Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 To get to this message. Uh, we have planned this, actually this discernment series for for many months. And this last one that we're doing on discernment is one that I've been anxious to do, but fearful of it. Um, the last couple of Sundays we've done, uh, we've done discerning the gray areas. Remember that we live in the gray areas. It's the last time we were actually in this room discerning the gray areas. Then we talked about discerning god's will, uh, and that's when we joined our, our friends over at Bartlett at that location. Uh, and then at the, the next Sunday we did discerning our heart's motives. And that was outside last week. Can you believe that was just last week? Seems like forever ago. But that was, uh, when we did our outside service at Hempy. The last one we're gonna do, the last one in the series is discerning demonic spirits.
Speaker 0 00:00:55 Now, all of us are used to, we, we live in a world that talks about demons once in a while, and they get it wrong so often. And so this is such a confusing topic. It's such a, a kind of a, a, a mixed up topic that I want to take two Sundays to do it. I started putting my notes on this and I thought, this will be the shortest one I've ever done. But as I kept working through it, and I met with the, the preaching prep staff, and we, and we worked through this, we just were like, I wish you could join us, and you are welcome to if you wanna ever come to one of our preaching preps. But as we talked through it, I was really impacted. But the, by the reality of this, this situation, this, this demonic influence that goes on around us and the ability that we have as Christians to figure out if this is a demonic influence, if this is demonic in nature, or if it's something different.
Speaker 0 00:01:45 And so I've decided to break this message up into two Sundays. Today we're gonna be talking about, uh, part one of, of the, of the demonic world and how, how to discern whether or not something is from a demonic spirit or whether it's just like somebody's fallen nature and we have to deal with it or maybe in and of ourselves. Um, so we're gonna take two Sundays to do this. And, and in order to kind of bring you down the path that I've already walked, uh, and invite you into the excitement that I have felt working through this message, oh, I've got a few questions for you. The first one is this. How many of you believe that there is a spiritual realm? Just put your hands up. You believe there's a spiritual realm? Yeah. If you're a believer, you should, because God is spirit <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:02:28 So, so unless you believe that God doesn't exist, you definitely believe that there is a spiritual realm. Question number two. How many of you have experienced demonic influence? Personally? Don't raise your hand, but just think about it. How many of you have experienced demonic influence personally, not necessarily being possessed or somebody else that was possessed, but some, some situation where you knew, okay, this is a demonic moment here. Alright, all right. Now I don't know what your answer would be on that, but that leads me to this third question, which is, how many of you have believed that you've engaged the spiritual realm at least one day this past week?
Speaker 0 00:03:15 Can I answer that for you? All of you have <affirmative>. Every one of us is engaged by the spiritual realm on a weekly basis. Maybe not on an hourly or daily basis, but all of us have experienced this demonic realm that is alive and at work around us. And here's the most dangerous thing. We are totally unaware of it. Most of the time we don't even know what's going on. We experience it, we walk into it, we hear it, we see it, but a lot of times we don't identify it because we're so used to it. God tells us about the spiritual realm hundreds of times in scripture. This is not a fantasy world. And I think that's a ploy of the devil to give us a Hollywood version of the demonic spiritual realm so that we think to ourselves, that's just baloney. But in reality, it's very real and it affects us on a regular basis.
Speaker 0 00:04:13 There is a spiritual realm, a very real spiritual realm where there are spirits working for us and there are spirits working against us. And this is constant. I have heard it said from the military people that I've talked to, that the most dangerous soldier on the field is the one that does not recognize where the battle is. And we as believers, if we don't understand that there's a demonic realm alive and well in the world around us, we're gonna get into trouble in our lives because we're not gonna realize what's actually happening. Now, according to Jesus Christ, I figured I'll go right to the main guy. All right? According to Jesus, <laugh>, like, let's go. Let's go to the top. Jesus says, you should very well be aware of the spiritual realm. Here's what he says in Matthew 1243, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but it finds none.
Speaker 0 00:05:15 Then it says, this is a demon that Jesus is talking about. Then it says, I will return to my house from once I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put an order That's a physical human body. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits, even more evil than itself. And they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. This is Jesus talking. A lot of us, you know, in the world around us, we say, oh, Jesus is a good guy. Jesus is, he was a good teacher. And everything I want you to know, Jesus taught on demons constantly. We are not according to Jesus. We are not only supposed to be aware of it, but we are supposed to be able to discern when it happens, to discern where those spirits originated because there are, there's good parts of the spiritual realm.
Speaker 0 00:06:04 Thank God for that. And there are bad parts of the spiritual realm. Here's a verse in John four, one, it says this, beloved, do not believe every, what church, don't believe every spirit, but what's the next word? Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. There are spirits that are from God, we call them angels. And there are spirits that are not from God. We call them demons. Jesus taught about it. The Bible warns about it. And according to this verse, the Bible says, you guys, followers of Jesus, you have the ability. You should not only know that there's a war going on, but you should know you have the ability to test and see where those spirits are coming from. Discernment naturally. This has to be in our, our our teaching on discernment. Because discernment is the ability toter determine what's happening under the surface.
Speaker 0 00:07:00 What, what's happening, what's the thing behind the thing? And if you've experienced, uh, interaction with somebody where you just go, that was weird. That was so abnormal, that was not something they would normally do, I want to tell you, you may have been dealing with a demonic influence. Now you're thinking to yourself, and I would too if I were you, I think to myself, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It just sounds so, so crazy that the the, the demons are seeking to influence us on a regular basis. I have seen it. You have seen it. And by the time we get to the end of next week, you will agree with me hopefully that we are in this battle together. And it goes on constantly. And sometimes when we talk with people, even people that we've trusted and loved, even people that have led us spiritually, and we look at them and we go, whoa, that's just, that's just something that you would not normally do that may be a demonic influence, a demonic spirit at work.
Speaker 0 00:08:01 It's easy to see what's happening in the world around us and in our own lives. But it's a very challenging thing to see why something is happening. And you look in the world today, and I would say, I would say lids off crazy at this point. You're looking at the world today and you're going, it can't get any crazier than this. You thought that five years ago, you know what's coming in five years, it'll be crazier than this. If the battle rages in the spiritual realm, these demons do not sleep. They're active always. And their goal, we're gonna discover as we walk through this, is to destroy.
Speaker 0 00:08:43 It's really important that discernment helps us to, uh, gives us the ability to determine what's happening under the surface because we need to be aware of why something is happening. And more specifically, who is at work. I've used this illustration before in marriage conferences that I've done, but sometimes your spouse will come to you and it's like, oh, like, like it's one of those conversations and you're thinking to yourself, ah, we gotta have this conversation again. Usually starts with, we've got to talk. That never goes in a good direction. We, we gotta talk. And then you have the conversation and you're thinking to yourself, this is just, this is not like my spouse to act this way. They have done something or they have said something that is just not typical. What is actually going on. And I say at these marriage conferences, we need to develop the awareness to know and be just be conscious of somebody else might be influencing them, something else might be influencing them.
Speaker 0 00:09:42 There's a verse in the Bible. We get to a bunch of different verses, but one of, one of the verses that we get to that just scares me to the core is in Timothy where Paul writes to this young pastor and he says, you need to be aware that even the most spiritual people can be ensnared by the devil. So they actually end up doing his will. These are spiritual people that are sold out to Jesus Christ. And there are guys and gals in my life that have been major spiritual influences to me. And they have made weird choices and that has led them down roads that, uh, they're not the people they used to be.
Speaker 0 00:10:21 There are spirits in this world today working directly against the spirit that is at work in us, the spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Bible teaches that some people in this world believe that they're making decisions on their own, but they're being modified by demonic influence. Now, this does not mean that we get to say the devil made me do it, because the devil may have a part in it, but you chose to do what you did. We're gonna talk about all of this. Let me, let me just, I gotta start from the beginning 'cause I don't want this to get confusing at all. There are spirits in this world today that work against the spirit that works in the followers of Jesus Christ. If you know Jesus as your savior, you have the spirit of God in you. Literally. Think about that. He and dwells you.
Speaker 0 00:11:07 He is in you. This is why Jesus referred to the body as a house. Because when you accept Christ as your savior, your house is occupied. You have Jesus Christ in you. And greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Okay? So if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you are on the winning side. The spirit of God that is the most powerful being in the universe lives in you. Okay? So, so don't be afraid, but we'll, we'll get to that too. I'm, I'm jumping ahead. The spirit that is at wor work in the world around us is referred to as antichrist in scripture. Let me lemme give you this verse and then I'll clear up some of the, some of those, uh, some of your thoughts, maybe one John four, two, by this, you know, the spirit of God.
Speaker 0 00:11:55 Every spirit that confesses Jesus is Christ. That Jesus has come in the flesh is from God. So the spirit of God living inside of you, if you believe the gospel, if you believe the, the gospel of Jesus, that he came, he lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose on the third day appeared to many. If you believe the gospel, the spirit of God in you will confirm that regularly. When you sing songs about Jesus or when you sing songs about the greatness of God, you just go, yeah, that's right. That's, that's super. The spirit of God confirmed, confirm, confirm the gospel. That's his job. He loves to glorify Jesus. That's why if you know Jesus as your savior, you probably love to do the same thing. He's pushing you in that direction. Back to one John four, two, by this, you know, the spirit of God.
Speaker 0 00:12:44 Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That's the gospel is from God. Verse three. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is what is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and is now in the world already. We know the antichrist is coming <laugh>. Many people have told me many times who they thought the antichrist was. It. It's always an amusing conversation, but I'm not sure we know who the antichrist is. That's an individual that will bring about the end of the world basically. But before he comes, this verse says, his spirit, the spirit that will work in him is already here, already here, and he's got legions working with him. There is a demonic influence alive and well and currently operating in this world. You have got to believe that if you believe the Bible, Jesus is saying, you should really be aware of this. We are not delving into demonic doctrines or false teachers, yet we're gonna deal with that in the fall. We just are dealing with the reality of the spirits at work in the world today and are constantly going against what God wants. The spirit at work in you as a Holy Spirit pushing the glory of God. The spirit that is at work in the world is against anything that brings God glory.
Speaker 0 00:14:18 You have an enemy in the world. He is at work in the spiritual realm to fight against you as you try to glorify God, to try and get you to influence you to go against what God wants. That is the battle today. We must discern whose influence we will follow. Satan is actively working against us in the spiritual realm, and we simply must be aware. Now, we can make really stupid decisions all on our own. The devil does not always make us do it, it, but sometimes humans can receive a little push from the spiritual realm and we don't even know it.
Speaker 0 00:15:02 I have dealt with spiritual leaders in the church who have spent their whole lives teaching about Jesus, doing small groups, leading others, being leaders on church boards. And one moment, one moment, they are pushed by a demon. I believe it absolutely to be true. And it pushes them and their pride takes over and they begin doing the will of not God, but the will of the evil one. It is very easy to fall into. So how do I look at something and identify this is demonic or this is just a dumb idea, this is demonic, or this is just some fallen individual. So we're gonna talk about the next two Sundays, and we're gonna ask these eight questions ready for them. Here are the eight questions. Number one, how do I learn about the reality of demons? We're already talking about that. How does God want me to feel about demons?
Speaker 0 00:15:57 How does a demonic realm bleed into our physical world? Where do demons attack? Why do demons attack humans? How do I discern correctly something is demonic in attack? How do I help others realize they are under demonic influence? And what specific behaviors does God reveal to me that would leave me open to being attacked by a demon? Sound like fun? Those are good questions. Right? Next two Sundays we're gonna talk about that. Here's the first one. How do I learn about the reality of demons? Well, we've already talked about it briefly. The Bible informs us there's demonic realm working against human beings. It's a terrifying thought. Demons are real. Demons are sometimes the, uh, are sometimes responsible for the ideas that we buy into or the belief systems that we start believing. Even though we're believers, we can still be influenced to buy into some silly demonic ideas that originate in the demon world. In the spirit world. Why is this important for, for us to know? Because the Bible gives me different weapons to be used in different circumstances.
Speaker 0 00:17:04 If, if you're being influenced, if, if you're making bad ideas, if you're falling into sin, it could just be your own stupidity. There are certain things you should do to fight against that. It could be just your temptations. There's certain things that you need to do to fight against that. But sometimes it's a demonic push. It's a demonic influence. There are different weapons to use in that case, Ephesians six 11 says this, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against listen to this spiritual forces of evil in heavenly spiritual places. Now, I really wanna make the, I'm gonna back up just a little bit because you may think, okay, Craig, we're going down never, never land.
Speaker 0 00:17:58 Uh, I wanna back up just a little bit. Jesus, Jesus, you know, I'm gonna go to the head guy. If you love Jesus, you should know these things about him. Jesus talked two demons. Jesus confronts demons. Jesus rebukes demons. Jesus warns his followers regarding demons. And Jesus tells us, what were the best weapons to be used when we are facing demons? Uh, just one illustration. Jesus meets his disciples one day. They are out doing ministry. They con are confronted by a demon. By the way, if you read through the gospels, you'll be going, there's demons everywhere. Yes. Do you know why There's demons everywhere? Where is the son of God on the planet, in person in Jerusalem, <laugh> or in in, uh, Israel, right? If you were the evil one, wouldn't you do your best to get everybody on the front lines? So if you see demons everywhere in the gospel, there's a spiritual battle that you're seeing going on.
Speaker 0 00:18:57 They are after Jesus to kill him, and they start right from his birth. Because what tragic, terrible thing happened when Jesus was born that Herod declared must happen because we have to get rid of Jesus. What was that? All the babies were killed, demonic from the demon realm. Herod had no idea. He just thought that was just a very natural idea. But he caused the death of infants because he feared Jesus. He was influenced by the devil. Now, when Jesus shows up with his disciples one day, again, this is just one illustration of many that I could have chosen. Jesus shows up as his disciples one day, they're doing ministry in Jesus' name. They confronted by somebody with a demon. They try and cast out the demon, but they can't. And they're getting very frustrated. So Jesus shows up and, and they say, Jesus, we can't cast this demon out.
Speaker 0 00:19:49 This, this guy is being a, a moron over here. He is clearly demon possessed. Uh, and he's, he, he's, he's wreaking havoc. What do we do? And Jesus says to them, some really interesting things after he casts out the demons. I wanna read them for you in Mark 9 28. And when he had entered the house with his disciples with him, they asked him privately, why could we not cast it out, the spirit, the demon? And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Some, some passages say prayer and fasting. Now these guys were praying constantly. But there is there, there is a reality that this demon was so powerful. It was, it was against the disciples and it wouldn't obey them. And they had to be in, in such a, a solid relationship with God, pray without ceasing prayer constantly, that they only then could use that weapon to cast his demon out.
Speaker 0 00:20:49 Jesus, of course, he's Jesus. So no problem for him. But for the disciples, it's interesting to see how Jesus tells them there are certain weapons that we need to use when we fight the spiritual warfare, the battle we see, uh, the battle we cannot see is being carried out in daily, in the demonic realm, but it bleeds constantly into our world. So here's a question. How does God think I should feel about demons? How does God want me to feel about demons? I I want to just really pound this right at the beginning, Jesus' words, he's constantly telling to his disciples, these same disciples that couldn't cast his spirit out, his constant words to them are fear not greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Listen, I'm gonna give you a just a bunch of verses right in a row to back this up.
Speaker 0 00:21:44 And there's many more that I could have chosen, but here's a bunch. These are to tell us that if we belong to Jesus, we do not need to fear the demonic realm, the Spirit Rome. So let's remind ourselves of the truth like we should. James four seven says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. What the disciples didn't have when Jesus showed up is they were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus had not died on the cross. He had not risen from the dead. He had not ascended to the Father and he had not sent the Holy Spirit. That happened at Pentecost. These disciples were working with Spirit, the Holy Spirit influencing, but he was not filling them. Church, we live in an age where you accept Christ as your savior. He lives in you.
Speaker 0 00:22:30 It's a different age. This book, James is talking to us, the church, and it says, if you resist the devil because of the power of God at work within you, he has no choice but to what church flee. He has no choice but to flee. Don't buy the movie crap. This is how reality is. Reality is you have the power of God at work within you. Colossians two 15, he discerned the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. That's Jesus Christ. Luke 10 10, behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. That's the devil. And nothing shall hurt you. Two Timothy one, seven, for God has given us a spirit, not of fear, but of power. Say it with me, but of power and love and church.
Speaker 0 00:23:20 You have the, you have the power of God within you to, to show love in all circumstances, the power of God within you to to to use the, the name of Jesus, to find victory in every circumstance. And the power to have self-control, to fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. It's not you trying hard or pulling up your bootstraps. You have the power of God in the spiritual realm working on your behalf. Don't buy the idea that God gets used to your sin. He redeems you to get rid of your sin, to make you into an image of Christ.
Speaker 0 00:23:56 It happens slowly, but it's happening. Revelation 1211. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their own lives, even unto death. This is, he is talking about martyrs. And then one John, four, four, this, this, you need to say with me. Here we go. Ready little children, you are from God and have overcome, overcome them. Say it with me. For he who is in you is greater than He who is in the world. If you are under the, the, the, the boot of sin, you might be under demonic influence, but it doesn't matter. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Where's Satan right now? By the way, he's not in hell. No, no, no. Hell is being reserved for the day of judgment. He's not in hell. All the cartoons say he is got this throne in this lake of fire. He's not there. Do you know where he is? He's roaming to and fro in this world seeking whom he may dev devour. And so are all his cohorts. He's not in hell. He is in this world. He's active in this world and he hates you. If you follow Jesus Christ, you are his enemy. The people you see on the news, the the the people who already hate God, he doesn't care less about them. You are his target.
Speaker 0 00:25:17 Jesus does not tell us, however, to fear the demonic realm. It's not, it's not to create fear in us, but it's to help us discern. So here's my question. How do I know I'm battling not my own flesh, but I'm maybe battling a demon? I wanna give you this verse 'cause it's really good. You have the ability to discern if it's a demon or your own flesh. Like maybe it's your own temptation that's causing you to be a moron or maybe it's a demonic influence. Look at this verse one Corinthians 12, verse seven, for each of us has given a manifestation to the spirit for the common good. That's spirit of God. For to one is given through the spirit wisdom to one is given knowledge to one has given faith, one has given healing to one has given miracles to one has given prophecy and to other, the ability to distinguish be between spirits.
Speaker 0 00:26:02 Now this is a gift of God. Not all of us have this as our gift, right? We don't all have the ability that like this major gift to distinguish between spirits, but the gift of teaching is there. And all of us teach the gift of evangelism is there. And all of us talk about the gospel, right? The gift of giving is there and all of us are learning to be more and more generous as we grow in Christ. And the gift of discerning between spirits may be a spiritual gift in the circumstance. But all of us have the ability to do this to, to some extent. Discernment asks who is behind this? The, the Holy Spirit, the flesh or the demonic realm. And lemme give you this simple answer. You will know it by its fruit.
Speaker 0 00:26:49 There are three spirits that work in this world, the spirit of God that bears fruit. The spirit of the flesh that bears fruit and the spirit of the demonic realm that bears fruit. So let's play a game. I'm gonna give you more verses 'cause the Bible is full of verses that talk about the demons and we're gonna play a game and you're gonna tell me which one of these is the battle against, right? Which spirit is at work? Remember the spirits? It's a, it's the spirit of God that bears fruit, spirit of flesh or the spirit of the demons. All right, Bible talks about all three. So let's play a game and you, you tell me which ver which, uh, which spirit we're talking about Galatians five. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Which spirit church is at work in this verse, which part of the spiritual realm, which spirit is at work?
Speaker 0 00:27:40 In this, in this verse, the Holy Spirit. This is a spirit from God. Why? Because of the fruit. You read about the fruit and you know where the spirit is from. We're discerning spirits at this point. The fruit is largely about indulging our new life so that God gets the glory from our lives. What does a life committed to God highlight? It highlights God's image. What does a life committed to God result in? More glory to him. So if you're following the fruit of this, if you're following the spirit of God, your life will be the will. Give this kind of fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, intuitive with faithfulness, gentle, you will have self-control. All of these things because the spirit of God is at work within you. All right, that one's easy to identify, don't you think? All right, let's get a little harder.
Speaker 0 00:28:33 G Galatians five. Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy. Ugh, such a long list. Drunkenness. Orgies and things like these. I love that he adds that because there's more to come and things like these. And when we hop over to Second Corinthians seven, one, it says, since we have these promises, beloved, let cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God, which spirit is at work in these verses, spirit of the flesh. You don't need any help from the demonic realm to do any of these things. These are all the spirit of the flesh, our fallen nature. This is what Paul said, oh, who shall save me from this body of death? Right? This is why Paul said I beat my body daily to keep it under submission.
Speaker 0 00:29:41 Lest I exonerate myself lest I I, I expel myself from God's grace, which spirit is at work, the spirit of the flesh. Why? Because of the fruit. The fruit of the flesh. What does it provide you with? Sensuality, impurity, sexual immorality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, divisions, all of those things are the spirit of the flesh. What does a life committed to? The flesh highlights. It highlights self-satisfaction. A spirit lived by the flesh highlights pleasing me first. Damn everybody else, I need what I need. And what does a life committed to the flesh result in? Judgment.
Speaker 0 00:30:36 Judgment. Lemme tell you another verse that talks about the spirit of the flesh in Galatians five, this actually is a continuation of the previous verse that talked about the works of the flesh are evident, works of the flesh are evident, not not demonic spirits, sexual immorality, impurity essentially. Okay? Now we get down to the next verse. I warn you, as I warned you before, those who do fruit, those who do such things, will not inherit the kingdom of God. Church, if you are being influenced by the fruit, by the spirit of the flesh, you need to ask yourself, am I really a follower of Jesus Christ? That's the first and foremost thing I would suggest that you ask because if your life is about that other list and not the list of the fruit of the spirit, you are being led by your, by your flesh, by the spirit of your flesh. And that will result in judgment. You will not inherit the kingdom of God. That should put the fear of God in our hearts because it basically says you're not going to heaven.
Speaker 0 00:31:40 Alright, got it. Gets worse. Here's the last one. I bet you can guess what the answer to the last one is. Here we go. There's another spirit at work in the world. Ephesians two verse one. And you were dead in trespasses and sins and once you also walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at now at work in the sons of disobedience church, which spirit is at work. In this verse, demonic spirit, the prince of the power of the air is named for the devil. He is at work in this world and he is trying to get you on his side. Why? How do you know that? Because of the fruit. The fruit is largely about not indulging self, but the fruit is about indulging Satan. That's crazy. I know. But he is an agenda. And if he can get you to be under his spiritual influence, you are doing his will.
Speaker 0 00:32:44 The fruit is about indulging Satan. What does a life committed to the world of the demon's? Highlight a satanic agenda. And what does a life committed to? The demon's influence result in destruction. John 10 10, the thief comes only to see, steal, and kill and destroy. That's talking about Satan himself, his demons. And he comes for one reason into your life and the lives of others around you. He comes to steal, he comes to kill, he comes to destroy sin, lives to destroy. Now you know the spirit because it promotes the attributes of the devil. I'm gonna rock your world with this. What is the name? What is the real name of the devil? Do you know what it is?
Speaker 0 00:33:34 We don't know. The devil is not ever given a name. Instead, he is given attributes in the names that we call him. You may have heard him call any of these names, but they don't mean anything. They simply reveal part of his attributes, part of his character. Satan really means the accuser. Diablos means the slander or devil. You've heard of devil. That means the slander. Beelzibub means the Lord of filth. A polyon in the New Testament in revelation means the destroyer. The serpent is the creature who deceives the angel of light again, that he's also called, it's called is meant to be the angel who deceives. The dragon is the creature who destroys. And the lion is the creature who devours every name. Satan is given in scripture. The devil is given in scripture, refers to what he does, not a title. We can be wholly unaware that we are being led by demons, but if we're believing and promoting his agenda, we might be doing just that.
Speaker 0 00:34:43 Here's another question. How does the demonic realm bleed into our physical world? Three different ways. Number one, possession. Possession is usually easiest to see. It's obvious. Um, we don't have time to really talk about possession, but we'll acknowledge it's there. Basically you are giving the devil Satan authority over your life. Uh, by the way, this is done through Satan targets your children, right? Um, I still remember going to a, going to a, uh, a game building with my youth when I was a youth pastor. And I can remember you, you get all these little tickets from playing ski ball and you get tons of tickets. And then you go up to the front and you 50,000 tickets and you can buy a pencil with an eraser in it. You know these places, right? So we, we get all these tickets and I can remember going up to the counter. I can remember the first time I ever saw it. There was an Ouija board that you could get with your tickets. Satan is after your kids. It, it used to be like, it used to be like hidden, but now it's straight up. I mean, if you don't see it, then you're, you're, you're seriously blind. Satan is after kids because if he can get them to open the demonic door early, he'll never leave. He'll always be around them. And worst off, he's always looking for a way that he can possess.
Speaker 0 00:35:59 This is when we surrender the authority to something else in our lives. Possession. People who are possessed in scripture that you know of. Judas <laugh>. Judas was possessed. Uh, you can read about it. Jesus said, uh, Jesus tells us in scripture, Satan entered Judas to do what he did. That is possession. It's not oppression. That's possession. Judas Legion, the one that was cast out, all those, all those demons in him, examples of, uh, in life are opening the door to the spiritual realm. You don't want to do that, right? Seances, Ouija, boards, chanting witchcraft, speaking to the dead, uh, necromancy, all of that stuff. You are literally opening the door and you're saying, come on in. Let's see, let's see what can happen. You, anytime you open the door to the spiritual realm, that is not God, you are in trouble. You are, you are in deep.
Speaker 0 00:36:54 Alright? Now there's hope for you because if you get saved, you accept Jesus Christ as your savior. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, right? There's hope, but possession is, is uh, is definitely out there. And we can open the door to that. Number two way is oppression. This is through physical and emotional oppression. Usually it's event based. There's this moment of time where there's a sickness or disturbance or there's property loss or there's physical damage or health issues. Something like that happens. And we are oppressed by the demonic realm. This requires permission, not by us, but by God. For us to be oppressed by a demon requires God to give permission. So oppression is us giving authority to something else. This is God giving the authority to do that to the demonic realm. For the Christian allowing something to happen to, to me is, is typically done so God can test my faith.
Speaker 0 00:37:51 Paul is a great example of this. Paul had a minister of Satan. You remember this. He had a thorn in his sight. He called it a minister of Satan. But it was so that his faith could deepen. Job is another great example of this. Satan comes to God and says, Hey, can I attack this guy? He really loves you and Jesus. And God says, yeah, go ahead. Because his faith will remain strong. Satan didn't believe him. Uh, a book of James, uh, also talks about this, but all of this to say oppression is done when God gives permission for something to have this kind of authority over us. And it's usually to strengthen our faith. Number three is influence. This is the most common attack. How can I know when a dem demon is influencing me in certain circumstances? Because this involves changing the mindset of a person.
Speaker 0 00:38:37 God. Uh, Satan is after us to change our minds. He cannot control us in this case, but he can influence us to make decisions in these circumstances. This requires inadequate discernment. This requires being blind to the battle. Basically, you're sleeping and Satan will take advantage of it. Eve is a perfect example of this. When Eve was in the garden, Eve was not looking to be possessed or oppressed. Eve was simply influenced by the devil to do something she knew she should not do. It's an enticement to go further than we should. And so Satan will look in these circumstances for open doors. He will look for your weak spots and he will propagate those. He will make those bigger. But don't fear because Satan can't control you in this circumstance. He's seeking to influencing influence you, but he's not in control of what you do with it.
Speaker 0 00:39:36 This is why Jesus said, lead us not into, but deliver us. This is influence. And if you're influenced by the devil, but you're a believer and it happens almost weekly, <laugh>, all you need to do is insert truth. I had a friend of mine, he said, you know, Craig, I had a terrible dream last night. I was doing evil, evil things and I'm certain that that, that the devil gave me these, these thoughts in my head. Put these pictures in my mind. And I said, what did you do? He said, well, I'm a child of God. So immediately when I woke up, I said, where the heck did that come from? And I spoke truth against that. And I went back to sleep and slept wonderfully.
Speaker 0 00:40:20 We as believers need to understand we're on the winning side. And so when we get influenced to do evil, not temptation on our own self flesh, our spirit of ourself, but if this is demonic in nature, we insert truth and we rebuke the attack of the evil. One Job did the same thing. Paul did the same thing. We do the same thing. How did Jesus deal with demonic influences? Peter thought he was doing God a favor when he rebuked the other disciples and he said, I will stand up for you until death. And then <laugh>, Jesus said, no, no, no Peter, I have to go die so that I can redeem the world. And Peter said, no, you're wrong. We're gonna save you. How did Jesus respond to Peter? He said, get behind me. Peter. No, what did he say? Get behind me. Demonic influence.
Speaker 0 00:41:20 And Jesus saw it and it happened to Peter. You believe that? Listen, church, this happens all the time. This happens constantly. If you're looking at the world and you're going lids off crazy, you're right. Because there is a demonic influence in this world like I have ever seen in my life. People are believing the weirdest things. They are taking their kids to readings done by perverts in libraries. And they're applauding while their kids are being sucked into this demonic influence. Now you probably think to yourself, Craig, can you say that? Yep. Because you need to identify the enemy. Before you know what weapons to use.
Speaker 0 00:42:03 Peter thought he was doing God's will. No one's gonna hurt you. Jesus, even if I had to die, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna prevent this from happening. And Jesus says this has to happen. Peter said, shut it. He actually took Jesus aside and it says he rebuked him. And Jesus said, get thee behind me. Satan. Why? Because that is demonic influence. Thoughts can be discerned but not read by the enemy. Satan cannot read your thoughts, but he can put pictures in your face and he can lay out a field that is very tempting to your flesh. He's looking for a crack. He's looking for an opening. He's looking for pride that you love. He's looking for weaknesses that you have. He's looking for an opportunity, the the crack so that he can push the door open and you can walk freely on your own will doing his will.
Speaker 0 00:42:53 Satan hit Peter with an idea because Peter said he was committed to death. It wasn't that hard to push him through the door. Whenever you see these principles at work, you gotta stop and recognize something is moving here. Something is happening beyond the flesh. When you see slander, accusations, destruction, deception, devouring, filth. When you see this stuff, you have to be aware. A lot of that originates from the demonic realm. People are buying into it and they're trying to get you to buy it too. You live in a world today, you and I live in a world today where we can't have our own thoughts about righteousness because we have to buy into unrighteousness or we are dismissed from culture. That's demonic. Those thoughts do not originate from the flesh. Those thoughts originated from the demonic rum. And now people who have opened the door to the cracks, opened the cracks of their lives.
Speaker 0 00:43:41 People who are now believing those things are pushing it on the rest of us. And that's demonic in nature. We have to know that somehow, somewhere evil has weasel its way into all of these circumstances and a different kind of weapon will work. Second Corinthians 10, three. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. How many of you are walking in the flesh right now? How many of you have fleshly bodies right now? Raise your hand. Okay, everybody here, if you didn't raise your hand, we'll talk <laugh> though. We walk in the flesh. We're not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, of not of the flesh, but have divine power, spiritual power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Don't you love that? If you are seeing something that you're going, whoa, that is not right, that is sick, that is twisted, that is perverted. You speak against it because you are taking in in the knowledge. Again, every lofty opinion, every argument, we are destroying them. And we are taking every thought captive to obey Christ. Because when you hear it, the first thing that will happen is you will think, is that right?
Speaker 0 00:44:56 Shut it down. The truth of God And dependence on prayer is essential for us to wage this war. Now that's all we have time to talk about today. We're gonna finish up next week. That's like half, but I have two. So whats for you? Be aware of the power of your enemy and be aware of your ally <laugh> allied forces. One Peter five, eight says this, be sober minded. Do you know what that means? By the way, be sober minded. It means be aware. Be serious. Be serious about this. Be sober minded. Be watchful. Do you know what it means to be watchful? When you have your child in a very vulnerable situation and you're sitting there thinking to yourself something bad could happen, you stay up all night and you watch 'cause you're watchful. Be serious. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring line seeking someone to devour. Don't ignore it. Discern where it originates. And the solution is in James four, seven. Submit yourselves, therefore, then to God, resist the devil and he will flee for listen. You can't resist the devil unless you do the first part of the verse, which is you could say it,
Speaker 0 00:46:15 You need to submit yourself. If you wanna win the war, you've gotta submit yourselves to God. Because I want to tell you something that's gonna blow your mind. You're already submitting to something else, whether it's your own flesh, the spirit of your own flesh or the spirit of demons. You're submitting to something else. James four, pleads with us. Submit to God, then resist the devil. And he's got no choice but to flee because greater is he that is in you than he that in the world. And number two, differentiate the weapons of fight against the flesh and the weapons of fight against the in the spiritual war. Second Corinthians two 11 says this, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. Church, the reason I'm doing this message in two parts is because you should not be ignorant of Satan's designs.
Speaker 0 00:47:00 You live in a world where he is constantly roaming around seeking whom he may devour. 'cause if he could get that person, he could get that person and he could get that person and he could get that person. He get that person demonic influence ever come into your family. How's that go? Devours this person, that devours this person, that devours this person. You should pray for me a lot because if he can get me, he can get this person, he can get that person. He can get that person. He's not stupid. This is war. We're at battle and the sleeping soldiers of no use. So we need to be aware. This is a constant teaching of God's word, and this topic is on discernment. Therefore, we need to discern what kind of spirits we're listening to. We are not to be outwitted by Satan. When Satan is working, we fan the flame for the spirit of God.
Speaker 0 00:47:55 We mirror Christ when the flesh is alive. We tame it through confession, accountability, and self-control. If your problem is with the flesh, the spirit of the flesh, you need to find accountability. You need to tame that. If you know Christ as your savior, it may just be your own temptations at work and you're failing. You need to make that right with Christ. But it could be the demonic realm. And when it's the the demonic realm at play, we conquer it by rebuking it with prayer and scripture. We live in prayer. We live out scripture. Remember, the Bible gives me different weapons for taming the spirit, different weapons for taming the flesh and different weapons for conquering the demonic realm. All right, how do you feel about that? Everybody feel very heavy <laugh>. Yeah. Um, these ideas that you're, that our world is buying five years ago, they would've vomited at those ideas. 10 years ago, they wouldn't have discussed them in regular settings. And now they're teaching them to their children. They're doing them to their children.
