Summary: Exposing two spirits that work against the church… the spirit of Lucifer & the spirit of Jezebel. I credit Dick Bernal for this 2nd part to the Jezebel series.

The Spirits of Lucifer & Jezebel

INTRODUCTION

 Two great weapons we have against the enemy is spirit of discernment & revelation from God

 Therefore we can expose the enemy & destroy his works

 This is not one of those fun sermons to preach but I believe God is calling me to fortify our walls

 I want to expose two spirits that work against the church… the spirit of Lucifer & the spirit of Jezebel

 Theses spirits work in men (Lucifer) and women (Jezebel) to divide and destroy the churches of God

 The point of this teaching is to equip us to identify and deal with these spirits (whether we see them come in or even find them working in our own lives to one degree or another)

 We have been fortunate to have very little of this kind of activity in this church

THE SPIRIT OF LUCIFER

 This spirit typically attaches itself to men

 To understand the spirit of Lucifer, we need to look at it’s origin

 How could such a gifted and trusted associate cause the first church split and take a third of the congregation?

 Lucifer in Hebrew means light bearer or son of the morning

Ezek 28:12-19

…"You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

 Notice his description; Seal of perfection, Wise, Beautiful

 Covering of precious stones

 Gifted for worship on the day he was created

 Who wouldn’t hire this guy?

 He was perfect for the church; wise, good-looking, charming, can administrate, teach, lead worship

14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.

 He had a great anointing and authority

 He had great favor with God

 He had close proximity

15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.

 Again we see that he was created, he didn’t just arrive on the scene under his own power

 He was authority from the Big Pastor Himself (God)

 But pride entered in… this is where this spirit starts

 **ILL** I am reminded of a story told by a pastor who took in a man who didn’t have a home or car of his own

 He did have obvious gifts, talent and zeal

 The pastor created a position for him of staff

 Gave him a good salary and enough up front to buy a car

 Yet pride got to him, like Lucifer he became ungrateful and bored with his role

 This pastor asked. “why is that the ones you love and give to the most are the one who turn the quickest?”

16 "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.

17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.

18 "You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you. 19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever." ’ "

 After pride entered and iniquity was found in Lucifer we see the “abundance of his trading” (trafficking)

 Vs. 16 Violence, Profanity & Destruction

 Vs. 17 Pride & Corruption

 Vs. 18 Defilement & Multitude of Sin

 Vs 19 Eternal Horrors

What Happened?

 Lucifer’s fall was caused from his dissatisfaction with his anointing and calling on his life

 He was dissastisfied with his role

 He wanted more than his portion

 Was he jealous of man?

 What was man going to do that he couldn’t do?

 His ego was hurt because someone else was going to be close to the “Big Pastor?”

 Lucifer perceived injury - based on assumption or opinion, not fact

 **ILL** Dick Bernal was walking through the church with a guest minister and a woman in the church said hi

 The pastor didn’t hear her

 Satan began whispering, he doesn’t care a/ you

 She ended up backsliding for 6 months until God finally spoke in a dream :”he didn’t hear you”

 She went back and was restored to her church

 The spirit of Lucifer has three characteristics:

 Proximity (close top and has some authority)

 Pride (I am very important, they need me)

 Perceived Injury (How could they do that to me)

THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL

 Jezebel means “Where is Baal?”

 This spirit usually operates in women who push themselves off as “prophetic”

 They feel they have deep revelation, deeper than the other leaders, deeper than the pastor, …than God

 Jesus calls this self-proclaimed insight “the depths of Satan” – Rev 2:24

 This is a seeking spirit, always seeking something new, something better

 The Jezebel spirit will use manipulation, control, witchcraft (soulish prayers), religion, gossip, false prophecies

 This spirit will lie, will seem overly concerned about the leadership in the church, hates male authority, is extremely nosy, bears false witness and love power

 Will pray for the leadership and especially the pastor

 But condescending prayers…”Lord please show our little pastor the deep things you are showing us…”

 She puts herself above the authority God has established

 If she is married, she wears the pants

 She will us legitimate means to get what she wants

 prayer, scripture, giving help – but her motives wrong

2 Kings 9

 We talked about Elijah, who after doing great miracles was driven out by Jezebel

 Jezebel wants to destroy true doctrine, godly authority & replace it with false prophecy & doctrine

 In the meantime Ahab, who represent the church, had drifted farther from God than any other King of Israel under the prompting of his wife Jezebel (1 Kings 16)

 God was very angry and called Elijah’s trainee, Elisha to put thing in order

2 Kings 9:1-10

9:1 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead.

 God had enough of this deceptive, controlling spirit on His people, He raised up Elisha to take her out

2 Now when you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his associates, and take him to an inner room. 3 Then take the flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I have anointed you king over Israel.” ‘ Then open the door and flee, and do not delay.”

 Elisha commands his servant to anoint Jehu as King

 God has had it with Ahab

 He instruct his servant to anoint him and run

4 So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. 5 And when he arrived, there were the captains of the army sitting; and he said, “I have a message for you, Commander.” Jehu said, “For which one of us?” And he said, “For you, Commander.” 6 Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. 7 You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 8 For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both bond and free. 9 So I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. 10 The dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.’ “ And he opened the door and fled.

 Jehu receives this mantle and mounts up to do some house cleaning

2 Kings 9:22-25

22 Now it happened, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” So he answered, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?” 23 Then Joram turned around and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” 24 Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot.

 Here is the unfortunate thing, Jezebel’s children (spiritually speaking) usually go down with her

 Unless they repent and get detached from that person

2 Kings 9:30-37

30 Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window. 31 Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?” 32 And he looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33 Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. 34 And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” 35 So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. 36 Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; 37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “Here lies Jezebel.”

 Even when she is being called out, she tries to use her wily ways to gain control

 She pulls out her makeup kit and flattering words (nothing doing)

 She starts making threats (no dice)

 What is left for the queen of problems? – Dog Food

 God will not endure this spirit long

 Jesus said, Rev 2:21… I gave her time to repent…

Let’s look the characteristics of this spirit:

 According to Dick Bernal, who I credit for much of this study, another term for Jezebel is “Charismatic Witchcraft”

 She often comes from a dysfunctional family,

 She is very religious

 She is clever and manipulative

 She wants power and authority with no accountability

 She goes after leaders

 She tries to pull people away from their God ordained covering

 She love titles

 She uses flattery, sex, witchcraft, lies to gain control

 She sows confusion with letters and telephone calls

 She is hot tempered

 She is quick to judge and advise

 And she hides well in prophetic and faith circles

 Often the spirit of

CONCLUSION:

 The best weapons against these two spirits is discernment

 We must guard ourselves from deception

 Jesus was upset with the church in Thyatira, In Rev. 2:20 He said, “… I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants…”

 Jesus was unhappy that the church allowed it

 First we must guard ourselves

 Second we must examine ourselves

 If we see hints of one those spirits operating in our lives, then we need to repent

 Don’t make God raise up a Jehu to take you out

Pride & Refusal to submit to godly authority – guard your hearts!