Enemies

PARKING: Where do i mention sin addressed, over spirits cast out of darkness, someone gave into their flesh, we called this sin, sin empowered the enemy, and cause spiritual loss.

AMEN

All throughout history as long as there have been kingdoms there have been those that oppose kingdoms. The devil himself was kicked out of heaven for wanting to be like God, to have the power, to rule and to reign. We even find ourselves at a lesser level, envying the kingdoms of one another, constantly chasing material items and experiences by way of comparison. Today, I would like for us to take some time to consider the reality of opposition to God’s kingdom. Though I doubt we struggle with the reality of opposition, my concern for this morning will be in bringing clarity about where the source of evil truly has its root. For us to not be either flippant or obsessed with the idea of spiritual warfare.

Let’s talk about evil today… but of course, within the context that as Christians we can live a victorious life over said evil as a result of Christ’s work on the cross.

Can I start by just throwing some thoughts out that I had when studying and preparing this message? I’m going to give you the answer to a couple of the questions and the others I’ll just let you think on them, the way that I did.

Is there more than one devil? No. He’s a singular creature.

Is he omnipresent, or omniscient? Meaning can he be in more than one place at one time, or is he all knowing.. no! Only God is omnipresent and omniscient.

How many demons are there? Do they multiple or reproduce like humans? If not does that mean that the ratio of demons to humans has been diminishing with the increase of the human population? If so shouldn’t we be dealing with demons less than others did historically? In my studies of theories on demonology the largest estimate I could find from a catholic theologian was around 133 million. I’m not sure where he got that number but sounds like a good amount of demons. Just for conversation sake with about 8.3 billion people on earth, That mens there’s about 1 demon for every 60 or 70 of us. Even though the 133 million number is basically just conjecture, I feel pretty confident that you don’t have a demon assigned to you, and if there’s 8.3 billion people on the earth and only 1 devil, there’s a 99.9999999% chance that in this lifetime you will never actually have an encounter with the devil himself.

Why is it when something bad happens to a Christian it’s spiritual warfare but the same thing happens to a non Christian and it’s because they are living in sin? Why is it when a projector stops working in church on Sunday morning it’s the devil, but when it happens at an nfl football game we fire a technician for not doing their job? With all that being said the devil is real and so are demons.

We are going to talk 3 versions of evil today. We are going to talk about the devil as the king of evil, the world as a system of evil, and our flesh as the evil that lives inside of each of us individually.

Let’s start with Ephesians 6:10–12 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes (we will talk about that word schemes a little more later). For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Well folks he didn’t go down to Georgia and he doesn’t play the fiddle, the devil is real.

DEVIL

So what’s he up to?

Satan’s two most effective ploys are first… to get people to underestimate him so that he can lure us into a hidden snare, or secondly… to overestimate him that we may be so intimidated by him that we are paralyzed by his threatening power. He loves it if we deny his existence and thereby ignore him OR if we elevate him to the level of God and become preoccupied with him. We may not be able to be possessed by him but we surely can become OBSESSED with him.

I wonder how often some of us might be doing the devil’s work by imagining him to be in places he is not, and giving him credit for things he’s not even doing? Conversely, I wonder how often some of us expect to do the work of God’s kingdom and not be encountered with opposition from the systems of the enemy? So many fail to see opposition from spiritual darkness in the light that we should. If we are correctly understanding it, it could be that we have began to take territory that has previously belonged to the enemy, and this is not something that pleases him.

Now i just gave you some thoughts about there being just 1 devil and a certain amount of demons. But I would say that the typical Christian feels like there is a more present evil than what I just outlined, is that a fair assumption? So what’s that about?

You are going to find this morning as we work through the sermon that I very much want to draw you attention to the work of the devil and evil more so than the devil himself.

In Luke chapter 10 Jesus sent 72 men out ahead of him 2 by 2 into different citizens to prepare the way for him before he went and look at the response as the return in verse 17.

Luke 10:17–20 “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

Jesus told the disciples not to post on instagram about casting out demons, but instead to be excited that they were Christians. Some of us want to cast out a demon more than loving our neighbor or working in the nursery. Resisting sexual temptation or spending time in prayer doesn’t sell, like movies about exorcism. Jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning. In other words, I think He was saying big whoop guys, satan’s under my feet, and I want you to get that he doesn’t have any power that I don’t give him anyhow.

I think this soft rebuke from Jesus was because He wanted to make sure the disciples saw more of HIM, more than they went looking for evil. I had a thought this week when I woke up with a stiff back and of course in preparation for this message thought about where people have tried to pray the devil or a demon out of someone’s back, but hear me today. If you are like me, in your 40s, (or older), and used to play alot of sports or do jobs that abused you back and spend a lot more time sitting around not moving or stretching like you should, your body is going to continue to deteriorate.

And when you feel what seems like spiritual darkness in your home, before you pray against evil spirits, ask whether there is sin in the camp. In the story of the Israelites they lost a battle because someone gave into the flesh, sinned, and released spiritual power to the enemy. The same thing happens today. I’m not going to lie, I become a little wary of people that speak too frequently about demonic activity around them, makes me curious as to whether the presence of darkness remains due to unresolved sin in a person’s life.

Ultimately, what I’m trying to say and will explain as we move forward is that I fear that too often we use the devil and demons as scapegoat for not addressing behaviors, habits, and lifestyles that need to be examined.

While it sounds like I mostly downplayed the devil’s work, his work is exactly what I want to focus on now.

For that we refer to the word “WORLD”

WORLD -

The systems of this world oppose the kingdom of God.

Now we understand there are different levels of evil. Our primary text today describes authorities, powers, and forces of evil.

We even see Jesus differentiate a particular type of demon which requires a greater prayer life in order to be exorcised.

Now if you will lean into this with me, If the enemy apparently has lived for thousands and thousands of years, his experience and observation of us as humans is hardly limited, he’s seen it all!

We as humans set up companies with different divisions all with employees, managers, directors, and presidents. It seems logical that the devil would want to work with great efficiency. Especially if he is potentially outnumbered. We set up companies that work leaner, more efficiently, we automate things.

The devil is evil but he’s not stupid. I imagine him to be very efficient.

The reason I wanted to shift your attention away from the beings of satan or demons, it was because I want to shift your attention to recognize that the enemy has set up systems to methodically tear down Christianity, and before we believe that we are operating as such a super Christian that we have been assigned a vice president of evil in a demon, perhaps we need to first begin to recognize where we have submitted to worldly systems: In our families, our business, or circles of friends, our education. This is why Paul writes to the church at Rome.

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

If i may, I would like to submit to you today that we are being conformed much more than we are being attacked.

I would also offer up to you that we now live in a world, that as we mentioned last week finds glory in shameful things, so that most of a demons work isn’t waking you up at 2:00am with night sweats. Mostly all they need to do is just slight of hand, distraction, or look over here. The timeless classic Screwtape Letters written by C.S. Lewis on the training of a demon, the apprentice demon is reminded that a Christian doesn’t have to be turned to vulgar entertainment, just simply a newspaper rather than the Bible. How many times have you grabbed your phone to do something and a notification made you forget why you picked up your phone in the first place? This probably happened to me a dozen times this week! We are a distracted people serving a God that longs for us to meditate on His word and focus on His goodness. If the enemy can keep us distracted he can keep us disconnected from God.

But again, these systems are in place. Lord, Jesus come, but until then, we have to avoid conformity by continually, and daily being renewed in fresh revelation from His word and the Holy Spirit. It is ONLY then that we can even discern between good and evil.

While the devil is still the mastermind behind the evil, he must submit to Christ. In his vast intelligence though, he has set up systems of evil that we must avoid and resist. So before we take on the enemy we must strive to make sure that we are not of our own freewill participating in activity that contributes to worldly systems.

(Transition) This all ultimately comes from obeying the flesh over the Spirit.

This is the third manifestation of evil we will consider this morning, our own flesh. For a greater understanding, let’s look at James chapter 1:13

James 1:13–15 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

FLESH equals OWN EVIL DESIRE…

James doesn’t say dragged away by the devil, by a demon, by the world, but by OUR OWN evil desire. We inherited these desires from our first dad and mom Adam and Eve when they chose that which was presented to them by the evil one. Sure the devil put it in front of them but they chose that which appealed to their flesh. And this became our carnal nature. From there, even if we have made a decision to follow Christ we must continually make the choice to obey the Spirit over the flesh. Look at what Galatians 6:8 says.

Galatians 6:8 “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

As we feed our flesh in so many different ways, we cause it to gain strength over us.

When we spend money unnecessarily, the devil doesn’t make us anxious about money, our flesh does because we fed our flesh with materialism and discontent, and even breed this into our children.

When we overeat and mistreat our bodies, the devil doesn’t cause us to be depressed about our health and our appearance, our flesh does because we didn’t exercise self control.

When we continually look at pictures of others on social media whom we are not married to, a demon doesn’t cause us to lust, our flesh does because we didn’t honor our spouse.

Because these entities of evil are intertwined let’s talk about how the work of demons works hand in hand with our flesh.

Know this, I don’t feel called to be a demon chaser today, I feel called to stay away from them. In fact we see a single demon in Acts 19 leave 7 dudes bloody and naked because they were not fully equipped to take on the demon whom they faced. Furthermore, while we see Jesus and the disciples cast out demons in the New Testament we must not make more of it than we should. We can’t build a theology around naming demons because Jesus asked one of them what their name was one time. I don’t need to know the name of the demon I facing when I know the name of the one that the demons not just answer to, but fear and tremble. To quote a demon, that name is Jesus, son of the most high God. We need to be much less worried about the names of demons and stay focused on the name of Jesus.

As C.S. Lewis so wonderfully stated, “The simplest of work for a demon is to turn a human’s gaze away from Jesus and towards themselves.

The entire chapter of Galatians 5 which preceded the verse we just alluded to on sowing and reaping emphasizes the importance of walking in the Spirit, because walking in the Spirit is the way we overcome the flesh. It clearly outlines that Spiritual living are those things which we do that exhibit and encourage love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It also lists multiple works of the flesh including sexual immorality, impurity and partying; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

When Paul lists these acts of the spirit and the flesh He even says they are obvious.

We make the discerning of Spirits such an elevated or difficult matter but Paul says come on. Did someone act loving or selfish? Peaceful or screaming in fits of rage? Controlling themselves or causing discord? Being kind or filled with jealousy?

There it is folks. We don’t have to overcomplicate the matter. We can practice, exhibit, and encourage things of the spirit and when we do we can overcome the works of the flesh.

DON’T SAY RESPONSE BUT SOLUTION OR RESOLUTION

My goal for today was to present three aspects of the evil that opposes the kingdom, and show a solution for each.

Let’s review the 3 versions of evil we discussed today. We talked about the devil as the king of evil, the world as a system of evil, and our flesh as the evil that lives inside of each of us individually.

I understand that we see the work of the enemy is prevalent throughout scripture. But if I’m an employee of a company I work to have presence and audience with the CEO of my company. I don’t concern myself with the competition. The book of Jude says that even an archangel didn’t condemn the devil, but let the Lord do that work. Our instruction regarding our interaction is stated simply and James chapter 4 where we are to resist the devil and when we do this living lives submitted to the Lord, the devil leaves us.

We cannot over spiritualize such a principal as though we are resisting an individual spirit in and of itself. When we do we give him too much power, and give ourselves too much of an excuse. It quite literally means resisting the devils offerings. We don’t like this because we know we continue to live in and embrace so many of his offerings that to speak of him in general terms let’s us off the hook in the places where we still abide in worldly living.

As far as demons go, our two instructions for exorcising demons are clearly stated in two verses of scripture. First the one I just alluded to from James, Submit to God, resist the devils offerings of sin and worldly living, and he/his minions will flee from you, and secondly in..

Mark 9:29 “In response to the disciples struggle to cast out a particularly stubborn demon Jesus says, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”” Some translations say prayer and fasting for greater emphasis.

The devil and the demons all eventually have to vacate the premises when resisting sin and prayer are the order of the day.

But again I want to continue to work through this progression with you. Before you make the devil and his demons the scapegoat for your shortcomings, where do you continue to submit to the enemy because you love the things of this world. I.e. the systems that the devil has set up to oppose the kingdom.

1 John 2:15–16 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”

It is world that you have been called out of as stated in..

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Jesus said to Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world. So when we continue to bow to the things of this world, we are duplicitous in our allegiance to him. And treason to Christ’s throne is our spiritual crime.

We live in a fallen world ruled by sin, and spiritual darkness does hover over places that sinful living resides. Our hope is heaven and we long for it one day. As Hebrews 11 says of those who were living by faith when they died. Hebrews 11:16 “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” But until he calls us home we are called to continue to resist the systems of this world. Paul himself alluded to this struggle when he said…

Philippians 1:21–24 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”

You too have been asked to remain here for the sake of the others to continue the work of expanding the kingdom.

Finally before you continue to make the devil you scapegoat, and use the world as your crutch for continuing in sin, start with the flesh.

We have indulged our flesh. Each of us moves from fleshy desire to desire. Justifying ourselves, by moving from uglier sins, to socially acceptable sins, to ones that we have convinced ourselves are not truly an issue.

To that I would say every sin is ugly, society is going to keep accepting more and more sin, and when you continue in any sin it’s because you ignore the convicting voice of truth and are appeased by the voice of liar. The danger then, lies in the fact, that if we listen to a lying voice in one area it can soon speak into every area of our life. As an old country song says, the things (of importance) in life seem to disappear, the devil takes your hand and says no fear.

I never want to be though of as walking hand in hand with the enemy

I feel like I’ve said more than enough to speak to what is that you are fighting. At this point I could articulate more, but I also feel like if any of this bothered you in your spirit today, there’s one place we need to bring it home.

It has to be spirit filled living.

While Paul was preaching to new believers in Ephesus. He asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit. They responded that they had never heard of Him. In the same fashion I would ask you this morning, are you living a spirit filled life? And with the question pose this resolve. If you are unsure as to whether or not you are, then you ARE NOT.

INVITE TEAM and here’s where we being to respond if we haven’t in our hearts already..

The devil and his demons are alive. But they are liars and have no power of you. Though darkness looms the shepherd king david said even in the valley of the shadow of death we have no fear because of God’s presence. Live in his presence, and the darkness will have no power.

The world is going to offer more and more. If you daily and continually allow your mind to be shaped by the word of God and fresh revelation from His spirit, you will overcome the world by the power of the blood of Jesus.

Last week we referenced Philippians chapter 3 where Paul was sobbing because this world is full of people that live as enemies to the cross of Christ, and they do so because it opposes their flesh.

You can come to church, and continue to classify your religion as Christian, but if you remain in fleshly living, the ending of your story will be he/she/they became an enemy of the cross of Christ. But the good news is today is not the end, and you today you can have a new beginning.

STAND

We said earlier that the end of Galatians 5 it says that we won’t be part of the kingdom of God if we continue in fleshly actions. If that struggle remains for you today, will you ask to be filled again with His Spirit? I know you are tired of fighting the flesh but Galatians 6:9 encourages us to not Galatians become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Ultimately the answer to the battle described where we are engaged against all the authorities of darkness listed in the second half of Ephesians 6:12 is found in the beginning of vers that says BE STRONG IN THE LORD, BE STRONG IN THE LORD, It is true that resistance grows greater as we near the thing that matters the most to us. If you feel the flesh or the powers of the enemy even in this moment stronger than they’ve ever felt before, it’s because your victory is closer than you’ve ever been before, and can be found at this altar today.

PRAY/WORSHIP

POST RESPONSE THRIVE EMPHASIS

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