Spiritual Warfare
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Tonight it is my aim to speak with you about the unseen spiritual world. If there is anything we can say about the unseen spirit world it is the Bible says that which is seen is temporary, that which unseen is eternal.
First we need to see that the Spiritual world is a place of great conflict. Because it is there where God exists we dont see Him with our naked eyes, it is there where angels exist, and it is there where Satan exists with all of His multiplied thousands of demons. So its a place of activity and conflict.
Let me say also that its a place of tremendous influence. The Bible tells us in the book of Daniel, that Daniel was praying one day and he didnt understand why his prayer wasn’t heard.... and after three weeks of prayer it was revealed to him by the angel that came that the prince of persia held back Daniels answer to prayer, and the angel of God.
The Prince of Persia? That leads us to believe that Satan which stands above it all because he is only one being but has millons of demons. That Satan is standing there and he has organized it all, and thats why the Bible talks about pincipalities and powers unseen forces.
I can imagine that he assigns one to persia one to the US, one to Great Britain and one to all of the great countries of all the world. Then under them there are other spirits who have responsibilities and it gets right down to our families where there is a tremendous amount of conflict in many homes and it gets right down to the individual person.
That is why the Bible teaches that Satan is able to put thoughts in our minds that we think are our own. The best example of course comes from the book of
, where you have Ananias and Sapphira deciding to tell a lie and Peter said why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. Now when Jesus arrives on Earth all of the forces of the Earth converge on what we call Israel.
They were all there, and thats why you have Satan showing up so often personally, it is Satan personally who tempted Jesus in the wilderness. It is Satan who shows up and the reason is because with the coming of Jesus and the coming of light all the forces of darkness converged there in the land.
Thats why in the NT you have so many stories about people who were demon possessed and its because there was a special reason why you have all of this activity against Jesus.
For example when He was first born Satan tried to kill Him. He did that using King Herod who killed all the boys who were 2 years of age and younger in the town of Bethlehem, hoping he would be able to kill Jesus.
So Satan has always been against Jesus and trying to do Him in. All of that leads us to the 11th chapter of the gospel of Luke
And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
:14
I need to pause there critics of the NT say that the ancients were very primitive in their thinking and they thought all disabilities and weakness to Satan, and they say thats what you have here in the NT.
You have these illnesses and they said they had those ilnesses because they had a demon. need to be clear here that there are passages in the NT that show very clearly that at times there are disabilities where Satan is not involved.
there was a man who was born blind, Jesus said its not because of any sin in his life, or his parents life, there are other reasons this man was born blind. So we cant say that all disabilities to Satan.
But there are times when Satan will use his power and we dont know why he was given authority to bring about physical problems. So Jesus casts out this demon and a man who could not speak because he was mute begins to talk and everyone begins to marvel.
Now Jesus at this point in His ministry was at a place where there was alot of people criticizing Him. the criticism was for various reasons some people said that it is because he had larger crowds than the Pharisees, and they were jealous of Him the scripture says.
But then Jesus was also making those diety statements, claiming that He was God and people came from all around Jerusalem and they went into the Galilean countryside and they were there to accuse Him. they couldnt deny the miracles because they were too obvious, so they did the next best thing as far as they were concerned.
When people dont have a legitamate criticism what they do is they resort to slander. Thats what happened here. Youll notice that there were some among Him the scripture says
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
Who in the world is Beelzebub?
In the OT there is a reference to Beelzebub as being the chief god of the pagans and he was thier chief god.
This word that was spoek here was speaking about Satan. So what they are saying is that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan, the prince of demons.
So thats where they land with their criticism of Jesus. This terrible slander, now Jesus answers them and He does it by giving them 2 things that tell them that they are wrong.
But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.
And others, as a test, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.
Luke
If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
Jesus says first of all Satan does not have a divided kingdom. Could you imagine if Satan began casting out his own demons? His kingdom would be weakened and it wouldnt be long before the whole kingdom fell apart.
What you see here is this principle, a divided kingdom cannot stand. This is true of earthly kingdoms, it is true of Satan’s kingdom, but it is also true of churches. If you have a church that is divided, and all of us know the history of many church splits as we have seen them throughout the years.
If you have people who have to answer the question are you on this side of the aisle on that debate or are you on that side, and they begin to accuse one another and slander one another and backbite one another. That church cannot stand or else it will be greatly weakened.
Families same thing. Some of you come from homes where there is constant confusion. I cannot say it too much that what the devil wants in our homes today is confusion, and hostility. So that one family member snaps at another, one says blue the other says red, one says green the other says pink.
No matter where they are at nobody rejoices in the other family members because all of them are hostile to one another, that is the kingdom of satan. No family that is divided on itself can stand for very long.
So Jesus says if you cant deny that I’m casting out demons, and they couldn’t deny that. For you to say that it is satanic is foolish, even Satan is wise enough to know he shouldnt cast out those who are doing his bidding.
Even if they are not doing it quite right.
Then there is a second reason Jesus gives, He says
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus was saying here, now you folks have Jewish exocists, and they did. Since the time of Solomon there had been exorcists who had encantations that they used for demon possessed people, and maybe they worked maybe they didnt, but the claim was that they worked. Jesus said if I am casting out demons and I am doing it in the name of Beelzebub in whose name and by whose authority do your children, your relatives, your exorcists cast them out.
They must be doing it in the name of Beelzebub as well....
They will be your judges.
But Jesus says If is cast out demons by the finger of God.... don’t you love that? Not even the full hand of God just the finger of God causes demons to leave.
If I cast out demons by the finger of God then the kingdom of God has come to you. Now all that to set up the parable that Jesus told in this context.
Jesus in order to illustrate and make His point, says
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.
But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Jesus is talking about two men, He is talking about the strong man the kingdom of darkness guarding his palace. Thats a picture of Satan he has awesome power and he wants to keep all those who are walking in darkness to keep waking with him and he doesn’t want any of them to get away.
By the way theres and interesting principle here. That when we go into Satans kingdom it is always difficult to come ouf of it because he wants to hang on to those who are his own.
He is the one who has armor, and he is the one who has various names throughout the Bible Satan does. Some times I use the word satan including his demons with him, because they are all part of the kingdom of darkness. he is called in the Bible THE ADVERSARY.
Because he is always standing against God. Wherever God shows up to do a work, satan shows up to do a work, If a family is brought to reconciliation through repentance Satan shows up to try to undo God’s work. Everything God is for Satan is against.
He is the adversary.
He is also called the DEVIL which means slanderer. We see the slander right here in the text where Jesus was accused of casting out demons by the prince of demons. Slander is the devils work. If you would say today bro Kyle I’d like to do the devils work, then I’ll just say ok then go and gossip and talk bad about people publically.
You make false accusations, you speak against people in whispers because that is the devils work, He is the slanderer. He will make false accusations, and he will take true accusations and he will exaggerate them because remember that is his work.
In Timothy Paul was talking about the wives of deacons, and of course anything that applies to the deacons wives applies to the deacons as well. He said let them know not to be slanderers. In the Greek it actually reads let them know not to be devils.
Because when you slander you are doing Satan’s bidding. Slander is his most important weapon.
He is also called the LION SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR
The devil wants you, He wants you as badly as pornographers want you to be an addict. What he is doing is he is looking for people to sign up in his whole host of addictions because he wants to hold you captive and he wants to just hold you captive in the kingdom of darkness and keep you from being as fruitful as you could be.
Maybe through alcaholism or drugs, or even tobacco. In some way or another he wants to make youmanage your darkness. He does not want you to come to light. He is out to destroy you. He has a terrible plan for your life.
so he is spoken of as a lion he is also spoken of as a SERPENT
The serpent of course is the deceiver evil being. Sneaky, dangerous, even as he was there in the garden of Eden. What we need to understand is that there is a strong man who holds people bound and they cant get away on their own.
In his house and in his palace and JEsus implies that he has a household and a palace in the text. Both a household and kingdom, what you can do is you can move from one place to another in his kingdom, you can do all that you possibly can to manage your darkness, and itll be so important for you to call darkness light because thats part of the deception.
So many people walking in darkness think this is a well lit path with all of its pleasures and temptations and he will try to keep you there and the problem is, you can only manage it, you cannot get away from the darkness and keep yourself from being bound by its power.
So Jesus says there is a strong man.
But now thankfully in this passage there is another man in this passage.
Luke 11:
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes from him all his weapons he trusted in, and divides up his plunder.
The only way you can have freedom from this strong man is to have a stronger man come and overtake him and defeat him and take away his armor. So that you can walk away free. You need outside help though, you cant get from darkness to light on your own, you need somebody stronger than the prince of darkness to help you get free.
Im here to announce to you, something that I hope you already know.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.
Colossians 2:
Jesus did that he ruined the devil he took away his armor. How did Jesus do that?
He did it by invading that kingdom of darkness and he said I am invading that kingdom in a rescue mission, and I am going to turn these captives who are in condemnation, and I am going turn them from condemnation and I am going to turn them into something much more blessed Im going to take them from condemnation to restoration.
So that instead of being condemned they will be restored and reconciled to God. Then instead of being accused I am going to vindicate them, and who shall lay any charge against God’s elect, it is God who justifies, who is he that condemns it is Christ who died yeah rather had risen again and is seated upon the throne of God who also makes intercession for us.
And I will vindicate them and I will no longer charge them with their sin, no longer condemnation but now restoration, no longer accusation but vindication, no longer slavery but service, and no longer Hell but Heaven.
So Jesus emerges as the victor. I like to think about it this way, were in the hands of the strong man, but a stronger man Jesus says to that strong man, LET GO OF THEM! He has to drop them immediately because he has been confronted by someone stronger than he is.
Somebody who can bring freedom by the finger of God...
Satan has to submit to that power, and to that purity and glory. You and I walk free, now Jesus talked about the strong man, then he talks about the stronger man who is able to bind him and take away his armor.
But then Jesus tells a story which is another parable.
“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then says, ‘I’ll go back to my house where I came from.’
And returning, 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 settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first.”
What an awful terrible story. Now whether or not Jesus is referring to a person who had this experience or not, were not sure. But I think in the context He is probably talking about the nation Israel first of all.
Because the nation of Israel they had all the revealtion, and initially during the ministry of JTB they responded, but for many of them their response was half hearted and so after that it seemed as if the demons were cast out figuratively speaking.
The demon wanders in waterless places, WHY WATERLESS?
Desert, demons prefer bodies to dwell in, thats why they were even sent into the pigs and the pigs ran into the water and drowned and of course after the pigs had drowned the spirits were seeking a place to go.
So Jesus says the spirit wanders about looking for a place to go, and then it notices that this persons life is empty but its swept its well put together its ready for someone to come in, and the demon finds the house swept and in order and then more spirits come and they get more wicked and the man becomes far worse than his beginning.
What Jesus is saying in the strongest possible language is this. That an empty life is a life in peril. If you think for example is staying away from certain sins, and your life is not being filled with the things of God.
then it could be that your ending will be far worse than you beginning. Even if your walk with God. We have examples of that dont we, who at one time walked with God their lives were emptied and then something happened and their ending was terrible.
This leads me to a principle.
the Bible speaks about the renewing of the mind, and it talks about the need for us to fill our mind with scripture, if our minds are not being filled and renewed with scripture and it is very much a place where evil can dwell.
So theres the principle of replacement, if I were to have a a pitcher of water up here there would be a couple of ways to take the air out of it.
You could use a machine to suck the air out of it, but the other option is to fill it with water and the air will take care of itself. When it comes to the renewing of the mind, so many of our struggles happen because we are empty. An empty life is a vulnerable life, when it comes to Satanic activity and doing evil, very vulnerable.
Let me give you an example, There was a man named Tom and his wife died of cancer, though he was later remarried his first wife died of cancer and she was just at home and she went through aterrible amount of suffering, you know just one of those terrible stories.
Tom wasn’t bitter with God and nor was his wfe, they accepted it as from Gods hand. So one day a preacher asked Tom,Tom how do did you do this bc I have seen so many people become bitter and angry with the loss of a loved one, he said what we did was we bought the NT on records and what we did we played it, so the word of God was in our homes everyday, we read the Bible alot and then he said this.
God’s word and God’s promises squezzed all of the anger and resentment out of our hearts.
What a beautiful example of someone who found the power of replacement. If you simply say to yourself, I am going to accept this and your life is empty all kinds of evil grows in an empty life.
Jesus here is warning about an empty life that just kind of says, I wont do ABCD and then fill itself with God and its promises. So beware of an empty life it is the devils workshop.
Now where does all this leave us, why should these passages change us?
I wanna make an observation
It is impossible to be neutral about Jesus
Because there are only 2 kingdoms, there is the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light and today everyone who is living is in one kingdom or the other.
Those people who are neutral about Jesus, those who say well you know I admire him he is a great teacher, he is a great this or that. Those of you who are neutral about Him, your actually siding with the kingdom of darkness.
Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters.
So I have to say very clearly are you with Jesus?
Then He says whoever does not gather with me, scatters what a great picture of what the devil; wants to do, He wants to scatter he wants to divide..
He wants to divide you
So you cant be neutral thats why we invite people to come to Jesus and to side with Him.
2. We need to stay close to the stronger man
Heres what happens because even though Jesus disarmed Satan and all his demons. He is still out on bond today, his sentance has been commuted he knows he is bound for hell fire.
He knows his judgement is secure, but for reason we can’t go into tonight God has allowed him to have some measure of authority, he is still spoken of in the NT, as the god of this world.
Even though he is defeated. If you and I do not stand against him, he will come after our families after our own lives, after our church and he will want to bring darkness and division instead of unity and hope.
Parents do not let Satan steal your children from you. You can only do that by filling your own life with the word of GOd and it isnt enough to simply fill your childrens minds with the word of GOd getting them to memorize lots of verses, ultimately its gonna be your relationship with your children and not what has been put into their minds in terms of truth.
Your humility your ability to admit when you are wrong, your willingness to be in favor when they are succedding rather than to divide to unify.
It comes by vigelence, it comes by warfare prayer putting on the full armor of God as it says in Ephesians because we dont wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalitites and powers in the heavenly realms.
all of the categories
Satan is so well organized.
I have no doubt, that he has some of his minions assigned to you, hoping that there will be opportunity for you to destroy your life. opportunities for you to convince yourself that darkness is better than light, or even to believe that darkness is light.
Those deceptions he wants to bring into our lives.
RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU
There are times we have to go into the kingdom of darkness to rescue our children through our prayers through our intercession and we need to say Satan you cant have what you want in this house.
Jesus the stronger man has triumphed and we depend upon Him to crush you under our feet.
Arent you glad that we have a stronger man living inside of us?
DON’T EVER FEEL LIKE THE DEVIL HAS YOU IN THE CORNER
GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD.
(Let’s Pray)