When Jesus was about to go back to heaven,
he gave us this command.
He said,
All authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth.
So, authority in the Greek is exousia.
It means the power to rule,
the power of one who commands that must be obeyed.
In John 17, 2, he has given him authority over all flesh.
All authority has been given to Christ.
Christ has all authority over heaven and earth.
But Satan has also been given authority.
So, who has more power here?
And I'll tell you, when you read and look at some of the information
that's out there in the church,
you could get the idea that they're almost equal.
Well, they're not.
Christ has complete power over the enemy.
And actually, Satan is a puppet that is being used,
actually, by God to accomplish his purposes.
Very interesting, though, in Luke 4,
in the temptation of Jesus,
what the devil says to Jesus is quite striking.
Because he seems to have all the authority in this exchange.
Let me read it to you. It's Luke 4, 5-8.
Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain,
showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said to him,
All of this authority I will give you and their glory,
for this has been delivered to me.
And that's the key word here. This has been delivered to me.
And I will give it to whomever I wish.
Therefore, if you will worship before me, it will all be yours.
And then Jesus answered and said to him,
Get behind me, Satan, for it is written,
You shall worship the Lord your God,
and Him shall you serve only.
Now, why is this interesting?
Well, it's interesting because Jesus never refutes
what Satan says when he says, I have all this authority.
So somehow in a supernatural way,
Satan was able to take Jesus up to a high place
and you could see the kingdoms of the earth
in some supernatural way.
And he was offering that to Jesus.
So when we look at governments
and we look at powers across the globe,
you know, in the world we're living in with Big Tech,
Big Pharma, Big Gov, Big Business,
there could be an argument made
that Satan is in control of these different areas.
And one of the reasons we do Empower You
and one of the reasons why I planted the road at Chapel Hill
and Colorado Springs is a kingdom of God revolution
because we believe that the power and authority of Jesus
is greater than the power and authority of Satan.
And unless that power and authority is confronted
and dealt with, Satan has control.
But it's my conviction and my belief
that we have power through Christ
to overcome Satan in every area
that if we will be a people
that are walking in the authority of Christ
through the filling of the Holy Spirit,
through the authority that we have from God's word,
we can take down the enemy.
So let's look at a few passages
that deal with the authority that God has over Satan.
So first I wanna look at Job.
So there's the case of Job where Satan comes
and he brings to God Job and he asks,
and this is important, he asks for permission to attack Job.
This is Job 1, 6 through 9.
Now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord
and Satan also came among them.
And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come?
Satan answered the Lord and said,
from going to and fro on the earth
and from walking back and forth on it.
And the Lord said to Satan,
if you consider my servant Job,
that there is none like him on the earth,
a blameless and upright man,
one who fears God and shuns evil.
So Satan answered the Lord and said,
does Job fear God for nothing?
So here's the thing is that Satan had to come to God
to have permission to attack Job.
And so it shows the authority of God over Satan.
And I would say that to any believer,
that when Satan is attacking you or demons are attacking you,
God's still there.
He still has authority over that.
And to the extent that you're walking in righteousness
is the extent in which you're protected from the enemy
through the power and the protection of God.
Job hasn't done anything wrong.
and God allows Satan to attack him,
but Satan had to go through God to be able to attack him.
In the case of Peter,
Satan had to ask Jesus for permission
to go after Peter in Luke 22, 31 through 32.
And the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you
that he may sift you as wheat,
but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail.
And when you have returned to me,
you will strengthen your brethren.
So again, Satan had to come through Jesus
to be able to attack Peter.
So God has placed his authority over all the saints.
God's not gonna allow any temptation or attack
to come your way that you're not strong enough to withstand.
1 Corinthians 10, 13.
No temptation has overtaken you,
except such as is common to all men,
but God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted
beyond what you are able,
but with the temptation,
he will also make the way of escape
that you may be able to bear.
So God's got his protective hand over you.
He's watching over you.
He's strengthening himself through you and he protects you.
So what is the purpose of Satan and demons?
Let me give you seven purposes that I see
are why we have to confront
with authority Satan and demons.
Number one, it shows us the power
and the results of sin and rebellion.
It shows us the imperfection of man
and the perfection of God.
Only one who is perfect.
So first of all, the reason God allows demons,
I believe on the earth is to show us the power
and the results of sin and rebellion in our life
so that we'll make the right choice to follow him.
Number two, it gives us a choice between good and evil.
There's something about us having to make that choice
that we're not robotic,
that we have our own will
and we make a choice to follow good.
We're not puppets.
In a way, Satan is kind of a puppet of God
or a stooge of God, but you're not.
You and I are creating the image of God.
Satan's not creating the image of God.
Demons are not creating the image of God,
but we're creating the image of God.
And God wants us to make the choices of good and evil.
Number three, we see our need for a redeemer.
So by the presence of evil,
it creates within us a desire for redeemer.
Number four, we start seeking the kingdom first
and we're excited about heaven
and the earth is not our home.
So there's that part two of the hardships
and the struggle on this earth are preparing us for heaven.
It gives us something to look forward to.
Number five, we're being formed into Christ likeness
through the battle.
So it's something about the battle that's good for you.
You know, I was an athlete.
Many of you have been athletes and you've lifted weights
and you've run, you've gotten in shape.
And there's a good side to training.
And so same with the Christian life.
The Christian life is a battle.
It's hard, it's difficult, life's malevolent.
And God uses even the enemy to strengthen us
to learn how to fight and trains us for battle and warfare.
Number six, resistance brings clarity to our faith.
That the resistance that we deal with,
with our flesh and the devil in this world
actually brings clarity to what we believe.
And then number seven,
we learn to put on the full armor of God.
And that's found in Ephesians 6, 10 through 18.
The full armor of God,
of putting on the helmet of salvation,
the breastplate of righteousness,
the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit,
the belt of truth,
shodding our feet with the gospel of peace,
all strengthens us to be men and women of God.
Well, the key authority,
the key power that we have over the devil
is through the cross.
That's the beginning of the end for Satan on the earth
is what happened at the cross.
So it was at the cross, at the death of Christ,
that Satan thought he had destroyed Jesus
and that he had destroyed his authority on the earth.
He actually entered into Judas,
it says in Luke 22, three and John 13, two,
in order to come against the disciples
and to incite the Jewish authorities to kill Jesus.
But God has complete control.
This is all playing in to God's hand.
And 700 years before Christ,
before the Roman form of execution on the cross,
God the father prophesied the death of his son in Isaiah.
So, let me read this, this is 700 years before Christ died on the cross, in Isaiah 53, before
there's actually the form of crucifixion that we have in the Roman Empire.
We see God already planning the cross and the redemption of the earth through the cross.
Isaiah 53, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief, speaking of Jesus, the Messiah.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.
He was despised and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He was born, He bore our griefs, He carried our sorrows, and yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shears is silent, so
He opened not His mouth.
Verse 8, He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare to this generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of My people He was
stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had
done no violence, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.
He has put Him to grief.
When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
So God the Father killed Jesus the Son to forgive us of our sins by the perfect sacrifice.
Christ, through His perfect life and His death, was the perfect sacrifice for all of
our sins.
There's no other way we could have been completely forgiven of our sin.
So all authority is in Christ because of His life, His death, and then on the third day
His resurrection.
What happened between the first day, what we now classically call Good Friday, and Easter
or the resurrection?
What happened during those three days?
Well, first of all, we know that something happened because of the events that occurred
as Jesus breathed His last.
And when He breathed His last, it was pretty crazy.
In Matthew 27, 45 through 53, we read this.
Now the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land.
And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabbatani,
that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
So there was this separation from God the Father where because of the sins of the world
falling upon Jesus in some mysterious way, there was a breakage between the Father who's
righteous and now His son who's carrying the sins of the world.
Our passage goes on.
Some of those who stood there when they heard that said, this man is calling out for Elijah.
Verse 48, immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine
and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink.
The rest said, let him alone.
Let us see if Elijah will come and save him.
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.
Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked,
and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who
had fallen asleep were raised from the dead, and coming out of the graves after His resurrection,
they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Now that's super weird.
And I believe there's a simple explanation of what happened is that at that point, Christ
went down into Hades and took the keys of death and the keys of Hades away from Satan
and that there was this interaction in which the saints of old were resurrected from the
dead.
And Revelation 118 gives us insight into that.
It says, I am he who lives, Christ speaking, I was dead and behold I'm alive forever,
amen, and I have the keys of Hades and death.
So at the death of Christ, he marches in to an area called Paradise and Torments.
So in Luke 16, with the story of Lazarus and the rich man, we see that you can see across
this gap or this chasm between the area of Torments and the area of Paradise.
And so Jesus came in, he announced his resurrection in Paradise and in so doing he took the keys
and I believe what happened is the believers of the saints of old, the Old Testament believers
who truly had believed in the Messiah from a distance, in other words they had not had
the experience of the cross of course yet, but they believed they were raised from the
dead.
So there was this cataclysmic power encounter between death and life that happened at the
cross and a whole new dispensation was opened up.
Paul writes in Ephesians 4 and 9, now this he ascended, what does it mean but that he
also first descended into the lower parts of the earth.
So Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth between the day of his death and
the resurrection and there was a power encounter that was even an earthquake and Jesus took
the keys away from Satan at that point, there was new life released in the area of Paradise
and so doing there was actually some that were raised from the dead and the veil that
covered the temple was ripped in half, there was a new way to a personal vital dynamic
relationship with Christ.
Paul in Romans 5 says, much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be
saved from the wrath through him.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more
have even reconciled we shall be saved by his life, it's amazing passage, Paul is saying
that it's the death of Jesus that opens up new life for us through the work of the cross
and exactly what we just read is exactly what was happening in physical form, the veil that
separated the holy place from the holy of holies was ripped from the top to the bottom
and that veil was about 13 inches thick and it was ripped from the top, God ripped it,
God opened up the way to an intimacy with Christ, that's the kind of authority the cross
has through Jesus Christ's death that we now have to live a new life if we accept and put
our faith in him, Colossians 2 we read, and you being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh he has made you alive together with him having forgiven you
all of your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of the requirements that was against
us which was contrary to us he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross,
now listen to the next verse, having disarmed principalities and powers he has made a public
spectacle of them triumphing over them in it, so the cross of Christ has taken all our sins
all of the accusations of the enemy against us and it has been taken out of the way folks,
it is out of the way the principalities and powers the demonic spirits ruling affecting
your life have been taken out of the way you are set free from the demonic now you may
understand that theologically but you've also got to believe that that's key that's key to power
over the enemy you have authority from Christ because of what he did not because of what you
did when you put your faith in Christ you're saying I'm putting my faith in what Christ
did at the cross he has disarmed the principalities and powers and men and women
you can walk in the freedom and the joy and the forgiveness and the kindness and the love
and the power of God if you'll believe that and walk in that every day one of the best
things you could do is read and reread on a regular basis Romans 5 6 7 and 8 Romans 5 6 7 and 8 the
bible
That's what it's talking about. That's what Colossians 2 is doing. It's giving you in a capsule form
What Romans 5 6 7 and 8 are saying is that you have all the authority of Christ in you and you can tell any
Demon belief you can tell Satan to get out of your life, and I've done it
Hundreds of times where I know I'm under temptation. I know the enemy's coming to me
He's presenting things to me to try to take me off course
And I've told him to take a hike because I know my authority in Christ, and I want you to know that
that the finished work it is finished is what Jesus said is
Applicable to your life when Christ died there was an earthquake
People were risen from the dead because at that point everything changed
That's when the revolution began the kingdom of God
Revolution began at the cross and you have authority over the demonic and as we move forward in this study
I'm going to show you how to
Take control of your life and get demons out of your life and walk with a new kind of freedom and joy over your life
God bless you
Got a little bit fired up