An Exposé on Demon Possession

Luke 4:33-35

Last time we saw Jesus preach and it scared a demon who had possessed someone in attendance. We talked about how demons believe the truth, and shudder at any confrontation with the Son of God.

Whenever a demon manifested itself through a person, it was obvious to everybody what it was.  It was never confused with mental illness, paranoia, schizophrenia, or otherwise. Never was demon possession associated with craziness, or irrationality, because when demons manifested themselves they were always rational.  Whenever there was a conversation between Jesus and a demon, it was on the level.  This demon knew who He was. He knew that Jesus was going to destroy him and the others. You may ask, “And Satan too, right?” Let’s never forget that Satan is just a demon. He has become elevated in our minds because he is their leader. But he’s every bit a demon just as Michael and Gabriel are angels and not something to elevate as being some far superior creation. [interestingly, he is 1/3^rd of the named angels, just as 1/3^rd fell] Many think angels and demons are equal therefore God and Satan are equals. Not hardly. The former created the latter, and will destroy him.

There are crazy people for sure, and then there are possessed people, and the difference is clear. When one loses his mind, he is out of control. A demoniac is very much under control…the control of another. Let’s discuss some people whom we may think did things by influence of demons. [Hitler / politicians / 9/11 / child predator / child killer / trafficker / Charlie Kirk killer]

Most possessed people didn’t invite it, but the demon found occasion with them. But it is also possible that somebody could be demon possessed by invitation.  I think there are people who get into Satanism, who invite Satan, who invite demons and certainly become possessed. 

But we need to remember that we often give Satan credit for sins that are really formed by our own flesh. “The devil made me do it!”

It is possible that a demon could make a person lunatic, as the New Testament word is in the case of one boy who was acting in a deranged way, or a maniac such as at Gadara.  But when confrontation eventually came with the demon, there was rational confrontation at that point. [interesting that even when cast into the swine those pigs would rather be dead!]

And it never happens more than when the kingdom of darkness is being assaulted by the truth of Christ.

So, even unbelievers in the Synagogue knew that the person was manifesting demon possession.  They might not know a person was demon possessed if it wasn't an outward manifestation. But once there was a manifestation the spiritual pathology was unique to demon possession so that they knew it was demon possession.  It was a kind of extreme and bizarre behavior where there was another entity, another personality within that person, and it was apparent.  So it doesn't take a gift of discernment.  The gift of discernment, by the way, in the Bible is not the gift that says you can walk up to somebody and spot a demon in them.  That is ridiculous.  That is not the gift of discernment.  Discernment is the knowledge of the truth by which you can measure error.  It has nothing to do with being able to spot invisible demons.  The only way you will know that the person is demon possessed is if there is a manifestation and in that manifestation there will be extreme, bizarre behavior and evil rationality.

Demon possession then is a phenomenon that occurred on an amazing scale during the time of Jesus.  For the rest of biblical history, it seems to be very rare.  And it will escalate again, at the end of the age. When Jesus raptures His church, He removes the restraint of the Holy Spirit. The salt of the earth is no longer here preserving.  All hell breaks loose.  The demons that are now bound in chains in hell are released. They come up to earth, join the ones that are already here and they wreak havoc during the time of the tribulation which is described from Revelation 6 to 19, also 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.  But it is a rare occasion and again we can understand why because they are exposed.  There are demon possessed people, I think, at all times. They don't always manifest themselves.  I think there were even more demon-possessed people during the time of Christ because the demons were moving in trying to hold on to the souls of men who were being influenced by the powerful preaching of Jesus. 

But there's no such thing as a demon-possessed Christian.  Salvation is deliverance from that kingdom.  Going around saying, "Well your problem is you've got a demon of post-nasal drip and a demon of earache and the demon of falling hair and the demon of whatever, so go into your house and pray out the demons in your house.  That is just absolute foolishness.  Pronouncing sentence upon demons and binding demons isn’t our job...first of all, you can't do it, second, you don't need to do it if you could do it, it's been done.  You have been delivered out of that kingdom.

Now there are a few New Testament expressions that describe demon possession.  You need to know what they are.

First: “Having a demon.”  [echon]

That's used sixteen times in the New Testament.  It's the most common one.  It simply means a person was indwelt and controlled or sometimes rendered, “tormented.” Since the person cannot resist the control they are therefore tormented by that control.  It is a supernatural phenomenon. 

And as I said, demons are rational.  They are personal spirits.  They talk, they scream, they possess knowledge.  They show fear.  It was something that was very different than some schizophrenia or some paranoia or some bizarre kind of lack of reality.  Though not a physical disease, there could be physical torments associated with it. 

Another thing to know about it is that nowhere does Jesus speak of the forgiveness of sins with regard to demon-possessed people.  You have all these occasions where Jesus is confronted by demon-possessed people, and He casts out the demons.  Never in any of those, not one single time, is there any discussion of the forgiveness of sins, which is interesting.  Sometimes when Jesus healed people of physical diseases, there was a discussion about the forgiveness of sins.  Never, after curing someone who had a demon did Jesus speak of the forgiveness of sins.  And that is to say they were not necessarily the most wicked people.  Jesus never said you got this way because you're the most wretched, vile, wicked person.  That's not true.  They weren't necessarily the most wicked; nor were they necessarily penitent.  There's no discussion of some of them believing or repenting. 

The point here is not the demon-possessed person.  That's not where the story goes.  The point is, Jesus had power over the demons. That's the point.  The focal point of the story is His power over demons to show that He can break the power of hell and set the prisoners free.  It’s not about how wicked one is.  This is verified in that there were little children who were demon possessed.  And it would be hard to argue that they were the most wicked of all.

Later, the apostles were given the power to cast out demons as well.  But once Jesus and the apostles passed off the scene, the only way any sinner will ever be delivered from demons ultimately is to be saved.  This was an exhibition of messianic power at that time.  True deliverance only occurs when Christ comes into the life of a person and delivers that person through the power of the gospel.

The second phrase...“demonized.”

Daimonizomai, used thirteen times, describes the same thing. As a sidenote: these expressions are not ever used to describe demon influence.  I mean, we are all influenced.  Satan is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the world and all of that.  He's presently over the kosmos, the evil system, and we all feel his influence.  That's different. 

They influence, according to the New Testament, in false doctrine, 1 Timothy 4:1.  They influence in immorality. They influence us in attitudes of jealousy, divisiveness, and pride, James 3:13 - 16.  In other words, the demons have created a world system that sends temptation toward us.  But demonized people were not just influenced. They were dominated, they were controlled and they were tormented. 

The demons literally spoke through the vocal cords of the individual, such as Matthew 8:29, or if they wanted to, they kept him from speaking, Matthew 12:22.  The demons caused blindness, Matthew 12:22, gave supernatural physical strength, Mark 5:3, promoted nakedness. The original streaker was a demon-possessed guy in Mark 5.  And it wasn't anything immoral. It wasn't some evil immodesty on his part. It wasn't sort of lewd conduct, it was torment.  It was embarrassing.  It was shameful.  It was hideous to be constantly running around naked because you were being tormented and driven to do that by a demon, to say nothing of being cold if it was in the winter.

You also have in the New Testament phrases like "entering in," "going out," "came out," "cast out," referring to demonized people.  Here you can see in verse 35, Jesus says, "Come out of him," which indicates that there was indwelling and there was control because the demon had taken the man's voice and used it and there was torment because the demon threw the man down in the middle, although Jesus prevented him from doing any harm to him.

A third phrase…"with an unclean spirit." [today’s text]  One other phrase is used in Acts 5:16, "afflicted with unclean spirits.”

But usually, the demons want to maintain subtlety and be clandestine because it's more effective.  But when it does manifest itself, it shows up in the ways that we see it in the New Testament.  It shows up in these forms of torment. It shows up in fear and terror and panic at the preaching of the gospel.

Matthew 12:43-45

⁴³ When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. ⁴⁴ Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. ⁴⁵ Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

This is an analogy.  The person who is demon possessed is like a house.  The demon is like an occupant.  This is like a man who leaves his home and what does he do?  He wanders out in the desert, he's roaming around in waterless places. He can't find a place to rest.  He thought the grass was greener but there was no grass and there was no water and so he says, "I better go back to my house."  Well he comes back and guess what?  The place is unoccupied, swept and put in order. The man's cleaned up his act.  The house is clean.  This even makes it more inviting.

What that means is he's gotten more religious.  All the better; the demons would rather occupy a very religious man than a very irreligious man.  Is that not true?  Because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his ministers are disguised as angels of light.  So now they go back, they find this guy, he's had a little moral cleansing, and cleaned up his act.  So the demon brings seven buddies with him.  And now there's eight of them living in the guy. 

Jesus said, "That's how it is with this evil generation."  If you've never dealt with your sin, you're never going to be delivered.  You have no control.  You might have one demon, you might have a time when the demon's gone and you might have eight coming back.  You don't have any control over that.  That's the way it is to live in a state of being in the kingdom of darkness under the power of Satan.  You're susceptible to that.

False religion is the door of access very often to demons.  But we don't want to draw hard and fast laws on that. I think demons may come into unbelieving people at any point that they desire to come in.  They want to find a place where they can be most effective.

In the Bible we find possession usually in pagan areas, like Galilee, which was of the Gentiles. No don’t see it so much in Jerusalem. And in modern incidents of demon possession we see them occur in Third World pagan countries more often.  Missionaries tell stories about that.  These people are often infested with demons with these pagan forms of religion.  That's not to say, however, that demons also don't work in false religion that bears the name of Christianity.  I don't want to make any hard and fast rules.  All I'm saying is demons aren't limited to people who are particularly wicked, but they are limited to people who are unconverted and they seem more interested in getting involved in people who are in false religion and that fits the picture of Satan as the inventor and purveyor of all false religions.

In the light of what we've said, there is a world of unconverted people who are under Satan's influence.  Some of them are possessed by demons.  It really doesn't matter because when the gospel comes they're all liberated. 

The gospel is so powerful.  It is the power of God unto salvation.  Jesus just preached the gospel and the demons reacted in panic.

I think the demons tremble even when the gospel is preached today, don't you?  This again is a call for preachers to preach the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ and set all the other stuff aside.  Demons don't shudder and panic because of outlines and great illustrations and our human manipulations. They shudder under the power of the clear preaching of the gospel of deliverance.