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. Living
Hope Fellowship Church...Sermons
by the Pastor
IN
THE PIT
by
Danny Beggs, Associate Pastor (06/09/04)
If the devil had his way we would all stay in the “pit of
despair” till he took us to the pit of hell! We have all
been in there at one time or another and for various
reasons. It is not always because God is punishing us. He
may have allowed you to be placed in a pit by the devil just
to test you, or it may be due to your own actions.
Many furnaces in Daniel’s day were made similar to
a pit. The three Hebrew children were placed in one that was
heated seven times hotter than normal, but they would not
bow their knees to Baal! God delivered them!
Sometimes you go through things that are not your
fault. It is a trying of your faith. When you have
overcome, you will receive a crown of life.
The devil will lie to you. He condemns you until
you believe that you have lost your salvation. Therefore
you lose your joy.
Maybe you have placed yourself in that pit,
because of something that you have done. Proverbs 28:10
says, “Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil
way, he shall fall himself into his own pit. . . .”
Ecclesiastes 10:8 says, “He that diggeth a pit
shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent
shall bite him.” If you tear down somebody’s hedge, they
may get bit, but you will get bit also!
In the pit of despair you can get to the point
where you don’t care anymore. You don’t have the desire to
pray for anybody, come to church, read the Bible, or just to
go on. Some are so used to living in the pit that they
don’t realize where they are!
In Chapter 37 of Genesis it tells how Joseph’s
brothers put him in a pit and then sold him into slavery
because of jealousy. Later he ended up in a prison
(dungeon- see Genesis 40:15), because Potiphar’s wife lied
on him. That was twice Joseph had been put “in the pit” for
doing nothing wrong. Later his brothers ended up in the
“pit of despair”. They were starving, but God provided for
them through Joseph, whom God had exalted to be the man
right next to Pharaoh!
Jeremiah prophesied to Zedekiah, and he was put
into a pit of miry clay for doing nothing but telling the
truth!
Some are in a pit because they are in sin. Some
are in a pit because they are trying to live for Jesus. The
devil hates you and will do everything in his power to bring
you down (see John 10:10).
When the Persians and the Medes made a decree, it
couldn’t be changed! Daniel was so honest that the people
around him just couldn’t stand it. They were angry and
tried to find fault with Daniel. They finally accused him
concerning his God. They made up a decree that nobody was
to ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days, except
for the king, or else they would be cast into the lion’s
den. The king unwittingly signed it.
Daniel knew the devil was after him, but he
continued to pray three times a day. They cast Daniel into
the den of lions. The next morning the king went to the den
and with a lamentable voice asked Daniel, “. . . O Daniel,
servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest
continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?” Daniel
6:22 gives his reply: “My God hath sent his angel, and hath
shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me:
forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also
before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.”
Man can guide you and pray for you, but ultimately
you have to believe God before you can get out of that pit.
God is a deliverer! Most of us have no trouble believing
that God CAN heal and deliver, but we have trouble believing
that He WILL do it for us!
Daniel stayed in the pit overnight! Some are
wondering why they are in the pit so long. However, God was
glorified when Daniel was lifted up out of the pit - the
king praised Daniel’s God!
The pit doesn’t seem fair, does it? I told God it
wasn’t fair when the doctors told my wife that she had
breast cancer. I was so angry with God, but Alcey said God
told her that He was bringing her through it, not putting
her through it.
Peter was put in prison for preaching the gospel;
Peter healed the sick, cast out devils, and raised the
dead. He committed no crime.
Jesus was condemned. He was beaten and scourged,
mocked and spit upon, and crucified. Jesus died and was put
in a tomb. His body was wrapped in a hundred pounds of
spices, and then they closed the tomb with a huge stone.
The chief priests and Pharisees came and asked Pilate to
set a seal on the tomb, and to set a watch there, because
they thought the disciples would steal Jesus’ body. Nothing
stopped our Savior from resurrecting in three days! The
power of God raised Him.
We don’t have to stay in the pit. We can have
life and have it more abundantly through Jesus Christ. The
pits of hell couldn’t hold Jesus. In Revelation 1:18 Jesus
said, “. . . I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the
keys of hell and of death.”
If you are in the pit because you sinned, God is
admonishing you, but all you have to do is repent and get
your sin under the blood of Jesus. We are a blessed people
with the promise of eternal life!
There are times that nobody will help you but
God. You may be in the pit all alone like Daniel, or
Jeremiah, or Joseph, but God brought them through. It is
God who will bring you through!
Psalm 84:11 says, “For the LORD God is a sun and
shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing
will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Don’t go
to the final pit with Satan. Get out of the pit of despair
and get victory in Jesus!
©
Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.
E-mail
livinghope@hughes.net
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