The battle is on. Join the fight!
As followers of Christ, however, we’re in the middle of a conflict that has been raging for thousands of years—whether we know it or not. Ours is a spiritual battle, and it’s critical for us to know the stakes.
In this study, we are taking a deeper look at the truth about Satan, demons, and the pervasive evil in the paranormal world. Yes, those are dark subjects, but they’re also critical for those of us who need to know what we’re up against.
Yes, Satan is mighty, but our God is Almighty!
Last week we opened with the father of all lies...Satan! This week we look at - Demons!
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Ever had a hex placed on you? How about a curse? I have. My father is an evangelist. I was there the night his preaching was disrupted by a couple, all dressed in black, praying out loud to Satan. They were reciting the Lord’s Prayer—backwards. It didn’t stop there. I learned Satanists had been sending letters decorated with pentagrams to churches where my dad was preaching. We also learned the Satanists were putting hexes on our family. I was afraid—but my dad wasn’t. When I asked him about it, he said: “Son, truthfully, I was afraid at first. But Jesus is greater than any spiritual power, and He said He has given us all authority in Him to defeat the enemy.” Wow. That answer brought me peace because it proved to be true.
In the Gospel of Mark, we read of another father and son facing demonic attack. They were also afraid. Yet, when Jesus entered the situation, the people became amazed and the demons trembled.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Mark 9:17-22a
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” 19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” 20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. 22a “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.
In Mark 9:2-10, Jesus went up a high mountain with three of His disciples—Peter, James, and John— where He was transformed before them into His glorious appearance. When they came back down, they found a crowd gathered around a father and son. An evil spirit clearly had control of the boy, and the terrified father described how the spirit would often seize the child, forcing him to do terrible things.
Such an encounter would frighten most people, but surely not the disciples, right? They’d already seen Jesus exercise His authority over evil spirits. (See vv. 1-13.) Plus, under Jesus’ authority, they themselves had cast out demons. (See 6:7-13.) But in this case, the disciples were powerless. We’ll focus on their lack of power when we study Mark 9:28-29, but notice that Jesus called them an “unbelieving generation.”
The apostles were powerless to help because of their lack of faith—but not Jesus. He was unfazed by the situation. Right in the middle of that desperate moment, Jesus offered the father and the gathered crowd the most welcoming of words: “Bring him to me.”
Mark 9:22b-27
22b But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
It’s easy for many of us to relate to the father in this encounter, since we’ve also felt defeated by the enemy at times and bewildered about what to do. In the quicksand of our experiences, we turn to Jesus. That’s what this father did. His faith was pretty wimpy, but at least he was looking in the right direction.
Perhaps Jesus smiled when He heard the father’s doubt: “If you can?” In other words: Think about what you just said. Of course I can! Jesus didn’t criticize the man, but He did want the father to realize he had no reason for weak faith. Then the Lord uttered one of the most powerful sentences in the New Testament: “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Everything you do in life—relationships, marriage, family life, work, and decisions—will only be “successful” to the degree you are able to flex your muscle of faith and trust Almighty God. Our only escape from spiritual attack is through faith in a God who can do everything possible to come to our aid.
Unfortunately, Jesus’ declaration is often misused. When people hear, “Everything is possible for the one who believes,” they sometimes interpret that statement as a blanket promise that, if we just believe hard enough, we’ll get whatever we ask for.
Other Scriptures passages clarify the truth:
- “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
- “This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).
God is not a genie in a bottle. As long as we are centered in Christ and His will, God will provide everything we need (i.e., all things will be possible for us). What does He ask of us? Faith. He will move the mountains in our lives, and He will remove us from spiritual bondage and confusion, but we must trust Him to do it.
In Mark 9, the issue wasn’t Jesus’ ability—He is all-powerful. Instead, the issue was the father’s faith. To that end, the father responded to Jesus with one of the most transparent statements in the gospels: “I do believe; help my unbelief!”
The next moment is touching. After Jesus forced the demon out, the boy “became like a corpse.” Jesus took the boy’s hand and “raised him.” That term, “raised him,” is the same one used throughout the New Testament to speak of God raising Jesus from the dead. (See Acts 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; Eph. 1:20.) Our God, who raised Jesus from the dead, works powerfully to raise us out of our darkest situations.
Mark 9:28-29
28 After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it
out?” 29 And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
Jesus had helped the father with his faith; now He needed to help His disciples with theirs. In a private
discussion, the disciples wanted to know why they’d failed. We should applaud their self-evaluation,
but in their introspection they were still looking at themselves. “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” (emphasis
added). Their mistake was in looking only at their own abilities and strength.
Just like the boy’s father, the disciples also needed to continually exercise faith. They had failed to match
up with the enemy because they failed to trust in and depend on God.
When Jesus said, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer,” He wasn’t making a distinction—as
though only certain demons require prayer to cast them out, but others don’t. The truth is that whenever
we engage in spiritual battle, we need to pray and express our faith in the One with all the power.
(See Eph. 6:18.) Only prayer moves us from relying on our strengths (which are actually weaknesses) to
trusting the all-powerful God who desires to set us free and has the power to do so.
Prayer is an expression of our total dependence upon God; it shows we need God’s intervention in something
we can’t do on our own. Prayer is indispensable in spiritual warfare, and our faith is strengthened when
we pray earnestly. It’s in response to prayer that God unleashes “the immeasurable greatness of his
power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength” (Eph. 1:19).
Unfortunately, many Christians are not aware of their authority in Jesus Christ, which means we often
lack confidence to stand against spiritual attacks. We’ll study in a later session the armor God has given
us to stand and engage in battle, but let’s note for the moment that any confidence we have to stand
against the enemy is not self-confidence; it’s confidence in Jesus Christ—the One with all power and
authority on whom we totally depend.
LIVE IT OUT
What steps can you take to ground yourself in Christ as preparation for the enemy’s attacks? Consider the following suggestions:
- Pray often. Ask God to increase and strengthen your faith. Make it a habit to ask God to strengthen your faith and guide you into a deeper truth in Him.
- Pray daily. Stop relying on yourself as you face difficulties and spiritual attacks. Express your total dependence on God through prayer at the beginning of each day.
- Pray constantly. Invite the presence of Jesus into every situation. Form the discipline of continually conversing with God’s Spirit as you encounter new situations and circumstances throughout each day.
As disciples of Jesus, we don’t need to look for a “demon under every bush”—but neither should we be unaware or unprepared. Use prayer to keep yourself intimately connected with God’s power through Jesus Christ.
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Teacher's Notes:
The Point: Demonic forces are real, but Christ is greater.
The Point: Demonic forces are real, but Christ is greater.
Introduction: One of my all-time favorite novels is The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It was later made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. The central character in the book is a boy named Jody Baxter. One day his father is bitten by a rattlesnake, so he shoots a doe and uses its liver to draw the poison. Jody notices that the doe has a fawn. After his father passes the crisis stage, Jody goes back and finds the fawn and raises it as a pet. As Jody’s father recovers from the snakebite, he explains to his son that the snake was only defending himself. Jody’s mother was not pleased with that observation, and she said to him, “You’d defend the devil himself.” Jody’s father replied, “I reckon I would. A lot of times the devil gets blamed for what ain’t nothin’ but human cussedness.” The father had a point. We humans are pretty good at creating our own problems, so we must be careful about blaming everything on the devil or demons. Be that as it may, the Bible has a great deal to say about demons, and we would make a mistake if we were to ignore it. Demons are still active in the world today, but we need not tremble in fear, because our Lord is greater.
In his introduction to The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis wrote: “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 or a magician with the same delight”
I. Evil Spirits – Demons – Seek to Destroy Us
Mark 9:17-22a
17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.” 19 He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” 20 So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 “How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said. 22a “And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him.
I. A desperate situation.
Jesus and three of His disciples had just come down from the mountain after the transfiguration, and were met by a large crowd.
- A man told Jesus that his son was possessed by a demon. The demon caused the boy to be mute, and it also caused him to have violent spasms. It even tried to get the boy to harm himself (v. 22).
Some have argued that the boy was not really possessed, but suffered from epilepsy. Epilepsy was well-known in Greco-Roman culture, though they didn’t understand its causes. Thus, it is unlikely that the people of Israel would have confused it with demon possession.
Does demon possession still occur today?
- If I understand Scripture correctly, demons can never possess a follower of Jesus.
- We must be careful about what we blame on demon possession. Nevertheless, demon possession is real. • When I was in seminary, I used to preach at the Memphis Union Mission. One night I was preaching, and a man in the front row suddenly got hostile and started spouting all kinds of threats and curse words. I had to call the staff to escort him out. Many of the tenants in the mission were drug addicts and alcoholics, so I didn’t think much about it at first. As I drove home that night, I thought about what set him off. I was preaching from that great Christological hymn in Philippians 2, and when I got to the part about everyone bowing before Jesus, that was when he began cursing me. Was the man demon possessed, or was he just crazy? I will probably never know!
- Can a Christian be demon-possessed? That question produces lots of disagreement among theologians. Most would say that a believer probably won't be totally possessed, but might experience some form of oppression (or very strong influence) by demons. The Bible does describe followers of God coming under the influence of evil spirits—King Saul disobeyed God's instruction, and the Bible says, "The Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit … tormented him" (1 Samuel 16:14, NIV). Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was possessed by Satan (Luke 22:3). And an evil spirit influenced Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, to lie to their fellow Christians and to God (Acts 5), leading to their deaths.
- It's safe to say, however, that a Christian who is filled by God's Spirit cannot be possessed by a demon. Christ has delivered believers from the kingdom of darkness, and no demon or anything else can separate them from the eternal and everlasting love of God (see Colossians 1:13 and 1 John 4:4). Romans 8:38-39 says, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (NIV).
Why were the disciples unable to cast out the demon?
- The disciples were unable to cast out the demon.
- Mark noted that some scribes were present (v. 14). They were likely keeping tabs on Jesus. They were probably mocking the disciples for their inability to cast out the demon.
- Jesus rebuked the crowd for their unbelief. “Faithless and perverse generation” – Some scholars believe Jesus was addressing His disciples, while others believe He was talking to the scribes. Personally, I believe He was speaking to both. “How long shall I be with you?” – Jesus was soon going away, but His disciples had not done so well in His absence. • “We can always come to Jesus when others fail us” (A.T. Robertson).
Points: Satan and his demonic forces continue to be active doing their evil and destructive work, even in the lives of the innocent. The battle with evil forces is an ongoing struggle. Those who struggle with hurts often look to Christians for help. The Christian needs to be prepared to offer help and encouragement to those who suffer. Christians are to act in faith and with compassion.
II. Only Christ has Authority and Power Over Demons
Mark 9:22b-27
22b But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 Then it came out, shrieking and throwing him into terrible convulsions. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
II. A distressing conversation.
Jesus had a peculiar dialogue with the boy’s father.
- “If thou canst” – Evidently the father had a small bit of doubt. His son had suffered from this affliction for many years. Jesus’ disciples were not able to cast out the demon.
What did Jesus assure the father?
- Jesus assured him all things are possible for he who believes. Since God is all-powerful, we have no reason to doubt Him. God can work in spite of our doubts, but He often refuses to work in the midst of stubborn unbelief (Numbers 14:22-23).
If the father said he believed, why did he say, help my unbelief?
- The father asked Jesus to help his unbelief. The best way to deal with unbelief is to confess it. God is able to work in spite of our frail faith.
Points: The Lord is compassionate, all-powerful, and willing to help us in our time of great need. The question is not “Can God act?” but “Will we believe?” Our faith grows when we spend time in the Lord’s presence. No power on earth or of hell is too great for the wonder-working power of God. The work of the Lord in our lives is all-sufficient.
III. We Overcome Satan’s Attacks Through Faith and Dependence Upon Christ
Mark 9:28-29
28 After he had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 29 And he told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer.”
The disciples wanted to know why they could not cast it out.
- Earlier, they had been able to cast out demons (Mark 6:12-13).
What did Jesus tell the disciples?
- Jesus said this kind of demon could only be expelled by prayer.
- Evidently the disciples were relying on their own power and not the power of the Holy Spirit. How many times do we get so busy that we “don’t have time” to pray? The devil truly knows the power of prayer, and that’s why he does everything he can to keep us from praying.
Points: To do the Lord’s work calls for the Lord’s power. We are empowered for effective service by spending time with Him in prayer.
Conclusion: We must be balanced in our understanding of demons. On the one hand, not all evil is a result of demon possession. We humans are pretty good at making our own bad choices, so we don’t always need demons to help us in that area. We must also remember that some self-proclaimed “exorcists” are nothing but charlatans. They manipulate people in thinking that they’re being oppressed by demons, and then they “exorcise” the “demons” through further emotional manipulation. Such con artists are a reproach to the name of Jesus. On the other hand, demons are very real, and we need to be aware of them. Though they are real and dangerous, we don’t need to tremble in fear before them, because they tremble in fear before Jesus. Demonic forces are real and powerful, but they never have been and never will be any match for our Lord!
How do we stand against demonic forces? We fill our minds with the things of Christ.
1. Take captive every thought. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We … take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
2. Take on the mind of Christ. As believers, we are indwelt by His Holy Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8).
When we focus on Christ and let His Word fill our hearts and minds, we have no room for the oppressive lies and half-lies Satan’s army seeks to use against us.
In three weeks, I will address the great arsenal we have been given in Christ to stand against spiritual attacks, but let me leave you with this one great truth:
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Hope to see you on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
