Alba 11-12-2023
HAS SATAN HINDERED YOU?
I Thessalonians 2:17-20
A mother and her boy went to an ice cream store. It only had vanilla and chocolate. "Why you don’t have more flavors?" the mother asked. The guy behind the counter said, "Lady, if you knew how long it took people to make up their minds between chocolate and vanilla, you’d only have two flavors too."
Satan offers many flavors to distract and deceive us. And that is something he continues to do. The comedian from several years ago, Flip Wilson, made famous the saying, “The devil made me do it!” If we use that phrase, it is more often an excuse than reality.
That is not to say that the devil is not active around us. He will stop us from doing our best if he can. In fact if we are really trying our best to follow Jesus, there are times it seems we could say, “The devil wouldn't let me do it.”
Does he have that power? Let's be sure about this, the devil's power is limited. But even the apostle Paul said that the devil got in his way and caused his plans to change.
That is recorded in I Thessalonians 2:17-20 where Paul writes to the church and says, “But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. “Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.”
Paul says he had plans, sincere, earnest plans to visit the church in Thessalonica, but “Satan hindered” him. Whatever was the reason, he saw it as something, not from God, but as the devil's work against him.
Wouldn't you like to think that right after that verse, Paul had said, “But it worked out for God,” or “God turned it around.” But that is not what he says. We would all like that wouldn't we, for things to turn out better. And sometimes it can.
Maurice McCarthy is a minister who said that while he was working on a message about Satan's hindrances he left his office to get a coffee. And, he got locked out of the church. It made him think that Satan was trying to hinder his work on his sermon.
His secretary was away on vacation that week. So he called a couple in the church who lived nearby to get their key to the church. He got a key from them, and they surprised him with a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies; his favorite!
It made him feel it was God’s way of saying that even though Paul was hindered, God still worked it out for good even though Paul didn’t say that in connection with this passage.
So he figured that while Satan may hinder, God will work even that out for some good. And that Paul probably preached somewhere else, and people got saved there. All of that is probably true, but look how earnest Paul was in his effort to come visit these people.
Look at the end of verse 18 where it says he tried time and again. Some who opposed Paul were busy saying he was not sincere when he was there and that was why he left so quickly and why he has been so slow in returning. Paul assures them that he had been trying hard to be with them. He did not forget them, and he was not lazy about trying to reach them.
Paul used the word “hindered” as part of Satan's work against him. That word has the meaning “to cut into, impede, or detain”. It also had a military use. It referred to a tactic of cutting up or destroying a road so as to make it impassable, or putting out obstacles to prevent anyone from moving forward.
Have you been there? You are really trying to do your best, and nothing works. It just doesn't come together. You may keep trying, and you are left with frustration. It is a hard place to be. You are “hindered”.
Now there are several reasons that might happen. Like what Maurice McCarthy said, it could be that God has other plans for you that you don't see at this moment. That there is something else for you to do. The apostle Paul experienced that when he was trying to minister to more towns in Asia.
In Acts 16 it says that at that time the “Spirit did not permit them” to go to the towns where they wanted to preach the gospel. Why was that? Well right after that, Paul received a a vision. In it he heard, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” That led to taking the gospel into Europe. Apparently it was not in Paul's plans, but it was in God's plan.
So if you feel hindered in your attempts, I would suggest that you first look to see if God is directing you to a path that you have not yet seen. God has purposes we may not know.
On the other hand, we also know that Satan wants to hinder our efforts to serve the Lord. He will do his best to hinder our efforts to obey and follow Jesus. II Corinthians 11:14 tells us "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" (NIV).
The devil's ultimate deception is for you to miss the whole purpose of life on this planet: to know God and serve Him. The devil is not passive or incidental, but constant, relentless, and active. He is like a roaring lion.
So the devil could be throwing some roadblocks in your way. He would do so just to discourage you from being faithful in your walk with the Lord.
But his best deterrent is not a roadblock, it's a stumbling block. We can cause our own prayers to go unanswered. If we walk in unconfessed sin, it will give reason for God not to listen to our prayers. In Isaiah 59:2 says it: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you, if there is some sin that continues to have a grip on your life.
The devil will use it to hold you back from being what God intends you to be. Blaming your sin on the devil is an evasion of responsibility. It is time to detest it, confess it and you will make progress: detest, confess and progress.
But, if you are feeling that Satan is hindering you, I want to tell you that there is hope. Look again at verse 19. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”
As Paul thought of the church in Thessalonica, he was encouraged by them. That teaches us that in spite of things that keep us from doing what we should or would like to do, even then, if we keep our eyes on Jesus, there is hope, there is joy, and there is a crown.
1. Our hope is in Jesus. The hope we have in Jesus is rock solid. The hymn The Solid Rock says it best: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Hope brings an encouragement that allows us to live above disappointment. Hope acts as a shelter to give protection to our spirit. Our hope is as solid as the promises of God.
When Satan hinders, the most important thing we can know about Satan is that Jesus has defeated him. All the teaching of the Bible about Satan is countered with the coming of Jesus. Which includes His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension and His coming again.
There truly is no other Savior. For Jesus is the only one who paid for the sins of mankind through his death. And He defeated the power of death at His resurrection. Because of what Jesus has done for us, Colossians 1:13 tells us that God has, “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (KJV).
I John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” And in Heb. 2:14 we read, “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.”
In Jesus we have hope. We do not need to be pessimists when it seems we are hindered by Satan. Paul never sat down and gave up. Neither should we. All of scripture warns us that Satan still has power, and that we are to be cautious in our battle with him. But we can have perfect confidence that the ultimate victory is ours in Jesus.
And the ultimate end for the devil is told in Revelation 20:10. It says “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” If you cannot accomplish what you want for the Lord, never be discouraged, but look beyond the hindrance to the assured victory you have in Jesus.
Our hope makes it possible to experience joy even in difficult times. It came for Paul as he thought about the church in Thessalonica and their faithfulness. He really wanted to be with them and to share in fellowship with them.
2. Our joy comes as we fellowship with other Christians.
Paul’s love for this Church in Thessalonica oozes out of every pore of his being. He says he was “taken from” them. It means he felt orphaned by his absence from them. He longed to be with them. He had made every effort to see them.
He considered it “Satanic work” when he was stopped. Why? Because He wanted to be with the people of the church. And when he stands in the presence of Jesus, it is people like the Thessalonians being there with him that will be his joy.
The desire to fellowship with each other ought to be ours as well. No one should have to coax us to get together with the Family of God to worship once or twice a week! This is where our brothers and sisters in Christ are gathered together, and we should want to be around them. We need it!
Satan knows that our fellowship together is a big part of what helps us to stand firm when we’re opposed. He also knows that when we worship we are connecting to God in a powerful way. He hates that, and seeks to shut it down.
One proof of that is how Satan will try to keep you from it! That's an area where Satan works to hinder you. He knows that we give each other encouragement. He knows that when you gather with the rest of the body, it builds you up, and you build it up. And he doesn’t want that. So you can bet he’ll find whatever excuse or rationalization he can for you to use to miss it.
But aren't we looking forward to be together in the presence of the Lord one day with all His people? Oh, it is great to be part of the family of God. Amen?! But if people can’t get excited about being together with their brothers and sisters now, what do they think they're going to be doing for eternity in heaven?!
We know that Satan does not want us to grow. He wants us to give in to temptation, isolate ourselves from other believers and by all means stop sharing our faith. Why? He knows the power of the gospel. So instead, we need to keep fellowshiping with each other and trust God to work through us to remove hindrances that keep us from His best in all things.
We need to follow Jesus. In spite of opposition, His example is one of serving others, washing feet, and even taking up that cross. Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus did it “for the joy that set before Him.” He found joy in bringing us into a right relationship with God by His death on the cross.
At that time He was wearing a crown of thorns that the Roman soldiers placed on His head to mock and make fun of Him. But there was another a crown that waited for Jesus and He now sits enthroned on the right hand of God.
3. And for those who are faithful, there is a crown of rejoicing. For Paul, he felt that his crown was that the church in Thessalonica would be among the saved in the presence of Jesus at His coming. They would be a crowning achievement for him, because he had led them to obedient faith in Jesus.
He says, “Our joy...our crown...the reason we hope...Is it not you?” He was hindered from being with them now, but he knew the time was coming that they would all wear their crowns in the presence of Jesus.
If you are in Christ, if you are a Christian, there will be a crown for you. In II Timothy 4:8 Paul says, “there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
And in heaven, we will be so glad to see Jesus that we will throw those crowns at His feet. Yes, Satan may hinder us, but ultimate victory belongs to the Lord.
The question we each have to answer is, which side are we on? Once again, it all boils down to chocolate or vanilla. There are just two choices: right or wrong, God or Satan.
The devil won't wear a crown. And he doesn't want us to either. He tries his best to hinder us. He’s the enemy, and he will win... Unless we yield to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
CLOSE:
In Chuck Swindoll's book, “Quest for Character” he wrote about and encounter with a rattlesnake. He wrote:
While hunting deer in the Tehema Wildlife Area near Red Bluff in northern California, Jay Rathman climbed to a ledge on the slope of a rocky gorge.
As he raised his head to look over the ledge above, he sensed movement to the right of his face. A coiled rattler struck with lightning speed, just missing Rathman’s right ear.
The four-foot snake’s fangs got snagged in the neck of Rathman’s wool turtleneck sweater, and the force of the strike caused it to land on his left shoulder. It then coiled around his neck.
He grabbed it behind the head with his left hand and could feel the warm venom running down the skin of his neck, the rattles making a furious racket.
He fell backward and slid headfirst down the steep slope through brush and lava rocks, his rifle and binoculars bouncing beside him.
“As luck would have it,” he said in describing the incident to a Department of Fish and Game official, “I ended up wedged between some rocks with my feet caught uphill from my head. I could barely move.”
He got his right hand on his rifle and used it to disengage the fangs from his sweater, but the snake had enough leverage to strike again. He said, “He made about eight attempts and managed to hit me with his nose just below my eye about four times. I kept my face turned so he couldn’t get a good angle with his fangs, but it was very close.
“This chap and I were eyeball to eyeball and I found out that snakes don’t blink. He had fangs like darning needles...I had to choke him to death. It was the only way out. I was afraid that with all the blood rushing to my head I might pass out.”
When he tried to toss the dead snake aside, he couldn’t let go—”I had to pry my fingers from its neck.”
Rathman, 45, who works for the Defense Department in San Jose, estimates his encounter with the snake lasted 20 minutes. Warden Dave Smith says of meeting Rathman: “He walked toward me holding this string of rattles and said with a sort of grin on his face, 'I'd like to register a complaint about your wildlife here.’”
Swindoll, Quest for Character, pp. 17-18
It sounds to me a lot like our struggle with that old serpent, the devil. Satan is just like that snake. He will keep after us. He wants to hinder us. He will do his best to destroy us. But there is One stronger than he. To overcome, we need Jesus.
