0:00:13.501,0:00:20.215 ...in them, or be possessed by an evil spirit... 0:00:20.215,0:00:24.852 Again, I'm just going to say what Scripture says, 0:00:24.852,0:00:33.915 Let's ask this: Biblically, what can the devil do to believers? 0:00:33.915,0:00:38.403 Tempt them. How do we know that? 0:00:38.403,0:00:40.538 Christ was tempted. 0:00:40.538,0:00:44.917 Right. He is called "the tempter," right? 0:00:44.917,0:00:49.809 And Paul feared lest the Christians at Corinth 0:00:49.809,0:00:53.519 were being tempted just like Eve was tempted. 0:00:53.519,0:00:59.543 So yes, he can tempt Christians. 0:00:59.543,0:01:05.313 What else can he do to Christians? 0:01:05.313,0:01:10.211 Remember what he asked permission to do to Peter? 0:01:10.211,0:01:21.001 Sift him. Sift him. What do you think that is? 0:01:21.001,0:01:24.424 Probably another way to say "tempt." 0:01:24.424,0:01:32.275 What is temptation? Temptation is luring to sin. 0:01:32.275,0:01:36.656 Not causing to sin. But enticing to it. 0:01:36.656,0:01:39.175 Peter was sifted. 0:01:39.175,0:01:43.835 He was put in a situation where he denied the Lord. 0:01:43.835,0:01:47.220 He was sifted to see what he was made of. 0:01:47.220,0:01:49.120 Yes, he was tried. 0:01:49.120,0:01:53.431 What's something else that Satan can do to a child of God? 0:01:53.431,0:02:01.191 He accuses. Day and night, he accuses our brethren. 0:02:01.191,0:02:07.099 He can accuse us. He can slander us. 0:02:07.099,0:02:11.246 What else can he do? 0:02:11.246,0:02:18.583 He can tempt, sift... 0:02:18.583,0:02:27.084 Slander, accuse... can he deceive us? 0:02:27.084,0:02:29.269 He is the deceiver. 0:02:29.269,0:02:35.549 And the thing is with temptation is a lie, right? 0:02:35.549,0:02:38.347 There's always a lie. Yes, any times he tempts us 0:02:38.347,0:02:41.347 and we fall into the sin he tempts us into, 0:02:41.347,0:02:48.568 he's deceived us. What's something else he can do to us? 0:02:48.568,0:02:53.077 Now he goes about seeking to devour, 0:02:53.077,0:02:57.277 but can he actually devour a true Christian? 0:02:57.277,0:03:04.029 What can he do? 0:03:04.029,0:03:09.467 With God's permission, what can he do? (Job) 0:03:09.467,0:03:12.017 What did he do? 0:03:12.017,0:03:20.809 He destroyed his children, his wealth, his health. 0:03:20.809,0:03:25.012 He can take your health away if God grants him permission. 0:03:25.012,0:03:27.033 But he asks permission to sift. 0:03:27.033,0:03:32.052 Let me tell you what, he's like a dog on a chain. 0:03:32.052,0:03:36.207 He can only do what is within that little dog pen 0:03:36.207,0:03:38.377 that he's allowed to run in, 0:03:38.377,0:03:46.698 and God can reel the chain in or let it out anytime God determines. 0:03:46.698,0:03:54.595 Is there any account where a Christian is possessed? 0:03:54.595,0:03:58.563 There isn't. There isn't. 0:03:58.563,0:04:02.136 Flesh and blood, but what do we wrestle against? 0:04:02.136,0:04:04.913 So there's a fight. We can wrestle. 0:04:04.913,0:04:07.913 He can do battle with us. 0:04:07.913,0:04:13.477 But when it comes to possession... 0:04:13.477,0:04:21.542 What does Satan do to lost people that he can't do to us? 0:04:21.542,0:04:25.351 What's true of Satan's relationship with lost people? 0:04:25.351,0:04:28.947 I've been memorizing Ephesians chapters 1 and 2. 0:04:28.947,0:04:32.947 What's something that's said there concerning, the lost do what? 0:04:32.947,0:04:37.037 They follow the course of the world, 0:04:37.037,0:04:39.846 they follow the prince of the power of the air, 0:04:39.846,0:04:41.642 and what's he described as? 0:04:41.642,0:04:46.135 The spirit that's now at work in the sons of disobedience, 0:04:46.135,0:04:48.543 he's at work in them. 0:04:48.543,0:04:51.718 He's actually got control of them. 0:04:51.718,0:04:57.374 Can anybody think of somewhere else that Scripture talks about? 0:04:57.374,0:05:00.872 He's their father. 0:05:00.872,0:05:05.112 1 John 5:19 says, "we know that we are from God, 0:05:05.112,0:05:09.567 but the whole world" does what? 0:05:09.567,0:05:12.567 "It lies in the power of the evil one." 0:05:12.567,0:05:17.473 He is the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience. 0:05:17.473,0:05:20.482 They all lie within his power. 0:05:20.482,0:05:24.742 He has dominion over them. 0:05:24.742,0:05:27.762 Does he have dominion over us? No. 0:05:27.762,0:05:34.801 He that is with us is greater than he that is in the world. 0:05:34.801,0:05:38.711 In fact, Christ likens Himself to what? 0:05:38.711,0:05:42.858 The One who is stronger than the strongman, 0:05:42.858,0:05:44.578 and has the ability to come 0:05:44.578,0:05:48.701 and bind him up and take what's his, 0:05:48.701,0:05:50.061 and that's what He's done. 0:05:50.061,0:05:54.309 He's freed us. He's no longer our father. 0:05:54.309,0:05:59.938 We're no longer in that bondage. 0:05:59.938,0:06:02.938 We're no longer possessed in that way. 0:06:02.938,0:06:04.818 By this it is evident who are the children of God 0:06:04.818,0:06:06.792 and who are the children of the devil, 0:06:06.792,0:06:10.088 whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, 0:06:10.088,0:06:12.515 nor is the one who does not love his brother. 0:06:12.515,0:06:16.909 I'll tell you another thing Satan can not do to God's children, 0:06:16.909,0:06:23.288 he can not so control us as to move us into a place 0:06:23.288,0:06:27.118 where we practice sin and don't love the brethren. 0:06:27.118,0:06:30.628 He can not do it. 0:06:30.628,0:06:33.753 Can he tempt us at times to fall into sin? 0:06:33.753,0:06:37.653 At times to have unloving gestures towards the brethren? 0:06:37.653,0:06:42.249 Yes, but can he move us into the practice of that? No way! 0:06:42.249,0:06:44.156 He does not have the power to do it. 0:06:44.156,0:06:46.263 In fact, if that's true in your life, 0:06:46.263,0:06:50.013 you are of the devil. You are not of God. 0:06:50.013,0:06:54.581 Whoever practices sin is not of God. They're of the devil. 0:06:54.581,0:06:59.252 That's specifically and exactly what the Scripture says. 0:06:59.252,0:07:03.456 Let me tell you something else, you talk about his question: 0:07:03.456,0:07:09.503 can a Christian have an evil spirit? 0:07:09.503,0:07:12.032 Now obviously they can have an evil spirit 0:07:12.032,0:07:15.032 that tempts them, that they wrestle with, 0:07:15.032,0:07:21.000 that brings spiritual warfare to them, 0:07:21.000,0:07:23.363 but you know what's true of every child of God? 0:07:23.363,0:07:25.573 What do they have in them? 0:07:25.573,0:07:31.957 The Holy Spirit. And in fact, in Romans 8:9, 0:07:31.957,0:07:34.957 "you however are not in the flesh, 0:07:34.957,0:07:38.271 but in the Spirit if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you," 0:07:38.271,0:07:41.544 now listen to this: "Anyone who does not have 0:07:41.544,0:07:45.194 the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to Him." 0:07:45.194,0:07:47.421 So if you do belong to Him, you have the Spirit, 0:07:47.421,0:07:50.421 and where that Spirit is, it's the Holy Spirit 0:07:50.421,0:07:52.118 and I'll tell you this, unclean spirits 0:07:52.118,0:07:55.118 and the Holy Spirit do not abide together 0:07:55.118,0:07:58.600 and live together in the same place. 0:07:58.600,0:08:02.720 Those that we were told about in Scripture that were possessed, 0:08:02.720,0:08:06.155 Acts 8:5, "Philip went down to the city of Samaria 0:08:06.155,0:08:07.875 and proclaimed to them the Christ 0:08:07.875,0:08:09.315 the crowds of one accord paid attention 0:08:09.315,0:08:11.445 to what was being said to Philip, 0:08:11.445,0:08:14.240 when they heard him and saw the signs that he did, 0:08:14.240,0:08:16.440 unclean spirits came out of many 0:08:16.440,0:08:18.640 who were possessed." 0:08:18.640,0:08:21.214 But they're the lost folks. 0:08:21.214,0:08:27.103 Mark 7:25, "Immediately, a woman whose little daughter was possessed 0:08:27.103,0:08:32.304 by an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet." 0:08:32.304,0:08:34.144 Mark 5:18, the demoniac, you know 0:08:34.144,0:08:36.262 the one that had the legion of demons, 0:08:36.262,0:08:37.809 "As He was getting into the boat, 0:08:37.809,0:08:40.639 the man who had been possessed with demons..." 0:08:40.639,0:08:42.457 But these are all lost people. 0:08:42.457,0:08:44.127 Never do you have an example 0:08:44.127,0:08:46.365 in the Scriptures of somebody that's saved 0:08:46.365,0:08:51.607 that's said to have been possessed.