Paul and his team take the Gospel into Europe for the first time starting with the city of Phlippi, where they encounter two very different women - one a picture a freedom, the other a picture of slavery.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
In our previous study, we saw the Lord Jesus direct his church through unlikely means, a sharp division between Paul and Barnabas, resulting in two missions teams going out from the church at Antioch rather than one. Today we will see the Lord give direction to Paul's team through what seems to be an illness and a supernatural dream. We're going to be reminded that Jesus is the head of the church and he's able to work through our strengths and our weaknesses to accomplish his will. And praise God for that. Let's jump in.
In Acts chapter 16, verse six, it says they. This is the missions team that included Paul, Silas and Timothy went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. They had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. So let's go ahead and put our first map up on the screen and we'll just orient ourselves where we are. So, Phrygia and Galatia were Roman provinces where Paul and his team went to minister after leaving Lustra and passing through Pisidian, Antioch.
Asia was a region that incorporated the central and southern parts of the coast to the west, that's present-day Turkey. And then it came inland to form sort of an equilateral triangle. So, if you just look at Phrygia on the map and you put sort of one point of a triangle in there, and then you go out to the central and southern coast so that you have an equilateral triangle. That region would be considered Asia at this time in history. And so, scholars tell us that Paul likely wanted to travel southwest from Phrygia to coastal cities like Ephesus when he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit from doing so.
Which raises the logical question what does that mean to be forbidden by the Holy Spirit? Well, to state the obvious, Paul wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit did something that made it impossible because God wanted Paul and his team to go somewhere else. We know Paul was relentless. He was stubborn and dogged. And when he got it in his mind that he wanted to go somewhere, nothing could deter him.
When we reach Acts 21, we'll read about a time when Paul became determined to return to Jerusalem. On his way there, they stop at the Lebanese port of Tyre, where God speaks prophetically through some of the disciples there who tell Paul on behalf of the Lord not to go to Jerusalem. He keeps going. Then they travel south to the next port, Ptolemais. And Luke tells us a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own feet and hands and said, this is what the Holy Spirit says. In this way, the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles. When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul replied, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus'.
And everybody else is saying, Paul, the Lord Jesus is telling you not to go to Jerusalem. And then Luke writes, since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except the Lord's will be done. Paul's determination was the best and worst thing about him. It caused him to do incredible things for God to keep going when many others would have quit. But it sometimes caused him to be blind to the fact that he was actually disobeying God in some instances, like in Acts 21.
So, what did the Holy Spirit have to do then to prevent Paul from traveling to Asia? It clearly would have had to be more than just a prophetic word or a verbal warning. We're talking about something happening that made it impossible for Paul to go where he wanted to go. The truth is that we don't know. We're not told exactly what the Holy Spirit did, but I think there's a good chance that he struck Paul with some type of illness that stopped him in his tracks.
And this theory could be supported by the fact that Luke joins Paul's team in verse ten. We know this because Luke is narrating the Book of Acts. And in Acts 16, verse ten, the pronouns change to include him. He begins using we and us. Now, what was Luke's profession?
He's a doctor, he's a physician. And so, it seems more than coincidental at this specific time when something has happened that prevents Paul from going to Asia. A doctor joins the team before they move on, possibly because Paul required his medical knowledge and skills. So, perhaps unable to leave his bed, Paul finally says, I perceive the Holy Spirit is forbidding me from going to Asia. Sometimes we're stubborn.
Not you. I'm speaking, of course, of our online listeners and viewers. But we can be hardheaded. And sometimes the Lord must strike us with trials, obstacles and even infirmities to keep us in his will and keep us from unintentionally loving against. It far better to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit.
But thank God he doesn't give up on us, even when we're stubborn and even when we have moments when we don't listen. That's God being gracious to us, that's God being good. It says in verse seven, when they came to Musia, they tried to go to Bethania, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Let's put up our next map here. And so, what they likely did is that they cut across sort of the east-northeast corner of Musa to try and go north into Bithynia.
But now we read the Spirit of Jesus' prevents them from going north. So where else can they go? All that's left is a west northwesterly direction the Spirit of Jesus is one and the same as the Holy Spirit. And Luke just uses the term here to remind us that Jesus continues to play an active rose in the story of his church, leading and guiding her by his spirit. We know that Paul had to be slapped out upside the head in a significant way in order to give up on a plan.
Therefore, I suspect that after Paul recognized that God didn't want him to travel to Asia, the Holy Spirit allowed him to recover. But then when he tried to go into Bethania, the Holy Spirit had to say wrong again and probably cause another flare up of whatever illness he had struck Paul with previously. We're going to see in just a minute that this is all happening, because there's somewhere very specific that Jesus wanted Paul to go, and he was going to get Paul there no matter what. Verse eight, it says, Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. Let's put up our next map here, Troas.
So, they have only one direction they can go. And so, they go there towards the northwest coast and the ancient Greek city of Troas. They might have even limped their way there with Paul because coastal climates are better for one's health. Troas was a pivotal port city and a center of commerce that connected Asia Minor to Europe. It was in present-day Turkey, across the Aegean Sea.
From the present-day country of Greece, it's Greece, to the west, across the Aegean. It was the kind of city where Paul would usually look to plant a church. But he didn't do it on this journey. That would happen later. And so, Paul and his team spend a few days in Troas as Paul tries to discern where the Lord wants him to go.
He's likely still recovering from having his health stricken. He's probably frustrated because he doesn't understand why they can't seem to go everywhere they try to go. And he's loving out at the Aegean trying to figure out what he's supposed to do next. But God had brought Paul exactly where he wanted him to be. And that's revealed in the next verse.
It says, during the night, Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, cross over to Macedonia and help us. Let's put our next map up on the screen. So, Paul is in his dream, he's looking out at the same sea that he was looking out at the day before. And in his dream, he sees a man in Macedonia, present day Greece. And Macedonia wasn't on Paul's ministry radar at all.
He hadn't even considered it. But then the Lord whacked him upside the head, put some blinders on him, got him to the place where he was literally facing the ocean he would need to cross to get to Macedonia. And then God said it's that way. Paul. That way.
The only way you can go. And I have to tell you that I've grown to the place where when I am trying to make a decision, my prayer to the Lord is usually this. It's usually, Lord, please give me one option and let it be the one you want because I'm so dumb. As long as there are two options, there's a real shot that I'm going to choose the wrong one. And I want to be in Your will.
So, can you help me out? Just remove one of the options and then I'll go with the only one left so that I can be in Your will. That's the confidence I have in God and the total lack of confidence I have in myself. But I'm so thankful that God is gracious to do this in our lives. And if you haven't figured this out yet, take this to heart.
The Lord speaks through closed doors as much as he does through open doors. He speaks through both equally. So be grateful, don't resist where the Lord has closed a door and walk through the ones that he opens. In verse ten, it says after he had seen the vision, we underline we, and then underline the next word immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. We see Luke begin to use the pronoun we, indicating that he joined Paul's team in Troas.
And I had you underline the word immediately because this is what disciples of Jesus do. When God has given a clear command, they obey immediately. They don't say, God's given us a vision saying, come over to Macedonia. He's removed all other options. We should pray about it for a while, take a few days.
They don't do that. Why? Because when Jesus' has given an explicit command, there is nothing to pray about. What's the logic? You're going to go and get a second opinion from the same person who gave you the first opinion?
Let's be real here. When Scripture is clear, when God speaks clearly, but people say, I think I need to pray about it, it's usually just a spiritual sounding excuse to delay obeying Jesus. If you want to verify that you're understanding the command of Jesus' in Scripture correctly, that's good. But do that research ASAP. Call up, talk, meet with some wise and mature followers of Jesus who know the word ASAP.
Why? Because delayed obedience is disobedience. Write this down. Disciples of Jesus are called to obey him ASAP because delayed obedience is disobedience. Paul and his team understood this.
So once the Lord had made it clear that he wanted them to travel to Macedonia, they immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia. I'll give you one piece of parenting advice. If you're a parent of young children, take this to heart. Delayed obedience is disobedience. I'll just tell you.
I'll just say it. Do not be one of those parents that says I'm going to count to three. What do you need to count to three for? And then you always look really weak in front of your kid when you're one, two, two and a half. 2.6.
If your small child knows digits and fractions, you need to work on this. Do it right away, the first time with a smile. That's a good standard to have what's your five-year-old got going on for those 3 seconds that they can't obey immediately. Do it. Verse eleven it says, from Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace the next day to Neapolis and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia.
We stayed in that city for several days. Let's put up our next map here. So, they sail from Troas to the island of Samothrace because the journey would have been too long to do in one go and they generally don't want to be sailing around that part of the world in the dark because there's little islands and rocks all over the Aegean, as you can get an idea from the map. So, they spent a night at Samothrace. The next day they journey to Philippi, and they actually would have gone to Neapolis, which is the port city that served Philippians.
Philippi was about 10 miles 16 km further inland from the coast and so the total journey likely took just a couple of days. And when they stepped off the boat in Neapolis, the Gospel reached Europe for the first time in history. Named after Philip II of Macedon, who was the father of Alexander the Great, Philippi was on the main east west road that connected Macedonia to Rome. It was the most prosperous and prominent city in its district, and it was a Roman colony. That's going to be important later, meaning that it handled all civil matters the way they would have been handled in Rome.
Instead of being a foreign territory under the Roman Empire, Philippi was actually like a piece of Rome in a foreign country in the way that it functioned and operated. Verse 13. On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the woman gathered there. Hebrew law dictated that ten Jewish men were necessary to form a synagogue.
And so it seems that there were not enough Jewish men in the city of Philippi to form a synagogue. Hebrew law also dictated that if a synagogue was not available, the Jews should gather on the Sabbath under an open sky next to a river or the sea. And that seems to be why this group of women has gathered by the river outside the city. Paul and his team headed there in keeping with Paul's custom of always first trying to take the Gospel to the Jews in every city. So, he had apparently asked around where's the synagogue learned that there wasn't one, and then learned that the Jews in the city, when they gathered, would gather at this spot just outside of town.
With no rabbi to teach them, these faithful women took the initiative to gather on the Sabbath to pray, read the Old Testament Scriptures, and discuss what they had read. So, when Paul, a scholar and a student of the greatest rabbi in Israel, Gamaliel, showed up, sat down and began teaching them from the Scriptures, it would have been a rare privilege and a blessing, and they would have listened eagerly. Verse 14. A God-fearing woman named I got to mess you up. I know you've been reading the Bible your whole life, but we've all been seeing her name wrong.
We've all been doing it. It's not Lydia. It's Lydia is her name. And so, I'm going to say Lydia. Not to be quirky or weird, but because that's actually her name.
And everyone's just been doing the typical Western thing we do when we meet someone who has a foreign name that we can't immediately pronounce. She's like, my name's Lydia. We're like it's, Lydia, but it's not. Yeah, it is. So, a God-fearing woman named Lydia, because we can do better. A dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thia Tyra was listening.
So, among this group of Gentiles women, among this group of women sorry, was a Gentile God fearer named Lydia. And you may recall from earlier studies that a God fearer was a Gentile who had recognized the reality of the Hebrew God turned from pagan idolatry, was worshipping Yahweh exclusively and reverently learning about the Hebrew faith but had not yet fully converted. They had not yet become a Jew themselves. Thia Tyra was a city in the region of Lydia. And it seems this woman had been named after the place she was from.
And that this actually, historians tell us, might have been a shortened form of her business name, which was probably something like the Judea Lady. And so, everyone just called her Lydia for short. Thyatira was famed for its production of purple cloth, and Lydia was a dealer in such textiles. Purple dye could only be produced through a time and labor-intensive process using the glands of a specific shellfish or the root of a certain plant. And this made purple prohibitively expensive, and a color worn exclusively by the wealthy.
It was just insanely expensive. And it says here that regarding Lydia, the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. As we've discussed in previous messages, the Lord gives general revelation to everyone. Paul tells us in Romans one and two that God reveals Himself to every person through the glory of his creation around us and through our inner moral conscience. Solomon wrote that God has put eternity in the hearts of man.
In other words, God has put an existential longing in the hearts of man. This desire to understand why we're here, or what the true nature of reality is, what the meaning of life is. Speaking of his coming crucifixion, Jesus said, as for me, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. And the interesting thing about the Greek word that's translated all there is, that in English, it means all. Jesus draws, Jesus invites, Jesus calls all people to be saved.
But he honors the free will of man and allows him to draw closer to the revelation he gives, or to reject the revelation that he gives. To those who draw closer, he gives more revelation. And if they continue drawing closer as new revelation is given, they reach a point where God opens up their hearts to receive and believe the saving truth of the Gospel. That's what the Lord did for Lydia. We can see that she had been responding to the general revelation she had been given.
She had been responding to the special revelation of the Jewish people and the Hebrew Scriptures. The text tells us that as Paul spoke, she was listening. Listen. You can sit through a lot of sermons without listening. But Lydia was listening.
She had been drawing closer and had reached the point where God said, because you desire the truth and because you have responded positively to the revelation I've given you, I'm going to open up your heart to understand the Gospel and receive the gift of eternal life. Many heard Jesus teach, but few listened when Jesus taught. You can hear many sermons and you can hear the Gospel many times. But if you don't desire the truth, or if you've already made up your mind that you're not willing to change, if the truth demands it of you, you will be unable to listen. This is what Jesus said about the importance of listening and responding to the truth and light that God has already given us.
It's on your outlines. He said, no one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in may see its light. For nothing is concealed that won't be revealed, and nothing is hidden that won't be made known and brought to light. Therefore, take care how you listen, for whoever has more will be given to him. And whoever does not have even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.
If we don't respond to the light of truth that God has already given us, the day will come when he takes it away, and instead of being able to perceive it and know that you've been ignoring it, you will no longer be able to even perceive it. This is the warning Jesus gives to anyone who would say, I'm just going to live my life the way I want, and then later on, when I have kids or when my kids are all grown up. Then I'll get serious about the faith. Jesus says, Be careful because you don't know that you'll still be able to see the truth later if you put off responding to it. Now.
Take care how you listen. We are responsible for responding to the revelation and the truth that we are given. But make no mistake, none of us would be saved unless Jesus drew us and opened our hearts to the gospel. None of us. It is God who reveals to us our desperate need for him.
It is God who enables us to see clearly that we are utterly lost and hopelessly doomed without him. All we do is say, Agreed. And when the Lord offers us forgiveness, salvation, eternal life and his spirit, we say, yes, please. And then we spend the rest of our lives saying, thank you. That's what we do.
That's our part. God reveals it. You're utterly lost without me. Yes. Would you like me to save you and forgive you and bring you into my family?
Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's it? That's it.
That's all the work that we contribute to salvation. We agree with what God says about us. We receive what he wants to give us, and then we tell Him thank you. This should inform the way that we think about and approach evangelism, the sharing of the gospel. Our job is to share light and revelation, the truth of the gospel, spoken plainly, with clarity.
Why? Because we know and understand that only God can open a person's heart. That dramatic change. Salvation itself is a work of God and God alone. We blaspheme God, and we deceive ourselves when we fall into thinking that the excellence of our presentation or delivery is the determining factor in whether a person turns to Christ.
As Paul told the Corinthians, I planted Apollos, who was a leader in the Corinthian church, watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. And Paul described how he preached the gospel to the Corinthians like this he said, When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus, Christian and him. Crucified.
Paul shared the gospel plain and simple, because he understood that it is God who opens a person's heart, not human persuasiveness. You can read through the whole book of Acts, and all you will find is plain gospel preaching. No large events with a band to attract people, no prize giveaways or free stuff offered as a bait and switch to trick people into hearing the gospel. No props or elaborate sermon illustrations, just plain gospel preaching. Jesus' is Lord.
He's the most high god. Salvation is through Him and him alone. Why? Please hear this. Because nothing can be added to the Gospel to make it more glorious.
Nothing can be added to the Gospel to make it more glorious, and God is the one who opens a person's heart. Make a note of this. Christians are called to plainly proclaim the Gospel, knowing that only God can open a person's heart. We're called to plainly proclaim the Gospel because we know that only God can open a person's heart. Verse 15 after she and her household were baptized, this is Lydia we're talking about.
She urged us, if you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us. The phrase her household tells us that Judea did not have a husband at this time. She was most likely a widow or a divorcee. And there would have been some further teaching given to Lydia and her household by Paul, because Paul would have only Baptist sincere converts to Christianity, so he would have had to share the Gospel with her household as well. This means that Paul preached to family members and slaves who were likely part of her household, and they all turned to the Lord.
They were all saved. It's very similar to Peter's experience with the household of Cornelius in Acts chapter ten, and what a saleswoman Judea is. She gives them an invitation they can't refuse because she says, if you think my salvation is genuine, come and stay at my house. They knew she had been legitimately saved, so what could they say? So, they had to go and stay with her.
And I'm sure they would have been grateful for her hospitality, because at this time in history, in the Roman Empire, inns were very inappropriate places for Christians to stay, because most of the time, especially in Roman colonies and Greek cities, they were dirty, dangerous, expensive, and literally just brothels. So, to instead stay among believers and share the love of Christ and fellowship with the saints would have been a tremendous blessing. And it's why hospitality was emphasized so strongly in the early church, especially for any traveling Christians who may have been passing through your city. Lydia's house will become the meeting location of the church that will be planted in Philippi, and she will become a leading patron of God's work in the city, opening up her home for ministry and hospitality and supporting the Lord's work in her city. Through significant financial giving, that the church was able to grow significantly in Philippi while still meeting at her house tells us that Lydia had a really big property and ran a very profitable business.
And it's funny that in Paul's vision, if you'll recall, he saw a man from Macedonia calling him to come over and share the gospel, that when he gets there, he finds a woman's only Bible study, and his first convert is a single woman, lydia and her household. And the church there is hosted by and financed by Lydia. And this counters the claims of some who try to paint Paul as a chauvinist. His eagerness to minister to this group of women shows that nothing could be further from the truth. His attitude was completely different from that of the Pharisees, who would never discuss the scriptures with a woman and who regularly prayed prayers in public along the lines of, dear God, thank you that I wasn't born a gentile, a slave, or a woman.
And when you read Paul's epistles, you will frequently find him greeting women by name who he loved and considered sisters in the faith. Verse 16. Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune telling. So, while staying at Lydia's house, paul and his team continued evangelizing the Jewish woman and any traveling Jews who were gathering outside the city by the river.
And one day, while they're on their way to that spot, they come across, not by accident, a girl, not a woman, a girl who is a slave and is possessed by a demon that empowers her to predict the future, and she's being exploited by her owners as a business. The original Greek says she was possessed by a pneuma python, which literally means a python spirit. And this relates to Greek mythology. You see, the Greeks believed that the god Gaia had a son who was the python, and python would prophesy from a cave in Delphi, which was connected to the Peter of the Earth where Gaia dwelt. However, the god Apollo showed up one day, slew the python and established his own temple in Delphi and appointed an oracle, a woman whom he would possess and through whom he would speak prophecies.
These are the mythical origins of the actual and historical oracle of Delphi, who was also known as the Pythia. It was a position held by various women over the centuries from around 700 to 500 BC. But it was a position that had not existed for centuries by the time of Christ. And so, because of that mythology, the Greeks and the Romans referred to anyone possessed by a fortune telling spirit as being possessed by a python spirit. And so, to put it in simpler terms, this was a demon possessed woman who was empowered to speak prophecies about the future.
And people would pay a lot of money for this service. No military commander, no civic leader, no business owner would make a major decision without first consulting an oracle like this girl. And it tells you something about the state of the world and supernatural beliefs at that time in history. There was nobody in the world at the time of Christ, really, who did not believe in the supernatural. Atheism was not really a thing at all.
It's a similar thing if you go to Africa or many parts of the Third World. It's very hard. To find someone who doesn't believe in the supernatural at all. It's extremely rare. But note that this was something that existed in almost every major town and city in the Roman Empire.
There would be someone who was possessed by a specific kind of spirit, and people would pay money to hear prophecies about the future. Now, could she really predict the future? No. While the Bible does teach that Satan holds sway over anyone who does not belong to Jesus, satan and demons do not control the future. But this demon would enable the person it was possessing to speak with eloquence and with convincing words.
Sort of like somebody who could write really compelling horoscopes, someone will have a birthday this year. Something like that. But this demon then would probably also cause some sort of physical state to happen, like violent shaking and eyes rolling back while she uttered these prophecies or foamed at the mouth or something like that. It says in verse 17, as she followed Paul and us, she cried out, these men who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation are the servants of the Most High God. This is interesting.
We're going to talk about some interesting stuff here, because it seems that when a demon possessed person encountered the presence of God in a Christian in the Scriptures, it antagonized them. It agitated the demon. We have two examples of this in the ministry of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke. And notice how similar they are to what happens with Paul and his team here. They're on your outlines.
In Luke four, it says in the synagogue, there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, leave us alone. What do you have to do with us? Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are.
The Holy One of God. And then in Luke eight, we read a demon possessed man from the town met him. That's Jesus. For a long time, he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, what do you have to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God?
I beg you, don't torment me. And now, when this demon possessed woman comes across Paul and his team, she cries out, these men who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation are the servants of the Most High God. In all these cases, it's as if the demons, involuntarily confess the reality of Jesus, the Holy One of God, the Son of the Most High God, servants of the Most High God. In Deuteronomy 32, verse eight, there's a reference to a reality that most Christians are completely unaware of. I wish I had more time to unpack this today, but we don't today.
But Genesis Eleven records the Tower of Babel incident. And if you're not familiar with the Tower of Babel, go look up our study on Genesis eleven on the website. As a consequence, for humanity uniting to rebel against God and to protect future generations from going down the same dark road, god divided the people of the world at Babel into ethnos different ethnicities that were immediately divided by language. The Bible calls these different ethnicities the nations. And Scripture tells us that God appointed certain angels, certain spiritual beings he had created over each of the nations except for Israel, which was God's portion among the nations.
And Deuteronomy 32 eight refers to the time when the Most High divided the nations and divided the human race. He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the angels. However, these supernatural beings, these angels who were given charge over the nations, rebelled against the Lord and made themselves the gods of the nations they were appointed over. Are there other gods? Absolutely.
The Bible teaches this, and that's what makes the title Most High God significant. It's a title that specifically designates Yahweh as the highest god among the gods. He is like no other god, and no other god is like him. And even the servants of the lesser gods, like the demon in this girl, know this yahweh has power and authority over all other gods. And again, I'll throw this out there.
I know you'd love me to explain more, but I'll still just share this. And the destiny of the Church is to replace the gods of the nations and to rule over the nations with Christ. Just a small thing to stay up tonight. Thinking about verse 18. It says, she, the demon possessed girl, did this for many days.
So, this demon possessed girl starts following Paul and his crew around, acting like a herald, shouting, these men who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation are the servants of the Most High God. This was not ideal, as generally, ministers of the Gospel do not seek endorsements from demons. Additionally, because she was promoting them, people would have assumed that she was part of their ministry. Again, not ideal. And people may have even then assumed that Paul and Silas and Timothy were likewise possessed by spirits from the underworld.
Then we read paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the Spirit, he said, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out right away. When demons did this kind of thing to Jesus, we read about his response in the Gospels. It says in Mark One, he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons.
And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him. In Luke four, it says demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, you are the Son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak. You see, Paul had grown tired of the distraction and the danger this woman posed to their ministry. And he felt sorry for this girl, who was so clearly enslaved by this demon.
And so, Paul waited for the Holy Spirit to tell him to cast the demon out of this girl. Why did the Holy Spirit have Paul wait? I have no idea. But the second he gave Paul the green light, Paul acted. And the word of God spoken through him, commanded the demon to leave.
And because Paul spoke with the authority of the Most High God, the demon had no choice but to obey. To state the obvious, the fact that the demon left this girl, and she was instantly transformed confirms this was not a mental illness. This was not a sideshow circus act. It was real demonic possession. And I would encourage us to remember when we pray, do not ever forget that we are praying to the Most High God. He's the God over all other gods. They all have to bow to him. He has absolute authority over everything. And so, when we pray, we should remember that, because that's the God that we call upon.
We saw two women in the text today. One of them was free. One of them was in bondage. The world will tell you that if you are just freed from oppression and inequality, then you'll be able to experience freedom and fulfillment. Then you'll be liberated.
This isn't a message for today. This message has been going on since the 50s, since the 60s, even earlier. But all liberation movements cannot deliver on their promises because you can do whatever you want. You can change laws, you can become celebrated in the culture, you can change your socioeconomic status. You can adopt a new gender or sexual identity.
If your heart remains the same, you'll be a slave. The only true freedom that exists is freedom from bondage to sin and death. That is the freedom Jesus was speaking of when he said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And we live in a time, as others have before us, where Satan is blasting the message out to the culture that it's not the truth that will set you free. And we have an enemy who wants to get you to believe in anything other than the truth as the solution to your situation, to deceive you into believing.
No. That is what will give you freedom from the bondage that you're experiencing in your life. But Jesus, the living God, the Most High God, says you need freedom from bondage to sin and death, and you can only find it in me. The prophet Jeremiah pointed out the futility of trying to transform ourselves apart from Christ writing. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots?
If so, then you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil. So, Jeremiah says, listen, if a person can change the color of their skin and actually become a different ethnicity, or if an animal can become something else, hey, then maybe you can become something else too, by just trying. He says, the point is that you can't. You can't because we are in bondage to sin and death until we are set free by Jesus Christ. We need the freedom that only Christ can offer.
All else falls short. And at this very moment, all of humanity, every single person, is either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. Sin leads to death, but righteousness leads to life. And the good news is that God promises to open the hearts of all who seek Him and set them free. The Lord also said, through Jeremiah, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
That's a promise. You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart when you say, okay, Lord, no preconditions. I just want the truth. I just want to be free, whatever it costs. God says you'll find me.
You'll find me when you come to me like that. Is there any area of your life I'll ask the worship team to come up. Is there any area of your life where you know that Jesus has given you a clear command, but you're delaying your obedience to Him? I don't care how you're justifying it. God doesn't care how you're justifying it.
Is there an area of your life where God has spoken to you clearly, but you're delaying your obedience to him? You need to hear this because I love you. Delayed obedience is disobedience. You're not just delaying your obedience, you are actively disobeying God. Obey Christ.
Obey Christ and live free. Because if there is a single area of your life where you are knowingly disobeying Christ, you are in bondage in that area of your life, you are not experiencing the life Jesus has for you. Obey Christ and live free. Let's pray. Would you buy your head and close your eyes?
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the truth of your word. And thank you that Your desire for us is not based in any need that you have for power or for ego or to twist our arms into compliance. Lord, Your goodness, your greatness, Your glory is completely unaffected by anything we do. You don't need anything from us, but all of Your commands are for our good, both here and now and in the ages to come. You only share instruction with us for our good that we might experience Your life, the abundant life that you spoke about as you ministered on the Earth and experience rewards in eternity.
And so, Jesus, first of all, I just pray that you would forgive us where we've ever fallen into thinking that Your commands are for anything other than our good.
Where we've had any construction of you in our minds. That is inaccurate. Lord, our only good. And you're concerned about the good of Your children, and you know that the greatest good for us is becoming more like Your son, Jesus. And so, Lord, we just invite you to do that work in us.
Do it, Lord. Make us more like Jesus, please. Loved where we've been stubborn, where we've said no and come up with excuses so many times that we can't even sense Your conviction anymore. Lord, return that sensitivity to our heart so that we can obey you. Jesus, fill us with a desire to obey you rooted in gratitude for everything that You've done for us because you have set us free.
You have liberated us from bondage to sin and death. And so, we stand on that. We believe in Jesus name. We have victory because of the victory Jesus won on our behalf. And Lord Jesus, we pray right now for any of our brothers and sisters here who are in bondage in any area of life.
We know that you do not desire them to be. And so, Jesus', would you shine a light on any area in their lives or ours where we are walking in disobedience that we might repent and experience life. And we pray for our brothers and sisters who may feel overwhelmed and feel like something is impossible. But how could God do this? How could I ever stop doing this?
How could I ever not need this? Jesus, we pray that just right now, by our spirit, you would overwhelm them with the reality that you are the Most High God. Nothing is impossible for you. Your arm is not too short. Nothing is impossible.
There's freedom in you from anything and from everything. So, help us to love, help us to praise, help us to speak, help us to think as free men and women set free by Jesus, and to not run back to the change that you have set us free from. Thank you for freedom, Jesus, we love you. In your name we pray. Amen.