Ephesians [NLTse]
10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. 20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for Him, as I should.
Sermon – “Armed, Armored, and Ready To Go!”
Do you believe in demons? (The Bible also calls them “unclean spirits” and “evil spirits” and “evil rulers” and “powers of the air” and “principalities” and “authorities of the unseen world” and “mighty powers in this dark world” and “other gods” and “the glorious ones”…) The Bible talks quite a lot about demons.
The Bible tells us that demons were originally angels – heavenly messengers – created in the beginning by Almighty God. But, the Bible tells us that, a number of those angels – maybe even a third of them – rebelled against the Lord to follow the great archangel, Lucifer, instead. Lucifer and his angels were defeated, and they were cast out of Heaven to the Earth. Lucifer then came to be called “the devil” and “Satan”, and his rebel-angels came to be called “demons” and the other names (and more) that I’ve mentioned.
Through the ages demons have remained the enemies of God and, because God loves human beings, demons also hate us, humans, and are committed to keeping us from knowing the Lord and drawing near to Him through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and are committed to trapping us in as much pain and suffering as possible.
Ephesians was a letter written to new Christians living in the city of Ephesus. Like the rest of the first century world, and like much of our world today, Ephesus was filled with people who were uncertain about their future and who were fearful that their fate was in the hands of invisible powers over which they had no control.
At the time of Paul’s writing, Ephesus was the most important and populated city in the entire Roman Empire, second only to Rome itself. The city controlled important land and sea trade routes, and was both the economic and religious center of the province of Asia. (The western part of what is now the nation of “Turkey”.) Ephesus was the home of the Artemis-ion – the temple of the goddess Artemis, worshiped as “the Queen of Heaven”. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Temple of Artemis reflected the honor with which the goddess was held. And so, Ephesus was also the destination of tens of thousands of religious pilgrims who flocked to the city each year to worship “the Queen of Heaven” and seek her aid.
What all this means for us this morning is that the Bible says that this so-called “goddess” Artemis, whom so many journeyed from across the Roman Empire and beyond to worship and seek favor from, was in reality a demon! (Just as the Bible says that every so-called “god” that took worship away from God our Father back then and that takes worship away from God our Father today is in reality a demon.) And, so, Ephesus was more than just a center of pagan religion, it was a center of demonic activity. And historical records and the Bible itself show Ephesus to have been a place where magic and sorcery were widely practiced – by the intellectual and the ignorant alike – in their efforts to control these spirits that interfered with their livelihoods and governed their destinies.
The gospel-writer, Luke, records the apostle Paul’s two-year ministry in Ephesus in Chapter 19 of the book of Acts. We read of the Lord using Paul to heal people and cast demons out of them to such an extent that many Ephesians who practiced magic and the occult put their trust in Jesus and were baptized, even destroying their spell and magic books, worth millions of dollars! No one in Ephesus had ever seen a person dominate demons as Paul did, and as Paul promised them that, by the Holy Spirit through Christ, they could too!
What does this all have to do with us?
Well, it brings me back to my original question: Do you believe in demons? Clearly the Bible does, but do you?
The Bible gives us a picture of invisible creatures who are working to ruin our relationships by tempting us to become jealous (when jealousy wouldn’t have come to our minds without them) or by enticing us to take offense at what the other person has said or done (when we wouldn’t have taken offense otherwise), or by encouraging us to not forgive but to hold on to our grudge or our anger (when forgiving the other would ordinarily have been so easy in that moment). The Bible describes demons as spirit-beings who seek to persuade us towards worry, fear, and anxiety that is far beyond what our circumstances call for; who seek to distract us from the comfort and protection the Lord would offer us: That He has for us in His Truth, in the righteousness that is ours in Christ, in the peace with Him that Jesus’ sacrifice has achieved, and that He has for us in our great salvation!
The Bible tells us that demons are crafty, clever liars and deceivers and tellers of half-truths, who prey upon our weaknesses, and seek to twist the good things our Father has given us in Creation and in His Word. Demons strive to keep us thinking we’re not good enough for God to love us, or that we’re not loved and not loveable, when the Bible tells us that God has loved us and has adopted us to be His Own in Christ! Demons do their best to keep us focused on world-events instead of on the cross; to keep us focused on all that might happen in the future instead of on what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do right now; to keep us focused on what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch to be true rather than on what He’s told us and promised us and committed to us to be true in His Word.
It goes on and on!
What makes the work of demons so diabolical is that we don’t often recognize that it is happening! A thought comes into our heads and we don’t stop and hold it up to the light of Christ. No. We too often receive it uncritically and act upon it! We think it’s our own thought and don’t realize it’s the tempting work of a demon. And before we know it, we’ve given into the temptation, we’re sinning and in a mess, and we’re wondering how everything went so wrong so fast!
(Notice we’re not talking about demon possession here. The Bible doesn’t talk about demon possession, either. The Bible uses the term demonized: It presents us with people who are under different levels of a demon’s, or several demons’, influence: Believing a lie here; giving into a temptation there, overcoming an enticement here! Christians can be influenced by demons when we act upon a demon’s distractions or temptations. And being influenced by a demon is very different from being possessed by one.
(Demon possession is an extreme situation where a person acts on everything the demon (or demons) say. And the Bible gives only one example of such an extreme condition: The man who had a legion of demons influencing him. And in that situation the Lord Jesus cast that whole army of demons out of the man with just a command. And so can we.)
You see, the apostle Paul wrote the letter To the Ephesians the way he did and raised the issues and the topics he did because of the center for demonic activity that Ephesus was in the First Century, because not all cities or towns or boroughs are the same when it comes to demonic activity and oppression, and what the Christians were facing in Ephesus was different than what those were facing who lived in Rome or Corinth or Philippi or Thessalonica.
That being said, casting out demons does not depend on special gifting or even special holiness. Any Christian living in fellowship with Jesus Christ can command demons in Jesus’ name, and they will obey him or her, no matter how young, no matter how old.
I say this with such confidence because the Bible pictures the resurrected Jesus seated at the Father’s right hand “far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else – not only in this world but also in the world to come”. (Ephesians 1:21) Compared to Jesus, demons are weak and pitiful creatures, doomed for eternity and left with nothing but to scramble around like rats in garbage seeking to do whatever harm they can.
The key to getting rid of demons is not to focus on the demons. The key is to get rid of the garbage in our lives that demons feed on. When the pain and suffering they feed upon is forgiven through the confession of sin and the cross of Christ, when it is replaced by the truth of God’s Word, and it is restored and healed by the resulting work of the Holy Spirit, demons have nothing to hold on to and we can cast them out with a prayer. Like this one.
Would you join me in praying it?
In the name of Jesus Christ, God the Son, my Savior, and with the authority He has given me as a child of God, I command any demons present to leave, now. You are to report to Jesus Christ, Who will do with you whatever He chooses, and you are never to return or to trouble me or any loved one of mine again. Amen!