Spiritual Warfare - Lesson 8

Spiritual Warfare

Dr. Gerry Breshears

th251-08

Response to Demons
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Lesson Transcript

What we want to do in this session of the class is try to think through what the Bible tells us as believers to do with demons. We've gone through a whole bunch of stuff, talked about a biblical worldview that talks about the reality of angelic level beings of different sorts. Their hostility to the things of Jesus. Now what we want to do is begin to think about what's our response to that? We've looked at some of the ordinary stuff that the demonic world can do through temptation, accusation, deception. What about what is more direct attack? What about when we run into possession or something like that? What if you run into a place where there's influence in a believer's life? Again, just to summarize, what I'm saying so far is that we have the two realms. We have darkness, we have light, we have the realm of Satan, we have the realm of Christ. And you're either in the realm of Satan or in the realm of Christ. And if believers in the realm of Christ cautions 113, demons have no authority over us, no legitimate authority, and we have the authority to command the demons. And then how to do that, having faith to do it, What is our actual authority and what do we have to do to exercise that authority? That's what I want to talk about in this section. We want to do this biblically. So if you have your Bible, grab it and let's look at some passages and see how this is done. If you look in the book of Mark, for example, we'll look in several passages in the book of Mark. We've looked at Mark chapter one, where Jesus deals with with the demon. Just to review, this is dealing with a non-Christian who is possessed.

 

We have the authority, I believe, to do exactly what Jesus did in Mark chapter one, where he ran into the the man who's possessed by an evil spirit, it says. So here we have somebody who has a spirit possessed by a spirit is demonized. There's actually different words for it. But this is somebody who is in the darkness and has that deep involvement with a demonic spirit so that the demon really controls the person to a large degree, or maybe a complete degree in what Jesus does when he says that the demon challenges him. And Mark 125 He commands the demon, be quiet, and then he commands the demon. Come out of that man. The evil spirit shakes the man. There's a violent response and then it comes out. I think we have that same authority. Now, the problem of it is, is you have an interaction of wills because the person you're talking to may want that demon there. And then you end up in an interaction where the person wants the demon for some reason. And that reason could be just about anything in your command of the demon to get out. And you can end up in a complex of a wills that can be very dramatic, very traumatic too, I think as well. But I think without question we have the authority to do that. And this is a place where personal style will come in as to how you do that. And we'll talk about that. When you talk about the practical section in the course in a bit. Point I want to make at this point is that we have as believers the authority to command a demon in the nonbeliever to come out, and it has to do that.

 

We find the same thing in Acts chapter 16, when Paul is dealing with the demonized woman. Chapter 16 there in Philippi, Act 1616 going to the place of prayer were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. I mean the demons doing a lot of stuff. She's earning a great deal of money for her owners. She followed the rest of us. These means are servant of the most high God. They're telling you the way to be saved. The demon is speaking through her, apparently. Or she's speaking. We don't know exactly what's going on, but she has a spirit. Paul becomes very troubled. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. And it did. And then, of course, that got him put in jail. You're not guaranteed that bad things won't happen when you deal with a demon. But we do have that authority to deal with the demons. From my perspective, I am really unhappy when people say that we don't have that authority either, because only the apostles have that authority or saying that we have to do some sort of negotiation with a demon to find out this name and hierarchies and attachment points and all that sort of stuff. None of that is in scripture. It's not just Jesus and apostles. Philip does it as well. The disciples do it more than just the apostles and Luke. We find the the 70 or are given that authority to command the demons. I think we have that authority and those who compromise that authority by saying it's only an apostolic authority, or you have to go through all this information gathering process. It's not in the Bible. And of course, that's my fundamental thing, is we're going to follow biblical patterns as closely as possible.

 

So in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. We have that authority when we recognize the demons there. So that part is the fairly simple authority. It's more complicated and working it out and we'll talk about that. But the authority we have is pretty clear. The controversial issue, and this is where there's a lot of debate, is what do you do with demons and believers? We have laid some foundation, the two kingdoms. Demons have no legitimate authority over us, but we can buy into their lies. We can believe that they have authority. If we think that because we've committed a sin that a demon has a right then to inhabit and a right to control, then in effect it will. And it's not because it has that authority, because we've allowed it to do there. So what do you do? What's the biblical pattern? What are the biblical commands when demons are attacking believers? Let's just follow through some examples in Scripture. I've seen no better place to start than with Jesus. He is the example for our faith. In Matthew chapter four, we find Jesus encountering the demon, the Prince of Demons, so Satan himself. Matthew Chapter four. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. You know, just a sidelight. It's the Holy Spirit who leads him into this place to be tempted. That's a scary thought With the Holy Spirit. Lead us to a place we're going to be attacked or tempted. And I think, yeah, for the purposes of ministry, we may go into dangerous spots. And I think that can happen. It happened to Jesus. That's why in the Lord's Prayer, two chapters later, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

 

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And we know that. But then he goes on and he says, Lead us not into temptation through from back to this passage. That's our prayer. We ask God that we would not be led into temptation, mostly not by being stupid and going into temptation, but in the leading some ministry we may end up spot. We're going to be attacked by the demons through temptation or whatever. So he says, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil one. And it's there in Greek. It's the evil has the article, and I think that means Satan in his attack through the spiritual forces of the world of flesh and the devil lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And there's a pattern to deal with there. We pray. We pray for wisdom to know where to go. We pray that believing that God will be with us when we go on his mission and we pray, Lord, please don't take us into dangerous places. That's a legitimate prayer. But if our ministry path leads us into dangerous places, deliver us from evil one. When he attacks, give us the courage and the wisdom and the faith to get out. Okay, Let's look at how Jesus does it. Coming back to Matthew chapter four. He goes into the wilderness and the devil tempts him. And we could spend a good time looking at how the demon tempts, and that would be a fruitful study. Let's not. I'll leave that for your study. I want to know that the demon attacks Jesus and he attacks viciously. How does Jesus attack back? That really is the the question.

 

As I look at it, the demons can do all kinds of stuff to us, to deceive us, to accuse us, sort of to tempt us. What do we do back? If you're the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Lay down the human card. Play the God card, give up your incarnation, satisfy your hunger, the temptation to pleasures, the temptation to use our divine authority in the wrong way. All that stuff tied in. And the temptation very powerful. What did you say back? Jesus answered. It has written and he quotes Deuteronomy Chapter eight Men should not live by bread alone, but in every word that comes from North of God. Now, what are you doing here? If you go back and look at this story? He's appealing to the entire Manna story of God's provision in the wilderness. God gives specific commands to the people how to deal with manna taken off for one day on Friday night, taken off for two days because of Sabbath and the people or they didn't do what God told him to do and it got him in trouble. What they had to learn was to trust God's provision and trust that God's command would get God's blessing. It's the right thing. What he does is he quotes a verse that's relevant to the issue. He knows his Bible and he uses it as a well aimed sword of the Spirit to attack back at the devil. So that's the the first temptation. He uses, the sort of spirit he fights back at the devil by using God's Word well interpreted, not just taking a big black Bible and using it as kind of a magic talisman or something, some sort of magic amulet. He interprets scripture well, he knows the scripture and quotes.

 

It doesn't argue with the demon, doesn't just quote scripture. I think that's a great pattern. Okay. Second test takes in the highest point of the temple. If you're a son of God, throw yourself down and the demon does the same thing. He quotes scripture and it's actually an accurate thing. It's a prophecy of Messiah from Psalms that says he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up. You'll not strike your foot against the stone. That's legit. That's a prophecy of Messiah. What's the temptation? Let's just check out and be sure, God, that you know. Are you really the Word of God? Will God really come through for you? Again, very common temptations to us as well as to Jesus just in our hermeneutics within. He doesn't argue the applicability. He doesn't argue whether his is the right passage to apply to him. He just says, verse seven, Jesus answered him. It is also written and he quotes from Deuteronomy, Do not put the Lord your God to the test because that's what the demon is asking him to do. Let's just check out and be sure that God will do what he says. Don't test the Lord your God. You can trust His promises when he really makes them, and you don't have to check them out. Not the way the demon is suggesting, because he's undermining our faith. He does that all the time. Jesus just quotes Scripture right back, stands firmly on the word of God, using it as a sort of spirit to attack back at the demon. Okay, so twice he's quoted Bible well interpreted scripture, very appropriate to the situation. He knows his Bible. This is good. Verse eight still takes him to very high mountain, shows him all the kings of the world in their splendor.

 

All this I will give you, he said, if you bet on, worship me. Hmm. Think of those. The devil, those Satan have the authority to give the kings of the world. Are they his to dispose of? Does he have authority over all the empires, all the kings, all the possessions of this world? Which is what he says here. I'll give these to you if you worship me. Could Satan do that? What do you think? Could Satan. I mean, could he have given this to Jesus? If Jesus would have worship him. What does Jesus do? You know, he doesn't debate this at all. We don't know whether Satan has this authority or not. You never, never, never, never, never debate theology or experience with a demon. Never. Never can I say one more time. Never debate theology, wisdom, experience, history, personal history. With a demon, you just don't debate with them. There's no need to do that. All they're trying to do is get you to doubt things. All they're trying to do is confuse you. All they're trying to do is deceive you. They're trying to tempt you to a better way. They're trying to get you to question God. Don't argue with a demon. Don't. Don't follow the pattern of Jesus. He doesn't discuss the devil's rights and authorities at all. He just does something really simple. He quotes Deuteronomy. You shall worship the Lord in him only. That's the heart of the issue. Well interpreted in Scripture from Bible relevant to the situation. That's how you respond to a demon. Use the sword of the spirit. Now, here's part of the problem. Maybe you don't know the Bible that well. What do you do? Get help. Get help. Get other believers around you.

 

Use the body of Christ. Use Bible tools. You may not be prepared at the moment. Call a friend. This is a good thing. Get somebody to help you out. Call your pastor. Call your teacher. Call your disciple or call your buddy. Call your 14 year old son. You know, call somebody and get help. If you don't know your Bible well enough, and that's a really good thing to do when you're under attack from Satan is try to get help to use a sort of spirit, really wield it wisely. So first thing he does, you quote scripture and stand firmly on the word of God, using it as the sword of the Spirit and just quote scripture to the demon. And that's that's the foundational word. Now, the other thing Jesus does here, not in the first two, but in the third one. Look there in verse ten and see if you can find the other thing that Jesus does. Okay. Look at it. Matthew 410. There's something else that Jesus does to the demon. Got it. Yeah. He says, Get away from me. Satan. That's the command. And I think that is the command of a believer toward the demonic. Same thing Jesus does. That is we command the demon. Get away from me. Now, the debate I talked about earlier is the demon inside me or outside me. My particular view is I don't know. Scripture doesn't tell me clearly whether demon can be inside a believer or not. I don't think that's a relevant point. The key point. What do you believe a demon can be inside you or not? The point is, we commanded to get away. And it's interesting that in Scripture it does use the term get away with believers.

 

It doesn't use the term get out. I don't know how significant that is because the effect of the same your command of the demon to get away. And he does it with immediacy. He does authority. He does it with faith that he has the authority to do that. Get away from me. Sing. And the devil left him and angels came to attend him. So here's the thing. If a demon is harassing you, what you do is you command the demon, get away, and then you go to angels. And those angels, maybe just about anything. Maybe friends. Maybe scripture songs might be your Bible. Well, it could be anything that a Jesus thing. If you stay by yourself, you're not using the resources I think that we have. And we find in not in this one being in Luke, the devil withdraws from him until a better time. And of course, that's the reality is the demon isn't going to give up. They're persistent. And when I help people deal with the demonic kind of stuff, I always, always, always tell them it's almost certain the demon will be back. They don't give up. Now, sometimes they do. But just expect that that demon or its friends will be back. What do you do when it comes back? Same thing. Produced it. Let me show you. This is Matthew chapter four. Use the sort of spirit commanded to get away. Look at Matthew Chapter 16. It's a well-known story. It's a fascinating story. Lots of dimensions of this Peters confession of Christ. Who do people say the son of man is? And they give all kinds of answers. What about you? Who do you say that I am? Matthew 1616. Great story. SIMON Peter, the spokesman for the Disciples, answered.

 

You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Clear affirmation of faith. You are the Messiah. You are the promised one. You are the deliverer. You are the divine. Become human. You've come to do the work of Messiah. Great, great, great, great, Outstanding. Blessed are you, Simon. Son of Jonah. Jesus commends him. That was so good. Then that's a revelation of God. You've been sensitive to God. It's a huge blessing. I will tell you that. You're Peter, your rock man. And upon this rock, I will build my church. All kinds of debate was talking about Peter Peter's faith, I think. Yes, it's talking about both. But that's not our point here. Peter certainly gets blessed. I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. No, no, that's not saying the gates of hell. It's true. That signal might overcome the church, but that's not what this passage is saying. This thing is the gates of Hades, which is death, will not overcome the church. People, I think, have misread this passage. It's important that we actually read the scripture for what it says. The gates of death will not overcome the church. And then, of course. Yes. Well, whose death? The death of Jesus or the death of leaders? Probably. I'll give you the keys to the kingdom. What have you been? An earth will have been bound in heaven. What we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. What are the keys to the kingdom? Well, basically, that's the gospel. And because we have the gospel, we have the authority to do work with spiritual authority. Note here he's not talking about binding demons. He's talking about working with the gospel. I know there's a lot on binding demons, and we'll talk about that in our next lesson.

 

Nobody looks at this as a case where Jesus is talking about binding demons. This is the work of the gospel. You're saved. You're not saved. In Matthew 18, you're forgiven. You're not forgiven, depending on your response to the gospel. And so then he goes on, He begins to explain that he's going to go to Jerusalem, he's going to suffer. He's going to get killed. He's going to rise again. And this is shocking news because Messiah's supposed to win. What do you mean, Jesus, you're going to get killed. So Peter, verse 22, took him inside, began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, no way. We're in the book. You're the winner. We know that. Don't tell us about dying. You're the winner. We're with you. Jesus. This will never happen to you. Peter has just as much faith here as he did, saying that Jesus was the Messiah. Because Jesus the Messiah, He's going to win. Peter's very confident. He's very wrong, but he's very confident. You know, if Jesus told you something, believe it. I mean, that's easy to say. But anyway, that's reason. Now, here's the fascinating thing. Matthew 1623 Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. Now, here's the question To whom is Jesus speaking? Jesus said to Peter. Get behind me. Satan. Is he speaking to Peter or is he speaking to Satan? Jesus turned and said to Peter. Get behind me, Satan. Okay. He's being the Peter being the Satan. What do you think? Boy, I wish I were here so I could ask you and we could talk about this. To whom is Jesus speaking, Peter or Satan? Well, the right answer is yes. Mm hmm. He is speaking to both.

 

He says to Peter. It's the. The way of address. He's. That's who he speaks to. But in the evocative in the term of a dress. Get behind me, Satan. So is being to Peter. And he's speaking to Satan. Hmm. Isn't that weird? How can he be speaking to both at the same time? Well, here's what I think has happened. I think Peter, who is a believer in Jesus Christ, clearly commended for his faith. I think what's happened is that somehow this is my explanation, not just mine, but I believe it is that Peter, somehow his impulses, his sinful stuff, his bravado, his quick to speak, slow to think what, like me, Satan has exploited and energized and empowered his own weaknesses and taken them in a different direction. I think Satan can do this. I think demons can do this. They can exploit. They can take advantage of our sinfulness. That's what Ephesians 427 is saying. I think if we hold on to our anger, we give the devil a place to work and opportunity and opening. How do you translate to there in Matthew or Ephesians 427? Peter's impulsiveness is exploited, taken advantage of, and I think more than that, it's empowered. It's energized. By Satan and Jesus, having incredible discernment, is able to recognize this isn't just Peter speaking. This is Satan using Peter, empowering Peter to attack Jesus memory community and get away in Matthew chapter four. And he did. He's back. What does Jesus do when Satan shows up again, this time through Peter? What does he do? How does he attack back? Jesus turns and says to Peter. The translation is, Get behind me. But if you're able to look at the Greek or a literal translation, you'll see that it actually says, Get away from me to the back.

 

It's exactly the same phrase as Matthew chapter four with an extra adverb or whatever it is. Get away from me. Exactly the same phrase from Matthew. Chapter four. Get away from me. Who? Poggio Satana to the back. What does that mean? I don't know. But it's same command. You get away from me now. Jesus says to Satan and apparently worked. And Peter is, I'm sure, shocked, had used this phrase, but it's just the same command. He's been citing scripture. Same thing he does, doesn't. Matthew four. And then from that foundational scripture, he commands the devil. Get away from me. It's authoritative, direct. It's addressed to Satan. We do the same thing. We do exactly the same thing. Get away from me to the back. I don't think you have to say to the pack, but that command. Get away from me. No. That's Jesus. Where else do we see that sort of thing? This is a place, I think, where Satan has exploited and energized and empowered Peter's stuff. Look at Acts chapter five. Chapter five story here. It actually begins at the end of chapter four, where Barnabas Joseph is an initial name called Barnabas because it's such an encourager. Sold a field here and and brought the money and put it the Apostles feet. Incredible act of generosity. And they said, Hey, Barnabas, good stuff. We love that. What a testament to your faith that you would sell your possessions, bring it to the community, give it to the apostles so they can distribute is as need be and Barnabas in and Aeneas chapter five to go there His wife Sofya also sold a piece of property. Same thing Barnabas did with his wife was full knowledge. He kept back part of the money to himself and brought the rest at the Apostles feet.

 

Now you see what's happening. He likes what happened to Barnabas. He kind of follows it. But deception. He's holding back some of the money, pretending that he's giving it all. Just like Barnabas. Now, here's Peter. Acts five three. Same guy from Matthew 16. He kind of knows how the drill works. Peter said anonymous. How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you lied to the Holy Spirit? Kept for yourself some of the money that you received for the land? Wow. You've not lied to men, but to God. Satan has filled your heart attacks by three. The word filling. Of course you recognize the word filling. Who else fills our hearts? Well, the Holy Spirit. What happens when the Holy Spirit fills our heart? He guides and empowers. Basic idea of the filling of the Holy Spirit. That's, of course, a whole nother study. But when the Holy Spirit fills our heart, he guides us, and He empowers us to go in the way of Jesus. And there's character change and all those things that come out of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Apparently, what's happening here is a demonic spirit has filled out, and I guess his heart and soul fire as to find out a little bit or the particular phrase is not used. Why have you allowed. Fill your heart. Speaking to Safire, how could you agree to test the Holy Spirit? So there's a certain level of agreement in here, but I don't know if that's always there. Why have you allowed Satan to fill your heart? Why have you allowed Satan to gain influence over you? To exploit the energize, empower your own sinful impulses? No, the attacks a little different here because, like and I just drops dead on the spot.

 

I don't recommend this. Exactly. And Peter doesn't say die, dude. It's just there. He falls down under the incredible judgment of God. Peter didn't even get a chance to rebuke Satan. You know, get away from me. Doesn't get a chance to encourage Antonius to stand firmly in his authority of Christ and have him tell the demon to get away. It just. He just did. Okay, This is not the norm. Exactly. But the pattern is the same. Believers can be exploited, energized, empowered by demonic spirits as they allow that to happen. Let's look another example that. Second Timothy Chapter two. Paul is writing to his son in the faith. Second letter just giving him a lot of direction, a lot of great advice. Telling to a workman approved by God. It's it's a fabulous, fabulous thing. And as he's doing this, he gives him coming toward the end of chapter two. A lot of just very practical advice flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness. First, 22 don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because they just produce quarrels. Hey man, we get so caught up in arguments or things that just aren't that big a deal and they split the body of Christ and Satan loves it. The point, of course, I would never quarrel with anybody, but my friends quarrel with me in a very unwise way. Gary, you listen to the Bible. Those people who oppose him, he must gently instruct and hope that God, we're at them repentance, that they'll come to know the truth. Look, this last verse. Second Timothy 226 and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who is taken them captive to do his will. You instructed gentleness.

 

Praying that God will grant them repentance so that they can know the truth. And it's just if they will come to their senses. These are people who have lost their senses. They're confused. They're not thinking well because they have been entrapped by the devil. And we're helping them escape this entrapment because he has taken them captive to do his will. Now, is this talking about believers? Well, I think so. In a similar passage in Titus chapter three, verse ten, talking again about people who oppose and these people warn them once, kick them out because they're heretic, cos they're heretics. They're people who are opposing the work of God and apparently are not saved at all. Here it's a different response. Instruct them gently. This is what you do, I think, with believers. So is it for sure? Believers? Not for sure, but it seems to me very likely that they are. And it would certainly apply to believers because we don't. Believers do this. Can Satan take believers captive to do his will? Yes, I think he can. By deception, by deception, by trapping us, using our evil desires against us. So he exploits, energizes, empowers our evil desires. And what do you do? You instruct them gently. You pray with them. You pastor them so that they can escape this thing. And then said, here, I think what we do is bring them to the spot where they can fulfill the biblical command to push the demon away to commanded to leave an escape entrapped by the devil. Look over Second Corinthians Chapter six, Second Corinthians Chapter six, as is a related passage, I think this is a passage. It's often used for the gospel encounter and I think against what it actually says.

 

Second Corinthians 614 He commands us. Don't be yoked together with unbelievers. And he says, What a righteous and wickedness have in common. What fellowship can might have with darkness, harmony, harmonies or bickering Christ and Belial. And I think what he's saying here is, as believers, we can hook up with, we can be yoked together with, we can join in with, we can form an allegiance worth unbelievers and the spirits they serve. And I think that's what he's talking about in Second Corinthians, is he's saying, push them away, don't be yoked with them. Break off those allegiances. And the way we do it with demons is we command the demon. Get away from me. Turn to the body of Christ. Are there commands to believers about sin and. Well, of course there are lots of them. Let's look at a few of them. Probably the best known ones. If he's in chapter six, there's actually quite a bit about the demonic forces. Back in Ephesians chapter one, we see that we share in the victory of Christ. Effusions 119 He's talking about his great power for us who believe the powers like the working which you exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seen to his right hand. Resurrection. Exaltation is a power thing and he's exalted. Verse 21 Fusion 121 far above, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every title in this age. And to come there all under his feet as the head of the body of of Christ. We with Christ are far above having authority over. And these are names for demonic powers, rule, authority, power and dominion. We have that authority. Ephesians chapter four is talking about how we live out this new place in Christ Great Passage.

 

We are new in Christ were part of the light. We're not a part of the darkness anymore. So because that's true, he says. Ephesians 425 put off falsehood, speak truthfully, put off the evil, put on the good, live as a child of God. And of course that's where the if you hang on to anger, you give Satan an opportunity to exploit you. So deal with the sin. Don't hang on the sin that just gives sin room. And then in chapter six, he kind of concludes, Put on the armor of God, Take your stand against the devil schemes. Not clearly talking to believers here. The devil has schemes against us. What does he want us to do? Live as if we're not children of God? Live as if we're just ordinary people. The struggle is not against flesh and blood. Not just against humans, but against. And here again, he has all the demonic things rulers, authorities, powers of the dark world against the spiritual forces of evil power realms. Those are demonic powers were warring against them. These are these other gods. The way the Old Testament puts it, angelic level beings that have authority in this world put on the armor of God so that you can stand your ground. And I'm been using Navy new international version for this. It actually doesn't translate it real well here. There are two things were to do here. If you look in a good translation and in the Greek, you will see we're supposed to stand firm and we're supposed to resist the devil. Stand firm means, you know, I am a believer in Jesus Christ. The Bible is the Word of God. I am a child of the most high God. That's to stand firm, Resist means to push away or to oppose.

 

But that's the effusion. 613. Stand firm and resist. How do you stand firm? Well, belt of truth. Breastplate of righteousness, as I've already suggested. Those are all characteristics of Messiah. Use your cross-references. Check back where it comes from. Many are from Isaiah. These are not characters in saying What are you saying? Remember that your child the most high God, you're not in darkness. You are a child of God. And then conform yourself with the way of Christ. Get rid of the sin in your life. The armor of God is is not some magical thing that I pray on each day. I'm all for prayer. But you put this on by living a more Christ like life. And you count the fact that I'm a child of God. You stand firm in that truth, and then you pursue the ways of righteousness praying all the time. Because prayer, that family fellowship. Remember, you pray to God. You don't pray against demons, you rebuke demons. You tell them to get away. You don't pray against them. So Ephesians six, a lot to do there. Let's see. First I want to go let's look at this, Socrates, you and James, Chapter four. James, Chapter four Different author. James is writing wisdom, literature, powerful stuff, telling us to live our life in Christ like ways. He talks about, you know, submitting yourself to God, fights and quarrels, just like we saw in Parliament of the go your evil desires in you and all that kind of stuff. And as he does that verse six, God gives us more grace so we can deal with our arrogance and our pride. God opposed the proud gives grace to the humble. And then James for seven very simple phrase Submit yourself to God.

 

Easy to say, hard to do. What does it mean? It means to give him your feelings. Give him your desires. Give me your trust. Go his way. Submit yourself to God. And then what? Resist the devil and He will flee from you. Same word that we find in effusions. Chapter six. Resist. What does it mean if you do a word study on the the word the translated resist? I'll take you to a few passages. You find that it means to oppose or to push away. Let me just show you in Romans chapter 13, it's actually a fairly similar passage. Everyone must submit himself to governing authorities because God has ordained them. And then verse two Consequently, He who NIV translates to rebels against authority, is rebelling against God. That's the word. That's resist. That's the interestingly. So Romans 13, the one who rebels against you is rebelling against what God has instituted such a rebelliousness. And when we resist Satan, we are rebelling against him. Another example that would be in Galatians Galatians Chapter two. Peter is compromising the faith. When the people from Jerusalem comes, he stops eating with Gentiles because that might give them a fence. He separates himself from the Gentiles. The other Jews join him in support. Chrissy Pulses First, this is Galatians 214. When I saw it, they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. I said to Peter in front of them all, You're a Jew. You live like a Gentile and like a Jew. How is it then, that you force Gentiles, follow Jewish customs and so on? And what it says here is that he opposes Peter to his face. And the word there is the resist word. I opposed him in front of all.

 

I confronted him in front of the mall. That is what we do when we respond to the demons by resisting them is we attack them back, we oppose them, we go into their face. That's Galatians chapter two. Let me just read a couple of others. Second, Timothy. We just looked at the second Timothy. Chapter two in a second. Timothy 223. When you just looked out The Lord servant must not quarrel those who oppose Him. Second, Timothy 223. He must gently instruct that opposition. There is the word resist those who attack you. So somebody who resist you, somebody who's attacking you back. And then later in the second Timothy Chapter 414 Alexander the Metalworker did me great harm. The Lord will repay him for what he's done. You should be on your guard against because he strongly opposed our message, saying German medal Smith attacked Paul. That's the same word. It's the opposition word. I think what happens is that when the demons come at us, that we resist them. We oppose them. It's not a passive thing. It's not just standing still. There's an active opposition that comes in there. And when I think of the way Resist is used here in English, I think of the Polish resistance during World War Two, when the German Nazis and the Russians were attacking their country, of occupying their country, just doing really, really hard, hard things because they're under command of evil empires in those days. The Polish resistance sabotaged what they were doing. They didn't just refuse to comply, though they did. They actually did whatever they could do to push back against the occupying forces. I think it's what we do with demons. We push back, we attack back. We use the sort of the spirit.

 

We use our authority to command them. And I think that's what we do toward demons is we resist them. One more passage and we'll be done with this piece of it. First, Peter, Chapter five. It's another resist passage. He's talking about elders among you appeals a fellow elder, and he has his great instruction elder, which I could teach that through, but we'll have to leave that. And he ends up, in a phrase very similar to James. First Peter, five, five. He says, Close yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud gives grace to the humble. Exactly the same verse city quoted in James. Then what he says is this Humble yourselves before the God's mighty hand will lift you up. Castro anxiety him because he cares. Phoebe, Self-control hurt your hand. Maybe the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. There's the demon coming against Christians. Resist him. See? Familiar word. Standing firm in the faith. Because you know. And go on. Now, what I'd like to do here is just think through some very practical things to do. This resistance. How do you do it? Get a piece of paper if you don't have one already and make where you can have six things. Pros and cons. We're going to make a table with two columns, six lines. And I just want you to fill in the columns because what he's talking about here is the demon is like a lion. And he wants to is he wants us to be his lunch. I mean, sometimes I get sarcastic and I say, can a demon incite a believer? I don't think the Bible says, but the Bible does say that we can be inside a demon because he can eat us.

 

Well, of course, that's literally using the figure here. But the demon is trying to ruin us. How do you resist that? How do you get around that? Well, let's just fill in the chart. Back in verse six, this is the to do side in order to think what is the not to do on the to do side of the column. What are we supposed to do? Well, we're supposed to humbler souls before God be humble to God in that humble spirit. Oh, man. Is that a fruit of the spirit? Pursue it. Especially those of you who are strong leaders. Having a humble leader, boy. Work on. Work on a work on it. That's what Peter's saying to leaders. Know humble yourself, be teachable, be submissive, be team guy. That's the to do side know what's on the not to do side and say it but think about what's the opposite of being humble. Well the opposite of humble is being one proud arrogant. Okay, so put over here, humble and maybe a couple of words like that. Put over here, proud or arrogant? If you want the demon to eat, you don't be humble. Be proud. If you want to be safe before the demon. Learn to be humble. Give up being arrogant. Give up being right all the time. So, first line. Humble. Proud. Second line. What's the command for? Seven. What's the command? Cast your anxiety on him. So what does it say when you have anxiety? Take it to God and his people. Don't hang on to it. It's very similar to Ephesians chapter four, where they're talking about anger. Don't hang on to your anger, but take it to God and his people. Deal with it. Should Christians have anxiety? No.

 

Do Christians have anxiety? Yes. Yes. What can cause you anxiety? Somebody says, I'll send you a letter and says you're a dead man. That causes a lot of anxiety. Yes. V kills me. I go to Jesus. But it's a painful process. Jesus had that anxiety in the garden. He was troubled. I mean, so troubled that, you know, we sweat like drops of blood. Some people, I think, lie to you and say you should never have an anxiety. I don't think that's the truth. Jesus was anxious. Maybe we don't use that term, but troubled. So what do you do with it? You give it to God and his people bring in help. So on this side, don't hang on to your anxiety. What's over here? The negative there would be perhaps pretend that I'm not anxious. And that means we hang on to it or live and work for Forget your faith. So over here. Deal with your anxiety over here. Deny your anxiety or live in your anxiety. Hang on to it. So it's a second line. Third line. What's the command? Self-control. Okay, so here. Be self-controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are self-controlled. What's the negative? What's the. You should not. That's implied. If you're self-controlled, you're not What? Impulsive. At least in the consumer culture. You're not supposed to think you're sports. Pull out your credit card and swipe the card. If you have a desire, fulfill it and the impulsiveness that go with your feelings. Of course, that's what the demon tried to do to Jesus back in Matthew chapter four Be self-controlled versus the impulsive, giving yourself to the control of others, letting your friends control you, and especially evil friends, or letting a demon control you be self-control in know true self, the godly self.

 

So third line self-control, impulsive, careless, fourth line, be self-controlled. And what? Alert. Be alert. What's the other side? The other side would be not alert. Just blunder along. Be careless. Be thoughtless or in American idiom. Be clueless. And you can see the two of them are similar. Being alert, being aware that Satan is about there like a roaring lion be watching for him in his schemes. Be aware of my own shortcomings, my own weaknesses. That's being alert. Being alert to both God and the dangers versus just stumbling along clueless there. So the fourth line is be alert, be clueless. The fifth line, verse nine Resist or oppose, Push away. What? Be on their side. Be submissive to the demon because a demon comes along and reminds you of your history. The demon comes along and points out how wonderful it would be to do the sin or whatever the demon does. You're not really a child of God because look how you act. What do you do? Resist him. Push him away versus be submissive. Be agreeable to the demon. Resist. And then six. Stand firm. Stand firm was stand solidly on the truth that I'm a child of the most high God. Stand firmly that I'm alive. Stand firmly. That my sins are all forgiven. Stand firmly. You recognize I'm doing conscience chapter to stand firmly that the code has been canceled. Stand firmly has been taken away and put on the cross. Stand firmly that the demons are disarmed. Stand firmly. That they've been exposed for who they really are. Stand firmly on the truth that Jesus has triumphed over them at the cross. That's what it means to stand firm who I am, the truth of God's word. So you've got a six step chart.

 

You know, it's amazing. Amazing. The power it has to help people work through that six fold chart. Amazing power. When you personalize it. This is personalized because you take somebody and ask them, Where's the places that you're interested in? How could you deal with that? Where are the places that you're holding on to anxiety or denying anxiety and work them through in a personal, powerful way? Huge impact on the demonic realm. What do believers do when they're attacked by Satan? Quote Scripture will interpret scripture. Command them to get away in the name of Jesus. Do it decisively. I don't think I have to scream at a demon. I generally don't even raise my voice to a demon, but do it authoritatively. You resist them. The repeated command in Scripture for believers is to resist or push away or oppose the demon schemes or attacks or attempts to devour us. I think that's the heart of it. I think that's the heart of it. I think every believer has the authority to resist or push away the demons. I just think we're not aware a lot of times of demonic attack or we become fearful of demonic and we don't do what scripture tells us. We have the authority and the power to do. Quotes Scripture command to get away in the name of Jesus. Scriptural principles are really, really straightforward, and I think that's the foundational power that we have in Christ. It's a great power. Praise God for that.