Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Acts, chapter 16. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you tonight
for allowing us to come together again. Lord, it's such a privilege
to be able to be here and to be able to look into Your Word
and to hear. Lord, would You teach us? We
ask You for Christ's sake to bless this Word to our heart
and understanding and cause it to come to us in power. We have no ability to enliven
our hearts, but Lord, You do. And we ask You now. You've told
us that we don't have because we don't ask, and we're asking.
Lord, speak to our hearts. Teach us. Teach us tonight. We
pray for Christ's sake. Amen. Acts chapter 16. I'd like to deal with verses
16, 17, and 18. But prior to this, we beheld
the conversion, baptism of a woman named Lydia. She was a religious woman. She
had gone to church. She knew something about the
Scriptures. She knew she wanted to be where
she was, she had a desire, but realizing that it was the grace
of God that brought her to that place on that day to cross paths
with the preacher of the gospel. I think about that. There are
so few that I know, Mitch. So few preachers. that preached the gospel of free
grace and that God would cause someone to cross paths or cause
that preacher to cross paths with somebody, that God would
providentially cause that intersection. That's just a miracle of God's
grace. But these missionaries are where they're supposed to
be. They had planned. Paul had planned to go to Then
the Spirit of God would not allow him to, and then he decided that
he would go to Bithynia. The Spirit of God wouldn't allow
him to, and sent a vision to Paul. There was a man of Macedonia
who said, Come over here and help us. And he did. And he met Lydia. that time, the scripture says
that it came to pass in verse 16, as we went to prayer, a certain
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought
her master's much gain by soothsaying. Now, you recognize this. These creatures are where they
are. by the grace of God, by the providence
of God, by the good pleasure of God, by the purpose of God. This is where the Lord has sent
them. And they are going back after
they had met at Lydia's house. It comes to pass, and there is
going to be another time for them to meet together and pray. And more than likely, it doesn't
say it, but more than likely, they're going back to the same
place. That's where the Lord blessed before, and they're going
where God had blessed. And that's a wise thing to do,
where the Lord has been pleased to raise up and bless His Word. That's where you want to be. That's where God's people are
going to be, to the place by the river. A regenerated soul
is not going to forsake the assembling of himself with other believers. He's going to be where God's
people are. And this girl, it was a woman,
a certain damsel, a slave girl, the Scripture says she was actually
possessed by a spirit of divination. In fact, it says of Python. That was actually a myth. that there were people that had
the ability by this snake. It was a mythological snake. And that's what they associate.
She had a spirit within her, actually one that was a being,
a true being, a spirit of divination that had no human form. She had
a demon is what it means. She had a devil in her. And it says that this woman,
Met us. Well, the word there actually
is a little bit stronger than what it just... It's not like
she just happened to be there. She stalked them. She came there and made an effort. That's what that word met means. She made an effort to have an
encounter with us in a hostile way. has a real significance. She knew. She had been watching
them. They were going there. That's where they had gone to
pray before, and that's where their custom was. She knew that
that's where she was going to be, and so she met us, Paul said. And the Scripture says, this
woman brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. Now, this woman was possessed. with the power of darkness. And she had some owners. Obviously,
some people had gotten together. It says her masters. So obviously
there was more than one. This was a business deal to them.
That's what it was. They were making money off of
this woman. She was a tool for this group
of religious charlatans. her master's much gain. They set her forth as being a
prophetess. She made these predictions. Obviously, she would utter, when
asked a question, she would be like a fortune teller. Go and
ask them, you know, what does my palm say? What does the tea
leaves say? That's what she was. She was
a fortune teller. And she sought out Paul and these
other disciples. She met them and she came and
she caught them on the way to go into prayer. And it says that
the same, in verse 17, followed Paul and us. This is Luke, the
apostle writing this. Luke was there. And cried, saying,
These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show
unto us the way of salvation. Now, this woman, the Scripture
says, followed Paul and us, and here again, now, the word followed
there, it actually means one that joined herself to appear
to be a disciple. That's what it means. She kind
of got in with us. She kind of joined up. and had
an encounter with us on purpose, stalked us, and then kind of
joined up, kind of followed us, going along. And while they were
going along, she was just, you know, the Scripture says, crying
out, shrieking is what the word was. Just kind of screaming this
out, something that was absolutely true. I mean, what this woman
was saying was so. This woman was saying that these
men attend to and are the servants of the Most High God. She was saying they are devoted
to His honor. The message that these men preach
is from God concerning salvation. They preach the only way of salvation. that is to be by Jesus Christ,
and the gods that we serve, they are no gods at all. We possess
a duty to listen to what these men have got to say and to hearken
to what these men say for their Master's sake and for our good,
and if we don't, It is to our own peril. The Scripture says,
they show unto us the way of salvation. What this woman was
saying is, these men preach Christ. Well, for sure, what this woman
said was so. They were the servants of the
Most High God. They were His by divine election. Almighty God, before the foundation
of the world, had taken Paul and these other men that God
had called out, and He chose them in Christ, baptized them
in Christ, before the foundation of the world put them there and
kept them there. They were His by choice. They
were His by purchase of the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they were His by their willingness to come in regenerating grace. And they truly did what this
woman said they were doing. They preach unto us the way of
salvation. This woman was saying, these
men are preaching the gospel. Well, verse 18 says, And this
did she many days, but Paul being grieved, turned and said to the
Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her. And he came out the same hour."
Paul exercised that demon. Now, what he did was actually
a confirmation to all that saw this scenario going on that these
men really were men of God. You see, the Lord had said unto
them, you go into all the world and you preach the gospel and
these signs will follow you. Those that heard the Lord, Hebrews
2.4, I've read this to you, but God bearing them witness, I mean
those that heard the Lord, that learned the gospel from the Lord
Himself. Understand that when these men
went out and started preaching, there was no completion of the
New Testament. The message was being preached.
Holy men of God were writing it down as the Spirit of God
moved on them, but there was only the Old Testament. And there
were many false Christs out there saying, I'm Christ, I'm Christ,
I'm of the Lord, I'm of God. How did they know who God's servants
really were? God confirmed them. God confirmed
those that were His, God bearing them witness both with signs
and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His will. Now, this woman followed after
Paul, like they joined in, and what she was saying was absolutely
so. There is not one thing in the
world wrong with what we hear her saying. But the Scripture
says Paul was grieved, not with her. It doesn't say he was grieved
with her. But he was grieved toward the
Spirit that was within her because the Scripture says, Paul being
grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he did. Now,
I've heard, and you have too, I've heard men arrogantly, make
statements, and they act like they are possessors of these
gifts now, and that they can order Satan and anybody else they want
to around, and they just have some kind of spiritual ability.
You know, I command you. I do this. You know, the Scripture
bears what happened to someone that God hadn't given. that gift. Turn over to Acts
19.13. Someone had seen some of the
apostles actually doing some of these miracles by the Spirit
of God. And it says in Acts 19.13, And
certain of the vagabond Jews, atrocists, took upon them to
call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord
Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus Christ, whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of
one Sheba, a Jew, and chief among the preachers did so. And the
evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know,
but who are ye? Who are you? And the man in whom
the evil spirit was leaped on them, overcame them, and prevailed
against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the
Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus. And fear fell on
them all, and the name of the Lord was magnified." Men take
upon themselves things that they think that they have the power
to do. These charlatans that you see
today that's commanding evil spirits and doing this, that
and the other, they have no authority whatsoever. All of the authority
that was given to produce these miracles and signs and wonders
were by those that heard the Lord and was confirmation for
those men before the Scriptures were reading. We don't need any
more confirmation. We've got the Word of God. This
is the final authority. right here. But obviously, when
Paul commanded that evil spirit, when he was grieved and he told
this woman that had been saying exactly the right thing, obviously
there was a reason for Paul doing what he did. Well, what do we
learn from the refusal of Paul to accept the witness that was
given by this woman. Was there anything wrong with
what she said? Obviously, just outwardly, there
wasn't. What this woman said, you read
it again, and you read, These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. Isn't that what they were doing?
Yes. But Paul commanded the evil spirit to come out of her. What did we learn? Well, number
one, we know this, that Satan is a crafty foe. Paul the Apostle
said in 2 Corinthians 2.11, ìFor we are not ignorant of his devices.î
Satan works powerfully in false religion. And the Lord had spoken
through, telling by his Spirit, revealing to Paul exactly what
Paul was to do. He commanded and worked a miracle
of God's grace. Paul had no ability within himself
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. You always remember, without
me you can do nothing. Paul was the instrument, but
it was by the power of Almighty God. And Satan's devices include
having men believe that we're all working for the same end. We're all working together. Now,
I know you all down at Katie Baptist Church. Now, I know you
all believe in that sovereignty stuff. I know that election stuff. We don't
hold exactly to what you're preaching. But you know, we're all working
together. You know? Salvation is like a big spoke,
a wheel. There's the hub. It's got many
spokes coming out of it, but they all lead to the center. You know, we're all sincere,
no? We may all be sincere, but not
all men are right. If left unchecked, those that
heard this woman would have thought Well, you know what? She's a
convert of Paul and these others. Oh, she may preach different
things at other times, but at least listen to what she's saying
right now. She must be a believer. This
must be the way it is. Tears among the wheat for a while. Talk, possibly, like a sheep. Maybe for a while they seem to
walk like a sheep, and maybe they seem to follow like a sheep. But the scripture reveals that
actually they are wolves, preachers that are not of the gospel, or
wolves in sheep's clothing. What do you do with them? Well,
the scripture says concerning the tares, In Matthew 13, let
them both grow together until the harvest, and in the time
of the harvest I will say to the reapers, gather ye together
first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but
gather the wheat unto my barns. You may have your doubts, but
what does the Lord say? Leave them alone. You say, well,
Paul didn't do that. Yes, he did. He didn't say anything
to the woman. He spoke to the evil spirit.
He was grieved. with the Spirit. Now, we are
not told whether or not this woman was ever called out of
darkness. We don't know. But I will say
this. Paul would not be unequally yoked
together with this woman. She had proven no consistency. She met him along the way. She
had been completely inconsistent. And Paul recognized the devices
of Satan to try to cause confusion. Here was a woman that had been
spouting off all kinds of inconsistent stuff, and then all of a sudden
she meets up with Paul, stalked him. All of them started just,
and I mean all of a sudden, just like a parrot, just started saying
what they're saying. These guys are the preachers
of the Most High God. They show unto us the way of
salvation. These, as Paul said, being grieved,
he said, you come out of her. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 6.14.
2 Corinthians 6.14. Like I said, this woman, had shown no consistency. Here
she was putting herself in the position of a preacher. Standing up, making declaration. You see what I'm saying? It was
totally inconsistent. 2 Corinthians 6.14 says this, unequally yoked together with
unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel?" And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said,
I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord." Now, this was
not a New Testament. Turn over to Deuteronomy 22.9.
Deuteronomy 22, verse 9 to 11. Deuteronomy 22, verse 9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard
with divers seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown
and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Thou shalt not plow
with an ox and an ass Together. Now, I'll tell you this, we don't
operate on the understanding of carnal nature. Someone would
say, well, you know what? Goodness, what she's saying is
so. It sounds good. I don't see any
reason why Paul should have said anything to her what she was
preaching, but Almighty God, spoke to Paul and told her, you
command that evil spirit to come out. She's a sower of discord. The evil spirit that was within
her. Things weren't right. Something wasn't right here.
Here she was aligning herself. I'm telling you, when we separate
ourselves biblically, what I'm saying is this, I'm not going
to allow, it doesn't matter how sincere somebody is going to
be, Someone that has not proven themselves, Neal, consistent
to the gospel of free grace. They're not going to stand in
this pulpit. As long as I'm here, I know Brother Scott is here.
They're not going to do it. No man is going to stand in this
pulpit that has shown inconsistency. Be not unequally yoked. Paul
and these other preachers had been called of God to preach
the gospel. And this woman, put in there
by the devices of Satan, was going to sow discord. There was
going to be some confusion. Here was a woman standing up
preaching that Almighty God revealed to Paul, she shouldn't be here.
Paul was grieved and spoke to that evil spirit. When we separate
ourselves scripturally on biblical truth, this is not arrogant.
Someone says, do you believe that you're the only ones? Paul the Apostle said, if an
angel from heaven preached any other gospel than that which
has been preached unto you, let him be anathema. Now, I'm going
to tell you something. The Scripture dictates that we
are to be separate. We don't align ourselves. I had
someone a few years ago, I told some of you about this a few
years ago, I had someone come to me. I was in Franklin. They
knew I was a preacher. And they said, look, we're going
to all meet together on the square around the monument there on
Thursday morning. And we're just all going to get
together and hold hands and pray for the salvation of Franklin.
And can we count on you to be there? I said, no. You can't
be there? No, can't be there. Why? Because if I met there with those
that I know are inconsistent and preach an inconsistent gospel,
people will look at me and say, he believes just what they believe,
or they believe what he believes. It's discord. It's confusing. It's not scriptural. This woman
was not called of God to stand there and proclaim the gospel.
And Paul would have nothing to do with it. He didn't need nor
did he desire the appearance of this lying spirit to give
evidence of his credentials. Romans 1.9 says, For God is my
witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son. I don't need this woman's approval. Paul wouldn't have it. The kiss
of an enemy The Scripture says it is deceitful. Proverbs 6,
if the Lord has not created a new heart, I'm telling you what will
happen next. This woman that stood up and
made those mimicking declarations of what was true. I'm not saying
what she said wasn't true. But if God hadn't given a new
heart in the next breath, She'll be blaspheming the very God that
she proclaims at this moment to be worshiping. The kiss. That's how our Lord was betrayed.
I'm your friend. I like you. I'm with you. I'm with you. Matthew 15, 7 and
8 says, you hypocrites, well, did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me." Don't be equally
yoked together with unbelievers. Don't. You can't worship. You can't worship. There is no
worship for a believer where the gospel is not preached. It's
just there's no worship. You say, well, I can glean. I
can take the bad out and I have to just kind of work a little
leaven. Leaven is a whole lump. Just
don't do it. Don't do it. But also we learn
that Satan is bound as to his ability to prevent Almighty God
from doing that which Almighty God has pleased. Like I said a while ago, whether
or not this woman was ever converted, I don't know. The Scripture is
silent concern. But for sure, I can tell you
this, in type, in a picture, she's a type of deliverance from
the clutches of Satan. Here, Paul, a preacher of the
gospel, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke and that woman
was delivered. You know, the Scripture says
My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me." Whenever Paul spoke,
there was a picture of salvation. Here was a woman bound in the
clutches of this spirit of divination. She was bound up. He had her,
no doubt about it. And coming from Adam, born in
Adam, we are all dead in trespasses and sin, just bound to it, can't
get away from it. Men say that you can just escape
yourself. No, you can't. You cannot. I was watching a war movie the
other day. It's a concentration camp. And I'm telling you, it
was a pretty well-fortified concentration camp. And there was some American,
British, just some Allied troops, and they were They were held
in that place. And I don't doubt for one second
if they could have gotten out, they would have. But they couldn't.
Why? Because the guys that had the
guns wouldn't let them. They were bound. They were captive. And you know how they got out?
Some commandos came in there. Somebody that was strong and
bound the strong men. and captivated their captives. That's how Almighty God saves
a sinner. He leads captivity captive. He
binds a strong man and takes his goods. That's what happened
to this woman. But thirdly, we understand this,
that surely the wrath of man is going to praise him. going
to praise Thee. That's what Psalm 7610. This
woman spoke truly. The Scripture tells us that this
woman had a spirit of divination. And whenever she spoke, she spoke
in the authority of that spirit. Though what she said sounded
right, Paul, by revelation of the Spirit of God, knew that
this woman right here was being an instrument of trouble. And
Paul didn't tolerate it. He called out that spirit. And
that spirit came out of her. But this woman spoke until that
devil came out of her under the dictates of that devil. And the voice of that spirit
had actually nothing but rage and indignation and anger Not
only for the apostles, but for God Himself. Now, you know that.
It was a spirit of antichrist, a spirit of the devil. But what
she said, though Paul rejected having anything to do with that
woman, anything to do with the source of her words, though what
she said was still true. Well, the truth. is often found
to be in Scripture magnified by the confession of an adversary
of God. And in that, they are actually
witnessing against themselves. Turn to John 11. Let me show
you how somebody said exactly the right thing, and Scripture
says he didn't say of it himself. John 11. Verse 47, Then gathered
the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do
we for this man do with many miracles? If we let him thus
alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come
and take away both our place and our nation. And one of them
named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto
them, You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole
nation should perish not. And this spake he not of himself,
or not from himself. But being a high priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and
not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that are scattered abroad. Now see,
here was Caiaphas, an unbeliever, an unbelieving high priest. And
he stood up, and what he had in his mind was this. When these
guys said, listen, everybody is going to follow after him,
he said, ah, just wait a minute, you don't realize. He said, let's
just let him, let's go ahead and have him crucified. Let's
let one man die. It will satisfy everybody, and
then we'll just get on with our jobs. That's what he thought
in his mind. But actually, the Scripture says
what he was prophesying was so. One did die. so that all the
people of God would not. There we see when one man confessed
something that was actually so. But it will rise up in judgment.
This woman, this damsel, and what she said, though the source
of it was wrong, in the day of judgment, for all those that
were in Philippi, who slighted and rejected the Christ that
was preached by these apostles, just like the dust when the Lord
says, you go and you preach, and if somebody won't hear you,
you kick off the dust off your shoes, and that dust will be
of judgment against them in the day of judgment. The Scripture
says, Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you when you depart,
Judgment. Now, here was a woman. What she
said was out of a spirit of divination. What she did was not from within
herself, well, it was within herself, but it was from the
devil is what I'm saying. This devil had controlled her.
Satan had purposed to make Paul and the other disciples to have
trouble. It was going to cause trouble
for them. Got that woman in there and started mimicking what they
were saying and proclaiming some things that were absolutely so.
Paul would not have himself yoked to her. You're not of us. God didn't send you. You're not
in this clan. God didn't call you to preach.
And Paul called the devil out of her. Came out of her. What
Satan purposed actually backfired. God's preachers were confirmed
that they were the preachers of God. What that woman said,
it was the truth. It will rise up in judgment.
What she said was so. But I'm telling you, the scripture
says that all things work together for good. You mean even this
damsel right here, possessed with the spirit of divination
that was trying by Satan's power and manipulation to cause trouble
for Paul and these other disciples. You mean even that? All things.
All things. The wrath of man. That the wrath
of man shall praise thee. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Almighty God is in complete control. Things may appear. for a while
to be out of control as far as we are concerned. But you can
rest assured of this, he worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will.