Free Indeed - Under The Influence - Pastor Robert Morris

we're going to begin a new series called free indeed and I want you to turn to two passages of Scripture I want to turn to mark chapter five open your Bibles to mark five actually and then put a marker at Luke chapter 10 and we'll flip over to Luke 10 toward the end of the message so mark chapter 5 that's where we'll begin I'm basing the series on a scripture that if you want to jot the reference down John 8:36 says he whom the son makes free is free indeed he whom the son makes free is free indeed I want you to understand something as we begin this series I can't tell you how important I think it is that you are here for this Satan will do everything he can to keep you from hearing this series I have preached along these lines we have an entire department freedom ministry dedicated to this topic but I've never preached a series on this subject never felt led to until now and I'm so excited about what God's going to do but let me tell you why it's very very important for you to be here and why Satan will do everything he can to stop you from hearing this series in particular because he does not want to get caught and when a thief is caught he has to restore what he has stolen Sevenfold that scripture that's proverbs I'm not I'm not making that up he doesn't want to get caught and most believers are not free indeed because they don't believe that they can indeed be in bondage and when Jesus makes this statement in John 8:36 he's actually speaking to believers he's talking to those Jews verse 31 says who believed in him so is it possible for a believer to be in bondage we're going to answer that question I mean going to answer some very difficult questions such as can a Christian be demon zest so we will talk about that all right John I mean partly Mark chapter five we're going to read the whole story I started to just read the first part and in the end now I thought no the story is too good to leave out in it so we're going to read the whole story all right mark chapter five verse one then they came to him then they came to the other side of the sea to the country of the gadarenes this is the city of Ghaderi so they called it the gadarenes that live there and we need to come out of the boat immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit this is one of the ways the Bible refers to a demon who had his dwelling among the tombs in other words he lived in a cemetery and no one could bind him naughty mood changed because he'd altered been bound with shackles and chains and the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces neither could anyone tame him and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones when he saw Jesus from afar he ran and worshipped him worship proskuneo and the Greek means to bow down and he cried out with a loud voice saying what about to do with you Jesus now I'm going to say something here before I say this verse 7 this is actually the demon talking through the voice of the man that this is the demon talking and you'll you'll understand why because of what he says and the next verse tells us Jesus had already spoken to him before this we just give in reverse order in the righty verse 7 and he cried out with a loud voice and said this is the demon talking what have I to do with you Jesus son of the Most High God I import you by God that you do not torment me okay see that wouldn't be the man because Jesus wouldn't torment a man that's the spirit talking and then verse 8 tells us Jesus had already said something for 4 he said to him somewhere safe he had already said to him come out of the man unclean spirit so Jesus already told him come out and he said what have I to do with you please don't torment me verse 9 then he asked him what is your name now look at me again for a moment he's not talking to the man he's talking to the demon that's in the man and the demon answers then he asked him what is your name and he answered said my name is legion for we are many just to let you know legion is a Roman word which means six thousand eight hundred and twenty six soldiers we referred to a troop of soldiers six thousand eight hundred and twenty-six okay that this guy was demonized my name is legion for we are many also he begged him earnestly that he would not send him out of the country demonic spirits like to stay where they already have a stronghold now large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountain so all the demons not just one now all the demons begged him saying send us to the swine that we may enter them and at once Jesus gave them permission then the unclean spirits went out and inner swine there are about two thousand so at least two thousand demons and the herd ran violently down the steep place in the sea and drowned in the sea so those who fed the swine fled and they told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had happened then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the Legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid you thought he would say and they were happy and those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed we're going to completely define that word today and about the slime then they began to plead with him to depart from their region you would think they would have played with him to start teaching seminars or something and when he got in the boat he who had been demon-possessed begged him that he might be with him however Jesus not permit him but said to him go home go home to your friends remember he didn't live at home he lived in the mountains in the cemetery and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how had compassion on you and he departed and begin to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all Marvel now let me just a couple things here one is Decapolis is not a city it's ten cities deca meaning ten from the greek word it's actually ten greek cities paulus mean like a metropolitan area or Metroplex was where we get that that term from so ten cities Ghaderi was one of these 10 cities Damascus was one remember Paul was on his way to Damascus when he was converted Philadelphia not the one in Pennsylvania was one of these 10 cities there are 10 Greek cities and that's probably why they were raising swine because Jews didn't do that but the Greeks had coming in influenced that that society of that culture okay so this guy goes and proclaims what's happened he's demonized and he gets set free demon possessed and he gets set free fantastic story there are a couple of things that I want to talk about from this story though okay here's the first one number one there really are demons there really are demons because Jesus set this man free the word demon is in the Bible in the New King James Version 82 times some of the other versions eighty times it's just simply that they translate the word a little differently in those versions 61 times it's in the Gospels 61 times we've got it the word in the Gospels where Jesus is directly dealing with demons are talking about demons Jesus himself coming to talk about demons one of the reasons that I think that it's so much in the Gospels is because no one ever had authority over demons until Jesus came and he had authority and he began to immediately confront demonic strongholds and bondage demons are come from the Fallen Angels they're the one-third of the angels fell by the way again because I'm a math guy you know numbers just immediately add up in my mind I just thought of this I forgot to even tell the other two services is so you may hear this throughout the series again I may say it again but I just I just had this thought when I was studying for this okay one third fell and just boom just like that the math yeah my mind I thought wow that means for everyone that's against me there too for me so we got them outnumbered two to one just just so you know and it's not that baby you say well even two to one boy they're tough only to say they're not as tough as you think in Jesus name because when God decides to throw Satan in the pit he doesn't even come and do it himself he only sends one angel to do it he only sends one one angel to bind Satan Thorman the bottomless pit and and what's I thought I could just see it by the way as I just feel like one day Jesus will say all right that's it that is it I've had enough go get Satan throw him in the pit and Gabriel might say well Lord uh who do you want to go ah I send the new guy just just make sure he says in Jesus name say Koko so the demons came from from fallen angels they are disembodied spirits listen they're looking for a body they enter bodies they inhabit bodies they were in the body of this man not a solar spirit but they were in his body when Jesus casts him out they said let us go into the swine because they wanted a body by the way that that backs up my theory that animals can be demon-possessed I've had several dogs that I feel were my son had a dog a few years ago that you couldn't control ran all over you no couldn't get his name was Luke I told him it was short for Lucifer okay there are demons there's no doubt otherwise we got to cut out a lot of the Bible a lot of Jesus's ministry there there is a horrible piratical line of thought that there weren't really demons but Jesus pretended to cast demons out because the culture believed in demons when he was here you can find this in several commentaries by the way let me let me read you one this is what one commentary says about demon-possessed people these are persons afflicted with especially severe diseases either bodily or mentally whose bodies no what watch this heresy in the opinion of the Jews demons had entered and their cure was thought to require the expulsion of the demon as if they believed that so Jesus pretended to go along with it that's a desecration of the scripture don't ever get caught up in something like that let me read you a few scriptures Matthew 8:16 when evening had come they brought to him many who were demon-possessed that's the Bible says they were demon-possessed and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who would say why would the Bible say cast him out if they weren't there Matthew 9 32 and 33 as they went out behold they brought to him a man mute and Dee and possessed and when the demon was cast out the mute spoke and the multitude marveled saying it was never seen like this in Israel Matthew 17 18 and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour mark 3 14 and 15 Dini appointed 12 that they might be with him and then he might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons mark 6 12 and 13 so they went out and preached that people should repent and they cast out many demons and anointed with all many who were sick and he'll did mark 16:17 that these signs will follow those who believe in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues let me say it this way CS Lewis says that there are two groups of people that Satan absolutely loves and gets excited over the skeptic and the superstitious let me say another way there are people who see a demon behind every bush they're superstitious people but there are people who say that demons don't exist and never have existed or they don't exist today they just exist in Jesus time the skeptic and here's what CS Lewis says Satan loves both those types because they're both in bondage they're both in deception there are people that when I start talking about demons say oh pastor let's not talk about that stuff and there are other people that feel like oh good he's getting to the good stuff okay listen to me if you're an either one of those camps you need to move to the middle you're in the wrong camp alright we're not skeptics and we're not superstitious we don't deny them but they are there and Jesus came to set us free you'll never get free if you don't know that you can be in bondage that you can be in trouble a Jack Hayford again there are two camps Jack Hayford says it this way you can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple it even you can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple a demon in other words there are people that simply say it's just the flesh what you're going through it's just a flash you need to learn to overcome the flesh and what you need is discipleship or discipline or discipleship comes from disciple which comes from discipline okay discipline you just need more discipline in your life and then the others say no you've got a demon and and and the reason that you can't you know do this or do that or do this or do that is because you got a demon and and they try to they think deliverance is answer everything here here's the old age-old debate do we need discipleship or deliveries here's the answer yes because you can't cast out the flesh and you can't disciple the demon y'all follow me it's both when I realized that I had demonic bondage in my life I was saved I love the Lord Debbie and I were married I got to save after we got married I started leaving ministry but I was still very very much in bondage to lust and even immorality and yet I was saved I was in my early 20s and James Robinson started sharing with me in his home about demons and showing me scripture after scripture after Scripture that demons can take Christians in the bondage and I remember we had ice cream I remember we had ice cream and I remember saying to him after a while say wait wait wait wait because I can see where he's going I said are you saying I have demons and James and his very gracious waste at all you got a whole flock of them and I got so upset and it's never happened since it never happened before I let my ice cream melt you know I'm gonna just set there faking I got demons these guys got him I got demons I got demons let me say what happened the more we went through the word listen to me the more hope I had because I thought well I can get free this is why this is wine I'm gonna be able to be very transparent with you this is why I'll be over be standing up preaching and notice a woman very beautiful and couldn't get my thoughts off of it when I was in my early 20s this and I thought that's what this is why I have a spirit I have a spirit that I could get set free from so listen to me don't get upset what I'm telling you that you could have a problem in this area you ought to get excited because the great thing is Jesus takes care of problems that in 30 30 years of ministry been ministry 32 or 33 years now the only people I've ever seen that can't get free are the people that won't admit their luggage that's the only people if you'll just admit it you can get free so number one there there really are demons number two they really do enter people they really do enter people John ten will get to lieutenant moment John ten Jesus said verse one most assuredly most assure this is very true what I'm telling you he who does not enter well you know sort enter the sheepfold what in the world with the sheepfold represent will not be where the sheep are the believers enter the Sheep by the door and he's the door but climbs up some other way into the sheepfold that's where they're going the same is a thief and a robber and verse 10 we know the thief does not come except to steal kill and destroy okay here's what he's saying the thief can get in I'm telling you he's trying to tell him the thief can get in and he can't come through me but he can get in some other way and he will do everything he can to get into the Sheep some other way and he doesn't come he does not come you know a lot of people miss Court that verse they say you know the Bible says the thief comes to steal kill and destroy it sort of serves that and I really don't wanna go into all the Greek language here but it says he does not come except in other words he's telling you let me tell you the only reasons he's coming every time he comes he's going to steal from you kill you and destroy you that's what Jesus tell it's very emphatic this language here okay can a Christian be demon possessed well uh let's explain this word and go back to the original language the word demon-possessed in the Greek is actually two words demon-possessed it's actually Damon I so my damn own eyes oh my would be if you want to say all at once but Damon I which would be the word demon so my means to possess so to translate it demon possesses okay I really think a better translation is demonized but to translate demon possessed is okay other than the fact that we did not then teach people what the word possess means here because there are two Greek words for possession one is ownership this is not the word for ownership this word means to gain master / now mastery would be the exact literal but let me give you some synonyms of that to gain control over to have power over that this Greek word is used another place in New Testament Luke 21 19 it says by your patience possess your souls okay it wouldn't Jesus wouldn't be saying own your souls because he told us to give our souls to him he said if you don't lose your soul then you will lose it if you don't give it away the Bible says you're bought with a price you don't hear no you are not your own you didn't belong to you so Jesus would be saying in the end times which is what this is chapter stone that you need to own your soul again he's not staying on your soul he's saying gain the mastery over your soul you need to gain control over your soul that's what this word possessed means that's what messes us up so can a Christian be owned by a demon no we're owned by God but can a Christian be under the control of a demon let me let me read you a couple of other definitions of this word that say it pretty well Thayer's definition says it means to be under the power of a demon this is this is defining demon I zoom on the greek word to be under the power under the mastery under the control of a demon in a certain area you like and what may be lust or unforgiveness or bitterness or resentment or gluttony or whatever the area could be Lew NIDA does it this way this is definition one cannot speak of a person being possessed by a demon this is defining or a more appropriate expression maybe the person possesses or has a demon in other instances an idiomatic phrase is employed the demon rides the person or the demon commands the person how they just do you don't don't know raise your hand but let me just ask you this question is there any area of your life you just can't get the victory is there an area of your life that you feel helpless powerless is there an area of your life a sin that you have confessed over and over and over and over and over and over and I don't have enough time to keep saying overs and over and over again and told god I'll never do that again but you keep doing it okay can I say this to you lovingly wake up you're in bondage that that is not a you know we do we say well I have a weakness in that area you've had it 20 years it is not a weakness and listen I'm not telling you bad news I'm telling you good news if you're in bondage I know the one who can set you free I know him he can set you free but he can't set you free if you don't know you're in bondage so you have to know you're in bondage so let me give you an illustration when I was preparing this I started this series a couple of months ago studying for it I'm so excited about me give you an illustration that I think will help you tremendously let's say that when you came to church today you left a door or window open in your house and when you go home you find there's a thief in your house okay very very simple question does that thief own your house no but guess what he is in your house and will let that sink in for a minute some you like oh I think I know where he's going with this illustration yeah he's in and he has control over your house until you arrest him and take him out in handcuffs he's got control and let me tell you what he'll do while he's there he'll steal he'll kill him he'll destroy he is a thief and he's in your house extreme deport let me show you some some Old Testament types of this I've got so many Scripture on this and I just couldn't put them all in one message but I got a whole series to talk about it so just stay with me for the whole series alright let me show you a few Old Testament types lamentations 1:10 says the adversary obviously that represents Satan our enemy our adversary the adversary has spread his hand over all her that is telling about Israel which would be a type of does it replace the church but a type of the people of God the church all her pleasant things now watch this for she the people of God she the church has seen that the nation's representing the enemy inter her sanctuary those whom you commanded not to enter your assembly but they did they entered lamentations 4:12 the keys of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem if you go and you'll see it says but he did the enemy entered Joel 2 verse 9 watch watch just how clear it is they run to and fro in the city they speaking of the swarming locust that coming in to eat everything up they run to and fro in the city they run on the wall now watch this they climb into the houses they climb into I'll just sewn into the houses they enter at the windows like a thief they enter now next week we're going to talk about how to close doors and windows where they enter we're going to talk about that alright so don't miss but once I like that next week ok but let me give you another illustration I named this message under the influence I don't know if I even told you that at the first but the title of this message is under the influence giving another example if a man and let's say the man's a Christian he's a believer he's a believer he believes in Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit if he drinks a lot of alcoholic alcoholic beverage if he drinks a lot of alcohol or if he takes some medicine prescribed or illegal drug something but he takes some some substance into his body and he takes a lot of it let's say and then he does something well let me let me ask you this way do the drugs or the alcohol do they own that man they don't own him they he's still owned by God he's a believer they don't own him but are they in him and are they under is he under the influence of those drugs and alcohol he took yeah and here's what happens many times he ends up doing something totally out character that he's very ashamed of later is that right okay um if a man who's a Christian begins to look at pornography hear hear me you're opening a door to the enemy and he will come in he's uncle Onew but he will be in and you will be under his influence under his power and this man who may be a very good husband good father may be a good grandfather will wind up doing something totally out of character that shocks him and everybody around him and that he's very ashamed of because he was under the influence of a spirit that he opened the door to are y'all are you following me everyone follow me on this okay so now listen to me if you're starting to get depressed don't get depressed because there really are demons they really do enter people but here's 43 Jesus really does cast him out he really does now now go to Luke Tim alright Luke 10 verse 17 jesus had sent 70 he sent the twelve outlet power over demons then he said seven yell and then verse 17 says then the seventy returned with joy saying Alissa that's what they said Lord they're talking Jesus now even the demons are subject to us in your name and he said to them really you know I'm kidding honey I just say these people say the word even the demons obey us really do you know us you're talking to the king of kings and the Lord of lords here's what he says here's what in essence he says that doesn't impress me because here's what he says that he said it in I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven listening when he when he rebelled against my father he was out quicker likely so I'm not impressed by Satan a created being behold I give you the authority I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions there are types and shadows again he doesn't mean snakes and stinging critters okay this demons the whole subjects about demons serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you nevertheless do not rejoice in this notice you only excited about this this isn't the exciting part that the spirits are subject to you but I do only notice the spirits are subject this word by the way subject means obedient submissive slaves that's what if it's obedient submissive slaves in the name of Jesus don't rejoice that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said I thank you Father Lord of Heaven Earth that you have hidden these things now remember the words these things from the wise and the prudent in other words the light the people who think they're smart and revealed them to these spades these young disciples even so father for it seemed good in your sight okay notice he said father thank you you've hidden these things what were they just talking about they were talking about authority over demons and he said I know God that the smart people don't believe there they don't believe that we have authority over but these precious babes these young believers they know they saw it they understand that I thank you Lord for that the spirits are subject in his name um it is amazing to me how many people will say that you know there are demons and we don't need to talk about it I have a friend of mine that got saved out of the hippy movement in the 70s in the Gees he got saved in the Jesus movement from being he was a hippie you know hitchhiking all that stuff and he went directly into a a strong spirit field believing church that understood spiritual warfare then he went to a Bible College that understood spiritual warfare then he went to the mission field and he went into language school to learn the language and when he got to language school he met some missionaries from another religious background that didn't believe in spiritual warfare and he was shocked he had never met anyone that didn't believe in demons because when you read Matthew Mark Luke and John that's most of what Jesus is doing so he was shocked and he kept sending them you you don't you don't believe in demons all right no and then they gave him this you know long stupid answer you know and he was just shocked and he is shocked and so he said to them so you don't cast demons out of people and they said well no and then listen to his wonderful pure answer he said you leave him in you leave I'm here okay can I tell you something that's really only the two choices either leave them in or cast them out and I'm for casting them out now you might be starting to feel like oh I may have a problem in an area okay yeah I don't want you to feel bad about it so I want to show you one more thing they were finished see we don't have a problem knowing that God has the power but what the enemy does is focus on our weakness in our history I said well now you can't get free other people get free of you can't get free because I've really got a bondage a stronghold in this area okay I just want to remind you this man was they mark five where we started he was demonized a legion 6820 six he lived naked in the cemetery okay so none of you are as in bondage as this guy I mean y'all got your clothes on so that's good so none of you are as in bondage as this guy so I want to show you something to give you hope verse 6 says when he saw Jesus from afar he ran and worshipped appears won't tell you Satan does not have the power to stop you from coming to Jesus that's what we just read if he could have stopped anyone he could have stopped that guy so if you're in bondage if you have a difficulty in your life if you have a weakness if you have an area of sin you can't stop you can't break you're probably in bondage in that area you're under the influence in that area but Jesus can set you free I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes and we're going to do something a little differently this week and that is that I think all of us are going to be convicted about an area of our life that Lord we need freedom we need to be free and we're going to have a time where we minister as we always do and pray for you but I'm gonna give you an opportunity because I think more people may need ministry than what could come just simply to the front remember I said he ran and worshipped him this man that word worship I told you the Greek word means to to bow down in just a moment we're gonna stand at every campus in every overflow room and we're gonna worship worship he ran and worshipped him and during this time we're gonna have leaders at the front of every campus and every overflow room if you need prayer for any area of your life and you want someone to pray with you I want you to come even if it's a it's a bondage usage I just need something I know I need to confess it to someone I need prayer I want you to come to one of the leaders at the front of whichever campus your activity but also if you want to simply come and kneel at the altar you can come if you need just come and and prostrate yourself bow down before the Lord and worship him and say Lord I need to get free all right it's a bondage I won't quit making excuses for it Lord it's a bondage I need to be free then you can come and if you want to simply kneel at your seat in an act of humbling yourself see again let me tell you again the only people I've ever known they cannot get free of the people you want humble truly humble themselves that sometimes they'll do it out really they will do it in their heart if you need freedom in any area of your life then as soon as we stand up I want you to stand up step out and come along the leaders let us pray for you at every campus or come and kneel at the front or kneel right where you are Holy Spirit I pray that all of us will respond to what you're saying right now I'd ever campus in Jesus name Amen I was 19 years old when I gave my life to the Lord and everything changed I didn't have any desire to go back to that old life I wanted to walk with the Lord and learn more about him and some people helped me to learn the Bible and to learn how to pray and to learn about my new life in Christ and that's what we want to do for you I am so excited that you've given your life to the Lord he's forgiven all of your sins and you're on your way to heaven but we need to learn some things now about the Bible about prayer about some basics of the Christian life so that you can be victorious and live for the Lord like I know you want to so we've designed a class called fresh start and I want to encourage you to sign up for this class because we want to help you grow in your walk with the Lord now I love you and I'm so proud of you

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

Views: 453,163

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Keywords: gatewaypeople, Gateway Church, Pastor Robert, Robert Morris, DFW, Southlake, Texas, Church, God, Lord, Free Indeed, Under The Influence

Id: MFwCl6LW9JU

Length: 35min 49sec (2149 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 25 2013