You ever been trying to share Christ with somebody, and just the most bizarre things start happening to them? Distractions, things that make them doubt? And you're like, why? It's because Satan begins to target people when they begin to be exposed to the gospel. It's why some of our church planters overseas deal with opposition they've never experienced before, because he is putting obstacles in the way.
Welcome back to more solid biblical teaching here on the Summit Life podcast with Pastor J.D. Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Bidovich. This month, we're offering a small booklet called Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World. It features a short preview from Pastor JD's newest book called Everyday Revolutionary.
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Today, Pastor JD helps us understand our adversary and the spiritual battlefield in front of us. We continue our study of some of the most challenging statements Jesus ever made with a message Pastor JD titled, I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightning. Let's get started. We are in the midst of a series called The Difficult Sayings of Jesus. Things that Jesus said that don't readily make sense to us, things that may challenge us and shatter some of our preconceptions that we have about Jesus.
Thomas Jefferson had that famous Bible. I think it's in a museum somewhere where he had actually cut out the parts of Jesus' life and ministry that he didn't like. You may not have actually done that to your Bible, but all of us tend to have kind of a version of Jesus that we gravitate toward that is an edited version.
Well, I don't like what he says over here, and I don't like it when he does this right here. You can't do that. You cannot block out parts of Jesus' presentation of himself. And what these statements do is it puts the real Jesus on display through these difficult statements and really confronts you with who he is to ask you how you really feel about him and whether or not you're willing for him to be who he is. Here's the difficult statement for today.
If you have a Bible, Luke chapter 10. Invite you to take it out and open it up or turn it on to Luke chapter 10. We're going to be in verse 17. is where this one is found. Luke 10, verse 17, the 72 returned with joy.
Really quick, you're like, who are the 72? It's kind of like the second ring of disciples. You had the 12, and then you had beyond them, we find out a group, a larger group that included the 12, 72. Many scholars point out that the number of families listed when God scattered the earth in Genesis 11, all the different cultures, there were 72 different nations and clans mentioned.
So, in many ways, this is God sending out people to rebring in all those various tribes and cultures. But at this point in the gospels, it's 72 going around Israel preaching the gospel, saying, They come back very excited, saying, Lord, you're not going to believe this. Even the demons are subject to us in your name. And so he says to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in that. that the spirits are subject to you. but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Now, why would this one be a difficult statement?
Well, first, what does it mean that we have the authority to tread on serpents and scorpions? I mean, is this when our church gets really weird? Right? Maybe. First, if the ushers would come forward at each of our campuses and pass out the buckets with the snakes in them, we're going to see who has real faith.
No, I'm just kidding, of course. The only time I've ever really handled a snake, I was 12 years old. My parents had just given me a bow and arrow, and I had spent every day for the last three months practicing it. And I went to a little creek down behind, about a quarter mile to the back of my house, and there curled up on the bank was some kind of snake. I was probably about 20 yards away.
I took that bow and arrow, I pulled it back, shot at that snake. Through some freak accident, I hit the snake right in the head, right in the back of the neck. Could never do it a second time. Don't think that I'm like Katniss or some version of that. I just pinned the snake to the ground.
I thought that was awesome.
So I did what any 12-year-old boy would do. I walked over to that snake. I took its head. I took the arrow and ran it all the way down its stomach and carried it home like a trophy to show my mom. I took it out, the arrow out, and it was still alive.
It slithered off and went back into the grass. I have no desire at any point to ever even see a snake again.
So that is not what we're a church, we're about. Even if you know that Jesus didn't really mean that when he said this, and you give us the benefit of the doubt that we're not that weird, you might say, well, but is Jesus actually saying that Satan is real? I mean, really? Like a real devil with horns and a tail and a pitchfork? Is he actually believed that?
Well, maybe not with pitchfork and horns, but you can see from this verse that Jesus most definitely believed that Satan and the demons were real. In fact, Jesus seems to spend his entire ministry engaging with the devil and demonic forces. I mean, it's nearly every chapter Satan is mentioned 250 separate times in the New Testament. Which means almost once in every single chapter of the New Testament. Here, Jesus is giving them very clear instructions about how they are to engage with the demonic realm.
So, if you're going to take Jesus and the New Testament seriously, listen, you've got to take this seriously. Because it's a major theme that runs through Jesus' life. And if you're ignorant of this or you just ignore it, you're missing a big part of what God has for us as disciples of Jesus.
Well, who is he and what exactly does he do? This verse gives you a clue as to where he came from. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Satan was one of the highest archangels that rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven as a result of his rebellion. And when he did, the book of Revelation tells us he took a third of the angels with him who became what we refer to as the demons.
Now scripture never gives us Detailed account of that event. You have to kind of piece it together from several different places in the Bible. But Isaiah 14 gives you a glimpse into what happened in that moment. Isaiah 14, this verse is actually, by the way, about another rebellious king, a human king. But what Isaiah does is he looks through that human king and he sees kind of the ultimate rebellious king, Satan, behind that king, influencing what he does.
And so Isaiah looks through this human king and he starts talking about the king behind him. And he says, This, How are you falling from heaven, O Lucifer? Which was not the earthly king's name. That's why we know he's talking to the guy behind him. Oh, Lucifer, son of Dawn, how are you cut down to the ground?
You have said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I will set my throne on high. I will make myself like the most high.
Now what do you hear repeated in those verses? I will, that's right, I will. It's going to be five times in that Isaiah 14 passage because that's the heart of the satanic rebellion. I will. I'm going to do what I want to do, not what God wants to do, because I will be my own boss.
I will choose my way. I will be the point. I will get the glory. That is the heart of sin. I will, instead of God's will, my will be done instead of thy will be done.
Well, ever since the fallen angels and Satan were cast down to earth, they've been trying to coerce anything and everything to join in that rebellion of I will. The theme song in hell is Frank Sinatra is I did it my way. That is what we are doing when we choose sin. We, as a race, have joined Satan in his rebellion. And so now the Bible tells us, listen, he has a certain authority over us.
Jesus said he now dwells on earth as one of the rulers or the ruler of the human race, and he is here to kill, to steal, and to destroy. I told you he was mentioned over 250 times in the New Testament. Let me show you a few things of what he's doing. I just want you to get a sense. Of where he is and what he's doing, so that you can see how many places the New Testament says this is actually him.
Jesus in John 8, 44 calls Satan the father of lies. In 1 Timothy 4, 1 says that he corrupts faith and concocts false doctrines. 2 Corinthians 11 says that he gives false teachers not only the ability to speak persuasively and winsomely, he gives false teachers the ability to imitate divine signs and wonders. 1 Corinthians 7 tells us that he tempts the saints specifically with illicit sex. 2 Corinthians 2.11 tells us that he turns unresolved anger into bitterness in the hearts of God's people.
You ever feel that kind of thing coming up against somebody else in the Christian community? You understand that is your enemy at work in your heart, trying to turn. That's what 2 Corinthians says. That's why Paul said: don't let the sun go down in your wrath because you're given opportunity for Satan to actually work on your heart. 1 Thessalonians 2.18 tells us he puts obstacles in the way of people trying to tell other people about Jesus.
You ever been trying to share Christ with somebody and just the most bizarre things start happening to them? Distractions, things that make them doubt? And you're like, why? It's because Satan is putting, when he begins to target people, when they begin to be exposed to the gospel. It's why some of our church planners overseas deal with opposition that you've never experienced before.
Because he is putting obstacles in the way. Revelation 12:10 calls him the accuser of the brethren. Which means he loves to what? Accuse you. And remind you.
Which means that voice in the heart pointing out your sin is not always the Holy Spirit. A lot of times, it is your enemy trying to remind you of the mistakes you have made, the failure that you have become, so that he can paint for you a very bleak outlook about your future. For Romans 16, verse 17 says that he sows discord and division among God's people, and he moves in God's people to rebel against their leaders. You ever notice how critical people are of Christian leaders that God has put over them? There is a reason that that is one of the biggest targets for everybody, and that is because Satan loves to do that.
1 John 3:10 calls Satan the father of hatred and murder that is at work in the rulers of the world. In fact, when Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan makes this statement to him that when you listen to it, it's really astounding. Satan says to Jesus, I can give you all authority on the earth and the glory of the nations because that's been delivered to me, and I can give it to whomever I will. That's Satan talking. And here's what's amazing.
Jesus concedes the point. He never says, no, no, no, that's not true. Think about that. That means that Satan is moving in the highest levels of earthly power. The highest financial, the highest military, he's moving in those, turning them to kill, to steal, and to destroy.
1 Timothy 3.6. Paul says that he puffs up Christian leaders with pride so that they will fall. And then in 2 Timothy 2:24, that he brings to the minds of unbelievers the pride and the faults of Christian leaders so that they will not take the gospel seriously. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that he blinds the mind of unbelievers, and in 1 Thessalonians 3:5, that he attacks faith wherever he finds it. Ephesians says that Satan ensnares unbelievers in their sin so that they become addicted to their sin with this feeling that they'll never be able to get out of it.
Throughout the New Testament, we see Satan causing sickness and sometimes insanity. In the Old Testament, we see how Satan directly is involved in Job's misfortunes, in his sickness. Many passages in the New Testament relate physical maladies with spiritual causes. Matthew 12, for example, a demon makes a man both blind and mute. 2 Corinthians 12, Paul would call his physical affliction, he had a thorn in the flesh that afflicted him physically, and Paul called it a messenger of Satan to afflict me.
So is he real? Is he active? If Jesus knew what he was talking about, the answer has to be yes. By the way. Are you skeptical of this?
Can you not look at this world? and see something more than flesh and blood at work. You look at certain chapters in human history and you say, how could that have happened? How do things like the Rwandan genocide happen? World War I.
Do you ever study anything about that war? You look at it and you say, what was the point of that? Just this needless bloodbath. How do you get there? How do you get to the levels of cruelty you see today in the Sudan or the Taliban?
How did slavery happen in our country? How is the abortion epidemic still happening in our country? How does child pornography? The sex slave trade. How do these things gain traction?
And these are not things, by the way, that just take place in remote parts of the world without education. You know that the hub of the sex slave trade is Atlanta, Georgia. That's the largest one. The famous historian from Yale, Marlow Unger, said, History is littered with the story of powerful men and women whose infliction of destruction and death could only be described by two words. Insane or diabolical.
And can't you see that? Can't you see there's something greater at work in the world than just human dysfunction? Bad decisions or poor parenting. Do you know there are three times in the Bible, only three, where someone is said to be directly filled by Satan? And all three times.
They are completely sane. They're not rolling their eyes in the back of their head and floating six feet above their head like the exorcists. All three times that Satan tells somebody they are completely sane. But they are murderous. and they are out to destroy Christian faith.
To quote Tony Campalo. Satan is the one appearing in movies, telling us that romantic love and sexual pleasure are the keys to fulfillment. He is the one behind an economic system that teaches us that money is the key to success and happiness. He works in and through governments that coddle people into thinking that government help is the answer. He is the one who sits in the psychologist's chair, offering ultimate hope in life apart from God.
He is the one standing as a professor in our universities, touting that science and education have all the answers. He is the one teaching from our pulpits that life is about you, that God wants to make you rich, that hell is not for real, and that the standards of the Bible are for a different time and place.
So is he real? You better believe it. You say, well, why then is he not more obvious? I read the Gospels, and it seems like demons and Satan are a lot more visible back then than they are today. Listen, this is really important.
Satan is not after your recognition. He is after your destruction. And that means he's happy if he can destroy you. even if you never know that it's him doing it. In fact, in many ways, that's advantageous for him.
He's think of him like a hunter. The hunter is not concerned that the prey know that the hunter is there. The hunter is only concerned with destroying the prey. It's like I heard my youth pastor used to explain that Satan works like the way they kill. They kill a wolf up in the northern parts of Canada.
Wolves want to get rid of them because they kill seals and household pets and that kind of thing.
So when they want to kill the wolf, they take a very sharp knife. They will dip it in seal's blood because a wolf loves a seal's blood. They do it enough times so that it freezes around it so that you can no longer see the blade. They bury it up to the handle so that just the blade is sticking out of the ground. The wolf comes along, smells the seal's blood, begins to lick what essentially to him is a blood popsicle stick.
As he licks through, he gets down to where the blade is, but by this point his tongue is numb.
So as he licks into this blade, he doesn't feel that this blade is now slicing his tongue into ribbons and that the blood now falling on the ground is no longer the melted seal's blood, it's his blood, and then he wanders off and dies without knowing anything that happened. That is what Satan does in sin. That's why we call him the angel of light. He doesn't come to you saying, I'm Satan, I want to possess you, and I want to make you float over top of your bed. He comes to you as an angel of light, saying, Follow this.
This is what you want. This is how I am going to destroy you. 1 Peter 5:8, be alert and of sober minds. You keep your eyes open at all times because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. First, notice that Peter calls Satan a lion.
Which means that he's in the cat family. I told you, cats are demons. That's not the main point of this passage, but I think it's an important observation, all right? The main point is that he's a hunter. That he seeks prey.
And what happens, Peter says, if you go through life without being even aware? I remember, have you ever seen the movie The Ghost in the Darkness? Val Kilmer? It's probably 15, 20 years old now. Basically, it's this lion that attacks this settlement in Africa and it stalks around.
And for a while, nobody really believes that it's happening, but people just keep disappearing. And then Val Kilmer goes over there and saves the day. I made the mistake of watching that right before I went on a mission trip to Africa. That was a dumb, a dumb decision. Because everywhere I went in Africa, I'm like, oh, I've seen the ghost in the darkness.
You know, where's he going to come? And I'm just going to be dragged off into the woods and they're never going to find me again. That may not have been the wisest choice that I made watching it before I went, but it's probably better to be paranoid about stuff like that. Than it is to go through time without ever even realizing that there is an enemy that is there to destroy you. What if he was at work in your life right now?
What if he was at work in your life right now? What if he was into temptations? What if he was the one, sir, that was hovering above your computer at night, beckoning you to just enjoy yourself for a few minutes before you go to bed? What if he was the one that was providing you with those really easy opportunities for you to get ahead in business by just cheating a little bit? Have you ever noticed that some temptations seem so perfect, so perfectly timed?
I remember once being on a mission trip. There was one night that I was by myself. I'd just been through something very emotionally difficult. I was very stressed, strained, was all by myself. And checking into this hotel.
Overseas, there was this girl that started to come on to me. And I'm looking there because it's just all too perfectly timed. And it was like in this moment, the Holy Spirit gave me this insight. Nothing, you know, weird or kooky, but it was like I was able to see through her and see that behind this beautiful face was an enemy that was raging and roaring, wanting to destroy me, wanting to destroy my family, wanting to destroy our church. What if he was the one that was behind those temptations?
What if he were the one that were trying to make divorce so appealing and reasonable to you right now? Because there is nothing that destroys family and church and tarnishes the name of Jesus more than an unbiblical divorce. Dads, what if he was after your kids? And you weren't even engaged with him. Or them.
He's excited that you're kind of on autopilot with your kids. He's excited that you have them involved in all kinds of sports and all kinds of extracurricular. And the one thing that you neglect is getting them anchored into the people of God and growing in God. He loves that. Because you're not even protecting them.
You've just let them as open prey. What if he were the one trying to get you into debt? Making it seem like, oh, you just got to have that car because all your friends have got it. You got to have one like them. You got to move into that house that you really can't afford.
You got to be, you got to have this. Just put it on your credit card. What if he were the one that was doing that because debt makes you a slave? And he loves slavery.
So, why didn't he put you into that kind of debt since it's not vilified in our country? And then he can get you to do whatever he wants you to do. Because when you're in debt, your options for serving God become severely limited. For those of you who are investigating Christianity right now, what if he were the one behind some of the doubts that are popping in your mind? What if he was the one that was suggesting to you things that give you reasons to not believe?
What if all that was happening and you were completely unaware of it? You encouraged yet. You encourage Here's good news. Let's keep reading. Verse 19.
I saw Satan fall. And I've given you authority now to tread on serpents and scorpions. And over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. That's an amazing promise. I've given you authority to tread.
On serpent, could you think of doing that physically? Tit of serpents and scorpions, you just go walking across it barefoot. Tomorrow is the last chance to request this month's featured resource. At Summit Life, our mission is to help people everywhere dive deeper into the gospel and live it out every day. That's why we create resources like the Gospel Prayer Catechism.
It's a simple scripture-saturated tool to help you grow in your prayer life. Built around the four core truths of Pastor JD's Gospel Prayer, this digital guide includes short Q ⁇ A prompts, biblical reflection, and real life application to help you internalize the gospel message and let it shape your daily walk with Jesus. Whether you're looking to jumpstart your own devotional rhythm or lead your family or small group through gospel-centered prayer, this tool was made for you. And when you give to Summit Life by March 31st, we'll send it to you as a thank you gift. Your donation helps us equip more people with gospel-rich resources like this one and ensures that biblical teaching continues to reach people around the world through radio, other online platforms, and more.
You can give a one-time gift or become a monthly gospel partner right now by visiting JDPreer.com. Yeah, yeah. I was out with a bunch of guys that passed away fishing on the French Broad River. And they have these little holes in the side of the river, or like in the bank, where you were seeing the, they put their hand in there, and we did not do that. But we were talking about, who thought of that first?
Who thought, I'm just gonna reach my hand in there and let a catfish like try to bite my hand and then pull it out. That's how I'm gonna catch the fish. I would not do that. I certainly would not look at a pit of snakes and scorpions and just go trotting across it barefoot. Yet Jesus is saying That's exactly what you're going to do, metaphorically speaking.
You're going to look at that and you're going to walk across it, knowing that it's not going to be able to actually hurt you, nothing shall hurt you. By the way, listen, that does not mean Satan cannot afflict you. How do I know that? Paul said he had a thorn in the flesh that was a messenger of Satan. Satan was afflicting him.
Was he not?
So it wasn't like just because Paul was an apostle. Satan could not mess with him. Nothing can hurt you means that nothing that Satan does can stop. the forward progress of what God is doing in your life. Here's what God did.
God took that messenger of Satan, 2 Corinthians 12, and he turned it into an instrument for Paul's good. That's what God does with Satan in your life. He takes the afflictions of Satan and he says, I'm actually going to reverse those and I'm going to use what Satan intends for evil. I'm going to use it for your good. You have been given authority to overrule all that Satan intended for evil in your life.
And to say, I declare that God is going to use that for good. You say, well, how do we exercise that authority? That's a great question. Before we get to it, let me answer a couple of practical questions that people ask me when I teach on something like this. First one they ask is, I got a situation.
Say for example, sickness. And I don't know if there's a spiritual reason behind it.
So what should I do? You know, we know so much now, even more than they did back in the days the Bible was written. We know the science of medicine. And God gave us that knowledge, and he expects us to use that knowledge to the fullest. And yet?
We know that there can be spiritual reasons behind sickness. Paul in 1 Corinthians said That there were some who were sick and even died because of their disrespect. of the Lord's table in communion. She's like, well, well, how do we, what do we do in that moment? Part of the problem, listen, is that we like to draw neat lines between the natural and the supernatural.
But the supernatural, listen, this will blow some of your minds. The supernatural can work in and through the natural. For example, Can God send a storm? Yes, we see that happens in the Bible. Does that mean he did not use the normal forces of nature to cause that storm?
Not at all. The supernatural can be in the natural. Or here's another one. I teach my kids that they were created by God. Is that legitimate?
Psalm 139 says they were created by God, that God created them as a plan for them. Does that take away the fact of the biology of how Veronica and I created them? Not at all. The supernatural works in the natural, and you're not supposed to try to separate those all the time. That means practically speaking, when you're dealing with a situation, And you suspect there may be some supernatural purpose behind it, my counsel to you is that you address both the natural and the supernatural sources as you seek healing.
You should exhaust every natural remedy at your disposal. And then be sensitive to spiritual reasons that may be behind it as well. Hey, I'll give you an example of this. Did you know that the Apostle Paul traveled with a licensed physician? His name was Luke.
He wrote the book of Acts. Paul traveled with him, in fact at one point calls him the beloved physician. In fact, one of the things that entertains me as I read Paul's letters is: I love it when Paul gives medical advice to people that he's writing to. You ever seen this? It's throughout.
We assume that he got that from Dr. Luke. And so, Paul, when he would minister to people, he would use both the natural and the supernatural. The point is, one does not have to exclude the other.
So when someone is sick, call the doctors, always. But if you begin to suspect something really different is at work Then, while you are consulting the doctors, you should call. James chapter 5 says the elders of the church to pray. Because that is also dealing with the spiritual things behind that. Here's another question that I get.
Can a Christian be demon-possessed? Can a Christian be demon-possessed? Interestingly, the Bible never uses the term demon-possessed, period. That's actually a poor translation of the Greek word diodemai. It's not a good translation.
Literally, diodemai means demonized. Can a Christian be afflicted by a demon? Yes, absolutely. You know, one of the things we teach here is that if you get drowsy while I'm up here teaching, that's a sign of demon afflicting you, okay?
So, if the person next to you looks like they're getting a little drowsy, I've told you: reach over, take their forehead in your hand, and as loud as you can, yell, demons out. And I promise you, whether the cause is natural or supernatural, the spirit of slumber will depart from that person, okay? Um, I'm just kidding, but uh, but can a Christian be demon-possessed? No. Any part of you, however, that is not surrendered to Jesus and placed under the protection of his blood can be demonized.
Your soul can never completely be taken over, since, if you're a Christian, your soul belongs to Jesus. But whatever part of you you have not brought underneath the lordship of Christ can. and probably will be demonized. Which leads me to the final question. How are we supposed to engage against the demonic?
How are we supposed to engage against the demonic? With this passage does not give you a lot of detailed instruction. But notice what Jesus says in verse 20. Nevertheless, he says, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Here's a side point that I'm actually going to go to somewhere else in the Bible to really develop. Jesus consistently directs people away from preoccupation with the demonic. Consistently. In fact, he never, not one time, ever tells us to go out demon hunting or to approach the world like an exorcist. There's really only one passage in which the Bible outlines for us what a strategy for spiritual warfare should look like.
And that strategy is found in Ephesians chapter 6. In Ephesians chapter 6, it's where he lists out the weapons of our warfare. What's interesting, listen. and might be disappointing for some of you. is that none of the weapons that he gives us are really that weird.
The helmet of salvation. That's why that's one of the first one he mentions. Which basically means let your thinking be saturated by the gospel. Take the shield of faith. Faith in what?
Faith in God's promises. Put on the belt of truth. Which is good news because you never wanted to go into battle with your pants down. All right. But what is the belt of truth?
Is believing what God's word says. Have your feet covered with a readiness to declare the gospel, with a readiness to preach. Take in your hands the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Know how to quote Scripture. Pray at all times in the Spirit.
Can I summarize all those things for you? Really, all the different weapons are actually different ways of saying the exact same thing. Yes, I grew up in Sunday school. We had the flannel graph. I know how to put on the different pieces.
I get that there's a bunch of different pieces mentioned, but Paul is actually just rephrasing the same concept over and over again, and that is be saturated by the gospel. Put faith in the gospel. Cover yourself with the gospel. When every part of you is covered by the gospel, Satan cannot touch you. You see, when I was on the mission field.
When I served overseas, there were many who believed in what they called territorial spirits. Which is basically like some hierarchy of demons that control various places. And then, if you're going to do effective warfare here, you've got to find him and bind him.
So, you got to figure out what his name is, or its name is, and you got to cast him out in Jesus' name. Paul never, never instructs us to do that. In fact, listen to this. And again, this might disappoint some of you. Paul gives us three model prayers in the book of Ephesians, where he talks about spiritual warfare.
Three model prayers. In none of them Is he binding or casting out any demons? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, when Paul is addressing the division, listen to this, when Paul is addressing the division in the Corinthian church. Do you remember when I went through that list, one of the things that Satan does is he causes division in God's people? And 1 Corinthians, the Corinthians are like, they're like the worst.
Church division ever?
So if there were ever a place that Satan was at work, it was in the church in Corinth. Right? I mean, because they're like the Jerry Springer show of churches. Do you ever read that? When Paul is counseling them.
Paul never tells them to rebuke the spirit of division. He doesn't. He tells them to be united in their minds around the gospel and to be charitable to each other in response to the gospel. He tells them to do exactly what he told him to do in Ephesians 6: cover yourself with the gospel. 1 Corinthians 5.
when he talks about the problem of immorality in the church. You got some guy sleeping with his mom. Which is bad. And some scholars say, well, no, it was a stepmom. That doesn't matter.
If you call her mom, take her to the prom, that's just bad news, okay? When Paul addresses that situation, he doesn't tell them to rebuke the spirit of incest. He urges the Corinthians simply to Believe the gospel, exercise church discipline, and encourage the guy to repent because of what Jesus has done. The point again: listen, get grounded in Jesus, and Satan will not be able to touch you. You focus on the fullness with Christ, not on the demonic.
Luke chapter 11. Here's where Jesus made this really clear: Luke chapter 11, he tells a story about a guy. He uses a metaphor: a guy has a house and a demon lives in it with him, which is bad news. Evidently, the demon's pretty messy and stinky because the guy's house is kind of, you know, messy and smelly.
So he asks the demon to leave, and the demon does.
So the guy cleans up his house. He's super excited because now he's got a spick and span house. The demon, meanwhile, goes out and gets six of his friends, comes back, says, Hey, clean house, something else for us to destroy. And they all move in. And so Jesus says the last state of the man is worse than the first.
Then Jesus goes on in that chapter to say: you've got to have a stronger man that possesses the house before the demons will not come back and. Fill it again. And so his point is: listen to this. If you want to keep the devil out, you need a stronger resident who, when the demon comes back, he can't take over from the stronger man. The irony is, if you want to fight the demonic in your life, don't focus on the demonic at all.
Just let Jesus be large in your life. C.H. Spurgeon said it this way: that he's the pastor emeritus of the Semit Church. C.H. Spurgeon.
The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil. You're like, Pastor, how do you keep Satan out of your church? I just preached Jesus. That's what I'm trying to do. Just preach Jesus.
Why? Because Satan hates that. I'm preaching Jesus and it's beating the heck out of the devil. I could probably get away with Satan beating the hell out of the devil. Could I not, right there?
I think I could. I preach Jesus. And it does whatever you want to say. It makes say he leaves. He cannot.
Possess where Jesus is large. We want the stronger man. We want the Holy Spirit to possess every part of you. We want the gospel to saturate all of you, and then the demonic cannot touch you. You see, when Jesus died, he destroyed any power that Satan has over you, any power.
Right? See, Jesus did not merely die for you, he died instead of you. And because Jesus was taken to the cross in part by Satan, he can never do that to me. Because he's already been burned. The wrath has already been given.
So, in him, there's not a thing, not a hand that he can lay on me. In fact, here's how you say this: Christians fight from victory, not for victory. Christians fight from victory, not for victory. Here's why I say that. I hear a lot of Christians say, I'm just fighting for victory over Satan.
You don't need victory over Satan. Jesus had victory over Satan, you just stand in Him. You rest in the finished work of Christ in that spot where it's already been burned. And there's not a thing that Satan can do for you. The answer to overcoming the demonic is not to obsess about the demonic, the answer is to get filled completely by Jesus.
So is Satan filling your mind with discouraging thoughts? Is he telling you you're a failure? You're never going to be used by God. There's nothing but failure in your past. There'll be nothing but failure in your future.
Then you need to counter that with the truth of the gospel. It's not that you need to figure out the spirit that's speaking into your head. You just need to ignore it and you need to get a louder voice ringing in your ears. And that is what Jesus has declared over you: that I have chosen you. I have called you for my purposes to give you a future and a hope.
I have ransomed you. I have made you who was not my people my people. There is nothing but goodness and mercy in your future. And you need to drown out the voice of Satan with the louder voice of the gospel. The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. Satan loves to whisper in your head. Listen, I know he does mine all the time. Remember, he's called the accuser of the brethren.
You need to drown out the voice of the accuser with the louder voice of the gospel. Believe the gospel from head to toe, and the accuser cannot touch any of it. You think Satan is messing with your marriage? You think he's messing with your spouse? You think he's messing with your kids?
Get the presence of the stronger man all over your marriage. And Satan cannot touch it. Whatever belongs to Jesus, Satan cannot touch. On the other hand, Listen, believer. Whatever has not been submitted to the Lordship of Christ.
and brought into that circle of the blood of Christ. is wide open for satanic attack. And that one area that you have not brought into that circle is the area through which Satan will destroy you. C.S. Lewis said.
humanity falls into two equal and opposite errors concerning the devil. Either they take him altogether too seriously, or they do not take him seriously enough. Let's strike that balance carefully. And with God's help, it truly is a wonderful promise from God that is ours in Christ Jesus. Don't forget, tomorrow, March 31st, is the last day to claim your free copies of Pastor JD's short booklet titled Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World.
And also the last day to receive the Gospel Prayer Catechism book by email for your donation this month. You can find everything at jdgreer.com. We'll see you again soon. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Career Ministries.
