Is Demon Possession Real?

We have been learning some things about Demon and Satan. These are the enemy we must defend against.

Our Text:

Mar 5:1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mar 5:2  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mar 5:3  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
Mar 5:4  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
Mar 5:5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Mar 5:6  But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mar 5:7  And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mar 5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mar 5:9  And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
Mar 5:10  And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Mar 5:11  Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
Mar 5:12  And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
Mar 5:13  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Luk 11:24  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
Luk 11:25  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Luk 11:26  Then goeth he, and taketh to him 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.

Intro:

Gadara is a city near the Sea of Galilee. The most interesting remains of that city are it’s tombs which dot the cliffs for a considerable distance around Gadara. Gadara was captured by Titus Vespasian on the first outbreak of war with the Jews. He massacred all the inhabitants and the town itself and the surrounding villages were burnt to ashes. You know even today there are some two hundred souls that come back to those tombs.

Demon possession is real. Demon are obsessed with death. They thrive in the darkness of a lost soul. They have a supernatural strength. They are the main cause of self-inflicted problems. Many things can happen to someone that is demon possessed.

I.) How Do Demon Control People?

   A.) Demonic “depression”:

The devil uses his demon to rob you of your joy. When you are without joy, you are usually depressed.

Look at Job in the Bible:

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Job 2:1  Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
Job 2:2  And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 2:3  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
Job 2:4  And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7  So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Job 2:8  And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Notice Job sat down in the ashes. Job was at the dump. Does anyone know where we get our phrase “down in the dumps”? It came from Job.

   B.) Demonic “oppression”:

1.) These demon will do everything in their power to hold back the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They “oppress” the Gospel, the Word of God.

2.) The state of being “oppressed” is to be overburdened and in misery.

Act 10:36  The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Act 10:37  That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
Act 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, [and healing all that were oppressed of the devil]; for God was with him.

   C.) Demonic “possession”:

The first thing we need to know is that a born again child of God cannot be possessed of the devil.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: [because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world].

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; [that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil];
Heb 2:15  [And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage].

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. [For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil].

The “Lost Soul”, those that do not know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, are at complete and total control of the devil and his demon.

Mar 7:25  For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27  But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
Mar 7:28  And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
Mar 7:29  And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30  And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Luk 4:33  And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
Luk 4:34  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
Luk 4:35  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
Luk 4:36  And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

Luk 9:42  And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.
Luk 9:43  And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,

II.) How do these things happen?

   A.) The devil will bombard people with secret hidden messages:

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  [And take the helmet of salvation], and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Paul said we need a helmet!

   B.) Satan takes the long term approach:

Satan has patience. As long as you are lost, he is not in any big hurry. How many people do you see come under immediate attack if they come under conviction in a church.

We must also take the long term approach! It starts with our children.

1.) Cartoons:

Satan goes after the small children, toddlers and preschoolers.

Deu 18:10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Deu 18:11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Deu 18:12  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

I honestly do not know what children watch today but in my day as a parent.

a.) The Smurf’s:

What were they? They were wizards.
They had a cat named Asreal. Whoever heard of such a name? Asreal is, in the occult chief of demon.

b.) The Masters of the Universe. We have only one Master. His name is Jesus.
They had Queen Sherah. Whoever heard of this woman. She was an early prostitute of the Bible.

1Ch 7:23  And when he went in to his wife, she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house.
1Ch 7:24  (And his daughter was Sherah, who built Bethhoron the nether, and the upper, and Uzzensherah.)

We can laugh and call these things coincidental but do you pay attention to what your children are watching? These are acts of Satan and there are many others.

2.) Movies:

Satan goes after the young school age children and those of all ages.

You can hardly find many movies even on the T V where the Christian is not bashed. Most all of them are immoral and getting worse. Openly gay and lesbians so called sitcoms are all over the T V. There nothing funny about these people and it is not a lifestyle. It’s immorality.

The language in the Movies and T V is pathetic. Not many places of business will allow such talk in public.

Look at the millions that the Harry Potter movies have made.

Most young actresses that dress so scantily are just models of what your young children will be dressed like in the coming weeks to be like them and the shelves are already stocked. Now who could figure that?

3.) Music:

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: [the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created].
Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Isa 14:11  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and [the noise of thy viols]: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

We must remember that Lucifer “is” the prince of the power of the air. Does that mean the wind or the air waves?

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, [according to the prince of the power of the air], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Satan has his music aimed at our teens and preteens!

Some famous music:

KISS= (K)nights (I)n (S)atan’s (S)ervice
WASP= (W)e (A)re (S)exual (P)erverts

The Grateful Dead

Gangster Rap

Wake up America!

4.) Drugs:

Aimed at teens and above and more and more these monsters are seen at our elementary schools.

Have you ever noticed there are never any good things done under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Only drunk drivers killing innocent people and drugs controlling our young people.
Thefts to support their habit. Families that break up.

Anything that you would not do in your right mind you will do under the influence of drugs.

III.) Why does Satan possess?

   A.) Satan wants us all dead!

Mar 5:13  And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and [were choked in the sea].

Notice even these pigs(swine) were killed once they were possessed by demon.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; [that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil];
Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

1.) Suicide: Now we cannot blame every suicide on demon possession but there are many that we can.

We need to let God control our lives!

The Words of Jesus.

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Joh 6:40  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Apostle Peter before he became an Apostle:

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

2.) Accidents: We should remember these words that Jesus said of Satan.

Joh 10:10  [The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy]: (I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly).

Now not all accidents are true accidents. Satan is behind many more than we know.

Drugs, Drunks, Murder, Extreme Violence and more.

3.) Murder: Remember we are made in the image of God. Every time Satan has some one murdered, he relishes the fact that he has killed some one that resembles God.

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 9:6  Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Of Satan:

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is evident that all crime and evil is on the rise throughout America and the World. Now the statistics are changed just to keep the reported numbers down. Just this week more than two hundred people were murdered according to the news. These people were not in a war zone unless you believe in demon, then we are all in the war zone.

Satan knows his time is short!

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

IV.) THERE IS BUT ONE AND ONE ONLY HOPE!

   A.) Jesus Christ:

1.) The Gadarene was not the same once he met Jesus:

Mar 5:15  And they come to Jesus, [and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind]: and they were afraid.

Mar 5:18  And when he was come into the ship, [he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him].

2.) Only Jesus Christ can change our nature:

Mar 5:1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mar 5:2  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mar 5:3  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
Mar 5:4  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
Mar 5:5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

Compare:

Mar 5:15  And they come to Jesus, and [ see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind]: and they were afraid.

3.) This former demon possessed person is now in obedience to Christ our Lord:

Mar 5:19  Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
Mar 5:20  And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

Jesus gave him the same commandment he gives to us:

Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

“Disobedience” is of the Devil:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Eph 5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Jesus Christ is LOVE:

2Jn 1:3  Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

2Jn 1:6  And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Jesus will one day cast Satan, the Devil, into the burning lake of fire:

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Let’s Pray!