snare for me. Now, you have to understand, David is in a cave. And at this point, the men who have come to him are in distress.

They're in debt. And they're discontent. And he's in a cave full of complainers. I have no doubt about it. They're all around him. And he says, God, they have laid a snare for me. I believe he's speaking about the men who later on became mighty men of God.

Had he listened to their complaints, he would have followed the pathway of Satan and they would have followed him. They would have murdered Saul. They would have taken by force a throne that God could never bless.

Because it would not be the blood of righteousness that was upon that throne. He said, I looked on my right hand and behold, there was no man that would know me. Think of him in the cave as he's writing this.

Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. He said, I'm surrounded by those who are unconcerned for my good. I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

Attend to my cry. I'm brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors. They're stronger than I am. Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. Now, here's the reward. The righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

This is what God said. David had a promise. And I believe God spoke to him and said, David, there's a reward. If you'll just hold on. If you'll trust me, I'm going to surround you with righteous men, not complainers.

And this will be your reward. Hallelujah. On your left and on your right will be men who are mighty, women who are mighty in God. I will surround you with those whose eyes are open to truth. They have faith.

They will put swords in their hand. They will slay giants. They will take on lions. I will surround you with the righteous. This is the reward of those who do not give in to the seed of Satan in their heart.

They say, God, you are faithful. God, you are good. God, everything you've sent my way is for a purpose. I believe all things work together for good. I am called of God. I love God. Now, let's go back to Psalm 59 again very quickly.