Acts: Resisting Satanic Opposition

It's good to see you. I'm glad you're here with us in worship,

and what a great day already. And if you have your bible's turned with

me to Acts, Act chapter thirteen, and we're going to pick up in

verse four in just a moment. Acts Chapter thirteen, starting a verse four.

We've been appreciated through the Book of Acts for some time now excited about

this morning is very powerful and I just encourage your prayers as we walk through

this morning, Acts Chapter thirteen, starting to verse four. The title my

surmon is resisting Satanic opposition. Resisting Satanic opposition. Now you hear that word

today, and you hear that title, you're like, oh, Pastor Jonathan,

we're talking about satanic things. And really, as I think about this

message this morning, I we really do live in America where really we at

times down place satanic activity, we minimize it. We really doesn't happen here,

Pastor Jonathan. But the reality is there really is an enemy out there.

There really is a devil, and there really is satanic opposition that comes

against us as believers if we're children of God. And this morning, as

we come to chapter thirteen of Acts, we see how Satanic opposition came against

Paul and Barnabas and listened to me today, Just as real as Satan was

then, he still is today. Just as he opposed believers then, he

still does it today, and he is active today in our world. Just

many of y'all know that we are involved admissions here, but that isn't it's

something we really believe in. And last year I think it was, yeah,

last year twenty twenty three, January twenty twenty three, we took a

team from here to Tanzan End and while we were there, we were we

were ministering in the village, and in that village we came upon a lady

who was deemed obsessed and she fell out in the service. And so after

that, you know, that's not something that we see a lot here in

America. And so we were just talking about it as a team later on

as we got back to the hotel, and then later on we met with

some pastors who were from Washington and their ministry. What they do, they

travel all around the world and they go through different countries, and in the

different countries they go into churches in different organizations and they train pastors. And

so they said, yeah, and we were telling them about what happened,

and they said, you know, this is something we see a lot of

as we travel the world cheering the gospel and training pastors, that we hear

this from pastors. And he says, you know, in Uganda, they

had just came from Uganda and they were training pastors in Uganda. This is

in twenty twenty three. This is just last year, and he says,

when we're training pastors in Uganda, he says, he says, it's crazy.

There's a lot of witch doctors in Tanzania, and so there's people in

the villages if they've got an issue, if they want blessing in their home,

or they want blessing in their business, or there's a health issue that

are restling with, or they just want protection from Satan, they'll go to

the witch doctor and the witch doctor will give them something to do to protect

their child, or to help them with healing, or help with their business

or something like that. And so that's what happened to this la and how

she got a demon possessed, and so he told us, he says,

in Uganda, he says, it's so bad, the witch doctors and the

voodoo and all that and Uganda, he says, we actually had to convince

pastors listen to this. We had to convince pastors that they didn't need to

consult with the witch doctors. That some pastors were going to the witch doctors

to get success in their ministry. And he says, but the worst is

the worst of the things I've ever heard, is he says, when we're

in Uganda, he says, there was a man who wanted his business,

that he was starting a business, a new business, and he wanted blessings

for his business, and so he went to the witch doctor. And the

witch doctor says, if you really want your business to be blessed, you

need to sacrifice your son and bury his body under the business. And he

did it. And so I tell you that because this is twenty twenty three

and there's people in our world today that are sacrificing their children for the prosperity

of their business. There is a real enemy today that is opposing Christianity,

in opposing us as believers. We have to recognize that this is that we

say, you would say to me, pastor, well, we don't really

see evil like that in our world today. We don't really see that in

the US. But can I tell you just because you don't see it doesn't

mean that he's not active. And so this morning, as we come to

this passage Scripture and Ephesians five eleven, he says, take no part of

the unfruitful work of darkness, but instead exposed them. You know, the

Bible tells us that we're not to take any part in these things, but

instead what is our what is our response? We are to expose them.

And as we come to this passage of Scripture this morning, we've been walking

through the Book of Acts and we've seen how just last week, as we

studied Acts, the Church and Antioch had set apart. You know, remember

that they were set in a part two or they had five leaders in the

church, and they set apart two of them for the mission. And this

morning, as they set them out for the mission, we see their opposition.

Now, as we've walked through the Book of Acts, if you remember,

have we walked through this study, we have seen that the church's face

opposition before this is another first time the church's face opposition. You noticed at

the beginning of Acts. The first way the church felt face opposition was religious

opposition from the Jews, you remember that. And then it went from there

to political opposition that we saw in Herod who tried to kill James, you

remember, and put Peter in prison. So Luke is showing as we walked

through this book, there's religious opposition, there's political opposition, and then there's

satanic opposition. And so now as Paul and Barnabas are going out, and

why are they going out, They're going out to complete the mission? Right?

What was the mission? Well, I say this every Sunday because I

want you to understand the Early Church. The mission of the Early Church.

The purpose of the Early Church was to take the gospel right to Jerusalem,

to Didea, to Maria and to the ends of the earth. That was

the mission. And as we see at Antioch, understand this and say,

hey, we're going to send some men out to complete the mission. When

they were living old mission, they felt they met they were met with opposition,

Satanic opposition. And so we must understand today it's foundation for us as

believers to understand if we also if we as a church, listen as you

as in as believers, lived to complete the mission. Some of you said,

well, Pastor, I'm not going to the ends of your earth.

But it doesn't mean that God may not call you to share the Gospel with

your with your neighbors, and with your family, with your friends, your

co workers, your classmates, and if you live out that mission to reach

people here in Bethesda in Durham in North Carolina. Listen, just as the

early Chase Church face Satanic opposition, so were you and I so well we

as a church, and we must understand that we will face opposition. And

then how do we resist this opposition? And so that's the title of my

sermon, Resisting Satan's Satanic Opposition. I want to see how they resisted and

how we too should resist Satanic opposition. So let's stand together and let's read

Acts chapter thirteen. And we'll start in verse four and read all the way

through twelve. Hope you have your Bible today. It's good to see them

today. Follow along with me, Acts chapter thirteen. Look at verse four.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went as far

as Solutia. From there they saw to Cyprus, and when they arrived in

some malice, they proclaimed the Word of God and the syn of Gods of

the Jews. And they had John to assist them. And when they had

gone throughout the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain

magician named a Jewish false prophet by the name bar Jesus. And he was

with the prons cool Sergius Poulis, man of intelligence, who was summoned Barnabas

and saw and sought to hear the word of Godliamas the magician, for that

was his meaning of his name, opposed him, seeking to turn the Proscol

away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled

with the only Spirit, looked attently at him and said, you, son

of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit,

villainy, you will not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord.

And now behold the hand the Lord is upon you, and you'll be blind

and ain't able to see for some time, and immediately missed, and darkness

fell upon him, and he was about seeking people to lead him by him.

And the Proscol believed, and when he saw what had occurred, for

he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Let's pray together, Father,

we thank you Lord for this morning. Lord, we know today we

recognize the day that Lord, what we've read is not our words. These

are your words. And so God, we recognize in heresy of your word,

Lord, the authority, that it is good as a source of authority

for our life. And so Lord, we ask to day that you might

use your word to speak to our hearts, and all of you would speak

to our hearts. But Lord, you would affect our hearts. You would,

you would, you would infect our minds, and Lord, you would

lead us to obedience faithfulness to you. Lord. I pray Lord, just

for this message. Lord, I Lord, I just pray for a movement

of You. And I don't pray for something that I can do in my

abilities or my thoughts, or I pray for just Lord today, that what

would be clear would be your word above all else. So Lord, give

me clarity speech and clarity of thought. And Lord, today, may we

hear listen intently for your voice moving us, Father, moving this place,

moving this church. Lord, as we live out your mission and your name,

we pray, Amen, you may be seated. So how do we

resist satanic oppression? Opposition? We resist satanic opposition first by sharing the Gospel.

First by in the gospel. She come to verse four. It starts

out with kind of tying back to last week's message, and it says,

so being sent out by the Holy Spirit. So here is Paul and Barnabas.

You remember the church was there praying, and they were fasting, and

they were worshiping the Lord. They were surrendering and worship It was last week,

and the Holy Spirit spoke right. The Holy Spirits had set apart from

among you, right, Paul and Barnabas, for what for my work?

What was the Lord's work? What was the Holy Spirit's work? The Holy

Spirit was that they would live old mission. And so that's what the early

Church did. They set apart Paul and Barnabas, and they sent them out

as missionaries to complete the mission. And what was the mission to date the

Gospel of Jerusalem Judea to Sumi, to the ends of the earth. And

here are Paul and Barnabas taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

So the passage continues with that flow, and verse four it so, so,

being being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Solution.

Solution was the port city just that was just blow Antioxyria. It was

in it and say they traveled solution Scripture tells us and from there they traveled

to the island of Cypress. Cypress was an island that was in the Mediterranean

Sea. It was about eighty miles wide. And the Bible just starts telling

us what they did and how they traveled throughout that entire island, sharing the

gospel. By the way, the island Cypress, this is important for later.

The island of Cypress was also Barnabas's home. This is where he was

from. And so here they are Paul and Barnabas traveling through Barnabas's home island,

if you will, just sharing the gospel. And Luke really wants you

to see that they didn't just go in one city. They really went through

the entire island. You see this in verse five. And when they arrived

in as Alumnus, they proclaimed the Word of God and the synagogues by the

way, that's something that you're going to see as we continue to walk through

acts as there is. Paul has this pattern for his missionary journeys. As

he goes into a city, he first goes into the synagogus. He goes

first goes to where the Jews are, and he shares the Gospel with the

Jews first and then to the Gentiles. And this is a pattern that's just

common throughout the Book of Acts. And so he does this. He goes

to the Synagous, he preaches, and then the Bible says that verse continues

in verse five and it says, and they had John Doe's system. So

this is John Mark, and this is important for later on as we go.

But John Mark is with them. In verse six, it says,

and when they've gone throughout the whole island as far as Paphos, and so

Luke wants you to see, man, they went into the first place here

in Islamus was the first port, and they traveled throughout the whole island.

What were they doing? They were Scripture says, they were proclaimed the Word

of God, or is proclaim it is to share the gospels for proclaiming the

Gospel. And so that was the first step for them and resisting Satan's opposition.

They preached the Gospel throughout the whole town. The Bible says, they

end up in pay for us. It's interesting as you come to Paphos.

Papos was the capital city of Cyprus. It was not only the capitalist city

of the island, but it's also the Roman headquarters for the time that Rome

was in power, and this was the headquarters for Rome on that island.

It was a very city. It was also known for a great center for

worship, but it was worshiped for Aphrodite. Aphrodite was or also known as

it's the Greek god, and it's the god for Venus, and this was

her. This was her city, and this this is a ciner for her

worship. And so every year, once a year they would have this festival

in the spring, and it was for three days, and this festival was

all geared to worship Aphrodite. And the whole festival, for a tire three

days was given to nothing but orgies and prostitution, for the whole city would

give into this. So you can imagine here Paul and Barnabas and they come

into Simus and then they go through all the city and they could have said,

you know what, I don't know if there's any help for that place.

Man. We heard about what happened in Venus, and that and the

things that are the sexual perversion that's happened in that city. The wickedness there.

I don't know about that place. No, the Bible says they went

in there there were they knew that Satan had a strong cold there. But

they went into the city, and the Bible says they proclaimed the Gospel as

far as pap Us, and the Bible says in Papos they look at the

verse six, they found a magician there in his name is false prophet named

a Jewish false prophet named bar Jesus. Bar Jesus, by the way,

and the Greek means son, Jesus means salvation, so it's the son of

salvation. So here's a Jewish prophet that is posing as one who is the

son of salvation. It's interesting, isn't it. You're gonna see something else

later on as we walked through this passage, and the Bible says he was

with a proschool. Proschool was what in our in our day and age,

we would understand that as a governor, he was the governor of the island.

His name was Sergius Paulus, and so he was the leader. And

here he is this false prophet that's with him. And you can imagine as

I talked to you about the witch doctors and how people would consult them for

a blessing. Here this governor has this, this false teacher, and he's

using him for blessings, for ideas, for advice, for all kinds of

different things. And he's with him. And the Bible says in verse seven,

and the proscal surgeist pauls some men in intelligence. Listen to what happens

in verse seven, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and Salt to hear the word

of God. See what happens there. See Paul and Barnabas live on mission.

Holy Spirit sets them apart, and they go out. They're faithful.

They don't go just to the easy areas right just where the Jews the Jews

are and the sin of Gods, where there's people who know God and have

a little bit of morality. Know. They go into the wickedest part,

the weakest parts of the island, and they begin preaching the Gospel. And

the people who were involved in the city, even as far as high up

as the governor hears about them proclaiming the Word of God, preaching and sharing

Jesus. And they call him in and says, hey, we want to

hear we want to hear about what happens. But look at what happens in

verse eight, I mean verse seven. See he summons Bargie Bargie, I

mean Paulus summons Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

But look at what happens in verse eight. But Elieness, which is also

the name for bar Jesus alienis means magician. And that's what it says.

They're the magician. Listen to what says oppose them. So here they are.

They're faithful to do what God is doing. And they go and they're

faithful. They're preaching in all these different places, and then here comes opposition.

I remember something I've really enjoyed through the years. That is coaching.

I was able to coach my girls when they were a little off. Coach

volleyball here, but that's the coach at a Christian school in South Carolina.

And when my little my girls were little, we coached them with volleyball.

But when they were real little, they also were involved in softball and t

ball and stuff like that. And I remember when Chloe first started playing,

she did t ball And you know what I know, right, you know,

that if you play sports, at some point you're going to get hit,

right, And so I remember thinking, Chloe really loves this thing,

right, softball, but I wonder what happens and when she gets hit for

the first time, you know. So we made it through the t ball

season and she did good. She never got hit, and one day we

hit she was in coach pitch. And so we went on the next season,

went into the next level. And that's when actually people are throwing at

you, not just on a tee, you know, and the girls of

the beginning of practice. One day I was coaching the team beginning to practice.

All the girls were warming up, and you know, they throw,

and you know how they do. They're like, you know, and the

balls like falls back here, so you don't have to worry about them really

getting hit. Well. One day, there wasn't enough players to you know,

divvy up, and so one of the other coaches was going to throw

with Chloe and he lofted one to her and it got her right here.

Wow, And I said, oh. He came to me. His head

was down. He could tell he felt so bad. He didn't mean that

hitter, and I knew he did, but I thought then well we'll see

how long this last. This may be our last season of softball. You

know what I mean? Because here's the thing. You understand. If you

play the game, you're going to get hit. And understand this with me.

If you live on mission, and if you say, pastor, I

know, God's called me to share the gospel. God doesn't save you,

right, save you from your sins, save you from attorney to hell,

for you to keep it to yourself your whole life. No, God saves

you that you might share it with others. Right. And if you live

on mission that way and you say, no, what God? I believe

God, You're gonna call me to share the gospel with my loved ones.

You're gonna call me to share the gospel with my friends. You're gonna call

me to share the gospel with my classmates or my coworkers, my neighbors.

Can I tell you when when you step out and live on mission, it's

not a matter if you'll get hit one day, Satan will come after you.

You're going to face opposition. Now here's the thing. You have a

choice. Just like Chloe said, or Chloe at that age, because says,

you know what, I'm not going to play the game, because if

I don't play the game, and I don't have to worry about getting hit,

and there's some that choose, you know what, I don't want that.

I don't want any opposition in my life. I don't want any Satan's

attack. So I'll just back out of the game. But can I tell

you, according to the Word of God, the answer to resisting Satan's opposition

is not to quit, but actually to go on offense. He says,

you know what, I'm going to share the gospel because why why why would

we get in the game. Of course souls are involved. It's really easy

to say, you know what, that's not my problem. But when you

think of someone's eternities at st stake, one's eternity in hell or in heaven

is at stake. Just the other day, we were I was at the

house and we had a good friend of ours who was doing some work on

the parson that's there, and he was fixing the door that we had.

We had a problem with one of our doors, and he was fixing.

He was asking about something that I had, and so I was in the

basement and and I heard a pop, you know, in the in the

yard and our man. We hear just so much stuff coming from the road,

and a lot of times trailers will bouncing you hearing it, it sounds

like an accident. And I hear it so often. I just didn't think

about it, but I heard it, and I thought, you know,

it kind of sounds like an accident. And so about two minutes later,

I come out of the basement and I come out and look for him and

show him I had found the party. And I look over and he's not

there. So I walk out to the front yard and there was an accident

right in front of my house, and there was a motorcycle that had been

hit and it's in It was in my neighbor's ditch. And I look over

trying to figure out my friend's name's Paul. Where Paul was, and I

thought I saw him standing, And when I realized that he wasn't standing,

he was actually beside the gentleman that was in the accident, and so I

ran over to him and there know Joe, the man had had a major

injury on his leg and he had taken the guy's belt off, no kidding,

he taken the guy's belt off and he applied a tourniquet to his leg

and he's holding his leg and kept him from bleeding. I tell you that

because listen to me, Paul is not a rescue squad. Guy doesn't have

training, he's not an emergency personnel. And he could have walked down that

house and saw that guy laying on the side of the road and said,

you know what, that's not me. That's not me. I'm a carpenter.

I'm not in the business is saving lives. Would wait till the professionals

come, He'll be okay. In sixty seconds, that man would have died.

No, you know what, Paul came out of the house and said,

there's a life is that danger, and I can't do something about it.

And so he ran to the man and he did everything he could in

that moment to save that man's life. And he saved that man's life.

And you know what, he could have said, I don't want to be

in the game. No. In order to resist Satan's opposition, we've got

to be committed as individuals. We resist by saying, you know what,

there's a soul at stake, there's an attorney at stake, and there's an

opponent of that real enemy, Satan who's trying to lead people to hell.

But I want to save people. I want to lead them to heaven,

and I want to get a part of the game. I know that Satan's

going to come after me, but I want to go and I want to

share. I want you to see, not only do we resist Satan's oppression

by first by sharing the gospel, but the second part of this is we

resist Satan's opposition by exposing the opposition. The Bible says, here is you

gotta remember Paulus hears about Paul and Barnabus in there, and he brings him

in and and there he is. And the Bible says that the bar Jesus

opposes them, he comes against them. Who knows exactly what he says,

but listen to the Bible describes what he's trying to do. Listen to what

verse eight says, seeking to turn the prosco the pronscole away from the faith.

That's the that's the imagery. Right. There are those who's sharing the

Gospel and they're leading trying to lead people to heaven, are to faith.

And there are those Satanic opposition that are trying to lead people away from the

faith, and so here he opposes him. Look what happens in this past

scripture verse nine. But Saul, who was also called Paul, listen,

filled with the all his spirit, looked intently at him, and he says,

you, son of the devill, the enemy of all righteousness. You're

full of all deceit and villainy. You will not stop making crooked the straight

pass of the Lord. Listen to this. What was I to you?

His name was bar Jesus. What's bar Jesus means son of salvation? Paul

says, listen, you're not the son of salvation. You're actually the son

of the devil. What Paul is recognizing there is what scripture tells us.

He was a magician. So it's understood that he was using incantations, he

was using different things. He was doing miraculous signs, he's doing miraculous wonders.

He was doing all those things. And Paul is identifying for Surgis and

Paulus that what a Liemis or bar Jesus was doing was not his power.

But will say Tannic's power, Satan's power, the devil's power. He was

doing magic. He was doing these spells all by the power of Satan and

he so it's very that he's exposed as that. He doesn't say, well,

this guy is just a bad guy, he's just a crook. No,

Paul identifies him what he is, and he's Satanic and he's opposing what

God's trying to do. And I think it's important for us to see now.

And I want you to think about something I kind of led in this

at the beginning of our service, when I've asked you to pray, I

want you to think about it in your life. Who was that one person.

Who was that one person that was so influential in leading you. Who

was that person that shared the gospel with you, that went to extreme measures

to share the gospel with you. Maybe it is a grandpayer, maybe as

a mom and dad. Maybe it was a church member, Maybe it was

a Sunday school teacher. Maybe it was a friend, maybe it was a

coworker. But today you would say, this person understood that my soul was

at stake, and they led me to Jesus. They were actively pursuing me

and trying to lead me to Who's that person? For you? I think

about it, just for a minute. We all had that different person right,

I've said I had many. You probably do as well. Said my

grandpa father was an influential person. Who's a pastor? I would say a

student pastor named Clay Slatin was very influential in my life. I'd say,

preacher Jerry. There's so many different people would be in my life. I

would say, we're very influential in leading me. Right, who's those for

you? Okay? Now when you think about something, now, all of

you can probably think of someone who was influential in leading you to faith.

But also who are those in your life that's been influential or trying to lead

you away? Think about it. Maybe it was a younger age, Maybe

you had a friend and they didn't live for the Lord, and as much

as you were trying to live this way, this is someone who was trying

to pull you another way. It also could be a family member, could

be a loved one, could be a coworker, could be a neighbor,

could be a classmate. But who is that person that led you away?

It was trying to lead you away? The day you're hears a hope that

they did not lead you away, But who is that person? Right now?

Want you take that step further, which you Sometimes it may not just

be a friend, but maybe it's a thing. Right, It was just

not a person that was leading you from faith. But maybe it was a

thing. Maybe it was alcohol, Maybe it was partying. Maybe it was

sex before marriage. Maybe it was pornography. Maybe it was a bad relationship,

but maybe it was something that seems like as hard as you were trying

to live for God, maybe it was Maybe it's not just what you were

Maybe it's something you were watching. Maybe it was the movies you watch and

maybe the music you listened to. But it seems like as hard as you

were trying to lift your faith, it seemed like there was something that was

always pulling you away from it. Right, And I tell you that because

as you come to this passage of Scripture, there really is a battle going

on. There's a battle in this passage that Luke wants you to see.

He wants you to see. Paul and Barnabas are battling for the soul of

Paulus. They're trying to lead him to faith, but there's very clear an

opposition, a Satanic opposition. And his name is bar Jesus, and he

is the son of devil and his whole desire, his whole motive is to

lead Paulus not to faith but the exact opposite way. And Luke wants you

and I to see that this really does happen. There are really people who

are intent and are determined to lead you from faith to away from God.

Not only there are there people, but there are things in this life.

There are things in this world, and their sole desire right is to lead

you away from God. And there's a out all going on. And if

Paul wants you to recognize that now, I want you to think about something

else and really making you think today that's good when you're a young person or

some point in your life and you're really trying to live for God, and

there's other people in your group that also we're living, we're trying to live

for God. But years have passed and some of those same people who once

walked with you in the faith have not walked away from the faith. Think

about it, Who are those people? Where are they now? You would

say some of them have nothing to do with God anymore. They don't read

their Bibles, they don't pray, they don't seek God, they don't really

have a faith And they're just completely on and in your mind, have you

ever thought what happened? What happened is I mean, we were both we

were both praying, we were both in Bible studies, we're both irving,

we're both maybe went on mission trips, or maybe we went on to youth

camp and we did, and we were all going and all of a sudden,

now I'm just continuing to grow in faith, and they've man, they've

they've abandoned the faith. What happened? Maybe today, if we're really really

honed down into it, maybe this is what happened to them. Wasn't that

they just had a decision in their mind that decided I just don't want that

anymore. Maybe what happened to them was Satan seducing them away from the faith.

You say, well, pastor, how can you say that? Can

I tell you? The Bible tells us that Jesus told us in the Parable

about the seeds right, and some seeds fall upon the path, and what

happens, Satan right comes down and grabs the seed and it snatches it away.

Yeah, I can I tell you in the Bible of one Timothy four

or eleven, for one says now the Spirit. Listen to this. Now,

the Spirit expressively says, in the latter times, some will depart from

the faith. Listen to this. Some will depart the faith by devoting themselves

to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons. Listen, Jesus says. And Paul

says that there are some who look like they were on faith and they turn

away from the faith. And it wasn't they made a conscious decision. But

know the enemy won the battle. The enemy used a thing or a friendship

to pull that person from faith to away from God. Can I tell you

there is a real enemy, and the real enemy is opposing the God.

Listen to what happened to look at the Bible. This is exactly what Paul

says to to bar Jesus, you son the devil. You listen to this

enemy of all righteousness? What is righteousness? Righteous is someone who says,

I want to live for God and I want to live my life in accordance

with God, he says, says, Bar Jesus, you're the exact You're

the opposite, your enemy of anybody who wants to live for God. Listen

to what is? He only says that, listen to what he says,

you're an enemy of all righteous. You're full of what deceit? Now your

enemy of people who live for God. But also you're full of deception,

You're full of lies. Listen what else he says about bar Jesus. Oh,

you're full of lies. But look, he says, you're full of

villainy. Villainy is the word that we get. He's a crook, he's

a kind artist. It's the imagery of your using your your power, your

ability, your magic, whatever to trick people into to giving money for yourself

or to get some type of gain. Can I tell you today to recognize

that in order to resist Satan's opposition, we must share the gospel. But

secondly, listen, we must expose the opposition. We must recognize that this

is a real threat, and there's a real Satan, and he really wants

to destroy the lives of believers. He really wants to strip destroy the lives

of unbelievers. And he wants to use any means, friendship, relationship,

or thing in this world to lead people away. I want you. One

of my favorite illustrations was illustration that Adrian Rodgers gave many years ago, and

I want to imagine this. Imagine if you were buying a house and you

went into the house and you bought it, and you went with the next

day to the previous owners and you walk into the house and he comes into

the middle house and there's a door in the middle of the house and he

opens it up and opens it up, and he opens up underneath the house

is full of snakes. And he says, well, you know, I

forgot to tell you that, but there's snakes all in this house. And

he says, but you know that one right there's that that's a bad one.

Don't mess with that one. And this one right here, though it's

okay, it's not poisonous, it really won't buy it. And this one,

this one right here, yeah, it will buy it. But you

know, you just you know, just know that they're there and there's some

that will kill you, some that won't. Just watch out for them.

And he shuts the door and you walk out the house. Well, imagine

the next day you bring in your family and your kids. Are you gonna

walk to the door and says open up the door with your kids and say,

now, honey, that's a bad one. Don't play with that one.

This one won't bite you. But this one will bite you and it

will hurt. No, what are you gonna do. You're gonna close up

the door, You're gonna call the exterminator, and you're getting the snakes out

of your house. And I tell you that because listen, in our world,

we think Satan's not really bad. It's not really that bad, you

know, Satan. I it doesn't matter really what I listen to. It

doesn't matter really what I watch. It really doesn't matter if I have some

relationships that are unhealthy or ungodly, and I have this relationship with this person

that continues pull me away, or I really look at some things on the

internet I really shouldn't look at. It really doesn't matter. It's really not

that bad. As my alcohol, my drinking is really not bad, My

drugs are really not bad. These things in my life are really not that

bad. And what we're saying is it won't bite all the time. And

the reality is, at times, in order for us to resist Satan's opposition,

there's things in our life we need to get rid of. Just like

you won't play with us next in your house, some of us in our

life have to stop playing with the opposition. And saying, you know what,

there's some things in my life I need to stop listening to. There's

things in my life I need to stop watching. And there's some relationious relationships

in my life that I need to start. I need to I need to

create some separation from and in my life. I have to understand. I

have to resist the opposition. And part of that is is exposing that this

is not a friend, this is an enemy. This is the opposition.

They're not for God. What scriptures say either for me or against me,

They're not for God. They're against God. And if they're against God,

then I can't play with them anymore. I can't have them in my life.

I was closed with the illustration John Piper. I was reading an article

about him this week. John Piper is a pastor of Bethlehem in Minnesota,

and one day a lady came into his house, I mean come in his

house. He came to his office and wanted to meet with him. She

was a missionary, She was twenty eight years old. She came in his

office. She was married, she had two children. She came into his

office to tell him that she has been having an affair. She was emotional.

She had befriended this person, and she was wanting to leave her husband

for this man she's in an affair with. John said to her. The

pastor said to her, you know you don't have to do this. God

can handle this. This can be fixed tonight. You don't need to go

back to this man. You know that, right, And she looked at

him. She says, no, I'm going back. And he said to

her, why would you do that? Why would you go back to this

man? And she says, well, my husband's not there for me.

And this is what John Piper said, that this is some of You're going

to be caught by surprise by this. John said to her, you know,

if you keep on pursuing this relationship, listen to this, you have

no warrant that you're born of God and that you're heading for heaven. She

got mad at him. She said, you're crazy. How can you tell

me I'm a missionary? How can you tell me I'm not a Christian?

I am secure, eternally secure. And she said maybe one day or pen

one day I want, but you can't tell me I'm not a Christian.

John says, very well, you may or you may not have been saved,

but I don't know. But but I can give you no assurance on

the basis of your present behavior if you go on in this that you should

not that you should not believe that you are saved. She got mad and

left huffed out of the room. Ten years later he got a letter from

her. This is what she said to him. She came back, and

she said to him in a long letter that throughout her life she struggled with

sexual sin. She said, I slept with so many men that you wouldn't

believe it. I thought I had a need. And nobody ever told me

what you said. And I want to thank you. I believe now exactly

what you said, and it's keeping me out of bed and helping me fight

the fight. And she said, no one ever got tough with me like

that. Everyone tried to give me some touchy feeling. God cares for you

answer, and no one ever frightened me except you. And I tell you

that story why Because John Piper, in the heart of his counsel with this

lady, understood heaven and Hell was at stake, and so how did he

oppose what was happening in this life, this lady's life? He shared the

Gospel truth with her, and then sharing the Gospel with her, he exposed

the opposition for her. What was leading her away was this fair, this

affair was sex outside of her marriage. And he exposed that. And by

exposing it, listen, it brought the lady back to the Lord. It

let her saying, you know what, I've got to stop this thing that's

pulling me away, and I've got to resist that, recognize that this is

not right, and I've got to go toward the Lord. You know,

the Bible says that as we finished this passive scripture, he exposed by Jesus,

you son of the devil, your enemy of righteousness. He says,

you're you're trying to make God's past crooked. And the Bible says that Paul

listens to this, he then he speaks against him, and he strikes the

man with blindness. By the way, what happened to Paul in the road

Damascus, He was struck with blindness. Paul gives him the same curse that

he receives, and the Bible says, and he rendered him powerless. He's

not able, no longer able to do his magic because of his blindness.

Listen, Paulus, listen this. This is at the heart of the story.

Paulus hears this what and he says, listen to this. Truly,

the words that you say are truth. Truly you have the power, and

he is truly powerless. And listen to this paulless beliefs he saved. Listen

today, if you live on mission. If you say, I'm going to

share the gospel, the opposition's coming. Resist the opposition by sharing the gospel,

and resist the opposition by exposing the evil in this world, the opposition,

and make God, through your faithfulness, lead people to salvation. You

pray with me, Lord, we love you. We thank you Lord for

this passage today, we thank you for your word for us, or I

thank you for or just the reminder of the enemy that's out there. And

Lord, I pray there'd be those today that would not run from the opposition,

would run to who Lord, would would see souls that lives are at

stake and be willing Lord to proclaim the good news of Jesus God. I

pray that be those today there was this opposition, opposition by exposing Satan's evil

in this world, by exposing and resisting it and getting it out of their

lives. Lord, we pray today that Lord, there are people in this

room. There's people all over our community, in our neighborhoods that are lost,

and there's an entire world that's trying to pull them away. Lord,

May you lead us to be to live on mission and wage the war for

the souls of men. Well, we thank you for the people that you've

brought in our life. We thank you for your graces in our life.

Lord. May we live on mission for you. Father, Lord, lead

us in the time of invitation. I pray, then you come something need

to come to alter and pray. I pray you'd do that. If I

could pray for some, may you lead them, Lord, I pray for

some today that are not are a lot like Paul is there. They've hearing

the truth, but they've never accepted the truth. Today they've seen how there's

been things in this life that tried to pull them away from You, God.

And today's the day, Lord, did they surrender their life to you.

I prayed it'd be those today that would do that, right here in

this room, who'd recognize their sinners, admit Lord, that their sinner believe

that you died on across from their sins, and Lord, I pray they'd

be those today will could fasten their need for You Jesus and surrender their life

to You. Today, Lord lead us in this time. Lord, we

pray Amen Jesus for two fish