When The Devil Comes to Church

Preliminary:

I invite you to Luke chapter 4

Did you know almost every time we gather together to worship we have an uninvited and unwelcomed guest?

I want to talk to you about this a little this morning from Luke 4:33 with the Lord’s help in what I have titled: When the Devil Comes to Church.

Luke 4:33-35 “33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.”

Did you know that the Devil comes to church? Oh yeah!

He did it in Jesus’ day. Look at Luke 4 it begins right after His temptation in the wilderness he comes out full of the Holy Ghost ready to begin His ministry in Galilee (Luke 4:14)

He went to the synagogues, and was liked and became a frequent Scripture reader and teacher.

Then He came to Nazareth and he went up to read and he reads a beautiful messianic piece from Isaiah

Luke 4:18-19 “18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

He closes the scroll and sat down to teach and he makes a few comments about how He was the fulfillment of that prophecy and the devil enters their heart - he was there all the time listening and participating

by the time it was over they attempted to throw Jesus off a cliff to kill him.

I would say Satan had gone to that church service and I have no doubt he is here this morning as well.

Jesus goes from Nazareth down to Capernaum a city of Galilee and he would go into their Synagogue and teach them on the Sabbath. They were impressed with his teaching but the devil went to church there too. Did you catch that in our reading

There was a man in the synagogue - now remember satan is not a man Eph. 6:12 “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Satan may use people to do his dirty work, but they aren’t the enemy

This poor devil possessed man came in and began to disrupt and cause chaos in that place

Yes the Devil comes to Church...

not to worship God, not to fellowship with the brethren but to do several other things.

When the Devil Comes to church:

he is coming for at least three reasons:

To Suggest things

To Segregate the brethren

To Stifle the work of the Holy Spirit

First - the devil is here this morning to suggest things.

Make suggestions about us:

I’m never going to make it

I can’t do this

Suggest that we are too bad, or done things that are beyond hope -

Let me just pause here to remind you there is no such case - The Blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin - means you can’t sin too much -Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. If there is any regret, wishing you could change, wishing you could go back and do it different, there is hope That is part of the Holy Spirit working in your life drawing you to Christ.

The devil likes to suggest accusations - say we have sinned the unpardonable

One has said, “The spirit of accusation is a greedy tyrant that cannot be satisfied. The person who tries to confess until the spirit of accusation has been satisfied will find a life long task.”

Suggest things about our past

Suggest things to distract and snatch away the Word of God from the finding lodging in your heart.

Second -the devil comes to church - not only to suggest things - but to Segregate the brethren

Now by using the term “brethren” you understand I mean everyone who is a follow of Jesus.

He will suggest that bro or sis So-and-so must not like you very much because __________________

He has brought out all kinds of things to divide people. I’ve seen him divide over the pattern of the dress, over the side to part the hair, over the color of socks, over who is going to be boss, over this and that - but ultimately Satan sits back and laughs because he is separating and dividing people.

Look at how divided our world is today - if you get the vaccine you are almost afraid to say it, if you don’t get the vaccine you afraid to say that for fear of stirring up the hornets nest

The devil is busy and comes here to attempt to divide, to segregate, to put into cliques and groups, instead of a corporate family

The Devil is not only coming to church to suggest things, to segregate the people, but to stifle the work of the Holy Spirit.

Remember Jesus parable about the seed and the sower??? Some seed fell on good soil but others fell on various kinds and different things happened to them so that they couldn’t produce anything. It is the devils work at church to swoop in and take away God’s word from you, or to keep your heart in such a tizzy that the word can’t find a place to grow roots, or to allow a little emotional stir but no real depth

I’m thankful, however that the Devil isn’t the only unseen visitor here this morning -

When Satan comes to church he should be met with a couple of things:

He should be met with rebuke and resistance Luke 4:35

“35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.”

James 4:7 “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

He should be met with God’s power - I’m thankful that every church is not a Nazareth Synagogue - we have an opportunity to allow Christ and the Holy Spirit to have right of way in our midst and when we allow Him to have His way - the devil has to flee

Yes the devil comes to church - but so does Christ - I’m thankful that Christ has been here this morning I trust that you have encountered Him in some way, and have found victory over the suggestions, segregation and stiflings of Satan.

If not I would encourage you to run to Christ and call upon HIm to take very seriously James 4:7 “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”