Delivered by a Cry — David Wilkerson

Delivered by a Cry — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends.

The Book of Judges and the Theme of Deliverance

A message this morning delivered by a cry, delivered by a cry. I would like you to open Judges and just keep Judges open, the book of Judges, keep it open on your lap. Book of Judges, just open it to the first chapter and just leave it there because we're going to go through the first 10, 11 chapters.

Don't let that scare you. We're going to go through a lot of scripture. You had best have your Bible this morning. Heavenly Father, we're talking about deliverance from the power of sin again. Lord, I thank you for the glory of God in the scripture.

I thank you for the power of the word that sets men free. Now, Father, I ask for a sanctification of your spirit, of my spirit. I ask you, Lord, that every word I speak be as an oracle of God and not of man.

Let the spirit of the Lord be upon me. Let the glory of God be upon me and let the word come and find its place. Holy Ghost, come, anoint your word, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We have a wonderful staff nursery through Exit 7.

And if you need to have, if your baby cries, you can take it right through here. And ushers, will you make sure that they know how to get there? We appreciate it. And then you come back and enjoy the service.

God's Compassion for the Cry of His Children

Amen. Delivered by a cry. Now, if you know anything about the heart of God, he cannot turn down the cry of one of his children. Even those who are in disobedience, God is deeply moved, deeply touched by the cry of any of his hurting children.

Just as any true earthly father or mother has to be moved when they hear the cry of one of their children and do something about it. No godly true parent would stand by and neglect or ignore the cry of one of their hurting children.

And I am absolutely amazed of late in my study in prayer, in times spent with the Lord, I am so amazed at the patience and the love of God for disobedient children. Those who are burdened with sin and those who are troubled with idolatry.

Time after time in this book, all through the study of Israel, you will discover, as we will in the book of Judges today, God's people keep rejecting him. They keep falling into idolatry. They keep ignoring him.

They sin against him. They fall into gross iniquity and then they cry unto the Lord and God is moved again and again and again. In fact, it's so repetitious, it's amazing. For example, no sooner is Joshua in the grave, God has blessed and up to this time, the people follow in the steps of Moses and Joshua and follow the Lord.

But as soon as Joshua dies, look at Judges 2, 13, if you will, please. Judges 2, verses 13 and beginning to read, see, this great man of God is now dead. He's gone to be with the Lord. And verse 13, it says, they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Astaroth.

The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he delivered them into their hands as spoilers that spoiled them. He sold them into hands of their enemies roundabout so they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Whether or soever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord had said, as the Lord has sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed. The Bible says that God would send judges and they rejected it.

The Bible says it repented the Lord because of the groanings by reason of their oppression. Now follow me, please. They would not hearken to the judges, but they went, verse 17, but they went o 'ering after their gods.

Now look at me, please. They sin against the Lord and God allows the enemy to oppress them. Terrible misery comes, trouble on every side. The Bible said the wages of sin is death. And there's a living death, a living hell.

And sin brings this upon us. We're talking about God's people here. We're not talking about heathen. We're talking about those were called by his name. Those were born up in his very arms. They sin against the Lord.

They fall into despair. They fall into misery. And then they cry unto the Lord and God hears their cry. Look at verse 18 now. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.

For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. Now, a groaning is a deep, piercing cry in the heart that is so deep, so overwhelming that it can't even be uttered.

There's a groaning inside that is caused by the misery of sin and rebellion. And these people have it in verse 19, and it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers and following other gods to serve them and bow down unto them.

They ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Now, listen very, very closely because there's something that God's going to show us this morning about his heart. I see the heart of God in the first 10 chapters of Judges as I have not seen it in a long, long time, or perhaps ever in my ministry.

Israel's Repeated Apostasy and Deliverance Under Othniel

I want you to follow me now through the book of Judges. I want to begin with chapter 3. I want you to go to verse 6, and we start reading at verse 6. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and they gave their daughters to their sons and served their gods.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of God and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam and the groves. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies.

I won't go through all the rest, verse 9. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up and delivered to the children of Israel who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Caleb's younger brother.

Please note, God said he was angry. God was upset with these people, his own people, and he allowed the enemy to oppress them. And now, look what it says. And when the children of Israel, verse 9, cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up and delivered to the children of Israel.

You don't find God railing against them. You don't find him preaching judgment at them because God only preaches wrath and judgment against those in their despair who turn against him, those who harden their heart, those who reject his call, completely turn away from him.

But God has never railed, he does not send a wrath message or judgment against those of his children who are suffering, even because of their own disobedience. Their disobedience brought the enemy. And every time you disobey God, the enemies come at you.

Trouble comes on all sides. You'll find it out, misery on all sides. But in the midst of the misery, they cried out, and the Lord heard them and he delivered them. Now, they go into a time of peace, verse 9 to 11.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel, verse 10, and went to war and the Lord delivered them. And the land had rest for 40 years. Now, look at me, please. Forty years, because they cried out to God, God answered and he gave them peace and he blessed them.

It's a wonderful thing to be able to call on the name of the Lord and God come and deliver you from your sin. And then following that inevitably is the rest and the peace of the Holy Ghost. And you see it here because what we are reading now, according to the Apostle Paul, these are examples unto us upon whom the ends of the world have come.

Deliverance from Besetting Sin Through Faith and the Holy Ghost

Now, folks, this is a teaching this morning, and I'm not going to shout at you, but if you are struggling this morning with the besetting sin, if through your own disobedience, you have brought misery and you brought the enemy upon yourself, I want to show you your way out.

That's what this is all about this morning. The land had rest for 40 years. Look at verse 12, and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

He gathered unto them the children of Ammon and Amalek and went and smote Israel and beset the city of the palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. Look at me, please.

Here they go again. Here's another generation who doesn't know how victory came. They don't understand the ways of the Lord. They turn again into idolatry. Their own sin, their own disobedience once again brings the enemy down.

And for 18 years now, these people are in misery, absolute misery. They're hiding in caves. The joy is gone. The children aren't playing in the streets anymore. Nothing but slavery. Again, the wages of sin, the slavery, the absolute bondage of sin.

But what happens? Verse 15 again. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, what did he do? The Lord raised up a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerah, Benjamite, a man left-handed. And once again, God undertakes for the children of Israel.

Verse 15. Judges, we just read from 3 to 12. I want you to go to verse 15 for just a moment there. The children of Israel cried unto the Lord. The Lord raised them up a deliverer. Look at me, please. This is about deliverance.

I've been preaching a lot about deliverance lately, from the power of sin. I heard someone say that songwriters usually write out of their own despair, or their songs reflect their inner battles, especially country-western songwriters, you know, about booze and women and heartbreak and loneliness and emptiness.

That may or may not be true. But there may be some of you say, well, pastor, you've been preaching so much about freedom from the dominion of sin. Is this a reflection of some inner battle in you? And I can assure you it's not.

But I do want to be able to say with Paul the apostle that my life is a workshop, a Holy Ghost workshop, that I'm a pattern. And I want to experience every kind of freedom that God gives and has promised His people.

And that's why from this pulpit in the past two years especially, I have preached about the high priest of Jesus Christ, how we have a mediator, and how he delivers from the power of sin, how he justifies.

I preach sanctification. I preach mortification. I have been studying the covenant. And basically, it's because there are so many people that are still in the church of Jesus Christ, and in this church included, that are not living in victory.

They don't have the power over their sin. I mentioned this Friday night, a young man hands me a note. He says, I've been saved for 14 years. 14 years I've been serving the Lord. But I've never once been free from homosexuality.

I've lived under this cloud. I've felt sometimes like taking my life. I've had no victory. I've had no joy. Here's a young man who's been sitting here in our midst for a number of years, praising the Lord, worshiping God, and living with this secret, living with this bondage, this slavery to sin.

When I spoke Friday night about the victory there is through the covenant, a dear sister came to me, and she said, Brother Wilkinson, I believe God saved my life tonight, or words of this effect. She said, I've been so grieved by not being able to lick the cigarette habit.

I felt I did not want to abuse this temple of the Holy Ghost. And I felt so grieved by it. I honestly felt there was no victory for me. And I'd even thought of taking my life. But she said, now I see.

Folks, we have ministers all over the United States, preachers of the gospel that are hooked on pornography, having secret affairs that are sitting in front of television sets, and they can't break away from even soap operas.

Women, Christians, soap operas, hooked on all kinds of filth. We've got Christians who are not living in victory. And that is not pleasing to God, and that's never been God's way. God's way is absolute freedom from the bondage, all bondage of all sin.

And he will come to us with his word. He will continue to come to us until he makes it so simple. Now, I'm telling you, you don't have to be a theologian to understand what I'm going to say today, what we're talking about here.

You don't have to understand. You don't have to be a spiritual intellectual. You don't have to understand, for example, justification. You may not even know what the term means, how through Jesus' blood we are considered holy as Jesus is holy, that his righteousness, his holiness is attributed to us.

And then sanctification, how we pray, God, the way you see us is the way I want it to be worked out in my life. I want to be actually what you see me to be in Christ. Sanctification. And then mortification, how the power of the Holy Ghost comes into our life.

You may understand all the terms, how the Holy Ghost comes and gives us power. If we will believe what God says, that through the Holy Ghost, all sin can be mortified and killed. Not by our efforts, but by the effort and power of the Holy Ghost and our trust and faith in everything he promised to do in us.

In other words, if you're going to believe Jesus for salvation, you're going to believe him for sanctification. You're going to believe that the Holy Ghost in you that saved you can keep you from the power of sin.

Then we talk about the new covenant, the promise of God, absolute promise. You may not understand these terms, but you do know how to cry. Anybody can cry, any child can cry. And I want to prove to you conclusively, absolutely, that if you don't understand anything else, in the middle of your bondage, in the middle of your despair, no more promises, no more human effort in your strength and your own power that just destroys you and causes you to sweat and brings despair after despair.

Sin confess, sin confess and never get off the merry-go-round. No, no, no, no. In your despair, the Lord is saying here in the Old Testament, you have the pattern. You have a picture of a people who are bound by their own disobedience, by their own sins.

And the Lord says, I'm not coming to you to rebuke you. I'm not coming to add to your sorrow. He said, I've seen the groaning of your heart. I've seen that cry in you. I've seen you in the middle of the night when you cry and so, God, will I ever be free?

I've bottled every tear you shed over your sin. And because you've reached out and because you're hurting and you're grieving, if you will cry out to me with all of your heart, I'll send you a deliverer.

I'll deliver you from your sin. Let's go deeper into it now. Ready to go further? Go to Judges 4. Now, this new deliverer is blessed by God. They're going to 80 years. Imagine 80 years of peace and rest, 80 wonderful years of blessing from God, peace and rest.

God did that because they had cried out to him. But here we go again. Verse 1, chapter 4. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan.

All right, look at me, please. You would think God's patience began to wear pretty thin by now. He said, you sinned and you cried and I delivered you. You sinned again and you cried and I delivered. Now here you come again.

This is the fourth time in three chapters here. So, here again, the sin and the misery, the slavery, the bondage. They have just come through. Here's 20 more years, 20 years now. 20 years of additional slavery, new slavery, a new generation.

But then in their misery and in their pain and in their sorrow. Verse 3. Read it with me in King James. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord for he had 900 shards of iron. In 20 years, he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

Deborah and God's Subduing of Jabin

Now, what does God do? He finds a woman this time, Deborah the prophetess. And oh, what a mighty deliverance came by the hand of God. Look at, if you will, verse 23 and 24. So, God subdued on that day.

They go into battle. God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan. They had, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Look at me please. An absolute deliverance. Total deliverance. Folks, that is God's desire for you and me. Total deliverance from all bondage of sin. Folks, there's nothing more glorious on the face of this earth than to know Jesus and to be free.

Absolutely free from all bondage to sin. If the cross hasn't supplied that, if the cross doesn't make that possible, then it's in vain. But no sooner, Deborah then goes into a wonderful time of dancing and praising the Lord.

And God sends peace again. They have a wonderful time in the Lord. But I want you to go with me to the fifth chapter now. Read chapter 5, verse 31. Just follow me. Don't read aloud, but follow me. And this is still, Deborah's still singing her song.

So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord. But let them that love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. Folks, look at me please. What do you get when you cry out to God and he delivers?

You get rest. You get peace. You get blessing. That fight is gone. You get to sleep at night. You get to look a prophet in the eye without trembling. You can sit in the house of God and hear any message and rejoice in it and say, God, open me up.

I have nothing to hide. I'm an open book. The books are opened. And when God deals with it, there's peace. There's rest. Are you sitting in this church this morning with rest and absolute peace? You at peace?

Let me tell you something. This is not a message of condemnation. God's not going to put a guilt trip on you this morning. He's trying to show you his love and compassion to you no matter what you're going through.

Repeated Sin, Midianite Oppression, and Gideon's Call

Read chapter six, verse one. And the children of Israel did. Here we go again. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

I'll tell you what. This was seven years of incredible distress. They were hiding in the caves. The Midianites would come and invade their harvest and left them nothing. There was no sustenance. There was no peace.

They were living under this burden. They became poverty stricken. And that's what sin will do to you. That's what that's what a habit will do. This is what that secret sin in your life will do. It will cause you to hide because you're afraid of exposure.

It will cause spiritual poverty such as you've never known before. It's going to put you in the same position these children of God were in because of their idolatry and sin. There was no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor oxen nor goat.

Verse four. Verse six. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel. Verse six. The children of Israel. What did they do? Verse six. Cried unto the Lord. And it came to pass that the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites.

That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel who had said unto them. Now, listen, this is something a little different now. God doesn't send a deliverer right away. He comes to them with a prophet.

And I want you to read verse eight. And the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel which said unto them. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you forth out of the house of bondage.

I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. And out of the hand of all that oppressed you. And draved them out from before you and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God.

Fear not the gods of Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice. Now, it sounds to me like God is. His patience is waning thin. God said, wait a minute. But look at the next verse.

Verse 11. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak. Which is an opera. Pretending a de joas. The son of Gideon threshed wheat by the wind pressed to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him.

The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Now, look at me, please. Look at the heart of God. Here's a prophet standing right before them. Over here, there's a prophet. He's gathered Israel and he said.

Now, look. God has delivered you and delivered you. And you have disobeyed God. At the same moment. That prophet is prophesying against their sin. Another angel is stirring up a prophet to deliver them.

Incredible. God has saved this man, almighty man. And God says, I'm going to send you to deliver my people. I looked at that and looked at it all this past. Especially yesterday. And I said, God, I can't believe your patience.

I can't believe that you would come and do this for this people. Children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites. Not only does it send a prophet, but he sends a deliverer. Hallelujah.

Israel's Apostasy After Gideon

Now, this was one of the greatest deliverance in Israel's history. Forty years under Gideon, there was peace, there was blessing, there was prosperity. Go to Judges 8. Verse 33. Here we go again. And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again and went a-whoring after Balaam.

Children of Israel, verse 34. Remember not the Lord, their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side. Oh, my friends, my friends. Now, they go into great, great darkness.

Idolatry. Go to chapter 10, if you will, with me, please. Chapter 10. This is still speaking of this dark time after Gideon died. Verse 6, chapter 10. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Balaam and Astaroth, the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zion, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines.

And forsook the Lord and served Him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon. Folks, it appears to me God's God is in school.

Do you ever know what they do? I remember when I tried, when I was, I still remember when I was taught to write, when I was just in grade school. And we'd get this sheet of paper, and we would make circles.

I mean, circle after circle after, the whole page. And then we'd do that, turn it over, circles. And then lines, straight lines. Trying to stay within the lines. Page after page after, I don't know how you learned it, but that's how the old-fashioned school I went to.

Repeating, repeating, repeating. And it seems like God wants to get this lesson to us so badly that He keeps repeating it over and over and over until we get it. Amazing. All right, skip down with me now to verse 15.

Verse 12. The Zidonians and the Malachites and the Mahonets did oppress you, and you cried. Let's start verse 10. Verse 10. Chapter 10, verse 10. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, we've sinned against you.

Same pattern, isn't it? We've sinned against you, both because we have, because we have sinned, we have forsaken our God and have served Balaam. All right, now listen to this. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, from the Amorites, from the Ammon, from the Philistines?

Didn't I deliver you when you cried again about the Zidonians? You cried again, and I delivered you from the Malachites. You cried again, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods, wherefore I will deliver you no more.

Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. Now, you say, aha, God, God has had it. No more. God's angry. He said, no, I have delivered you time and time again.

Now you go to your idols. You go to your gods and you go your way now.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

God's Grief and the Deliverance Through Jephthah

Verse 15, the children of Israel said to the Lord, we have sinned. Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee? Deliver us, only we pray thee this day. And they put away their strange gods from among them and serve the Lord.

Now, listen to this. And his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. God has just said enough. No more. People start crying, weeping, repenting, turning away their idols. And they're in such misery.

And God looks on the misery of a disobedient people. You know what he says? What the Scripture says, his soul was grieved. And in the Hebrew, it was broken in pieces. He looked on the misery of his people and he's broken.

He says, I can't handle it. I cannot endure the cry of a hurting child. And, oh, when you read on in this, it's absolutely amazing what God does for the children of Israel. He raises up another deliverer.

There is a great deliverance. God moves once again mightily. His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. I want you to know that the battle you're going through with sin, when he looks upon all of the hurt and the pain and the suffering, I believe my God has not changed.

He never changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he grieves with you. I don't care if it's gambling. I don't care if it's sex, drugs, lust. I don't care what it may be. When you hate your sin and when you, in your misery, it brings such misery and pain to your life.

And when you just begin to cry out, God hears that cry. He's moved by your pain, by your misery, deeply moved by it. How can you not be amazed? Look at chapter, Judges 11th chapter. 11th chapter, verses 32 and 33.

This is right after God said, I won't deliver you anymore. Verse 32. So Jephthah, that's the man he raised up in spite of it. After he saw the grief and it wounded his heart, Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them.

And the Lord delivered them into his hands. He smote them from Erewha, even till they come to Minoth, even 20 cities into the plains of the vineyards with a very great slaughter. Thus, the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

God subdued their enemy. God delivered once again. Folks, I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. How many get the picture now? Wave your hand at me if you're getting the picture. Would you go to Nehemiah, please?

Nehemiah's Recitation of God's Mercies

Go to the right to Nehemiah. If you get to Job, turn left. It's for new conferences between Ezra and Esther. Nehemiah, the 9th chapter. Begin to read verse 24. Are you there? We'll wait for a few. Let me start reading.

Verse 24, chapter 9 of Nehemiah. So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduest before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them unto their hands with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

They took strong cities and a fat land. They possessed houses full of all goods, wells, digs, vineyards, olive yards, fruit trees in abundance. So they did eat and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

That means here's a saved, sanctified, spirit-filled people. God bless their heart, enjoying the goodness of God and his blessings. Verse 26, nevertheless, they were disobedient, rebelled against thee, cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets, which testified against them to turn them to thee.

They wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliverest them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them, and in their time of trouble, when they, what, cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee. Therefore thou leftest them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they returned and cried unto thee, thou hurtest them from heaven, and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies.

Oh, my precious Father, the mercy of God. The mercy of God. Lately, when I've been in prayer, God's been breaking my heart, especially the past two or three months, breaking my heart over his pastors and showing me how much he loves his ministers.

Listen to me, please. There was a time as a young evangelist, with a great prophetic hunger in my heart, urge to see righteousness and holiness, I would stand before ministers and I would really be so very, very hard.

I loved them, but I didn't know the heart of God like he's been shown to me of later years. I don't think, again, I ever want to stand before ministers and talk about many of them living in bondage, and yet so wanting the Lord.

And I want you to know, no matter how disobedient his servants are, his pastors, his shepherds, his evangelists, God still loves them. He loves them with an abiding love. And God's been breaking my heart over both the ministers, filling my heart with love.

Evidently, someday soon, I will be able to go out a few times and minister to ministers, but he's been giving me a great love where I weep for them with such compassion and love. And first of all, that comes from looking at my own self and the mercy and the tenderness of God toward me and all my battles and struggles.

And how can you but preach that to others? And then he's been breaking my heart for his church, weeping over the church of Jesus Christ, because the reason they're running all over the nation and around the world, they hear a movement here and a movement there, they just, they ran.

One woman turned to a pastor, her pastor, and she said, I went there because, you see, I love what's happening here, but I'm so hungry for a touch from God. And people are so hungry, they're so empty, they're so dry, they're running everywhere looking for something.

But folks, what good is it to go to a meeting anywhere on the face of this earth and get your heart stirred, be convicted of sin, and fall on your face or fall over, and thank God for that. But if you're going to fall down, if you don't have the truth in you that shows you the way to victory over your sin, you're going to have victory for two or three weeks, maybe two or three months, then you're going to go right back into the same old pit of despair, sin and confessing, and not have the victory of the new covenant.

And until there is truth, there has to be the truth, and God is trying to instill his truth into us now. You don't have to go somewhere to have hands laid on you to be delivered from your sins. You go into the secret closet and say, Oh God, I am hooked, I am hurting, and I know you feel my pain, you hear my groaning at the night, you know I want to be free.

I cry out to you, oh God, deliver me from my sins. That's why I bring this message. The Lord is deeply grieved and hurt. Yes, sin grieves his heart, God can't look at sin, but he grieves more of what it does to you, his child.

When I see one of my children hurting, I'm not interested in how that hurt came, I just want to reach in and see how I can deal with that hurt. Now, to every child of God that's still in bondage to sin, you're still addicted, you're still not free, God has a wonderful word for you now.

God's Knowledge of Affliction and the Promise of a Deliverer

I want you to go to Exodus, the third chapter. Exodus 3, quickly please. Exodus 3. I hope you're not getting tired of turning to the word. This is Moses when he took off his shoes, when he saw the burning bush, and God is calling him to deliver his people.

And now the Lord's explaining why in verse 7. Exodus 3, verse 7. And the Lord said, I've surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters.

And look at this. For I know their sorrows. I know what they're going through. God says to you, listen to me please. To the brother that's been in the battle of homosexuality, and all the shame, and all of the battle, and all the turmoil that goes with it.

God says, I've seen your taskmasters. I've seen the devil trying to enslave you, and beat you, and hurt you. And I know your sorrow. I know all about it. And I'm going to send a deliverer. I'm going to deliver you.

To the woman who didn't think she could quit smoking, and all the pain, and the crying in the middle of the night. Oh God, I don't want to live if I can't live free. I would rather die. I don't want to live like this anymore.

I don't want to live believing that I'm defiling the temple of God. I'd say to you sister, the Lord's seen your taskmaster. And he says, I know all about it. And I feel your sorrow. Balcony, main floor, wherever you are in this building.

The battle that you're going through now. The raging battle in you. I'm telling you, we have a heavenly father. Who feels the pain. And more than anything else, he wants you to be delivered. He wants you to be free.