Drive Out Demons Luke 11:24-26, NIV. "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." This morning I'd like to share a message with you entitled, "Drive Out Demons." Jesus spoke about the trouble of a spiritually unoccupied house (Luke 11:24-26). An evil spirit took a person hostage. But it was driven out of the man and went through arid places seeking rest and could not find it. It wandered around. It returned to the house it had left and found it swept clean and put in order. But the house was unoccupied. The house owner drove out the evil spirit but did not invite God into his house. Then it went and took seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they went back into the house and lived there. The final condition of that man was worse than the former condition. Each one of us is like a house, with a room for our spirit. In that house God or an evil spirit will come in because it is a spiritual house. The Bible says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, God’s Spirit comes into our hearts as our master. If we don’t believe in Jesus, our hearts become empty and our enemy, an evil spirit, comes and occupies that space. We human beings are occupied whether by God’s Spirit or by Satan’s spirit. The Holy Spirit will live there or Satan’s spirit will come and abide. 1. The relationship between the devil and demons Where does Satan and demons come from? Why is there a devil and demons in this world? The bible teaches us that the devil was one of the archangels. He was called “morning star”. Gabriel, Michael and “morning star” were the archangels. But “morning star” betrayed God and one third of the angels of heaven fell into temptation. They were deported from God and became demons and the devil. Isaiah 14:12-15 says, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” The devil wanted to usurp the throne of God and one third of the angels of heaven took part in this conspiracy. Because of their treason, they were all driven out and became the demons and devil of hell. John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” The devil and demons do nothing but steal, kill and destroy. They steal every beautiful gift of God: love, faith, hope, righteousness, peace, joy etc. Brothers and sisters, demons are the servants of the devil. Demons help the devil to oppose God and steal, destroy and kill the relationship between God and humans. But when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior, the devil is driven out and the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ comes into our hearts and stays with us. Jesus has come to us that we may have life, and have it to the full. Jesus is the source of life and the devil is the king of destruction. That’s why we must accept Jesus Christ in our hearts and drive out demons. 2. Work of demons that live together with people In this world demons have been close to people for a long time. That’s why they don’t realize the demons are next to them. Demons become like friends and a family member. They influence our society. People live together with demons but they don’t realize whether demons come or go. They don’t know what demons are like. Demons live together with people and cling to people. The first phase is “obsession”. When people go to school or to the marketplace, wherever they go, demons cling to them. Acts 8:4-7 says, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.” As soon as the people received Jesus, evil spirits could no longer stay with them. With shrieks, the demons came out of them. Evil spirits cannot stand before Jesus Christ. Demons then move on to the next step. The stage is called “oppression”. They oppress people. Demons lead people. They drag them. When demons oppress people, they drive them to wherever they want. Even though I don’t want to go somewhere I will go because demon drags me by force. I don’t want to do this, but I do because a demon drives me. I don’t want to take the drug but I take it because a demon oppresses me. The third phase is “depression”. Demons depress people. When people are helpless they feel sorrow. They want to lead a life of righteousness but they cannot do so. By their own strength they cannot walk the right way because they are in the phase of “depression”. Gradually depression occupies their hearts. They are in the doldrums; they feel sorry for themselves and finally don’t want to live anymore. They feel lost and some of them even commit suicide. They go on to the last step: “possession”. Demons completely seize people. Matthew 8:16 says, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” Wherever Jesus went, He drove out demons and healed people. He trusted this mission to His disciples. He let them preach: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is come.” He let them drive out demons and heal sickness and disease. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Even today our churches should drive out demons and heal disease when we gather together. This is Jesus’ command. But we’re not doing this. Nowadays, pastors are well educated but they regard Jesus’ command as superstition. They don’t follow the Word. Well, maybe they are learned in a worldly way but in the heavenly way, they are not educated. We should do what the Lord has said to do. Today many people are suffering because of demons. Even in church we don’t pay attention to this fact. Our churches should repent and once again we should drive out demons and heal sickness. When I started a church in Bul-Gyuang-Dong, I confronted an evil spirit for the first time. I lived in a shabby hut right beside the church. One Saturday evening I was preparing for the evening worship service. Suddenly I heard somebody was laughing. “ha ha ha ha …!” It was very scary, very weird; it sounded demonic. In a few minutes somebody was knocking on my door. I said “Please, come in!” It was the wife of the chief doctor in the general hospital of our village. She was the richest church member in our church. Somehow half of her body was paralyzed and she could not walk rightly. Her husband who was a doctor did his best to heal his wife but failed. When she came to my office, she looked pale. She said to me “Pastor! I cannot stop laughing. It isn’t me who is laughing. I was covered in goose bumps when I heard the laughing sound. What could I do? Why is this happened to me?” “I didn’t know either.” I was scared! She is the wife of a doctor. What if people said she went mad because she came to our church? I thought I didn’t want to be responsible for her. So I quickly said to her “Oh, please go back home and take a rest.” “But I want to attend today’s worship service,” she replied. I said, “Please, don’t come to church for awhile.” She answered, “What? Why are you telling me not to come to church? You told me to come and now because I laughed, are you going to stop me from coming?” All I could say was “Ah…!” I felt very uneasy. I finished with “Please relax at home.” After the lady left the church, I asked God “Please, don’t let her come to our church. I don’t think I can handle it. Her laughter is so scary!” Then on Monday morning when I was leading an early prayer meeting, I was surprised because she was there. I found myself sweating all over. I didn’t know what to do. I started to preach my sermon but out of ‘the blue’ this lady stood up and began to laugh, “ a ha ha ha ha….” People left the church one by one. Only she and I were left in the church. I asked her. “Sister, you are a refined and well educated lady. Why are you laughing like this in a public worship service?” She glared at me with a fierce look. “Shut up! You stupid jerk.” I replied in shock, “How can you use such words?” “I’ve been in this body for the last 10 years. This is my house. Then you tempted her to come to church and tried to drive me out; far from it!” “Who are you?” “Who am I? I’m a demon.” I said “Hey, you’re joking. Please stop talking like that ? a demon?” “This thing doesn’t know anything but it dares to do its job. I’ll kill you today!” She sprang at me and grabbed me by the collar. I thought I’d die. So I pushed her and tried to run away. As I ran around in our tent church, she followed me. At last I asked myself “Didn’t the Lord say, ‘drive out evil spirits and heal diseases’? Maybe this is really a demon.” So I turned and commanded it “You evil spirit! Sit down.” “Sit down? Okay I’ll sit down. Now, what are you going to do?” I sat down too and declared “In the name of Jesus I command you, ‘Come out of this woman.’” “I’ll not!” “Come out”. “No!” It was summer season. I kept shouting from daybreak until 7 pm. I repeated the same words over and over again; and she answered the same phrase over and over again. We both skipped meals; there wasn’t even any time to drink water. Finally I started to fret. Regardless of how hard I tried there were no results. What could I do? Soon her husband would return home and if he couldn’t find his wife at home, he would come to church to seek her. What if he believed that I made her like this? I was so anxious. I shouted “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I command, come out of her!” It replied “You are still green. Are you daring to kick me out?” “Whether I’m green or red is not the question. I’m commanding you in the name of Jesus. I’m not doing this by my own strength. I don’t care if I’m green. In the Name of Jesus, come out!” It said, “You know well.” And then she collapsed to the ground, started shrieking loudly. As she kept screaming, I kept commanding in the Name of Jesus continually. Then she opened her mouth and started vomiting. After vomiting for a while she fell flat on her face. “She must be dead!” I thought myself. It is better to make noise than die. What could I do? My knees were shaking. I almost passed out. “Are you okay? Please, wake up! Wake up! Oh my God. She must be gone. Please save her. Let her wake up.” After a while she stood up and said “I’m not dead. Demons have left my body.” While you were fighting against the demons I was hearing everything that you were commanding and in turn what the demons answered, but could not do anything. I just had to wait. At the end the demons said to each other. “This jerk knows what is right. If he does not know, he’d give up. He knows the power of the Name of Jesus. We can’t stay anymore. Let’s get out of here.” The chief demon said “you go first and then you second and then you third... Escape in turn. One two three… go!” They left one by one and at last the chief demon went out from me. After that deliverance, the lady felt peace. I said to her. “Do me a favor. Please go back to your home before your husband comes home from the hospital. Let’s talk about it later. Okay? Please.” Only after she left did I come to feel at ease. I left the tent church and sat down for a rest. I saw her coming back to church, screaming again. “Not again! God! She is coming back.” “Pastor - pastor!” She called me from a distance. “Now everything is over. Our church won’t be able to go on,” I thought to myself. But this lady was jumping and dancing. “Look at me! I was paralyzed. Now I can walk rightly. I became completely healthy!” This lady’s husband, the doctor was moved, and the next Sunday he showed up in the church. He had decided to believe in Jesus. He gave a testimony at church. “I have tried my best for my wife. I took her to all kinds of hospitals who gave her all kinds of medicine to heal her disease. But she only became a cripple. I have visited many doctors. But last Monday she came back home completely healed. She said that she was healed in this church. I believe God’s doing something in this church. Now my wife is healed. I want to believe in Jesus too.” Her whole family was saved. Brothers and sisters, demons cling to us and then they try to drag us by force. They oppress us and occupy us completely in order to steal, kill and destroy us. 3. Demonic deeds recorded in the bible The devil’s temptations are like fishing. A man drops a line with bait on a hook into the water and a fish must think the bait nice food. It will take it into his mouth. Without knowing it is then hooked and the fish line is reeled in. The fish hasn’t any chance of escape, and would very shortly after die. If we are captured by the devil, sufficient sufferings are waiting for us. We should pay the cost if we followed the devil before we were captured by him. 1 John 2:16 says, “For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -comes not from the Father but from the world.” The devil accuses people. Revelation 12:10 says, “For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” There are people who others criticize day and night. They accuse people and make lies. The devil is the slanderer. It stays with people who accuse others without cause. We should drive out the devil of accusation. We should not let the spirit of slander rule our hearts. Behind any disharmony, jealousy, and resentment, the devil is de facto power. James 3:14-16 says, “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” We should know there’s earthly wisdom which is unspiritual, of the devil. Especially when we have abnormal feelings in our hearts, the devil comes and attacks us. I experienced it before. Sometimes I was greatly anxious without special reason. Nothing was happened but I worried and felt uneasy. What was troubling me? I tried listening to music, exercising, but I could not get away from the anxious feelings. When I realized it was because of a demon I rebuked it. “You demon of anxiety, get out of here. In the name of Jesus, come out!” Then it would come out. And finally I would feel peace again. Often when hatred, greed, anxiety or abnormal feelings invaded my heart, I would fire back to the devil and declare “this is God’s territory. I’m not going to be oppressed by you, evil spirit! Come out!” I would resist the devil and drive it out and the Holy Spirit would bring peace to me. We should guard our hearts. Don’t leave your heart empty! Our God is making your heart to become peaceful. He is not oppressing you. All the time when the devil comes there is chaos, confusion and disharmony. There is power behind such scenes. We should be aware of this. In the Name of Jesus we should drive out such a spirit! Luke 9:39 says, “A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.” When an evil spirit seizes a man it destroys his life. It puts him into abnormal thinking patterns. Heretical doctrines also come from the devil. The devil lets heresy mislead people. It distracts them from faith in Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Sometimes people get sick because of demons. Not always but there are many diseases which come from demons. Many people suffer from them. Matthew 9:32-33 says, “While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.’” The Bible gives an example of demon-possession. The man could not talk because he was demon-possessed. When people brought him to Jesus, and he knew it was because of the demon in him. As soon as Jesus drove the demon out, the man spoke. Acts 10:38 says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Many times the devil abuses people through sickness and diseases. Luke 13:11-13 says, “a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” This is another example of demon-possession. A woman, who had been oppressed by a spirit, had been crippled for eighteen years. But as soon as Jesus put his hands on her and said “You are set free!” she straightened up. According to the Bible the deeds of demons are like this. They are unclean, causing many kinds of diseases and sicknesses. They accuse people before God. Demons cause people to fall into temptation and prevent them from praying. They cause chaos. They deceive people and make them abandon the faith but let them follow the teaching of the devil. Demons snatch away what we have got from God - the message of the Gospel from our hearts. They are our enemies who sabotage our spiritual growth. They are the powers of this dark world. They are against the Gospel. They disturb heavenly ministry. Even today, they try every possible means to make us depart from God. They attack us constantly with lies, hatred, murder, sexual immoralities, worldly temptations, accusations, disharmony, diseases, and heretical doctrines, etc. They even attack chosen people to make them corrupt. They are frantic, trying to get one more single person as their prey. Therefore we should be alert and stand against the power behind all evil forces in the Name of Jesus. Didn’t Jesus say, “In my name drive out demons”? We’ve got the power over them in Jesus. 4. Jesus’ words about demons Luke 10:17-19 says, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” We have been given the authority to drive out demons. When we believe in Jesus, God gave each one of us power and authority to overcome all the powers of our enemy. Whether we can feel it or not, we’ve got the power. Please repeat after me. “In Jesus’ name, I’ve got the power to overcome the devil.” Act like the one who’s got the power. Don’t be afraid. Don’t’ tremble before demons. “Okay, I made a mistake. Sorry. I’m going.” Please don’t talk like that to the devil. Straighten your shoulders. Hold your head up high and say, “You evil spirit! In Jesus’ name, get out! I’ve got the power from the Lord.” Then they will flee from you. We should be aware that we are empowered by God. If we don’t know who we are, we cannot use the authority of Jesus. If we know who we are, and in whose name we can drive out the devil, the enemy of this world cannot stand before us. Philippians 2:9-10 says, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,” In the name of Jesus every knee should bow down. Matthew 10:1 says, “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” You have God given exousia-power. This is a special power. With it you can do something great. You have God given dynamis-power. You are able to do special things. You are strong enough. It looks like you don’t have much physical power but you are equipped with God-given spiritual power. Remember you have authority therefore use it! Jesus has told us to always drive out demons. He didn’t say ‘live together with demons’. What Jesus told us, isn’t just advice but a command! Use this authority and drive out demons. 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” We must drive out demons in our daily life. When you wake up in the morning declare “you demon! Get out of my life. Stay away from my family. Stay away from my work place, my business! Don’t’ interrupt my peace from God.” When we are resisting the devil, it will flee away. Then you can enjoy a demon-free life. Jesus said in Mark 16:17, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons.” Drive them out. If demons are clinging to your life, there will always be trouble and worries. We can stop these troubles and worries by driving out evil spirits. They will not come out until we command them. You should command them to come out. Let us not forget what Jesus has entrusted with us. In His name we can drive out demons, heal sickness and disease and perform miracles. Each one of us is called by God and each one of us has received God’s power. Nowadays, people don’t like to talk about demons anymore. They won’t talk about the existence of demons. They don’t teach what the scripture says about the devil. Many people live with demons. Many people are suffering troubles and diseases which are caused by demons. I encourage you to always drive out demons and you will enjoy true freedom in Jesus in your daily lives. Let’s pray together! Dear Almighty Father! We are tempted by the devil sometimes and dragged by them. Dear heavenly Father by the power of the Holy Spirit help us. Set us free from demons and let us have freedom in You. Let us be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that we may enjoy our freedom in Jesus. In the Name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 1