Sunday, October 10, 2021

How to overcome sin and cast out demons

 We all know that we get better at what we practice. But also, the things that you practice, you get more of a drive and more of a desire to want to do those things. For example, even if you are pretty in shape but you don't run, you have no desire to run. And maybe the last time you ran was when you were in junior high and in gym class, they made you run a mile and you hate it. Well, you won't enjoy running again until you make yourself get out and run. And the first time you get back to do it, you will probably hate it. But if you continue to practice it, your body will start to want that and then you'll enjoy running, and everything that we practice is like that when you're out of practice, it's something you're not good at it. So naturally you don't want to do it because you know you're bad at it and you're not in the condition to do it. That's why it's really important that we practice the things that we want to get good at and that we practice the things that are beneficial for ourselves, our own bodies and the Kingdom of God. A lot of people are so practiced in the world and they have fed their flesh so much that the only thing that seems desirable to them are things that are sinful. They will ask things like: What do you do if you're not watching TV all day? What do you do if you're not playing video games? What do you do if you're not hanging out with your friends?  And they literally have no idea what the joy of the Lord is. They have no joy in the joy of the Lord. They only take pleasure in junk food and things that are sinful. There is a good reason for that. If you're always eating junk food, if you're, if you're always sitting around watching TV, you'll become more and more accustomed to being lazy and taking naps. Telling people that you're tired, you're become more and more unproductive. But the busier you get in the kingdom of God, the more that you will enjoy encouraging people, speaking the words of life that Jesus has put in you out of your prayer life. The better you'll get at loving others, the better you will become that being patient and kind and you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, and you will enjoy spending time with the Lord and exercising your spiritual authority in the Lord. The way we overcome sin is by becoming spiritually in shape and the way we do that, of course, is by working on our prayer life, fasting, if that's necessary,  disciplining your spirit to like what is good and to immediately reject what is unholy. A lot of people don't know how to take every thought captive. They think that every thought that comes into their mind, they have to dwell upon. But true meditation of the Lord and of his words come when we meditate on the words of Jesus, and we only let those things into our heart. But we immediately reject things that we know are sinful and of Satan's kingdom. And if we're able to monitor everything that comes into us through our eyes and our ears, if we're able to do that, that is the very beginning of being able to cast out demons and to be purged of sin. It's not because we're something great, but it's because when we draw close to God, he draws close to us and when we resist the devil, he will flee. Now there's a deception that Christians believe that if you just get in the church and read the Bible and start quoting the scripture, you'll be able to overcome sin. And that just isn't true. I grew up knowing the Bible. I grew up quoting the scripture. Yet I was not able to overcome sin with doing that. I know people point out where Jesus speaks scripture to Satan to overcome the devil when he was in the wilderness. But the truth is, Jesus didn't just quote this scripture, guys. He resisted Satan. And I tell people: What if you quote scripture against Satan, but you show the devil you're a hypocrite because you don't practice what you preach? Are you going to overcome Satan? Of course not. If you're saying that sexual immorality is against God, yet you're lusting and you're falling into pornography and falling into these lusts, then you're not going to overcome the devil's power and his authority inside of your soul. He has his grasp on you still. The only way that you're going to overcome demons is by feeding your spiritual man or your spiritual woman and bringing that man or that woman of your flesh all the way to the ground, all the way into the grave. You have to not just emaciated, but you have to push that old person, that old evil personality into the ground. So you have to resist the lust of the flesh, things that you know are sinful and evil, which includes evil music. It includes most all of the media TV, things on your cell phone that are impure. All of these little parasites and addictions that come in from the outside world eliminate those things and and take back your mind in your heart for the Lord, make sure that you really are a pure sanctuary, a true church for the Holy Spirit. And in so doing that, you will draw close to God and there will be no room for Satan. This is what it says in James. I'm going to read from Chapter 4: where the wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war in your members? So if you are feeling that you can't overcome your sin, where does that come from? Is it coming from Satan? Ultimately, it's coming from you. It's your desires that you have to overcome. And if you're desiring evil things, it's because you're feeding your evil desire. You're not feeding your spirit. So you lust and you do not have, you murder and covet and you cannot obtain. You fight and you war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. In other words, you're not asking God to feed your spirit man. You're asking Satan to feed your flesh. And that's why people can't overcome their sins. You ask, and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. You know, there's a lot of people that only want to overcome their sins to the extent that it will make them better and more acceptable in the world. No one wants to be a drug addict. No one wants to be addicted to anything. People want to look right in the world. And if you're an addict and your teeth are falling out or they're parasites in your life that are keeping you from functioning in society, you know that those things are good. And a lot of people, even in the world, they clearly can see that. But they only want God and faith as much as God will clean them up from those things. But they don't really want the purity of the heart because that is too hard. And so when these people asked to be set free of their demons, they're asking amiss, just like James says, they're asking with impure motives. So you have to ask yourself: Do I really want to be set free from sin because I love Jesus? Do I really love Jesus more than my demons? Do I really desire to lay down my life for the truth in the gospel? Am I willing to give everything up for the sake of Jesus Christ? Or do I just want Jesus to set me free from hell here on this Earth and make me look good so I can go about my own business and my own pleasure on this earth? And you have to get serious with yourself about that question because there's a lot of people that don't care to get right with God. They just want God to fix their life, get them out of addiction, get them money and make them look good in society so that then they can get a foot up in the world. But in the end, both the addict and the person who is functional in society, who is not an addict, they both die alike. And the question will be: Were we right with Jesus Christ? Did Jesus approve of us, or will we be still in sin? And for those of us who want to be right before God, we need to make sure that we're not praying amiss, not praying for our own evil desires. But truly praying with the spirit of God that we may be one with the spirit of God in doing his work. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble! If you want to function in society and look good in society, there is a solution. You follow the people that are popular in society. You set up for yourself a few idols. People that you really admire and become just like them. Whatever movie, actor or whatever celebrity, whatever rich person you admire, follow their blog. You know, get on Facebook and follow them. But if you want to become like Jesus, you can't follow the world. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to stop following them. And you have to commit to following Jesus out of your sin, and you have to humble yourself before him as your only teacher, because God will resist you if you are proud and arrogant. And if you're unwilling to humble yourself before the Lord. So here is the way to overcome your sins. Commit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you! Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts, You double minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Many of us are double minded. And the reason why we are double minded is when we are feeding the flesh. As soon as you feed the flesh, you get confused. You start to think, well, it's not that bad to hang out with these people. They're my family members. It's not that bad to and you name it, whatever the sin is, you're falling into. You start to justify because you become double minded by listening to sinners and trying to listen to the Holy Spirit. If you want to really break free from sin, you have to cut off the arm of the flesh, cut off people that are causing you to sin from your life, cut the demons out of your life, cut every venue that those demons are coming to you through. However, Satan is trying to get to you through your eyes or your ears or your friends or your family members, cut Satan out of your life. Draw close to God and he's going to draw close to you and help you, resist Satan, and he's going to flee. It's not an easy task to get right with the Lord Jesus, in fact, it's very difficult. So don't let anyone tell you it's three easy steps. A good word of advice is it will take time, and it's difficult. But with Jesus, it is possible, with you and me it's impossible to overcome. It's impossible to get some demons out of our life. But with Jesus, all things are possible. And if we love Jesus more than we love our sins and darkness and demonic things, the Lord is going to purge us of those demons. He's going to purchase of Sin and he's going to cleanse us, and he's going to reside in us as his true church. And when he does that, there will be no room for the demons to be in us because there's only room for one master at a time. There's only room for the Holy Spirit or room for Satan. So I want to encourage you that you can overcome in the name of Jesus if you want to, but you need to be serious. Stop making excuses. Stop saying that you can't do it. Stop saying that you've prayed and you've tried and it didn't work. Stop saying that you've done so much for God. And what has he ever done for you? I hear these excuses all the time from people, but the truth is they are loving the world and their addictions more than they're loving the Lord. If you love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, you will put the flesh to death. You will put the things that are evil in you to death, and you will encourage the light that is in you that Jesus put in you. You will encourage and you will nourish what is good and holy and pure. Remember that whatever, whatever part of you that you feed will grow. If you're feeding the flesh, your flesh will get stronger. If you're feeding the spirit, the spirit will get stronger, so don't feed the flesh. Stop feeding the flesh and 100 percent feed the spirit of God. Spend time in prayer, diligently seek the Lord. Separate yourself from things that cause you to sin. Get those things out of your life. Make sure that you're spending adequate time with the Lord all the time, and that you're not bending to hypocrisy. That you're not falling to evil jokes and evil thoughts and evil desires. Just keep yourself pure in the Lord is going to help you. But if you run with the world and you encourage the flesh, no wonder you can't overcome your sin. So I hope this helps someone to really overcome in the name of Jesus and that you guys will be set free. Jesus wants us set free. He doesn't want us to be condemned to hell. The Lord is on our side. He doesn't wish that anyone in the world perish, but that all come to repentance and that all will be saved.