Dealing With The Devil

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(This talk was given on: 24th June 2001)

There is a story of a conversation between Jesus and Gabriel...

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the angel Gabriel approached Him and said, "Master, you must have suffered terribly for them down there."

"I did," He said.

"And," continued Gabriel, "do they know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?"

"Oh, no," said Jesus, "not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know."

Gabriel was perplexed. "Then what have you done, to let everyone know about your love for them?"

Jesus said, "I've asked Peter, James, John, and a few more friends to tell other people about Me. Those who are told will in turn tell still other people about Me, and My story will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of mankind will have heard about My life and what I have done."

Gabriel frowned and looked rather sceptical. He knew well what poor stuff men were made of.

"But what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if way down in the twentieth century, people just don't tell others about you? Haven't you made any other plans?"

And Jesus answered, "I haven't made any other plans. I'm counting on them."

-- Lifestyle Evangelism, Joseph Aldrich, p. 15-16.

And two thousand years later, Jesus still has no other plan!

He counted on Peter and James and John and the rest to go and tell people of Him and His work, and they delivered the goods. He's now counting on you and me to carry on that work, can we say that we have done as well?

In our reading we heard how people were coming in droves to see Peter and the Apostles, not just to hear about Jesus, but for healing. They were being brought out onto the streets on mats and beds, they were coming in from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, just so that Peter's shadow might fall on them, and here's the punch line: They were all healed! God, working miracles through the Apostles never failed to bring complete physical restoration.

The title of this talk is “Evangelism: Dealing with the devil.” The evangelism bit is fairly straight forward, we know where we are with it, it scares the pants off us. In fact, just the mention of the word 'evangelism' brings me out in a cold sweat. But, what about dealing with the devil? That's a bit more complicated. Especially in this day and age when many people, even Christians, deny the existence of and the activities of demons and the devil. Science has shown us that many of the things blamed on demons in the past really have other causes. Epilepsy is most often caused by scar tissue on the brain. Plagues are caused by viruses and bacteria. Mental illness is caused by biochemical imbalances and dysfunctional patterns of relating to others. Science has wonderfully freed us from that ancient world-view which included demons.

But Paul in his first letter to Timothy says this: “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we believe, they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons.” We are in or entering into the last times, and this passage of scripture is meant for us today, right now, here in Burley and our church.

Today's church must still deal with satan and his demons! Do we get that? This sounds a lot like spiritual warfare, and I think that that is exactly what we are dealing with.

I personally don't like the word 'warfare', especially as we follow the Prince of peace, the imagery of the word conjures up all sorts of horrible things, but, war is a horrible thing. But scripture uses language of warfare and I think we reject it at our peril.

As Christ's followers, we have a very different set of weapons at our disposal than our counterparts in the armed forces, we are called to be 'instruments of peace'. In Ephesians 6: 10-18 Paul refers to the shoes of the gospel of peace, the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit – the word of God. They aren't nukes or Atomic bombs or bullets. But, these weapons are just as destructive to the forces of evil and the work of satan. But that's not all. They are also the blocks and foundation on which a lasting shalom is built.

King Jehoshaphat, in 2 Chronicles 20: 1-30 shows the meaning of weapons of peace to us, literally. He sent out before his army as they went into battle, singers to proclaim praises to God. They sang 'Give thanks to the Lord, His faithful love endures for ever'. This caused such disarray in the ranks of their enemies that they even started slaughtering each other. And I believe that the lesson we learn from that is that, as then even now, God gives us the victory over evil.

We have to deal with real demons in this century, this decade, right now. And that should bring us out in more of a cold sweat than evangelising. Peter's first epistle to the Christians in Asia Minor says in chapter 5 verse 8: “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about , seeking whom he may devour.”

Peter is giving us good advice here. Be sober - be self-disciplined, think rationally, not foolishly; Be vigilant - be alert to the spiritual pitfalls of life and take appropriate steps to make certain that we do not stumble; Your adversary – satan is our avowed enemy. He never ceases from being hostile toward us, he is constantly accusing us before God; Like a roaring lion – satan is both cunning and cruel. He attacks when least expected and desires to destroy completely those whom he attacks.

This is all good, solid advice, but where does that leave us today? How, if we are to deal with demons, on earth do we do it?

I can think of no better way than the Apostles did – faith in Jesus. They commanded demons to leave people's bodies in the power of and through the power of Jesus' name. The name that is above all other names. Jesus tells us to go and do what He did, and that must mean casting out demons as well, mustn't it?

Remember the demon that confronted Jesus in the land of Gerasenes? It recognised Jesus' authority, even when Jesus was still far off. The man ran to meet Jesus and fell down before Him, gave a terrible scream, shrieking, “Why are You bothering me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God's sake, don't torture me.” Jesus had already commanded the demon to leave the man's body and it had no option but to obey Him.

Just a little something I learned preparing and researching for this talk: Did you know that the term 'demon possession' does NOT appear in the Bible. Apparently it originated with the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus in the first century from whence it passed into ecclesiastical language. In the New Testament, demoniacs are said to 'Have a Spirit' --- 'A demon' --- 'demons' --- or 'an unclean spirit'.

So, where does that leave us? What demons are there in our parish that need casting out? Well, I believe that everywhere we look we can see demons – demons of social evil, like racism, violence, murder, drug abuse, human sexuality, child abuse, the list goes on. But I firmly believe that the lord of misrule is behind a lot of what I have just listed.

Doing battle with demons. It is part of what Jesus does. It is part of what we as Christ's church do. As they are being fought, these battles are not pretty. There is pain. But evil, by its very nature is destructive, so pain should be expected. Is it any wonder that society at large is not comfortable with the process, even to the extent of asking Jesus to leave.

Does the story of the man from the land of Gerasene speak to us today in Burley as it did then? Absolutely! To us as Christ's church in Burley, the message is, there is hope in Jesus. To all those whom there is an ongoing battle with the demon of depression, the message is, there is hope in Jesus. To all those who have to do battle with the demon of fear, the message is, there is hope in Jesus. For those who are fighting the demon of addiction, the message is, there is hope in Jesus. For all those who every waking day is a day of worry about whether they are going to be abused or not, either sexually or through violence, the message is, there is hope in Jesus.

The message is, just in case you hadn't noticed or heard the first 10 or 11 times is, there is hope in Jesus. Let's say that together. But who's going to take the message out to all of God's suffering children? It has to be us. We know the comfort that the message brings. We know the relief that the message brings. Jesus is the message that needs to be heard by all these battlers.

God is sending you and me. We need to tell them that Jesus wants to come into their lives. We need to tell them of His mercy. We need to help them prepare their hearts for His coming. Then we will witness the marvellous miracle of grace as the Lord comes into their lives.

God gives us the privilege of announcing the coming of His grace. However, that does not mean that we make it all happen. I don't believe that that is our responsibility. We are only the message bearers. We cannot force people to hear or accept the message, I believe that is the job of the Spirit. We plant the seeds, He makes them grow and flourish.

As I said at the beginning of this talk, when Jesus ascended in to heaven, He left His words and the Holy Spirit here on earth and he was counting on Peter and James and John and the rest to go and tell people of Him and His work, and they delivered the goods. He's now counting on you and me to carry on that work, can we say that we are going to do as well?

The last thing I want to say is this, after healing a demon possessed man with a spirit called legion, Jesus said to this man, “Return to your home and to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been.” The best is yet to come 'cos Mark 5: 1-20, goes on to say “So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Isn't that just brilliant? Everyone was amazed at what he told them. Not, and everyone took offence and hurled abuse and threw stones at him, not everyone ignored him completely. I would imagine that, as today, there would have been a few that didn't want to know, but people were needing God, needing Jesus, needing to hear the good news. And he went with joy to spread that news. Jesus had commissioned him to go and spread the good news. He did, and it was met with amazement.

As we go out, don't forget that we also have been commissioned by Jesus to take out the good news to all the people of Burley, and beyond, especially those who need to hear, those who are daily battling their own demons.

Jesus is the answer, all we need is to have the faith to take Him out to the people now.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and wiles of the devil. I pray that you give each one of us this week the opportunity to tell someone of the good news of You Lord Jesus, to be able to start the process of taking away the hands of the evil one from the eyes, ears and hearts of Your children here in Leeds. Father, we pray for protection for ourselves and our families, as we prepare to go to war for you. I pray that you give us the weapons that each one of us needs as we meet with people this week. In Your name we ask, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Next: Gods Love For The World (8th July 2001)

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By Mike Ogden