God Saves a Tormented Heart
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
April 30, 2017
NOTE: A PowerPoint and ProPresenter 6 slide presentation is available for this sermon upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
Adapted from a sermon by Jerry Shirley on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 16
INTRODUCTION
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas launch into Europe on their second missionary journey. In this chapter, as I pointed out last week, we see three remarkable conversions.
1) In verses 11-15, God saves a TENDER heart—a lady named Lydia, Paul’s first convert on the European continent.
2) Today, in verses 16-19, we will see that God saves a TORMENTED heart.
3) Next week, in verses 19-36, we will see how God saves a TOUGHENDED heart—the story of the salvation of the Philippian jailor.
Today’s sermon, “God Saves a Tormented Heart” is the story of a demon-possessed slave girl who was a pawn of greedy masters. Notice with me three things from our text today:
I. FIRST WE SEE IN OUR TEXT A CONTROLLING SPIRIT – Acts 16:16 – “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.”
The word “soothsaying” means “fortune telling.” This woman was a psychic. She had supernatural powers, but remember, not all of the supernatural is of God. Hers was from Satan’s kingdom. She had a demonic spirit, and her masters were getting rich off her. They were literally “pimping” her out as a psychic, astrologer, palm reader. She was the forerunner of those who today who are Ouija masters, people who hold séances, summon the dead and channel spirits.
This woman, whether willingly or by force of her masters, was under satanic control. People scoff about these things and take them lightly, but let me be perfectly clear: THESE THINGS ARE OF THE DEVIL, and they lead to Satanic control. Satan desires control, and he has multiple ways to suck people in to what seems innocuous or safe, but any dabbling in the Satanic world is dangerous.
This is why all through the Word of God, we are warned not to have any involvement with the occult
Look with me at what God says in Deuteronomy 18:10-12 about these things: Deuteronomy 18:10-12 – “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire [this was a ceremony related to the magical arts, perhaps involving human sacrifice], or that useth divination [a fortune teller], or an observer of times [an astrologer], or an enchanter [an interpreter of omens], or a witch [a female devotee of the magical or demonic arts], 11 Or a charmer [someone who casts spells using charms], or a consulter with familiar spirits [a spirit channeler], or a wizard [a male devoted to the magical or demonic arts], or a necromancer [someone claiming to consult with the dead]. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”
I do not believe that a true believer can be demon-possessed, which is why we will see in our text that this girl lost her clairvoyant powers once she believed in Christ. But whether you’re born-again or without Christ, if you play around with the supernatural apart from God Almighty, you’re playing with fire! And though Satan cannot possess a true believer, by being involved in the occult, we open ourselves up to demon control and destabilization in our lives!
Illus. – A survey was done of 1,700 high school kids in a Christian school, of all places, and the results were shocking. 416 of them admitted to being involved with Ouija boards. This is not some harmless board game like Monopoly or Tetras It’s a form of divination and it’s a slippery slide that could easily plunge a person into the realm of Satan! Even the manufacturers know this, and in their instruction booklet they say: “If you use the Ouija board in a frivolous spirit, asking ridiculous questions or laughing over it, you naturally will get unnatural influences around you.” Folks, those unnatural influences are DEMONS! Stay away from anything dealing with these things! God says in Deuteronomy 12 that they’re an abomination to Him.
Out of those 1,700 Christian high school kids, 321 admitted to dabbling in astrology or horoscopes, which originated way back at the Tower of Babel. The Bible calls these activities “observing of times” and they’re repeatedly forbidden in the Bible as occultist practices! They’re counterfeit guidance systems that leave out the direction of the Holy Spirit who promises to lead and guide believers in all things. God help the believer who dabbles in such things!
192 of these kids admitted to palm reading to foretell future events…the ultimate insult to God whom we’re supposed to trust with our future. 2 Kings 1:3 says, “… Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Akron?” And I repeat it today: Is it because there is no God that you consult a Ouija board? A horoscope? A palm reader? A psychic?
Let’s teach our children to look to GOD, and that it matters not what tomorrow holds, if we know who holds tomorrow!
So first we observe A CONTROLLING SPIRIT that used this girl for evil.
II. NOTICE SECOND A CRAFTY STRATAGEM – Verse 17
This is where it gets interesting. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines a stratagem as “any artifice, ruse, or trick devised or used to attain a goal or to gain an advantage over an adversary.”
Now look at verse 17 – “The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.”
On the surface this doesn’t seem so bad. She’s was, after all, telling the truth, right? Yes, but in fact, this was a dangerous and subtle attack on God’s servants orchestrated by this slave girl’s controlling demonic spirits.
This was a stratagem, a trick, to infiltrate a false believer among the true saints. Satan wanted to infiltrate this infant church just beginning in Europe at Philippi. This was an attempt to get people to believe she was a part of their group, and that her power was from the same source as God’s. “Hey, we’re on the same side!”
And you know what?—Many people involved in occultic practices attribute them to God. Don’t you believe it for one minute! God is not the source of the supernatural powers of ANYONE involved with ANY of these activities which He has specifically forbidden in Scripture.
Illus. – The September 11 terrorists had infiltrated the U.S.—for years living among us in subdivisions, being involved in our communities, blending in, going to college, taking flying lessons. But when the time was right, they ATTACKED. Who knows how many sleeper cells there are right now doing that very thing, living a lie to strike like a cobra at just the right time?
What’s my point?— The Bible says Satan is the father of lies—but he’ll use the truth if it suits his purposes. He’s the prince of darkness—but he presents himself as an angel of light. When a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon knocks on your door, they’ll say a lot of things they know you’ll readily agree with and many things that are true. But the worst kind of lie is one mixed with truth.
Illus. – The worst cyanide is not in a bottle with a warning label and a skull and cross bones on it. Nobody would drink that. The worst cyanide is just a few drops mixed into a big jug of Kool-Aid. It’s just as deadly—but YOU DON’T KNOW IT’S THERE!
Satan uses subterfuge to try to deceive us and beguile us. In this text we see a controlling spirit, and a crafty subterfuge.
III. THIRD, WE SEE A CONTENTIOUS SALVATION – Acts 16:18-24 – “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. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.”
This girl was liberated by the power of Jesus Christ! She no longer belonged to Satan, but to Jesus! It doesn’t specifically say it in the text, but the implication is that when delivered from the demon, this simple slave girl turned to Christ and was saved. Otherwise, the demon would have reentered her and her demonic powers would have been restored.
What was the response of the owners of this slave girl and the people of the city? You’d think that would make the whole town happy, right? You’d think that would just thrill everybody, right?
If you had thought that, you would be wrong. Her salvation was contentious and created an uproar. Being freed from this demon made her masters furious, and they dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities with a trumped-up reason to stop them.
They said, “They’re disrupting our city. They’re violating our customs. They’re troublemakers!” Wait a minute: Do you think for one minute that their true concern was the good of the community? No, they were upset because it meant they would lose their profits.
You know, nowadays, Christians are being portrayed as the problem and not the solution—the bad guys and not the good guys. But the real troublemakers are not the Christians trying to free people from sin, but those who are trying to enslave people in sin.
Illus. – For instance, let me give you a couple of illustrations: What do you think the casino industry really wants? To hear them tell it, they’re only after freedom. You don’t think they want people to be addicted to gambling? You don’t think that PROFIT is their bottom line, just like these phony masters in Acts 16 claiming only to be looking after the good of the community?
What do you think the pornography industry is all about? To hear them talk you’d think they’re the vanguard of freedom of speech. “Why, if we ever outlaw pornography, we’ll lose our freedom of speech and become a dictatorship. We’ll lose our precious liberties.” But what they really want is PROFITS, and the more people they can get enslaved to pornography, the more money they’ll make, just like these wicked masters in Acts 16.
These people know they’re harming people and enslaving them; they know that they profit by preying on the weaknesses of our baser instincts. So why do they do it?—One word: MONEY! Verse 19 says that this slave girl’s masters got upset because they “saw that the hope of their gains was gone.”
1 Timothy 6:10 says, “…the love of money is the root of all evil.…”
But the good news is that this slave girl was saved and changed. She wouldn’t continue in her old ways even if it did pay well! That’s why these guys were so upset! She wasn’t playing their game anymore. God changed her heart and changed her life.
Last week I quoted 2 Corinthians 5:17 and I’ll quote it again today: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Brethren, there is no value in a so-called salvation that doesn’t change your life. If after your profession of faith, there is no real and concrete change in your life, I would question whether you were truly saved. If it didn’t result in a change in the way you lived, in the way you looked at life, and God, and church and the people of God, you should reevaluate whether you are truly a child of God. Genuine faith in Christ results in real and lasting changes in your life, attitude, marriage, work ethic, activities you do and activities you avoid and literally affects every area of your life.
I’m not saying we will not let God down or fall into temptation or backslide. But true conversion always results in genuine change in some degree or the other.
Last week, we looked at Lydia; this week we looked at this slave girl who was everything that Lydia was not:
1) Lydia was high society…the slave girl was led around like a dog.
2) Lydia was moral, upright, religious…the slave girl was none of those things.
3) Lydia was and up-and-coming business woman…the slave girl was down-and-out, a source of income of her greedy and wicked masters.
There’s a great lesson here: There’s nobody so good that they don’t NEED TO SAVED, but there’s nobody so bad that they CAN’T BE SAVED!
CONCLUSION
A. Well, we’ve looked at all our text teaches.
B. Let’s close by seeing what this text might be saying to us today:
1) First, let me ask: Are you dabbling in any way in any part of the occult?
If so, let me encourage you to do two things. The phrase, “the works of darkness” is only found twice in God’s Word:
Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
If you’ve read your horoscope, or gone to have your palm read, or played around with a Ouija board, or messed around with Dungeons and Dragons, or any of these kinds of things—don’t make excuses for them and don’t try to justify them. Paul says to have NO fellowship with these things, and he says to REPROVE them—not justify them.
Then in Romans 13:12 he says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”
Paul says, “CAST these things off.”— He’s saying, “Get rid of them; don’t have ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING that even HINTS of the occult; stay away from them.”
Then he says to replace them with spiritual things. Instead of seeking to know the future through fortune tellers, rest in faith in a good God who promises to watch over you and to never leave you nor forsake you. Instead of seeking occult powers, seek to have victory and power over sin and the world through Christ Jesus. Put on the armor of light, not the works of darkness.
2) Second, let me ask you about your salvation.
Do you KNOW that you are saved and on your way to heaven? Probably no one here this morning is like this slave girl. Most of you have probably tried to be for the most part a moral, upright, “good” person like Lydia. It doesn’t matter—Lydia was good and moral and upright and religious, not one who was debased and sin-sick and demon-possessed like the clairvoyant slave girl—yet Lydia needed to be saved just like the slave girl did. If you’ve never been born again into God’s family, I invite you to come to Jesus and trust in Him to save you from your sin.
3) My last application is this: Is it possible that you’re a false believer?
Maybe you grew up in a Christian home and always tried to live like a Christian. Maybe you’re what I call a “cultural Christian”—someone who just grew up in the Christian culture and just kind of absorbed it all, but you never personally put your faith in Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sin. You can talk the talk, but you know in your heart you don’t walk the walk. You’re a PROFESSOR of salvation, but not a POSSESSOR of salvation. Your life has not been transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ, like Lydia’s and the slave girl’s was.
If that describes you, may I invite you to turn from sin today and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and become a REAL Christian.
