From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll unmask the evil one.

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The way the devil does his work is through deception. He's a liar and the father of lies. And the devil never comes on the scene unless he's wearing a disguise. The only party he attends is a masquerade party.

So today in our series, we want to unmask the devil. We want to pull away the sheet, so to speak, to the enemy of our souls. And no doubt he doesn't want to be unmasked.

So you pray for me as I share this message today.

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There is treasury, there is bless love. There is hope that you always dream love. We can heal every scars. Real truth, real love, real hope.

Speaker 1

The devil is the epitome of deceit. And as Pastor Jeff just said, he never comes on the scene unless he's wearing a disguise. But are you able to recognize him in disguise?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for an eye-opening message where Pastor Jeff will share three important insights to help us understand the devil's methods of deception and how to reveal his tricks. The message today is entitled "The Devil Unmasked," and it's from the new six-message series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil."

This series is also our thank you gift for your support of any amount to From His Heart this month. You can find out more at fromhishheart.org.

Now though, open your Bible to the book of Acts, chapter 13. Here's Pastor Jeff to help you know when you see the devil unmasked.

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Acts chapter 13 speaks of the first missionary journey with the Apostle Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark. It begins in verse one:

"Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus."

"When they had reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they also had John as their helper. That's John Mark, not the apostle John. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar Jesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God."

"But Elymas the magician, for so his name is translated, was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him and said, 'You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all unrighteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.'"

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And.

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And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him. And he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. Very important passage of Scripture. He's the first convert that we know of that's mentioned in Scripture on that first missionary journey. But we see in that passage that the devil is unmasked. The false prophet Bar Jesus is unmasked and the power behind him is the devil himself.

So this is our question. Can you recognize the workings of the devil? Do you see how he operates? Because we see it here in Acts 13. I want you to notice with me three insights that will help us to understand how the devil works and how he works through his father, false teachers.

Insight number one, the devil will appear to be a trustworthy voice. He's a trustworthy voice. And so in the first missionary journey, the Holy Spirit called out Barnabas and Saul. Saul, later in this chapter, is going to start being called Paul. He calls those two out for the ministry of being a missionary. This first missionary journey. So they're in Antioch, they go down to Seleucia to get on a ship, and they sail to Cyprus.

And they're at the eastern part of Cyprus, and they go through the island of Cyprus to Paphos. And that's where they have this encounter with a man named Sergius Paulus. He's an intelligent man, and he is kind of the governor of the place. He was the proconsul, appointed by the Roman Senate. He's a Roman, he's a Gentile, and he's got this guy that's an advisor to him named Bar Jesus. That should get our attention. Bar Jesus. Bar means son and Jesus means the Lord is salvation. This guy's name was the son of salvation and he is counseling Sergius Paulus.

He's a false prophet, a Jewish false prophet. And it says that he is a magician. Now that's the same word in Greek that's used in Matthew chapter two to talk about the magi, the wise men from the east who came to Jerusalem and said, where is he who's been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. So a magi could be a learned man. They were learned men and they would study astronomy and they could also study astrology. And so sometimes that word is used in a positive sense, sometimes it's used in a negative sense.

But here's the point. That guy that is going to be opposing Paul and Barnabas, he's not a dummy, he's an educated guy. Sergius Paulus is an intelligent man, as the scripture says, and he has an intelligent advisor to him. And so the devil works through trustworthy voices, somebody who's intelligent. He likes to have the educated and the intelligent as his spokespeople. He likes to have Dr. So and so as his spokesman. He likes to have professor so and so at the university as his spokesman. Because people look at them like, oh, they're just so smart. Look at they, they have this high level degree, they're a professor, they're a doctor. And they must be telling me the truth because they are so learned and intelligent.

Now remember this about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not an issue of brain power, it's not an issue of the head. It's always an issue of the heart. Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool has said in his heart there is no God. He doesn't say it in his head, he says it in his heart. Because salvation is always an issue of the heart. So the devil gets these guys in there, as Paul said in, or as Peter said in Second Peter, chapter one. But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.

First John 4:1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And then Jude, the half brother of the Lord Jesus, he wrote just a little epistle, one chapter right before the book of the Revelation that talks about the return of the Lord. And he talks all about false teachers and false prophets. Hey, they're trustworthy voices because they have this air about them. Educated and intelligent and they'll claim to be spokesman for salvation.

See Bar Jesus. As I said, bar means son, Jesus means Jehovah saves. Yahweh is salvation. His name was the son of salvation. You know, in scripture, one of my favorite characters in scripture is Bartimaeus, Blind Bartimaeus. And he was Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. Bar means son. His dad was Timaeus. They called him son Timaeus, Bartimaeus. Well, they call this guy Bar Jesus and supposedly he can tell you about salvation, but he's a liar, he's a false prophet. He presents himself as a servant of righteousness, but he's a servant of the devil. He, as Paul is going to call him, you're a son of the devil, you're not a son of Jesus, you're a son of diabolos, the devil, the false accuser.

So he's going to come to us. When you pull off his mask, he seems like he's a trustworthy voice. That's why it's so incumbent upon Christians. Solid food. Hebrews 5:14 says solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. It's frightening and sad that so many true Christians can be so easily led astray by a false teacher because they don't know the Bible. Acts 17:11. But these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, the Berean Christians. For when they heard Paul preach, they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

That's the way you have to test any teacher. Hear what they have to say, but then check them out. One of the reasons we do sermon notes is so that you can check out what I say. And we have supporting scriptures in there so you can check that out for yourself. Don't just take my word for it, you do the research yourself, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. So that's the first insight. The devil will appear to be a trustworthy voice.

Second insight, the devil will oppose the truth of the Gospel. So Sergius Paulus hears about Barnabas and Saul and he summons them. He wants to hear the word of God. Obviously the Lord is working in this guy's heart and he wants to hear verse seven. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician, for so his name is translated, probably means wise or seer. That's what he went by, that's a title. Elimus the Seer, Elimus the wise man. He was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

He was opposing them. That means to stand against them. He's trying to plot. He's endeavoring to turn them away, to distort, corrupt and pervert the message that Paul and Barnabas are giving. Now, why would he do that? Obviously, he's a surrogate of Satan. He's the son of the devil, but he's also a highly paid advisor. And so he didn't want to lose his gig because he's got the ear of Sergius Paulus. And if Sergius Paulus becomes a Christian, that wouldn't be good for him. And so there's a monetary motivation in there too.

Interestingly, when the Bible talks about the last days, but realize this, in the last days, difficult times will come for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money. Gives a long list of things, but those are the first two. Lovers of self, lovers of money. This guy was a lover of money and he's opposing the message. He's opposing Paul and Barnabas. The devil will always oppose the truth of the gospel because Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. So he doesn't want you to be set free. He wants to pump you with lies and get you to believe the lies.

And so when we think about his opposition, there are four main areas in the gospel that he is going to oppose. Number one, he will oppose the person of Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus Christ. Now, we know from scripture that Jesus is both God and man. He's the only begotten Son of God. Now, he is not a man who's pretending to be God or a man who's like kind of subpar, kind of demigod. He's not all man and some God. He's not all God and some man. He is very God, a very God, very man, a very man. He's 100% human and he's 100% divine. You say, how do you have that? That's 200% that. You have that in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God man.

And it's very important that you understand that, because every false religion, every cult will deny the person of Jesus Christ. They're going to either attack his deity or they're going to attack his humanity. Now, in the first few centuries of the early church, the end of the first century, the start of the second century, Gnosticism was huge. And what did Gnosticism say? Jesus Christ wasn't really a man. He just appeared to be a man, but he wasn't really a man. We know he wasn't a man. They would say, because we know matter is evil and only the spirit is good. And so if Jesus were a man, he'd be matter, he'd be physical and that would be evil. And we know that that can't be. So they would attack the humanity of Christ.

Now, in our world today, the false cults and the false world religions, they attack the deity of Jesus Christ. And they say, well, yeah, Jesus is a great teacher, He's a great moral example, but he's not God. No, no, no, he's not God. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And so the opposition comes from the enemy. He's going to attack the person of Christ. Secondly, he's going to oppose and attack the work of Christ. Well, what's the work of Christ? It's what he did on the cross. It's the reason that he came. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And he gave his life on the cross for you and for me.

Now the opposition comes from the enemy who says, well, that's right, Jesus died on the cross. And let me tell you, you better be a good boy, you better be a good girl, because what Jesus did on the cross plus your good works will hopefully one day, maybe so get you to heaven. It's the cross plus your good works that equals salvation and the attack and the opposition comes against the work of Jesus Christ, saying that it's not sufficient. It's not sufficient unless you add your works to it.

Well, the Bible makes it so clear. People miss this. The world's most believed lie is that you're saved by your works. And you've heard me say this before, but it bears repeating in the minds of most people. They think God is like Santa Claus. He's making a list, checking it twice, going to find out who's naughty or nice die. You're going to stand before God in fear and trepidation because that's judgment day. And you're going to find out God has this big scale, like in chemistry, up in heaven. He piles all your good works on one side, all your bad works on the other side, and then you wait to see what is it going to be? Do my good works outweigh my bad works? Or do my bad works outweigh my good works? And how do I get to heaven? If my good works outweigh my bad works, then I get to heaven. But if my bad works outweigh my good works, then I don't make it.

Let me tell you, if God had a scale like that, and that's how you got to heaven, nobody would go to heaven. All of us would go to hell. There's none righteous, not even one. And all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Even your righteous deeds, Isaiah says, are like filthy rags before the Lord. So it's not about works. And the Bible makes it clear, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, lest any man should boast. If you could earn your way to salvation, you'd have an opportunity to boast. You'd be up in heaven saying, well, look. Look what I did. I saved myself by my good works.

But it's not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast. Titus says in Titus 3:5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Now Paul says in Romans, chapter 11 and verse 6, this is a very important verse. For if it is by grace, what's the it? Salvation. If salvation is by grace, and it is, for by grace you've been saved through faith, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace. Grace and works are mutually exclusive. Grace is the unmerited, unearned, undeserved gift of God to sinners. And that's how we're saved.

For by grace you're saved through faith. You put your puny little hand of faith in God's great big hand of grace, and he saves you. Has nothing to do with works, because works and grace are mutually exclusive. So if it's by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace. Because the moment you add works to grace, guess what? You destroy the concept of grace. Because it's the unmerited favor of God. And the King James said it goes on to say in Romans 11:6. Other versions don't have this, but it says conversely or if by works it's no longer on the basis of grace, otherwise works is no longer works. Grace and works are mutually exclusive.

If you're going to say my salvation is based on works, then you can't have grace. But if you say salvation is based on grace, then you can't have works. And as you've heard me say before, works are not the root of salvation. Works are the fruit of salvation. Works show that you're really saved. And it's not that you're gritting your teeth trying so hard. I gotta have some good works. Because if I have good works, then I get to go to heaven. Now it's kind of like you have an apple tree and you plant an apple tree. And how do you know it's an apple tree? You get apples. That's how you know it's an apple tree.

What if you just have a tree and you go to the store and buy apples and tape them on there? There's my apple tree. That's not an apple tree. You've just taped apples on there. There's a big difference between an apple tree and a tree that you tape fruit onto. That's what a lot of people have because they don't understand. They bought into the devil's lie concerning the work of Christ.

Thirdly, he opposes the messengers of Christ. So he's opposing verse 8. Elymas the magician was opposing them. Who are the them? Barnabas and Saul. He's opposing the messengers, those who come with the message. He comes against them. He tries to discredit them. He tries to make them look foolish. Did you know the Apostle Paul? His whole life and ministry, he had people dogging his steps. The Judaizers who had a perverted gospel, they would come after him every time he was in a city. They'd come after him to try and lead people astray. He dealt with false teachers and false prophets all the time in his ministry.

But see, if you're Elymas the Magician, you don't want to see the truth told. You don't want to see people come out of the darkness to the light. You definitely don't want to see your boss, Sergius Paulus, come to Christ. So he opposes the work of Christ, the person of Christ, the messengers of Christ, and then he'll oppose the urgency of the message.

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There is an emergency for Christians to stand up and spread the news about the works of the devil and how misguided he is. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve today and the lesson, "The Devil Unmasked," from Pastor Jeff's series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." There's much more to teach us next time, so be with us for part two of this lesson.

As has been evident as we've been airing this series, the truth is we are in a war. A real battle. Is the enemy winning in your thought life? If so, you can turn that around. You can be victorious when you discover how to stand strong in this spiritual battle. This month, we're airing Pastor Jeff's new six-message series, "This is War: Overcoming the World, the Flesh, and the Devil." Many people feel under attack but don't realize that they're in a spiritual war. God's word equips believers for victory, and that's why we from His Heart exist to encourage believers in this war.

We'd like to encourage you to join us in this effort to tell people about what God can do for them when they trust Him. For your gift this month of any amount to From His Heart, we'd like to send you this six-message series on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 digital download. You can get "This is War" when you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org and touch more lives with real truth from God's heart.

Thank you so much for praying about what you might do to join with us in this outreach. We want to close today's broadcast with wisdom from God's word. John 14:27 says, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." We trust that this truth settles prominently in your faith walk today.

We also pray you'll join us next time right here for part two of the lesson "The Devil Unmasked." That's on Thursday when Pastor Jeff Shreve will again open God's word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.

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There is tremendous truth, there is blessing, There is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more when you go to fromisheart.org.