Satan's Power Today
It’s that time of year again when we get to Halloween. I normally give a little different message than normal because people are interested in things not of this world.
I hear a lot of people talking about satanic oppression and demon oppression or possession, and I think that it should be addressed Biblicaly.
The Bible, as we’ve mentioned before, is God’s word. By that we mean that if God was here today and were to speak to you, the things He would tell you are the things that we can read in the Bible. Also, God’s is the author of truth, His word is true, and is never false. It is true in matters of Science, in matters of History, in matters of Life, and in matters of Spirituality.
Many people are worried and wrapped up in this notion that when there are problems in their life that Satan has them held captive and are doing all kinds of things to them that they have no control over. Is this true though? Let’s take a look at what the Bible, what God has to say about Satan, and his demons in relation to a Christian and where a Christian stands in relation to this evil world.
The first thing any Christian, any follower of Jesus, any soldier of the Kingdom of God must understand is that even though things may look a little rough around you, we are on the winning side, whether it looks like it or not. Our enemy has already been defeated. When Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again to glory, he took Satan's power away and now he is described as follows
Bound (Mark 3:27, Luke 11:20)
His power is restricted and restrained (2 Thessalonians 2:6)
He has been rendered powerless over believers (Hebrews 2:14)
He is defeated and disarmed (Collosians 2:15, Mark 3:27)
He has fallen and was thrown down (Luke 10:18, Revelation 12:9)
His kingdom has been replaced by God’s (Luke 11:20, Daniel 7)
He is crushed under the foot of the Christians (Romans 16:20)
He has lost authority over Christians (Collosians 1:13)
He has been judged (John 16:11)
He cannot touch a Christian (1st John 5:18)
His works have been destroyed (1st John 3:8)
He has nothing (John 14:30)
He must flee when resisted (James 4:7)
Sure Satan is alive, but he isn’t doing very well as far as a Christian is concerned.
As far as the demons, the Bible says they have been
Cast out
Made subject to the authority of Christians
Overcome by Christians
Bound in chains
You can read about this in Matthew 10-12, Mark 1:27, 6:7, Luke 9:1, 10:19, 1st John 4:4, Jude 6.
These and more passages reveal that Christians should be most hopeful even when outward signs seem to indicate that something is wrong in his life. All of these things that are wrong in a Christian’s life must be recognized as being under the control of us by the use of the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit. No Christian can be under the control of Satan or his demons like an unbeliever can. For the follower of Jesus, Satan is a defeated foe.
However, for an unbeliever, Satan still has power over and influence over their life as we read in 1st John 5:19 that the whole world (the unbelieving world and it’s system) lies within the evil one and he can take unbelievers captive at his will (2nd Timothy 2:26).
As Christians we are exhorted to overcome evil (Romans 12:21).
For true Christians, I don’t want you to be deceived by popular religiosity and Hollywood today that is so infatuated with the occult and demon oppression and instead you need to get a healthy dose of reality with a biblical perspective when it comes to the spiritual world as you relate to it.
The devil cannot make you do anything. While the devil may tempt you, or cause those who are held captive under his sway to tempt you, the truth of the matter is that within yourself, your own tendency towards depravity is enough temptation to sin without any other outside influence, but we are promised in the Bible that "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1st Corinthians 10:13)
Now for those who haven’t repented of their sin and started following Jesus, they haven’t been saved from the penalty of sin which is hell, and they haven’t been saved from the power of sin over their life and will continue to sin even when they are doing things they think are good. They may not be as sinful as they could be, but they are not righteous enough to save themselves from the penalty of their sins.
There is absolutely no hope for the unbeliever whatsoever except in that God looked down from heaven and took pity on you and sent his son Jesus Christ down here to tell you about his plan for peace with humanity and then to die to pay the price for your sins so that through believing in him you could be saved and become an heir to the kingdom of God as well.
You may be asking yourself right now, what do I have to do to be saved?
The answer for this comes right after Peters Sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:14-36, it says that those who heard the gospel were “cut to the heart” by the gospel of Jesus Christ and they asked “What shall we do” to be saved?
The answer that Peter gave is the same answer that John the Baptist gave, and Jesus gave, and every preacher of the true gospel of Jesus Christ has given down through the ages. You must Repent of your sins, that is to change from running after sin and turning to Jesus to run after him. Repent of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and you will be at that moment saved. This promise of forgiveness is good for every man, woman, and child that God calls to himself. Peter goes on to urge those listening in the crowd that today is the day to “save yourselves from this crooked generation”.
Do you feel like you don’t have any control over the direction your life is taking? Do you feel powerless to control the bad things you do to yourself and to others? Is the prospect of an eternity of torture in hell bothering you? Today is the day to call out to Jesus for salvation, beg for mercy.
Jesus told us in John 6:37 that “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Will you come to Jesus today? If you want me to pray with you I will. If you have a question, I’ll try to answer it. The process isn’t hard, but it will cost you your life. Either your life will continue to be devoted to yourself and you’ll spend eternity in hell, or your life will be devoted to Jesus Christ as your Lord and you’ll be eternally blessed in His Kingdom. Repent of your sins today and you can start a new adventure of following Jesus right now.
