One of the greatest deceptions of our day is that Satan and his minions are irrelevant in the world around us. When you factor in the increasing apostasy of the church today, Satan is able to freely and openly move and work in our world, including our churches. What most people don’t understand is the clandestine nature of demons. When most people think of demons, they use Hollywood as a reference: a person frothing at the mouth speaking with an unnatural tongue, while they thrash around the room. That’s very rare as we’ll talk about shortly.

Most of the demonic work of Satan is hidden and subtle. He’s intentionally surreptitious. That’s his nature. The Bible tells us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He leads counterfeit order that is becoming increasingly powerful, deceptive, and perhaps most alarmingly, influential within the church as we move close.

r to the Rapture. Jesus warned the churches of Revelation that this would happen, and we are to have nothing to do with anything associated with such things. So, what has happened is most churches deny or ignore demonic influences and become essentially spiritually impotent.

The question is what are these doctrines today? One of the most prevalent spirits at work in the church today (and in America) is the Spirit of Jezebel. This will probably be a topic for a Wednesday night, but the deception of a Jezebel is a spirit that appears outwardly religious, but it is doing so for control of those in leadership. It is often a rebellious toward leadership, especially male leadership. Like most demonic spirits, the Jezebel spirit is manipulative and when confronted it will become angry. Jesus warned the church in Thyatira not to tolerate this spirit because of the damage that it does.

Other places we can see the doctrine of demons active in churches is the blending of eastern religions into our worship and practices. Now, what are some of these? Things like yoga, crystals, and the practice of healing through oils. These teaching are popular in some of our modern worship songs that contain new age themes. Some songs focus on a Kingdom Now Theology, others have present an unbiblical view of the Holy Spirit, and even pantheistic views of God. More concerning is the focus of “me” and “I” in our music. The idea that you are a little god, name-it and claim-it teachings, and the what’s in it for me idea of faith is reminiscent of the garden.

One of the most recent occult practices to infiltrate the church is the Enneagram. This personality test is not from a psychologist nor from a Christian. It was created by a man named Claudio Naranjo, who said that he created the Enneagram test from “automatic writing,” which is a dangerous occult practice of getting messages from unfamiliar spirits. Even though the Enneagram has been touted as Christian, it has no biblical basis.

Satan is the father of lies and deception and delights at introducing something innocently that opens doors for demonic influence. So what is the church to do and how do we respond to these things? Well, Grace Community Church you are fortunate enough to be a church that sits under teaching rooted in the Word of God. I hope you understand that most Christians all over the country spend most of their time listening to preaching that focuses on their problems and their feelings rather than the riches of God and His Word. Sadly, there are many who wander around the church in a fog trying to find Jesus. We can’t have that here and in these last days, we must realize the power of the Gospel over bondages.

So we come to the fourth chapter of Luke today and also next week of an incredible event that is taking place with Jesus in Capernaum. This is an event that starts out in a Synagogue provides us with a transition as Luke transitions from demonstrating who Jesus was as a person who is the Messiah and the Son of God to Luke demonstrating Jesus’ power and authority. We will see that Jesus has power and authority over demons, sickness, nature, and religious teaching. All of this is going to unfold for us as Jesus enters public ministry. Luke is demonstrating this to us so that we may be certain that he has the complete power and authority to save us from the grip of sin. That all starts to unfold as Jesus is teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. Let's take a look:

Now, please keep in mind as we study this today and next week, that if Jesus is going to save sinners, he is going to have to snatch them out of the kingdom of this world; the Kingdom of Satan. That’s what Jesus meant when he said that the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent will take it by force (Matt 11:12). If Jesus is going to save sinners, He's going to have to get them away from Satan whose children they are. Jesus said John 8:44, the unconverted sinners of the world are the children of Satan. Ephesians 2 says that they are literally children of disobedience, 2 Corinthians 4 says the god of this world has blinded their minds lest the light of the gospel should shine unto them. 1 John 5:19 says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The whole world is in the dominion of darkness, the darkness of Satan.

If I asked you why Jesus appeared and come to the earth, most of you would answer that Jesus came to save sinners and you are right, but not entirely. 1 John 3:8 tells us that “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” You have to understand that this is not the sanitized gospel that many preachers preach today. Most preachers are more concerned about feelings and modern issues like social justice than the gospel of Jesus. Some of these guys don’t even understand the nuances of social justice, much less are able to preach about it. If you want to preach on social justice, preach the Gospel of Jesus. Without the Gospel, it’s a worldly order of justice instead of God’s order. That can only come by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the Cross. Sin places us in the dominion of darkness where we are continuously under the influence of Satan and his demons.

I remember when I was a pastor in South Carolina, and I joined the police department to provide extra income. I interviewed with the Chief of Police, Jon Zumalt, and he concluded his interview with me by telling me that his only concern was that as a pastor I would constantly see the best in people as a police officer I would have to do the opposite. I’ll never forget my response to him. I said, “Chief, the reason I preach the gospel is that our world has a sin problem. In every person, I see the effects of sin and Satan. We all need a savior. So, I would say the two jobs aren’t that far apart.” He hired me on the spot.

Sin places and imprisons us under the dominion of darkness. We are poor, blind, imprisoned, and oppressed until the power of Jesus sets us free. That is why when the full gospel is preached the demons respond fiercely. Now nothing changed about who Jesus is; He is eternally the Son of God. So why all of a sudden, do demons start crying out? Because he now starts preaching the Gospel. Who he was and he Divine nature never changed, how operated did and it is when he starts preaching the gospel is when the power of darkness responds so strongly. Satan will generally leave you alone if you are a preacher or someone ministering on felt needs. It’s when you start ministering in a way that liberates the poor, blind, imprisoned, and oppressed when you will experience demonic opposition.

I experienced this response numerous times when I started preaching here at Grace and I still do. Two months after I started here I wound up in ICU. It was evident that it was a demonic response to the preaching of the gospel. That’s why we must be a church constantly rooted in prayer of warfare. We don’t need to fear demons, it is the demons that fear us when we shake off their lies and put on the garments of righteousness. So I want to share with you today and next week 4 things that make demons tremble: 1. The Preaching of the Word, The Purpose of the Gospel, The Person of Jesus, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.

1. Demons Tremble at the Preaching of the Word of God

Luke tells us that after escaping the crowds in Nazareth Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum. Now Nazareth is in the mountain some 1200 feet above sea level. Capernaum is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee which is roughly 650 feet below Sea Level. Capernaum was a thriving fishing village when Jesus was on the earth. Today if you go there, you will find the remnant of the village including the Synagogue mentioned here, and a church built over the spot believed to be the location of Peter’s mother-in-law. Which means what? Peter was married. I’ve been to Capernaum and stood in the remaining structure of the Synagogue. Some argue that it’s not the same structure, but at the very least it is of the Byzantine era.

Jesus’ ministry was primarily a preaching ministry. When Jesus shows up and starts preaching in Capernaum, the crowd is amazed. Why? Because his word (the logos) possessed authority. What does this mean? The word "amazed" means to be stunned or shocked, literally to be out of yourself. It could be translated as “dazed,” or “dumbfounded”. Their theology came second-hand. In the words of one ancient rabbi, “I have never in my life said a thing which I did not hear from my teachers.” But Jesus spoke on his own authority. They never heard anything like this and what they heard was the gospel and His message came with such force, authority or power used interchangeably. Do you know how much power truth has? It produces clarity and conviction.

When Jesus starts preaching the truths of God, the ministry of Jesus elicits a response no one expected. As Jesus is preaching, a man who was sitting in the congregation stands up and yells. “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (v. 34). So as Jesus is preaching the gospel with truth and conviction, this guy stands up and screams “Ha!” is what your Bibles say. It is a cry of agony in the Greek. It means, “leave me alone!” It’s a cry of despair. I’ve had similar instances happen to me as I preach. Some happened right here in this church, at least one person I know told me that when I preached, they had anxiety attacks.

I’m not here to condemn. But my guess is it had to do with demonic influence. That’s not demonic possession and there’s a difference. This guy was coming to the synagogue every sabbath doing his religious thing, but he was under demonic oppression. Demons cannot be in the presence of the Word of God and the liberation of the Gospel. So, either we flee from the devil and we’re liberated or we flee from the one who is liberating us and remain under the yoke of the bondage of sin.

In the village of Kittaa in Guinea Bissau, the people there are in the worst kind of false religion and that is witchcraft and demonic worship. The stories we come back with are incredible. The people there will tell us. We know Christ is more powerful, but we don’t want to quit our rituals. Why? They’re in the bondage of the ceremonies and of their culture.

I remember the day we prayed with Vladimir, who was demonic in the village. The people said he ran around at night screaming and thrashing. As soon as we started preaching, he came out and was yelling and cursing us. He wasn’t cursing us - he was cursing the Word of God we were preaching. He wanted us to stop. So we did stop and focus on him. I remember putting my hand on him and his body was hot. I remember that night he came to church with us, and it was like we met a different guy. Another time we were praying for a woman on one of the Islands. Mike was up with her and I was toward the back. It was getting dark and the moment she was delivered the demon bolted out of her and ran right past me and down the path.

There is no magic formula to set a person free. Only the power of Christ can come and deliver a person. It may be demonic possession. It may be pornography. It could be you are in bondages of life, having been oppressed by the forces of evil over your life. Maybe you are spiritually blind and living in the darkness of the world or you are imprisoned by other sins like anger, fear, control, greed, lust, or addiction. It doesn’t matter the label attached to it; the remedy is the same. Jesus Christ came to set sinners free. First, confess your sins to him right now and believe in faith that he is able to completely deliver you. Then never look back or live for the grip and deception of the sin that was over, only live for Jesus.

Take it to the Cross