A Horned Snake in the Path

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. We're having church down here at Times Square, Mark Hellinger Theater, we're having church, praise God, every service, hallelujah, amen, amen. Tonight I want to talk to you about a horned snake in the path, a horned snake in the path, we've turned to Genesis 49, Genesis 49.

We have an unusual description here of one of the tribes of Israel, tribe of Dan. Genesis 49, I'll call your attention to the chapter here, the first verse, then Jacob summoned his sons and said, assemble yourselves that I may tell you what shall befall you in the days to come. Gather together in here, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father.

And then he addresses himself to Reuben in verse 3, to Simeon and Levi verse 5, verse 8 to Judah, verse 13 to Nebulon, verse 14 to Issachar, verse 20 to Asher, verse 21 to Naphtali, 22 to Joseph, and verse 16 says, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. A horned snake in the path, let us pray.

Lord, you've ministered to us tonight through the music, through song. Lord, what a time that we live in, what an hour that we live in. The enemy knows that his time is short and what he does he must do quickly.

He seeks to gather in his harvest even, Lord, as you are gathering in your harvest. And there is a horned snake on the path, and Lord may we be aware of the wiles of the devil. Put your spotlight, Lord, upon hearts and souls here tonight.

Oh, Lord, reach out, reach out, we pray. Let your word go forth with strength and with power. Draw hearts to you this night.

We thank you, we thank you for the ministry this morning, we thank you for the ministry coming Tuesday night and every service here on Friday night. But Lord, this is the hour, now is the day of salvation, tonight is the day of salvation. Let it be so at this altar, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

Genesis 49, 17, describing Dan as a powerful analogy or picture of a person whose lifestyle is like riding a horse, a person who's, we might say, who is on top of the world, enjoying success or pleasure and a good time, having, we might say, a joy ride. But then suddenly and unexpectedly the joy rider falls off the horse as the horse rears up, and the reason is because of a poisonous horned snake, a deadly serpent was in the horse and the rider's path. It bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls back off the horse and comes crashing down.

Now this is a very simple but very powerful picture of sin. Satan is a serpent, sin is his bite, and the horse is a picture of the pleasures and the pomp and the provisions and the pursuits of this world. And that rider could be here, that rider on that horse could be here tonight in this service, it could be you.

The testimony of many who sit here tonight was and may still be of one who rides a white stallion of life's pleasures. It was for you, for many of you, as they say, wine, women, and song. You are riding high on life.

Ecclesiastes 2.3 describes how many are living. So after a lot of thinking I decided to die the road to drink while still holding steadily to my course of seeking wisdom. But next I changed my course again and followed the path of folly so I could experience the only happiness most men have throughout their lives, talking about the happiness, so-called happiness of this earth.

He goes on and he says in verse 10, and all that my eyes desired I did not refuse them, I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart was pleased because of my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. But one day it all came to a sudden halt. The rider falls off his horse because there was a snake on the path and it is that snake that I want to talk about and warn about tonight.

Ephesians 6.11 says put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil against the horned snake on the path. And that armor of God is the only hope of being prepared to avoid snake bite. The wiles of the devil refers to that horned snake in the path.

The Greek word for wiles is an interesting word. It refers to snares and traps and unexpected snakes and treacheries that come upon one's path unawares. It describes the methods and the strategies of the old subtle serpent who like Dan's adder in the path bites the heels of the rider, injects its venom, transfusing it from the heel to the head and the heart and down comes crushing the horse and the rider and the joy ride is all over.

The word wiles also speaks of an ambushment or strategy of war whereby the enemy attacks a man unawares or it's like a trap set to go off along one's path. This is why Proverbs 4.26 says ponder the path of your feet. Do not turn to the right nor to the left.

Turn your foot from evil. In other words watch out there's a snake in the grass on the path. And I want to talk tonight about a few of those snakes and how we can avoid some of the devices and how I want to mention three devices of the devil and how we must be prepared for the snares and traps of sin and Satan.

2 Timothy 2.26 says and that they might recover themselves out of the snares of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. And tonight if you've been taken captive then by the Holy Spirit I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing tonight.

God's going fishing. God's reaching out tonight to some of you that are here that have been tricked and duped and tonight you've been, you've fallen into that trap and I pray that God will lift you out of it, will spring you out of it tonight, hallelujah. Let me share with you three snares or snakes in the path, devices or wiles the devil uses to draw a soul into sin.

Now it would take a series of messages to cover them all but perhaps these three will provide a warning for some here tonight. Now first of all beware, I said I was going fishing but so does the devil. Satan is a fisherman and you know there's something about the way that he fishes.

He knows how to reveal the bait but hide the hook. He reveals the bait but he hides the hook. It was the very first tactic goes all the way back to Eden and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes will be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing both good and evil.

You see that was the bait, that was the lure, that was the promise, that was the invitation to the expectation and the experiment and the excitement of pleasure. He said you won't die, nothing will happen to you, go ahead try it you'll like it. But while Satan offers the bait he hides the hook, oh how he is a master at hiding the hook.

He promises you the high but he never tells you about the low. He invites you to a night on the town but he never tells you of the days and hours of captivity. He offers the golden cup but he hides the poison.

The bait is for example the offer of the lips of the adulterous dripping with honey. The lips of the adulterous dripping with honey and this refers not only to the adulterous what he's referring here as well but it's a type of the world dripping with honey and her speech is smoother than oil but Satan does not tell you that it's an oil slick and a sludge worse than an Alaskan oil spill. The scripture says in the end the bait is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two edged sword, her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell and you go down with her.

You see the devil is slick, he's a master fisherman. Genesis 3-1 says now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field. He knows just how to lure you.

He lays out such a beautiful exciting bait he can make a worm look like a queen and he has artificial worms, he has live worms, he has fake lures, he has phony lures, he has live lures, he's got it all. You know I rarely go fishing except occasionally I go, I have a very close friend who is a fisherman and when I go with him he brings everything. He brings the rod, he brings the reel, he sets the line for me, he puts the bait on it and all I have to do is throw it out and if I am fortunate, rarely does it happen, if I'm fortunate to reel something in, I never touch the things, that's against my religion.

I never touch them, he gets them and he handles that fish and takes the hook out of the mouth and throws it back in most of the time because they're not big enough or occasionally I'll get a big one. And when he arrives with all of this paraphernalia, I never saw so many things in that fish box, so many lures, every conceivable kind, some of the silliest looking things and I say to him, you're going to use that? He said, oh yes, I'm going to use that because he'll talk about this kind of fish and how to get it with this lure and that kind of fish and so forth and I'll go with him, sometimes we'll be shopping somewhere and he'll go in and he goes right to all the paraphernalia and he's trying to find a new lure and he loads his box again and I thought, what a picture that is of the devil, he's got a lure box full of it, lays out the bait but always hides the hook. I remember one of those fishing expeditions I went with my friend Ed, me and him and two other preachers, we went up to the Thousand Islands up near New York State and Canada and for two days we fished and we stayed in one of those crude, roughing it a little bit in a cabin, my idea of roughing it is a holiday inn, and for two days we got up, you know before dawn, all day long and we weren't catching a thing, we were not catching a thing and finally we got silly and we were kidding and having a good time and we weren't drinking either because we Christians can have a good time, we don't need anything to stimulate it, we were just having a good time, the fellowship, we started to get silly and I got silly and I got stupid and one time I, one of the fellows was having a hard time navigating the boat and I was trying to show him what a terrible job he was doing and so I was sitting there and I pretended that I was falling backward in the boat, that he was causing me to fall backward and so I pretended I was tripping backward and lo and behold I do fall, I do fall out of the boat, I fell right in the lure box, the fishing box was wide open and I fell right, my shirt was, I fell right back into it.

Now I thank the Lord I didn't come out of that with my back filled with all kinds of hooks in it except one and that was enough I want to tell you, that was enough and I've seen many a person going along having a good time just like that and some of you know exactly what I'm talking about because it describes your life and you thought you were having a good time and you fell back and the devil put a hook into your jowl, into your back and he got you because the devil the reason he can do it is that he can lay out the bait but he hides the hook and what a deadly hook it is, he says your eyes will be open, open to wisdom, open to joy, open to pleasure but here's the part of the contract he never reads to you, swallow the bait and your eyes are also open to shame and confusion because after every high is a low, after every boom is a bust and after every party there comes a crush and a crash, Satan promises the former but he intends the latter, he is a liar and a cheat, he offers Adam and Eve an apple in exchange for paradise as he does to multitudes today and Satan suddenly and with ease offers a thousand fantasies with fake lures and camouflage bait then he leads and he leaves a soul in a fool's paradise, there is that the scripture says that sparkles in the cup, it goes down smooth but at the last it bites like a serpent and it stings like a viper, oh Adam and Eve had their eyes opened all right and if you set your eyes on the world here's what will be hidden for you, if you take the bait here's what's behind it, here's the hook, your eyes will see strange things and your mind will utter perverse things and you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea or one or like one who lies down on the top of a mast or a boat, they beat me but I do not know it, when shall I awake and then when I do awake I will seek after the same thing because now you're hooked, next month on August the 6th will be the 20th anniversary of something that took place in our society 20 years ago, some of you will remember it when I tell you the story, August the 6th 1969 five people were murdered in the Hollywood Hills mansion that Sharon Tate shared with her husband film director Roman Polanski, all five died in an orgy of violence, Sharon Tate was stabbed 16 times, her killers wrote pigs on the front door in the actress's blood, investigators were still sorting through the murder when the following night Mr. LaBianca, age 44, a grocery chain executive and his wife Rosemary met a similar fate in their home only a few miles away, the killers wrote death to the pigs on the refrigerator and held her, scaled her on the door and while the city and the nation buzzed with theories about the crime it took homicide detectives more than three months to link the killings to a man named Charles Manson and a score of young men and women living with him in a ramshackled ranch a few miles from the murder scene, now among that group I believe that there were seven in all, among that group was a young man by the name of Charles Denton Tex Watson, now Watson today is in a California medium security prison which has been his address for the last 17 years, however Tex is free from the only, as he says, I'm free from the only prison that matters because tonight he is aboard today and now he is a born again Christian, genuinely loves and serves the Lord, he's a he founded a ministry in prison which his wife operates for him, but Watson's tragic path to infamousy and prison began in the late 60s when out of a middle-class Methodist home in Texas he left, turned his back from all of that to seek fame in Hollywood, he set up housekeeping in Malibu where he began mingling with the drug and music industry celebrities, but then one night he happened to give a ride home to a hitchhiking pop singing star only to be invited into the house for some to smoke some hash and it was on that evening that a horned snake slithered across the room and he was introduced to Charles Manson, Manson talked to peace and love and this young man and the others joined in with him, but as he talked to peace and love hidden beneath the bait was a powerful poisonous venom and Tex Watson got hooked and he killed for Charles Manson because of that and Proverbs 24 and 20 says for there will be no future for the wicked man, the lamp of the wicked will be put out and seven members of the Watson gang had their lamps put out, they got beat, they got bit by a horned snake that slithered across their path and so that's one of the devil's devices another device of Satan is to paint sin with virtues colors to paint sin with virtues colors, Proverbs 9 17 and 18 says stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but he does not know that the dead, the dead are there you see Satan knows that if the true nature of sin was seen, you see if the cat is let out of the bag it's not a pussycat, it's a roaring lion and the devil knows that if the true nature of sin were seen that men would flee from it therefore he represents sin not in its true colors but he paints it and he camouflages it over it's gilded over with a name and show of harmlessness and even virtue so as to make it easier in committing sin oh he is a master of doing it today you've all watched his deceptions you see we don't call abortion is called aborting the fetus it's called terminating pregnancy it's not called murder it's not called killing we give it a a neutral name we have to paint it something else or it's a woman exercising her rights and you see the devil knows and a lot of people in society know the word rights is such a such a particular word an important word to Americans because we we fought a war we're celebrating this weekend because of our rights we wanted our rights and so we must protect our rights and the devil has used that homosexuality is called an alternative lifestyle it's called the gay life the bible calls it calls them sodomites alcoholism is called a disease not an addiction not a sin diseases are solved by doctors not by preachers so society calls it a medical problem not a moral problem and so we lessen it and many many people will say well it's it's like having sugar diabetes it's a disease promiscuity fornication it's called making love we don't talk anymore about couples living in sin they're just coupling they just live together and so the old immorality is now given an acceptable name we call it the new morality pornography and violence on television burning the flag character assassination in the newspaper is not morally wrong it's merely expressing our first amendment rights lying and stealing and cheating are not necessarily always wrong there are quote unquote situational ethics or there are victimless crimes or it's all right as long as nobody gets hurt and you see the devil the devil has managed in our educational system he's managed all down the line to lessen the impact of sin and paint sin with the colors of virtue isn't it amazing that if the majority of society favors something anything that yesterday's sin will become tomorrow's virtue and whenever we can't police it or control it or morally legislate it today we will inevitably legalize it tomorrow and tax it and condone it tomorrow oh satan is a slick salesman he's a creative advertiser have you ever looked closely at how the advertising world sells sin they paint it with red white and blue colors a woman who smokes is painted as some kind of liberated woman you've come a long way baby advertisers rarely talk about cigarettes beer or wine they don't sell that they've got a car they've got a woman they've got a handsome man if you want to be the ale man there's a handsome young man you're that you drink it you're supposed to turn into that because they know that they can't sell sin as it is listen to the devil's advertisement it goes something like this i have spread my couch with coverings with colored linens of egypt i have sprinkled my bed with myrrh alloys and cinnamon oh come let us drink our fill of love until the morning let us delight ourselves with caresses and oh listen we have dressed ourself in this city to the to the entertainment industry and i think maybe we better begin addressing ourselves to the advertising industries as well because the devil uses them to paint picture pictures of sin as a virtue and so the devil has tricks he will lay out the bait he hides the hook he manages to paint sin as a virtue he lessens its impact its harmfulness and there's that there's another thing that he does especially in the church and the streets as well as in the church another trick of the devil in the devil's bag is to point out a godly man's fall but he'll hide his restoration you see the devil loves to focus on a good christian who sins yet hide from the sinner the sorrows and the tears and the repentance of that one who has fallen and will never display him when he has been lifted back up all right i remember one time on the streets i met a policeman or no i was at a panel discussion about the fact that drug addicts could be cured and this detective was there a narcotics detective and i i was i and he was giving me a hard time he he laughed when i told him drug addicts could be cured and everything i tried to say i could just not only did he say it but when when he had a chance to speak he spoke against me and when i was speaking i could just see his body language he didn't he wasn't buying it and finally he said to me he said reverend he said why is it i never see these converted drug addicts well i said of course you never see them that's the best advertisement you get have given me for what i'm talking about you don't see them because when they get saved they're not out there anymore hallelujah but you see the devil will show you all everybody who's fallen but never show you the same person who may have been a christian fell how he rose up again and the devil has had a field day he's reinforced it by the fall of recent television evangelist and others and the devil says look at that look at that everybody sins nobody can live a holy life nobody is perfect everybody cheats a little bit and let me tell you something there are even some pastors they may not say it like that but the hidden message even some pastors will say to you nobody nobody can walk in holiness nobody can live the kind of message that they're preaching down here at times square church there are others who know the bible will point to david's adultery to know his drunkenness to job's impatience or peter's denial and say if these famous bible characters fail how can i expect to live a righteous and holy life and let me tell you something tonight this is the end of side one you may now sure the devil is like a detective he's like a locator of missing persons and he'll find you a christian that has sinned or he'll find you a christian and make you think they've sinned when they have not even sinned but more likely he'll find you one that has sinned and he'll magnify that and he'll use it against you and say how look at that as a and you he'll he'll cause you to use that as a justification for your own sin and say well so and so can't make it how in the world am i expected to make it but you see why the devil helps you find a multitude of flies in the ointment and flaws in the church he'll blind you to those same people who have gone through sighs and sorrows and tears of repentance and he'll blind you the fact that god has lifted them up and how they sought god and god lift them out of their iniquity he'll blind you to that he won't show you that oh there are many many devices of the devil that's just three of them a horned snake in the path but i want to tell you there are all of his devices can be handled they can be overcome they can be faced how do you deal with the devil's devices well for one thing tonight remember remember that sin is bittersweet listen to job chapter 20 listen to these words don't turn they just listen as i read them though evil is sweet in the mouth and he hides it under his tongue though he desires it and will not let it go but holds it in his mouth yet his food in his stomach is changed to the venom of copers with cobras within him he swallows riches but will vomit them up god will expel them from his belly because he knew no quiet within him he doesn't he knew no quiet within you know what that is talking about i want to tell you from my years of experience of working with people out of gross sin though i've never been in it if there's among many things that would deter me the thing that that is a warning to me over and over again david said my sin is ever before me meaning i think he was talking about the consequences of his sin was ever before him and i want to tell you the thing that i've seen in people and i say oh god preserve me from ever having to go through what i see people go through and that is a conscience that they cannot to quiet down a sense of guilt that they cannot get relief from and that's what it says here in joe because he knew no quiet within him oh i want to tell you i'm so glad that i can lay my head down on the pillow at night hallelujah and no there's nothing between my soul and the savior hallelujah but one thing you take a bite you get bit by that venom you fall for the tricks of the devil there'll be no quiet within you he does not retain anything he desires nothing remains for him to devour therefore his prosperity does not endure in other words nothing works out when he fills his belly god will send fierce angers on him and will rain on on it on him while he is eating in other words god will rain on your parade complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasuries and unfanned fire will devour him it will consume the survivor in his tent the increase of his house will depart his possessions will flow away in the day of his anger this is a wicked man's portion from god even the heritage decreed to him by god you see the devil's food tastes pleasant to the palate but it turns rank and rancid in the stomach and if you don't see that look around because many of the people that you see out there on the streets one day one day they've had positions in these office buildings one day they were riding the white stallion of success until they met a horned snake on the path and now they've been plunged into the depths of hell job 2024 and 25 listen to these words he may flee from the iron weapon but the bronze bow will pierce him it is drawn forth and comes out his back even the glittering point with his gall terrors will come upon him and let me tell you something if you do not see sin for what it really is now on this earth you may have to digest it in hell the smorgasbord of sin deceives those who feast on it adam's apple turned bitter sweet esau's ball of chili had spiritual salmonella poison in it aiken's designer cloth became his funeral suit and aiken's 30 pieces of silver bought him a potter's grave because you see when the meal is over you gotta pay the check and the devil doesn't take master charge you see you can't ride with the devil you can't sup with him and then expect to sit down in heaven in the kingdom of heaven with abraham isaac and jacob but not only is it bittersweet but remember also it's it's a beautiful painting that turns to to grotesque and horror the devil will lie to you and tell you that black is white and down is up and low is high and bad is good and morning is night and prison is freedom and sex is love but eventually the paint comes off the wall and the true picture is revealed and i don't care what names you put on the devil's danies or how you repackage his most wicked vices eventually they will be seen for what they really are and you will be left lying on the side of the path with your horse and bitten by the snake billy graham stated he said one reason sin flourishes is that it is treated as a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake and then also if the devil has deceived you by getting your eyes fixed on someone else's sin or shortcomings remember this remember this that the same jesus who is able to forgive and cleanse them will do the same for you hallelujah what hope is there for you or anyone if the lord is not just as quick to hear one of his own children's repentance as he's able to hear a sinner's cry and you see the devil blinds you he'll blind you to that same christian who has sinned but you don't see the struggle that they have to come to god and their victory is is your victory as well now let us suppose that you were waiting to see me and ask me for a favor or forgiveness for something that you have done and you're waiting out in the office because there's somebody else ahead of you that's gone in to see me and finally the other fella comes out of the office and he says to you say to him how did it go and he answered not good not good at all he said that man would not hear a word i said i asked forgiveness and he refused me and so you you express your regrets and you say well i'm going in now pray for me i hope i do better and then you ask this fella said by the way what's your name you know he's just gone gone in to see don wilkerson and you say by the way what's your name and he said uh let me introduce myself i'm i'm don's son as you go in the door to speak to me of course you say to yourself if a father will not forgive or accept his own son what chance do i have king david fell tragically but he rose triumphantly hallelujah because he found forgiveness and they see the devil will lie to you and say ah you'll never be forgiven but david found it he cried blood out my transgressions and wash me thoroughly from my iniquity cleanse me from my sin for i acknowledge my transgression and my sinners ever before me purge me with hyssop and i will be clean wash me and i shall be whiter than snow deliver me from blood guiltiness oh god thou god of my salvation now in closing go with me to second timothy chapter 2 turn in your bibles second timothy chapter 2 verses 26 in verse 26 in the king james i'll read it to you first of all in the king james and then give it to you in the new american standard king james says and that they might recover themselves out of the snares of the devil who has taken captive who are taken captive by his will now listen to me listen to me carefully as i close tonight some are here tonight you need to recover yourselves out of the snare the trap of the devil the word recover means to awaken and paul alludes to somebody who is asleep or drunk who needs to be awakened and restored to his senses the new american standard says that they might come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil to be snared actually means to be taken alive as soldiers are taken alive in a war or as birds are taken alive and snared in a fowler's net and let me tell you something the devil has a snake he has a snare a trap for everybody there's a horned snake for some tonight a fowler's net for others there's traps for the wise guy there's traps for the fool there's traps for the hypocrites there's a trap for the upright there are snares for the rich and snares for the poor there's snares for those that are in the on the pulpit there are snares for those that are in the pew or congregation satan has a snare for the courageous as well as the timid he has a snare for the young as well as the old and you know there's a sad sad picture i started this message from genesis 49 and i want you to look at it again and go back to it a sad sad picture a tragic picture of the tribe of dan who were snared by the devil you see the tribe of dan migrated to the north how many of you know the expression from dan to bersheba that means that dan was a place but it was a where the tribe settled in the north but they also were broken up into two groups because part of them settled near the sea and they actually gave some of their people as a tribute or as as almost like a merchandising people and gave them to a people the phoenicians who were seaworthy people they were sea merchants and they did this in order to prosper themselves in order to gain advantage and the very people then that they sold in as workers for the phoenicians to go out in the ships eventually became their slaves and a whole group of their people were cut off and a part of them were in the middle of the land and went out to sea and the other went to the north and the reason that they went to the north country and the reason that they made a treaty with the phoenicians was because they were seeking peace and prosperity but the hook was that they were ensnared by the phoenicians on one hand and in the land of dan they also began to live on the near the edge of the land there were people who lived on the edge of truth there were people who were on they were in the land and yet they kept going on over on the other side they kept looking to the other side and they got ensnared because they lived too close to the edge you know i i there there's a term that i know of that's a very interesting term that describes a lot of christians do you know what a mugwump is i wonder if there's anybody here tonight that's ever heard of a mugwump well let me tell you what a mugwump is it's very interesting a mugwump is a political term it meant a politician who was on the fence he didn't he wanted to be on both sides of an issue he wouldn't commit himself one way or the other and we have a washington dc is loaded with mugwumps but mugwump is also a a voter who is on both sides of the issue and you see what the what the mugwump is this it was actually described somebody who literally sat on a fence and on one side of the fence was his mug on the other side of the fence was the seat of his pants they call it the wump and they wanted to be on both sides of the and you know there's a lot of people just like that they want to sit in heavenly places in christ jesus but they want their mug on the other side and the devil has deceived them and that's exactly what describes dan and when i was praying just before the service in my spirit kept coming the question where is dan where is dan where is dan go with me very quickly to revelation chapter seven because here's what happens if you are are disduped and deceived by the devil revelation chapter seven oh what a sad sad picture this is and this is talking about people who are not being numbered in the heavens and he says in verse four and i heard the number of those who were sealed 144 000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of israel from the tribe of judah 12 000 were sealed from the tribe of reuben 12 000 from the tribe of gad 12 000 from the tribe of asher 12 000 and from the tribe of naphtali 12 000 from the tribe of manasseh 12 000 from the tribe of simeon 12 000 and from the tribe of levi 12 000 from the tribe of issachar 12 000 from the tribe of zebulun 12 000 and from joseph and benjamin 12 000 were sealed after these things i looked and behold a great multitude which no man could number from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands and their cry they cry out with a loud voice saying salvation to our god who sits on the throne into the lamb oh what a day that will be what a day that will be when my jesus i shall see but oh i have a picture at the same time i have a picture at the same time of somebody going through and says where is dan where is dan because i just read to you those tribes and you'll not find dan there you'll not find dan there because they were ensnared by the enemy they were ensnared by the devil and they didn't make it because they lived too close to the edge and they were tricked and duped by the devil and tonight my prayer is that you will not be like dan i warn you tonight i warn you and say there is a horn snake on the path but go back finally one last verse in revelation excuse me genesis 4 to 9 in genesis 4 to 9 jacob sees the tragedy of dan and that's why in verse 18 it's no accident that this particular verse falls right where it falls in this chapter because he's describing dan dan that will be that will be lost but he says for thy salvation i wait oh lord oh for dan it was too late dan was lost forever you can't find them in the book of revelation but my friend it is not too late for you tonight if the devil has tricked you and deceived you then his arms are open wide for you i wait for thy for thy salvation i wait oh lord and that salvation is here that salvation is here tonight hallelujah the lord is here to lift you hallelujah so that you can put the armor on and to be able to stand firm against the wiles of the devil and against the horned snake on the path hallelujah hallelujah let's stand together let's stand together hallelujah thank time in your life when you felt that you were dropped you were let go you were abandoned and every time you take your feet out from under