TWO TRUTHS ABOUT DEMONS
THAT SHOULD COMFORT BELIEVERS

Pastor Steve Gibson

I know that a message about demons can be scary and cause fear. Thus, I wanted to write something up regarding two truths about demons that should comfort believers.

The first is:

Demons cannot possess a Christian

Look what Jesus said in Matthew 12:25-29:

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

Here people are accusing Jesus of driving out demons by the power of satan. Jesus says, satan is not going to drive out his demons in the life of others but if I drive them out, it has to be the power of God working in and through me.

A house cannot stand divided, which means that a person cannot be indwelt (or completely controlled by) both the Holy Spirit and demons.

Jesus uses an analogy of a house in referring to the souls of people. He says, whoever is in control of a person’s life – whether it is a demon or the Holy Spirit of God – the one has to be kicked out before the other one can take possession of the house, the soul. They can’t live together so one has to be stronger than the other to get them out so they then can inhabit it.

Once you have the Holy Spirit in your life – through salvation – no demon nor satan himself has the power to kick Him out. The Spirit seals us for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30) – meaning He’s not leaving.

So, the first practical decision we all must make – in light of our enemy who seeks to destroy us – is to receive the Holy Spirit in our lives through submitting to Christ as your Lord and Savior. Receiving the Holy Spirit through repentance of sins and through declaring Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Now while a person who is Spirit Filled cannot be overcome by demons, they can be influenced and oppressed by demons. And yet, they cannot do so without us willingly inviting them into our lives.

That leads to the second comforting truth regarding demons and that is:

Demons cannot torment a person without an invitation to do so.  

Look what Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:26-27:

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Here we see a direct correlation between satan’s ability to have a foothold in your life with habitual, unrepentant sin.

The sin here that Paul is referring to is allowing your anger towards others to fester to the point that you harbor unforgiveness in your heart towards them and you do not strive to rid yourself of this sin.

The point is that we can entertain demons and give them a foothold in our lives by participating in unrepentant sinful behavior. The opposite is true as well. Satan and demons have no authority over you without you willingly inviting them into your life through habitual unrepentant sin.

James wrote:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Again, we see here that satan is restrained through our will.

So, it should be comforting to know that demons cannot do anything to a Christian without being invited.

But it’s also sobering and should serve as a warning to always makes sure that we are not running into unrepentant willful sinful behavior.

All of us sin, but there is a difference between sinning and repenting and running headlong into unrepentant sinful behavior.

This is what happens to people who are overcome by sinful behavior. The problem was not that they were not perfect, the problem was that they were participating in sinful behavior habitually and were unrepentant in it and satan then got a foothold in their lives and blinded them.

So, Scripture says that a Christian can allow demons to influence our lives through unrepentant habitual sinfulness.

But there is another manner in which Christians can invite the influence of demons into their lives and it is through participating in the exaltation of evil.

There was a disagreement in Corinth among Christians as to whether or not it was ok to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. In pagan worship, animals would be sacrificed in worship to false gods, the meat then would be sold in the marketplaces.

The question people were asking is can I open myself up to demons by eating such meat. Paul says “no”. It’s just meat and that demons do not enter into a person’s life via eating it. But he does give a scenario in which Christians should not eat meat sacrificed to idols and that is in the temple when meat is being sacrificed to idols.

Look at this passage in I Corinthians 10:18-21

Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

What Paul is saying is that a Christian should not go into a pagan temple where pagan worship is taking place and eat the meat that is sacrificed to idols. To do so, he says is to “participate with demons”. In other words, to do so is to open yourself up to the influence of demons in your life.

What he means there in vs. 21 is that you cannot worship God while at the same time participate in the worship of evil.

What does this look like practically speaking for us today – to participate in the exaltation of evil?

I think a perfect example of this scenario in Corinth for us today is in regards to alcohol and parties. Just like eating meat does not ingest a demon in you, neither does drinking alcohol.

Scripture is clear that alcoholic drinks in and of themselves are not sinful. But when you go to a party, where drunkenness and immorality is being exalted and you participate in that activity, you are participating with demons.

Any place where evil is being pursued and exalted is demon infested and when you participate in such activities you are opening yourself up to the influence of demons in your life.

Paul says, eat any type of meat you desire. It cannot harm you spiritually, but don’t eat meat in the context of it being used for the purpose of exalting evil.

The main point I would like you to leave with can be summed up in this quote by Oswald Chambers:

Neither men nor angels nor devils have the slightest bit of power over the soul of man, unless that soul first gives consent. 

We are not only physical beings, we are spiritual beings as well and as spiritual beings we have access into the spiritual world. The spiritual world has two dimensions: one is evil and one is good. The kingdom of God can be entered into through our will and the kingdom of satan can be entered into through our will.

Through seeking God, we enter into the spiritual realm of righteousness and goodness. Through seeking satan we open ourselves up to the influences of evil.

Let us be a people that stays close to God – as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:11:

in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.