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Who Is Blocking My Life — Satan or Jesus? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Last month we read in Studied Division six twelve, our
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  Speaker 1: struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual
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  Speaker 1: forces in the heavenly realms. So are our interpersonal struggles
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  Speaker 1: just conflicts with other people or are they always acts
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  Speaker 1: of spiritual warfare in disguise. That was a fascinating episode
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  Speaker 1: in Abja twenty one fifty eight, not long ago, about
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  Speaker 1: a month ago, and we're back to a very similar
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  Speaker 1: topic in this perceptive question from an anonymous listener. Hello,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, I have been wrestling with a question that's
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  Speaker 1: been difficult to find clarity on and it is deeply
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  Speaker 1: personal to me right now. And for Cessaloni's two eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: which is a text we just read together in a
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  Speaker 1: Bible reading, Paul talks about his desire to visit the
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonians but being hindered by Satan. That passage made me
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  Speaker 1: think of another moment in Acts sixteen, verses six to eight,
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  Speaker 1: where Paul and his companions are prevented from entering the
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  Speaker 1: province of Asia by the spirit of Jesus. The question is,
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  Speaker 1: how do you distinguish between being hindered by Jesus versus
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  Speaker 1: being hindered by Satan or does it even matter. I
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  Speaker 1: can't help but want to make a distinction between the two,
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  Speaker 1: especially considering that Paul dealt with both kinds of hindrances.
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  Speaker 1: What were the signs or marks that helped him make
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  Speaker 1: that distinction. It's especially challenging for me because I'm currently
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  Speaker 1: facing a situation where I'm feeling hindered or blocked, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know whether it's from God or from the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: My instinct does to see clarity on whether God is
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  Speaker 1: sovereignly redirecting me for a good purpose, or if spiritual
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  Speaker 1: opposition is trying to derail me. I would appreciate your
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  Speaker 1: wis him on how to navigate these moments and how
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  Speaker 1: to discern God's will in the face of spiritual opposition.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you well.
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  Speaker 2: That question takes us into one of the deepest mysteries
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  Speaker 2: of Providence, and that's a good place for us to go,
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  Speaker 2: because we need clarity on how to interpret the circumstances
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  Speaker 2: of our lives and the application of Scripture to the
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  Speaker 2: decisions we have to make in front of us. The
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  Speaker 2: reality we're dealing with here in regard to the mystery
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  Speaker 2: Providence is that all events, all of them in the
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  Speaker 2: world of every kind are ultimately owing to the will
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  Speaker 2: of God. That's the main reality, the sovereign will of God.
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  Speaker 2: Ephesians one eleven. God works all things according to the
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  Speaker 2: counsel of his will. So the first answer to the
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  Speaker 2: question about whether God or Satan is hindering is there
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  Speaker 2: is no circumstance in your life where God's governance is
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  Speaker 2: not decisive. It's always decisive. God has many different ways
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  Speaker 2: of seeing to it that things happen or don't happen.
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  Speaker 2: But whether something happens or doesn't happen is ultimately in
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  Speaker 2: God's hands. That's the first thing we need to nail down. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what about Satan? Paul says in First Thessalonians to eighteen
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  Speaker 2: he pointed this out that he was hindered from coming
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  Speaker 2: to them by Satan. So when we put this fact
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  Speaker 2: together with the fact that the other fact that I
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  Speaker 2: just defended from Ephesians one eleven, namely, the God works
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  Speaker 2: all things according to the council of his will, the
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  Speaker 2: implication is that in permitting Satan to hinder Paul, God
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  Speaker 2: accomplishes his will. Even though Satan is more the immediate
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  Speaker 2: actor in hindering Paul, God is ultimate Satan is secondary. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I just used the word permit in permitting Satan to
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  Speaker 2: hinder Paul. When we use the word permit in relation
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  Speaker 2: to God, we need to remember that God knows ahead
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  Speaker 2: of time what this permission is going to bring about.
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  Speaker 2: And so, since God does nothing aimlessly, pointlessly, therefore his
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  Speaker 2: permission is always a plan, a design. He knows what's coming.
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  Speaker 2: If he permits it, it's designed, its planned, it has
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  Speaker 2: a purpose. He's accomplishing his ultimate will by his permitting
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  Speaker 2: Satan to do his Satan's sinful will. Now, clearly Satan
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  Speaker 2: does things that break God's law. Thou shalt not lie
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  Speaker 2: is God's law, and Satan by nature is a liar.
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  Speaker 2: That's what he does for a living. He's a deceiver.
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  Speaker 2: He breaks the Eighth Commandment every day, every hour, so
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  Speaker 2: he's always contradicting the revealed will of God in what
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  Speaker 2: he does. That's why we distinguish between the revealed will
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  Speaker 2: of God, the moral will of God like the Ten Commandments,
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  Speaker 2: and the sovereign will of God. Satan breaks the one
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  Speaker 2: every day. Satan never breaks the other. The sovereign will
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  Speaker 2: of God is always done. So let's take Judas as
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  Speaker 2: an example. What force brought about Judas's betrayal of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: John thirteen two says Satan put it in the heart
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  Speaker 2: of Judas to betray him. Luke twenty two three says
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  Speaker 2: Satan entered into Judas, and he went away and conferred
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  Speaker 2: with the chief priests. On the other hand, John seventeen
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  Speaker 2: twelve says that Judas was not kept back from the
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  Speaker 2: betrayal by Jesus. He didn't stop him from betraying quote
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  Speaker 2: so that the scripture might be fulfilled. And in Acts
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  Speaker 2: one sixteen Peter says the scripture had to be fulfilled.
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  Speaker 2: Concerning Judas, who fulfills the scripture? God does. Jeremiah one
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  Speaker 2: twelve says, I am watching over this God talking. I
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  Speaker 2: am watching over my word to perform it. God does
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  Speaker 2: his word. God sees to it that scripture happens in
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  Speaker 2: the case of Judas. He sees to it that scriptures
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  Speaker 2: are fulfilled, including the betrayal by Judas. So on the
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  Speaker 2: one hand, Satan is moving Judas toward betrayal, and on
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  Speaker 2: the other hand God is superintending these things so that
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  Speaker 2: scripture is fulfilled and Jesus is betrayed, just like it
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  Speaker 2: says in x four twenty eight that all the actors
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  Speaker 2: surrounding their rest and trial and murder of Jesus, Herod, Pilot, Gentiles, Israel,
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  Speaker 2: all of them quote did what God's hand and plan
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  Speaker 2: predestined to take place. So we can paraphrase the words
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  Speaker 2: of Genesis fifty verse twenty Satan meant it for evil.
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  Speaker 2: God meant it for good, indeed our salvation. And we
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  Speaker 2: can add to that that Judas himself made the decision
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  Speaker 2: and was responsible for it, because it says in Matthew
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  Speaker 2: twenty seven to four, I have sinned betraying innocent blood.
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  Speaker 2: So what force brought about Judas's betrayal? Answer? Satan, Judas,
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  Speaker 2: God and God's purpose, his saving purpose in fact, for
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  Speaker 2: us was decisive. God's sovereign will is always decisive, even
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  Speaker 2: though there are other actors in the process of seeing
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  Speaker 2: to it that it comes to pass. In fact, I
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  Speaker 2: think we can generalize and say, on the basis of
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  Speaker 2: the totality of scripture that in every temptation we face
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  Speaker 2: and every trial that we endure, both Satan and God
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  Speaker 2: are active, and they have opposite designs, opposite purposes. God
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  Speaker 2: is always proving your faith and your obedience in every
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  Speaker 2: temptation and trial, and Satan is always seeking to destroy
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  Speaker 2: your faith and undermine your obedience in every temptation and trial. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what light does all that shed on our friend's question
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  Speaker 2: about the hindrance that has risen in his life. So
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  Speaker 2: his life, I presume, is going along in a certain direction,
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  Speaker 2: and something has happened now in his life, and it
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  Speaker 2: looks like this could really throw him off from accomplishing
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  Speaker 2: what he thought he was going to do. And he's
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  Speaker 2: not sure is it from God or not? He says,
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  Speaker 2: My instinct is to seek clarity on whether God is
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  Speaker 2: sovereignly redirecting me or a good for a good purpose,
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  Speaker 2: or if spiritual opposition is trying to derail me. That's
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  Speaker 2: a really good question. We need to read providence at
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  Speaker 2: that point in our lives so that we know whether
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  Speaker 2: to resists or not. So here's what you can know
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  Speaker 2: for sure in this moment of hindrance in your life's direction.
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  Speaker 2: Satan is aiming at your unbelief and your sin, and
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  Speaker 2: God is aiming at your faith and your holiness. That's
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  Speaker 2: what you can know for sure. You can know that
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  Speaker 2: with absolute certainty, because that's what is revealed in the Bible,
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  Speaker 2: Satan is a tempter and a liar Revelation twelve nine.
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  Speaker 2: And God revealed to us us my will for you
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  Speaker 2: is your sanctification first Thessalonians four three. So here's what
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  Speaker 2: I would do. I would renounce Satan in every sinful
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  Speaker 2: reality that may have contributed to this hindrance. You just
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  Speaker 2: have to look and see what sinfulness contributed to this hindrance.
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  Speaker 2: Wherever you see sin in yourself or in others, renounce it,
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  Speaker 2: turn away from it, don't let it have decisive influence
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  Speaker 2: on your decision. Then I would face the decision before you.
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  Speaker 2: Should I accept this hindrances from Satan or from God?
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  Speaker 2: Should I try to overcome it? Or should I yield
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  Speaker 2: to it? And to answer that, I would take into
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  Speaker 2: account my gifts, my abilities. I would take into account
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  Speaker 2: the opportunities that lie before me and both of these
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  Speaker 2: forks in the road. I would take into account my
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  Speaker 2: persistent holy desires, which direction has God prompted me by
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  Speaker 2: the Spirit to want deeply and persistently. And I would
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  Speaker 2: take into account potential fruit that could come from either
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  Speaker 2: of these paths. And I would saturate all of those
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  Speaker 2: factors with biblical principles and with prayer for God's help
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  Speaker 2: while I listened to the godly counsel of other people.
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  Speaker 2: And I believe if you do those things, God will
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  Speaker 2: make it plain whether you should embrace the hindrance or
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  Speaker 2: overcome it.
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  Speaker 1: All events, all of them in this world, down to
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  Speaker 1: the disruptions in our lives brought about by Satan, all
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  Speaker 1: of them are ultimately owing to the sovereign will of God.
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  Speaker 1: That's very good. Thank you, Pastor John for that clarity.
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  Speaker 1: And in the midst of all our questions about the devil,
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  Speaker 1: some questions unanswered in the Bible, and some questions that
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  Speaker 1: are answered in the Bible, like iss Satan real? Is
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  Speaker 1: he powerful? Where did he come from? How did he
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  Speaker 1: first sin? How did he first fall? Is he limited?
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  Speaker 1: Can he devour true Christians? Can he make us physically sick?
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  Speaker 1: How do we fight him? You can survey the archive
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  Speaker 1: of all of the different angles that we've covered here
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  Speaker 1: in the past by flipping through the Ask Pestor John
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  Speaker 1: book if you have a copy handy on pages three
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  Speaker 1: thirty one to three point fifty three, and you can
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  Speaker 1: see the ground that's been covered. And thanks for joining
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  Speaker 1: us today. If you have a question to ask Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: find a link to email us, and even find our
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  Speaker 1: complete episode archive at askpastor John dot com. Every episode
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  Speaker 1: with audio and full transcripts available for you. Well, does
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  Speaker 1: God condemn nations today for national sins? A couple of
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  Speaker 1: places in our recent Bible readings in the Gospel of
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  Speaker 1: Luke seem to say yes, He still does something like this,
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  Speaker 1: even in the age of Christ, in the age of
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel. We'll ask Pastor John next time to explain.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see you on Thursday.