Influenced

If you have your Bibles, please open them to Matthew 12:38.

As you do so, I have just a few quick announcements…

Next Friday, we are going to the Corn Maze - the cost is 10 and you need to register online for the event.

If cost prevents you from coming, come talk to me or the other youth staff after our small groups.

Also, tonight we will be carving pumpkins after our small groups

So YG is going look a little different tonight

The sermon for tonight will be shorter, and we will have less time in our groups...

then after our groups are done, your small group leaders will give you further instructions on what needs to happen before we can get into carving our pumpkins.

But for now, let’s do our best to pay attention to the Word so that we can get a glimpse of the glory of God and so be changed by him.

With this, let’s stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it 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. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Let’s pray

Every one of us is influenced by those who are around us.

As Americans, we prefer different music, different food, and different sports than other parts of the world. This is because our culture influences our preferences.

We are influenced by our families

I grew up in a family where every meal was served with some kind of beef

so we would all kinds of cuts of steak, or the meath in a meal would mostly be hamburger

But in Sarah’s home, the meat of choice was chicken over beef

We are greatly influenced by our families

And we are influenced by our friends

If your friends are into music - chances are you have a chance of being interested in music as well

Or if your friends are into drama so will you be

Same goes for sports, video games, you name it

We are influenced by those who we spend time with

Not only this, but we are even influenced by the age we live in. See if you were a teen in the 80s, you all would dress like this.

If we were in the 80s, you guys would have mullets, you girls would style your hair to have these big curls with bangs, and we all would be wearing bright colors.

The things we wear, the food we eat, and the things we do are done because influenced to do so.

But we are not just influenced by other people… we are even influenced by unseen spirits.

This sounds strange to most modern Americans

We might think that spirits are the subject of horror movies and Halloween. And we might even go so far to believe that spirits are merely fictional figures, like casper the friendly ghost...

But understand this, and this is the first point in our notes,

1. Spirits are real.

if we take the Bible seriously, and I hope we do, then we need realize that there are spirits that are at work in the world.

Understand, we are not talking about spirits, like ghosts of those who have died… I’m talking about demonic forces in the world.

In tonight’s text, Jesus calls them unclean spirits - but we also refer to these unclean spirits as demons, devils, or Satan.

In our text, Jesus gives us a glimpse into the unseen activity of these evil spirits.

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it 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. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Some of us might feel uncomfortable at the thought of these spirits being in the world and even effecting people’s lives… but the Bible is not shy with regard to the presence of these Spirits…

But some of us might think, “Well I’ve never seen a spirit or a demon, so how can we really know if they are real?”

Well let me put it this way

have you ever seen the wind? But you certainly have seen the effect of the wind correct?

Have you ever seen gravity? But you certainly are effected by gravity correct?

So too, we might have not see demons, or unclean spirits, but we have certainly seen the effect of them.

And this leads us to the next point in your notes

2. Spirits influence people.

We aren’t just influenced by our family, friends, and culture… we are influenced by spiritual powers that we are often mostly unaware of.

Listen again to what Jesus said,

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it 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. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Unclean spirits make ruin of that which is clean and in order…

See, the unclean spirit left the person, and that persons life was put in order when the demon left… but when the demon returned and found that person void of any other spirits with their life clean and put in order… the demon returned with seven other demons to make further shipwreck of the person’s life..

Demons have that kind of effect on the life of a person… they ruin their lives… they destroy what is good and in order.

Throughout the gospels, we read of people who have all kinds of infirmities and sickness - and the Scriptures tell us that they were owing to the presence of demons.

In fact, that was the last miracle that Jesus preformed that we saw in Matthew.

Matthew 12:22 ESV

22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.

Do you see the real effect the demon had on this man’s life? While demons might not be seen… they have a very real and visible influence in the life of people - demons can even cause physical sickness and ailments

But demons don’t just effect the body…

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ don’t believe because the god of this world - that is Satan - has blinded the mind of unbelievers

So spirits don’t just cause physical blindness… but even spiritual blindness

Such is the influence that demons have in this world… those who reject Jesus do so because of the influence of Satan.

But demons do even more than this… listen to Ephesians 2…

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2 tells us that all of us were once under the influence of Satan and his demons… and when we were under his influence, we were unable to obey God’s Word.

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God - and those of us who walk in the passions of the flesh - are under the influence of satanic spirits.

Even those who have been called by God can be influenced by Satan -

Remember when Peter rebuked Jesus for saying that he would go to the cross? What did Jesus say to him…

Matthew 16:23 ESV

23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Understand, demons have an influence for us to do things that are opposed to God… with that in mind listen to tonight’s text one last time

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it 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. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Remember, Jesus has been casting out demons… At Jesus’ command, the demons flee. So too, in this text, the unclean Spirit has gone out of a person… but the demon leaving in a moment does not mean that the demon will not come back. In fact, Jesus tells us that the when demon does come back, and when the demon finds the person empty and his life in order, the demon come’s back with seven other spirits that are even worse than the first.

And so the condition of that person goes from bad to worse…

And why did it return? Because his old home, that is the person in whom he dwelt, was left empty and in order.

What we need is not to be rid of demonic influence… what we need it to be under the influence of the Spirit of God.

3. We need the Spirit of God so that we can be freed from the influence of unclean spirits.

When Jesus frees us from the influence of demons, we can not remain empty. Someone new must take up residence in our life. When we are freed from the influence of Satan, we need to the Spirit of God to change us.

Yes unclean spirits - demons, and the like are all real… but we have not been left alone in this life to deal with them by ourselves. In fact, if we were left to our own devices, we would fail to overcome the influence of satan and his demons.

But Jesus died so that we would be set freed from satan’s clutches.

Romans 8:2–4 ESV

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

If we want to obey God, we don’t need more laws, more rules, and more regulations… if we want to serve God in our life, by obeying all that he has commanded us, then we need transformed and influenced by the Spirit of God.

This is why Paul tells us this,

Galatians 5:16 ESV

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

So this is what I want us to do. I want us to pray, and ask for God to give us his Spirit. And in our groups, we will discuss further the things we can do to keep in step with God’s Spirit.