Good morning Cross Assembly family y'all are incredible incredible people mean you y'all believe these are the last days I keep asking you this you really believe these the last days Then we've got to get the good news of Jesus Christ out there as fast as possible and you guys are doing that Thank you for what you're doing. Well Chad if Jesus comes back and these people around the world don't know Jesus.
They'll be alright No, they won't they won't be alright There's only one way to salvation and that is Jesus Christ and we've got to get that way to the ends of the earth as Quickly as possible. It's a great job A lot of y'all have sacrificed big time to give the missions and that you're doing a great great job Can we say hello to our brother brethren and sister and over to North Raleigh say hello to them this morning good to have them with us and When we get through today, I love meeting our guests and I love just talking to some of our Cross Assembly folks So I'll be right here at the fountain when we get through come by and see me before you go home today Um, I guess it was 2019 because this is right before the Covid mess happens. I think it's the end of 2019 it was cold so it's probably November December and I was meeting a man at a restaurant in downtown, Raleigh and And it's one of those restaurants where I'm sorry, sir We can't see you until your whole party is here and he had texted me and said I'm gonna be about 15 minutes late So I said man, I'll just kind of walk around outside and and just wait for him so I went right outside the restaurant and I went right outside and then to the left and Right there on the corner was an old Homeless guy and I don't know how old he was He looked like he was probably 80 years old cuz he was all stooped over and he was wrinkled And I just struck up a conversation with him. I said man, how are you doing? And honestly, this is how he talked He went well, man, it's really cold out here And it's getting tough because this wind blows and I get real cold on blah So I'm talking to him and I remember had a Carhartt jacket on I saw I like your Carhartt jacket Well a friend of mine. He gave that to me and it's the best jacket I've ever had. I really love that jacket and and so I'm talking to him and I just bring the Lord in the Conversation talking about the Lord and as soon as I mentioned the Lord, here's what he did. He went Why I'm a god I've existed from the foundation of the earth I was part of the heavenly hosts and for about 20 seconds This man straightened up and in a different voice looking me straight in the eye He gave me actually some pretty good solid biblical demonology about 20 seconds He's just talking about how he's always existed how he is a demigod.
He's looking me straight in the eye And then it's almost as quickly as he started he went like this he went but anyway, man It's really hard being out here Nicole. I Realized I wasn't scared. It was kind of interesting.
I Realized at that moment. I was talking to an individual that had some type of demonic entity now you should check why would you bring up something as Ancillary as demons on a Sunday morning. You're going through the Gospel of Mark. Why are you talking about demons today? Well number one if you go through the Gospel of Mark, you got to get to mark chapter one where it talks about demons That's number one Number two, this is not an ancillary part of Jesus's ministry We've made it ancillary We've made it a fringe thing. I read a scholar this past week and two times in the scholarly work He said at least 50% of Jesus's ministry to people in the Gospel of Mark was people who were demonized So don't say that.
This is a fringe thing. This is an integral part of Jesus's ministry And so turn if you would to mark chapter 1 verse 21. We're now mark 121 Like it's mad when people act like the Bible is boring Christianity is boring You do this thing, right and you read the Bible right you understand This is a lot of things but it ain't boring and so mark chapter 1 verse 21 And I asked the Lord to give me some creepy thunder in the background. I kind of really made this free Thank you Lord Mark 121 Then they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath. He entered the synagogue and talked and They were astonished at his teaching For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes Now there was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit And he cried out saying let us alone What have we to do with you Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I Know who you are the Holy One of God But Jesus rebuked him saying be quiet and come out of him And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice he came out of him Then they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves saying what is this?
What new doctrine is this for with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him and immediately his fame Spread throughout all the region around Galilee Now we were at this spot just a couple months ago. We'll be at this spot again in another couple months This is the synagogue at Capernaum. This actual synagogue is from about the fourth century So this is two or three hundred years these ruins after the time of Christ But it is actually interestingly enough built on the foundation of the synagogue. We've just talked about look at this next slide You see that black basalt there that rock that's the original foundation of this synagogue Where this thing took place and it's always kind of amazing and I guess a little creepy to stand on the very spot where Jesus Cast demons out and so that's where this took place You know talking about demons today I think maybe the best way to handle this and I like to do this sometimes when preaching Let's just kind of do a question-and-answer thing.
Okay Let me give you just some questions. I have found that Christians have about demons and the demonic and You may have more questions than this But let's just hit a couple these questions today first question fundamentally as we're reading about Jesus and demons is what are demons? Because if you look at verse 23, this demon is called an unclean spirit What are demons They are two theories about where demons come from and who they are. The first theory is that the demons are basically fallen angels You know in Revelation chapter 12 verse 4.
It says the dragon who is who who's the dragon? Satan Swishes his tail and he brings one-third of the stars or the angels out of heaven And so the first theory is Demons are just part of these one-third of all the fallen angels who came out of heaven and that's kind of the most Popular view of where demons came from they are simply fallen angels There's a second theory that's a little bit more Strange and some of y'all may not have even heard of this before the second theory is no demons and watches are the spirits of dead Nephilim Y'all heard me talk about Nephilim before haven't you? Nephilim we see this not just in Genesis 6 but several times in the Bible evidently. There's a phenomenon where spiritual entities Come down to planet Earth have relations with women and produce these half human half spiritual demon Spiritual hybrids and these are the Nephilim you see the several times in the Bible It's interesting as well. Every major ancient culture has their own theories or their own myths or legends about that Did you know that the Greeks have their legends of spiritual entities coming down and mating with women?
The Etruscans had that the Nordic people had that the Native Americans had that it's across culture I think pointing back to this story in Genesis 6 where God makes it very clear through the word It's come from do you see what I'm saying? The demons are the spirits of these Nephilim these half human half spiritual hybrids once they die their spirits become demons Now that may sound kind of weird, but it's actually All over ancient Judaism. So it's a watch this if this is true if Demons are the offspring or the spirit of these half spirit half human offspring Then according to this theory, there are two categories of spiritual entities Number one are the fallen angels that we see in the Revelation chapter 12 and number two are demons They are two separate things Does it make sense you with me on that?
Look at it this way Does it make sense you with me on that? Look at it this way according to this theory Fallen angels that we see in Revelation chapter 12 that fell from heaven those are in military terms the generals the colonels the lieutenants and Demons are basically just infantry. They're just the foot soldiers now the book of Enoch, which is a Jewish writing That's not part of the Bible, but Peter quotes the book of Enoch Jude quotes the book of Enoch So there has to be some truth the book of Enoch very clearly says this is where demons came from half human Half spiritual entities mate and the souls the spirit those are demons book of Enoch says that very clearly But that's not just in Judaism the early church father Athenagoras who lived in the hundreds one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy five ad brilliant man Orthodox teacher in the early church Athenagoras said where do demons come from they're the spirits of Nephilim There's another early church father called Justin martyr brilliant man Orthodox man when they asked Justin martyr, where do demons come from? He said the same thing They are the spirits of the Nephilim now the Bible doesn't say very clearly if they are fallen angels demons are fallen angels or If they are the spirit of Nephilim But it's interesting that early on in Christian history the church taught that demons are the spirit of the Nephilim If that's the case parts of the Bible starting to make sense Because if you heard this in the book of Jude The book of Jude says hey you human beings y'all are weak frail people Don't mouth off to high-level spiritual powers Have you read that before in the book of Jude? Who are we as Christians to mouth off to Satan to mouth off to these high-level entities? You don't mouth off you treat them with respect because they're high-level powers Okay, and yet all over the New Testament you see people mouthing off to demons Christians mouthing off to demons Jude says Don't mouth off the high-level powers But you do see people over the New Testament mouthing off to demons which tells me those are two separate entities You'll never hear me say Satan come and get it. I ain't scared of you come Bible forbids that You will hear me mouthing off to a demon and rebuking a demon because I think they're two separate entities Okay, you would be on that. So where do demons come from? Demons may come from either they're fallen angels or they may be the spirit of the Nephilim Here's the second question Which had I that's old Bible stuff.
Maybe that was too back then but we are urbane people. We're living in the 21st century Demons don't exist today That's back then we living in today our demons active today. Do demons still work today?
Don't you listen? If you ask that question, you've not turned on the news in the last 12 months, okay If you ask that question you not been in downtown Raleigh in the last 12 months Demons are real. I had a Bible teacher it in my last church.
I love this guy great guy best Bible teacher I've ever I've ever been around He says I disagree with though. He said Demons were active during the time of Jesus But the cross changed everything and after the cross of Jesus Christ You really don't see much demonic activity When it's all over the book of Acts the book of Acts is normative for the church today Y'all believe that but if it's in the book of Acts is for today you believe that When the book of Acts which is after the cross, this is not before the cross The book of Acts is after the cross and yet we see demonic activity in Acts chapter 5 acts chapter 8 acts chapter Chapter 13 acts chapter 16 acts chapter 19. Don't tell me that demons stopped working after the cross They worked after the cross in the book of Acts and they're still active today Little while back major media outlets did stories on a prominent psychiatrist in New York City named. Dr. Richard Gallagher Dr. Gallagher is a graduate of Princeton is his PhD in psychiatry from Yale He is currently on the faculty at the New York Medical College and at Columbia University and this brilliant Psychiatrist says I am now noting something going on in our society Something strange going on and he says this I can only attribute it to one thing and that's demons in that amazing the most brilliant men in academia are now saying There's something weird going on and I can only attribute that to demons In the last couple weeks. There's been a major trial in Glasgow, Scotland the satanic ring of seven men and four women who engaged in sexual abuse of children and animal sacrifice in the name of Satan with seances and Possible levitation that has now been broken and now they're going to trial there in Glasgow. Scotland's going on right now In 2014 and Gary, Indiana, you've probably heard this story something called the demon house there was all kinds of activity in a certain house and Supposedly there was levitation supposedly there were Children harassed by demons walking up walls and we're not quite sure what happened in 2014 in the what was called the demon house in Gary Indiana but what happened there made international headlines and it spooked this police chief Charles Austin so much that Austin said I'm a believer now as the police chief that's investigating this this can only be described as demonic and In this passage, I think we are seeing something That's now taking place again in our culture in this passage. I want you to follow me You have an individual one man a singular man using plural pronouns once you see this look at verse 23 Now there was a man singular in their synagogue with an unclean spirit and he Singular cried out saying let us plural alone What have we plural to do with you?
Jesus of Nazareth? Do you come to destroy us plural? I Singular know who you are the holy one of God You have an individual Using plural pronouns Now that's happened over the last five years Some of y'all who are big into this stuff and well, you know call them they then you can call a singular person by plural pronouns If that's their preference y'all do understand that's a fairly recent phenomenon. That's only been popular in the last five years Okay, so young people think all these phenomenons were having. Well, it's always been like this Men have always kind of thought maybe they're women or women always that no, this is this is mass hysteria.
What's going on here? And yet I do wonder if what we're seeing with the they them pronouns plural pronouns Being used to describe an individual. I wonder if it's heartening back to what we're seeing in Mark chapter 1 in other words Here's what I'm trying to say. A lot of this stuff is futures trying to be cool. Okay, this time they treat It's cool.
Now to use floor plan. Okay, so it's trying to be cool Some of its demonic I Used to get so mad because here's what I read this on like a Wikipedia page or a news report Where I know it's talking about a one one person But the report keeps using them to describe that one person might stop violating the rules of grammar. It's one person I get so aggravated And now I wonder if what we're doing with this demonic recently people like actress Demi Lovato Had begun adopting plural pronouns. Y'all know who she is. So Demi Lovato singer. She's an actress. She said I Know I'm one person but I want you to start referring to me in the plural just like Mark chapter 1 and Here is Demi Lovato's well reasoned Logical well-throught-out explanation.
Okay, you ready for her logical explanation. Here's what she says Like for me, I'm such a fluid person that like especially last year Like my energy was balanced in my masculine and feminine energy. That's what they them is about for me It's about like feeling human at your core whatever that means. Here's here's the point The Point is Maybe she's trying to be trendy Or maybe it's Mark chapter 1 in the 21st century there are demonic entities involved news article from July 18th talked about rapper Lil Uzi Vert and here's what the The news article said quote Lil Uzi Vert has quietly confirmed that they now use the gender-neutral pronoun They them theirs the rapper is yet to share a statement or speak publicly about the change But took to Instagram over the weekend to update the pronouns displayed on their profile again Maybe he's trying to be cool and trendy Or maybe there's demonic entities involved But here's my point pastor our demons active today.
Yes They are active today and as irritated as I get over an individual saying I want you to start calling me we they them All of a sudden it hit me this past week. I Am filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God Jesus lives in me So I want y'all to start using the they them pronouns with me because there's two of us here Jesus and me. That's it Call me us we they It's me and Jesus Here's the third question Can Christians Be possessed by demons can Christians be possessed by demons. No, wait the answer to that question No, hear me out here is no a Christian cannot be possessed by a demon because I'm possessed by one person. That's Jesus Christ Okay But unfortunately The word possessed. Did you know it's never used in the Bible. The word is demonized or harassed by a demon Can a Christian be harassed by a demon now? This is controversial There's some Christians that vehemently say absolutely not Others say yes, and I'm in that yes category. That's not worth dividing fellowship over But can a Christian be harassed by a demon I believe yes In fact, let me give you a story and I'm gonna get away from the Pentecostal charismatic example Okay, cuz you know what obviously she's gonna use that person because he's been accostal. Let me let me go to a Baptist example There's a man named Merrill Unger Merrill Unger was a brilliant man He received his PhD at Johns Hopkins University under the famed archaeologist William Albright He was a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary you do understand Dallas Theological Seminary is not a Pentecostal charismatic Institution it's basically one step over this side of Bob Jones University when it comes to appreciating Pentecostals and charismatic So this is not a charismatic University Merrill Unger wrote a book that maybe some of y'all use today in your Bible study is called a Unger's Bible handbook Say here's my point.
He is conservative he's a Christian, but he ain't Pentecostal and For years, he had said not Christians can't be harassed by demons That's not biblical not biblical and then what happened with Merrill Unger is he had a family member there was a Christian that started to experience some harassment that could only be explained by the demonic and Merrill Unger went back to the Bible and after studying the Word of God he came in with this agreement a Christian can be harassed by a demon Because I want you to look at this first Thessalonians 5 23 Basically says there are and these can't be neatly divided. But essentially there are three parts to us I just call the tripartite view We are according to first Thessalonians 5 23 we are body we are soul Which is your mind your emotions and your will and we are spirit. Here's a diagram of that You are body. That's your physical body You are soul at your mind your emotions and your will and at your core. You're a spiritual being now. Here's what I believe Demons can't reside in your spirit But they can't touch your spirit if you are born again The Holy Spirit of the Living God whether you're a symbol to God or not if you're born again The Holy Spirit has come and take up residence inside your spirit and the Holy Spirit's not going to share that place of the demon Okay But I do believe your body can be harassed by the demonic.
I do believe that your Mind your emotions and your will can be harassed by the demonic You Said what do you see this in the Bible? Well in Matthew chapter 16 Peter is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ He's a good guy. You're not about he's a good guy and Jesus says Peter you're so bold and you're so strong and your statement with me.
I won't change your name. You are Petrus You are the rock Two sentences later Peter is saying Jesus. I forbid you to die. I forbid you to go to Jerusalem It ain't gonna happen and Jesus says to this follower of him who's just complimented.
He says get behind me who? Satan at that moment Satan was harassing a believer Acts chapter 5 an an ice and some fire. They were believers They were Christians and yet they get involved in duplicity and Peter says Satan has filled your Hearts, you know, you're a believer We see this again in Luke chapter 13 where they there's a demon harassing a woman and it's so bad physically she is bent over and Jesus calls this woman a daughter of Abraham in other words. This is a good lady She is part of the Covenant community of Israel and yet a demon is harassing her and it's physically causing her to bend over First Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 in the end times.
It says Christians will walk away from the faith Why? because they listen to demons and So I do believe Some what you're dealing with today Christian Could be demonic harassment which leads me to the next question chat is all mental illness basically just Demon harassment what we call mental illness. Is it really just demons?
I want you to see this this little thing. I drew this past week So I want you to see this I do believe that there are some people on this end of the spectrum what they're dealing with It's 100% demonic. That's all you can't explain it any other way what they're dealing with is demonic stuff. I Do believe that there are some other people on the other end of the spectrum some of the issues they're dealing with There's no demons involved.
It's 100% physiological. It's mental illness There are people who all they're dealing with. It's demonic There are others all they're dealing with this mental illness and I do believe that there's a whole range in between I Believe some people what they're dealing with is 90% mental illness, but there's some demonic stuff involved as well. I Believe that there are some people 90% of what they're dealing with is demonic, but there's some mental illness as well I believe that again you understand you can't divide this just precisely but there might be some people Have what they deal with is demons The other half what they're dealing with is mental illness. So there's a whole range here So don't be don't get sucked into this thing of anybody who's dealing with mental illness. It's got to be demons Maybe it is maybe it isn't. Okay, there are legitimate mental illnesses out there you with me on that.
Okay Which takes us really to our last question? which have if if demons are real and If demons are active Then how do we fight against demons? I Mean if these things really are assaulting people today, I don't want to be a victim How do I fight against demons? Can I tell you how to fight against demons y'all ready for this?
Because if y'all left here today Freaked out and scared. I have not done my job If you leave here today afraid that demons are going to get you I've not done my job Here's how we fight against demons number one get saved If you look you either belong to Satan or you belong to Jesus once you get saved The Bible says you are transported from the kingdom of darkness to his kingdom of light Jesus is now with you and he's in you and he's for you and if God be for you who can be against you get saved I'm just telling some y'all today you can keep popping all the medication you want You can keep going to all the counselors you want some of what some of y'all dealing with is guilt You're a sinner but 2,000 years ago that man Jesus Christ. He came to this earth. He died for your sins He took your punishment. He was buried and rose again And if you give your life to him, he will forgive you of all of your sins past present future get saved Number two, this is just anecdotal. This is just what I've kind of seen but get baptized in the Holy Spirit But my experience is people who have not had that supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit You're saved already Holy Spirit's living in you already. I got it But there's this encounter where you can be empowered with the Holy Spirit And if you've never had that encounter before I have found that number one Generally speaking you're not as open to the reality of demons and number two You don't know what to do in the demons come against you. In fact, jump this verse down acts 1038 8 Peter himself said You want to know how Jesus fought demons?
He was anointed with the Holy Spirit If Jesus needs the Holy Spirit to fight demons you do as well Number three is guard yourself First Peter 5 8 be sober be watchful Because your adversary the devil he's seeking whom he may devour demons want to get to you They want to get to your family. I'm running out of time, but I gotta share this story and again I'm gonna go back. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm going back to the Baptist context So you don't think I'm just bringing out a bunch of freaky Pentecostal stuff.
I remember when I was in college. I Had a classmate whose little two-year-old daughter She she couldn't sleep She would wake up at night screaming this curling scream He said it's destroying her health It's destroying my health my wife's health It's destroying our marriage. We took her to psychiatrist. We took her to doctor. She was medicated.
Nothing was work working and they met with a she's a godly professor at Gardner Webb godly professor and he said I'm at wits end, I don't know what to do and He explained the situation and here's the professor said Baptist professor. She said share her room What does her room look like or bed is here chest of drawers is here table here. Her troll collection is over here She said wait troll collection. He said yeah, we have all these expensive. You're on top of those little trolls with a hair We got all these Parents have given it to the grandkids. This is her thing the troll collection She said you do realize in Nordic mythology trolls were considered to be demons and Some consider them to be incubi a suki by demons that would try to have sex with little children at night She says get rid of them.
He said I can't there's there's a lot of money in those clothes. She said get rid of them He said we put it in a trash bag Took it to the dumpster and threw it away and that night she slept like a baby and she's not had any problems since so I would just Be on guard with the kind of influences you're bringing into your house stand guard for yourself and stand guard for your family Here's number four how to fight against demons Understand your authority over demons and you see this in the passage Jesus is not scared. He's not worried. Here's how he treats the demons verse 22 It says he taught as one who had authority verse 25 It says he when that demon manifested he rebuked the demon The Greek word is Epitome. I owe it means to watch this one Greek scholar says when Jesus rebuked the demon that word rebuke means to command with a threat It's all about that demon bowed up and interrupted Jesus sermon And Jesus kind of bowed up at that demon and he rebukes he rebukes a demon. That's authority you see in verse 25 Jesus tells the demon to be quiet That's too nice of a word. The King James Version says hold thy peace that word in Greek.
In fact, here's how Martin Luther Translated into the German. He said that Jesus is the demon shut up. Oh That's a no-no word.
We teach our kids. Don't say shut up. I know but Jesus told the demon to shut up Oh, I don't know what to do with that But that's authority He's not worried. He's not scared demon bows up. Jesus bows up at the demon tells him to shut up. That's authority And in fact you see in verse 27, the people were amazed at the authority that he had over the demons He said well, that's Jesus Of course, he's gonna bow up the demons Of course, he's gonna tell the demons to shut up. He's Jesus Well, let me remind you of who you are in Jesus Christ Luke chapter 9 verse 1 He called his disciples together and gave them authority over demons. Are you a disciple of Jesus? You have authority over demons?
Luke? 1017 the 72 rejoined returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name We have authority over demons Mark 16 17 these signs will follow those who believe y'all believe in Jesus In my name they will cast out demons I John 14 12 Jesus said I tell you the truth anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing Doesn't say anybody who believes in me will do about 50% of what I've been doing the other 50% Jesus says leave that up to me. He says no you believe in me I hold the sick you can heal the sick. I Cast out demons you cast demons. I took authority over demons. You'll take authority over demons I'm scared. Okay again, if you're scared, you don't understand who you are in Jesus Christ I'm just telling you in this messed up demon infested evil Satanic world I'm gonna say it again We need some men and women of God to throw their shoulders back stick the chest out and claim who they are in Jesus Christ and walk in boldness in this demonic world Those demons are trying to scare you but you're more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ Close to the store.
I heard years ago. I love this. There's this man He said when I was a little kid My grandma and grandpa had one of these little nippy dog, you know, I'm talking about another big dogs Just the little ones would come and bite your heels Hey said I was Scared to death of that little dog. I Wanted to go visit grandma and grandpa But I don't want to see that that demon dog. I should scare to death He said he's I literally remember times getting out of the car and that dog would come after me and I would jump on top Of the hood of the car just so scared and he said I dealt with that for several years as a little kid going to visit grandma and grandpa And he said one day going to their house. I'd had a bad day Mom and dad had fussed at me about something.
I was just upset We go to see grandma and grandpa. I get out of the car and hear that that thing He said he'd never come at anybody else. It always just come at me He said that little dog made a beeline straight for me all right, and he said I'd had enough and I stomped my foot and I said get and that dog put his tail between his legs And turn around and he said from that day forward I was never afraid of that dog again because I realized he was all bark and no bite And at some point you will need to stomp at the forces of darkness that are coming against you and your children and your family And say we are more than conquers through him who loved us and you need to stop Take authority and get him out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ You have authority not because of who you are, but because of who he is. I'm gonna say this one more time I said this for Satan and the demons are not scared of you Now I'm trying to deflate you they ain't scared of you, but they are terrified of the Jesus that lives inside of you That's who you are in Jesus Christ. You receive it. All right.
