Sermon Tone Analysis

PARADOX IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

(Acts 16:16-24)

January 8, 2022

Read Acts 16:16-24 - Two robins leave their perch to eat worms.

But then one says, "I'm so full I don't think I can fly back up the tree."

The other says, "I can't either.

Let's just lie in the warm sun for a while."

But no sooner do they fall asleep than a fat tomcat gobbles them up.

As he sits licking his face he thinks, "I just love baskin' robbins."

Listen - so does our Enemy.

The danger is real - especially when we ignore the war, expecting life to be easy!

I Pet 5:8: "Be sober-minded: be watchful.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

We're at war.

Our text today gives us 3 critical points to help us engage effectively.

I. Believers are at War

Spiritual warfare is usually hidden, but once in a while it breaks into the open like here.

16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl (young 10-14) who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.

Literally, she had a "python spirit" a title used in Greek mythology to describe anyone in touch with Apollo with the ability to foretell the future.

So, this demon-possessed girl was thought to have the ability to tell the future.

These people came to be called ventriloquists - because they often used different voices - like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.

They were troubled people, but this girl's owners were making a fortune.

She began to follow P&S screaming, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation."

Free publicity, right?

"Most High God" was a much-used designation in the OT.

And "way of salvation" is certainly what Paul was teaching.

Demons who met Jesus inevitably addressed him as God.

The demons know and tremble, James says.

But in a Gentile context, like Philippi, where they knew nothing of the OT -the phrase "Most High God" was used of various Greek gods, especially Zeus.

To some, these screams suggested Paul was a servant of Zeus.

But what is really telling is the phrase "the way of salvation."

That sounds good, but that's not what Luke wrote.

The text actually reads, "a way of salvation".

There is no definite article.

The Philippian Gentile audience would have heard, here is a servant of Zeus or other high god telling you A way of salvation.

Satan is using this poor girl to confuse, hinting multiple gods and ways of salvation.

It's a confusion that's invaded our own evangelical Xn circles?

I kid you not.

In a recent Ligonier study when self-confessed evangelical believers were asked their opinion of the statement: "God accepts the worship of all religions including Xnty, Judaism, and Islam," 46% of them agreed or somewhat agreed!

The Enemy has found some baskin' robbins - Xns asleep at the switch on the fundamental issue of Jesus being the only way to God.

Just prior to death, Billy Graham wrote in Xnty Today, "If you asked a man directions to NYC and he said, 'Oh, just take any road you wish, they all lead there," you would question either his sanity or his truthfulness.

Yet, we have come to believe "all roads lead to heaven."

People say, 'Do your best,' 'Be honest,' and 'Be sincere - and you will make it to heaven.' Jesus Christ, who journeyed from heaven to earth and back to heaven again - who knew the way better than any man who ever lived - said, 'Enter ye in at the strait gate' (Matthew 7:13).

He concludes, "Jesus was narrow about the way of salvation."

All roads lead to heaven is the Enemy's lie!

This angel of light is still sowing seeds of confusion today just as he did in Philippi 2,000 years ago.

But look when this happened!

16 As we were going to the place of prayer."

That's telling.

The battle took place as they went to pray.

Bc, the Enemy wasn't the girl, nor even her handlers.

Eph 6: 12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

Spiritual warfare is - spiritual!

We can argue, fight, persuade, whatever, but until we invoke the spiritual power of God, we are helpless in this warfare.

No wonder they were attacked going to pray.

So, does our prayer life reflect the war that we're in?

John Piper warns, "Prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences."

Prayer isn't primarily for our comfort.

It's a cry for help amid spiritual war.

How Satan will work to make us apathetic about prayer.

Anything to keep us out of the war room.

But that's our help!

II.

Ultimate Victory is a Certainty

Now, here's some great news.

We're at war, but the outcome is guaranteed.

18 And this she kept doing for many days.

Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her."

And it came out that very hour.

Paul became annoyed - deeply disturbed.

He's human.

He's not some made-up plastic hero.

The credibility of the Bible is shown by the humanness of its characters.

Paul is clearly disturbed bc he doesn't want Satan advertising him.

But more importantly, she's got the message wrong.

"Most High God" to the Gentiles suggests a top god, not an only god.

And salvation would have been a vague term to them.

So, Paul turns and says, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her."

And it came out that very hour."

Imagine the relief of that little girl.

Suddenly this demonic master is gone.

It wasn't Paul; it was Jesus; and when He came in, the demon had to go.

That victory was already won.

When?

I Jn 3:8b: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

How? Col 2:13 "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."

The war rages on for the moment.

But victory's assured.

It's just a matter of God's timing.

In WWII, with the successful landings on D-Day in June, 1944, the war was effectively won.

Hitler's defeat was imminent.

But the war raged on for another year.

So with us.

The war rages on.

But the victory was won at the cross.

The full realization awaits God's timing, but believe me, the end result is not in doubt.

The war is won, and it will end when God says so.

In, Pilgrim's Progress, Xn, on His way to the Celestial City, encounters many threats.