On Thursday, I referred you to the passage in Revelation 12 that summarized how Satan and his minions all ended up here on earth. Time frames are unclear but we do know he was on the scene when Adam and Eve first showed up and got tricked or deceived into eating off the wrong tree back in that garden (Gen 3).
A tree of fruit, I might remind you, that God had made very clear to them eating off of would bring certain ‘death’. (Gen 2:16) Might jot down Romans 8:13 as well and take a peek.
What is it about us that leans towards learning life lessons the hard way?
If for some unknown reason, you erect a high-voltage electric fence around your property and it is clearly marked as to what it is…and you stress to your teenage neighbors or even own kids that they would do well to avoid this electric charged fence and not touch it…are you the bad guy if they indeed go and find out for themselves what it is all about?
I’ve not seen the movie but the title is familiar to me: “Aliens Among Us”. While the movie is about extra-terrestrials, the bible is clear what is among us here today. And for those of you who are familiar with the gospels, is it not interesting how often we read where Jesus was always ‘casting out unclean spirits’ from people? And then he commissioned His disciples and eventual church (Us)…to do the same thing. Yeah…go figure.
These tormentors having nothing good to offer. As previously stated, they come to ‘kill, steal, and destroy’. John 10:10.
Take a look at Luke 13. Jesus came upon a woman who had been unable to stand straight up for eighteen years. She was hunched over and we are told it was a ‘spirit of infirmity’ that was the cause. Did you see that? She was then ‘loosed’ from the infirmity. Not ‘healed’ but ‘loosed’. And for some reason, that offended the religious crowd who witnessed this. Jesus again drives home the point that this ‘daughter of Abraham was bound by Satan’ (vs 16). And He set her free.
Do you recall an incident in Matt 15:21-28 where a woman who was not a Jew (daughter of the covenant) came to Jesus begging for help. Her daughter was being tormented by a demon. When you study that out, it becomes rather clear that Jesus is implying that deliverance (from demon spirits) is for the lost sheep or God’s children…not those outside the covenant. And here we thought all this time that demon spirits could not affect or be in ‘children of God’. Deliverance from unclean spirits IS the ‘Children’s bread’.
An acquaintance of mind use to say that the ‘stained glass does not keep them out of our churches’. He was also quick to remind listeners that ‘they (demons) are in more places besides just Africa’.
Yes, they are here. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he explains rather clearly just how they operate…IN us… unclean spirits operated through our fleshly, sinful nature. (Eph 2:1-3) In fact Paul does not hide the fact that we ALL were under their influence when we ‘once walked’ in that sinful nature. How do you think Satan (or the powers of darkness/spirits) gain access to work in our lives? It’s through our fleshly nature. John supports this line of thought when he says “we know the whole world lies under the sway/influence/power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19)
So now…does it make sense why we are admonished to ‘put to death’ this old man or sinful nature? …or why Paul says ‘give no place to the devil’?
They have one thing in mind…to torment…and to destroy. And the ONLY way…anyone can find relief and freedom from them is to turn to Jesus with all your heart and enter in to His covenant. A covenant, I might remind you where your enemies becomes His enemies…and He knows how to deal with them. You will find no true peace or freedom outside of Jesus. Therapy and meds don’t do it. Good deeds and works won’t do it. Surrendering to the cross of Christ is the only way one can find cleansing and freedom from the tormentors. And get this- “When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Prov 16:7)
It’s God’s hedge of protection and when you are abiding in Him, you walk in peace. (Psalm 91)
Let me close out here this morning with just one specific example.
Let’s talk about an area of sin that many of us can identify with – unforgiveness/bitterness. Are you a person who can easily be offended or take offense and is easily hurt or wounded? And you nurse that grudge and play that offense over and over in your head? Jesus painted a very interesting story in Matt 18 sharing the parable of the unmerciful servant. You might go read it over verses 21-35.
Allow me to address the closing part of that story where an individual had been forgiven a great debt by the king, which could have never been repaid. Sort of like what God does for us when we come to Him. But then that person turned around and did not extend the same mercy he was a recipient of to someone who owed him a debt. When the king got word of this, he was very angry and had that servant brought to him and rebuked…before being sent to prison and ‘handed over to the tormentors’. (want to take a guess who they are?)
Then Jesus said “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, if from his heart, does not forgive his brother of his sins.” (vs 35)
People today ( I don’t care how long you have been in church) who harbor roots of bitterness and unforgiveness have opened their hearts/souls to be infested with unclean tormentors that can lead to all kinds of problems, be it emotional, mental, and even physical.
Acknowledging this area of sin before God, humbling yourself in repentance and confession, can immediately bring deliverance and relief as you ask God to deliver you from this dark sin of bitterness. When you do this with true humility and sincerity, that spirit (tormentor who came to steal, kill, and destroy) has to leave at that very moment. It is then…you find grace in your moment of need to pray for those who have wronged you and in turn, the peace of God returns to your mind/soul/heart, as the hedge is set back around you.
It really is that simple.
And then you continue your ‘walk of peace’ as you abide in Him.
Why not ‘take up your bed and walk’?...See…you’ve been made well. Now go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.” (John 5:11-14)
A final thought for you to consider on this final day of 2021. I have good reason to believe that many prayers by sincere believers have gone unanswered by God over the years for one reason and one reason alone. It was an act of mercy. It was not that God did not want to answer and bring relief and healing, but rather He knew that because of a lack of knowledge …that if He removed the ‘root’ of the problem, over time we’d end up in a worse place.
Our lack of understanding why there is so much suffering and torment today would only result in a condition where we would have been worse off in the end. And while that may be offensive to some, may I direct you to Matt 12:43-45 for your own study and prayerful consideration.
See you ‘Next Year’?
"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. (Psalm 107:20-21)
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