Well, we're going to be reading about the power, the victory that we have over demons in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's Luke chapter 11 and beginning to read at verse 14. And he was casting out a demon and it was mute. So it was when the demon had gone out that the mute spoke and the multitudes marveled. And some of them said, he casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say, I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest, and finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Father, we thank you for your word. We say amen to your word. It is our glory to study it. to learn how to better glorify you through it. And I pray, even as David prayed, teach our fingers to battle. Help us, Father, to know how better to take on the forces of darkness that come against us individually, against our families, against our church, and even against our nation. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. Well, when we get to the congregational meeting, you will notice that the theme that the elders have picked to focus upon during this next year is spiritual warfare. We've already given out one book to all of the single adults and to each family. by Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. It does use Old English. It's a little bit harder to read, but I think if you push through it, you're going to find that it is a very fruitful book. But it really is the elder's desires that by the end of this year, you will be totally prepared to engage in spiritual warfare. Even the younger children have authority over demons. They do. And I wanted to start off the year by introducing this theme topic. And then, Lord willing, I'm going to make periodic sermons that flesh out this concept of spiritual warfare. And today's message is going to be an overview of the real world of demons that we tend to not even think about, and the total victory and power that every believer can have over them. And the first thing that needs to be emphasized is that demons are real, and they are powerful. You cannot ignore them. Joel Beeky's book on Puritan theology has a chapter on what do the Puritans think about demons? And you will see that they understood spiritual warfare. It's incredible how frequently they spoke about this. I think the Reformed Church has lost its expertise in this area and we need to regain it. But it's not just in church, there's imbalance all over the place. I've actually run across evangelicals that deny the existence of demons, they just chalk the Bible's reference to demons up to bad theology. I mean it's a metaphor for bad theology or a metaphor for sins in people's lives or sicknesses or things like that. I actually have in my library a book by a very famous evangelical who chalks all symptoms of the demonic up to mental illnesses. And he says, well, that was the only way that they knew how to talk about mental illnesses. Here was the problem with that particular person. His very denial of the existence of demons opened him up to demonic attack in a big way. I know of another pastor, he's a Reformed pastor actually, and he doesn't believe it's appropriate for Christians to ever engage in battle with demons. This guy has gone through astounding troubles, and I guarantee you, These are troubles that come from demonic attack in his life. It's just one thing after another. And because he does not resist, he does not know anything about spiritual warfare, he cannot find relief from the demonic. So we're not talking about something theoretical here. I think as we go through this series from time to time, you're going to begin to recognize, whoa, that exactly describe some of the things that have gone on in my life. At least it's my hope that you'll begin to recognize, become much more aware of the presence of the demonic as well as the tools by which we can fight demons. Now, let me give you several evidences from Luke 11 that these demons are not metaphors. They have personality, for example. Verse 24 records a sentence that one demon spoke. Verse 26 shows eight demons communicating with each other. Other passages showed demons communicating with Christ through the vocal cords of an individual, but with or without bodies, they can communicate. Communicate is an aspect of personality. Interestingly, verse 24 shows that this demon could talk even when he was outside of a human body. And I myself have heard demons speak, sometimes through people's voices, but sometimes entirely apart from the human body. In any case, these verses all show that demons are not merely powers or emanations. They are creatures that have rationality and that have language. And they use that communication against Christ's kingdom. And it's important to understand this because we are naive if we think that demons don't know about our church. don't know about your family. They study us. They do reconnaissance. They've got intelligence centers. We can't get into all of that today. I'll just give you one verse that'll give you a hint. There are many, many verses out there that show these demons going back and forth, giving information on individuals, on churches. Acts 19 verse 15 talks about the sons of Sceva. You know that story. And these Jews saw Paul casting out demons and they said, wow, that's amazing. We ought to try that. This is really cool. And so they said, we exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. And the demon responded back to them, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? And the demon proceeded to attack them, ripped off their clothes, did much damage to them. They fled from the house naked. But I do find that phrase interesting, Paul I know. They knew about Paul. Paul was doing incredible damage to the kingdom of demons. He was a threat to their kingdom. And I guarantee you, any time a Christian is having an impact against Satan's kingdom, you can guarantee that the word is spreading throughout the ranks of the demons. Anytime Christians are failing to have an impact or are exposing some of their weaknesses and their vulnerabilities, well, demons are communicating with each other. They're wanting to take advantage of those weaknesses. They share information with each other. They strategize with each other. And other scriptures indicate that normally they can talk with each other without you being able to hear anything that they are saying. A second proof that demons are real spirit beings and not simply doctrines, sins, or moral mental constructions is that these demons that Jesus talked about were self-conscious, self-aware of the demon. Verse 24 speaks in the first person saying, I will return to my house from which I came. He's talking to himself, he's soliloquizing, okay? That's not something a doctrine can do. This shows personality, self-consciousness. Furthermore, the demon is remembering things from the past and making plans for the future. And in the same way, demons are not idiots today. The demons that have been assigned to attack you probably remember more about your past than you remember about your past. And they definitely make plans concerning you. And if you do not have counter plans to defeat demons, Well, their plans are already succeeding with you. And by the way, demons remember the history of your ancestors as well. Scripture indicates that demons make plans for future generations. Even when your ancestors were alive, they were making plans for you in this generation. If your ancestors gave demons a legal right to be at work in your family, It doesn't matter how much you pray, how much you fight against them, they do not have to leave. And the reason I believe this, and I can't get into it in detail today, is that because God has forced demons, the kingdom of Satan, to operate within His legal law order structure, and within His covenantal structures. God has made this world to function within a law order, and they know how to take advantage of that law order. And so we don't have time to get into it in detail today, but each of the covenantal structures of family, church, and state, if they open up and they expose their vulnerabilities, automatically there's access that demons have. In the state, they have access to the country. to the state, to the county, within the family and the church, that is true as well. And demons know how to leverage those covenantal patterns to their own benefit, but they cannot work outside God's law order or outside God's covenantal plan. So if you understand what that is, then it gives you great confidence in dealing with them. I'll just give you one tiny hint. There's a lot of hints you can find in Daniel, in the book of Revelation, in the Gospels as well. But Exodus 34, seven says that the sins of the parents can be visited. Very interesting word. The sins of the parents can be visited to the third and fourth generation. How on earth are they visited? Well, I believe it's a demonic visitation of those sins, those ancestral sins. They're allowed to do that within God's covenantal order, and understanding what that is and removing it keeps you from being afflicted. And by the way, this is not something new that I've come up with. This is standard theology. The first thousand years of church history, and they still did this in Ethiopia where I grew up, but first thousand years of church history, when you came to Christ, You publicly and very verbally renounced the sins of your ancestors, took away the legal ground that demons might take and Satan might take based on what they had done. They knew what it meant to be adopted into a new family, and they were renouncing the covenantal legal ground that Satan had over them. It's a very important concept, and it's sad that this is a thing of the past, it seems like, in the evangelical church. You need to understand you are covenantally connected to your ancestors, and unless you have already put your ancestors' sins under the blood of Christ and renounced any jurisdiction that that may have given to demons, you can continue to be afflicted. And we'll amplify on that, Lord willing, in one of the future sermons. What is this covenantal legal law order that God has set in place? Now getting back to the proofs that these demons have personality and are not simply doctrines or sins, is that demons get frustrated. The demon here wants to find something that satisfies him and gives him rest, but he has no rest in verse 24, and I love that. He is frustrated. I trust that there are a lot of demons frustrated because of your prayers and your efforts. And actually, every time you and I frustrate a demon, I just imagine a good angel having a smile on his face concerning that frustration. It is my goal to frustrate demons left and right in our lives. Another thing that shows that these demons are not just metaphors is that the demon of verse 24 travels. Jesus said, when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest. So he's traveling. And you might ask, so what are the dry places that he's going through? And there are various theories in the books on that. There's some people that think the demons are only in the wilderness. Absolutely not. I don't agree with that idea. There are other people who think it's just a metaphor for the frustration that they go through. There's various views. I just take it literally. I tend to take most of the Bible quite literally. It's dry places, meaning outside of the body as opposed to the moisture of the body. Okay, that's all I think that he's talking. But whatever it means, it's clear that the demon travels. He talks in the same verse about returning to the person. Verse 25 says, when he comes, that's travel again. Verse 26, then he goes. He's traveling to find other demons unoccupied. Then they travel to find this man. Well, demons today travel as well. In the book of Revelation, it indicates that they travel from country to country. Just because we have not had a lot of demonic activity in America in centuries past does not mean that is true today. Demons travel, and all of the indications are that America is being overrun with demons on a massive scale. There are many, many indicators of it, but all you have to look at, you know, in this last year, the absolute irrationality of politics at the city council, and the county level, and the state level, and Washington, D.C., that's one of many indications that our country is absolutely overrun with demons. Several verses show traveling from one place to another. Verse 24 says they're seeking for a place where they can settle down. So they're looking for some opportunity. They see a husband and a wife arguing together and being very harsh with each other, and they're rubbing their hands, and they're saying, oh, great, an opportunity to make this couple ineffective. And then the couple asks for forgiveness of each other and of God. And they say, oh, well, we'll have to look for another opportunity. And they see his child. who is in rebellion, and they know that in God's legal covenantal order, rebellion has the sin of witchcraft. This is going to give complete liberty for them to begin working in this child, and when the child is rebuked, the child asks forgiveness of the parents, and they have to go look for another opportunity. So they look for a man in rebellion, or anger, or whatever the sin might be. They look for a wife that's maybe in rebellion, And because there's no repentance of their anger or whatever the sin might be, there's no repentance, the demon begins to worm his way deeper and deeper into that person's life. Demons are always traveling and looking for opportunities, and then they invite other demons to take advantage of these new opportunities. That's what Satan did in Job 1. He was wandering to and fro throughout the earth, trying to look for opportunities, and he noticed Job, but he complained. He couldn't get at Job. He says to God, have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? I love that hedge that God puts around believers that keeps them at bay. Satan couldn't do a thing to Job without God's permission. And you know, it's true even more now that we're in the time of the kingdom, now that Satan has been cast out of the heavenlies, he can no longer accuse the brethren before the Father. So there are many more benefits that we have. But back to the point, I think that this issue of demonic travel has been underestimated in some circles. I grew up in Ethiopia in an animistic province where people were under enormous bondage to demons. And on more than one occasion, when demons were cast out of people, they said that they were going overseas. And converted witch doctors said this was happening all the way back in the 1960s. And we don't know why were they going back to America, maybe America because it had sent out so many missionaries, Satan was trying to counteract it. I have no idea why they were going back here. But it is clear from this passage that at least some demons can travel. Revelation 9, 14 says that there were some demons that were not able to travel. They were restricted to the Euphrates River region. There were like 200 million demons in that little juncture of the Euphrates, and then God says, okay, now you can move to Israel. And then they had the permission to move from one country to another. But again, don't think of the demonic world as static where you get rid of demons for life and you're never going to have to face them again. They're constantly looking for opportunities, wandering around. Fourth, each demon has a separate identity. Verse 26 speaks of eight demons communicating with each other, strategizing on how to take on this man. Verse 14 speaks of a demon who has a specialty, making people unable to speak. Luke calls him a mute demon. Many times the demons have the name of the specialty that they engage in. And by the way, there are many, many specialties, not just ones like this. There are scriptures that indicate that there are demons of uncleanness that move people to uncleanness. There's demons of lying and deception. Hosea chapter 4 and 5 speak of demons that lead people into adultery. There are demons that lead people into idolatry. Demons who specialize in bringing various types of diseases, various types of temptations, and we'll get into that maybe in a future sermon. But there's a huge army of unseen spirits with careful organization, and each demon has a separate identity. Fifth, these demons have varying degrees of wickedness. Not all are equally skilled in wickedness. Verse 26 says, then he goes and he takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. I think that's important to understand, more wicked than himself. Just as there are varying degrees of skill and understanding and wickedness among men, there are varying degrees of skill, understanding, and wickedness among demons. Verse 26 is quite clear on that point. So when one demon has been unable to pierce through your defenses, he might conscript some other demons who are more able, who will try other strategies with you. And the more you take your place on the front lines of the battlefield, the more you desperately need protection. We need to cover our Christian politicians in Washington, D.C. and in our state capitol with prayer, just like Joel did this morning. because they are up against enormous numbers of demons. Maybe, who knows, maybe even millions of demons, but they certainly are on the front lines. And so you might have elected a good Christian to Washington, D.C. and been utterly disappointed, as I have been, with their stupid, stupid votes. It's like, What on earth? This person knows better. Why did they vote the way that they did? But you see, if they do not understand spiritual warfare, they are kind of defenseless toward the thoughts that demons will put into their minds. They are so vulnerable. And anybody who's on the front lines of the battlefield, you need to pray for them that they are not taken out. Whether it's a John Mays, you know, at the abortion clinic or Bill Crilly and Michael Elliot and others who are out there evangelizing in various places. You need to be praying for your officers. Anybody who's on the front lines of the battlefield is going to be facing more of the demonic than others might be. Sixth, these demons are organized in such a way that some are rulers and others are followers. This is important to understand. Verse 15 speaks of Beelzebul or Beelzebub, depending on your version. as being the ruler of the demons, and Christ not only acknowledges the reality of such a ruler, but that this ruler has an organized kingdom. Now, we don't have time today to go into the various levels of organization that the scripture speaks about, but it's well organized. It's a worldwide kingdom that used to be under Satan's rule. I personally believe that Satan was bound in the pit, and so it's now under the rulership of another lead demon, whether you believe that or not. I think it's clear, we've taken you step by step through that there is absolutely no way that these spirits can be metaphors of evil or metaphors of bad doctrine. Now just as a side note, I would refer you to, let's see, which sermon was it that I preached on in Revelation? Revelation chapter nine. Actually, there's several chapters where we dealt with the demonic. But anyway, on one of those, I think I'm gonna skip over some of this material. I demonstrated that there are billions, for sure, but possibly even trillions of demons that are out there. I mean, it's just hinted at here. The word Beelzebub means Lord of the flies. And you know, in the Middle East, there are trillions of flies. They're everywhere. Lord of the Flies, in Revelation, it used the metaphor of demons coming up out of the pit like a swarm of locusts so thick that blotted out the sky. And I think we talked about there being billions of locusts, sometimes even trillions on the biggest locust plagues that are out there. And yet, The encouraging thing to me is that even though there's a lot of demons to go around, Satan wasted, what was it, a legion? How many are in a legion? Anyway, he wasted a lot of demons on one individual. There's a lot of demons to go around. Only one third of all angels are demons. All of the rest are good. So we outnumber them, right? So that's an encouraging part of it. But, I should mention that I believe that demons are being progressively bound in the pit. when Christians know what they're doing and casting out demons. And if you don't, just tell the demon to go where Christ commands him to go. But I think they're progressively being bound, and Zechariah, or Zephaniah, I forget, there's a passage in the Old Testament that speaks about demons being eventually cleansed from the land. Looking forward to that time. It'll be a hallelujah day. Now another little detail that we see in this chapter is that they have possessions that they seek to capture. Now obviously the poor man in verse 14 was captured for a time. Verse 21 speaks of a demon who guards his own palace. and speaks of, quote, his goods. So demons have territory. They also have possessions. And there are huge implications of that one little data point that we don't have time to get into today. But you could just think about it like this. The possessions of a demon are the things that you and I allow that demon to have access to. It can be It could be a computer, it could be your house, it could be a body part. You know, James, I get a picture there of flames coming out of a person's mouth. James says about Christians, he's not talking about unbelievers there, he's talking about Christians whose tongue is set on fire by hell. In some way, the demon has gained access to that person's tongue and is just delighted every time he can use that tongue to oppose Christ's kingdom, to undermine, to scatter. So we just need to understand demons want to take, have possession of different things, and we can voluntarily give that to them. Next, demons are also called angels and evil spirits in Revelation 12 and in other passages. So in that passage, it spoke about Satan and his angels fighting with Michael, the archangel, and his angels. So if you deny the reality of demons, you have to deny the reality of all angels. I believe that demons are fallen angels. So I think I've given enough to prove that we need to take them seriously. And we do need to talk about this. I had one lady who pled with me, don't teach about demons. It scares the daylights out of me. And I told her, look, ignorance is not bliss. If you do not know about demons, you could be walking right into the snares of demons. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2.11, we are not ignorant of his devices. Well, I dare say there's a lot of Christians that are ignorant of his devices today. We don't want to be. We do not want to be. By the end of this year, I hope you understand both Satan's strategies and God's strategies in this great war for the souls of men and for the possession of planet Earth. Obviously, Jesus will win this planet for his kingdom, but he uses people like you and me. Joshua did not possess Canaan instantly. It took time and planning and energy and casualties and many warriors and prayer supporters And there are times of advancement and there's times where we lose ground. It's just the way wars are. Warfare means that every one of us needs to learn the art of spiritual warfare. This is not an option. You are called to battle. And in my lessons, I hope to give many practical steps for that spiritual warfare. But in this passage, let's move on to see some hints of the work that demons have. Several verses in this chapter show that demons are organized as a kingdom. We've already talked about that. So there's organizational work, there's ruling, there's communication, there's all of the other efforts of defending and expanding a kingdom. He uses the word kingdom to describe them in verses 17 and 18. Verse 15 speaks of Beelzebub being a ruler of the demons. And other passages indicate that this kingdom has a hierarchy of leadership, every demon having an assignment. In verses 17-19, Christ implies that the demons are united around a common hatred for Christ. Now people wonder, is Satan's kingdom ever, ever divided. And based on this passage, they say, no, it's always going to be united. I don't agree with that. I think that the story, this present darkness, not a story, fiction, you know, this present darkness and overcoming the darkness, I think it has it right when it's got demons getting upset with other. I have no illusion that demons like each other. They're sinners, for crying out loud, you know? And the more wicked a demon is, the more self-centered that demon is going to become, and the more his self-centered interests are going to conflict with other demons' self-centered interests. So there is division in their ranks. Sin necessitates division. And God's going to take advantage of this division to eventually expunge them from the earth. But the one thing that unites demons is their common hatred for Christ. They're common hatred for Christ. Verse 23 says, he who is not with me is against me. There is no neutrality. Every demon hates Christ. And if demons are against Christ, well, they're against you. You're united to Christ. And we'll look in a moment, well, maybe we won't, at the conflict of kingdoms, but it talks about conflict of kingdoms in 17 through 23. But anyway, these demons, their role, is to hinder, hold back, frustrate our kingdom at work. So do not be surprised when you've got delays, and hindrances, and plumbing problems, and bureaucratic red tape, and technical problems, and hatred from people, and you're wondering, why on earth am I being stymied every step of the way? This is one of the things that Perry and I, we met in prayer regularly. He felt he was always pushing a brick wall. Pushing, pushing, the frustration of not being able to run. He wanted to run, but it's always pushing. At least he was making progress, but do not be surprised because you are being opposed. Don't be surprised at all. If you're not fighting, you're already defeated. You are in a war. They're opposing you. If you're not opposing them, okay, you're taking backwards steps is basically what it amounts to. Secondly, demons can work both inside and outside of a person. How this works, we don't know for sure, at least I don't know for sure. But verse 14 speaks of a demon who was inside the mute person somehow controlling either his brain or his tongue, maybe his nervous system, but somehow he kept this person from being able to talk. Verses 24 through 26 speak of a person as being a house for a demon. It's a very descriptive language, and the demon entering a person and dwelling there. Satan's goal, according to verse 23, is total ownership and total control, and if he can't do that, he will at least try to influence from the outside. Verse 21 says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. Why are his goods in peace? Well, because the things under Satan's control are not yet facing warfare from God. Don't think warfare exists everywhere. There are many territories where there are no Christians and everything's at peace. The moment you move from this neighborhood to another neighborhood, there's warfare that's begun, why? Because your angels that are protecting you are invading an area that has nothing but demons in it, right? So they're no longer at peace. So that implies that with unbelievers, whether they're possessed or not possessed, immaterial, they're under Satan's control. When a person is outside of the church, he's handed over to Satan. He's gonna begin to be controlled by Satan, even if he's a believer. First Corinthians 5.5 says that excommunication is delivering a person over to Satan. Jesus told the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. Now they were not demon possessed like this man was, and yet they were totally controlled by Satan. They thought they were in complete control of their rationalities, but it's pretty obvious Satan was speaking through them. The moment somebody becomes a Christian, things change. He becomes an enemy of Satan. There is no neutrality. In fact, the very first gospel verse in the Bible is Genesis 3.15, and it says, okay, they're both friends of Satan, they've sided with Satan, but God says, I will make enmity between basically Satan and the woman, and between the woman and her seed and Satan. That's grace. If you are not at enmity, you're not even saved. You're not converted. The moment we are converted, you are in warfare and you should not go AWOL from that warfare. You're either advancing or you're being defeated. Third, demons seek to capture and guard areas. Verse 21 likens Satan to a strong man who, quote, guards his own palace. So Satan tries to capture territory and people, set up strongholds to make those areas impervious to the gospel. He does his utmost to guard his goods from your attempts to influence. And that means if you do not have the power and the presence of Almighty God with you, you will not succeed in getting through those strongholds that he is guarding. It doesn't matter how much you preach. You know, you can preach your heart out. And demons, no problem, they just, Matthew, one of the parables there, snatches the seed out of the heart so that the seed doesn't germinate, right? You preach again, they just snatch it right out so that it doesn't germinate. So you've got to preach undergirded with prayer, asking for the Holy Spirit's power to break through these strongholds that have exalted themselves against what? Against the knowledge of God. That's what Satan's trying to do. He's always trying to do that. So they're guarding areas that they possess, and they vigorously try to capture new territory. Another thing that demons seek to do is to destroy God's creation. And if that is not possible, at least to mar God's creation. They hate anything that reminds them of God. Verse 14 shows one such destructive act, to make a person unable to speak. Well, that's part of the image of God and man, communication. And Satan hates that. It reminds him of that. So he's trying to either twist that communication so it opposes God or, in this case, just remove it altogether. So when you survey the doctrine of demonology in the Bible, you see that demons specialize in all kinds of things that destroy God's creation and God's created order. the LGBTQ plus community, absolutely rife with demons. And when those people come to a saving knowledge of the Lord, they also need to be delivered from demons or they're gonna forever struggle with these demonic temptations. The destructive things we see in the critical race theory, demonic to the core. to the core. Demons specialize in destroying God's creation. And until the church ceases being ignorant of Satan's strategies, it will not be successful in pushing back the darkness. We're not simply wrestling against flesh and blood and the BLM riots. This is spiritual warfare. And so far, the demons are winning because the church has not used the nuclear weapons that God has given to her in the Bible. Another fact, about demons that we see in this chapter is that demons also seek to cause disorder. Verse 23 says, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Demons love to scatter. They love to break up the unity in the family, in the church, and in the state. in the nation, to scatter what God unites. Some people are absolutely puzzled at the destructive things that Soros and the deep state operatives have engaged in. Why are they ruining this nation? What's in it for them? Well, this is what demons do. They love to divide, to scatter, to destroy in irrational ways. The spirit of Jezebel, is one of many demonic forces that are designed to cause disorder. Verse 25 says that the demon comes back to the man who was rescued from the demon. It says, and when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Well, that's the opposite of where that demon had left it. It wasn't swept and put in order. It was in disorder. Demons love disorder. Wherever you see churches filled with lawlessness and disorder, you know that the demonic has been at work. It has been greatly at work. By the way, this is one of the reasons why I'm convinced that some so-called spiritual gifts are not spiritual gifts at all because they're accompanied constantly by disorder and division, discord. That's not what the Holy Spirit produces. Paul, in that chapter, talks about God being the God of order, and it says, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. So here's one of the things that Jonathan Edwards was big on, and Gardner has written a book that you guys probably ought to read, that deals with the counterfeit fruits of the Holy Spirit. But one of the ways that Satan causes disorder is to cleverly counterfeit all of the graces and gifts that God has given. He's the great counterfeiter. The last facet of the work of demons that's found in this passage, obviously there's many other things that they're involved in, but in this passage, is this demon is exploring areas of vulnerability. Look at verse 22. But when a stronger than he, so Christ is the one that's stronger than the demon that was being cast out, when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. It is only when Christ takes ownership of the spoils that Satan is rendered powerless and the man has nothing to fear. What do I mean by that? I want you to notice that this man in verses 25 through 26, Christ is not the Lord of his life. His house is empty. Christ has not entered there. The Holy Spirit has not entered there to give guidance and to empower. Instead, this is an image of a person who has been freed but continues to trust in himself for self-reformation. Pharisees sought to cleanse their lives by their own power. but they still belonged to Satan. They were utterly powerless against him. These demons recognized that the man is powerless, and they know they can have him any time that they want to. It says, And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first." Now, this principle does not just apply to people who are so-called demon-possessed. It applies to any aspect of Satan's work in our lives. I'll just give you one illustration. In John 5, 14, Jesus told a man who had been healed of lameness, see, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. By the way, when you keep reading that passage, he sinned against Christ. So I assume a worse thing did come upon him, but sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you. So this vulnerability issue affects even people who are merely afflicted outwardly, such as with sickness. Though affliction can actually be on your finances, it could be in your house, it can be in many, many different areas. Willful sin gives Satan an advantage and makes you more vulnerable. And this passage indicates that demons are adept at evaluating areas of vulnerability in our lives. They're skilled at it. After all, they've had 6,000 years of practice and experience. So all of this is to say demons are real. They're powerful. They're organized into a kingdom. They're very busy. They've got work to do in your life. And if we stop there, that could be pretty scary. But we're going to end. with hints of the victory of Christ that every believer, including every child, can take hold of and never fear a demon. Resist him in the name of Christ. What does Jesus do for us in other passages? Many, many things. I'll just list a few. He builds a hedge around His people. You know, when they've confessed their sins, they're right with Him. He builds a hedge around you. Another thing he does, he gives you spiritual tools. He trains your hands for battle. He gives a war manual for victory. In fact, we saw that the book of Revelation is designed primarily as a spiritual war manual. 2 Corinthians 2.14 says, Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. I love that, always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. Well, we only have hints of that in Luke 11, but it speaks of the even greater power of Christ. Christ is the stronger man, in verse 22, who has overcome Satan through his death and resurrection. Christ is the one who has taken away Satan's armor in which he trusted, made Satan helpless against his kingdom being plundered. When we use the sword of the Spirit, demons are wounded. Why? They don't have armor anymore. They're wounded. They're wounded when you use the sword of the Spirit. That's why James says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And so I want to look a bit at why this casting out of demons was such a phenomenal evidence of Christ's victory. First of all, it was an evidence that the kingdom had come and something brand new was happening. In the gospels, for the first time in human history, as far as we know, demons had been successfully cast out of people. Now, we take this power for granted nowadays, but it was a new thing back then. It was a brand new thing. And the reaction of the people over and over is the same as in verse 14. And the multitudes marveled. Or as Mark says, they were astonished beyond measure. This was something new. And that's why their request in verse 16 is such a sham. It says, others testing him sought from him a sign from heaven. And Christ goes on to say, there could be no better sign that the kingdom has come than that I have cast out demons. He says in verse 20, but if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. So the casting out of demons is proof par excellence that the kingdom has come. Christ did not postpone the kingdom or you and I would not be able to cast out demons. It would be impossible. But verses 17 through 18 indicate that the presence of genuine exorcisms was the evidence that the time had come for Satan's house to fall. Here's how Matthew words it. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you, or else, how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house? Now, it adds the words, or else, and those words are clear. Without the kingdom having come, there could be no casting out of demons. That's exactly what it means. The ongoing work of binding the hand of Satan is proof positive we are living in the period of kingdom conquest. It is time, the time when Satan's kingdom will progressively fall and will progressively be plundered. And the irony of it all is that Christians many times continue to believe, no, it's Satan who's gaining the victory and there's absolutely nothing that we can do to stop him. They're more fearful of demons than demons are of them. It is so sad. See, if you do not have faith in Christ's power over the demonic, you're not going to make success because Hebrews 11 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. And in the midst of discussing spiritual warfare, Ephesians 6 says, we must, there is no option, we must use the shield of faith. Without faith, we cannot make an advancement. Well, you can't have faith unless you understand the promises that God has given in His Word of our total victory. We can trample on serpents and have power over all of the power of the enemy. Believers today receive opposition from Satan much like Christ did in his ministry. But unlike Christ, their conclusion is we're living in the last times and nothing but a champion from heaven is going to save us. Okay. Like the 10 spies, they think we can't win this one. And I want everyone in this congregation to have the faith of Joshua and Caleb that with God on our side, we can win this battle for the world. We can take our Canaan. We don't want to be like David's brothers who were frustrated with the taunts of Goliath and were paralyzed. We need to realize, no, the greater than David has come. Jesus has come and he has dealt a death blow to the head of the serpent. He has bound the power of the strong man and we are now supposed to be plundering Satan's kingdom. And it's for that work of plundering that we need Christ's armor. And we won't deal with the armor today. Today's sermon is just a bare bones introduction to the great warfare of Satan against Christ. But I hope that to some degree it has motivated you to study this subject more. It's an incredibly important, very practical subject. There's another book that we've given you in the past. It's volume one, two. Grinnell's The Christian in Complete Armor. We encourage you to read that too, but let's all read together this book that Gary and I have passed out. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for giving Christ the victory that we have with him. Thank you that we do not need to go it alone in the battle, but as we sang earlier, that Jesus leads us into battle and so may we be good followers and those who are foot soldiers for his cause please help us for never to fear the enemy but at the same time to never be naive or never be relaxed in the sense of letting our guard down around the enemy. Help us to learn how to make our homes havens that guardian angels are around where no demon can get through. And help us to protect our families from the demonic as we ought. May this church be a haven every Sunday that we come into it. May we pray over it. so that there could be no demonic attachments that are allowed in to snatch the word out of the hearts of people. Please, Lord, help our fingers to be skilled in spiritual battle. Bless this, your people, in this way we pray, in Christ's name.