[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. I would like to extend an invitation to all of you. You'll hear about this.
[0:12] I don't know how often you pay attention to announcements. You know, it's like the wasted time of a service sometimes. And sometimes I think some of you don't understand the offering devotional.
[0:23] It's an offering devotional. It's always supposed to be about your giving and help you grow in giving. But here's an announcement for you. On June the 19th, Betty and I would like to invite all of you to our house for a celebration.
[0:39] This time one year ago, I was too hard-headed to go to the hospital. And during this week, I went to the hospital and went on a ventilator. And was on a ventilator for 21 days.
[0:53] It was not a bad time at all for me because I remember a bit of it. But it's like it didn't happen. But I came to and everybody told me some bad stuff happened. So anyway, we're going to have a celebration day.
[1:04] I would like to invite you to come. It'll start at about 1030. It'll be over by 1.30, 1 o'clock because it's going to be warm, you know. And so we'll have you some hamburgers and hot dogs and sing a little bit and praise a little bit.
[1:17] And just give thanks to God because he has been good in a bad year. Amen. Amen. If you've got your Bible open, look at Luke chapter 4 with me. I'll walk you back through the reading.
[1:28] I know you read it, but I want you to pay attention to some things. Just mark them in your Bible. Hope you've got one of these old-fashioned paper Bibles right there with you.
[1:38] And you can underline it. But I want you to look in Luke. Now, the title of the message is Jesus is Lord over all. And the whole point is to prove that this man who was born of a family here on earth and has grown up amongst them is really God.
[1:56] He is Lord over everything. And he knows it. And they will start noticing it. In verse 30, it's just one of those verses you will easily go over in your Bible and won't pay attention to.
[2:07] They grabbed him in the last passage of Scripture right before this. And they want to get him. And they'd like to go in and kill him. And they take him up to this high place. And they're going to try to throw him off.
[2:18] And he just walks back through the middle of them. It says he passing through the midst of them went on his way. I just want to get you to imagine with me some old Western movie when they grabbed a bad guy.
[2:31] And they're going to take him up on the hill. And they're going to lynch him. They're going to kill him, you know. They're going to hang him. And Jesus just kind of turned around and just walked right through the middle of them. And they have no idea he's doing that because he can do that if he wants to do that.
[2:44] He's God. He is Lord over all. Can I get an amen? See, you start out the story with how big he is. He's so big you can't capture him when he don't want to be captured. You can't kill him when he don't want to be killed.
[2:57] And he will die when he's good and ready. And he'll die on purpose. That'll come a little bit later. Then I want you to go down in verse 31 and just underline them. He taught them on the Sabbath days.
[3:09] Hey, that's pretty good. You see, you come together to be taught. Underline taught. And in Sabbath days, Jesus put a lot of emphasis on worship time.
[3:22] On church time. On Sabbath time. On Bible time. And you should too. You really ought to decide. I'm not going to miss church.
[3:34] You really ought to decide. I'm not going to miss church. You really ought to decide. I'm not going to miss church. You see, sometimes it's like, well, I got a lot to do.
[3:49] And I got places I want to go. And I got things I want to do. But Jesus had a custom of teaching on the Sabbath day. You ought not miss church. It ought to be important to talk about the things of God to every one of God's people.
[4:01] If you understand that, say amen. If you don't like that, say oh me. But say something. Amen. In verse 32, they were astonished because he spoke with power.
[4:13] He spoke like somebody who had authority. I want you to skip down, if you would, to verse 34. And the last words of verse 34 are that the demons knew that he was the holy one of God.
[4:25] The demons knew. You see, he is Lord over all. And the demons are like, we know who you are. There's no suggestion, no questioning, no doubting that he is God.
[4:38] And he is the holy one of God. He is the sent one of God. But look at this in verse 35. These demons are powerful. And everybody knows they're real. But Jesus rebuked him.
[4:49] Underline that. Jesus rebuked him. And he said, you hold your peace. Jesus rebuked him. You know, Jesus can tell the devil where to go. Jesus has power over demons.
[5:02] In verse 36, they figured that out. Underline it in your Bible as you go through. In verse 36, they said, he commands unclean spirits. He was able to tell demons what to do.
[5:14] Is Jesus afraid of the devil? Not on your life. Was he worried about what Satan or demons had to say? Not on your life. Verse 39, you may not like this, but it is in the Bible.
[5:26] Therefore, I like it. And you should. It says there, he rebuked the fever. He just spoke to the fever. He's got power over demons. He's got power over sickness.
[5:38] Power over Satan. Power over sin. Power over sickness. In verse 41, he rebuked and he wouldn't let him talk. He said, you demons hush.
[5:49] I'm not going to let you talk. He said, I'm still in charge. And he has always been in charge and he always will be in charge. But if you got your Bible in verse 31, I want you to circle the last word.
[6:00] It's the word Christ. That's an extremely important word. And it's overlooked. You think of him as Jesus Christ. You think of him as Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ is not who he is.
[6:12] It's his title for who he is. His name is Jesus. He's the Christ. All through the Old Testament. All through the Old Testament, God said, I'm sending a guy.
[6:23] I'm sending the Messiah. I'm sending a guy. And when the devils go see him, they go, he's the guy. When the devils see him, they go, he's the guy. He is the Christ. Circle the word Christ.
[6:34] I want you to go with me to verse 43. I wish you'd underline this. Boy, we got to get a hold of the need to preach the gospel everywhere. In verse 44, he said, I must preach.
[6:47] I must preach to other cities. I can't just be satisfied with one place. Y'all can't hold on to me. They said, we'd like to hold on to you, pastor.
[6:57] You must not move on. You must stay here with us. You should not depart. Verse 42. He said, guys, I'm here to do a lot of preaching. In a lot of places. And underline this. He said, because I'm sent.
[7:09] I am sent. Now, what I want to talk to you about today is Jesus is Lord of our all. But we're really going to delve into this underworld that you probably have doubts about existing.
[7:23] Look, if you would, at Luke chapter 4 and verse 33. And in the synagogue, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice.
[7:34] I know this is 2021. I know this is 2021. But I still read a book that's way over 2,000 years old. I read it all the time. Read it every day.
[7:46] And believe every word of it. I never hold it up and question it. I never hold it up and doubt it. I never hold it up and figure it needs revised. I just hold it up and say, word of God. I preach it and teach it everywhere.
[7:57] I go. And what's interesting is in the Bible, there's all these demons. And that's 2021. You don't believe in that. In 2021, you want Falsy to give you a scientific answer.
[8:10] You want him to explain everything that's going on to you. If he can't do it, you want some other. You want the who. You want the medical community. You want a doctor to explain it. But in God's terms, we are in the middle of a war between God and the devil.
[8:25] And it is a massive war going on all over the world for the souls of mankind. And we're in a war. And when Jesus steps out on the scene and begins his ministry, all hell wakes up and says, we're here to fight you.
[8:40] So I'd like to take you through some things in your Bible if I could. There is confusion among the saints today. Most believers, most people doubt spiritual warfare and the reality of Satan and demons.
[8:55] I am quite often challenged, joked, laughed at, and questioned about this. But I believe you are in a spiritual warfare and Satan is real.
[9:08] And demons are real or devils are real. And it's a real thing. In your Bible, look at Ephesians chapter 6, verses 11 and 12. Now, this is the Apostle Paul.
[9:21] Jesus has died. He has been buried. He has risen again. He's ascended into heaven. The Holy Spirit has come with great power on the church. And when people write stuff in the Bible, if you read the things written in the Bible, you are not reading what the Apostle Paul thought.
[9:37] You are reading what the Apostle Paul was used to write, but we're reading the Word of God. Now, when I speak, you can't really trust that unless it's lining up with the Bible and you ought to always be checking that out.
[9:49] But in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11, Paul said, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
[10:01] He seems to indicate that there is some tricky devil stuff going on and it's going to be hard to stand against it. And to stand against it, you're going to need the armor of God.
[10:14] In verse 12, he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. But I don't have a problem with people. I don't have a problem with people. I have a problem with, underline, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.
[10:32] At another time, I'm going to try to explain that to you just a little bit more. But there are literally ranks of demons. There are levels of demons. There are ones that are like princes and they're way up here.
[10:43] And then there's council members and the government like the Senate and the Congress. Not our Senate and Congress, not saying that. But I'm just saying that there's this different levels of devils and they're in a war.
[10:56] And in this story in the book of Luke, that's what's going on. Jesus obviously believed that demons existed. And if it's good enough for Jesus, it's still good enough for me.
[11:10] Look in your Bible, if you would, in Luke chapter 4 and verse 33. Read with me again in our passage. And in the synagogue, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried out with a voice.
[11:22] And they said, let us alone. That's interesting. There's more than one of them in there. What have we, more than one of them, to do with you, thou son, thou Jesus of Nazareth?
[11:33] Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace and come out of him.
[11:44] And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him not. Now, we don't like to believe in demons for two or three reasons. Number one, the charismatics took over and they own them.
[11:54] And since they own them, and we know they're kind of nuts, we kind of run from their nuttiness. You know, like if you were to go to a charismatic person and say, I'm having, I got, I got, I got an upset stomach.
[12:09] He just might rebuke the sickness in you and tell you not to go to the doctor. He could just put the whammy on you. Or if you went to him and said, I'm feeling depressed, he might cast out the spirit of depression. And so we're like, yeah, come on, that's a little too much.
[12:21] That's a little weird right there. And so we, we run the other way, but you can't run too far the other way because if you run too far, you run past where Jesus was. And Jesus said, there's a guy in here and he's got demons.
[12:33] He's got power and he's doing some stuff. And, uh, and all that's going on here. Jesus cast out demons in at least four other passages of scripture.
[12:43] In Matthew chapter 10 and verse one, Jesus gave his disciples authority to cast out demons. Look at your Bible right behind me. If you don't open your Bible, it says that when he called them under him, his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out.
[13:03] He believed in enough that when he called the boys and said, I'm going to send y'all out to preach. He said, I'm going to send you out to preach. And when he did that, he said, here's the power to throw out demons while you're at it.
[13:16] All the new Testament, except for Hebrews mentioned demons in more than 100 verses. I want you to look with me at first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 20.
[13:28] Now I want you to hear this before I read this to you because I want you to wait. As you read it, I want you to catch it. Now I want you to listen to something. That little metal idol they got over in Thailand, that Buddha that would reach from here to the end of this room is more than a little piece of metal or a big piece of metal.
[13:48] And that little Buddha that people carry around and that little, all that stuff that's going on, all these places where these folks are worshiping. And you look at it and say, it's just a fetish.
[13:58] It's just a little piece of wood or over in South Africa where they put their ancestors, they put a cow's head up on a stick and, and they pray to it or, or all that that's going on around the world.
[14:09] And maybe we don't see it so presently here in Bible terms, that's a demon stuff. Look, if you would at first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 20, the apostle Paul is being used to say by the Holy spirit.
[14:23] I say that the things that the Gentiles sacrifice, I say that the things which lost people, pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice.
[14:36] To devils. And not to God. I would not that you should have fellowship with devils.
[14:48] You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils.
[14:59] Now that's a crazy verse. I was in Adikipa. And I was at the graveyard of the big general cemetery in town.
[15:11] And in that cemetery, there's a dead Jesus. It's a plastic, or I guess wood. I've never touched it, never got that close to it. There's a full size body that looks like a dead Jesus.
[15:26] Jesus, he's wounded, his hands are crossed, and they've got the wounds in the hands, the head's messed up, the feet have got the wounds in them. They've got him in a glass casket. And by the way, let me tell you, they have these statues all over the place.
[15:40] And people will come and pray to these things and kiss those feet that everybody else has kissed till the toes literally wear off of them. They literally will wear them off.
[15:52] Enough kissing and enough friction and enough attention, and they just wear them off. You can look, and the foot's like deformed because of all of it. And I walked up there, and this little old man, this little Peruvian man, he's about that tall.
[16:05] His body was all drawn over with age and probably arthritis and other things. And I could barely understand him as he cried and prayed. And he held on to the bars that surrounded that.
[16:16] And he was crying out and saying to him, Oh, Jesus, my children. Oh, Jesus, my children. And he was praying for his children. And he was begging for things to happen.
[16:27] And he had no understanding that no one can talk to the Father unless they go through Jesus. No man can talk to God without a priest.
[16:38] And the priest is the Lord Jesus. And you've got to be saved. And when he was praying, he was praying to an idol, to an image. He wasn't praying to God at all.
[16:51] And when you go in there in India and everybody walks in in the morning or in Nepal, and some of these places that I visited, and they've got the big statue there, and then they've got the red ashes there, and they go up to it, and they do their talk and whatever it is they say, which I don't understand.
[17:07] And then they reach and get their fingers in the stuff, and they rub the spot on their forehead to let it be known, I have met with the demon today. I have met with the demon today.
[17:17] And in your mind, you may try to make like, well, that's just superstition. Not if you believe the Bible. Not if you believe the Bible. It says they were sacrificing to demons.
[17:32] Paul's not the only one who thought that, said that in the Holy Scriptures. In Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 17, the Bible said they sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
[17:52] And there's all kinds of stories in the Bible about how they would take a piece of wood, and they would use some of the wood to build their house, and some of the wood to build a fire to warm themselves over, and cook their bread and another piece of wood to make a god to worship.
[18:05] And I watched that happen all over Latin America, where it says, eating up with a very popular religion, it looks Christian, but doesn't know the Jesus of the Bible. I've watched it all over the world where I go, and where I preach, and so the Bible is very clear.
[18:22] When Jesus stepped into that room, his demons started talking to him, and you and I are quick to read over that passage and just dismiss it like it's not real. The Bible's full of it.
[18:32] There's a lot of confusion. The Bible says in Psalm 106 and verse 34, they did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled with the heathen and learned their works, mingled with the heathen, the pagans, the godless, and they learned the stuff the godless people thought.
[18:55] And they served their idols, which were a snare, a trap unto them. And they sacrificed in the Old Testament where they would heat a big metal emblem, a big metal image up, and it had fire inside of it.
[19:10] It had big metal arms. And the Israelite people would follow the practices of the heathens and take their live children while they were still alive and crying and lay them in the arms of these demons, idols, and cook them, offering them, sacrificing them to idols.
[19:32] They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Most of us want to doubt the existence of demons because if they're real, it sure complicates things.
[19:52] So there's confusion. I understand on one side people have gone way too crazy over here. And I understand that over here there's other Christians that are just like, oh, they don't really exist.
[20:05] But if you're a Bible reader, you better stand somewhere here in the middle and say, I think they do exist or he wouldn't have said so much about it. How many of you agree with that? Say amen. Amen. Amen. I just need you to know that we are really in a spiritual war.
[20:15] Did you know sometimes when you and me get in a fight, we're probably not even fighting with each other except we get stupid enough not to know that it's the devil trying to stir up a fight. You know, it's when I try to get you to pick on me and you try to get me to pick on you and we try to get in this little argument.
[20:31] But Paul would have said, hey, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Hey, that fight's against somebody else. Stirring it up. There was a day when Jesus and Peter were walking down the road and Jesus said, I'm on my way to die on the cross.
[20:43] And Peter looks over and says, oh no, Lord, that is never going to happen. We don't want you to go there. Let's just take a right turn right here and go somewhere else. And Jesus looked at him and said, hey, Satan, get you behind me.
[20:54] And everybody always thinks that he was calling the devil Satan. I don't think he was. I think he was looking right past Peter and seeing who was doing the talking and telling the guy doing the talking, you hush. I know that ain't Peter.
[21:05] Peter's got more sense than that, you dang bad hush, devil. You see, we're in a spiritual warfare. Now go with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 4 and verse 33.
[21:15] I want you to know that demons control sinners. Demons control sinners. The Bible says in Luke 4, 33, and in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil who cried with a loud voice.
[21:29] See, the devil was in him, and this guy's got an unclean spirit, and he cries out when this demon makes him do it. And Luke 4, 35, and Jesus rebuked him and said, hold your peace and come out of him.
[21:43] Who's he talking to? He's talking to the devil. You hush, devil, and get out of him. And when the devil had thrown him, the devil's in charge, and he threw that guy down in the midst of him, and the devil came out, and he didn't hurt them.
[21:56] The possessed person cried out with a loud voice and was thrown down in front of everyone. The idea of being possessed by a demon is found 13 times in the New Testament. Demon possession caused crazy symptoms.
[22:11] There are times when they can't speak, can't see, or have convulsions. There are times when people want to hurt themselves. There are times when people go crazy. We know that the devils were super strong and had occultic-type powers.
[22:24] We never see that demons can take control of a saved person. But you can apparently give place to them.
[22:38] One of the good things here is they control sinners, not saints. Say amen. We're spirit-controlled. You see? So you don't have to worry about being spirit or demon-possessed.
[22:50] But you know that sometimes we just give place to the devil? You say, how do you know that? Well, look at Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 27. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 27. And it just simply says in that verse, and it's talking about anger and forgiveness and different things, and it's listing a whole bunch of sins.
[23:08] And he says, and don't y'all be giving place to the devil. You see, the devil's not going to come in me and control me, but I just might let the devil come in and have fellowship with me and sup with me and talk with me and have a good conversation with me.
[23:21] And I start picking up his attitudes and start doing what he wants me to do. He can't control me, but I might be giving place to him. Don't do that. You see that? Say amen.
[23:33] Number three, I want you to look at this. Go with me to Luke chapter 4 and verse 34. The demons are conscious spirits. They're conscious spirits. I mean by that they know what's going on.
[23:46] Verse 34 says, saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
[23:58] I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of Israel, the Holy One of God. Now, I just want you to pay attention to what the Bible says right there. How many of you believe the Bible is the Word of God? Say amen.
[24:09] Now, look at the verse, would you? They're talking. These demons are talking. And when they talk, they say, leave us alone. What do we got to do with you? We don't do nothing with you.
[24:20] Leave us alone. And then they say, we know your name, you son of Jesus of Nazareth. And then they say, are you come to destroy us? They say, we know who you are.
[24:33] We know who you are. And we go around all the time like we don't know who God is. We don't know who the devil is. And the devil's walking around like we know who God is. We know who God is. We know who Jesus is.
[24:45] We know exactly what's going on. They knew Jesus. They knew his power. They knew their future. Because it's not clear in this verse. Let's read a parallel passage. Another passage that talks about the same thing.
[24:57] Matthew chapter 8 and verse 29. Read that with me. In Matthew chapter 8 and verse 29, the Bible says, look at it. And behold, they cried out saying, what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God?
[25:11] Art thou come hither to torment us? Underline, before the time. We know our time is limited. We know you have more power than we do.
[25:23] We know you can do what we can't do. But we do have a little bit of time. Are you here early? You know, they know what's going on. So there's this underworld out there.
[25:35] If you believe the Bible, there's this underworld out there. This dark world. This satanic world. This demonic world. This demon world. And we know they did take possession of some people in the Bible.
[25:46] And we know they did some things. And we know they know stuff. They knew that. They knew the future. By the way, they know there's a God. Look at James chapter 2 and verse 19.
[25:59] James chapter 2 and verse 19. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well. Underline, the devils also believe and tremble.
[26:14] I need you to listen to me. I'm not sure all of us are born again. And it worries me when you're not sure of your salvation. You see, believing that there's a God is not enough.
[26:27] Going down to your AA meeting and believing there's a higher power is not enough. You see, salvation is not knowing that there is a God. It's knowing God.
[26:38] It's not knowing about God. It's knowing God. It's about coming to God and realizing he's almighty God. And I'm a filthy, dirty sinner that ought to go to hell. And I humble myself and I say, I know I've sinned against you.
[26:52] So many people know a whole lot about God. The devils know about God. They even believe there's one God. The devils know that Buddha's not real.
[27:05] The devils know that the 330 million gods in India are not real. The demons of hell are like, there's only one God.
[27:15] We all know it. We've been fooling all the rest of them, people. But we know better. But you come and you know God. But you know him. You know him like they know him.
[27:26] You know him like, he's up there somewhere. We know he's real. We know he's got power. But you've never trusted him. Not about being baptized. Not about joining a church.
[27:38] God loves you. There's not a one of you that God wants to see dying go to hell. But if you don't come to a place that you admit your desperate need of God. If you don't come to a place that you realize I ought to go to hell.
[27:51] I have sinned. The Bible said there's none righteous, no, not one. The Bible said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If you don't realize that you will be like a devil believing in a God who didn't save you.
[28:03] You see, I believe Antarctica exists, but I've never been there. And you can believe in God. But if you don't believe that you're a sinner and you need him, you're not saved.
[28:17] I need you to realize, if you would, that they have a doctrine, demon doctrines. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1.
[28:29] See, demons have their own doctrines. This is why, listen to me, you really need to pay attention to what I'm telling you right here. You need to know there's only one standard of truth that exists on the planet.
[28:40] I'm holding it. And you're holding it. You listen to me. Churches matter. Truth matters.
[28:51] There are all sorts of doctrines out there. There are preachers that are going to say, shut your Bibles, let me talk to you. You need to say, okay, I'm out of here. We don't shut Bibles where I'm from.
[29:03] We open them and check you out, doc. Preach all you want, Austin, but we're looking up every verse. We're going to make sure because there are doctrines of demons and they're trying to fool people and trying to deceive people.
[29:15] You say, how do you know that? I know it because the book says it. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times, and it is kind of latter when you consider this was written about 2,000 years ago.
[29:33] Some shall depart from the faith. And by the way, departing from the faith doesn't even mean leaving the Christian church. You see, Jude talks about how people go to church and they're not really saved.
[29:48] Churches are full of lost people. Churches are full of people that give a head acknowledgement of who God is, but not a heart acknowledgement. Churches are full of people that like the social connection.
[30:03] They like the ability to get together, but they don't know God. He says, now in the Spirit's frequency expressed in the latter days that some shall depart from faith, giving heed to the seducing spirits.
[30:17] Now that's amazing. There are seducing spirits. There are demons that are so deceptive and so tricky they can lead you on and guide you into things that aren't true.
[30:29] They seduce you. Seduce is the idea of the woman or the man, but it's a beautiful woman who's just going to get you to forsake your wife and do what you ought not do.
[30:41] She's calling you. She's doing it with the way she talks. She's doing it with the way she walks. She's doing it with the way she dresses. She's trying to get you to like her and follow her or the guy who's doing that.
[30:53] And the devils are doing that. Seducing. And look at it. And they have doctrines of devils. You should only line that. Doctrines of devils.
[31:04] The devil's got his own body of teaching. When you come to our church, we have a doctrine. We have a body of teaching. We have things that we teach. We teach the Bible.
[31:16] That's why, by the way, listen to me. You can just get mad if you want to, but you should stop missing church. You should stop laying out of Sunday school. You should stop figuring out not to come on Thursday night.
[31:29] You should realize the dollar's not as important as spiritual matters are. Say amen. I mean, you've got a book to study. You wouldn't be laying out of a medical college.
[31:41] You wouldn't be laying out of every other thing, but it's God. It don't matter. We'll skip. Come on. Oh, brother. I just got fired. Verse 2.
[31:55] They speak lies and hypocrisy. Their consciences are seared with a hot iron. There's even religions that tell you not to get married. And they have their leaders not get married.
[32:09] They tell you not to eat certain foods. They got doctrines. There's only one way to know what a doctrine of the devil is. Know enough of the doctrine of God, you say that ain't his doctrine.
[32:21] It must be somebody else's. If anybody wants to deny Jesus, make him any less, it's the doctrine of the devil. Oh, boy.
[32:33] I bet some of you are thinking, he should go back to Ecuador. That's where I've been this week. He should go on back to Ecuador. Go with me to Luke chapter 4, verse 36. The demons are commanded slaves.
[32:47] They're not free to act on their own. Don't even get all excited about the power of demons. They're a bunch of whipped wimps. There's no real power. That's why Jesus rebuked them.
[33:00] Oh, shut up, demon. Demon said, get out of here. When the Lord speaks, the demons go, whoo. The boss is here. Luke chapter 4, verse 36.
[33:12] They were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What word is this? For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits. Now, we know demons are strong.
[33:24] In Mark chapter 5, in verse 3, there's a demon of Gadara, the Gadara demon, the Gadara demon, possessed man, endemoniado.
[33:35] That's Spanish, isn't it? Sorry about that. Who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him. No, not with chains. See, demons can give a guy super strength.
[33:47] They used to put chains on this guy, and he'd just go, break the chains. You say, how come his bones didn't break us? Demons broke the chains. There's a story. It's one of the most interesting stories in the Bible.
[33:58] In Acts chapter 19, in verse 16, these seven sons of Siva decide they want to throw some guy out, and they call on him in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches.
[34:09] And they think all this is a joke. And the Bible says, And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overcame all seven of them, prevailed against them, and they went home wounded and naked.
[34:22] One guy jumped up and whooped seven grown men, jerked their clothes off, sent them running home, rearing and hanging. And that's how powerful the devil is.
[34:33] Don't play with him. There's another lady in Luke chapter 3 and verse 11 who the sickness bound her for 18 years, the Bible says.
[34:44] In Luke chapter 13 and verse 16, Satan bound her. But Satan and all the demons are already defeated.
[34:55] They are not winners. They cannot win. They will not win. They're not yet to be defeated. They have already lost. The Bible says in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 15, And having spoiled principalities and powers, he met a show of them openly, triumphing over them.
[35:18] The Old Testament Roman general would go over and capture the other king and the other commanding generals, and then he would humiliate them and degrade them and put them in chains and lock them in cages.
[35:29] And he would ride through the city bringing the other king into town and all the people throwing rotten eggs at him and tomatoes and everything else and mocking them because the great Roman general overcame them.
[35:42] That's what Jesus has already done. He's already got all the demons. He's whipped them. They're beaten. They're beaten. They're a defeated foe. As a born-again believer, you ought never be afraid of demons.
[35:55] You don't need to be afraid of demons. We're in Jesus, and Jesus has the power. The Bible says in 1 John 4, For you are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.
[36:10] I have victory. Amen? Satan can't beat me. Satan can't stop me. Satan can't close our church. You don't have to worry about it. God's got the victory. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 37, Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
[36:30] We have victory through Jesus Christ. God gives us the victory. Look in your Bible, if you would, at Romans chapter 16 and verse 20.
[36:42] The Bible says, And the God of peace shall bruise. That word bruise means destroy by shattering, smashing, crushing, beating severely, subduing completely, annihilating Satan under your feet shortly.
[37:03] Satan cannot win. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41, He already has a destiny. The Bible says, Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, and to the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
[37:24] The Lord's not up in heaven saying, I don't know what we're going to do with the devil. He's like, I already got him a place. And I'm going to stomp his head one last time. I win. I always win.
[37:36] You ought to consider the scriptures with me. Satan is the ruler of this world. Now you need to listen to him by telling you everything you're hearing out there.
[37:48] Everything the scientists are telling you. Everything the psychologists are telling you. Everything the politicians are telling you. You have to always check it out with what the word of God says.
[37:58] Lots of lost people say truth stuff. But they say enough truth to throw in enough lies. And you believe it because you don't understand. You're in a spiritual warfare. And you don't understand that the guy ruling the world right now is the devil.
[38:13] You don't know that. Look in your Bible at John chapter 12 and verse 31. In John 12, 31, the Bible said, Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
[38:25] The prince of this world. In Matthew chapter 12 and verse 24, his name is Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2, he is the prince of the power of the air.
[38:42] In 2 Corinthians 4, 4, he is the god of this world. Now let me explain something to you. Now closing her down. Jesus walked on and he is king.
[38:55] And that's all the way through the story. He always wins. But for you to not realize, somebody wants to take you to hell if you're lost.
[39:08] And if you're saved, somebody wants to destroy your marriage. And somebody wants to destroy your vitality in Christ. And sometimes you're giving place to the devil so much that you're colder and colder and more indifferent to the things of God every day of your life.
[39:26] There was a time you were on the front row. You were like, well, I want to hear this. And then you're slowly sunk back to the back row. And then you started sitting there with your arms crossed and not paying attention.
[39:37] You stopped bringing your Bible and you started skipping on Thursday night. And then you started skipping on Sunday night. And then you don't go to Sunday school. And what you don't know is you're in a war. And God said, come serve me.
[39:48] And you're slowly drifting the other way. Come on, tell the truth. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, 8, Satan wants to destroy us.
[39:59] Be sober and be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren during the world.
[40:15] You need to be sober. You need to exercise self-control. You don't need to be rash or confused. You need to be vigilant and awake, alert and ready and fully alive.
[40:27] Because Satan wants to destroy you. So there are girls in the room that will get involved in immorality and kids that will be sucked up into homosexuality and all kinds of other junk.
[40:40] Because you don't realize this is not just society doing it. But the devil wants to destroy us. But we can resist.
[40:51] We have victory. James chapter 4 and verse 7, the Bible says, This is like one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. If you can have victory, submit yourselves to God.
[41:05] By the way, if you submit yourself to God, do you really think you're on the lake when the preaching is going on? Come on. If you submit yourself to God, do you really think work is more important than worship?
[41:16] If you really submit yourself to God, do you really think that little drink you're having with your buddy is as important as the prayer time you ought to be having?
[41:26] Come on. Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil. Tell the devil, I ain't doing that junk. I ain't going there. I'm not doing that. It's just a little meeting one night with the secretary wants to go out with you and just you and her have a nice little talk.
[41:41] And you all say, I'm going to submit to God. I'm resisting that junk. Submit to God. Resist the devil. I love this. He will flee.
[41:52] I love the word flee. I love that word. You know what flee is? That's run like a coward. You ain't never seen a race where they said get down and on the count of three we'll flee.
[42:05] That's running. I'll tell you when you flee, when you're a cockroach and they turn the light on. I'll tell you when you flee, when you're a thief and the blue lights show up. I'll tell you when you flee, when you're doing something wrong and somebody catches you.
[42:19] The devil will run. The devil will run. You can have victory. And you live in a day and a time when everything calls on you to walk away from God and to do what's wrong.
[42:31] Submit to God. Obey God. Resist the devil. I'll be honest with you. I do pray for you every day. By name.
[42:45] Most of you, I got a picture of you. I look at you every day. Scares me to death. Not your picture. The devil.
[42:58] Because I see you skipping church. I see you skipping church. I see you not being involved in ministry.
[43:09] I see you just slowly slipping away. 1 John 5, verse 18 says, Whosoever is born of God sins not, and the wicked one touches him not.
[43:29] The devil can't hurt us. But you sure seem to be given in. He can't make you do anything. He can't twist your arm. But you're like, well, yeah, whatever he wants.
[43:40] We'll just get along. 1 John 3, verse 8, He that commits sins of the devil, the Son of God, however, was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.
[43:53] So let me explain something to you. There is a true God. Only one. And Jesus is the king over it all. He's a ruler of the world. Number one, if you're not really born again, and you're just believing in God like the devils do, you say, I know there's a God, and I know all about Jesus.
[44:11] I know about him dying on a cross, and I know about all that. But it's one thing to know it up here. Nothing to know it down here. And just to be blunt and honest with you, you know, you can hear about somebody getting cancer, and it's like, that feels pretty bad.
[44:26] I feel for them. But when you hear those words, it ain't up here anymore. It's like a stinking body slam. The wind goes out, the sails drop, and you're all discouraged and hurt because, boom!
[44:39] That was me. Has that ever happened to you and God? Have you ever realized I have sinned against the holy God? And I deserve to go to hell.
[44:50] All the sin that comes from the glory of God. There's not one righteous, no, not one. Everybody's done wrong.
[45:02] Have you ever really believed that about you? Not the facts of it, but the filth of it. See, it's facts when I'm talking about you, but it's filth when I'm talking about me.
[45:12] But people that get saved come to a point when they go, oh, I need help. Have you done that? You ought to. Today.
[45:25] Then, Christians, could I just ask you a question? If the Bible is true, and if God is king, and if the devil's fighting him, you sliding this way or submitting this way?
[45:39] Are you more today on this side? Or have you just slowly just gotten a little bit colder, a little bit colder, and a little bit colder, and a little bit colder, and a little bit colder until you wake up one day and you go, I don't even know if it's worth it.
[45:54] Where are you? And you ain't going to get right with God until you admit that. And it's time to just come tell him, I mean business. I'm going to quit playing. Father in heaven, I ask you to work and move and magnify yourself.
[46:12] I will give you all honor and glory and praise for what you do. Please show yourself. Please work. I ask you. Would your heads bow and your eyes closed? If you're here and you've never been born again, you're not saved, you're not sure you'd go to heaven.
[46:25] If you died, I want to help you. Who would say, I am not really certain that I have personally trusted Christ, and I would like somebody to talk with me, pray with me, and maybe get me set up in some Bible study that would show me how to know for sure I'd go to heaven and not have to worry about my salvation.
[46:45] If that's you, would you just hold your hand up right now and let me pray with you? Would you do that? Would you say, I'm not sure I'm saved. I just want somebody to help me. Would there be anybody like that? Come on. Tell the truth.
[46:56] I'm not sure I'm saved. I'm not sure I'm born again. I'm not sure I'd go to heaven. Would there be anybody like that? Let me ask this next question. Christian, tell the truth. Are you submitting or sliding?
[47:07] Are you submitting or sliding? Why don't you get out of your seat and come up here and grab ahold of the altar and say, God, I ain't sliding anymore.
[47:19] I'm going to start putting priorities where priorities ought to be. I'm going to start doing what you want me to do. Come on. Be honest. You've been letting sin suck you in.
[47:32] You haven't cracked your Bible hardly at all. You skip church on a regular basis. God's no longer the ruler of your giving, your money.
[47:44] Sin's been a secret part of your life now. You think no one knows? Come on. Right now, obey God. Anybody? Father God in heaven, I love you.
[47:55] And I pray you'd work today. I pray you'd make something happen in our lives. I'll give you praise for it all. You pray.