‘Yet they sent on to me four times’ – the first one here; three more times, and later a fifth. ‘And I answered them after the same manner.
We have this in the work of God today. There are all kinds of enemies. I remember when the contemporary Christian worship music all started up, the worldly music coming into the churches, right from the very beginning in the 1960s. The people who represented all that type of thing would come to to pastors everywhere, and everything was very friendly. ‘Would you like us to send you a band? Would you like us to supply you with this? Would you like us to furnish you with soloists for your service, and instrumentalists’, and everything was done so politely and amicably. But of course it was the enemy of souls behind it, who was embarking upon a campaign to bring the church down to the world, and make it a worldly institution and ruin and trivialise its worship. But it was all done in such a brotherly way, and all supposedly in the interests of the honour to God. Satan’s methods don't change. Even the surrounding Samaritans can be polite when it suits them, and friendly, and reasonable. The ecumenical movement is the same. When I was pastoring at Borehamwood decades ago, it wasn't long before the liberals in town were wanting to meet with me, and invite me to meet with them, and to dilute our testimony and conform to what they wanted. But when you declined, then things turned bitter and unpleasant, and the reality came out. But that is how Satan tries to get his tentacles on gospel work and slow it down. But then the method changes a little.