The church as it is supposed to be-a people of joy
1 Thessalonians
1) a people of encouragement (1:2–10);
2) a people of self-sacrifice (2:1–12);
3) a people of controversy (2:13–16);
4) a people of joy (2:17–3:13);
Last time, a people of joy; Joy comes from your belief about time and space
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.
This time; Joy comes from your belief about your enemy
18 Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
5 For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain.
Joy comes from your belief about your enemy
We either give him too much credit, or too little. We either think he has complete power over us, and the world system, or we want to deny his existence all together. In our country, the tendency is to give him too little credit.
Statistics and Research
Even those who claim to be Born Again are not necessarily firmly grounded in the truths of the Bible. In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America, George Barna cites several fascinating statistics which are based on a national survey.
In chapter four he states, "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." Then asking that segment of his survey respondents who have identified themselves at being Born Again, he states, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?"
The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know. Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know!
Should it then be surprising that a few pages later Barna would receive some very startling responses? His next question, "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others all pray to the same God, even though they use different names for that God." Again, the respondents were asked to agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly.
Of that population surveyed who identified themselves as Born Again, 30 percent agreed strongly, 18 percent agreed somewhat and 12 percent did not know. That is a total of 60 percent! (What Americans Believe, pp. 206-212).
Watchman Expositor, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1993, p. 31.
We have three points to cover in today’s message.
Satan is actively at work in opposition to Christians. Christians have to discern between the work of God and the work of Satan. Christians do not have complete power over Satan.
a. Satan is actively at work in opposition to Christians.
You say, “Preacher, where do you get that belief?” Well, it comes from a number of Scriptures, but today I get it from three words that we just read;
Verse 18 Paul said; Satan hindered us.
This means that Paul was writing to the people in the church at Thessalonica about a real Satan. And he believed that that real Satan was the cause that prevented them from getting back to visit the church in Thessalonica. Not only that, but he says in verse 5; 5 For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain.
Paul also not only believed that Satan was working to prevent him from getting back to Thessalonica, he also believed Satan was actively trying to lure the church people of Thessalonica to abandon their new-found faith. Paul believed in a Satan who was actively working both ends, to undo, or prevent the work of God.
And he said that Satan was doing two things; he was “thwarting” his return, and “tempting” the Thessalonians.
When Paul says here that Satan hindered us, the word can be translated “thwarted.” In the Greek the word is a military word meaning to dig a trench, or break up a road. That means that Satan puts obstacles in the way to your successfully following Christ.
To tempt means to draw you away from something. To lure you away. And both of these are the very practical ways that Satan works. He puts obstacles in the way to your doing a good or right thing, and he tries to lure you away from the good and right into doing evil; or at least he tries to lure you away from doing what God would have you do.
You see, Paul believed in a real Satan. And he expresses that belief, not only here, but in his other letters as well.
Satan is at work in non-believers
Ephesians 2:2 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.
Satan is at work among believers
Ephesians 6:11-12 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Satan is at work in religion
He has established his own sacrificial system; "The Gentiles...sacrifice to demons" (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
20 But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.
2 Corinthians 4:4 He blinds people spiritually
In addition, he has his own ministers, "ministers of
Satan" (2 Corinthians 11:4-5).
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we didn’t
preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you didn’t receive, or a
different “good news”, which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well
enough.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
And his work will intensify as we approach the end.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 He works diabolic miracles
8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, ….9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
1 Timothy 4:1-6 He instigates false doctrine
But the Spirit says
expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying
attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
Paul has a lot to say about Satan, Satan is actively at work to subvert Christians, the true Church, and the gospel.
Satan does all of that. What is the point we’re trying to get to? your joy will be impaired if you don’t believe there is an active enemy. You’ve got to put on your armor to withstand the wiles of Satan. A belief in an active Satan is firmly imbedded in the doctrines of Scripture, and in the history of the Christian faith.
Martin Luther For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.
1st thing, we must know that Satan is actively at work. 2nd thing
b. Christians have to discern between the works of God, and those of Satan
Well, where did you get that preacher? In those same three words; “Satan hindered us.” Paul was able to discern when Satan was at work around him.
And if we are to be a people of joy, we have to learn to be discerning about the work of Satan in our lives and church. You see, every good thing that happens isn’t automatically God at work. And every bad thing that happens isn’t automatically Satan. Some churches teach that. Every bad thing is the devil at work in your life. If you have trouble on the job, or you get sick, or have money problems, they will say, “the devil is working overtime on you.”
But if you read the Bible, you know that God works through suffering sometimes to grow us, to teach us to trust His grace. And Paul had the caliber of discernment that could tell when the devil was at work, and when God was at work.
Note about spiritual discernment- Satan hindered us. He doesn’t say that God prevented us from returning to you. He doesn’t say, “Circumstances prevented us.” He lays the blame at the feet of Satan. That’s discernment. Let me elaborate,
Remember how Paul was led, and hindered by the Spirit in his missionary journeys?
Look back at Acts chapter 16.
Acts 16: 6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in [a]Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the [b]Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
In every one of those places, it says that the Spirit forbad them.
But here he says that Satan hindered them from returning to Thessalonica. How did he know the difference? It can’t just be the circumstances. Because it’s likely that the circumstances were similar in more than one of the places they wanted to visit.
In many cities, they had Jewish opposition. In many cities they had legal obstacles. So how did he know that this was “Satan hindering,” whereas in other places, it was “the Spirit of God forbidding?” The simple answer is that he was spiritually discerning.
We don’t know what that looked like, or felt like to Paul. I do believe that Paul had a special gift of discernment.
He had a sense in his spirit when the Holy Spirit was directing, and when Satan was at work. So how do we recognize that? How does it impact our joy? Here are some practical steps,
1. Know the Word of God-this is first
You can’t discern the unwritten work of God, if you haven’t spent time in discerning the written Word of God.
2. Listen to wise counsel-compare it to the Word of God
3. listen for that still small voice-compare it to the Word. I don’t know how many times I’ve ignored that inner voice, and got into trouble.
4. But be careful
understand that your thoughts are not God’s thoughts
We sometimes have to discern the difference between the voice of the Spirit, our own voice, and the voice of Satan.—the Word of God—walk in the Spirit
Beliefs about Satan—he is actively working, we have to be discerning, and the third belief is
c. Christians do not have complete power over Satan.
Well, where did you get that preacher? I got it from the same three words that we’ve been considering in this whole message; “Satan hindered us.”
Here is Paul, arguably the most influential of all the apostles of Christ. Yet Satan hindered him. If Paul did not have complete power over Satan, then surely I don’t either.
We are told,
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
But we are first told to submit to God. The power is with God, not with us. Paul says,
Satan hindered us.
1. Why didn’t Paul just bind Satan?
Because he had no Christian television preacher to tell him he could do that. There are plenty of Television preachers today telling Christian that they can overpower Satan just by speaking the right words.
I put “bind” and “Satan” into a Bible search app., do you know what I found?---nothing
Nobody is commanded to do it. There’s no record of anyone doing it.
I put in my search engine “scriptures about binding Satan.”
Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Luke 8:31 They were imploring Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
Revelation 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Do you know what all of these have in common? Who is doing the binding of Satan? God does the binding of Satan.
The closest we get in Scripture to this idea is,
Matthew 12:29 Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.The strong man is Satan
And Jesus was talking about Himself. They had just accused Him of casting out demons through the power of Satan. So, he was saying, that Satan is the strong man, and I have bound him, that’s why I can cast out demons.
We have no power over Satan outside of the sovereign will of God.
Submit to God, then resist the devil
It always makes me uneasy when people talk flippantly about “their” power over Satan.
It’s as though, anything that you perceive as from Satan, you can just bind him, hurricanes, disease, money problems, sin—this is dangerously close to the people Jude warned about.
In the epistle of Jude, the author is writing to believers to warn them about evil people who had infiltrated the Church. He says about them,
Jude 1: 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
So, he says about them that they were indulging in fleshly sins, and they “despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” The words here, “dominion” and “dignities” imply spiritual powers. Evil spiritual powers. The people who had infiltrated these churches were not only involved in sins of the flesh, they were also running around claiming authority and power over demons, and Satan. They were boisterous in the claims to power over the spiritual world. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
I’ve heard certain TV preachers praying, and they jump from speaking to God, to shouting at the devil, “Devil we rebuke your hurricane winds, your cancer, your poverty,” they demand that whatever evil they imagine he’s doing cease, “in the name of Jesus.”
That’s dangerous territory to make those kinds of personal claims to power over Satan. Listen to what Jude said about these people in his day.
Jude 1: 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Jude warns about these people and their claims to power by comparing what they do to Michael the archangel. Michael the archangel is one of only three angels that the Bible tells us their name. He is a top-tier angel. And not only that, he is always described as sort of the “warrior-angel.” Gabriel is the messenger angel, Michael is the General over the hosts of heaven. But, there is an Old Testament story about when Moses died. Scripture tells us that God buried Moses, and nobody else knew where his grave was. Well this passage of Scripture adds some detail to that narrative. It seems that Michael may have been given the task of burying Moses, but Satan came along and demanded that he be given possession of Moses’ body.
Why would Satan want it? Well, the most common explanation is that Satan hoped to get the people to build a tomb or shrine for Moses, that he could later turn into an idolatrous place of hero or ancestor worship. But Michael had his orders from God.
So, you can probably imagine the scene. Satan comes while Michael is doing the work God set him to. Satan, makes demands, maybe accusations, insults against God, and Moses, and Michael could have easily have thrown insults back at him in kind. There is plenty that Michael could have said. But look at what Jude says that he said,
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
He dared not get flippant and accusatory to Satan. He just left Satan to God. He said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Michael had the right attitude and action toward Satan. He left Satan to God. And we don’t have power over Satan, God does. We resist him by resisting temptation and calling on God. The truth is that God has allowed Satan certain power in this world, in order to accomplish His purposes.
Here’s my advice to you. You shouldn’t worry about talking to Satan, rebuking him, binding him. You do your talking to God.
Well that leads us to a final question. We believe Satan is actively at work opposing God. We seek to be discerning in telling the work of God from the work of Satan. We understand that we don’t have power over him, except through our submission to God.
But why does God allow Satan such power in this world?
Well, the big picture answer comes in understanding the difference between tempting and testing. Satan tempts you, but God tests you. Satan is tempting you in order to draw you into evil. He wants you to fail. God, on the other hand, is testing you. He wants you to succeed. And though you may fail today, the testing you endure strengthens you against future evil. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But God uses the same circumstances to strengthen, give life, and build you up.
Luke 22:31 a]And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.Because in our weakness, our Lord is made strong. We become better, more usable.
2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to [b]buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
suffice it to say, Satan is at work. And it elicits joy among the people of God to understand that.
You say, how does that bring joy? Because it helps you to know how to fight, how not to fight, the fight is the Lord’s, and He will ultimately win.
We find joy in this life because we know and believe the truth about the great powers of this life; time, space, and Satan. We know they are all temporary in their power, and we know the Lord over time, space, and even the Devil. Let us pray