Dealing with the Demonic - Part 1 (Luke 4:31-37)

The Gospel of Luke: Dealing with the Demonic I

Hillcrest Church, February 11, 2007

Text

" ³¹ Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. ³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ³⁴ “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” ³⁵ “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. ³⁶ All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” ³⁷ And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area." (Luke 4:31-37, NIV)

Introduction

Throughout the life of Jesus, He encountered and dealt with the demonic. We may or may not experience as much overt demonic activity as He did, but the words of the Apostle Paul make it very clear that each one of us is in a struggle against the supernatural powers of darkness.

" ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV)

Sometimes, we encounter them without seeing them, the way Daniel did when he set himself to fast and pray. His testimony bears out the fact that different geographic localities are dominated by spirits with different personalities.

" In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. ² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. ⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, ⁵ I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. ⁶ His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. ⁷ I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. ⁸ So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. ⁹ Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. ¹⁰ A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. ¹¹ He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. ¹² Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”… ²⁰ …he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; ²¹ but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince. ¹ And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.)" (Daniel 10:1-11:1, NIV)

I do not know the names of the dominant demons here in Dallas (nor do I particularly need to or want to), but I am well acquainted with their character. In this first message on dealing with the demonic, I want to give you a single, simple, yet extremely important principle for dealing with the dominant spirits in the area where you live. Together, we are going to apply it to our lives in some very practical ways.

1. The way I overcome any dominant spirit is by voluntarily walking in the opposite spirit.

This can involve “turning the other cheek,” as Jesus put it.

"³⁹ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:39, NIV)

The Apostle Paul tells us that we can thus overcome evil by doing good in response.

"²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. " (Romans 12:21, NIV)

Jesus walked this out during the most difficult moments of His life on earth.

"²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” ²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." (1 Peter 2:21-23, NIV)

2. The way I overcome a spirit of pride and arrogance is by walking in a spirit of humility.

This is the first territorial spirit that I believe controls our geographic area.

The foundation for everything else we do to resist this spirit is to walk in mutual appreciation and humily.

"³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3, NIV)

Simply put, pride is the refusal to acknowledge our need of God. Humility is the acknowledgement of our need of God.

When I walk in a spirit of humility, I experience an outpouring of God’s grace!

"⁶… God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”" (James 4:6, NIV)

3. The way I overcome a spirit of mammon (money) and materialism is by walking in a spirit of generosity and simplicity.

This is the second territorial spirit which grips North Dallas.

The spirit of mammon and materialism causes us to see everything through the lens of finances and material prosperity. When we are under the influence of this spirit, we value things more than people, and evaluate people, including ourselves, by what they have instead of who they are. When we are under its influence, what we want most of all for our children is financial prosperity and we tend to express our love and affection for them showering them with things that our money can buy, while we spend so much time making the money it takes to buy those things that we cannot afford to give them our time. Under the control of this spirit, we will ultimately wind up sacrificing things that money cannot buy for the sake of the almighty dollar.

Our sinful nature is inherently selfish. God’s basic agenda in our lives includes moving us from a mentality of self-centeredness to a mentality of servant hood.

Generosity goes against our natural, sinful tendencies and seems foolish to the natural mind, but Scripture promises special prosperity to the generous person.

"²⁴ One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty." (Proverbs 11:24, NIV)

When I walk in a spirit of generosity, I tap into heaven’s infinite resources.

"³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”" (Luke 6:38, NIV)

When I walk in a spirit of simplicity, I experience God’s peace.

" ¹⁰ I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ¹⁴ Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. ¹⁵ Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. ¹⁷ Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. ¹⁸ I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." (Philippians 4:10-18, NIV)

Simplicity is relative. The man who earns $10 million per year will probably take his wife to a different restaurant for Valentine’s Day than the man who earns $10,000 per year.

Adopting a lifestyle of simplicity does not mean taking on a spirit of poverty. It is simply the conscious decision to not only live within the limits of our means, but to go even further by scaling back to living well within our means so that we have significant resources to invest in relieving human suffering and financing kingdom expansion. It means refusing to engage in “conspicuous consumption,” i.e., spending money we do not have to buy things we do not need to impress people we do not know or even like…! It means renouncing a “lifestyle of consumption” where we feel compelled to buy new cars, new clothes, new houses, and other new “things,” when the “things” we already have meet our needs very well!

It is not always easy in our culture to live a lifestyle of simplicity, but it brings tremendous blessing!

"⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:6-10, NIV)

4. The way I overcome a religious and controlling spirit is by walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

This is the third controlling spirit in our area.

A religious spirit hates the move of the Holy Spirit and cloaks its malicious, destructive tendencies in religious garb.

This spirit hates the move of the Holy Spirit because it is a controlling spirit that seeks to dominate church life through religious and denominational politics, etc., and the sovereign move of God’s spirit is outside its control.

As I walk in the Holy Spirit, I become a better person (fruit) and I can truly help others (gifts).

"¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:17-18, NIV)

"²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)