58. Don't Leave Well Enough Alone

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Welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 58.

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Don't leave well enough alone. As a wild eyed inquisitive young lad,

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I often found myself in very precarious situations with a couple of green acres of the

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Piedmont plot to plot around and enough imagination to get me into a heap of trouble. It's a wonder that I made it out of childhood alive, from crashing bicycles, catching black widows and Dixie cups, climbing and falling out of trees and pouring gasoline into the unsuspecting nest of minor bees.

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My younger years were filled with all sorts of unsupervised and unsafe adventures.

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If there was a limit, I was the one testing it. There was the line. Then I was usually the one crossing it.

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If there was some social cue that the average person was supposed to pick up on, I was usually oblivious to it.

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And on more than one occasion, my grandpa dutifully came outside delivering the message that likely originated from my grandma saying,

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Kendall, don't you think that you'd better leave well enough alone?

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Now the point he was getting after was that my life's homeostatic balance and theirs hung in the balance of my next move.

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I had a nervous grandma inside shuddering over the safety of her pride and joy and a man who wanted to do everything in the world that he could to please her had detected that well enough was somehow in danger by my actions.

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The status quo was being threatened in Moxville, North Carolina. Peace and vitality were in jeopardy and I was the one accosting it.

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Now, fast forward as an adult, I realize now that there's many occasions where it really is a good thing to leave well enough alone.

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We don't need to poke every sleeping bear, throw rocks at every beehive or go to war with every single enemy.

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Sometimes doing nothing is the exact right thing that we should do.

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And knowing when that applies actually takes great wisdom and discernment. Now there are other times when doing nothing would be morally wrong, strategically unwise, or maybe even giving in to cowardice.

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In truth, there are some hills that we need to die on. There are some enemies that we need to face.

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There are some risks that we need to take. Again, wisdom and discernment are required here.

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And what follows, I'd like to sketch out why I can't leave well enough alone when it comes to Satan con coming to Boston.

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Now if you're unfamiliar with that terminology, Satan con is the largest satanic conference in human history.

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It's going to be hosted here in Boston, April 28th through the 30th by the satanic temple right in our backyard.

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And in this episode I would like to discuss a few reasons why

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I'm going to Boston, preaching the gospel on the streets, handing out tracks with a variety of people who are going to be going with us, praying like crazy that someone down there would be delivered from darkness and rescued by the light of the world.

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And as you listen, I hope that this episode will encourage you and by that I actually mean that it would give you courage to find creative ways to get involved in Jesus's mission right where you are.

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Sometimes you cannot leave well enough alone. Number one, because God is sovereign.

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Now when I heard about the largest satanic conference in human history coming to Boston, my first thought was gratitude that I was not going to be there.

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I don't go to Salem in October. I don't watch horror movies with occult rituals or pagan symbolism and I certainly am not inclined to be a stone's throw away from a burgeoning bevy of Baphomet's best buddies in the belly of bean town.

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I stay away from such things like that because, well, you know, leaving well enough alone, right?

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But as I thought about it, I realized that I was actually acting in fear. You could have invited me to preach in any church in new

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England, storm any library, skydive out of any plane, and I would have relished the opportunity.

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But intentionally traveling to a gathering of secular Satanist actually had me unnerved.

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I was then reminded that God is sovereign over all things, which means that he has the right and the power and the ability to control all things to his ends.

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Nothing occurs outside of his administration, his governance and his will. And because of that, even

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Satan cannot afflict me or us unless he has divine permission to do so.

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Job chapter one, God's absolute sovereignty is the reason that demons shutter

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James two 19. This is why they necessarily obey him when he issues forth commands.

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Matthew eight 31 and 32. This is also why the unclean spirits cannot even speak unless King Jesus allows for it.

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Mark one 34. All of this tells me that God is entirely in control of all things, especially when a gaggle of goth garb

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Luciferians are gathering in our streets. It's not outside of his control.

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It's under the banner of his sovereignty and I can rest in that. Whatever reason

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I might want to stay away from an event like that, fear cannot be one of them because the Lord is sovereign and he's in control.

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Fear has no place in our decision making. Number two, sometimes we can't leave well enough alone because they are trespassing.

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When Jesus rose from the dead, the first thing that he told his disciples was all authority in heaven and earth has now been given to me.

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This means of course that Satan has no authority in the cosmos. It means that demons,

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Satanist and secularists have no inherent ability beyond what God has allowed for them. It also means that their message has no authority to be believed.

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Their worldview has no power to rescue the damned and the vision that they are peddling has no jurisdiction here because everything in all of creation was made by him and for him.

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Colossians one 16 to say that a different way. Christ owns the world.

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He bought and paid for it at Calvary's hill and he possesses it through his glorious resurrection and resurrection through his ascension to the right hand and rule over his kingdom and through sending out his church to reclaim the nations for his own glory.

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Psalm two, Psalm one 10 Isaiah nine six through seven Daniel two 44 Daniel seven 14 first Corinthians 15 24 25 we can go on.

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All who dare oppose Jesus's rule do so by trespassing on his property.

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This world belongs to him, which is a capital offense in the kingdom of God. Now we shouldn't rejoice in that.

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We should feel sorry for those who are trespassing on Jesus's property and want very, very ardently for them to repent and turn to Christ.

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And in this age, Christ has given authority to his church to declare that gospel message message to the nations, calling them to repent and to turn from their wicked ways before it's too late.

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Because in the age to come in eternity, all who are opposed to Jesus will stand before the righteous judge and they will be sentenced for their crimes and thrown into eternal torment and perdition forever.

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This is why that we must declare the gospel while today is still today because the only one with authority has given his church the authority to preach the only authoritative message, the gospel.

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That is the only message that can save the lost. Acts four 12. It's the only hope that Satanist or anyone else for that matter can have and we must boldly declare it in the hope that they will be saved.

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Romans one 16 third. Sometimes we just can't leave well enough alone because we must imitate

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Christ and his disciples. When Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness, Jesus did not shrink back or hide like a girl scout troop encountering a sleuth of hungry grizzly bears.

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Instead he courageously confronted the enemy with God's word and he watched that slithering serpent flee in mortal defeat.

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Jesus is the one who crushes the serpent's head on the cross and he inspired Paul through his spirit to ascribe that same vocation to the advancing church.

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Romans 16 20 even beyond Jesus's war against the scaly dragon.

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He also brought the battle to all the malevolent and unclean spirits during his ministry. He did not avoid them or leave well enough alone.

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He cast him out. He drove them out and he demonstrated that he had power over the underworld and over all rulers and authorities and over all powers and over all who would follow after their wicked devices.

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He also commissioned his disciples and gave them authority over the legions of hell and sent them out to imitate him in their ministry both before and after his resurrection.

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When he rose from the dead and gave his followers the Holy spirit to empower them for mission, he forever declared that there is no power in heaven above on earth here or in hell below that can stand against the advancing of his gospel.

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In Acts chapter one verse eight, Jesus says this, he says, but you will receive power when the

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Holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth.

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We've been called to enter Satan's domain and declare the gospel of freedom to everyone still under his spell.

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And when we say all people, we mean everyone from the grand Pooh Bob Satanism who sacrifices goats in his backyard all the way to the most tender hearted vegan who barely has the stomach to harm a vegetable.

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Everyone, everyone who is under the domain of Satan from the tallest to the smallest has been hoodwinked by Eden serpent and the only hope that they have is the gospel.

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That's why this week by the decree of God in scripture with the commission and the authority of Jesus Christ and in the power of the

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Holy spirit, we're going to declare that gospel to anyone who will listen. We cannot leave well enough alone because Jesus, his disciples and all the believers in scripture that we see did not either.

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That's number three. Number four, sometimes you just can't leave well enough alone because we know

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Jesus wins. We are not afraid to go and tell anyone about the gospel because we know that the son of man will be victorious.

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We know that his kingdom will advance and that the gates of hell will not stand in opposition. Matthew 16, 16 through 17.

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We know that when human history is complete, every tongue will declare his triumph and every knee will bow before the

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Lord of glory. Philippians two 10 far from retreating, from an event like Satan con, we are rushing towards it, but not with hubris and pride, but to remind everyone who is there that their plight is lost, that Christ has already won to lay down their arms and to join him more than anything.

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We don't want to see men and women go down with a sinking ship. We don't want to see men, women and children destroyed in eternity.

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That's why we preach so that they will defect from the devil's ranks and join us in our march toward victory.

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Conclusion. You don't have to preach outside of Satan con to be a

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Christian. Not at all. You certainly don't need to get involved in something like this to be faithfully engaged in Jesus's mission, but you must be engaged somewhere.

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Usually the kingdom of God will advance in our homes. So we train up our children in the fear and admonition of the

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Lord. When doing that, the Lord will also sometimes give us opportunities among our extended family, friends, and those that we work with at our jobs.

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And then sometimes the Lord will lay it on your heart to do something that you wouldn't normally do to get outside of your comfort zone, to follow him into the uncomfortable and to declare his gospel in ways that you could not have imagined.

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Dear friends, be open to whatever God calls you to do. Be engaged in his kingdom at every level.

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Pray to God that we will see his kingdom expand in new England and beyond. And until next time, thank you for listening to the podcast.