Under the Influence

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Today we're starting a series called Free Indeed. In this series, Pastor Robert discusses the different kinds of doors we might inadvertently leave open to the enemy, how we can close them, and what Jesus meant when He said, we shall be free indeed.

Well, this is an incredible message. So let's join Pastor Robert now. We're going to begin a new series called Free Indeed. I'm basing the series on a scripture that, if you want to jot the reference down, John 8, 36 says, He whom the Son makes free is free indeed. But let me tell you why it's very, very important for you to be here and why Satan will do everything he can to stop you from hearing this series in particular, because he does not want to get caught.

And when a thief is caught, he has to restore what he has stolen sevenfold. That's scripture. That's Proverbs. I'm not making that up.

He doesn't want to get caught. And most believers are not free indeed because they don't believe that they can indeed be in bondage. And when Jesus makes this statement in John 8, 36, He's actually speaking to believers. So is it possible for a believer to be in bondage?

We're going to answer that question. Mark, chapter 5, verse 1. Then they came to the other side of the sea to the country of the Gadarenes.

This is the city of Gadara. So they called it the Gadarenes that lived there. And when he'd come out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Now this is one of the ways the Bible refers to a demon, who had his dwelling among the tombs. In other words, he lived in a cemetery and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he'd often been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces.

Neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped him. The word worship, proskeneo in the Greek means to bow down. And he cried out with a loud voice saying, what have I to do with you, Jesus?

Now let me say something here before I say this. Verse 7. This is actually the demon talking. Through the voice of the man, but this is the demon talking. And you'll understand why because of what he says. And the next verse tells us Jesus had already spoken to him before this.

We just get it in reverse order in the writing. Verse 7. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, now this is the demon talking, what have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I implore you by God that you do not torment me. Okay, see, that wouldn't be the man because Jesus wouldn't torment a man. That's the spirit talking. And then verse 8 tells us Jesus had already said something to him. For, for he said to him, some verses say he had already said to him, come out of the man, unclean spirit. So Jesus had already told him, come out. And he said, what have I to do with you, please don't torment me. Verse 9. Then he asked him, what is your name?

Now look at me again for a moment. He's not talking to the man. He's talking to the demon that's in the man.

And the demon answers. Then he asked him, what is your name? And he answered and said, my name is Legion, for we are many. Just to let you know, Legion is a Roman word which means 6,826 soldiers. When he referred to a troop of soldiers.

6,826. Okay, this guy was demonized. My name is Legion, for we are many. Also, he begged him earnestly that he would not send him out of the country. Demonic spirits like to stay where they already have a stronghold. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons, not just one now, all the demons begged him saying, send us to the swine that we may enter them. And at once, Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out in inner swine, there were about 2,000, so at least 2,000 demons. And the herd ran violently down the steep place in the sea and drowned in the sea. So those who fed the swine fled and they told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. You thought it would say, and they were happy. And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon possessed.

We're going to completely define that word today. And about the swine. Then they began to plead with him to depart from their region.

You would think they would have played with him to start teaching seminars or something. And when he got in the boat, he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him but said to him, go home. Go home to your friends. Remember, he didn't live at home.

He lived in the mountains in the cemetery. And tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you and he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marvel. Now let me just, a couple things here. One is Decapolis is not a city. It's ten cities. Deca meaning ten from the Greek word. It's actually ten Greek cities.

Polis meaning like a metropolitan area or metroplex is where we get that term from. So this guy goes and proclaims what's happened. He's demonized and he gets set free. Demon possessed and he gets set free. Fantastic story.

There are a couple things that I want to talk about from this story though, okay? Here's the first one. Number one, there really are demons because Jesus set this man free. The word demon is in the Bible in the New King James Version 82 times. Some of the other versions 80 times.

It's just simply that they translate the word a little differently in those versions. Sixty-one times it's in the Gospels. Sixty-one times we've got the word in the Gospels where Jesus is directly dealing with demons or talking about demons. Jesus himself coming to talk about demons. One of the reasons that I think that it's so much in the Gospels is because no one ever had authority over demons until Jesus came. And he had authority and then he began to immediately confront demonic strongholds and bondage.

Demons come from the fallen angels. Okay, one-third fell. And just boom, just like that, the math went out of my mind. I thought, wow, that means for everyone that's against me, there are two for me. So we got them outnumbered two to one, just so you know.

And it's not that big of a view. You say, well, even two to one, boy, they're tough. Let me just tell you, they're not as tough as you think in Jesus' name because when God decides to throw Satan in the pit, he doesn't even come and do it himself.

He only sends one angel to do it. Demons came from fallen angels. They are disembodied spirits. Listen, they're looking for a body. They enter bodies. They inhabit bodies. They were in the body of this man, not his soul or spirit, but they were in his body.

Okay. There are demons. There's no doubt. Otherwise, we've got to cut out a lot of the Bible and a lot of Jesus' ministry. There is a horrible heretical line of thought that there weren't really demons, but Jesus pretended to cast demons out because the culture believed in demons when he was here. Now, you can find this in several commentaries, by the way.

Let me read you one. This is what one commentary says about demon-possessed people. These are persons afflicted with especially severe diseases, either bodily or mentally, whose bodies... Now, watch this heresy.

In the opinion of the Jews, demons had entered and their cure was thought to require the expulsion of the demon. As if they believe that, so Jesus pretended to go along with it. Now, that's a desecration of the scripture.

Don't ever get caught up in something like that. Let me read you a few scriptures. Matthew 8, 16, when evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. That's the Bible, says they were demon-possessed. And he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who would sing. Why would the Bible say he cast them out if they weren't there? Matthew 9, 32 and 33, as they went out, behold, they brought to him a man mute and demon-possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke and the multitude marveled, saying, it was never seen like this in Israel. Matthew 17, 18, and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Mark 3, 14 and 15, then he appointed 12 that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. Mark 6, 12 and 13, so they went out and preached that people should repent and they cast out many demons and anointed with all many who were sick and healed them.

Mark 16, 17, and these signs will follow those who believe in my name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues. Let me say it this way, C.S. Lewis says that there are two groups of people that Satan absolutely loves and gets excited over, the skeptic and the superstitious. Let me say it another way, there are people who see a demon behind every bush, they're superstitious people, but there are people who say that demons don't exist and never have existed or they don't exist today, they just exist in Jesus' time, the skeptic.

And here's what C.S. Lewis says, Satan loves both those types because they're both in bondage, they're both in deception. There are people that when I start talking about demons say, oh pastor, let's not talk about that stuff.

And there are other people that feel like, oh good, he's getting to the good stuff. Okay, listen to me, if you're in either one of those camps, you need to move to the middle. You're in the wrong camp, all right? We're not skeptics and we're not superstitious. We don't deny them, but they are there. And Jesus came to set us free. You'll never get free if you don't know that you can be in bondage. Jack Hayford says it this way, you can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple a demon. You can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple a demon. In other words, there are people that simply say, it's just the flesh, you just need more discipline in your life. And then the others say, no, you've got a demon and the reason that you can't do this or do that or do this or do that is because you've got a demon and they think deliverance is the answer to everything. Here's the age old debate, do we need discipleship or deliverance?

Here's the answer, yes. Because you can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple a demon. Are you all following me?

It's both. When I realized that I had demonic bondage in my life, I was saved, I loved the Lord, Debbie and I were married, I'd gotten saved after we got married, I had started even ministering, but I was still very, very much in bondage to lust and even immorality. And yet I was saved.

I was in my early 20s. And James Robinson started sharing with me in his home about demons and showing me scripture after scripture after scripture that demons can take Christians in bondage. And I remember we had ice cream. I remember we had ice cream and I remember saying to him after a little while, I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, because I could see where he's going. I said, are you saying I have demons? And James in his very gracious way, said, oh, you got a whole flock of them. And I got so upset and it's never happened since that it never happened before.

I let my ice cream melt. I mean, I just sat there thinking I got demons. These guys got demons. I got demons.

But let me tell you what happened. The more we went through the word, listen to me, the more hope I had because I thought, well, I can get free. So listen to me, don't get upset when I'm telling you that you could have a problem in this area. You ought to get excited because the great thing is Jesus takes care of problems. In 30 years of ministry, I've been in ministry 32 or 33 years now, the only people I've ever seen that can't get free are the people that won't admit they're in bondage. That's the only people.

If you'll just admit it, you can get free. So number one, there really are demons. Number two, they really do enter people.

They really do enter people. John 10, we'll get to Luke 10 in a moment. John 10, Jesus said, verse one, most assuredly, most assuredly, this is very true of what I'm telling you. He who does not enter, won't you notice the word enter, the sheepfold. What in the world would the sheepfold represent? Wouldn't that be where the sheep are, the believers? Enter the sheep by the door, and he's the door, but climbs up some other way into the sheepfold.

That's where they're going. The same is a thief and a robber. In verse 10, we know the thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy.

Okay, here's what he's saying. The thief can get in. He can't come through me, but he can get in some other way, and he will do everything he can to get into the sheep some other way, and he doesn't come. He does not come.

You know what? A lot of people misquote that verse. They say, you know, the Bible says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. It sort of says that, and I really don't want to go into all the Greek language here, but it says he does not come except. In other words, he's telling you, let me tell you the only reasons he's coming. Every time he comes, he's going to steal from you, kill you, and destroy you.

That's what Jesus is telling us. It's very emphatic this language here. Okay, can a Christian be demon possessed? Well, let's explain this word and go back to the original language. The word demon possessed in the Greek is demonai, which would be the word demon. Zomai means to possess. So, to translate it, demon possessed is okay.

I really think a better translation is demonized, but to translate demon possessed is okay other than the fact that we did not then teach people what the word possessed means here, because there are two Greek words for possession. One is ownership. This is not the word for ownership. This word means to gain mastery over.

Now, mastery would be the exact literal, but let me give you some synonyms of that, to gain control over, to have power over. This Greek word is used, another place in the New Testament, Luke 21 19, it says, by your patience, possess your souls. Okay, it wouldn't, Jesus wouldn't be saying, own your souls, because he told us to give our souls to him. He said, if you don't lose your soul, then you will lose it if you don't give it away. The Bible says you're bought with a price. You are not your own.

You don't even belong to you. So, Jesus wouldn't be saying in the end times, which is what this chapter is talking about, you need to own your soul again. He's not saying own your soul. He's saying gain the mastery over your soul. You need to gain control over your soul. That's what this word possess means.

That's what messes us up. So, can a Christian be owned by a demon? No. We're owned by God. But can a Christian be under the control of a demon? Let me, let me read you a couple of other definitions of this word that say it pretty well. Thayer's definition says it means to be under the power of a demon. This is, this is defining demonai zomai, the Greek word, to be under the power, under the mastery, under the control of a demon in a certain area of your life. And maybe lust or unforgiveness or bitterness or resentment or gluttony or whatever the area could be.

Lunita does it this way. This is the definition. One cannot speak of a person being possessed by a demon.

This is defining the word. A more appropriate expression may be the person possesses or has a demon. In other instances, an idiomatic phrase is employed, the demon rides the person or the demon commands the person. Now, let me just, you don't raise your hand, but let me just ask you this question. Is there any area of your life you just can't get the victory in? Is there an area of your life that you feel helpless, powerless? Is there an area of your life, a sin that you have confessed over and over and over and over and over and over, and I don't have enough time to keep saying overs, and over and over again and told God I'll never do that again, but you keep doing it? Okay, can I say this to you lovingly?

Wake up. You're in bondage. That is not, you know what we do? We say, well, I have a weakness in that area. You've had it 20 years.

It is not a weakness. And listen, I'm not telling you bad news. I'm telling you good news. If you're in bondage, I know the one who can set you free.

I know him. He can set you free. But he can't set you free if you don't know you're in bondage.

So you have to know you're in bondage. Let's say that when you came to church today, you left a door or a window open in your house. And when you go home, you find there's a thief in your house. Okay, very, very simple question. Does that thief own your house? No. But guess what?

He is in your house. Let me just show you a few Old Testament types. Lamentations 110 says the adversary, obviously that represents Satan, our enemy, our adversary. The adversary has spread his hand over all her, this is talking about Israel, which would be a type of, doesn't replace the church, but a type of the people of God, the church. All her pleasant things.

Now watch this. For she, the people of God, she, the church, has seen that the nations, representing the enemy, enter her sanctuary. Those whom you commanded not to enter your assembly, but they did. They entered. Lamentations 412, the kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. If you go on, you'll see it says, but he did. The enemy entered.

Joel 2, verse 9, watch just how clear it is. They run to and fro in the city. They, speaking of the swarming locusts that come in and eat everything up, they run to and fro in the city. They run on the wall.

Now watch this. They climb into the houses. They climb into, not just on, into the houses.

They enter at the windows like a thief. So, now listen to me. If you're starting to get depressed, don't get depressed because there really are demons. They really do enter people, but here's point three. Jesus really does cast them out.

He really does. Now go to Luke 10. All right, Luke 10, verse 17. Jesus had sent 70. He sent the 12 out with power over demons.

Then he sent 70 out. And then verse 17 says, then the 70 returned with joy saying, now listen to what they said. Lord, they're talking to Jesus now. Even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, really? No, I'm kidding.

Because here's what he says. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Listen, when he rebelled against my father, he was out quicker than lightning.

So, I'm not impressed by Satan, a creative being. Behold, I give you the authority. I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions.

They're types and shadows again. He doesn't mean snakes and stinging critters. This is demons. The whole subject's about demons.

Serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this. In other words, you don't need to get excited about this.

This isn't the exciting part. That the spirits are subject to you. But I do want you to notice the spirits are subject. This word, by the way, subject means obedient, submissive slaves.

That's what it means. Obedient, submissive slaves in the name of Jesus. Don't rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said, I thank you, Father Lord of heaven earth, that you have hidden these things, now remember the words these things, from the wise and the prudent, in other words, the people who think they're smart, and revealed them to these babes, these young disciples, even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. Okay, notice he said, Father, thank you you've hidden these things. What were they just talking about? They were talking about authority over demons. And he said, I know, God, that the smart people don't believe they're demons. They don't believe that we have authority over them. But these precious babes, these young believers, they know. They saw it. They understand that. I thank you, Lord, for that.

The spirits are subject in his name. You might be starting to feel like, uh-oh, I may have a problem in an area. Okay, again, I don't want you to feel bad about it. So I want to show you one more thing and then we're finished. See we don't have a problem knowing that God has the power. But what the enemy does is focus on our weakness and our history. And say, well, now you can't get free.

Other people can get free, but you can't get free. Because I've really got a bondage, a stronghold in this area. Okay, I just want to remind you, this man was, the Mark 5, where we started, he was demonized.

A legion, 6,826. He lived naked in the cemetery. Okay, so none of you are as in bondage as this guy.

I mean, y'all got your clothes on, so that's good. So none of you are as in bondage as this guy. So I want to show you something that will give you hope. Verse 6 says, when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him. Here's what I want to tell you. Satan does not have the power to stop you from coming to Jesus.

That's what we just read. If he could have stopped anyone, he could have stopped that guy. So if you're in bondage, if you have a difficulty in your life, if you have a weakness, if you have an area of sin you can't stop, you can't break, you're probably in bondage in that area.

You're under the influence in that area. But Jesus can set you free. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We hope you enjoyed the start of this series. Next time, Pastor Robert will be discussing how to beware of the enemy scheme so we can be free. Until then, have a blessed week.