Look at Acts chapter 10. This is the message that Peter
went and preached to Cornelius and his household at the conversion
of the Gentiles. And I don't wish to preach on
that message this morning, but there is a particular verse here
that I want to look at. I want to begin here in verse
34 and read a portion of this message to you. Acts chapter
10 and verse 34. Peter opened his mouth and said,
Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but
in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. That word I say ye know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached. How that God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went
about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil for God was with him. And we are witnesses of these
things which he did both in the land of the Jews And in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree, him God raised up the
third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before God, even to us who did eat and drank
with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to
preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was
ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And
to him gave all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Now
my message is taken this morning from verse 38. Let me read it
to you again. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. for God was with
him. And that's what I want to look
at this morning, the Lord Jesus healing those who are oppressed
of the devil. Now, you and I give a lot of
time, as well we should, to studying and teaching and preaching concerning
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's
our God, He's our life, He's our salvation. He's a friend
to us that sticketh closer than a brother. But there is another
person, and I call him a person, and I don't mean that he's a
physical person. I call him a person because I
don't know how else to identify him. He's a person as opposed
to some mere influence. And sometimes you and I have
a tendency to ignore Him, not to study concerning Him. And
of course, that is the devil. The devil. The Lord Jesus came
to heal those that are oppressed of the devil. Some would say,
and I've heard people say this, that I don't even want to hear
about the devil. I don't want to hear anything
about his works, as though ignorance was bliss. But ignorance is not
bliss, and it's not safe. The Apostle Paul said we're not
ignorant of his devices. So it compels us, brothers and
sisters, to look at this person the Scripture calls the devil.
I'm sure the devil likes for us to be ignorant of him. don't want attention drawn to
their activities. And when the devil doesn't have
attention drawn to him on his activities, right there is the
very point where he attacks us and gets the victory from us.
The Bible has spoken so much of the devil and his work, and
I'm sure the reason that it has is so you and I won't remain
ignorant of him and his work. Lest don't study about him, some
may say, lest don't mention his name, lest don't expose his work,
as though ignoring him would humble him and somehow divert
him from his activities. But, brothers and sisters, he
likes it when men ignore him. That's when he gets the advantage
over people. The devil, he thrives through
our ignorance, and that's usually the point. where He attacks us. It's where you and I are ignorant
of Him. So here is what we're going to look at this morning.
We're going to begin, first of all, with the devil and his work,
and then the healing that the Lord Jesus brings to those who
are oppressed by Him. First of all, let's look at the
devil himself, and as I said, he is indeed a real person. Some seem to think that the devil
is no more than just the evil that's in society, or the evil
that you and I see in and of ourselves. But the devil is more
than just the evil that's in society. He is Himself not an
evil person. He is not evil outside of us.
He is not evil that exists outside of society. When the Lord Jesus
was tempted, He wasn't tempted because of any evil that was
in Him. If the devil was mere evil, how
do you and I explain the temptations of the Lord Jesus Christ? Three
specific times he was tempted in Matthew chapter 4. And each
time the scripture says, the devil said. The devil came to
him and the devil said. So the devil is not an influence. The devil is a real person and
he's evil. He's more than an evil influence.
He himself is evil. The names that's given unto him
indicate to you and I that he's more than just a mere influence. Listen to some of the names that's
given to the devil. First of all, the devil means
accuser. He's a slanderer. He accuses
us before God, and he comes to our mind and accuses God to us. He's the devil. His name is Satan,
which means enemy or adversaries. He is the adversary of God. He
is the adversary of the church of God. Your adversary, the devil,
as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. Another common name that the
scripture gives to him is the wicked one. The wicked one. The Lord Jesus is called the
holy one. The just one. The devil is called
the wicked one or the evil one. Cain was of the wicked one. The towers are the children of
the wicked one. He that is born of God overcometh
the world, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Sometimes you
can look at his name and it describes his work, doesn't it? He describes
his character by the very names that are given to him. He is
called Belzebub, which is the prince of the devils or prince
of demons. The book of Revelations calls
him Apollon, which is the angel of the bottomless pit or a destroying
angel. He's called the prince of this
evil world, the God of this world, and the prince of the power of
the air, the children that now worketh in the spirit of disobedience. So you see here that he's a real
person. Paul said Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. So he is indeed more than just
the evil that you look in society and see. We look in our inner
cities, or we hear all the sin going on there, and we say, that's
the devil. Well, that may be the devil at
work, but the devil is a real person. He's a real person. Secondly, his origin. Where did the devil come from?
I want you to turn over a couple of places with me, and you'll
have to turn over right quickly. I can't spend a lot of time here,
and we can't go into great detail in this, but I want you to read
Ezekiel chapter 28 with me. You turn to Ezekiel chapter 28
and Isaiah chapter 14. I want you to look at some of
the things here quickly that are said concerning this person. Ezekiel chapter 28, and let's
begin reading here in verse 11. Ezekiel 28, verse 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon
the king of Tyrus. Now, when you see these names
mentioned, it's really talking about someone other than the
king of Tyrus. Sometimes we have Christ spoken
of in the Old Testament under the name of David. And some of
the times we have the church spoken of under the name of Jacob.
Here we have the devil spoken of under the name of the king
of Tyrus. But what is said about this king
could not be applied to this king. And what you realize as
you begin to read this, this is speaking of somebody else.
And he is described in this passage. Take up a lamentation upon the
king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, Look
here what is said of the devil now. Thou sillest up the sun,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden,
the garden of God. The king of Tyrus never was there.
Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardis, the topaz,
the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, and
the emerald, and the carbuncle, and the gold. The workmanship
of thy tablets and of thy taps were prepared in thee in the
day that thou wast created." So what do we learn here from
this? He's a created being. He's not an eternal being. He's
a creature. And who created Him? Well, in
the beginning, God created Him. God made Him. And God made Him
perfect in beauty when He created Him. In verse 14, look what was
said of it. They are the anointed cherub
that covered. Now, when you read about anointed
cherubs, cherubim in the Scriptures, they seem to be the protectors
of the worship of God. You can read your Bibles about
the cherub and the cherubim. Do you remember when the Lord
sent our parents out of the garden? He placed a cherub there to keep
the way of the tree of life. Over the mercy seat where God
met with the priest, there were these cherubs. So there are these
mighty creatures that seem to guard the worship of God. And
Satan is called here an anointed cherub that covered. And look
here, I have set thee so. It was God that originally set
him there. Thou was upon the holy mountain
of God, Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones
of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways
from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee."
So he was created perfect by God and iniquity was found in
him. He fell through sin. He fell
through His pride. Look over here in the other place
I wanted you to look, in Isaiah chapter 14, in verse 4. Look at this. Isaiah chapter
14. Isaiah chapter 14. Look at this. Isaiah chapter 14. This again
is speaking of it. In Isaiah chapter 14. Look again in verse 4. that thou
shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon." Now here
he comes under the name of the king of Babylon. Now hath the oppressed city ceased,
the golden city ceased, the Lord hath broken the staff of the
wicked and the scepter of the rulers. He hath smote the people.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke and rule
the nations in anger is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole
earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break forth into singing.
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon,
saying, Since thou art laid down, no fellow is come up against
us. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thy coming,
it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief stones of
the earth, chief ones of the earth, it hath raised up from
the It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the
nation. All they shall speak and say
unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like
unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the
grave, and the noise of thy vows, the worm is spread unto thee,
and the worm covereth thee. Now art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning. Now art thou cast down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations." When he sinned, the
Lord Jesus said, I beheld him fall from heaven. He was cast
down in verse 13. For thou hast said in thy heart,
here is his sin, I will ascend unto heaven. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the height of the clouds. I will be like the Most High
God. And yet the Lord said to him,
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit."
So there he is. There is his origin. The origin
of the devil, Lucifer, the son of the morning, that was perfect
in beauty, full of wisdom, until he sinned against God. Until
he said, I'm going to exalt my throne against the stars of God. A mighty cherub, a mighty angel,
and yet he failed. What's his present status at
this time? Well, he's called a prince. He's
called a god. the prince of darkness and the
God of this world. And he has a kingdom. Our Lord
Jesus says this about him, if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided
against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand? He has a kingdom. And we're told that he's head
over that kingdom. His kingdom is a kingdom of darkness
and a kingdom of evil. And who's under him? There's
two we're told that's under him. One, we're told of his angels.
There was a great host of angels that fell with him. Jude and
Peter tells us the angels sinned and kept not their habitation.
They sinned against God and they're held in change under darkness
to the judgment of the great day. We have no idea how many
there are, but they're called His angels. The devil and His
angels. He didn't create them, but they're
His. and their evil spirits, wicked
spirits, unclean spirits. The Lord Jesus has His holy angels,
the devil has his unclean spirits, and he rules over them in his
kingdom of darkness. They do his bidding. So he as
a kingdom and the angels are his subjects, his servants. But
that's not all. And this is very frightening
if you consider this. Who else are his subjects? The
unsaved. The unregenerate are in His dark
kingdom. He has power over them. He rules
them and guides them as God permits Him to do so. He does nothing
without the Lord. It's so important to remember
that. Don't get it in your mind to think that the devil is almighty.
The Lord only is almighty. And when the devil does something,
he always has to get permission. He can't hurt anybody. He can't
kill anybody except God gives him permission. Is he mighty?
Sure he's mighty. He's a roaring lion. He can do
great devastation. We know that. But he can't touch
anybody. And he can't influence anybody
unless God gives him permission. But it's obvious that God gives
him permission. Because listen to what the Scripture
says, In time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So
they're under his authority. He leads them, He influences
them as God permits Him. In Colossians 1.13 we are told
this, that they are held, the unsaved, the unbelievers, are
held in His kingdom under His power unless and until God delivers
them from the power of that darkness. They are under His power. And
in 2 Timothy 2.26 we are told this, that they are taken captive
by the devil at his will. In other words, if God wills
it, the devil can take men captive and blind their minds and hold
them in darkness and ignorance until God grants them Repentance
to the acknowledgement of the truth. And how does the Lord
Jesus describe him? He describes him as a strong
man who keepeth his goods. That means he's in a heart, and
his demons are in the heart of the unbelievers, and he secures
them. He holds them and rules over
them. Fourthly, let's consider this,
the devil's end. And he has an end. He has an
end, and his kingdom has an end. And that is the lake of fire. The devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire where the beast and the false
prophet is, and they shall be tormented day and night forever
and forever. The Lord Jesus said the lake
of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. But brothers
and sisters, we read something else that's very fearful. Not
only does the devil and his angels have their part in the lake of
fire, but all his kingdom does. not only his angels, but those
that he ruled over in this life. Because listen to this, whosoever
was not found written in the book of life, they were cast
into the same lake that he was cast into. Their end is the same
end that he had. He and all his kingdom shall
be destroyed in the lake of fire and tormented day and night forever
and ever." So what have we found out about the devil? First of
all, that he's real. Secondly, that he's a mighty
creature created of God, and through his sin and pride, he
failed. He has a kingdom and servants
under him, and his end is destruction. Now, you can take your Bibles
and you can study this subject for yourself at your own leisure.
Secondly is this. Not only is there a devil, a
personal devil, but we find out here in the text that I read
to you in chapter 10 of Acts, verse 38, that he has a work. He has a work to do. He's a devil
and he's at work. The Lord Jesus came to destroy
the works of the devil. Now, you and I would be here
for several hours if we looked at every aspect of the devil's
work. You can take your Bibles, and
as you read through your Bibles, you can see what works the devil
does. But I want to look, especially
this morning, at our text and the word that's mentioned here
in verse 38, and that is this. Look at it again. God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went
about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil. What is his work according to
this text? It's oppression. He oppresses. That's his chief work. This word
to oppress means to load down our burden beyond reason. to treat with unjust severity,
to overpower, to overburden, and thus oppress with grief,
to compel one to perform unreasonable service. That's his cheap work,
to oppress. And he does it in two realms.
We know he does it in the physical realm. We see all through the
Gospels. How the devil oppressed men's
body. The woman that was bowed down
for 18 years, bent together, and she could in no wise lift
up herself. The Lord Jesus said that had
been Satan that bound her. And that messenger of Satan was
sent to buffet Paul's body, his flesh. He was a thorn in the
flesh. I imagine if you and I had some
discernment today of these things, we could see people that were
bound with certain infirmities and diseases that wasn't physical
at all, but it was from the devil. But I can't discern that and
you can't discern that, but I'm sure it still happens. I've seen
some instances where it was without a doubt that the devil had taken
possession of people's bodies and was using their bodies. But
the main oppression that I want to look at with you for a minute
is mental oppression. There's where he works in our
day and with you and I. Spiritual oppression or mental
oppression. Look here in the book of Job.
Look in the book of Job chapter 6. I want to show you this. And we can see this here in Job. Job chapter 6. And here in verses
1 through verse 4, there's two things I want to show you here
concerning oppression. I don't think you and I are seeing
the trials in our day, at least I'm not suffering the trials
and the persecutions as our forefathers did. I think you and I are very
tender today. That's one of our problems, we're
so tender. We're untried, aren't we? And
we're very tender because of it. We don't have the mental
strength, the spiritual strength that some of our forefathers
had. But here's the thing about mental oppression. It's relative. It's relative. Things may appear
to be going well outside. If I look at you, I look at you
and I say, well, you have no problems. Everything is well
with you. You're healthy. Things are well
on your job or around the house. But within, you're oppressed. In your mind, in your heart,
you're oppressed. So oppression is relative to
us. And the same devil that oppressed
Job is the same devil that oppresses us. I have never suffered anything,
and you haven't either, as Job suffered. But all of us have
suffered some of the mental oppression. that he suffered, and therefore
this oppression is relative to us. Now look at this. Let me
show you two things here in Job chapter 6, here in verses 1 through
verse 4. The first portion of this I want
us to look at is this, talking about the oppression of the devil.
And you can see here in this verse how the devil oppresses. Job answered and said, O that
my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances
together, for now it would be heavier than the sands of the
sea, therefore my words are swallowed up." Now here's the first thing
about oppression and the way the devil oppresses us is this. He turns our eyes upon our trouble,
whatever it is, upon our problem, and He causes us to look at that
problem, and then He magnifies that problem. Now, I'll be the
first one to say that Job was in a terrible calamity. He lost
all of his kids. He lost a tremendous amount of
his goods. He lost his health. He sat on
this ash heap with boils all over his body. He broke an old
posture and was scratching the open sores with that posture.
He had indeed come into an awful calamity. But even that, notice
how he magnifies his trouble. He says, if you took my grief
and my calamity and you weighed it in scales, it would be heavier
than the sand of the seas. Now wait a minute. Now, Job,
wait a minute. I know you're in calamities,
and I know it's heartbreaking. But heavier than the sands of
the sea, all of it, if you took all the sands of the sea and
laid it upon Job, it would have crushed him immediately. It wasn't
that heavy, was it? And we know it wasn't that heavy
because he came through this trial. And he prospered again. And God blessed him. No, it wasn't
that heavy. Why did he say that? Well, you
remember who was trying this man? You remember who was oppressing
him? Satan came to God and he said,
you let me have Job for a few days, and I'll so oppress that
man that he'll cuss you to your face. And what did the Lord tell
him? He's in your hands. He's in your hands. You spare
his life. I'm limiting you as to what you
can do. But he said, you take it. You try it. And so here the
devil does this. He comes to Job. He afflicts
him. And then he has Job to look at
his affliction. And here's what he said. Oh,
it's so great. It's so magnified. I don't think
I can live another day. That's why I said spiritual oppression
is relative to us. We don't have to be in Job's
calamity to suffer oppression. This same devil that came to
Job and turned his eyes upon his trouble and magnified it,
he comes to us, and he shows us our trouble, and he magnifies
that trouble, and he oppresses us by it. Why should you and
I be concerned with this? Well, first of all, for this
reason. We should be concerned with this oppression because
of who is behind it and his motive in doing it. He always means
us harm, brothers and sisters. The devil hates us, and you and
I ought to be concerned when he begins to oppress us. When
the Lord Jesus Christ calls us to an occupation in our life,
whatever it is, He always gives us grace to work and to do what
His will is. And if you want to know what
your occupation is, look in the Word of God and you'll find it.
Are you a husband? Are you a wife? Are you parents? Are you a teacher? Are you a public official? Are
you an employer or an employee? Then the Lord has called you
into that occupation and He'll give you strength and grace to
go and to do and to fulfill your occupation. When the Lord gives
us something to do, He always gives us grace to do it. But
the motive that the devil has is this. He gets us down. He so oppresses us that we cannot
work or do or enjoy anything. We cannot fulfill our occupation
in this life. And what He does, He comes to
us and He points our eyes inward. And I tell you, and this has
happened to you and it's happened to me, when our eyes are pointing
inward and all we see is our trouble, All we see is our inabilities. All we see is our felons. And
that begins to get us down and brings our mind into darkness.
You can bank on it. The devil is behind that. The
devil is behind that. And his motive is to come to
us and make us so miserable that we cannot enjoy God or God's
creature or the worship and service of God. Now that's his motive.
That's his motive. Look here in chapter 6, and just
turn over one chapter in chapter 7. Look here how Job finally
began to feel about himself. Look what he said in verse 15
and verse 16. In verse 15 of chapter 7, that
my soul chooses strangling and death rather than life. I loathe
it. What is the matter with this
man? I know he's suffering trials. And I know the burden is heavy
upon him. But see where the devil seeks to bring men, to make them
so miserable, to so shut their eyes and minds and thoughts into
darkness that they say, I hate my life. Remember that old song
that George Strait wrote? I hate my life, and if it wasn't
for my kids, I'd hate my wife. I hate everything. Who's behind
the attitude like that? That's the devil in it. He oppresses. He turns our eyes inward on ourselves
and says, oh, look at your trouble. Look what you're going through.
And it may be nothing. It may mean nothing that you're
going through. But boy, when he's finished with it, he's got
you down and he's got you miserable. That's his work. That's his work
to oppress even to the point of saying this, I choose strangling. I'd sooner be dead, I'd rather
be dead than have a life like this. I had a dear, well not
a dear friend of mine, he would have been. I liked him, I got
acquainted with him, the pastor out at the Presbyterian Church
there in Muncie. The poor man suffered awful bouts
of depression and finally took his own life. Just couldn't live
any longer. Who's behind that? Who is behind
all the suicides? Who is behind all of this awful
oppression? It's the devil. It's against
nature for a man to destroy himself. God did not create us to take
our own lives. Our lives are not ours. They
belong to Christ. And for a man to do that which
is unnatural, he must be driven to it. And whose job is that?
Whose work is that? The devil. The oppression of
the devil. You and I should be concerned for this reason. Not
only the devil's motives out to do us harm, but we should
be concerned for this reason. Not only will oppression hinder
you, not only will it get you down and keep you in gloom and
doom, but I tell you, it spreads to those around you. That's the
thing about oppression. It not only affects you, But
it just affects the rest of the people around you, your family
and the church. Let me give you a good example
of that. It's a simple example, but let me show you how it works.
The Lord Jesus was teaching in Martha's house. Remember Martha
and Mary? And Martha, the scripture says,
was cumbered. She was distracted with a lot
of care. And her serving, she was cooking
and serving food. And she became so worried about
it, she went to the Lord and here's what she said. Lord, don't
you care? Don't you even care? She got
so oppressed. Don't you even care? Tell my
sister to come and help me. And the Lord said, Martha, you're
so worried. You're so anxious. You're so
full of turmoil and disturbed in your mind. Listen to this
now about many things. At first, the Scripture says
it was about serving. And now the Lord Jesus says it's
leaked out into other areas in your life. Not only about serving, but now you've got so down and
so oppressed that you can't do anything. You're worried about
everything. Did you ladies ever do this? Did you ever look at
a big stack of laundry and you say, I can't face this.
I can't get that done. I just can't do it. There it
is piled up on the couch, four foot high. I can't do this. I can't go another day. And then
because that gets you down, you can't get the dishes on.
And you can't get the floor back. What's happened? What's happened? The same thing that happened
with dear Martha. She got so troubled over this
servant, and it got her down. You say, Bruce, that's silly.
Is it silly? Is it silly? Well, let me tell
you what it did to her, and you'll see if it's silly. Number one,
it kept her from worship. It kept her from worship. What
was everybody else doing? They were in the living room
worshipping the Lord Jesus. Sitting at His feet, hearing
His Word. Why wasn't she there? It wouldn't
have done her any good if she had been there. Why? She was
oppressed. She was cumbered. She was troubled.
And let me tell you what else it will do. It not only affected
her, but she said, Lord, would You ask Mary, would You tell
Mary to leave Your feet? and come in here and help me."
See how oppression does? It not only gets you down, you'll
involve those around. How many of us know that? We
all know that, don't we? I've been oppressed and I've
worried my dear wife today. Some of you have got families
that the devil has oppressed, and what does it do? It worries
you to death. Oppression of the devil. But
look back over in Job chapter 6. I've got to go on, I'm going
to keep you too long. Job's self-deception. There's
the first thing. The first thing is, the devil comes and he turns
our eyes in on us, and he exaggerates whatever problem we're having.
Maybe little, but boy, not one he's finished with. But secondly,
here in verse 4, and boy, I think this has got to be one of the,
this is those fiery darts. that Paul said only faith could
quench. Look here what he says in verse
4. Job says this, "...the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit, the terrors of God
do set themselves in array against me." Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Was this the arrows
of the Almighty? Was this the terror of God that
had set itself against Job? Job was saying this, God is so
angry with me, He's terrifying me. His arrows are sticking in
me. But was it God? You go back and read chapter
2, verse 6 and 7 sometime and you'll find this. God said He's
in your hands. You do with Him. But just for
his life, this wasn't God at all. This was the devil in Job's
mind making him think that it was God. That God is not for
me, Christ is against me. And brothers and sisters, when
the devil can convince a man of that, oh my, he'll torment
him and oppress him indeed. I've been there. I've been there.
Conviction of sin is necessary both to the saint and the sinner,
but it's dangerous too. It's dangerous. True conviction
humbles a person. It breaks the heart, but it doesn't
drive the heart to despair. True conviction humbles a man
and it brings out of him a confession of that sin and forgiveness of
that sin. and a hope in Christ, in His
goodness and His mercy. But the conviction that the devil
brings, he hides the love of Christ. He hides the mercy of
Christ and he convinces the poor conscience that Christ Himself
is angry with him and wants nothing to do with him. And brothers
and sisters, if the devil can convince a man that Christ is
against him, that Jesus Christ wants nothing to do with you,
Jesus Christ is not concerned about you, then He'll drive that
poor guilty soul to utter despair. Martin Luther was telling about
a man in his day that had professed the Lord for some time, and he
had fallen into open sin. And Luther said that man got
it in his mind that Jesus Christ was accusing him to the Father.
And Luther said he went around, and every time you'd try to talk
to him, he'd always make this statement, I have denied Jesus
Christ, and now he's standing before his Father to accuse me. And Luther said all the promises
that you could show that man, telling him of the mercy of Jesus
Christ, His faithfulness to plead the cause of those that come
to God by Him, none of those things would relieve that man
from what he was thinking in his mind. And finally, he destroyed
himself. He killed himself. That's what
the devil can do when he gets into a man's mind and pretend
to be God and set himself up as Christ. Instead of making
Christ out as a loving and tender forgiver of our sins, he makes
Christ out as an accuser. Standing on God's right hand.
Curing nothing of us and of our plight that we've fallen into.
The Jews thought this in John chapter 5. The Lord Jesus said,
don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. And that's
one of the things that kept some of the Jews from coming to Him.
The devil in their minds had set Christ up as an accuser. Joshua the high priest in Zechariah
3, we're told, stood before the Lord and he had his filthy garments
on. And Jesus Christ was standing
there at the Father's right hand to plead for Joshua. But there
was somebody else there too. Satan was there, standing at
Joshua's right hand to resist him, the scripture says. And
what the devil did to Joshua was say, look at you. Look at
your filthiness. You're standing here before the
Lord. You think He's going to have anything to do with you.
The best thing you can do is despair and get out of here.
That's what he tells us. Remember what was said about
Judas when he saw that he was condemned? Remember what he did?
He went out and hanged himself. He got so guilty, and no doubt
the devil whispered to him and said, there's no hope for you.
You're so condemned, just go get it over with, kill yourself.
Now you say, Bruce, that was prophesied that that would happen.
I know that, and it had to happen. But what means did it happen?
What means did it happen? Judas' sin, and the devil getting
in his mind and saying, you might as well despair. Brothers and
sisters, if God is not for the sinner, if Christ is not for
the sinner, then you and I are in trouble. You and I are in
trouble. Oh, what fiery darts! The terrors
of God. No, it's not. That's the devil
putting that in your mind. That's the devil. Acts 10, verse
38 again. Oh, look at this. Turn back over
there. You've got to look at this. You've
got to look at this. Just be patient with me a minute.
Look at this. Look how the Holy Spirit says
this. Read it again. Chapter 10, verse
38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good. And look at this. He doesn't
say accusing all that old press. He doesn't say condemning all
that are oppressed. He doesn't even say forgiving
all that's oppressed. Oh, but He uses this precious,
comforting word, healing all that are oppressed. Ain't that
a wonderful way to put it? Healing. The Lord forgiveth all
our iniquities, yes, but the very next verse says, and He
healeth all our diseases. The Lord Jesus Christ looks upon
a poor heart, and He says, this poor soul has been made sick
through oppression. The enemy has done this. And
He says, I will heal him. I will heal him. The name of
the Lord Jesus, He takes this name to Himself in Exodus chapter
19, Jehovah-repika. And you know what that means.
The Lord, our Healer. He's the physician. The devil
has afflicted us with oppression, and he's made us sick, and our
sickness calls for a physician, and Jesus Christ has taken that
name for Himself. And He's advertised it to this
end, that they that are whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick. And then he tells us that he
came down from heaven for this very purpose and that God anointed
him with the Holy Ghost and sent him for this cause. That if he
found any in the way that was oppressed of the devil, that
he was to be careful to heal that person. And I love the way
he said it here, healing all that was oppressed. In other
words, the Father said, My son, be careful that you don't leave
a very one that the devil has oppressed. Heal all of them. Heal every one of them. In our text, we're told
that's exactly what Jesus of Nazareth did. He went about doing
good and healing the broken in heart and binding up their wounds. Oh, you and I are no match for
the devil. He's too wily for us. He's too experienced for
us. We can't heal ourselves. If left
to ourselves, we'd pile away in our diseases. But we have
a wise physician. He's a good and gracious physician.
He's a wise physician. He's able to diagnose our diseases
and then apply the remedy and heal us. Heal us. Now we have to answer
this question. What is the remedy? What is the
healing remedy that He applies? It's this. It's peace. It's peace. That's a beautiful word. Tranquility. Quietness. A healing balm. Listen to this now. These are
scriptural definitions. If we had time, which we don't.
We could go through the scriptures and prove each one of these definitions,
but here's what one man gives for the definition of peace.
Freedom from molestation. Quietness from turmoil of mind
and heart. Dispelling of felt trouble. A releasing of fears and torments. The Lord hath delivered my soul
in peace from the battle that was against me." What is it that
heals the soul when the devil oppresses it? It's peace. It's
peace. Listen to some of these scriptures.
Glenn talked this morning about the sovereign spirit like the
wind. Well, this is a sovereign peace. It comes from the throne. It
comes out of the throne. And it comes, the Scripture says,
like a river. And it takes away from before
it all the oppression, all the trouble. And it leaves quietness,
serenity in its wake. Listen to this Scripture. Thus
saith the Lord, I will extend peace to her like a river. See there? Oh, it's a mighty
river too. And wherever it comes, I don't care what your oppression
is, I don't care what your trouble is, it will be swept away before
this mighty river. This mighty river of peace. Peace,
peace, wonderful peace coming down from the Father above. Listen
to this. Some things that's in the Scripture
that's vitally linked together with this peace. Listen to this.
It is linked together with delight. The meek shall inherit the earth
and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Delight. Peace brings delight. Between peace and strength. The
Lord will give strength to His people. He will bless them with
peace. Between peace and a felt safety. I will lay me down in peace and
sleep, for the Lord maketh me to dwell safely." There is a
vile union between peace and joy. Ye shall go out with joy
and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
sing before thee, and the trees of the field shall clap their
hands between peace and quietness and assurance. The work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effects of righteousness, quietness forever."
See that? There's peace. And that's the
healing balm that the Lord Jesus gives. Jesus Christ is this peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He
is our peace. And that's why it's such a sovereign
peace. Here's why it takes everything away from before it. Because
look yonder at the right hand of the Father, sitting there
in sovereign quietness, undisturbed. And who is it? That's our peace,
Clarence. You know, you look at yourself,
and you're full of turmoil. You look around you at all your
circumstances, and it's so bad. But I tell you, when you look
up, what do you see? There's your peace. There's your
peace. Secondly, Jesus Christ has made
peace with His Father on our behalf. Stop trying to make peace
with God. Stop trying to struggle, and
by your struggles and your efforts, make peace with God. Jesus Christ
has already made peace at a great cost to Himself through the blood
of His cross. Jesus Christ gives this peace. My peace I give unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Peace is this
balm. It's this balm. Peace is a healing
balm from the oppression of the devil. It delights our souls. It strengthens our souls. It
makes us feel safe. It gives joy and quietness and
assurance. That's a balm. That's a balm
for our souls. And you and I are invited, we're
welcomed to trade our anxieties, our felt troubles, for a realization
of this heartfelt peace. Are you troubled? Are you full
of anxiety? You're invited. You're invited. And here's what the Scripture
says. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer
and supplication, Let your requests be made known to God. Are you
troubled? Then come to God through Christ
and let Him know it. Put all your burden up on Him. Trade it, as it were. And here's
what He says will happen. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds. through Christ Jesus. It will
guard you. It will protect your mind. We
all went down to the hospital last Monday night to the nursing
home. And I told Joe Sunday night when
we got home, I said, I am empty as I can be. I ain't got a thing
to tell those dear old ladies tomorrow night. And we got down
there and sat down at the hospital, and I thought, boy, I'd like
to just slip out of here. And I thought, oh, Glenn, be
sure he can lead the saying of somebody who reads some Scripture,
and I'll slip out of here. And you know when I get that
way, the only remedy I can find. When I get so anxious about all
the things like that, I go cast it all right on the Lord. And
if the first time I can't find any peace about it, you know
what I do? I just go right back again. And then if I get some peace
about it, then the anxiety comes back, I just go right back again.
I go right back again. Be anxious over nothing, but
in everything, let your requests be made known to God. Tell Him. And the peace of God which passeth
understanding, it will heal your anxiety. It will heal the oppression. I have seen His ways, and I will
heal Him, saith the Lord. I will restore comforts to Him
and to His mourners." Lord, how are you going to do that? He
tells us in the very next word, peace, peace, to Him that is
before all, and to Him that is nigh, and I will heal Him. Peace.