Well, two weeks ago when we were last together, we looked at Satan's tactics in the New Testament. We had already looked at how he operated in the Old Testament, then how he worked in the New Testament. And we looked at specifically Luke 8 and Matthew 8. with the whole idea of demon possession. And we talked about several things that we learned from that, that Jesus, though in the form of man, was one with God and the Holy Spirit. Even the demons recognized that he was the Son of God. We also saw, secondly, how the demons were even still under the authority of God. And then finally, we looked at the power of Jesus who was and continues to reign over the forces of evil. So we did look at demon possession, and I've studied it even more in the last couple of weeks. And so I want to offer, as we conclude that part of our discussion from two weeks ago, hopefully some helpful advice that may help clarify any confusion from a couple of weeks ago. One of the things we said is that Christians can and are lured by demons and by Satan. It's just that we can't, as Christians, be possessed by demons or by Satan because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we are God's possession. John MacArthur said, the collective teaching of Scripture is that demons can never spatially indwell a true believer. If you look at Scripture, 1 Peter 2.9, is a really helpful and powerful verse with this, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. In some of my seminary classes, I haven't had Greek. I haven't had Hebrew, so I had to do more research on this. So in looking at the Greek word found in 1 Peter 2, 9 for possession, it actually comes from peripoiesis, which has the idea of possession or personal property. If you look at the root word P-E-R-I in that word, it actually means around. And it's connected to the noun poesis, which refers to something that's made or done. So what's the upshot of this? Well, Kenneth West, the Greek scholar, says the Greek word here with possession means literally to make a round, that is to make something and then surround it with a circle, thus indicating ownership. So that's why the ESV would translate this for his own possession. The new American standard would say a people for God's own possession. NIV says people belonging to God. And then the new King James says his own special people. If you look at the verb form of this word peripoiesis, it's found in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Hang with me on this. It translates the words of God through the prophet of Isaiah when he says in Isaiah 43, 21, this people have I formed for myself. It's a strong statement of personal possession. The people belong to God. They are his. So the word peripoiesis, which is what possession is, is a strong personal possession of God. We are a new creation in Christ and He has put a circle, as it were, around us indicating His ownership and has said in effect that these people belong to me. I don't often do this, but this is just a visual. I will not demonstrate. I will simply place it around me. But here's the idea, and I hope this will be helpful. When you are a Christian, when you become a Christian, God says, you are no longer Satan's, you are mine. And it's as if in the Greek here, the word possession, it's as if he is surrounding you and encircling you with his love and his protective, we can say protective providence. And what a blessing that is, isn't it? Because we feel attack from every angle at times, don't we? We feel one spiritual attack after another and yet to think about in the sovereignty of God as we're under his authority and we're his possession, he encircles us. He has placed a hedge of protection around us and he loves you. That's an important part of that. Well, we also looked at in Luke 4, we looked at Satan's temptation of Jesus. And of course we knew how Jesus would respond because he's perfect and Satan obviously knew it too. But it's a good pattern for us to see how Satan operates and how he still operates and how we can respond to him. Well, we're gonna stay in the New Testament today for one last week. And we wanna turn our attention to how Satan attacks the church and how Satan attacks Paul. So turn with me if you have your Bibles, Acts 5. Acts 5, we'll look at verses 1 through 11. This is an important passage. You know, when this is written, it's only been about 40 years since Christ's death and resurrection, since Satan was defeated. So he really wastes no time in now attacking the church that is proliferating and growing and expanding. And it says in verse 1 of Acts 5, but a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property. And with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, did it now remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You've not lied to man, but to God. And when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young man rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. And after an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, yes, for so much. But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And when the young men came in, found her dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things." There's a lot of things we could talk about in that passage. First of all, a wife would hear about the death of her husband these days, right? And not take three hours with everything that we have in technology, but not in those days. Wife comes in, doesn't know of her husband's death, and the same fate befalls her that befell her husband. So we certainly see the grave consequences of sin. But what we want to look at is how Satan has operated here. And so to do that, I want to contrast this passage with the one right before it. For it says in Acts 4, verse 36, thus Joseph, who is also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it all at the apostles' feet." So we see Barnabas on the one hand sells a field and he brings how much? All of it. We see Sapphira and Ananias also selling a field and they bring some of it, right? They withhold some of it. They only bring part of it. What's the difference here? deceit. And if we look at verse 3, it says, Satan filled the heart of Ananias and Sapphira. That's the difference. Satan filled the heart. And so we see several key principles here according to one author, William Cook. First, although Satan is defeated, he continues to fight on until the end. He will seek to destroy the church. by every possible means, whether by persecution from without or hypocrisy from within. And that's why this particular subject in this day and time, spiritual warfare and spiritual attack, is so important. Because we have to be able to recognize it as individuals. We have to be able to recognize it as a church, and we have to be able to stand against it. Paul would speak of, in terms of the church being of one mind, having unity in the spirit. Even as our new members will join in a few weeks from now, what are they vowing to do? Uphold the peace and purity of the church, the very thing that Satan would seek to destroy. Yes, who's that? That's a great question and that's one that's been up for debate among commentators as I looked at this from several different vantage points this week. The question is, were Ananias and Sapphira Christians? You know, the idea of Satan filling the heart of someone, I would tend to go along with what one commentator said, which is almost like Satan entering Judas, right? Which we know he was really not a true, genuine Christian. And so, really believe, and there's a lot of discussion on this, again, that they probably were not true, genuine believers if Satan filled their heart, okay? Secondly, one of Satan's chief strategies is greed. That's important for us to hear. Because of indwelling sin, believers must be aware of the danger of greed. Satan uses people's sinful inclination against them. Ananias and Sapphira didn't bring it all, they bring part. What were they going to do with the rest of it? I don't know, but they were greedy, right? They wanted to keep part of it for themselves. We read in Colossians 3, 5, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Well, we could say greed is covetousness, right, which is idolatry. So that which you are We can say that which you are greedy for is that which you might be tend to worship. And that's exactly where Satan wants us to be. He wants us to struggle with greed in certain areas that we might be prone to worship that thing. There is nothing wrong with that. So status in the church, though, would be very akin to idolatry in a way, because if you're wanting status in the church, then you're very prone to idolize that which you desire in an unhealthy way. So yes, in part, I think that would be true, but I think it could also be extenuated to that whole desire and greed thing. Ken? I think the way to understand Ananias and Sapphira is to look at Barnabas. Right. Right. True. Very different. That's true. Right. Giving the impression that they had given everything that they sold the land for, but they did not. Again, like the gentleman back there said, it wasn't wrong for them not to give everything. It's like it says down here, wasn't it your land before you sold it? Right. Yes. And it was your money after you sold it. But don't come in here and indicate or deceive us in trying to say, oh, we gave everything There was deceit, there was lying, it was ultimately a matter of the heart, right? Dave, are you going to add something? Thirdly, generosity. Generosity is the antidote to the temptation of greed. And so it was certainly the pattern in the early church and the expectation of us that we are generous toward others, which is the opposite of greed. Being generous to others, being generous to the church, that means with our time, with our money, with our resources. And we could talk a lot more about different passages in the Old Testament or New Testament that deal with Satan attacking the church, but that's certainly the first. We want to also talk about how Satan attacks individuals in the church. And so, certainly, one of those people we can think of would be Paul. Can you imagine, really just imagine for a moment, how distraught Satan must have been when Paul was converted? I mean, here was a man that was literally an agent of Satan, persecuting, killing Christians, who has been dramatically converted. Now, he's following Christ. And instead of being an agent of Satan, he's an agent of God. And now he's out preaching by the Spirit's help converting and planting and growing churches. So it's no wonder, as we look back on the history of time, why Satan would attack Paul. And he does. We read about this in 2 Corinthians 12, 7 through 10. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." Now, Paul doesn't elaborate on what the thorn is, and it's something that has called much spilled ink over the years, no doubt. As I read through different things this week, some have suggested it was gout, others malaria, others eyesight issues, still others thought it might be an earache, or even I read hypochondria. I would suggest to you that we don't know because God didn't want us to know. Calvin once said, where scripture makes an end to teaching, we must then make an end to learning. So we're not to really speculate and go into great detail about what this thorn is, but rather what does God want us to learn about the thorn? I want to examine this under four headings. Who sent the thorn? What was the effect of the thorn? Thirdly, what was the purpose of the thorn, and fourth, what is the lesson that Paul learned and that we can learn first? The thorn was in the flesh and was a messenger of Satan. So that means that it was sent by Satan, which means that just like Satan had to ask God for permission to afflict Job, so he does here. They were not told of it. Satan has to ask God for permission to afflict Paul. In other words, God allowed Satan to afflict Paul. with this thorn in the flesh. Now, we notice here that Paul doesn't really complain about it. Yes, he asks for it to be removed, but he says, he uses the words, it was given to me, almost like it was a gift. We would not be prone to say that, would we? We would be saying, man, this thorn in my flesh, it is killing me. It is afflicting me. He didn't say that. Spurgeon writes, this is a holy reckoning. Old child of God, amongst all the goods of your house, you have not one single article that is a better token of divine love to you than your daily cross. You would fain be rid of it, but you would lose your choicest treasure if it were withdrawn. Blessed be God for the crucible and the furnace. I want you to think about it in your own life. And I'm going to come back to this a few times over the next few minutes. But think about what is the thorn in your life? That's the lesson here for us to really learn and then apply it intrinsically to what the Lord is teaching us. Maybe that thorn is a difficult financial situation. Maybe it's a difficult diagnosis. Maybe it's a difficult relationship with a family member. Maybe it's a difficult job or work environment. I don't know what it is for you. But think about what that thorn is. And think about this, it's so easy for us to focus on the thorn rather than on God who's allowing Satan to afflict us with it. Isn't it? Have you all been there? So easy to focus on that. But remember, if we think biblically about the sovereignty of God in light of the thorn, we'll be comforted and we'll learn more about what God has in store for us through the trial, through the affliction. Remember the circle. He's encircling you with His love and His protection and His grace. Well, secondly, what was the effect of the thorn? In other words, what effect did the thorn have on Paul? Well, we see in 2 Corinthians 12, 8 that it drove him to his knees. For he pleaded with God to remove the thorn." You know, it's often the case when things are going well in our lives that we are lax in our prayer life, and yet when we are in the furnace, we drop quickly to our knees. Well, certainly, this is part of what the Lord would have us learn from this. And in times of trial, we encounter that thorn of the flesh afflicted to us as a messenger of Satan that we would be driven to our knees, calling upon the name of the Lord. But how often? How often do we do this? Do you feel when you go through difficult trials and you're dealing with that thorn in the flesh, do you feel closer to the Lord or do you feel more distant from Him? If you feel more distant, it's not God who's moved. So let us during our times of trial and affliction and our battles, let us be drawn to the Lord. Thirdly, what's the purpose? of the thorn. We see in our passage today in verse 7, to keep Paul from becoming conceited. And we must think, I mean, as I did when I thought through this a little bit more, I thought, well, Paul's not conceited. He was one of the greatest men in the church, right? And yet, he says that he was the...what does he call about himself with sin? He was the chief of sinners. Surely, he didn't struggle with being conceited. We don't really know what was going on in his heart, do we? Perhaps he had a tendency, we don't know, in his heart to revel in the number of conversions or in the number of growing churches. We don't know for sure, but we know the thorn was given to him that he would be humble. So here's a good example of what we actually said a few weeks ago, and this is hard for us to stomach, but it's one of the most important lessons I think we can learn with spiritual warfare, and it's this, that God uses Satan in our lives to accomplish His purposes and as His instrument. So you mean to tell me that Satan is being used in my life as God's instrument? Yes, and in yours too. That's hard to hear, it's hard to stomach, but we know that it's true. Think about it again in your own life. Think about the thorn again. Could it be that God has allowed the thorn in your life to keep you humble? Or maybe there's another purpose in mind. Think about what that might be, pray about that. Fourth, what's the lesson to learn here? We see in verse 9 how God responds to Paul's prayers and pleading. He says, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. We see here that God in his sovereignty chooses not to remove the thorn as Paul prays, but he rather wishes for Paul to keep that pestering thorn that in his weakness, in his frailty, he might see the power and strength of the one who is sustaining him. Spurgeon writes, helpfully, listen to this, God will always honor our prayers. He will either pay us in silver or in gold, and sometimes it is a golden answer to prayer to deny us our request and give us the very opposite of what we seek. If you were to tell your child that you would grant him anything he asked for, you would not intend by that that you would give him a poisonous drug if someone should delude him into the idea that it would be useful to him. You would mean that you would give your child all that was really good for him. God, therefore, knowing that this thorn in the flesh was a sacred medicine to Paul, would not take it away. even though most frequently, most urgently requested to do so. So you may ask, as Paul did, Lord, take the thorn away, and he may say, no, I know what's best for you. Remember, the Lord desires to display His glory in your life as His child. And so it's when we are attacked and attacked and attacked, and we feel beaten down and exhausted and tired, That sometimes is where he wants us, right? Because he says, even in your frailty, even in your weakness that you see right now, I am the one who's sustaining you, and my grace is sufficient for you. You can depend upon that grace. You can rely upon that grace. You can trust that grace. I want you to think about, just for a moment around your table, if you want to share, you can. Think about this. How has Satan attacked you? What was the purpose of it? What is God teaching you through your particular thorn in the flesh? And how has his grace been sufficient for you? I was hoping to have a little bit more time for this, but spend a couple of minutes just discussing this and then we'll conclude. All right, let's come back together. So it's on your handout, those questions at the bottom, and this is what I want you to contemplate this week. Is there a current thorn in the flesh that God has allowed Satan to afflict you with? And if so, what is it? What's the purpose of it? What is he teaching you through it? And how is God's grace sufficient for it? Think through that this week as a means of application, knowing certainly that one of the purposes God has in mind is that we would grow. and holiness and that His glory would be displayed in our lives. Let's close in prayer. Ken Puiak, where's Ken? Can I get you to close us in prayer?