0763. Satan Resists Our Best Service
Satan Resists Our Best Service
"For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, but there are many adversaries" (1Co_16:9).
"Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, but satan hindered us" (1Th_2:18).
No one will question the fact that the Apostle Paul was hindered at every turn, in so far as satan could hinder him. He recounts some of the difficulties that he met along the way. Let us note them:
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned.
Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day have I been in the deep.
In perils of waters,
In perils of robbers,
In perils of mine own countrymen,
In perils by the heathen,
In perils in the city,
In perils in the wilderness,
In perils in the sea,
In perils among false brethren.
Paul was mobbed in Jerusalem; forty Jews covenanted neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul.
Paul was in jail in Philippi; in Damascus the governor sought to apprehend him, but he was let down through a window in a basket, and escaped.
Paul was apprehended, sent to Caesarea, and carried a prisoner to Rome.
No marvel the demons cried: "Jesus I know and Paul I know." The demons had heard much of Paul and they had reason to fear him. Often they had sought to hinder him, often he had repulsed them.
Elymas the sorcerer sought to withstand Paul; but Paul full of the Spirit said: "O full of all deceit and all villainy, thou child of the devil," etc. (see Act_13:6-9).
A damsel possessed with a spirit of divination had cried out against Paul, many days. Finally Paul turned and said to the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her" (Act_16:17-18).
There was a messenger of satan, doubtless some angelic or demoniac being who was fast on Paul’s heels, seeking to buffet him (see 2Co_12:7).
The question before us is this: Does satan still seek to hinder saints? Does satan place every possible obstacle in front of those who are active in real service for God?
Assuredly he does. He pursues believers with much the same method that he pursued Paul. Let any man go all the way with God and the devil will hinder his service. He will malign him; he will misrepresent him; he will create prejudice against him; he will stir up persecution against him.
The believer’s only hope of accomplishing any real service lies in the fact that he is panoplied of God, so that he can meet every satanic move; he is backed by a living and ascended Christ; a Christ clothed with all authority and power; a Christ willing to place at the believer’s disposal all the strength of Heaven, to assure him victory in doing what God had ordered to be done.
In spite of every effort of satan against Paul, Paul was known as the man who "turned worlds upside down." We grant that Paul was for years a prisoner in Rome; but, this was doubtless in the perfect will of God. In Rome Paul preached the Gospel in the world’s greatest center, and many were saved; some, from Caesar’s household. From Rome Paul by the Spirit sent forth letters to the Churches. These letters are still the power of God in blessing millions.
Satan may also have the seeming advantage over us, but in all and through all, God will work out His plans and fulfil His will. We may be bound, but the Gospel will never be bound.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR