What are "evil spirits" and demons? Where did they come from? How do they get into our lives? In this study, we delve into the supernatural world and see what God's Word has to say about this very strange and yet very real phenomenon.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
But we're staying on these two verses for one more week because they have raised all kinds of interesting and important questions and subjects. And if you missed the past two messages, go check them out online because this week we're going to pick up right where we left off. And we left off on a strange yet serious subject demonic possession and question. At the end of verse twelve, we read that some sick people were healed because evil spirits came out of them. Meaning that some sickness is caused because we live in a fallen world where sickness and disease and entropy exist.
But some sickness is caused by evil spirits. That's what the Bible teaches. We looked at the Gospels and saw examples of rage, grief, cutting, mutinous, blindness, seizures, and suicidal tendencies that were caused by demons in a person's life, not natural material causes. Again, those things can happen from natural and material causes, but the Bible's clear they can also be caused by demonic forces. The Bible teaches that people can experience physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual sickness and torment because of the presence of demonic forces in their lives.
Demonic possession takes place when a demonic force gains a measure of control over a person's life that they then use to make that person think and act a certain way to varying degrees, depending upon the strength and number of the demons involved. We learn genuine Christians cannot be possessed because they belong to Christ. The vacancy sign has been turned off and nothing can evict Christ from the life of the believer. However, a believer can be oppressed. A believer can be tormented by evil spirits.
And today we're going to talk about how that can happen. It always hits me in moments like this. Somewhere there's a church talking about love and we're talking about demonic and evil spirits. And that's not because we're not interested in love. It's just because we're going to teach whatever subjects the Bible raises.
And that's why we find ourselves here. And we don't skip over things because they're difficult. We don't skip over things because they might be hard to hear or awkward to discuss. We believe, as the Word says, that everything that's in there is put there by God for our good and because he wants us to know about it. Nothing is in the word of God by chance or by accident.
The Bible teaches I'm sorry, wrong spot. But before we talk about how a non-believer can come to be possessed, or how a believer can end up oppressed by evil spirits, let's talk about some even more basic stuff. Like what is an evil spirit? Like what is a demon? Where do they come from?
Why do they hate us? Why do they desire to harm us? The Bible teaches that Satan was first an archangel known as Lucifer. He became jealous of God's glory and God's power and desired to make himself equal to God. He attempted a rebellion, an insurrection in Heaven, and a third of the angels joined him in his rebellion.
That rebellion was crushed, and Satan and the angels who joined him were cast down not to hell, but to the Earth. When that happened, they did not turn into demons. They were still angels. They were just now fallen angels. Satan is an archangel still, but he's a fallen archangel.
Angels and archangels are types of beings. A change in allegiance doesn't change the type of being you are. So, if you were fighting for the Allies and then you switched over to the Nazis, you're still a human being, whichever side you're allied with. It's the same idea and vice versa. A change in allegiance doesn't change the kind of being you are.
Satan was and is an archangel. Those who sided with him were and are angels. They're fallen angels because they're not allied to God. The Bible teaches that angels are interdimensional beings. They can move in and out of our dimension.
They can move in and out of the spiritual and physical realms at will. They have bodies that can do things like wear clothes, take a person by the hand, and eat food. We see all these things in the Scriptures. The Bible describes demons as a very different type of being. They do not have bodies.
They are spirits who seek embodiment. They seek a vessel to inhabit or latch onto. So where do demons come from, and why don't they have bodies? Now, there's no way to answer this without getting into some of the really weird stuff in the Bible, and I know you're like, you mean we haven't been talking about the really weird stuff in the Bible, but there's levels to this thing. I have to weigh what I teach on a Sunday because we have limited time together.
And some of the stuff that I'm talking about very fast right now could easily be its own message miniseries. So, I'm going to be moving pretty fast. But if you want to learn more, a good place to start would be the message on Genesis six that is on the church's website. I put the link on your outlines if you want to go listen to that this week, you'll learn a whole lot more about some of these things that will grow our understanding. But all we've got time for today is for me to give you the Cliff's Notes version, the summary of how we ended up in this situation, what demons are, and where they come from.
In Genesis six, we get the strange account of a group of fallen angels who enter our dimension and procreate with comes, and you're like, what? And that's all I've got to give you today. Go listen to the message. Just go listen to the message. The resulting offspring are human fallen angel hybrids called the Nephilim.
And if you're into weird stuff, if you've ever stayed up late at night watching the History Channel. Then you've seen this sort of stuff mysterious giants in archeology, ancient aliens, all that sort of weird stuff that people just can't get enough of. This is it. Mysterious giants. That's who we're talking about.
It's the Nephilim. Go listen to the message. But wait, it gets weirder. Now, I'm going to speculate here, but this is the best explanation I've heard. It's the one that I hold to.
But you come to your own conclusions on this. It's very possible that the reason this group of Fillin angels did this in Genesis six was because it was a strategy devised by Satan to corrupt the human gene pool. You see, Satan had heard God pronounce what's known as the proto-Evangelium in Genesis 315. It's the first appearance of a gospel in the Scriptures. Genesis 315.
And it's where God promises Adam and Eve that after they sinned, he would at some point in the future send a savior, send a solution to the problem of sin through the offspring of a woman. So Satan heard that he had that piece of information, and it could be I think it's very likely that Satan decided, okay, now how can I prevent this? How can I prevent God from sending a savior that is going to save people from sin? And he says, I know how I can do it. If I can corrupt the entire human gene pool, then there won't be anyone God can send a savior through.
If I can somehow mix human and fallen angel genetics, then there won't be anyone who's not corrupted in some way on a genetic level with fallen angel genetic material, and God's plan won't be able to work. And so what did God do? Well, according to the scriptures, it got all the way to the point where there was only one family on the entire planet that wasn't corrupted, and that family was Noah's. And what happened to everyone else? They were killed by the Lord in the great flood.
Why? Because they loved sin. But there's also a really good chance it was because they weren't actually human anymore. And what happened to the spirits of those people, the spirits of the Nephilim after they died? Well, they couldn't go to Hades, the good or bad side, because they weren't human.
And so those spirits remained trapped on the Earth and became demons without bodies. When you get into what the Bible actually teaches and what it hints at, it's very, very interesting, because there are people today who think they've made all kinds of amazing historical and spiritual discoveries, when in reality, they've been part of the biblical worldview for millennia. Some people are surprised when they find out like that. When I hear them say, oh, you believe in evil spirits? Me too.
Oh, you believe there are many gods? Me too. You believe there were advanced civilizations before a catastrophic global flood? Me too. You believe there were advanced civilizations before the flood, visited by extraterrestrials who gave them advanced knowledge.
Wrong. They were not extraterrestrial. They were interdimensional. But other than that, me too. This is stuff that's in the Bible, that's part of the biblical worldview.
And so, demons hate humanity because they are the spirits, most likely of beings who hated God while they were alive in bodies, and they died being punished by God for hating God. And so, they look at humanity, God's prized creation, and they try to attack God by attacking his prized creation. Demons are real. They hate you. And right now, there are many of them roaming the earth looking for a home.
So, would you write this down? Demons do not have bodies. They are spirits seeking a home. They are spirits seeking a home. And I really will throw this out there if it sparks any questions for you, please feel free to email me.
There's no stupid questions on something like this. I may change my opinion on that in a week, but I don't think there's any stupid questions on this. But listen to the message on Genesis 6. First, most of the time when we see spiritual possession, our oppression discussed in the Scriptures, it's in relation to demons. There are a few exceptions, but we don't have time to get into those exceptions today.
So we're going to focus on demons today, or what are also called in scripture, evil spirits. Now, the effects of demonic possession and oppression on a person can vary widely based upon the strength and number of the demonic forces involved. And when we talk about the things that we can do that allow demonic forces access to our lives, things can also vary widely. Here's what I mean. I mean that one person may dabble in something and a demonic force may enter their lives through it.
Another person may dabble in that thing and come out unscathed. Some things will definitely bring demonic forces into your life, and some things may bring demonic forces into your life. But suffice it to say, I hope you're with me on this. You don't want to be involved in anything that might bring demonic forces into your life, right? Hopefully, we're on the same page with that.
There are supernatural practices that much of our society does not take seriously, but God does. Practices that much of our society might not even believe are real, but God does. And he reveals that by how he speaks about those things in His Word, and he reveals it by the consequences he put in his law to Israel for those who practice those things. Let's talk about some examples. These are on your outlines.
When Israel was getting ready to enter the Promised Land, the Lord told them this when you enter the land the Lord is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations. No one among you is to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire. That's a reference to the pagan practice that was happening in the land at that time of child sacrifice, literally killing your child as an offering to a pagan God. But I want you to note here what else the Lord puts in the same category as child sacrifice. He says, Also, no one among you is to practice divination.
That simply refers to this umbrella category of trying to uncover some type of hidden knowledge by contacting the spiritual world. It could be knowledge about the future, knowledge about the past, or knowledge about the present, God says. Likewise, no one among you is to tell fortunes or interpret omens. So these are practices like tarot cards, our reading tea leaves. No one among you is to practice sorcery cast spells, consult a medium or a spiritist or inquire of the dead.
That's just the practice of trying to somehow contact the spirits of the dead. Everyone who does these acts is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable acts. These practices are detestable to the Lord because they are a direct insult to and rejection of Him. Let me explain. The Lord has made Himself available to all who desire a relationship with Him.
The God of heaven and earth offers his spirit to every person. He says, I'll come and dwell in you so that our relationship, our communion, can be constant. I'll lead and guide you through My spirit. If you need wisdom, just ask and I'll give it to you. And through My Word, I'll give you insight into the true nature of reality.
That's the offer of God. And even back under the old covenant, God still offered people a way to commune with the spiritual and the supernatural with Himself, the one true God. But there's a catch to this offer that God makes. God's offer includes trusting Him as Lord, trusting Him to decide what is good for you, and trusting Him when he withholds certain things from you because he says these things are not good for you. Now, that shouldn't be an issue.
Why? Because God is perfectly loving, kind, and good. If he says this is not for you, it's not because it's awesome and he doesn't want you to have it. It's because he knows it's going to bring something destructive into your life and your relationships. But those who engage in these detestable practices are saying, I want to access the spiritual world without having to submit to God as Lord.
They're saying, I don't want any restrictions. I don't want God to decide what's good for me. I want to be my own God. And like Lucifer, they are motivated by the desire to be like God themselves and access secret knowledge on their own terms. And God says that's detestable.
It's also detestable because there are only two spiritual forces in existence god and the forces of darkness. You've got to understand this concept and if you are engaging in any kind of spiritual or supernatural practice that is not biblical, that is not of the Lord, if you're not engaging with Him, then you are engaging with spiritual forces of darkness. It's that simple. It doesn't matter if you or the culture don't think it's a big deal. It doesn't matter what you think.
Let me say it again, and you can write it down. If you are engaging in any kind of spiritual or supernatural practice that is not biblical, then you are engaging with spiritual forces of darkness.
It's not good spirits and bad spirits. It's not white magic or black magic. It's not positive energy or negative energy.
If it's not of the Lord, it's of the darkness. And practices that you might think are innocuous - harmless - are in reality bringing you into contact with demons or evil spirits. The Lord calls out astrology, a practice still with us through horoscopes. And the Lord says, when you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars, all the stars in the sky, do not be led astray to bow and worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.
God says, I made the sun, moon, and stars. I provided them. If you're looking for guidance, hope, peace, and assurance, look to me. Don't look to the objects that I created. And I'm going to repeat myself because I know someone is thinking, come on, Jeff, it's not a big deal if I check my horoscope, it's just a little fun.
I don't take it seriously. It doesn't matter if you or the culture take it seriously or not. You do not have the power to define reality with your own opinions. Let me say that again. You do not have the power to define reality with your own opinions.
If something is a big deal, it doesn't become not a big deal, because that's your opinion. The Lord defines reality because he created reality. And he says, if you are engaging in any kind of spiritual or supernatural practice that is not biblical, then you are engaging with spiritual forces of darkness. That's the truth. If you have any other view, you're in denial.
It's that simple. And to drill this home, all we need to do is look at the consequences. God stipulated in His Law that he gave to Israel the consequences for engaging in the kinds of spiritual practices and attempts to interact with the supernatural world that we've been discussing. Take a look at your outline again. The Lord said in Leviticus, whoever turns to mediums or spiritists and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people.
In other words, God will be against the customer of the medium or the spiritist, and they are to be excommunicated from the nation of Israel. They were to be kicked out of their home, kicked out of their community. Go and find a new people, because you're no longer welcome here. He also says in Leviticus 20 - a man or woman who is a medium or spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned, for their death is their own fault.
Exodus 22 - do not allow a sorceress to live. All that stuff isn't real. Seems like God has a very different opinion on the subject. Do you remember what Paul said to Elymas, the sorcerer he encountered on Cyprus in Acts chapter 13? He said to him, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil, an enemy of all that is right.
Won't you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord? You and the culture might not take things like sorcery seriously, but the Lord does. He views them as deadly serious. Let me point out a few other examples many of us may have come across over the course of our lifetimes. Practices we might think are harmless but are in reality far from it.
Number one, we'll go to a classic - Ouija boards. So, I grew up in South Africa, which was more conservative than America and Canada, and Ouija boards were literally something only used by Satanists in South Africa. And I didn't believe it till I loved here when I was 16. I didn't believe it when people were like, that's like a kids' game in North America. Like, Hasbro makes it.
I'm like what? I'm like, you're telling me, like, children get together around a Ouija board and put their hands on it and try to summon spirits, and they're like, yeah. I was like, this cannot be true. There's just no way in the world that North American children are trying to conjure spirits as a game where they're like, do you want to play Monopoly, or do you want to try and contact demons? I could not believe this till I got here, and then I got here, and I was like, It's true.
It's actually true. This is a form of automatic writing is what it's called, and it's marketed to children. And it blows my mind. Something that's desperately wicked and evil doesn't become less desperately wicked and evil just because a whole bunch of people do it. That's not how it works.
Well, if we just make it common enough, then we have to sort of reset the bar. No, because good and evil are defined by God, not by the culture. A huge part thing in our part of the world, smudging. Smudging is an attempt to interact with the spiritual world in an unbiblical way. It is.
It's to try and curry favor with spirits, change the spiritual atmosphere in a place, and if it's unbiblical, then you're not interacting with the Lord. You're interacting with powers of darkness. You're interacting with demons. And they're doing this in our schools to kids without even informing the parents. When you read the Gospels, I was talking with BJ about this.
It's disturbing when you see demon-possessed children that Jesus interacts with and delivers, and you have this question, well, how did they get demon-possessed? And it had to be because the adults and the parents in their lives were putting them around demonic practices like they're doing in our public schools with kids. What about spiritual yoga practices? Now, hang with me. You're like, oh, no, don't go after my yoga, Jeff.
Don't do it. Now, I got to be honest, because some Christians get really weird with this. Like, if I'm just stretching my hamstrings and someone's like, did you know that in India, people do that pose to bow to Krishna? It's not like I can't stretch my hamstrings anymore. I don't think that's a thing.
They're like, you better not stretch. What about this one? No, they do that one, too. I guess I'll just never stretch again, or I'm going to become demonically possessed. That's not what we're talking about.
But listen, if you attend a yoga class where the yogi is trying to interact with everybody's chakra and trying to get everyone into a certain spiritual state, maybe chanting a meditation or something like that, then yes, you are participating in a pagan spiritual practice. You are. It doesn't work to just say, oh, I didn't mean it. It doesn't work like that. The demon is not like, oh, my bad.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. That's not how this works. Let me hit one more area where I am astounded by the amount of Christian participation movies that are centered on demonic activity. Now, the Bible is clear in telling us things like how much God values human life and how much spiritual forces of darkness hate humanity. God's word is clear, as we've seen, that he considers us participating in demonic activities detestable.
And God's word is also clear about how glorious it is when the Lord delivers people from demonic possession and depression. And yet, I know of many believers, many who will microwave some popcorn, flop down on the sofa to spend an hour and a half watching people be tormented by demons as entertainment. Entertainment. And let me be crystal clear when we do that, we take something God hates, he hates, and we watch it as entertainment.
And we'll sit down and watch a movie where people are just tormented by demonic forces in horrific ways. And that's the entire plot of the movie. That's it. Or we'll watch a movie that's part of the genre called torture porn. This entire concept of these movies is simply to put on screen the most horrific, perverted, creative, and cruel kinds of torture imaginable and then watch it as entertainment. That's it.
That's all there is to these movies. There's no other plot. The entire attraction is the perversity of the horrors that they can put on screen. Oh, but it's not real, Jeff. It's not real.
Well, they might be fictional events but the pleasure that you take in being entertained by them is very real. And the demonic forces that inspired that content in the creators are very real. And the hatred that God feels towards those things, even as concepts, is very real. And we might think, oh, it's just a movie, Jeff, or, oh, it's just part of my cultural heritage, or it's just a form of meditation that helps me relax. No, it's not.
No, it's not. Remember, if you are engaging in any kind of spiritual or supernatural practice that is not biblical, then you are engaging with spiritual forces of darkness. All these practices we've talked about can extend invitations to forces of darkness to enter our lives. It's not rocket science. The Bible says the Lord is a rewarder of those who seek him.
In other words, if we invite the Lord into our lives, he'll come into our lives. In the same way. If we seek communion with spiritual forces of darkness, knowingly or unknowingly, we extend an invitation to them to enter our lives, and they will often gladly accept it. But they don't bring rewards with them. They don't bring blessings.
They bring bondage. Jesus explained the difference like this. He said, I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.
I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. If you contact the spiritual world by pursuing Christ, he says, you'll be saved and you'll find freedom. If you contact the spiritual world apart from Christ, you will find an enemy that has only one ultimate goal to steal and kill and destroy. Our brother Peter put it bluntly be sober-minded. Be alert.
Your adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. How do non-believers become possessed? How do believers become oppressed? The first and most obvious answer is by contacting the spiritual world outside of what the Bible prescribes.
Another way non-believers can become possessed and believers can become oppressed is by surrendering control of themselves to something other than Christ. Write this down. If we surrender control of ourselves to something other than Christ, that something can have a dark spiritual force behind it. And I'm not talking about momentarily for a second or a minute. I'm not saying like, oh, Jeff, like the other day, I ate one too many donuts, and I was just controlled by my hunger.
Am I demon-possessed? No. No, you're not. You just had one too many donuts. Okay?
I'm talking about things like alcohol, substance abuse, and other forms of addiction, and that's still a very wide spectrum. But things where you lose control of yourself and your whole life now becomes about serving this addiction. The worldview that the Bible presents is that such addictions are far, far more than just activity in the brain. They are spiritual. There are dark spiritual forces behind those addictions seeking to lure you into those addictions because they can gain control over your life through those addictions.
And when they do, the spiritual forces behind those addictions become your master. They become your lord. You are functionally their slave. Paul put it this way in Romans six, don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one that you obey either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? This is true of sexual sin.
We hear this even from non-believers who become addicted to pornography or sex. They describe themselves as being slaves to their base desires, spending every waking moment pursuing the next hookup or wasting hours every day watching porn. Paul told the Ephesians, believers, don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit. In other words, what Paul is saying is you should be controlled by the Holy Spirit, not by wine or any other addiction. Some people are slaves to money.
Jesus warned us about that and said, no one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. And when Jesus spoke about money, he also referred to it as mammon. And mammon is the name of the demonic God behind money. This is what you need to understand.
Money is not neutral. Many of these addictions, they're not just things. There are spiritual forces behind them working to hook and ensnare and enslave people to that addiction. The man who serves money serves mammon, the demonic force behind money. Jesus said, there's only room for one master.
There's only room for one Lord in our life. And if we haven't invited Christ to be our Master, if we're not serving Christ first as our master, then we're either serving something or someone else, or there's an advertisement for that position posted in the spiritual realm. I currently have a vacancy open in my life for master. Anybody want to come in and give me something to serve? I hope you're understanding that this could be food, this could be anger, this could be all kinds of things, anything that gains control over our lives.
And when we hand over control of our lives to an addiction, we open up a door to the demonic forces behind that addiction, and we invite them in and say, would you like to take control over my life? Would you like to take control over my thoughts? I will serve you. I will do whatever you want me to do. There's nothing I won't do for you.
We've explained that we can invite demonic forces into our lives by making contact with the spiritual world outside of what the Bible prescribes, and by surrendering control of our lives. To an addiction. But the Bible also tells us and you can write this down the Bible also tells us we can open doors to demonic forces through unrepentant patterns of sin. Unrepentant patterns of sin. As I was studying this week, I was struck, as I regularly am, by how seriously the Bible speaks about things that I often do not take very seriously.
And when that happens, I must recognize that it means my perception of reality is distorted. It's my perspective that needs to be updated, not God's. God is not the one seeing things inaccurately. I am. For example, look at what the Lord says through Paul in Ephesians four.
He says, be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give the devil an opportunity. Some of you will be more familiar with the way the NIV translation renders the end of that verse. It says, do not give the devil a foothold. I hopped on blueletterbible.com and I looked up the original Greek word that was used there, and it's topos.
And it's used in the Bible to literally mean a place, any portion or space that is marked off or as if it were from a surrounding space. And metaphorically, tapas means opportunity, power occasion for acting. So, in that verse, here's the idea of what Paul is saying. He's saying, don't let anger become your master, even for a moment, and don't go to bed at night in a state of sinful. Anger, being bitter, vengeful.
Forgive the person that very day, because if you don't, you're opening up your thoughts and your emotions, your soul to the devil. And you're saying, anything you want to do with this, anything you'd like to do here, you're inviting him into your soul, not your spirit, but your soul, and saying, I've carved out a little spot for you right here. Grab a seat, let me know if there's anything you want to do. And we think, oh, come on. Jeff comes on.
You're telling me that if I go to bed at night mad at someone, I'm risking demonic oppression? Yeah. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. If you don't forgive them within your soul, you are absolutely loving demonic forces, an opportunity to start building a beachhead in your life. You're giving them a little bit of real estate to start building from, and then they can use that to stir up more of those sinful emotions, more bitterness, more anger, more resentment.
They can strengthen those emotions in you. They can begin affecting your thoughts. And if they're given enough time and enough opportunity, they may create physical sickness, emotional or mental sickness, and other types of torment. Continuing in Ephesians four, notice these other ways that Paul says we can give the devil an opportunity. He says, let the thief no longer steal.
Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands so that he has something to share with anyone in need. So, Paul says that stealing and laziness can give the devil an opportunity to gain access to our lives. He says no foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need so that it gives grace to those who hear. So, things like slander, gossip, insults, lying, can give the devil an opportunity to gain access to our lives. And then he says, don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, you were sealed by Him for the day of redemption.
So let all bitterness, anger and wrath shouting, and slander be removed from you along with all malice, bitterness, anger that controls you. Shouting because you're being controlled by anger and slander, if not repented for and turned away from, can give an opportunity to dark spiritual forces that desire to control us. Now, I don't think that's an exhaustive list. I think the conclusion we're supposed to reach is that when we walk in any sin as a pattern, as a way of life without repenting it and battling it, we give the devil an opportunity to work in our lives. When we excuse our sin, when we hold on to it say I'll deal with that later.
When we don't repent of it, when we don't do all we can to turn from it, we are telling that sin and the spiritual forces attached to it. I'd like you to stick around a while. Make yourself comfortable in my life. I like having you around. And the Bible says that amounts to an invitation to dark spiritual forces.
And that invitation can affect us in various ways and to varying degrees based on the nature of the sin, how deep we get into it and how long we remain in it, and what those spiritual forces believe will do the most damage to us. One of the favorite tactics of these dark spiritual forces is to lead us into sin by tempting us with the promise that it's really not that big of a deal, don't worry about it, and then overwhelming us with shame and guilt. When we listen to them and do it, they make it seem like it's not a big deal when they're tempting you to do it. And then as soon as you engage in that sin, they're like, that was a really big deal. You are absolute trash.
You shouldn't even go to church, shouldn't even tell anyone you're struggling with those shame, guilt, condemnation bringing you to isolation. And you see this in the sexual immorality of our day. People can hook up whenever they want, just use apps to find partners, and the culture would say, oh, it's sexual liberation. But what's the reality? Even secular studies tell us the reality is that millennials and Gen Zers are the most depressed, most anxious, loneliest and most psychotropically medicated generation the world has ever seen.
It's not even close. Pornography was supposed to be about sexual liberation too. According to the culture, but all it's done is enslave people, make them depressed, and ruin their ability to have meaningful and healthy relationships. What's going on? Our spiritual adversaries are telling us it's not a big deal before we sin and then overwhelming us with guilt and shame. After we sin, we give the devil an opportunity, and he gladly takes it, leading us into depression, anxiety, or worse. When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he seems to address something else that Satan does when we give him an opportunity, when we give him that little bit of real estate in our souls to begin working with. Paul writes about beliefs that we have as strongholds. And the idea is that when we give dark spiritual forces that little bit of real estate in our souls, and we give them some time to work with, they begin building a stronghold, a deeply entrenched and fortified wrong belief, an untrue belief, and that's the picture you need to have.
They start building like this stronghold, like this tower in your soul, where you process your thoughts and your emotions, and they begin building this really, really reinforced strong wrong belief that comes deeply entrenched in our souls. I'm worthless. I'm trash. Nobody could ever love me. Everybody hates me.
Everyone's out to get me. There's nothing good coming in my future. Nothing good is ever going to happen to me. God doesn't care about me. God doesn't care about my happiness.
The people telling me to stop doing this, they don't care about me. They're just judgmental. They think they're better than me. Could be any number of things. And if you're honest, you've experienced this because it's happened to all of us, right?
Something happens, and we don't forgive, we don't repent, and we begin to believe things that are not true. Demonic forces build a stronghold in our souls, and our belief in these wrong things get stronger and stronger. They're not true, but they become incredibly precious to us, and nothing good ever comes from that, unless, by God's grace, he does something where it's suddenly revealed what you believe, and there's something or someone in your life who can say, that's insane. Like, what are you talking about? Why would you think that?
Where's the evidence for that? And you suddenly realize, well, there isn't actually any evidence for that, but I know it's true. What's going on? You've got a stronghold. There's no evidence, but you believe it with all your heart, mind, and soul.
It's not true, but it's a deeply held belief. There's a stronghold in your soul. That's what's going on. Write this down. Satan desires to build false beliefs into strongholds in our souls.
He desires to build false beliefs into strongholds in our souls. And so, what do we do with all this? What do we do with all this? I want to start by sharing what Paul says he and his fellow apostles did, writing in 2 Corinthians 10. Although we live in the flesh.
We do not wage war according to the flesh since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds we demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. Paul wrote that they, the apostles, used the truth, the word of God to demolish strongholds and false beliefs. We must look to the truth of God's word and then when we recognize in it that we've been holding on to a false belief, we must abandon that false belief. We must immediately repent of it, turn from it, and instead embrace the truth of God's Word. And when we do that, scripture says that those false beliefs in our lives are brought down like a tower being reduced to rubble.
And then Paul says that we also use the word of God to take every thought captive to obey Christ, meaning that as we go forward, we continue to hold tight to the truth of God's word so that we can discern the difference between a truth and a lie and then take captive any thought that enters our mind. That is a lie. And so, the picture is this lie comes into our mind, and we recognize that it's a lie because we're holding on to the truth of God's word. We speak the truth to ourselves. And by doing that, we take this thought that is not true.
Captive saying you don't get any real estate in my Saul. You don't get to start building anything. You don't get to come in here, whoever you are. The truth of God's Word is the answer. Wherever we have embraced a lie or a deception, we must repent of it, we must turn from it and instead embrace the truth of God's Word.
If you're not a believer, that means turning from being lord over your own life or allowing anything or anyone else to be lord over your own life and asking Christ to be the lord of your life. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew twelve we talked about this last time you won't be helped if you just want Jesus to come in and clear out these dark forces that are at work in your life and then leave you alone. You won't be helped because Jesus says hey, if I do that, those same demonic forces are just going to come back again later with even more of their friends and you'll be worse off than you Derbe before. If you're not a believer, your call is to repent. Turn from all other gods and turn to Christ as your savior and Lord.
He is greater and more powerful than anything and if you'll give Him the keys to your life, he'll come in, he'll cast out all other powers and he'll establish Himself as king over your life and he will set you free. He will set you free if you will invite him to be the Lord of your life. If you're a believer and you are making contact with the spiritual world outside of what the Bible prescribes, if you're a believer and you are surrendering control of your life to an addiction, if you're a believer and you're walking in any unrepentant sin as a way of life, you are inviting demonic forces into your life to oppress you. That's what the Bible teaches and they're only pointing destruction with them. These are the kind of truths, when you understand them, you understand nobody is getting away with their sin.
Nobody. Even if you think you are, I promise you are paying a high, high price. What holding on to that is doing to your soul, to your mind, to your emotions, to your spirit. If that's you repent, turn from your sin. Embrace the truth of God's Word and he'll set you free.
He will set you free. I'm going to ask the worship team to come up. We're going to pray in just a moment. And so, if you need to repent, do it. If you need to turn to Christ for the first time, do it.
And so when we pray, we're going to ask the Lord to reveal to us if there's anything in our lives that is giving the devil an opportunity because we want to walk in freedom all the days of our lives. And if you believe that you are experiencing sickness or torment or any kind of distress because there's a sin in your life that has given the devil access to your life, I want to encourage you to do what the Bible calls you to do. If you're a believer, come and talk with me and BJ after the service. In James 5, it says that if you'll confess your sin to the elders of the church and repent of it, turn away from it, and then ask the elders to pray for you, you'll be healed, you'll be set free. That's really true and I really believe there are people wrestling with things like depression and anxiety and other things because there's unconfessed sin going on.
And so we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to show us in this coming time of prayer and worship if that's the case, if that's what's going on. So would you bow your head and close your eyes? Let's pray together. Jesus, thank you that you have through your Word, pulled back the curtain and given us insight into the true nature of reality. You've given us insight into the secret things of the spiritual world and what is going on in our lives.
So, thank you that we don't need to seek anywhere else than in you. And thank You that when we comes to you looking for that wisdom and insight, you protect us from the things that would not be good for us, and you reveal to us anything that would be good. And so, Lord, here's what I know. I know that if there's any among us who are being oppressed because we've given access to spiritual forces through sin in our lives or dabbling with spiritual things, we should not be or getting involved in an addiction, lord, I know that what is good and what you desire is that they would be set free. And so, Jesus, we ask in Your grace and Your mercy that You would reveal to us if there's any area of our lives where we've given the devil a foothold, where we've carved out a little bit of room and said, you can hang out here.
Lord, would you reveal any strongholds in our souls, wrong beliefs that are not true, that lord, maybe we don't even know how to stop believing it because the emotions attached to it are so intense, but we know that you can bring those things down. We know You can set us free from them, lord, reveal to us if we're holding on to any wrong or untrue beliefs and set Your people free, loved. I pray for anyone, any of us, Lord, who's being deceived by the power of sin, lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that are soft and open to Your spirit. Speak to Your people, Lord, so that all of our affections and all of our energies would be rightly directed toward you. Help Your people to walk in freedom and the abundant life that you gave to give us, Lord, and help us not to settle for anything less.
Thank You that whatever the issue is, you're greater. Whatever the addiction is, you're greater. Whatever the hurt is, you are greater. Jesus, you're the healer, you're the Savior. You're the king of kings, you're the Lord of lords, beginning and end, alpha and Omega, lord God, Almighty above all things, and you're our Savior.
So, bless Your people, move among Your people for your glory, Jesus, we pray in Your name. Amen. Amen.