How can we resist the seduction of the devil?

Revelation 2. As you know we are studying the letters of Jesus to the churches in Asia at the time of the early church. Jesus himself wrote some messages through the Apostle John who was in exile on Patmos looking at the coast of modern Turkey, and the Lord spoke to him. Some messages for churches under persecution, churches suffering hard to be Christians and the messages are 7 on how to be a winning church. And today more than ever the modern church needs to hear that, because there are different pressures against us than in other years, and we want to be a winning church. So it is convenient for us if we have ears to hear what the spirit says to the churches and. and today we are going to read the letter of Jesus to Pergamum, beginning in Revelation 2, verse 12. And write to the angel of the church in Pergamum:

“He who has the sharp two-edged sword says this, 'I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is, but you hold fast my name and have not denied my faith even in the days when Antipas, my witness faithful, was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you that you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam that taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. And you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate. Therefore repent, otherwise I will come to you soon and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Let him who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat and I will give him a white stone and on the stone written a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it.’”

Thanks, Dad. I don't know what that manna is, Lord, but I want it. Lord, I want it for my church. I want us to eat of you, Lord. Father, I want us to be a winning church. Help us, Lord, with words of advice from the Holy Spirit, for my life and for my brothers, I ask you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pergamum, a major city, you can almost say the second city after Rome in the Asian part of the Roman empire, in what is modern Turkey. You know that some countries that have two or three main cities, you have San Juan in Puerto Rico but you also have Ponce and Aguadilla. You have Santo Domingo and you also have Santiago. You have Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Boston and there is nothing but Boston, but other cities. The sin of pride in our city can be?

Pergamum, an important city. The Roman Empire reigned strongly and it was also a very important spiritual center and the word of God says that the throne of Satan himself was there. So it was a center of spiritual power as well as a political one. We know that many times earthly powers and spiritual powers are combined, not always but sometimes. That is why many times even in politics there is spiritual warfare and we have to pray and that was the case in that city.

And in that city, because it was a spiritual center, the devil was trying to neutralize the church of Jesus Christ. He used direct tactics but also indirect tactics and we have to learn so that we are not ignorant of Satan's tricks, that we know what his strategies are so that we are not deceived.

So it was very important to begin with to know that once again, no matter how bad and how powerful the state of Rome and the devil, we are listening to the word of one who has a sharp two-edged sword. Our Jesus is not small and he is not weak, he is stronger. Perhaps Rome had the power of the sword but our Jesus has the power of his word that is alive and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrates to the point of dividing soul, spirit, joints and marrow and discerns thoughts and intentions from the heart.

Yes, we must honor the emperor but fear God, because he is the judge that in the end there is no created thing that is not manifested in his presence. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to give an account. If we fear God we are not going to fear anyone else because he is fearsome but thank God he is good.

Like the Chronicles of Narnia movie, Aslan is a fearsome lion but he is good thank goodness. Our God has a two-edged sword. That was good to know if you lived in Pergamum where Satan has his throne. How is your neighborhood? This is worse than the neighborhood where you live, but thank God Jesus says 'I know where you live, I know your neighborhood, I even know that neighbor you have, I know him.' They had worse than us, a neighbor very strong spiritual, because we do not have a fight against blood and flesh but against principalities, against powers, against governors of the darkness of this world, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the celestial regions.

We know that there is a whole government behind the human government, which often corresponds to political and human governments. The prophet Daniel was interceding and praying and fasting and the angel Gabriel came to him and delayed and he says 'sorry for the delay, I was busy fighting the prince of Persia.' I don't know who the prince of Persia is but he was such a spiritual power. strong that even the angel Gabriel had to take a little time to defeat him. So there are spiritual princes who correspond in the spirit to the earthly environment.

I think that one can think that every country has its spiritual government too, some demons with different ranks assigned to have influence in these countries. I believe that there are differences in regions, a whole spiritual geography. Have you felt it? You go from one country to another and you can feel the different environment in the spirit. In some places you can feel a more open sky and in others a heaviness. You can cross from one neighborhood to another and feel the difference.

The Lord has put us here in this neighborhood because he knew the principalities we had to fight here at this point. That is why every time we do ministry with a person coming out of drugs or alcohol, which is a principality in this region, we are doing spiritual warfare. Every time we help a young person go to school through [inaudible] we are doing spiritual warfare and serving the immigrant community that we evangelize here. We are removing the bad spiritual airs that are here, opening the light of the Lord.

You know the CVS next door wasn't always a CVS. It used to be called Liquorland, what a curse on a neighborhood. Land of alcohol, before they sold poison, thank God now they sell medicine. But the Lord is changing this neighborhood and we are part of that, spiritual warfare.

In Pergamum he lived where Satan had his throne, a very powerful spiritual center. There were many altars to various gods in that city. There was a god of healing supposedly the size of a snake and people would go in there and sleep in a place covered by little snakes all night, and have prophetic dreams of the god of healing. I do not want to be healed of any snake, thank you.

There was also the throne of Zeus, the altar to Zeus existed in that city. The main pagan god of the Greek environment, so it makes sense that Satan, the real Satan, adjusts to pagan superstitions and mythology to combine the spiritual with mythology. So on that altar there was an altar to Zeus that you can still see in Germany, it's in a museum in Berlin and so on that altar they had a bronze calf and they offered human sacrifices on that altar, they put their victims in the calf and used fire to heat it. To me this is the throne of Satan.

I think it's interesting to know that that throne, that altar ended up in a museum in Germany and was opened to the public in the year 1930 just in time for Hitler to enter there. If you are a fan of conspiracies you can think of that.

Imagine living there and it wasn't easy because their main pastor, Antipas, was assassinated on that altar. He was sacrificed there. And the devil tried to scare the people of God and frighten them, he wanted to put in them a terror of what he could do to them. Thank God the parchments were invincible people in this sense, cured of fright in every way. They were faithful to the Lord and they did not deny him in the name of Jesus at all, they were faithful. As we talked about last week, a winning church is a tested church and they passed that scare and threat test and came out stronger than ever, giving glory to the Lord until death.

But this letter is about the devil, if he can't scare you he will find another way. If he can't scare and intimidate you, he will seek to seduce you, to do evil in a nice and soft way: Balaam's teaching. And that is why we are going to speak today that a winning church is a church that cannot be seduced.

Let's talk about who Balaam is. If you look at verse 14 it says, “but I have a few things against you, that you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam which taught Balak to put stumbling blocks before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication."

How many here know who Balaam is? Have you heard of him? He is a character from the Old Testament, you can read his biography in the book of Numbers 22 to 24. He was a spiritualist, a fortune teller, who read letters to people, who pronounced curses and blessings and yes, he had power terrible, because he also heard the voice of Jehovah.

You know that sometimes people combine faith in God with faith in other spirits, a syncretism, a combination. That is something very old. Balaam did that and it was the time for the Israelites to conquer the promised land. They had come out of slavery, they were in the desert, they were facing two powerful and strong nations, one is called Zion of the Amorites, and the other Oug of Bashan, nations that we don't know now but were famous then.

Israel won them in battles because God was with them. And there was another king whose name was Balak and he was afraid of Israel and he knew that I cannot fight against them so what I am going to do I am going to seek help from a spiritualist, I am going to ask Balaam to put a curse on Israel to that I can win them. So he searched, he sent his camels, his officers to visit this man, this soothsayer Balaam, and they come to Balaam's house and ask, "Come then, now I beg you and curse this people for they are stronger." that I."

So Balaam starts to pray, he believed in God too and he went into his tent and prayed to God. God what do you want me to do? And the Lord answers him like this, verse 12, "Then God said to Balaam, 'Do not go with them or curse the people for they are blessed." This decides it, right? he asked God, God what is your will? Do you want me to go curse that town? And the Lord says to him, 'No, don't go, they are blessed.' So Balaam goes out and talks to them in the morning, verse 13, and he says to the chiefs of Balak, “Go back to your land because Jehovah won't let me go. with you."

Good, right? obeyed the Lord, right? Listen, 'Jehovah won't let me go with you.' I would like to curse those people that God loves, I would like to but God does not want to let me go with you. Satan can smell that easy heart. A heart that says I would like to go against God but God does not allow me and the devil says, 'There I am going to seduce him.'

So Balak sends other more impressive messengers and they arrive at the house, bigger camels, money. Balaam liked to earn his little money by his riddles. And they say, 'Are you sure God told you not to come with us?' 'Let me pray again.' Once again, maybe God will change His mind.

Brothers, there is nothing wrong with praying a lot for something, but if God has told you that it is not good for you, why keep asking for it? It is dangerous because the biggest punishment it can give you is sometimes what you want. God gives you what you have asked for. Okay, go with them.

So he gets on his donkey and we ask for some photos, someone had a phone and was taking some photos of him, an angel appeared on the road with his donkey and the donkey got scared and went to the field, and then again. And then he appears in a blind alley, the angel appears with a sword in front of him and the donkey gets in next to him and hits him on the leg and Balaam says... the donkey starts to hit him, you know the story, and then the donkey begins to preach to Balaam, as Balaam himself is a preaching donkey and now his donkey is going to preach to him. And he says, 'why are you hitting me?' 'Well, because I'm upset with you, I'm your donkey, right?' 'Yes.' 'I usually talk to you this way?' 'No.' His eyes are opened and he sees the angel in front of him, because he was on a dangerous path and when he goes against God, God himself resists him.

So Balaam becomes very contrite and says, 'Now I understand,' the angel tells him, 'I was going to let the donkey live and kill you.' I go, I go back to my house.' Do you have to ask that? he already stood there, an angel with a sword and you dared to ask him again? Okay, go on then. It was with them. Three times he tried to curse God's people. Now the altars that he had there... the first time, there is Balak who is paying him, seven altars and 7 bulls that are being killed and he there, hocus pocus, does his I don't know what and then he says, 'Okay, now I'm going to speak my message, why shall I curse the one that God did not curse?' and Balak, 'Don't say that,' and he goes on blessing, blessing.

The second time, he goes to another altar, because sometimes if you ask God in another place, maybe he will change his mind, maybe you can twist his arm and convince him. So, he deals elsewhere, another sacrifice, another spell. Then he says, 'I have been ordered to bless. God gave a blessing and I will not be able to revoke it because against Jacob there is no omen or divination against Israel.’ This person is not curseable. What's happening? Everything bounces off him.

The third time he tries one more time and this time I am going to curse them. And he looks and can no longer do his spells, the spirit falls on him despite his bad heart and he lifts up his eyes and sees Israel encamped by tribes and the spirit of God came upon him and then he uttered this prophecy 'how beautiful your tents are Jacob, and your dwelling places, Israel, blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.'

Go figure. The Lord took the curse and turned it into a blessing because God had said to Abraham, 'I am going to bless you, I am going to make you a great nation and your name will be great and all who bless you will be blessed and all who curse you will be blessed. cursed.’ So these people are not curseable, it is impossible to put a curse on them.

Balak was upset and raged, verse 10, against Balaam, "clapping his hands and said, 'I have called you to curse my enemies but you have already blessed them 3 times. Now flee to your place, I said that I would honor you but Jehovah has deprived you of honor, I am not going to pay you anything because you did not do it.' And Balaam says, 'okay, wait a minute, let's talk a little bit.'

And we don't know what they talked about but we know what happened next. I want you to read with me, number 25 says, 'that immediately after Balaam's conversation with Balak the people began to prostitute themselves with the daughters of Mohab who invited the people to sacrifice to their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. Thus the people went to Baal Peor, what a name of a god, and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel and 24,000 died in a plague.

So you understand Balaam's strategy? You cannot make God curse them because they are blessed, but you can tempt them to curse themselves by committing sin. Because if they go against God, God himself will discipline them. So don't send your soldiers, send your women. And we have women of God here, I'm not punishing women. Do not kill them, invite them to eat before your idols, that they worship idols and God himself turns against them with that sword that Balaam himself saw up close.

Balaam's teaching is to make idolatry delicious, to make it attractive to serve the devil. So he couldn't intimidate them, he couldn't scare them but he could seduce and tempt them by using attractive things. Idolatry was very attractive at that time. Because now you can eat meat anywhere, a good chicharrón, a good roast, at that time you would go to a pagan center where they sacrificed an animal and eat the meat there from that sacrifice. You eat it there worshiping an idol.

The Apostle Paul said, if they later put it on the market I would eat it without shame, because I did not go to the temple, but the temptation was to go to the pagan banquet and the Apostle Paul said, look, the idol is nothing, there is no a Zeus, this is mythology, but the sacrifices they make are made to demons, and I don't want you to participate with demons. You cannot eat from the table of the Lord and also from the table of demons. It is one or the other, it is not combined. That seduction made them combine the 2 things.

Also in places, pagan temples, there were always prostitutes, people who did that in the temple, so they believed that this sexuality unleashed spiritual power from their god. So he would go to the pagan temple to eat, have sex and worship an idol. It's very attractive, isn't it? it is a terrible seduction. Sex, sexual intercourse is something super spiritual. God said that man and woman will be one flesh, that is why we believe that marriage is a man and a woman for life, because it is a physical and also a spiritual union. That is why when there is this union there is a sharing of spirits, that is why you can still be infected with not so good spirits.

Maria Magdalena had to be freed from 7 demons after her life of prostitution. The great King Solomon, the wisest man in the world, the man who built the temple to Jehovah and ministered before the altar, he married hundreds of pagan women and invited him to worship their gods. That is a very old strategy, to use this human desire to later get entangled.

If God cannot intimidate us, he seduces us. And that is why there was a strong warning, that a winning church cannot be seduced and they are still temptations. There are many who are coming out of spiritualities where the Christian faith is combined with superstitious practices. The Lord says that now is the time to throw away these things and serve Jehovah alone. This temptation and it is not easy, brothers, because sometimes due to this superstitious practice one feels that there is good luck and if I let go, what will happen to me? Your God is the one with the 2-edged sword. Don't worry. He will fight for you. People will pray for you. You can be released from it.

Also the temptation of food. Who is not tempted by food? I do. You have to be careful. Also the temptation of sexuality. It's hard, these are very personal and very strong things for people. Our God knows and gives us strength and help so that we are free from the ties we have. This place is a hospital for the healing of bondages, it is a place of liberation, not a place for condemnation or throwing stones. Jesus came to set us free.

Balaam is going to throw you what you like. Balaam knows. He was seduced by money and this is also a seduction. So greed is a form of idolatry. He is going to throw you what you like and he is going to listen to what you say, 'I would like to but God won't let me.' Here I go. If I want to be a victorious Christian, I have to fight with my heart, because it is dangerous.

Jesus says, therefore repent or else I will come soon to you and fight with the sword of my mouth. So if we go against God, it is not the devil who is against us, it is the Lord himself who is resisting us.

I told a story this morning and I don't know if it's good but I'm going to share that. the Lord speaks to me in crazy ways sometimes. 3 years ago I came from my apartment, I lived in the building next door where all the little apartments are and I walked from there to here to the church, one Halloween night he went and came here to pray because there was a prayer service, It was a Wednesday night. And I was coming along the road and I felt something against my back, like boom, and it fell to the ground and broke and I looked, it was an egg. And then I looked and there were some young people laughing, but later I felt the Lord tell me, 'don't worry, Gregory, a lot of things are going to bounce off you.' But be careful because I know that if I go against God this egg I am going to have it in my face because the Lord protects us but the Lord himself resists us at times.

Now I want to be very careful to say that I do not believe that all suffering is a punishment, brothers. I don't want to say that. the man Job suffered a lot and was an upright and upright man, it was not a punishment. Jesus suffered a lot and he did not do anything wrong, it was for us. The Apostle Paul imprisoned for the word of God. So I don't believe that all suffering is a punishment, please hear me, that's important to say, but I do say that sometimes we look for it. We know. Who has not searched for it? Who hasn't listened to Balaam and tried something and then learned the hard way.

And all these things of the Old Testament were written and came to pass as the Apostle Paul says, in first Corinthians 10, 'as an example, and they are written to admonish us.' Amen.

I have good news for you, the Lord gives us the gift of repentance. That means it's never too late, I can change. The enemy seduces me, you are talking to the snake, maybe you are beginning to listen and his arguments make sense. It is not too late for you to stop the dialogue. Maybe you've already tasted the apple, maybe many apples, and maybe you're hiding in – what did Adam and Eve do? They hid in the trees. It's not too late, you can come out of hiding because light is the most healing place in the world for you.

Because despite what the devil wants, the Lord is never our enemy, because there is one who died for us, there is one who suffered the punishment that I deserve, so even though he seduces me and sometimes we listen and suffer the results, we always there is hope to repent and get out of it and into the light. And the Bible says, if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

That's the best soap in the universe, brothers. The blood of Christ can clean not only the body but also your conscience. That woman Mary Magdalene who was freed from 7 demons was at the foot of the cross with the mother of Jesus, she was one of the closest to Jesus, one of his favorites. It's never too late. The light.

And you don't have to do it alone either, thank God this church is an army, but it is also a hospital where sinners are healed. We are healed here and we can confess our sins to each other and pray for each other to be healed. You can search for brothers. And I thank God that the ethics of this church of Pastor Roberto, is to be a church where you can arrive just as you are, that you do not have to hide, you can come to the light and take your healing process and the Lord is going to do the work in you and me because we are all in the same. And although the devil plans to set God against us, the Lord is never our enemy, he says, come soon, says the Lord, and let us be mindful even if your sins are like scarlet, they will be whitened like snow, even if they are red like crimson they will become like white wool. If you want and listen, you will eat the best of the land.

How then can we resist the seduction of the devil? He offers us good things, tempting things. I believe that one of the best antidotes is at the end of that letter in the promises that God gives you, 'I will feed the victor with the hidden manna,' and there they make very good Puerto Rican food. The Lord says, 'You can resist that bad food because I have better food for you.'

You know the story of the Israelites who ate bread in the desert, that miraculous bread. The Bible says that it is the bread of the angels and made in the heavenly place that appeared in this dimension and ate men, because I believe that in heaven we are going to eat well, brothers. This body is going to sleep for a while after dying but then it is going to wake up with the voice of the archangel, with the sound of trumpets, we are going to wake up, we are going to have new bodies and we are going to eat with Jesus alive. Amen.

And there is manna in store for that day. The manna was kept in a jar and put into the ark and then where did that manna come from? Maybe it is still hidden in the earth somewhere, but God is going to take it out and we are going to eat that manna and that is delicious bread. I want you to think about the richest bread that you have eaten in your life. I have a very strong confession, I was traveling in Guatemala and I was in Lake Atitlán and I stayed with an indigenous family, Zutujil was spoken there, and the lady would wake up at 4 in the morning and grind, and grind, and grind and then I made those tortillas, and then my friend and I went to church and came back and there was a mountain of fresh tortillas and some scrambled eggs from the chickens I had there and I ate, I ate without shame because they were the richest tortillas in the world. And arepas from heaven, pupusas from angels, it was such delicious bread, and I feel the Lord tell me, this is nothing compared to the manna that I have prepared for you. Tastes good.

So when the devil offers you his delights, his things, you can say with Jesus, 'I have food to eat that you don't know about,' as Jesus said. ‘I have a hidden bread.’ You think you have everything hidden in your pagan temple, my God has a little bread saved for me and it is rich. Taste and see that God is good, Jehovah, and I can eat of it.

Although I believe that this speaks of heavenly food in the resurrection, I believe that we can begin to enjoy it in a way now. The Bible says that God has given us the spirit as a deposit. Last night I was with a group of African-American Pentecostals who were praying upstairs, it was total madness. And I got in, like the confused gringo that I am, if there's something and I'm the only one that's different, I get in, I want that, and I felt the presence of God there. I felt, give me that hidden manna, Lord, I want to eat a chin. Jesus said, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

Passion for Christ. Enjoy the presence of God. It helps us to say no to the temptations and false invitations that God gives us, because I have more good news for us, we don't have to eat it alone. The Bible says that God is going to give us all a white stone with a written name that no one knows except the person who receives it, this is something mysterious. Only God knows what the white stone means, but I have my opinion and I must share it. I believe that in Roman times there were athletes who ran like in the Olympics and if you won the race you arrived and at the victory ceremony of the race they gave you their crown and also a white stone that invites you to the banquet of celebrations . That little white stone was your ticket, your proof that you won and that you are invited to the special banquet with the winners, it is your invitation and it has a name written on it.

The Bible says, people will come from the east, from the west, from the north and from the south and they will sit at the table in the Kingdom of God. This feast of the devil does not compare to the banquets of the lamb, of the wedding of the lamb. There is a better banquet prepared for us. So if the enemy invites you to an inappropriate party, to a situation that tempts you, you can look at the little stone and say, I have a previous commitment. I have a party prepared for me, I am beginning to enjoy it now and eat that bread that God has prepared for me.

Brethren, we can be a winning church. No matter where you are in the process, if you are in the fight you can win through the blood of Christ. If you are tempted, you are a human being, we are all tempted, Balaam's teaching continues, but we do not have to say yes to the devil's invitation, because we have a better invitation. and there's a name written there and I can't wait to see something written on this little white stone, a new name that only I'm going to know.

I hope that you have a private life with God, things between you and your Lord that only you know, you and him. He loves you and he knows you by name, not what people think of you, nor what you think of yourself, but God truly knows you. You are the apple of his eye, the son of his right hand and he has a name for you. How nice! I want to hear that name for me. I want to receive that invitation.

Being loved by God, being invited by him helps us say, no thank you to the devil because there is something much better prepared for us. Table dressings before me, in the presence of my distressers, you anoint my head with oil, my cup is overflowing, certainly good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and in the house of Jehovah I will dwell for long days.

Brothers, amen. I asked permission if we could do the sacrament one more time because this sacrament today is a symbol of the banquet in heaven. Jesus said, I will not eat of that bread nor take of the fruit of the vine until I do it again in the kingdom of my Father. That is a taste of what awaits us.

Perhaps because of everything I have said, some will be thinking, but I already said yes to Balaam many times, perhaps I shouldn't. If you confess your sin he is just and faithful to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all evil, the blood of Christ is the medicine. Confess your sin and participate because you do have the white stone inviting you to this table.

We are going to close this time with a sacred moment. I am going to pray and then I am going to invite Pastor Isaías who is going to officiate at this moment, but I want to pray first, Father, in the name of Jesus I thank you, Lord, I thank you that you are the who really invites us to a real banquet, Lord.

Father, help us, Lord, because sometimes the devil touches us where we are weakest. He knows how to sell sin to us. Help us to be astute people, people delivered and in love with the Lord, that we can like and see how good Jehovah is, Lord. Bless your people at this table in the name of Jesus. Amen.