Luke 8:26-33
What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You
Demons or devils are an often seen element in the gospels.
The terms:
unclean spirit(s)
unclean devil
foul spirit(s)
devils
are used 58 times in the gospels and the book of Acts. That is
interesting in that most American Christians today think they have
had no no experience with demons. For a few moments this morning,
let me share some truths about demons.
I. Demons are real.
A. The Bible mentions demons as real beings 58 times.
1. If they are real, then simply put, the Bible is not true.
2. If the Bible is not true, then Jesus did not die and rise
from the grave.
3. If Jesus did not die and rise from the grave, then the
Bible itself states that we are still in our sins and
hopeless. \\#1Cor 15:7, 19\\
B. Some question the existence of demons not because their
presence is not felt but because they have not seen any
demons.
1. However, we believe and even alter our lives everyday
because of things we cannot seer.
a. Satellites stay in orbit because of invisible gravity.
b. Airplanes fly because of invisible wind currents.
c. Health care has been advanced because we understand
the power of invisible germs.
2. If the only thing we believe are the things we see, we’ll
not only be carnal in spiritual things but ignorant in
many things.
II. Demons were not created as demons.
A. Some ask the question in order to deny God’s existence or
goodness, "Did God create everything? If He did, why did He
create evil?"
1. The answer to that is that God did not create everything.
2. God did not create evil. Actually, that one is on the
devil and mankind.
3. When God created the devil and demons, He created them
like He created mankind, holy and pure.
B. It was the devil who made the decision to become evil
1. There are several places you can read about this:
a. \\#Is 14:12-15\\.
b. \\#Eze 28:13-18\\
Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of
God; every precious stone was thy covering, the
sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the
onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald,
and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of
thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee
in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy
mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found
in thee.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have
filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as
profane out of the mountain of God: and I will
destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst
of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy
beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason
of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the
ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they
may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the
multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity
of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth
a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour
thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the
earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
2. God created Satan and all of the demons to serve Him, but
like mankind, God gave Satan and the demons some
freewill.
a. That is, He gave them some choice.
b. Satan chose to sin.
c. \\#Eze 28:17\\ indicates evil started with pride and
then rebellion.
3. When Satan sinned, he persuaded many of the angels of
heaven to follow him.
Rev 12: 4 And his tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the
earth:
4. This world has been their home ever since,
III. Demons are spiritual beings.
A. They need a physical body to interact with this physical world.
B. Movies and books today portray demons has being able to take
human form and physically do evil physical actions. I am
not going to say that that is totally impossible but I am
going to say that God, in His mercy, has greatly limited
what demons can do in this realm. For them to do most
things, they must find a physical, living host.
C. Demons will take whatever living host they are allowed.
1. \\#29\\ They inhabited a man.
a. I say "they" because the Bible makes it clear that
there were "many devils" entered into him \\#30\\.
b. They called themselves "Legion" because they were so
many.
c. The world "legion" meant different things but the
common number was 6,000.
d. \\#Mk 5:13\\ says that this herd numbered 2,000 so
there was at least 2,000 demons inside of this man.
2. \\#31-33\\ With—and only with—Jesus’ permission, they
entered into the herd of pigs.
a. I don’t know if the pigs killed themselves when they
sensed the evil of the demons enter in them or if
the demons drove the pigs to kill themselves, but
that possession did not last long.
b. This and the fall that took place in the Garden of
Eden are the only two times the Bible tells us that
demons possessed the bodies of animals.
IV. I suspect that demons need permission to take any physical host.
A. Animals do not have an eternal spirit so only God can give
them possession to inhabit an animal, but humans can give
demons permission to possess them.
B. How? I do not have all of the answers but I do not think Satan
marches up to a person and asks for permission to inhabit a
person.
C. I think it is more likely that a person turns so far from God
toward the devil that his actions give demons permission to
possess him.
1. People expose themselves to the devil every day without
ever thinking about it.
a. There are only two spiritual forces on this earth,
God and Satan. You are either in one camp or the
others.
b. Watching demonic movies, listening to demonic music,
reading demonic literature, abusing drugs, and doing
sinful things that God calls wicked, evil, and
abominable, all move people away from God and toward
the devil.
c. At some point, people have walked far into the devil’s
camp that the demons have the liberty to walk into
those people.
d. That is called demon possession.
2. Of course, some people actually invite and asks demons to
inhabit them.
a. Satan has his religions: Satanism; Wicca; idol
worship; worship of the stars, horoscopes; and many
more.
b. Since 2014, there has been talk of After-School Satan
Clubs being started in America. I have seen enough
news sources write about it now that I believe it to
be true.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/08/04/6-things-to-know-about-the-
new-after-school-satan-clubs/
c. Every false religion is a religion that worships
Satan.
V. Demons lie, deceive, trick, steal, and destroy.
A. In reading the article about After-School Satan Clubs the
writer tried to calm some people’s fears by saying that Satan
would not be worshipped and the clubs were not bad.
1. The article reads "The group ‘rejects all forms of
supernaturalism and is committed to the view that
scientific rationality provides the best measure of
reality,’”
2. The article compares the Satan Clubs as positive and says
they could replace roles of the Girl Scouts and 4-H
Clubs.
B. Right. And we would believe that a club which honors Satan
will be wholesome, character building club because Satan is
such a wholesome being?
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 10:10 The thief (Satan) cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy….
C. Notice how this man faired under demonic control.
1. \\#27\\ He was naked.
a. Nakedness and immodesty has always been the mark of
Satan.
b. It demonstrates pride and creates lusts. These were
the first two sins that Satan succumbed to.
2. He lived in the tombs. The devil does not give things. He
takes things like homes, family, jobs, money, health.
3. \\#Mark 5:5\\ He was always crying and cutting himself.
a. Demons do not respect the host they inhabit.
b. Their goal is to torment and kill that host.
4. \\#29\\ This man was affliced with the devil.
Luke 8:29 (For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it
had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains
and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was
driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
a. The demons CAUGHT him - The word means SEIZED
BY FORCE.
b. They DROVE him - The word means that he was
CARRIED BY OUTSIDE FORCES, like wind
drives clouds or currents drive a ship.
c. This man was being forced to do things that he did not
want to do.
D. If you could ask this man if the devil lies, I believe he
would tell you in no uncertain terms, "YES."
VI. Demons can influence anyone.
A. I did not say that they could possess anyone. I said they
could influence anyone.
B. They influenced Peter. The account of Peter speaking what the
devil wanted spoken is document in three of the gospels.
1. \\#Matt 16:23, Mark 8:33, Luke 14:8\\.
2. This is the night of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.
3. Peter was saved by that time but Satan could still
influence him.
C. Demons are working to both possess and control people right
now.
VII. The worst of the demons will soon be released on this world.
A. The Bible indicates that the worst of the demons—excluding
Satan—have been locked away from mankind.
Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains under darkness
unto the judgment of the great day.
1. They kept not their first estate or first charge, first
rule.
2. Those more powerful angels which had more authority and
became demons have been held in "everlasting chains."
B. But God is going to unlock them.
Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a
star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him
was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a
great furnace; and the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon
the earth: and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not
hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green
thing, neither any tree; but only those men which
have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not
kill them, but that they should be tormented five
months: and their torment was as the torment of a
scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and
shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and
death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto
horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads
were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces
were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were
breastplates of iron; and the sound of their
wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses
running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and
there were stings in their tails: and their power
was to hurt men five months.
1. People like to mock the Bible’s description of these
creatures.
2. These are beings that man will likely create.
A plan to mix human stem cells with animal
embryos to create chimeras - those creatures
that have part animal and part human elements -
soon will be getting taxpayer funding, under a
new proposal from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
The federal agency said Thursday that it is
requesting public comment on its plans to open
the door to public funding of the concept that
could result in “animal models with human tissues
or organs for studying human development, disease
pathology, and eventually organ transplantation.”
The National Institutes of Health had announced a
moratorium on the funding last year, but the
change now is being proposed due to the interest
in mixing human and non-human cells, and seeing
the results.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/08/obama-gives-green-light-to-make-
human-animal-hybrid-monsters/
150 human animal hybrids grown in UK labs:
Embryos have been produced secretively for the past three years
By DANIEL MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL and SIMON
CALDWELL FOR MAILONLINE
CREATED: 15:18 EST, 22 July 2011
Scientists have created more than 150 human-
animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.
The hybrids have been produced secretively over
the past three years by researchers looking into
possible cures for a wide range of diseases.
The revelation comes just a day after a committee
of scientists warned of a nightmare ‘Planet of
the Apes’ scenario in which work on human-
animal creations goes too far.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2017818
/Embryos-involving-genes-animals-mixed-humans-produced-secretively-
past-years.html#ixzz4HxxTCvt8
I say often that the Bible is being fulfilled right in front of
us—and it is. We are inching toward the finale. I hope you have
trusted Jesus as your Savior and are proving that profession by
living for Him.
Salvation requires two things:
1. Faith - believing that Jesus is who He said He was, that He
did what He said He would do, and that He will do what He has
promised He would do.
2. Repentance - Turing your life over to Jesus, surrendering
control to Him.
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