Witchcraft in the Church - Part 2

Here this morning I want you to turn with me again to Galatians chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3, and we already started on this. I want to continue a bit, I'm not sure how far I will go here this morning, and I just want to continue preaching. I know it's a sad time for us with funerals and the loss of loved ones, but we do want to fix our mind on the Word of God and keep our eye fixed upon Him. We want to see the Word of God spread in this city, and we want to reach souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. And my message here this morning continuing, last time we dealt with witchcraft in the church, and if you didn't listen that or hear that message, please go and listen. It's such an important message for this hour, witchcraft in the church, but I want to go a bit further here and give three remedies for witchcraft in the church. I want to deal with three specific things very briefly, but very vitally in the book of Galatians, and I believe that witchcraft either obscures them or pushes them aside or covers them with the darkness of witchcraft, or else these three things destroy the power of witchcraft in the church. Reading from Galatians chapter 3 and verse 1 here this morning, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? And listen, that ye should not obey the truth. Immediately Paul begins to show that what it is for witchcraft to be in the church, for the influence of certain teachers, suddenly within real churches, men stop obeying the written truth and commands of God. And he goes on, Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you, this only would I learn of you. Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit? Are ye made perfect by the flesh? Let's pray here this morning together. Father, I do pray for this word, Lord God, that it would be the balm of Gilead to each one of our hearts. Father, we want a church, Lord God, that functions in the Holy Spirit. We want a church that is centered upon the finished work of the cross. We want a church that holds fast to justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. And Lord God, we do want to know how to walk in the spirit and by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, I do pray to open up these truths, oh God, that destroy the power of fleshly witchcraft. My God, I pray that you expose it, that you break its power, that we would be a church so dominated by the finished work of the cross, by blood redemption, by a crucified life. Lord God, that we would be so intimate with the truth of justification by faith, of imputed righteousness, that every witchcraft, the power of it, the fear of it will be broken. Lord God, be very gracious unto us, and Lord God, make Christ central in all things this morning, that your name might be glorified. Amen. Amen. My second message here on witchcraft, three remedies for witchcraft in the church. We have already shown how witchcraft can be in the church, and it says here in Galatians 3, chapter 3, verse 1, Oh foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you? These were a whole group of churches within an entire province, and Paul writing to them as an entire entity, as a whole grouping of churches, mature as well as young, and saying that they had been bewitched, and we want to deal with this here this morning. In Galatians chapter 5, it says that witchcraft is a sin of the flesh, or a manifestation of the flesh. In other words, the witchcraft we're dealing with in the book of Galatians, it's a manifestation of the flesh. What is the flesh? It is the old nature, the uncrucified nature, the fallen nature of man. The flesh of man is that nature of Adam that fell in the garden. It's the nature we are born with, and that nature is utterly opposed to everything of God, of his word, his kingdom, and of his spirit. It says again in 1 Samuel, chapter 15 and 23, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. In our first message, we looked at King Saul, the first anointed king of Israel, how that the rebellion in his heart against authority led him into 38 years of sin. For 38 years, as he walked in rebellion, it was as the sin of witchcraft. In other words, where you get a rebellion in the heart, it is very similar in its effect to witchcraft. You may never cast a spell, and yet you're operating in a soulish spiritual power that attracts demonic influence. It's such a dangerous thing. We also looked at the prophet Balaam, how he makes the gifts of God and real prophecies and manifestations with that which is pure witchcraft. He made a mixture of it and led God's people into sin. Then thirdly, we looked at that convert Simon, who had been a sorcerer or a witch. When he come in, believing, being baptized in water, and joining the church at Samaria, we know that his heart was unchanged. That same heart motive, he wanted to bring right into the church, and it was pure witchcraft. Outwardly, he'd become a Christian, and yet that heart was still fleshly and still dominated by witchcraft. I want to warn you that witchcraft, when it manifests in the flesh, it is a very deadly thing. It seeks to manipulate. It seeks to dominate. It seeks to control. It seeks to influence by emotion, by words, by actions, by whatever means. When we look at the Old Testament, we see that story about Samson and Delilah. The Philistine soldiers couldn't conquer Samson, so what did they do? They went to Delilah, this beautiful, young-looking lady, and they said, Delilah, we want you to entice this anointed man of God, and we'll pay you a lot of money if you're able to entice him. And you know the story. It actually says she tried to get the secret of his strength and to steal his strength for the sake of money. She didn't love him, but she had a manipulative agenda to destroy that man in order to gain money, and yet he thought somehow that she loved him. It actually says she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death. Do you know what that is? That is emotional witchcraft. That is witchcraft coming out of the soul of man, manipulating tears, pressure, maneuvering words, all of that. Why? To get your own means met. In other words, you use the power of psyche to bring about an effect. I want to warn you here this morning as a church, we as a church have to understand that we are to reject all control, manipulation, game playing in the religious realm, whether it's in a pulpit, whether it's through some old Christian or some young believer in the church. As soon as this witchcraft begins to manifest as an entity of the flesh, we better be aware of it. It is deadly if you come under its influence. What does Paul say? Oh foolish Galatians, you're not using your head. You don't have your eyes open. You don't have your ears open. You're not looking at facts or proof or evidence. You're not using your brain or your intelligence. You're being moved by emotions, by deception, by lies. You're being tricked. You're being fooled. I want to warn you, we need to come back to the scripture of God again. It's being devoid of common sense or biblical judgment. It's the lack of using the judgment that the Bible says we should. It's to be on sound in your mind or lacking in the ability to use your intellect and studying things with scripture. As we said last time, to be bewitched, listen what this word bewitched means. It means that someone comes into the church and they begin to malign. They begin to slander. They begin to speak against. Why are they doing that? To mislead by pretense, to bring deception. And they begin to fascinate or use the magical arts of charm and praise to deceive you and turn your attitude either against biblical doctrine or a church or preachers that are of God. This bewitchment is very dangerous. Listen to me as we begin to look at three remedies for witchcraft. You've got to know what witchcraft is as a manifestation of the flesh. This word listen to what it is in the Greek. Pharmakeia. Pharmakeia. Where we get our word pharmacy or drugstore. In other words, pharmaceia. To be bewitched. Paul saying to the Galatians, all of you churches somehow in a short time have become bewitched by certain men, certain teachers, certain preachers that have come down from Jerusalem claiming to represent the apostles. These certain band of men have actually bewitched you. And this word pharmaceia can be used for drugs or for a witchcraft spell or for manipulating religiously. All of this is summed up in this word pharmakeia. Pharmakeia. That's why drugs is the same as sorcery or witchcraft. When we see people in Limerick and they're operating in drugs, taking heroin or other drugs, do you realize it's the biblical word for witchcraft? Do you know why? Because when you begin using drugs, it actually draws the presence of the demonic powers. Where you have the use of drugs, you have the operation of demonic powers. All those drug sellers on the high street in Limerick, I assure you, Satan has got a hold of them. They could be religious. They could be Catholics. They could say all manners of prayers. But if they're selling and using drugs, they're under the influence of hell. We need to draw a clear line on this. This Greek word pharmakeia is also used in Revelation chapter 18 for that great city Babylon, or the headquarters of the last world government that's going to rule in our world. Listen to what it says about the judgment of Babylon. For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Babylon is yet to arise, and I believe we're at the beginning of it. We're about to see the rise of a last world government, and it will be called Babylon. That's what's going to mark it. But do you know how this city of Babylon, this headquarters of Antichrist, do you know how it's going to deceive the nation? Through sorceries. That's why we've got to understand this as the church. We've got to understand this because I believe witchcraft is going to become very prominent in this hour, even by world politics, right down to the scum on the local corner of your street. I assure you that this deception is going to be very broad, and we the church have to have a remedy for it. We have to have a power that's greater than it. We have to have a way to fight it and to destroy its effects on sinners, because we're going to win many multitudes, many thousands out of it. Do you know Babylon uses sorceries, drugs, the manipulation of religion. It uses all of these things. It uses sorcery, supernatural, demonic powers, manifesting forth to tell the future or to call fire from heaven. Since we don't realize what's just about to happen in our world, world politics and world government is about to become very spiritual, very soulish, and it's going to use the power of witchcraft. I do here this morning simply want to give you three vital truths from Galatians that either witchcraft obscures in the church or the church rises up and destroys witchcraft by these three truths. The apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 8. Listen to what he's saying. He's writing to young Timothy. Timothy is overseeing an apostolic ministry, the church at Ephesus. Paul is writing here from his prison cell to the young preacher who is there filling in for him at the church at Ephesus many years after it had begun. Listen to what Paul says here. Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Now Paul is speaking to Timothy about certain men who have come into the church at Ephesus who are resisting the truth, certain men. And do you know what he's saying to Timothy? Just look back to the days of Moses. It's the very same thing that happened in Moses' day that is happening in our day to you, Timothy, in the church at Ephesus. Certain men are withstanding you, Timothy, in the church at Ephesus and they're coming into the church trying to say they're Christians. Well, he looked back to the days of Moses and he says it was the same with Janus and Jambres. Now who were they? Who were Janus and Jambres in the days of Moses? Listen, we read about them, not by name, but we have a veiled comment about them in Exodus chapter 7 and verse 11. When Moses walked into the palace of Pharaoh and began to challenge him and called on 10 plagues on the nation to say, let my people go. Let Israel go out of this captivity. When Moses came to deliver God's people and set them free from the bondage of Pharaoh, do you know what? These two men, Janus and Jambres, arose. Listen carefully from Exodus 7. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did like manner with their enchantments. Now I want you to notice here the old Jewish writing say Janus and Jambres were the leaders of these sorcerers, of these magicians, of these wise men down in Egypt who rose up every time Moses done a miracle. They rose up and they copied it. You produce frogs, we'll produce frogs. You do this, we can do the same. They were using witchcraft to bring this about. It says then in chapter 7 22, and the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. Do you realize Paul is looking back to the days of Moses and he sees these two men rise up who withstood the words, the preaching of Moses. And do you know what they used? They used witchcraft, they used enchantments, they used sorcery, they used tricks. They done all of this to deceive Pharaoh. And do you know what? As soon as they started to play their religious games, their games that looked like power, looked like the same power as God, it looked like their prayers would be answered. Do you know what? It hardened the heart of Pharaoh that he did not listen the word of God. I'm showing you something very important about witchcraft that it hardens the heart against the true word of God. We read the same in Acts chapter 13 when Paul and Barnabas traveled to the island of Cyprus and they begin to travel through preaching from town unto town until finally they reached a town where the deputy of the country, the leader of the country, was a man called Sergius Paulus. And listen to what it says in Acts 13. He was a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. Now here's the leader in this region, in this country, and he hears about the preaching, he hears about the miracles, and he calls, I want to hear the word of God. But do you know who else was there in that palace of this great man? The Bible says a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, or again it says his name was Elimus, two names, Elimus the sorcerer. And listen, this false prophet, it says he withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. So he's using all of his witchcraft, all of his powers of prophecy. He's claiming to be a Jew, claiming to be a prophet of God, claiming to be a representative of God. But you know what? He's operating in witchcraft. And what does he do? He opposes the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. But thank God that man of God Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked upon him and said thou child of a devil, and he was struck blind. Oh that we could do that again in our meetings. But do you know Janus and Jambres, what their name means? Janus means to seduce, Jambres means rebellion, just like Saul, King Saul. So we see the Janus and Jambres, rebellion and seduction. That's what marks witchcraft, a deception, a desire, a fleshly desire in the heart to say, I want to win you over to my side. I don't want you listening that preaching. I want you to be won over and I'll deceive, I'll lie, I'll use power, I'll claim God, I'll use prophecy, I'll do what it takes. Since when you get opposition to the real preaching of the gospel, when you see wicked men rise up and not only disbelieve or disagree or but they oppose it, they attack it. There is witchcraft operating in the midst of that. Witchcraft is in utter opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the preaching of the truth of God's word. It attacks it, it stands against it. In the Old Testament we read about Absalom, the son of David. He grew up in that home and when he reached the age of 40 years old, he started to get ideas. I should be king. I should have the position. I should have the anointing. I should sit in the throne. My father is old. He can't do the job like me. I'm able to do it far better than him. You know what pride leads to? A great fall. It is so, so dangerous. You know what, Absalom, this young man raised in a godly, godly house under a man who truly knew God and never tried to manipulate things. David never manipulated the situation or used the gifts of God to gain what he wanted. He never lifted a finger against Saul to get into that position. Oh, never, never. That's a man who's free of witchcraft. But look at his son, Absalom, growing up in his own home. It says that he got for himself or prepared chariots, horses, and 50 men to run before him. Then he began to rise early to stand in the gate of the city. And when people from other towns and villages came, he called to them. And in fact, he said, what's your problem? Then he said, your problem is good. The thing that you have is good. I would seek justice for you, but I don't have the power. My father has it and he can't hear you. But if I had the power, I would look for justice. It says he took them by the hand and he kissed them. He drew them in close to them. And it says this, so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And so began a rebellion against his father, against the authority of God, against the kingdom of God. And you know what, Absalom's rebellion, it swept the kingdom of David to such an extent. David had a flea with all his faithful men. He went for the hills and there was a rising of rebellion. Joab came in on it. The priests came in on it. Many others came in on it. And I can assure you, it was a rebellion marked by witchcraft. You see, witchcraft is something that comes out of the flesh of man. You go, I'll use words, position, power, influence, the claim of the power of God. I'll even display gifts of the Holy Spirit. You know what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to steal your heart. I'm trying to, you know, if any man tries to claim your heart, unless he's a tall, handsome guy and you're a beautiful young girl and both of you are godly and he's after you, that's okay. But if anyone else, preacher or not, tries to claim your heart, instead of making you fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an issue. Witchcraft, I don't care how smooth their words are. I don't care what they say about you. I don't care how spiritual they look. You better be careful. And this is why John says in 1 John chapter 4 and 1, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try or test the spirits, whether they are of God, for many false prophets are gone out into the world. I want to give you three warnings here from the churches of Galatia that Paul warns about. He says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Throughout the entire book of Galatians, these six chapters, he mentions these individuals. Remember, Paul had preached the gospel in Galatia. He is the one that brought the gospel to them. He raised up the churches. He done miracles among them, won them to Christ, showed them the truth of the gospel. But several years down the road, or maybe three years down the road, there came certain men, he says in Galatians 1 and 6, but there be some that trouble you or confuse you and they would pervert the gospel of Christ. In other words, turn it inside out. He also says in chapter 4 and 17, they zealously affect you, but not well. In other words, they get you burning, they get you stirred up, they get you burning with fire in your heart, but not in a good way. These men that have come in, Paul begins to say, you Galatians, when I first come amongst you, you treated me like an angel of God. That's how you actually treated me. Now you're almost treating me like a demon. When I first come among you, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Now, because I tell you the truth, preach to you the truth, speak to you the word of God out of love, but I cannot say anything but the truth of God, you hate me. You hate me. Since I'm telling you about one of the greatest apostles who ever walked on the earth, he raised up all of these churches in Galatia, and in case you don't know, they were Celts, they were Gauls. That's where the name Galatian comes from. They come from the south of France Gaul, they spread all the way over to Turkey, and in that middle region of Turkey that we've heard about before, these Gauls or these Celts settled there, and that's who Paul begins to evangelize. Paul the apostle was the first in the east of the entire empire to evangelize the Celts, and that was finished when Saint Patrick, 300 years later, came to Ireland to preach the gospel from the apostle Paul in the first century to Saint Patrick in the fourth century, evangelizing an entire continent. What an amazing thing. It was the same culture and the same people, and you know what? They were fickle. What Paul describes here, they were a people who fast ran after him and said, we'd die for you, and very shortly they're wanting to take his life. You see, I believe in this story about these Judaizers, and that's what they're called. Judaizers, men from Jerusalem who claimed to be Jews converted to Christ, who believed in the cross, being born again. They believed in the ministry of the apostles, but they come challenging Paul. They come saying he's not a true apostle. He's not preaching the truth. We have a greater revelation. Well, do you know there was a great fight in these Galatian churches, and I believe witchcraft was primary. It stole the hearts of many believers in the churches of Galatia, and those who had once loved Paul now stood in great doubt about him, and those who once walked in the true gospel had now changed it for another gospel, and yet they still thought that they were walking with Jesus Christ. I want to give you here three things that either become obscured by witchcraft, or three things that defeat and destroy the power of witchcraft in the church. They destroy the power of manipulation, of fear, of control, of drug use. I can assure you these three things will destroy the use of drugs in any life, but it'll also destroy religious schemes using the gifts and positions of the Holy Spirit for a person's own end. Here's my three points here this morning. First of all, the centrality of the cross. The centrality of the cross. Look again, Galatians chapter three and verse one. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. Do you know what Paul was saying here? He was saying, I know you've come under the power of witchcraft. Under the influence of these men, they were operating a witchcraft. It was a manifestation of their flesh, the fallen nature. There's nothing spiritual about it. Nothing of God. Out of their flesh came rebellion, witchcraft to control you. And they have turned not only individuals against me, but entire churches across an entire land, an entire culture. They have managed to turn. How And do you know what Paul is saying here? Oh foolish Galatians, what has happened to you? Who have bewitched you? What has gone on? How could you have changed sides? How could this have happened to you? Do you know why he says it happened to them? He says, do you realize that this witchcraft, this bewitchment has blinded your eyes to the centrality of Christ crucified? That's what he's saying here. I know that there's a spell on you. I know you must've taken drugs. I know that you've been manipulated religiously. Do you know how I know that? I always preach the cross in your midst. While I was with you, when these churches began, we preached about Christ and him crucified. Paul actually says here that before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth among you. Do you know what evidently set forth among you means? I told you last time it's the word pro grapho. Another where we get our word graphic to display a beautiful picture, to draw a beautiful, clear, distinct picture right in front of your eyes, right in front of your face. You know what Paul is saying? When I come preaching amongst you, I so preach the word of God that I made the crucifixion of Christ to be like a picture set before you. It was set before your eyes. You saw Christ crucified as if you'd been there at the cross seeing Jesus Christ die for you sinners. He said, I so preach the gospel. I so arranged the churches that when we gathered as the church, the death of Christ was so evident, so real. It was like you're gazing upon the crucified Christ. When I preached, you could see, you could smell, you could feel the crucified Christ and it changed your lives. It changed your communities. I held it up before you. I placarded the message of Christ crucified. I held it up before your faces. I was faithful not to preach myself or a church or a denomination. I preach Christ and him crucified. I preach Christ not just glorified at the right hand of the father, not as a babe in the manger, not as a man doing miracles. Oh yes, all those things are within truth. But centrally, the most central message that I preached to you was Christ and him crucified. No mixture, no changing of the message, no addition, no subtraction. I preach to you Christ undiluted. As we said in 1 Corinthians 11 26, it says when we break bread together and drink the cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. You show it. What are we doing when we break bread every week in our meeting? We are showing forth. We are displaying Christ crucified or the death of Jesus until he comes again. Do you realize that God has given us the Lord's table to keep it before our eyes? He died for you sinners. He suffered on your behalf. Since I'm talking about the cure for witchcraft, if you're a manipulator, if you're a liar, if you're a game player, there is an answer to destroy witchcraft, not fleshly manipulation in the house of God. You know what it is? It's preaching Christ crucified. If you really see that Jesus Christ died and suffered for your sins on the cross, you're not going to let rebellion in your heart. You're not going to turn to witchcraft. You're not going to manipulate lies and try to deceive and lie lies. Do you know what a lie is? It could be just not telling the truth. Oh, I didn't lie. I didn't tell any lie. Yes, but you didn't tell the truth when you ought to have told the truth. That is a lie. You lied in your heart to manipulate, to manipulate the situation. Our people, since when you see that Christ died for you, a sinner, that because of your sin, your fallen nature, your flesh, that you should go to hell eternally. You know what? You look on the man of Calvary. He's not a rebel. He wasn't a manipulator. He wasn't a liar. He wasn't a deceiver. He didn't pretend gifts and dreams and prophecies and yet use them to gain money or to gain power or to gain a position. He never done that. Look at the master. The closer he got to the cross, the fewer were those who followed him. He wasn't after the crowds. He preached the truth of God. He preached if a man's going to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. It wasn't crowds that he was looking for. It was disciples of the cross. And that's how you discern witchcraft in a church. Are they changing or moving aside the message of the cross in order to fill the church? Then there's witchcraft. Oh, they may not cast any spell, but I assure you, if they obscure the cross, instead of seeing what the gospel is, Christ died for sinners, that this cross means you must repent to your sin. We must deal with your sin. Rebellion must be dealt with in your heart. Rejection of authority in home or the church or society. It's rebellion against the cross of Jesus Christ. Do you know what the cross does? It humbles you at the feet of Jesus Christ. It brings you low all through this book of Galatians. I want to tell you the message of crosses, of the cross of Christ crucified is there from Galatians chapter one all the way through to Galatians chapter six. You'll find that the cross will rescue you. It will remove your old sin nature. It'll restore you. It will bring reproach upon you. It will make you to reproduce the life of God and it will also make you to rejoice. Listen, in Galatians chapter one, we have the cross and salvation. In Galatians two, the cross and our personal experience. In Galatians chapter three, the cross and the preaching of the gospel. In Galatians chapter five and six, you have the cross and persecution. In Galatians three, the cross and substitution. And in Galatians five, the cross and holiness. I could keep going here telling you that Galatians is filled with the message of the cross. When Paul said, who has bewitched you? Do you know what he done? He went back and preached again the cross. Christ died for you. Christ died for sinners. Since this is the remedy to witchcraft in the church, all that manipulation, all the false manifestations of false revivals, of trying to manipulate your husband through tears. Are you husbands trying to control your wife through threats and abuse? All of this breaks when we come back to the cross of Jesus Christ. You know, if you're a young person, a child, a son or a daughter in this meeting, and you're trying to play games in your home and manipulate and cry and do those things, you won't do that. If you look to Jesus down on the cross for you again, that is unacceptable. Jesus died that you could be set free from those things. But here, look, it's not only Christ down for us. The cross, the message of the cross is only that it's not only that Christ died for your sins that you could go free. You know what? It's also you were crucified with Christ. Are you a real Christian? Then why are you blind to the cross? Oh, why do the, why is it the message of the cross has been lost in this generation? They'll preach about how to feel better, how to be successful, how to have a good marriage. They never mentioned the cross. They, they, they can teach all manners of subject and they never take you back to Christ and him crucified. Paul said to the Corinthians, when I come amongst you, I determined, I set myself that I wouldn't know anything among you apart from Christ and him crucified. Saints in your marriage relationship know nothing but Christ and him crucified. In this church, whether you preach through the Lord's table, through the door, or simply sit there and pray and encourage, don't let any witchcraft in. For you to be in Christ, to be a Christian is to crucify that all fleshly nature. Listen in Galatians 2 and 20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life I now live in the flesh or in the body, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What is the life of a true Christian? I glory in the cross. I glory that he died for me, that he suffered in my place, that he died for my sin. All witchcraft of the flesh was suffered for at Calvary, but more than that, I was crucified with Christ that by faith I might live this new life. In other words, where I get things coming out of that flesh, I want to lie, I want to say things, I want to use spiritual things, I want to begin to use it to gain some sort of influence. Do you know what? You've got to crucify the flesh with its manifestations. Go back, take your old man pops up. Have any of you had that? I'm sure all of you are too perfect for that, but now and again, I get that old flesh man saying, I would like to say some things. You know what I do? I say, come here with me. We're going to the cross where you ought to be. You've reared up again, but you've got no right. No pride isn't going to have its way here. Rebellion isn't, manipulation isn't, all of that foolishness. You know what? I'm taking you to the cross. You're to be crucified with him. You don't improve the old nature. You crucify it with Christ, with all of its fleshly natures and manifestations. Do you find in your life that either in the last message or this, there's something, there's something rises up that you go, that's witchcraft coming out of my flesh. And believe me, even in a true genuine believer and not old nature, it's rotten. Paul says, there's no good thing in me. That is in my flesh. My flesh isn't better than the day I got saved. It hasn't improved over the years. It doesn't smell more beautiful. Not flesh. Every time it appears, it's stinking and it's rotten. It makes suggestions to me. Just say this, just do this, just ignore that. Don't get into trouble over it. Don't speak the truth of God or preach it. Don't preach the true gospel at that funeral. I have to preach the gospel whether men curse me or bless me. This is the first answer or remedy to witchcraft in the church. Paul's preaching to all of these churches of Galatians. I once knew you. I once loved you. You know what he does? He brings them right back to the cross. He again, preaches the cross and said, this witchcraft, the influence of these strange men, you know what you've done? You've moved away from the finished work of Christ. And you know what? You began to listen to men. You began to look to men. You began to care about men. Second of all, my second point, the second remedy that Paul preaches, the second remedy for witchcraft is justification by faith alone. Six times in Galatians, as Paul tries to deal with these bewitched Christians who have changed or moved their direction, six times he uses this word justification. What is justification by faith? It's how you get saved. It's how you begin this journey. It's how you enter a right relationship with God. It is how your standing is, your eternal standing, your destiny before God. You know, the standing of being justified, it doesn't grow. It doesn't change. It doesn't get less. You're either justified or you're not justified. You're either righteous before God or you're not righteous before God. It is the fundamental truth of the gospel. In fact, Martin Luther, who fought his way out of Catholicism in Germany, do you know when he first come to the scriptures and got born again, he actually called justification by faith his wife. He said, I am married to the book of Galatians. He said, this book of Galatians, more than any book in the new Testament, I am married to it. The book of Galatians is my wife, my constant companion. You know why? He'd looked at the witchcraft of Roman Catholicism. They come in saying, you've got to do this. You've got to do that. And they said, yes, we believe in Christ. Yes, we believe in the cross. Yes, we believe in the finished work of Calvary, but beware of the buts. And they began to add their own doctrines and theology. Do you realize in the early centuries of the church, men rose up and come in amongst the church and they begin to add things. In Galatians, in Galatia, those preachers who came in begin to add circumcision. Oh yes, you can be born again, but you must be circumcised. Oh yes, it's all about the cross, but you must do this and you must do that. And we'll take you back like it's written in Galatians three. The only place that deals with curses in connection with the Christian church is Galatians three. And it says, if you are justified by faith, there is no curse on your life. It is broken. But these teachers came in and said, oh no, no, no. You need to go back to the law, back to the Old Testament. Or maybe there's a curse over your life. Maybe there's a generational curse that come down from your Freemason grandfather. You need this curse broken. Can I tell you, Rory who's in this meeting, the day he got born again, the day he put faith in Christ, the day he experienced justification by faith alone, all the curses of Freemasonry were broken. When he come in that door and told us he had been a Freemason, I didn't start swishing his back or looking into his ancestry or saying, have you renounced all of these curses? No, I just want to know, have you believed on Jesus Christ to be justified by faith alone? Since I'm telling you about the power to break witchcraft, not only the finished work of the cross, not only the centrality of the cross, but justification by faith alone. Paul hammers it and we don't have time to look at it all. But six times he mentions this beautiful word, justification. What does justification mean? It means just as if you'd never sinned. It means when you believe in the finished work of the cross, you are made perfectly righteous. Day one, day one, God himself imputes to you the perfect righteousness of Christ and that becomes your righteousness, your means of salvation, your means of standing before God, not how well you've done the past week. And I'm not talking about license, you know that, but I'm talking about what is the basis of your relationship with God? How do you know that you're born again? How do you know that your sins are forgiven? Because I believed on Christ, what he done on the cross, and when I put my faith in him, God the father took his perfect righteousness and he put it into my bank account. Do you know Paul in this letter gives a very tragic story, but a very important testimony. He's speaking to the Galatian churches and you know what he does? He gives them an example in chapter two. He takes them back a few years previous and he tells them a testimony and a story about when he was a Bible teacher in the church at Antioch. Him and Barnabas had raised up a glorious church, a wonderful church through the preaching of the gospel. And while they were there, we're told that Peter came to preach at the church and they were having wonderful times around the tables, eating together. And Peter would sit with the young Gentile Christians saved out of paganism and all manners of sinfulness. And they were sitting there and Peter would eat with them. But listen, listen to chapter two, verse 12. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they come, he withdrew and separated himself. Now look what's happening here. I believe this was witchcraft in operation. These were religious men who came down from Jerusalem and it affected Peter, the apostle here in the church at Antioch. He was glad to sit with the sinners, glad to eat with them. But when those old religious Judaizers, these Christians who still held on to the law as the means of salvation. In other words, they said, you must be circumcised to be saved. You must keep the law. You must keep the Sabbath. You must keep the feast days. You must look to the moon and calculate the right date. You've got to do all of these things. Do you know what Peter done? As soon as he saw them walking in the door, you know what he done? It says that he withdrew himself. And then he separated himself. You know what he done? He slowly stood up and began to move away from the tables. He become very cautious. He began to shrink back. He made a tactical retreat. He then separated himself from these Gentile Christians. In other words, he totally separated himself. He put up a barrier, a boundary. He kept his distance. Don't think that this keeping a meter apart or two meter apart is only new this year. Oh no. Do you realize the spirit of witchcraft and religion can do the same? It's like the COVID virus. I assure you, suddenly everyone's staying away from you. I'm in Christian brothers and sisters. They've never spoken to you. They've never come to you. They've never raised a biblical issue, but suddenly their words change. Their attitude towards you changes. Now they distance themselves and you go, what's wrong? What's wrong? You see that's witchcraft friends. That is witchcraft in the church and it is devilish. We're talking about justification by faith alone. If God has justified a sinner, if he has made him righteous, if I'm a true brother in Jesus Christ, don't you allow all of that religious manipulative game plan to come in. We're told that Peter began to fear because of these men. Be very careful when you begin to fear and withdraw yourself and become all conscious, even though you know in your heart, these Christians are justified by faith. They haven't done anything wrong. You're being influenced by witchcraft. You're being manipulated. It goes on to say in chapter 2 and 13, and not only Peter and the other Jews dissembled, but Peter's doing it. It must be okay. It must be. Look at this preacher. Be very careful. Test everything by the word of God. Stand fast in justification by faith. You know, if you do or say something to me, I'm going to come talk to you. I don't want to hurt you. Maybe I've made a mistake. Maybe I misheard, but you know what? If some issue arises, I want to go to you as my brother and sister. You know what this is? This is standing and protecting the teaching of justification by faith. After Peter had said other Jews dissembled likewise, you know what that means? To act hypocritically. They didn't believe this, but they begin to act like hypocrites. They do it outwardly. They come into unity with these infiltrators. I'm talking about the power of witchcraft can begin to make you act hypocritically. In your heart, you know the truth, but you are scared. You're scared to say or defend someone. You're scared to stand for truth. You're scared to expose error. You're scared to say, Peter, that's not right. You know what? When we get there, the church is coming under the influence of witchcraft. It says, and all of this went on in so much that even Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. Paul's co-labor in the church at Antioch, even he, first Peter, then the Jews, now Barnabas, one of the main leaders in the local church, even he got carried away with it. I mean, this was like a flood coming into the church at Antioch. It just breezed through, catching Peter, Barnabas, and many others. But you know what? There was a man there who stood against it, and his name was Paul. He was a Bible teacher then, not an apostle. And he said, they all got carried away with dissimulation. Do you know what he done? It says, I stood Peter to his face, and I said it unto Peter before them all. In other words, publicly, he exposed it. And you know what? He began to preach to Peter, and now to the Galatians, he said, not only did it rescue Peter and Barnabas and the others, and it saved the church at Antioch, now I'm going to preach it again to you, the Galatian churches. You know why? You're under the influence of witchcraft. You've turned against me. I've never hurt you. I've never done anything against you. And you know what? When you turn against good Christians, godly, upright, and preachers who preach truth, when you turn against them, witchcraft is operating. I'm going to show you about that. I've seen it too many times. I've seen it too many times. What does Paul now preach to Peter and to the churches of Galatia? Knowing this, chapter 2, verse 16, knowing this, that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. He began to preach to Peter and Barnabas and the church at Antioch, and now to the Galatians, he's writing to them. He keeps preaching every chapter, justification by faith. This is the fundamental principle of the Christian life. I was made righteous by faith in Christ, by the grace of God. It's not by works. I believe in holiness. I preach holiness. I command what the Bible commands. You know I do in this church. But I want to tell you, that is not the foundation. That does not save you. You're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, in the finished work of the cross alone. And it's the Holy Spirit that enables you to do that. Do you know that Peter got recovered, and a few years later, he's writing about Paul the agent, my dear brother Paul, and all of his letters. Isn't it wonderful that Peter, that great preacher Pentecost, had to be withstood to his face and say, Peter, you're acting the hypocrite. Peter, we taught justification by faith, but you're bringing other regulations in, which are in the law, but not in Christ, under grace. You know, I'm against all this Judaistic Christianity that's come into the church in our day. Skullcaps. The Bible says no man is to pray with his head covered. And you have them with prayer shawls and Jewish skullcaps. And they begin to say, you've got to keep the feasts of Israel. No, you do not. I don't keep Passover. Christ is my Passover. You know, justification by faith lifts you out of religion and out of the attempts of the flesh to be good enough for God. And it puts you in faith alone, by Christ alone. This is the foundational doctrine of this church. Not the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Not that we believe in healing. Not that we believe in evangelizing the world. We preach Christ and him crucified. That if any man believes in Christ, he will be made righteous. And can I tell you, any drug addict in this city of Limerick, I don't care if they're a heroin addict. I don't care if they're the worst criminal on the streets. If they hear the real gospel, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. You know what? That drugs addiction will be broken. It will be broken. If you believe in Christ, you're going to be saved and delivered from the power of drugs. What is it? Witchcraft. It is witchcraft. It is pharmacia. It is that binding of hell. It's demonic power trying to bind you. It'll be broken by the message of believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, Brother Keith, no, we need inner healing. We need deliverance. We need to cast demons out. We need to go back to your childhood. We need to counsel you. I had a pastor, a very sincere man, just some months ago. He said, if you want me to counsel you, just let me know, and I can counsel you. Someone said to Candice, if Keith needs someone to counsel him during this time, just tell me and I'll do it. Can I tell you here, at this stage, you, my wife's a great counselor. She gives me the word of God. Says, Keith, you know what the Bible said. That's a great counselor. I don't need psychology. I don't need someone going back to my childhood. Just give me the word of God. That's the kind, any one of you in this church can remind me of the word of God. I thank you for godly counsel. I do need that. All these new movements, beware, because there's a power of witchcraft behind them saying, oh, you need to add this. Third and finally, we said, these are the three points that destroy witchcraft. First of all, the centrality of the cross. Second of all, justification by faith alone and Christ alone. But third of all, walking in the spirit. Paul presents these three things as well as other things, but these three things mainly as the answer to the Galatians. He is in a crisis, a rescue mission. I'm trying to save you from these Judaizers, from these men who brought you under witchcraft, who've manipulated you and have turned you aside from the true gospel of Jesus Christ and have separated you from me, that burst you in the gospel, that prayed for you, that carried you in my heart. You've been separated and turned aside. You used to treat me like an angel. Now you despise me and I have become your enemy. But third and finally, in Galatians chapter five, verse 16 to 25, we actually have this walking in the spirit. It says in verse 16, and this is the answer for witchcraft. Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Remember witchcraft is a manifestation, one of the marks of the flesh. What does Paul say? If you don't want that flesh to operate, if you don't want witchcraft to come through in whatever diverse manner, if you don't want it to have an effect on your life or to arise, do you know what? Walk in the spirit. Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Or look at verse 25. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. What does it mean to walk in the spirit? Now I know we've got a lot of people in our churches in this hour and they think walking in the spirit is to have feelings. The spirit told me that isn't walking in the spirit. That is not what it's talking about here. People who walk in the spirit in this hour, they think I had dreams, I had visions, I had revelations. God told me this is walking in the spirit. You know, a lot of those people who operate like that, I find they actually operate in witchcraft. Does the Holy Spirit speak today? Yes, he does. He does speak in a very real way, but that isn't what it's speaking about here. There's lots of people who claim guidance by the Holy Spirit and they're manipulating through their soul realm. It is their soul that is trying to control and is pretending or counterfeiting the Holy Spirit. It is witchcraft. It is demonic and the devil comes in in the back of that. But I'm talking about the cure that breaks the power of witchcraft in a life, in a church, in a ministry. It destroys it and Paul preaches it here. Walk in the spirit. What is walking in the spirit? It means to keep in step with the spirit. The direction the Holy Spirit walks in, you choose to walk in the same direction. You step in his footsteps, the steps that he makes. In other words, every situation, every circumstance, every relationship, what does the Holy Spirit say in the scriptures? Do you know this Bible is given by the Holy Spirit? He has spoken. He's given commands on every area of life, in church, society, our family. He's given us all this teaching, the Holy Spirit saith, all this instruction. And I've met thousands of Christians. I've tried to talk to so many. And you know what they say? I've got the spirit. I'm walking in the spirit. And you try to show them what the Holy Spirit said in the word of God very clearly. And they say, oh, no, no, no. I disagree with that. No, I'm going to go do this. You know what? You're choosing to walk outside the spirit and you're leaving yourself wide open to witchcraft. You're either going to walk, if you're looking for the real, you're either going to walk in the spirit. You're going to walk with the spirit in agreement with the Holy Spirit. But as soon as you make a conscious choice to walk out a step with him and not to walk in unity with him, you're opening yourself up for deceiving spirits or witchcraft to influence your life. You know, the Galatians, they got tricked out of this. They got tricked out of this rather than walking in the spirit. What did Paul say? Ye did run well. Who did hinder you from walking in the truth? Do you realize what he says here? And even in Galatians chapter three and one again, oh foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth. What is running and walking? It is obedience to the truth. These Galatians, they began to say, we've got to do this and we've got to do that and we've got to do this. They begin to add things. You don't need to add anything that isn't in this book. Walk in the truth as it's revealed in the person of Christ. Grow in the things of truth. Walk in justification by faith alone. But do you know what the Galatians done? They got bewitched away from this. They got told you've got to do this and you've got to do that. It's not the Holy Spirit in it. They begin to listen to men rather than the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is very clear in Galatians 5 and 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Do you realize being led by the Holy Spirit, walking in agreement with the Holy Spirit, you'll walk in the covenant of grace and not the covenant of law. You'll be deceived if you turn back to that covenant of the law again. You know in Galatians it begins to talk here about this fight between the Holy Spirit and the flesh of man. You see the guests of the Holy Spirit in the real Holy Spirit is very different than witchcraft in the flesh and yet it could look the same in the local church. You could have some old lady prophesying over younger believers, controlling them, using prophecy, looking very spiritual. You know what she is? She's a witch. She's a witch in the church. She's manipulating you. She's making you to fear. Oh she's threatening you. We know an old lady in one particular church. The first thing a young convert or a young lady walks in that church, the first thing before she even says God bless, she'll look at you from the top of your head to the sole of your feet. You know what that look is to intimidate you. That look is to manipulate you. That is just the beginning. I'm telling you about real things church and it's utterly unacceptable in our means. Don't you go correcting people and other people's lives in this church when you're not right. You know what that is? That's a flesh. That's the flesh. When you're trying to sort out other people and you're pointing things out and you're doing the same thing. You know what? You're in very dangerous ground. You're trying to manipulate them and you're trying to control them and get them to do things that you won't even do. There's no power in your life and you're trying to shed your conviction and your condemnation by telling them that you know the right thing to do. You know what? When you walk in the spirit, you know it's not by the law that you're saved. You walk by the power of the Holy Spirit and this isn't licensed. You obey the truth. You obey the truth. If you find people in today's church and they say, I believe in Christ crucified. I believe in justification by faith. I believe in being led by the spirit. I'm free. I am under grace and they do not keep the truth of God or obey the word of God and they say to you, no, no, I'm under grace. No, no, no, I'm justified. I'm right with God. Do you know what? They're bewitched. They've been deceived by a false gospel. And just like the worst Catholic in the city, if you find someone who came in here and said, I believe in Christ and they're still getting drunk and they're not a member of a church and they're out there using drugs or they're sleeping around or one week they're blaspheming and the next week they're witnessing to others and saying you're going to go to hell. You know what they are? They're bewitched. The devil is influencing their life. And you know what? Like with Jambreeson jammers, you cannot speak to them. Do you know what happens when you go to speak to them and say, no, no, one saved, always saved. I know I'm getting drunk. I know. I know. Don't. I know. I know. You know what? That's a bewitched person. And Paul here dealing with the Galatians. He said, I am pleading with you. I'm calling you. The centrality of the cross, a crucified life to justification by faith alone. Hey, sure. We know that. No, you don't. There is a power. There is a power and justification by faith. Don't tell me, you know, this simple elementary truth, since I need grip by it once more. And I need to be led by the spirit of God. Anyone not obeying the truth is not being led by the spirit of God. Saints, if we stick with these three truths, the centrality of the cross, justification by faith and being led by the spirit are walking in step with the spirit. You know what? Witchcraft manipulations, lies, false operations of the spirit, necromancy. None of this will have any place here because you know what? As soon as it appears, if it should appear like Paul, the apostle will withstand it to the face publicly. I'm going to say, brother, that's not okay here. We don't do that. Sister, that's not okay. Talking behind people's back without going to them. You know, you'll know about the Morris shell and Candace has said this before that the Morris shell, that the daughter, the oldest daughter of William Booth of the salvation army. Once she cured someone of gossip and slander and lies. They come to her and said, do you know this? And she grabbed them by the hand and said, no, you come with me. Let's go speak to that person and find out if that is true. Well, she gave the biggest shock of that lady's life. Can it, can I tell you walking in the spirit is a wonderful and a beautiful thing. Everything is in the open. Many years ago, there was a lady who went along, her son had joined the army. He had served 10 weeks and it was his pass side parade. And they all prayed out there, a hundred men, all marching rank and file, all abreast, all in the same step. And do you know what she said? She had her sister with her and they had a bit of a dispute. They're always competing with one another, but she turned to her sister and she said, look, Daisy, my Jimmy is the only one in step. All the rest of them are out of step, but my Jimmy is in step. The only one, you know what? That's like an awful lot of Christians that I've met in the church. They're going, I'm in step and all of you are out of step. They're out of step with the word of God, with the spirit of God, with the church of God, but they blindly keep saying that they're in step with the spirit of God. Let's walk in the spirit. Thank God for being justified, made righteous, not by my good deeds, not by my holiness, not by my obedience through the earth. That doesn't make me right with God. That is the fruit. That is the fruit of being made righteous. And you can't separate those things, but that is not what it means to be born again. And you know what? I want to stay with the cross. I want to make my boast this morning in the cross of Jesus Christ. We've got an answer for the sinners in this city to break the witchcraft, the drugs, the manipulations, and the lies. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for this message at a time where our hearts are heavy because of things happening in family, but we are in a warfare for the city. We are in a warfare in this church. We have been for seven years and we will be if you should tarry for another seven years. Lord God, we're in the conflict, having to rebuke and withstand and expose. Lord God, because we love the gospel, we love the truth, we love Jesus Christ. My God, I'm saved by grace alone and faith alone. Lord God, we make our stand in the finished work of the cross. And Lord God, we don't want our eyes to be blind. We know it has to be witchcraft. If we ever become blind, if we ever take our eyes off the cross, if we begin to start disobeying the word of God and walking in the flesh and operating the manipulations, witchcraft, rebellion, and all of the sins of the flesh, it is a sign that we've taken our eyes off the cross. By faith, we come here this morning to fix our eyes on you. Lord God, shine upon us here this morning. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen.