The Devil and Demons (Part 2 of 2)

Can a Christian, someone who is a true follower of Christ, be demon-possessed?

You'll find an unlimited number of opinions that argue one way or another. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, we'll look at what the Scriptures have to say in answer to this question. We'll learn about the devil's strengths and his limitations.

Alistair Begg is teaching from 1 John 5. We're focusing on verse 18. When we take the Bible and begin to understand it, we find, first of all, that the devil was a created being. There is great mystery in this, admittedly, but nevertheless, the devil fulfills the very purposes of God.

He is a fallen angel. The second thing that the Bible makes perfectly clear is that this devil is defeated. First of all, it is clear that the devil had no power over Jesus. He had no power over Jesus. He has no power over Jesus. John chapter 14 and verse 30. Jesus says, I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming.

He has no hold on me. He's powerful, but he has no influence or power over Jesus. If you just turn back, I'll give you one or two verses. John chapter 12 and verse 31. Now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out.

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw men to myself. Jesus says the devil and his hosts are about to be defeated radically and powerfully. The time is coming for his judgment to be declared, and it is directly related to his being placed upon the cross. John chapter 16 and verse 11. And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Okay? Stay with me now. Just keep your Bible going here. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. Since the children have flesh and blood, he, Jesus, shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by fear of death. Now, notice the phrase that by his death he might destroy him, the devil, who holds the power of death. The only way that he can hold it is because God allows him to hold it for a wee while.

If God wants to take it back, then he can't hold it. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter 2, and in verse 15. Speaking of Jesus and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. And in Romans chapter 16, we learn that the devil is in deep trouble concerning not only his defeat but also his ultimate destiny. Romans chapter 16 and verse 20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

He is going to be crushed. So, the reason that I take time to emphasize this is because it is imperative that we understand that the devil is a defeated foe. Checkmate has already occurred on the chessboard of life. At the cross, Jesus played the checkmate. There are moves left on the board, but it cannot reverse the fact that checkmate is certain. Those of you who play chess understand this.

We can spend the last twenty minutes or so playing it out, but they've already seen the end. That is what has happened at the cross. He is going to be crushed under our feet. He was defeated at Calvary. He has no hold on Christ. He has no hold on the Christian. Therefore, we are told not to be casting him out or casting demons out, but we're told that the devil is to be resisted.

Okay, are you with me? He's a fallen angel. He is defeated. He is to be resisted. We are not to be ignorant of his devices. That's Paul's advice, 2 Corinthians 2.11. We noted also Ephesians 6.13. We are to be armed for battle.

We've been given the warfare armor. And what we didn't notice but referred to is James 4 and verse 7, where James, in one of the most practical letters in the New Testament, reminds his readers that it is very important that they resist the devil. James 4 and 7, submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Now, on the strength of this biblical instruction and what the rest of the Bible has to say, let me anticipate a question which will inevitably come. Can Christians be demon-possessed? I've never, ever taught on this without someone comes to me afterwards and said, Do you believe, then, that it is possible for demons to possess Christians?

The answer to that is, No, I do not. And I don't care whether you know what I believe. I care whether you understand what the Bible teaches. And you need, since you're sensible people, to examine the Bible yourself to see if these things are so. Because you can go into your Christian bookstore and you can find somebody writing a book who will say this. The prevailing belief among evangelicals today is that Christians cannot be severely oppressed by demons. Nothing has done greater damage to diagnosing spiritual problems than this untruth.

Those who deny the enemy's potential for destruction are the most vulnerable to it. So, I want you to know that what I'm telling you, I'm telling you I believe the Bible teaches, but you better check. Let me tell you why I believe that it is impossible for Christians to be demon-possessed. First of all, because of what we read in Colossians chapter 2, that Christ's death has given victory. Verse 10 of Colossians 2, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Jesus Christ has filled your life, believer.

That's what the Bible says. Your fullness is in Jesus. God looks at you, sees you in Christ, and you are filled with Christ. And in verse 15, he has disarmed the powers and authorities, as we saw, and he's made a public spectacle of them. We are now united with a Christ who has disarmed the authority and power of the evil one. The believer is described as the one who has been delivered from these things, still in Colossians.

And in verse 1, he says of God the Father that he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and he has brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins. He has brought us into a kingdom where the evil one has no right of access. He cannot come. He is not welcome. He has no power.

He doesn't know the code. He can't break it. He can't break Jesus' power. And we are all wrapped up in the power of Christ. Furthermore, what we're told is that the Holy Spirit indwells our lives. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

1 John 4 4 says, Great is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So now we know that in realistic terms the Holy Spirit lives within our lives, and he's not about to leave to make room for demons. Well, you say, What about the story in Matthew chapter 12? Someone else says, What story in Matthew chapter 12? So we gotta turn to Matthew chapter 12 to find out.

Turn to it, will you, just for a moment? Verse 43. When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places, seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and the final condition of that man is worse than the first.

That is how it will be with this wicked generation. So in other words, within the state and sphere of natural man, it is clearly possible to be possessed of demons. It is also possible for those demons to leave or to be removed. If they leave voluntarily or are removed by any power, unless that house—namely, that life—is then to be filled with the fullness of Christ and with the indwelling Spirit of God, then that life becomes the very potential for a far worse experience of demon possession than anything that it had ever knew before. But, loved ones, tonight you need to understand that when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit fills our life, the Holy Spirit fills our lives. And it is the Holy Spirit who answers the door at any attempts of repossession.

See? The Holy Spirit says, You're not welcome here. This is a child of God. When Jesus died upon the cross, he defeated you, demon. He defeated you, Satan. Go back to hell where you belong.

This is a child of the kingdom. These people belong to heaven. They belong to the reality and power of Christ. I am not saying that demon possession is not a reality. Demon possession is a reality. I have seen it twice in eighteen years of pastoral ministry and not here in the United States. It's one of the most fiendish, scariest things that anybody ever encountered in all of their life.

It's like nothing else you've ever seen. But it is not the experience of the believer, says Scripture. For example, John chapter 17, Jesus is praying to his father, and he reinforces the fact of his power over all these affairs, where he says in John 17, verse 15, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. Now, do you think that Jesus asks the father to do something for his family and somehow or another that the father is unable to provide the protection necessary?

This is not some Mickey Mouse insurance company, you know, that might not be able to pay up at the right time. Father, I pray not that you remove them from the world in which there is satanic activity and demonic activity. I just pray that you keep them from the evil one. Why would Jesus ever pray that prayer unless it was a necessary prayer?

And do you think he would pray a prayer like that in anticipation of any other answer except a yes? Verse 18, 1 John 5, We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin. The one who was born of God keeps him safe. The evil one cannot harm him. Nowhere in the New Testament are believers said to respond to Satan or to demons by casting them out. Nowhere in the lives of believers. All that we're told to do in relation to demonic activity is to stand firm, wear the armor, and to resist. Because all of the power that has vanquished all of that stuff has been unleashed at Calvary and is now the experience of the believer as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.

2 Thessalonians 3.3, The LORD is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. Here's where I think this really hits home at the moment. Would you not agree with me that many people today have been programmed to believe that their problems are primarily as a result of something someone has done to them in the past, rather than something for which they are currently responsible?

Would you agree that that's a prevailing emphasis? Your problem is not your problem. The problem is something somebody did to you. And whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, it doesn't really matter. We are all in this dreadful problem of our past, and the explanation of our existence is in our past.

If we don't know about our past, then we'll have some guru dredge up our past, recreate our past, and give us a past so that we might explain our present. You notice that? You know, I heard so many people using the jargon words of psychology.

So they have to be programmed for their usage. That's one thing. But the really bad thing about it is this—that there is an increasing emphasis that goes like this. Your past can be explained in terms of demonic strongholds in your life. And so, the key to your effective Christian living lies in our being able to break your demonic strongholds which are there in the past. As soon as we begin that line of reasoning, then it becomes increasingly possible for the kind of overemphasis on these things and the absolute misfocus which leads people into dreadful situations. I want to read for you an extensive quote now, and you can just sit back and relax and listen to this. God has provided his Word, which enables us to discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. But we do have to make an effort to learn and apply it. God has also regenerated every believer so that the Christian now has the volitional capacity to obey God and resist the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Any believer who thinks that they can't crucify the flesh, discern the world, or resist the devil has already been deceived by Satan's lie.

Here's how it goes. A couple come for counseling. The Bible says, You should love your wife as Christ loved the church. The man responds, I'm sorry, I can't love my wife the way Christ loved the church. The issue is not can't, the issue is won't. Unless, of course, the can't has to do with some kind of demonic interference. Soon as we make it demonic interference, then it is can't, it isn't won't. We have now externalized the problem. We've made it something else other than the disobedience of the believer.

We have made it external to him, and we may now take a completely different diagnostic route, and we will provide a very different form of cure. Problem being that if, in point of fact, the chap really is just a disobedient rascal, then any kind of hocus-pocus with demonization is going to render the whole thing obsolete sooner than we realize. Many Christians are being told today that God's work on the cross, his Word, and the Holy Spirit are not sufficient to handle life as a Christian. That's true, I agree with that. They say we need some help from the world's way of coping, called psychology.

This is called being balanced. Many of these quotes balance Christians, believe that they're victims of something that someone else has done to them, so that they are incapacitated from their responsibility to live the Christian life. This is why they feel like they can't apply the normal techniques of the Christian life to deal with the problems of living.

They say, I've tried it, and it doesn't work. They refuse to believe that Christ has provided all they need to deal with sins of the flesh and false doctrine, but they will not put on Christ's armor and fight the battle. They're waiting for a quick fix, like a drug or an experience that will make their flesh feel like trusting and obeying God. With this kind of mentality dominating evangelical Christianity, no wonder there is such an openness to the message which says that believers are victims of demonic control and need post-salvation deliverance. Anyone engaging in post-salvation deliverance is in essence acting like a believer can be demon-possessed.

There is a huge market for those who feel like they cannot trust the Lord, because they feel like their volition, their ability to do, is bound by Satan and the demonic, when in reality, if they are indeed a Christian, they have simply not properly matured. Hebrews 5.13 calls them spiritual babies, not in need of deliverance. Hebrews 5.12 says they need the solid food of the Word of God mixed with the exercise of obedience. Hebrews 12 calls these believers weak, undeveloped, and in need of discipline and exercise. But for these Christian couch potatoes, they do not feel like they need discipline and exercise. They feel like someone is keeping them from growing up in the Lord. They feel like Satan has them bound. So it is not surprising that they feel like they need deliverance. And onto the scene prances the bondage breaker to lend a helping hand. Finally, the devil is defeated, the devil is to be resisted, and the devil is limited.

Let me finish the way I finished this morning. It's a great insight, this, and it's very, very important. He's not omniscient, all right? God is the only one who knows everything. Satan doesn't. He knows some, and he's a really good guesser. But he doesn't know everything.

So you don't have to go to your bed at night wondering if Satan knows everything about what's going on. He doesn't. Secondly, he is not omnipotent. Only God is all-powerful. Satan can only ultimately do what God permits him to do. And he is chained to the cross.

Okay? It's as far as he can go. He can't go any further. He's like a pit bull in somebody's backyard, chained to a big concrete stake.

They can roar all they like, but if the chain is fifteen feet long, make sure that you stay at sixteen feet, and you're okay. The devil is chained to the cross. He is totally neutralized in terms of his ultimate ability to interfere with and affect the believer's life. And lastly, he is not omnipresent. Only God is everywhere. Satan can't be everywhere at the same time, tempting everybody.

He has to operate one at a time or use his assistance. Therefore, we finish with this intriguing notion that Satan has probably never tempted you, or even anyone you know. Therefore, don't overestimate him. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't straddle the fence. And keep close to the cross.

Spiritual warfare is real, but the Bible assures us that Jesus' work on the cross, along with God's word and his spirit, are sufficient for us to handle life as Christians. If you're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life Weekend, Alistair will return to close today's program with prayer in just a minute. In addition to Alistair's messages, at Truth for Life we select books to recommend.

We select them with great care and with our mission in mind. The book we're recommending currently fits that bill. It's a book called Living Life Backward.

This book draws from the Scriptures, specifically from the book of Ecclesiastes. Living Life Backward is written to help you refocus your attention away from earthly things. We all know, if we've been around a while, that material pleasures of this world will not satisfy us for long. Personal success can give us a boost of happiness in the moment, but it doesn't last. So does anything provide continued joy? The book Living Life Backward delves deep into the book of Ecclesiastes to answer that question.

You can find out more about the book Living Life Backward when you visit our website at truthforlife.org. Now here is Alistair to close with prayer. Father, I recognize that these things are even difficult to talk about. Certainly the evil one hates it when his cover is blown.

When your word is unleashed, he runs and hides like a spoiled child. And I pray tonight that the teaching of your Word today may come to our lives with conviction, with clarity, with help, that anything that is unclear or uncertain may be banished from our minds. Help us to get a hold of the main things—that the devil is a defeated foe, that we may resist him and find that he flees, that he is limited in his access and in his power, and that greater is he who is in us than he who roams the world. Help us to be biblical, believing all that the Bible teaches and holding it in the balance that the Bible sets it in. Give us as a congregation a sanity and a reality about our Christian living.

Save us from copping out with the cures of the world and the diagnosis of the same. Help us to be honest about sin and rebellion, straightforward about our unwillingness to do what the Bible says. May we not be baby Christians, relying on our feelings, but may we become mature, able to say we walk by faith and not by sight. And now unto him, the one who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Satan is sneaky, he's deceptive, and he's ruthless. So how can we recognize and respond to his schemes? We hope you'll join us next weekend to find out. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.