What about spiritual warfare?
Matthew 12
In our previous four nights, we have defined spiritual warfare from 2 Corinthians 10 and we have looked at discernment and false discernment and last week began a look at the extra ordinary aspects of spiritual warfare as I shared a personal experience with a principality in Uruguay.
Tonight, we will continue our discussion of this side of things as we look at demon possession.
Before I get into that, I want to say a couple of things.
During this series, I have tried to be very clear about something, the bulk of spiritual warfare is the day to day struggle between sin and flesh and the will of God.
Much, if not the vast majority, of our involvement in spiritual warfare is not in direct contact or communication with demons or satan. It is the struggle of our flesh fighting against the will of God.
But there are times when we do come up against specific demons and demonic activity.
There are those who teach there is no such thing as possession. I’m not sure what Bible they are reading, but the one I read is very clear about the reality of demon possession.
Let me read one quote from the internet by a man named Robert Longman from his website spirithome.com on possession:
“The Devil never really ’possesses’ (owns) anyone or any thing. The world is in revolt, but it is still the Creator’s world, and the Devil can’t change that. The Greek New Testament term for ’possession’ is daimonizomai, which can be seen several ways. One way is to see it as demonic influence, where one is so twisted up by heeding the devil that one becomes ’demonized’ - made like the Devil. The other way is as a demonic energy or impulse that not only stirs up evil in a person, but enables that person to do the Devil’s work with an ability or power beyond what they would otherwise have -- a demonic dynamism. Bondage is created either way. It takes the bigger dynamism of Christ to free someone from that bondage, and it takes ’Christ-ization’ to keep them free. “
While correct in much of what he says here, Mr. Longman is incorrect in stating that there is no such thing as actual possession.
The greek word he points out daimonizomai is used 13 times in the Gospels and it literally means to be under the power of a demon.
The other Greek word often used for possessed in the NT is echo which literally means to have or to own
Mr. Longman may be just splitting hairs by stating that satan and demonic forces may have control but never truly own anything as God is Lord of all.
But the fact is, demons can and do dwell in people, what we call possession.
Matthew 12:43-45 - quite clear that demons when they possess actually indwell within a person
Three quick points from this passage:
1. Demons do desire and attempt to return to one they have been forced to leave
2. Evil spirits cannot return to someone if that person is full of the Holy Spirit and the things of God.
It is not enough to help someone achieve freedom, they must also be led into the realities of God and become full of His Word and Spirit
3. A whole nation, society, community, or other form of group can become so engrossed in evil and the desire for evil to such an extent as that group can become demonized
One could argue this is true of some Islamic nations today - Iran for example, or even Atheistic nations such as Cuba, or spiritualistic ones such as the Congo and other African nations and tribes.
This could even be true for a generation. The ultimate example of that would be the generation alive during Noah’s day leading up to the flood.
I am not going to cover every NT verse that deals with demons as we do not have time for that, but here are a couple prominent ones:
Let’s start by looking at how Jesus handled demons:
Matthew 8:28-34
Notice, Jesus didn’t get all hyper spiritual or mystic. He didn’t chant or go into some long drawn out thing, He simply gave the order. He said, “Go!”
That is the power of God. It is not a fight when God shows up. It’s over.
It is only in His power and His authority that we can see anything accomplished.
Notice they came to Him. He did not have to seek them out. In fact, I challenge anyone to find it anywhere in scripture that we are to seek out demons for any reason.
I do not see anything indicating that we are on a demon hunt or should be or that Jesus or any of the disciples or apostles initiated contact with demons.
In every case I am aware of in scripture. In fact, in Acts 16, Paul didn’t drive the demon out of the girl until he became so annoyed by the girl that he couldn’t stand it any longer.
I know the Bible words it nicer, “Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around...” and commanded the demon to leave. Or the KJV and some others are even more noble sounding Paul was “grieved”
The New American Standard comes right out and says it “But Paul was greatly annoyed,”
In case you are wondering, the original Greek is even more blunt. The word is diaponeo. which in its root literally means through great trouble and intense desire
To be a little bit blunt, Shane Hart paraphrase would read, Paul was so annoyed and wanted this girl to just shut-up so he turned and...
Now, I say that, not to destroy anyone’s personal theology or bring offense, but to show that we as Christians are not demon hunters.
We do not look for them. In the course of following Christ and spreading His truth, we will run into them.
In fact, the armor of God is completely defensive except for the Sword which is the Word of God and therefore not our weapon, it’s His. But I am getting into another sermon with that.
Back to the ranch.
Jesus didn’t seek out the demons and He did not struggle with them.
In fact, notice their fear of Him and understanding of the situation they face in verse 29 of Matthew 8.
They are fearing torture and know there is an appointed time when it will happen.
Flip back to chapter 7
This is going to catch some of you off guard so hang on. 7:21-23
The name of Jesus is so powerful that even the unsaved can use it to see miracles happen.
If God chooses to use someone who is unsaved, so be it.
But it is entirely possible that someone who is not in a saving relationship with God could preach the Gospel, see the sick healed, and even cast out demons.
This is not my opinion or some out there kind of theology, Jesus Himself said it.
The reason I point this out is to let you know how important it is to have discernment of what spirits are at work in situations.
We cannot just judge by outward results or what we might call “Christian success” to know what is real. Only the Spirit of God guiding us can give us the mind of God to know reality in spiritual matters.
Jesus did just finish saying that by a person’s fruit you can recognize them in verse 20.
Why the seeming contradiction?
Simple, He is telling us that the fruit is the first way to recognize someone’s heart, but there will be those who are seeming to have it together, who do not. In those cases, we must have the spirit guiding us.
And as we see in the following verse of the parable of the wise and foolish builders, we are cautioned to make sure we are not one of those who thinks they are doing the will of the Father, but have no real relationship with Jesus.
We must make sure we are on the foundation of Christ and in reality with Him.
We can accomplish things for God and not be right with God.
Even so far as it is possible to not even be saved and still accomplish the supernatural.
I know this is deep, but we must know it. We must have it in us so that we may navigate the times in which we live.
Just doing the things of God is not enough, we must live them, consume them, be them.
We must have discernment as we have already talked about.
We must be sure of our foundation and be completely committed to the fullness of God’s Word and righteousness and not just judge ourselves by “Christian success” standards.
Spiritual warfare is more about our spirit fighting the will of God in us than anything else, but there are times we will face demons and demonic activity.
We do not seek it out or hunt for it, we follow God and in the process, the enemy will make himself known.
