Freedom from Darkness

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Nominal Christians are the Worst.

The Toxic War on Masculinity & the False 50% Stat

Last week I referred to Nancy Pearcey’s book, The Toxic War on Masculinity and her look at how men had changed since the Industrial Revolution.

In that same book, Pearcey also reveals that the stastical fact most quoted by Church leaders is wrong. What’s that fact? That Christian couples divorce at the same rate as secular couples. People also often claim that Christian men are no better than non-Christian men, and that even theologically conservative, protestant men are just as likely to divorce, or commit domstic violence as anybody.

Devout (3 times a month) vs Nominal

However, she ntoes that Sociological studies completely disagree with this, IF you divide those under the label “Christian, or Conservative, Evangelical Christian” into two groups, those who are devout (meaning they attend church at least three times a month) and those who are nonimal (meaning they call themselves Christians but only attend church sporadically.”

And I quote “[Research shows that evangelical Protestent men who attend church at least three times a month] shatter the negatvie stereotypes. They are more loving to their wives and more emotionally engaged with their children than any other group. They are the least likely to divorce and they have the lowest levels of domestic abuse and violence.

Not True of the Nominals

Here’s what she says, [Men who call themselves Christians, but only attend church occasionally] do fit the negative stereotypes - shockingly so. They spend less time with their children, either in discipline or in shared activities. Their wives report significantly lower levels of happiness. And their marriages are far less stable. Whereas active evangelical men are 35% less likely to divorce than secular men, nominal are 20 percent more likely to divorce than secular men.

And, where committed churchgoing couples have the lowest rate of domestic violence of any group. (2.8 percent). Nominals have the highest of any group 97.2 percent) even higher than secular couples.

“The most violent husbands in America are nominal evangelical Protestants who attend church infrequently or not at all.”

(Toxic War on Masculinity, 36-37).

Ladies, Get your man to church.

HERE’S THE POINT

It’s not enough to call yourself a follower of Jesus.

It’s not enough to have an encounter with Jesus.

If you want lasting freedom from the power & Influence of darkness in your life, you must follow Jesus in your actions.

To the passage

#1 BINDING THE STRONG MAN

Luke 11:20–22 ESV

Recap, a demon that made a man mute.

Demon = STRONG MAN

Unless that strong man is overcome “his goods are safe”

OUR AGE IS OBLIVIOUS TO SPIRITUAL POWER

We are taught from birth that all that exists is the NATURAL WORLD

Therefore, any problem must be NATURAL and any SOLUTION must be NATURAL

If we met someone who was Mute, we’d assume they simply had damaged vocal chords.

The Modern World Plays a funny trick on us.

Advanced science and technology allows us to see inside things, and understand how they work.

But, this fools us into believing that because we understand the mechanism, we understand the CAUSE.

You will hear someone say - “Such and such an illness is not demonic, IT’S ONLY Chemical”

But that’s nonsense. It’s like saying, “The real cause of death was not murder, but only a metal projectile, acted on by the forces of physics and gravity, fired from a metal cylinder by a chambered explosion, triggered through a simple mechanism.” - Yes, but that GUN was fired by a mind and will.

If I punch you in the face, and say, “Don’t worry, it’s just motor neurons, muscle fibers, pain sensors etc”

Science and medicine are good at identifying and treating diseases and physical illnesses.

But, that does not rule out for a second SPIRITUAL CAUSES.

ANTI-DEPRESSANTS and Depression

Jesus doesn’t see the world that way.

This man was under the power of a Strong Man, an unclean spirit, a demon.

The demonic power in the mans life produced a symptom: muteness.

And, once the demon was gone, so was the muteness.

Not every Problem is a demon.

For example, in the gospels, even the inability to speak has at least three origins:

In Luke 1, Zechariah can’t speak as a sign/punishment from God for his unbelief.

In this passage, the man can’t speak because of a demon.

and in Mark 7, a man can’t speak, because of apparently natural causes.

If one error is to say, NOTHING IS DEMONIC, another is to say EVERYTHING IS DEMONIC.

BUT IF IT IS DEMONIC, THE STRONG MAN MUST BE DEFEATED.

BUT - If a Strong Man is in charge, Until he’s overcome he will guard his stuff.

We might rearrange the furniture. We might supress the symptoms.

You might go to meditation for anger - you might supress a physical issue.

But until that root of darkness is driven out, Satan will keep his home and belongings secure.

The Powers of Darkness are Real and they Hinder Oppress people everywhere.

Unfortunately, we are all born into the kingdom of darkness

1 John 5:19 (ESV)

… The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And the evil one resists God’s people:

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Unless these “Strong Men” are dealt with, we don’t see breakthrough.

- Southern Life, Asunta and David Juma.

PRAISE GOD “ONE STRONGER THAN HE HAS ATTACKED HIM AND OVERCOME HIM”

Jesus has come, he’s defeated Satan.

In his name, we can drive out demons. By His power we overcome the enemy.

Revelation 12:11 (ESV)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony….

We don’t have to fear Satan or Demons, even if we do have to deal with them at times.

#2 DRIVING OUT THE DEVIL IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

Luke 11:24–26 ESV

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Overcoming the Strong Man is only the beginning!

What happens the day after we get delivered?

What happens the week after we confess Christ?

Driving out darkness is important, but it’s only the start of the process.

You’ll notice Something in this passage:

The Strong Man guards his own palace.

The unclean spirit returns to my house.

The house/palace has not changed owners!

Squatters in America

It’s not enough to drive darkness out - you have to let light in!

Darkness isn’t polite - if you turn off the lights it doesn’t stay away.

Unless we allow Jesus to Rule we end up worse than we started.

Those me who called themselves Christians, but were unwilling to change their lifestyle in obedience to Christ, get darker and darker and worse and worse.

Names are not enough.

Acts 19:13–16 ESV

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

These men tried to fight Satan, but Jesus was only an idea, they weren’t part of His Kingdom.

#3 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IS NOT JUST ABOUT BEGINNINGS

Luke 11:27–28 ESV

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

A Birth is a beginning, breastfeeding an infant is a beginning.

And beginnings are beautiful. Just like a person giving their heart to Christ, or finding freedom from a sin that binds them.

But, what if Mary, after having birthed Jesus, and fed Jesus, rejected his claim to be the son of God?

Would she be blessed?

The man who was freed from the Demon wouldn’t stay blessed if he didn’t follow Jesus.

Mary wouldnt stay blessed if she doesn’t follow Jesus.

Why? - it’s as Jesus said John 8:12

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

How do we walk in light? By FOLLOWING Jesus.

Many people have an encounter with Jesus - He shines his torch into their dark cave and lights up their world.

But then he moves on. And unless we follow, we return to darkness.

Driving out Darkness is not a once and done.

Sometimes we hope that we could just have ONE BIG MOMENT and then it’s all sorted.

But no, we have work to do.

I heard someone say once that nobody “simply quits” addictions.

It’s not enough to put off. To Cast out. To evict.

We have to PUT ON. We have to put on new habits, new friends, a new lifestyle.

Yes, we cast Satan out, but we also must bring Jesus in.

Ephesians 4:17–24 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

We come from Darkness and Jesus sets us free by his power.

But then we have a task - to start changing our lives.

That passage continues with a lot of very practical points “Stop liying, get a job, quit talking dirty, start encouraging people, be kind.

Maybe there are areas of our lives that are still a little dark.

Parts of our old self, corrupted, unlcean.

Amaybe Jesus shone a torch in there long ago, but we’ve neglected it.

A tendency in modern Charismatic christianity is to run around wanting the BIG DELIVERANCE

But you can’t cast out the flesh!

Jesus himself is clear that if he himself turned up and cast a demon out of you, unless you then learned to practice obeying him, it would be worthless.

For most Christians most of the time, SIMPLE, DAILY OBEDIENCE will drive out Satan.

The Same Power that drives out Demons is there to help us live godly lives.

BUT - it requires commmitment and action on our part.

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

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