Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* – Spiritual warfare is a reality of the universe that God has created.

It involves three great spheres of influence – three distinct worlds.

There is the world of GOD and the good angels, now confirmed in righteousness, serving His will.

There is the world of SATAN and angels who followed him in rebellion – demons intent on thwarting God’s will.

These worlds are at war.

But these are not equal forces.

In God’s omnipotence the ultimate outcome has never been in doubt.

God uses Satan to maximize the display of His glory.

The third world is the world of MANKIND.

God intended man to rule the earth as regent; instead, Man rebelled.

Yet God has made us the object of His great redemptive purpose in Christ to reverse the effects of the Fall and renew Creation.

Mankind is in the middle -- the object of Satan’s hideous desire to take as many with him as possible to destruction, and the object of God’s desire to save all whom He has by grace chosen and who will choose Him.

This great cosmic battle constantly rages, beyond the veil of our physical perception.

But occasionally open warfare pierces the veil, and we get insight into these three worlds and how they relate to each other.

For the next 2 weeks, this text will reveal the nature of the demonic enemy of God and man.

As we do this, C. S. Lewis rightly cautions: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist and magician with the same delight.”

Kenneth Woodward, longtime Religious editor for Newsweek represents one extreme when he hails the idea of a devil as “merely a trivial personification – hardly adequate to symbolize the mystery of evil.”

Satan no doubt approves the view.

How about the extreme of excessive curiosity?

Not long ago a thriving Bible study started among some professional families – docs, lawyers, etc.

But they got off on a tangent, becoming self-styled experts on demons and exorcisms.

It ended badly.

One night they became convinced there were demons in the dining room chandelier.

They disassembled the fixture and buried it in various parts of the city.

One morning soon afterward some of the group’s children were running down the street shouting, “The devil is going to get us!

The devil is going to get us!” Neighbors found the mothers in the backyard hacking a rosewood chest to pieces to dispose of supposed demons.

Their lack of clarity on the Bible’s teaching led them to foolish and debilitating error.

Balance is biblical.

We are warned; “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

He’s real; he’s merciless and he is deadly.

Be on alert!

On the other hand we are reminded, “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Armed with this assurance, let’s examine the world of demons.

*I.

Destructive Power of Demons*

V. 27 “When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.

For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.”

Here is a severe case of demon-possession, not just by one, but by many.

This man “had demons” (plural).

This is spiritual warfare in plain sight and it teaches 6 things about demons.

*A.

Demons Are Real *

Are demons real?

One commentator suggests that this man is just psychologically disturbed and thinks he has demons.

He had witnessed atrocities by Roman legions and is now convinced he has legions of demons.

“He would never have believed that he was cured unless he had visible demonstration.

Surely what happened was this.

The herd of swine was feeding there on the mountainside.

Jesus was exerting his power to cure what was a very stubborn case.

Suddenly the man’s wild shouts and screams disturbed the swine and they went dashing down the steep place into the sea in blind terror.

‘Look!’ said Jesus, ‘Look!

Your demons are gone!’

Jesus had to find a way to get into the mind of this poor man; and in that way he found it.”

The guy was just a psycho, and this is the way Jesus cured him.

Really!?!

Only one problem with that.

It’s not what the Bible says happened.

The Bible’s credibility is at stake here.

It assumes demons are real.

The first sin occurred when God’s beautiful angel, Lucifer, said in his heart, “I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa 14:14).

Ezek 28 and Isa 14 detail his rebellion.

But he did not go alone.

John tells more in Rev 12:2-4, “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.”

The dragon is Satan (v.

9).

The stars are angels as in Job 38:7 describing the creation of the universe: “when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

Those are not literal stars – they are angels rejoicing at God’s creative work.

So Rev 12:4 hints that 1/3 of the angels followed Satan’s rebellion.

Spiritual warfare thus became a reality.

God calls the devil “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph.

2:2), as well as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).

But he is not limited to earth.

His theater of operations includes heaven too.

The war of the ages is being fought at every conceivable level—moral, ideological, philosophical, theological, and supernatural.

In heaven, Satan constantly accuses us -- and we would be toast except for I John 2:1, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

For every accusation Satan brings, Jesus springs to our defense – pleading that while we are guilty, we are covered with His righteousness!

Rev 12:7 ff.

describes the end of this: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels (demons are real) were thrown down with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

This leads to chaos on earth as Satan is given full sway to engulf the world in a 7-year period of Tribulation.

Then he is bound for 1,000 years as Christ reigns per Rev 20.

He is released for a brief time after which he is destroyed in the Lake of Fire.

Matt describes this in 25:41 as “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Demons are most assuredly real – they have a past, present and a very bleak future.

*B.

Demons Were Particularly Prominent in Christ’s Time*

The OT has 1 instance of demonic activity and passing references that demons lurk behind pagan idols.

That’s it.

But the arrival of Jesus touched off a frenzy of demonic activity unlike anything before or after until the end-time.

What explains this unprecedented demonic activity?

I would suggest 2 things.

First, Satan imitates God.

He has no creativity of his own.

So here is this monumental cosmic event of God becoming flesh.

Satan copies, invading humans in unprecedented ways as well.

That’s part of the answer.