Eric Walsh

Country Life SDA Church

Defeating the Strong Man

Isaiah 49 and verse 25 the Bible says but thus said the Lord even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered for I will contend with him that contends with you and I will save your children.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled defeating the strong man.

Let's pray Father God We thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

And I ask now, Lord, that you just make me a nail on the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord.

And upon that nail, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

There's no reason for me to be seen or heard today.

Lord we want a word from the throne room of grace.

This is our prayer in Jesus's precious and holy name.

All right so we're gonna be coming primarily from the book of Luke the 11th chapter and it's an interesting place to jump in.

Jesus had just taught them how to pray and there's a parable about prayer and and being persistent in prayer and after this part of Luke 11 this little verse of a story pops up.

Not a whole lot of detail but leads to some very powerful biblical teaching.

So Luke 11 and verse 14 says this, and he, Jesus, was casting out a devil and it was dumb and it came to pass when the devil was gone out the dumb spake and the people wondered.

And so this miracle happens where Jesus, and this is not the only time Jesus deals with someone who's dumb.

You remember Mark chapter 9, this little boy who's deaf and dumb.

Here he comes and he finds this, he's casting out devils, and the devil was dumb.

In American English, you say someone is dumb, what you think is they're not intelligent.

It means that the person can't communicate.

That is the denotative meaning of the word.

And so Jesus comes and he casts the demon out.

The person begins to speak and everyone around is floored they can't believe it they've watched this person for years maybe not be able to communicate and after 1 interaction with Christ he whose tongue was locked is loosed and he's able to speak, but it causes a problem.

But some of them said he casts out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, and others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven.

And so here, after the demon is cast out, they start saying, wait a minute, how is this guy really casting out these demons?

He's only casting out demons by the power of the prince of the demons, Beelzebub.

That doesn't really make a lot of sense, but they had to try and figure out a way, we talked about this in prayer meeting, they had to try and figure out a way to protect their power, their earning, their income.

Remember, anyone who cast out demons in those days, they were exorcists, they actually charged money for it.

And so when he does this, it rattles a lot of things for these people.

The Bible says in verse 16, that the others tempting him sought of him a sign from heaven.

Similar to what happens when Jesus is in the wilderness and the devil says if you are the Son of God.

But Jesus knowing their thoughts and you would think if the man you are questioning his divinity and even his even his kind of righteousness could read your thoughts, you'd think that'd make a difference.

But he knowing their thoughts said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house divided against a house falls.

Jesus said listen if there's a kingdom and it starts to fight itself it will collapse.

If there's a house and they fight themselves it won't last.

He says basically what you're describing me doing makes no sense in the realm of spiritual warfare.

Verse 18 Jesus says if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his kingdom stand because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub in other words Satan's kingdom has order to it Satan's kingdom works together to get an end He said listen if Satan is divided against himself his kingdom can't stand.

1 of the most important things the church must have in the last days is unity.

He loves when the people of God fight each other because when we are in at war with 1 another it gives the demons power to come in.

Now, I say this story all the time, but it's appropriate here.

When I was at Oakwood, I took a class called Dynamics of Christian Living.

Cleveland told us the story, and some of you know the great preacher E.E.

Cleveland, if you haven't heard of him, look him up on YouTube, you might find some of his old stuff.

And he told us the story of how, while they were all at Oakwood, years before I got to Oakwood, a church in Nashville, Tennessee called to Huntsville, Alabama, where Oakwood is, and said, we need help.

The church itself has been possessed by devils.

And so A bunch of the preachers, and I've heard other preachers who are alive at the time say that this is a true story.

A bunch of them drove from Huntsville to Nashville, only about an hour and a half, 2 hour drive, went up to Nashville.

Cleveland, as he was teaching us this in the class, said that when they walked into the church in Nashville, the pews were floating in the air.

He said the room, the church was ice-cold.

He said when they began to cast out demons, he said the first person they got to and they cast out the demon out of this person in the church, They asked the demon, they said, how is it that you have set up shop like this in an Adventist church?

The demon says, we have right to be here because this church is fighting 1 with another.

He said, He said they cast out another demon.

They said, demon, what are you doing here?

The demon said, I was there when Marilyn Monroe died.

And they said, what do you have to do with us, demon?

And the demon says, I sing with the choir at Oakwood.

And all of the preachers, he claims that they were all shocked.

The demon said, they sing for attention rather than to praise God.

I want to submit to you as we go into 2026, we are all in spiritual warfare.

I want you to understand the fact that you're sitting here now, the fact that you call yourself an Adventist, even if you are only marginally Adventist, even if you don't take this thing seriously Satan has a mark on you to destroy you and your family every single 1 of us our children our grandchildren he wants to destroy us he is coming after us and sometimes we act as if the devil is playing around.

Jesus says it like this in verse 19, and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out, probably the ones making money, therefore shall they be your judges.

And look at verse 20, this speaks to the power of Christ in spiritual warfare look at what he says in verse 20 Jesus says but if I with the finger of God cast out devils no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

Jesus says I can cast out devils with a finger.

I want to submit to you today that sometimes we have given the devil too much credit and too much power.

I want to submit to you today that on your side is 1 who with his finger can cast out devils.

He says if this is the case the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Luke 11 21 says, When a strong man armed keeps his palace his goods are in peace.

But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divides his spoils.

The Bible says the devil is armed he has weapons not only does he have weapons the Bible says he has armor this is the parable Jesus is giving but then in verse 22 Jesus says something profound the strong man is keeping his palace what is the palace the palace of the earth.

If you are not in Christ, the palace is your mind.

The strong man, the devil, has control over the earth, over the mind.

But look at this, verse 22, but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he takes from him all his armor wearing he trusted and divides his spoils Jesus is the stronger man Jesus is the 1 who can come in and overcome him and look at this and take his armor.

Take what the devil uses to bind us and to try and protect himself.

Luke 11 23 says it like this, That's why Jesus says, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scatters.

You're either on the strongman's side, or you're on the stronger man's side.

And I don't know about you, but just the way the thing is phrased, I want to be on the stronger man's side.

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