Allen Jackson - Unclean Spirits
It’s good to be with you again. We’re doing a study on «Angels, Demons, and You,» the spiritual forces that shape our lives. In this session, we’re gonna talk about unclean spirits. It was more fun to talk about angels and the angelic host and 10,000 times 10,000 angels gathered around the throne of God, or the angels coming to defend Jesus, but here’s the awkward truth. There are unclean spirits, and they are just as real as the angels that help us. And we better have a plan for how to respond to them, how to thrive in their midst. Jesus said, «The thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy». I trust our boss, so we need to plan on how to flourish. Grab your Bible, get a notepad, most of all, open your heart. Let’s see what God has for us today.
We’re gonna continue our study on «Angels, Demons, and You». The «And You» part is the important piece. I really have no interest in doing theoretical discussions or historical discussions or abstract theological discussions. I think the goal is to understand how the Scripture impacts our lives and the choices we can make to give it greater authority in us. And I have truly enjoyed the sessions and the time I’ve had focused on the angels. It’s broadened my hope and my mind and my awareness of their roles. Just the magnitude, the number of angels involved with us. Jesus said he could call as many as 12 legions of angels, and 3,000 to 6,000's a legion, so there could be as many as 70,000 or more just assigned to help Jesus.
In one snapshot in the book of Revelation, there was 100 million. Just one picture, 100 million angels. It says that the angels of the children have the Father’s attention, so there’s an angel attached to each child. The numbers are getting up there. And there’s mighty angels and strong angels and powerful angels and angels with assignments to various regions of the earth and various groups of people in the earth. I have no doubt there’s a myriad of angels around us and with us tonight, hallelujah. Now, they’re not there as some abstract, ethereal creation of God the Father. They’re there because we need them. God is practical. I’ve come to under, at least I’ve come to the conclusion in my life that God is eminently more practical than I would ever be.
And if those angels are there, if there are angels in that number and that quantity and they’re ministering spirits to help us, they’re messengers on our behalf, it’s because we have a need. And I want to take a session or two or three and look at the reason why we need that help. I don’t wanna glorify it, I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to it, but to be aware of the angels and not be aware of what they’re standing against seems amazingly naive to me. Now, it’s a bit more fashionable to believe in angels than it is to believe in the devil and demons. If you say you believe in angels, you’re kinda cool. You can find pretty secular people that go, «Oh yeah, I believe in angels». They’ll take their pictures with 'em, or pictures of them. Maybe with them. But if you tell them you believe in the devil and demons, they’re gonna go, «You’re one of those people».
Well, as a matter of fact, I am. And so I want to start this evening, we’re going to start to unpack some of this by looking at unclean spirits and see if we can learn a little bit about what that means and the attitude and the posture that we’ll need to hold in order to be triumphant in the roles we’re asked to. And I couldn’t think of a better place to start than with Jesus’s ministry in Mark chapter 1. That’s very near the beginning of Mark. And Mark was the first of the Gospels that we have. Scholars pretty much universally agree that Matthew and Luke had Mark when they wrote their Gospels, one of the sources that they had available to them, and so they told some of the story that Mark didn’t tell.
Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, but I don’t believe it’s accidental that in Mark, the first of the Gospels that we have that remains, in the very first chapter, Mark begins with an account of a man who was demonized. It was a very prominent part of Jesus’s ministry. And before we get too deep into this study, and you’re trying to make a decision what you’re gonna believe and not believe, I would point out to you that Jesus not only believed in, he addressed demons.
Now, if Jesus believed in them, I’m just gonna climb out on a limb and say maybe just on an outside chance we should. If Jesus imagined that they influenced people, had an impact in his world enough that he spent time and energy and teaching around them, that perhaps you and I should create some space in our own discipleship journey for an imagination of the role of demonic activity and how we would respond to it. I don’t want you to be frightened or weird or strange. I’ve told you many times strange is not spiritual. Strange is just strange. If you think acting weird makes you spiritual, you’re confused. Mark chapter 1, verse 21, «They went into Capernaum».
Capernaum, when Jesus began his public ministry, he moved from Nazareth, a little village in the hills of Galilee, to Capernaum, a fishing village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is the largest freshwater resource in the region, and thereby it’s located on a major ancient highway. So if you had a message that you wanted to communicate, the greatest, the most valuable resource in the Middle East is freshwater, and you’d want to locate on a busy road. And that’s exactly where Jesus went, so it’s not surprising that his message is gonna spread very rapidly. But he begins in Capernaum. It says, «Immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and he began to teach. They were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes».
There’s a difference in talking about Scripture and talking as if Scripture impacted our lives. And if you’ve spent your life talking about Scripture and studying about the Bible, I would invite you to a new position, to begin to think about the Bible as if it impacted your life. It’s the difference in reading a cookbook and having a meal.
Verse 23, «Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, 'What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.' And Jesus rebuked him, 'Be quiet and come out of him.' And throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed so that they debated among themselves, saying, 'What is this, a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.' Immediately the news about him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee».
It’s an intriguing introduction to me. Before Jesus begins a healing ministry, before he’s prayed for the sick, he helps a man be set free from a demonic influence. I would submit we’ve got two primary choices. It’s not really complex. I’m a simple guy. I like things to be as simple as they can, and you have a choice. You can be an overcomer, or you’re going to be overcome. And I don’t understand from Scripture that there’s a third option. There’s not, like, a neutral place. Romans 12, and verse 21 says, «Do not be overcome by evil». Okay, but it doesn’t stop there. It says, «Overcome evil with good».
So overcoming is not just hanging on. It’s not just an endurance contest. Overcoming means we intend to overcome evil. It’s not that we just resist evil. Please, we’ve got to expand our definition. To be an overcomer means we’re gonna overcome evil. So in Romans now, it says, «Don’t be overcome by evil, overcome evil». But not with politicians or political parties or ideologies, overcome evil with good. Now, that’s gonna take us right back to God, because he’s the only one that’s good. But I want you to understand the nature of this conflict. So you don’t get frightened or threatened. You shouldn’t be arrogant. You’re no match for the devil. Don’t be flippant about that. The book is filled with stories of our heroes and the adversary was pretty good at tripping them up. If you can’t remember, think of Ishmael or Moses the murderer or David the adulterer. We can go on and on.
So it’s not something flippant. We’re going to be overcomers, or we’re gonna be overcome. And I think it’s worth noting when the book of Revelation is written, we just looked at that, so I went back to that. It begins in those first three chapters with letters to these seven churches in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. And the message is similar to each church. There’s a diagnosis of their condition, a remedy for where there are weaknesses, and then instructions given on how to finish their course. Revelation 2:7, «He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life». Verse 11, «He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death».
Verse 17, «He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna». Verse 26, «To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I’ll give authority over the nations». What’s the one consistent prerequisite? Being an overcomer. Now, I think in contemporary Christendom, we would rather be overlookers than overcomers. Overcoming suggests engagement, acknowledgment, recognition, skin in the game. Overlookers is more of the ostrich approach. Hear no evil, see no evil, do no evil. One of the challenges we face right now in our culture is because truth has fallen in the street, to borrow the words of the Prophet Isaiah.
You know, truth is just not held in high esteem. There’s a battle raging. It’s a spiritual battle underneath the surface, but because of that, we’ll find very influential people make a presentation, a speech, or a report that is absolutely fabricated. And then there’ll be an almost innumerable group of people going, «Oh, that was wonderful». It’s like the emperor’s new clothes, right? It’s overlooking. The truth is inconvenient, the truth is uncomfortable, the truth is awkward, so don’t ask. Let’s not talk about it. But what we’re called to be is overcomers, which means we have to have an accurate diagnosis. We have to be willing to look at the truth. We have to begin by telling the truth about ourselves and acknowledging the place where we are.
We’re gonna look at some resolutions for that, but don’t avoid the challenges you have, the temptations you face, the places where you emotionally struggle or where your thought life is not easy. We’ve got to tell the truth, because if we acknowledge our reality, we can overcome it. We can repent. We can forgive. We can choose a new path. But if we just choose to be overlookers, we remove ourselves completely from the arena. I think if we choose to be overlookers, we become like that unfaithful servant that buried his talents, or we become like the bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom, and they’re not prepared. Clearly the assignment is to be an overcomer. It’s not a passive response to life.
We’ve filled our churches with overlookers for so long. We overlook sin. We overlook selfishness. We overlook greed. We overlook immorality. Well, we don’t want to be critical. We don’t want to be harsh. Folks, I’m not asking you to be agitated or angry or harsh. I want you to be filled with grace and compassion, but I want you to be filled with the fear of the Lord and truth. We’re not gonna overcome without it. We’re not. Jesus wasn’t hiding. You know, that encounter in Mark chapter 1, Jesus meets in that synagogue in Capernaum a demonized man. And when Jesus leaves the synagogue, the man is there, and the demon is gone, right? Accurate portrayal? I think we’re more in the habit of removing the man and leaving the demon in place. And God is asking us to be different in our places of work and where our children go to school and the ball teams they play on.
We’re gonna have to become overcomers. We’ve been overlookers long enough. It’s a more assertive posture. I brought you to just a collection of verses. I’ll read through them pretty quickly. I’m not gonna offer a great deal of commentary. But Colossians 4, and verse 12, «Epaphas, who was one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus». He’s writing to the church in Colossae. It’s where Epaphas has come from. He says, «He’s one of you and a servant in Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you». I don’t believe it’s a euphemism. I think Paul is describing the effort with which this man prays for the church in the city from which he’s come. Wrestling in prayer.
Folks, that’s more than a one sentence, «Let’s pray,» moment. Wrestling is a full contact sport. It’s the most exhausting form of physical contact available to us. 'Cause the moment you relent, the moment you rest, the moment you release your tension, you’re done. Do you think of prayer that way, in a spiritual wrestling match? We’re gonna look at some passages. Romans 15, «I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me». He says, «I’m struggling, and I’m asking you not for money or to organize. I need you to pray». Ephesians 6, verse 12, «Our struggle is not against flesh and blood». Lots of us would like to change the punctuation and put a period after, «Our struggle is not,» full stop. But that’s not what it says. «Our struggle is not against flesh and blood».
The real battles of our lives are not with people or organizations or politicians or political parties, but our struggle is against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. He’s describing a hierarchical order to a kingdom of darkness. We’ll look at it in a bit more detail in another session, but in the same way there’s a structure to the kingdom of God, there are archangels and angels with realms of authority, in the kingdom of darkness, there is a hierarchy. Satan is a great imitator, and he imitated what he saw in the kingdom of God. And Paul said, «Our wrestling matches against these spiritual authorities in the heavenly places». 1 Timothy 6:12, «Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called when you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses».
I know all of us have seen pictures of those young men that were wading ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Probably seen some video or you’ve seen it represented either in movies or in video that was taken. I have such a vivid imagination of that. I can’t imagine what it was like. I cannot imagine. I’ve talked to some men who were a part of that invasion. The courage it takes, the moral courage it took, the determination, everything in you saying, «I’d rather not do this. Let somebody else do this».
And for us to have the renewal, the awakening, the revival, whatever word you wanna plug in, if we’re gonna see a change in the moral trajectory of the world we’re living in, it’s going to take that kind of courage from God’s people. We’re gonna have to find a different response than the one we’ve lived with. The one we’ve lived with has watched us preside over the most precipitous decline of Christian influence in the history of this nation and arguably the history of the church. Our watch. Fight the good fight of faith. 2 Corinthians 10, «For the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds». We’ve got the power of heaven to demolish those strongholds, but heaven’s waiting for us to engage, to become overcomers, to wrestle in prayer, to take up the struggle.
1 Corinthians 9, «Don’t you know»? And you know by now when the sentence starts with that, the author imagines that you don’t. «I’m reminding you,» he said, «that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize». You see, this was 1st century. Now everybody gets a participation trophy. «Run in such a way as to get the prize». Don’t do it casually. Same chapter, verse 26, «I don’t run like a man running aimlessly. I don’t fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize». What’s missing in Paul’s language is presumption. He’s not saying, «I’m the great apostle, that I met Jesus on the Road to Damascus, and this is my curriculum vitae and the miracles I’ve seen». He’s saying, «No, I keep myself under strict discipline because I don’t want to have shared the good news and then miss its benefit. I’m going to overcome».
We segment our Christian journey into kind of the way we segment our chronological lives. You know, our youth, and it’s kind of… there’s a lot of liberty in youth, you know? It’s a youthful response. We’re young and we don’t know. There’s peer pressure. Then we get to a little later in life, and well, they’re just sowing their wild oats. And then we get to another season, and well, they’re a young family and there’s a lot of liberties that go with that season. And then you get to your senior years and you go, «I’m entitled to do what I wanna do». And I think we kinda overlay that thing on our Christian life. «Well, I’m young, and there’s a lot of latitude, and there’s a lot I don’t know, and I’m allowed to have some discretionary room».
And then we get to another season of life and go, «You know, I’ve done my hard work. I’ve done my heavy lifting. I want to just sit back and enjoy this and have it easy». And I don’t think any of those parallels hold up under the direction of the coaching of Scripture. Paul said, «I don’t run like a man running aimlessly. I’m living on purpose». Same chapter. I took this from the Message because I thought it was such a good description. He said, «You’ve all been to the stadium and you’ve seen the athletes race. Everyone runs, one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me. I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not gonna get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself».
That’s not a bad passage to start your day with for a while. Why don’t you to stand with me? I’ve been telling you now for a bit that there’s kinda two postures. When we talk about the Spirit of God and the angels, you want to be guilty, we want to be guilty of extending invitations to them. You’re welcome in my life. If there’s any hurtful thing in me, I want to see it. Search my heart, O God. Those kind of prayers. On the other end of the spectrum, we talk about unclean spirits and evil spirits and demonic spirits. We want to know how to rid ourselves from their influence. God’s asking us to become a generation of overcomers, not to overcome the hurt in your life. That’s the narrowest definition of that, but to be a generation that overcomes evil that has presented in our generation. You up for that? Me too. Me too.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word, for its truth and power and influence. I pray tonight that by your Spirit, you will give it life within us. Lord, not the words of a person or the ideas of someone, but your Word. May it come to life within our hearts. Help us to see ourselves and our families and our world from your vantage point. Lord, if there are places where we’ve been deceived or we have wandered off-center, Lord, we invite you tonight, Lord, to give us a revelation of ourselves that we might turn to you. Lord, we don’t want to share with others and then miss the opportunities you created us for. Holy Spirit, we thank you for your presence, that you’re our teacher and our guide and that you give to us a revelation of Jesus. I thank you for the freedoms and liberties we have to gather in public, to worship and to pray, to read our Bibles. May we never take those for granted. Give us a spirit of boldness. Let the fear of the Lord grow within us. May we become an overcoming generation. We thank you for it in Jesus’s name, amen.