Video Transcript: Defeating Demons, Part 1

Now why did Christmas happen? Why was Jesus born? So that by his death, he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. So when we ask why was Jesus born? Why Christmas? One very, very important answer is to destroy the devil and all his works. And that's our text for today. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. 

Now, who are these rulers and authorities at one level, they might be governing powers in this world. People who hold important positions. But behind those people holding important positions, as we know from the book of Daniel, and other places are sometimes demonic powers. It talks about the Prince of Persia, who stands behind the Persian Empire or the Prince of Greece, who stands behind the Greek emperors and their conquests. And so we know that behind rulers and authorities and including behind the rulers, and authorities who condemned Jesus and sentenced him to death on a cross, the religious authorities and the government authorities both were involved in that. But behind those authorities, were these other kinds of rulers and authorities. And in this context in Colossians, it's been talking about the elemental spirits of the world. A few verses before this and then again, a few verses after this. These elemental spirits, also called demons, or devils or evil spirits all those are different words that mean much the same thing. And they're all bad angels, who a long time ago rebelled against God and have continued in rebellion against Him and have had particular power in this world and over the human race and have had a deadly and devastating impact on us. And Jesus disarmed those rulers and authorities. The reason the Son of God appeared, was to destroy the devil's work. 

The book of Revelation gives us A Christmas Story, a Christmas dream, or vision or picture of what was going on. We've thought about that before in this church. And just a quick reminder of that. It shows us how deadly Satan and his forces are, and it speaks of the dragon. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. All throughout Old Testament history. Satan, the dragon was trying to destroy the Jews, the people of God and swallow up that nation because God had promised that from the seed of Eve and then the seed of Abraham and then the seed of David the Savior would come. And so this dragon was waiting and waiting and a very deadly dragon, but a defeated dragon. Because in the vision of Revelation, you have the woman giving birth to the Son, a male child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. So the child was successfully born, the child did succeed in his mission, and he did frustrate and defeat the dragon. That's how this vision portrays it. And then at the end of Revelation, it speaks of the devil being cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he's destroyed and permanently eliminated from his ability to do damage to anybody, again, of God's people. And so that's another picture of Christmas of a child waiting to be born or a woman waiting to give birth and then the child being born. And triumphing over this terrible dragon who's a picture of Satan himself. 

So that's what we're talking about. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Why was Jesus born? Well, for a lot of reasons, but one of them to destroy the devil's work, to eliminate his empire and to set his people and his entire universe free of those deadly powers. You could ask the same question. Why did Aslan come to Narnia? A lot of you are readers of The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis or have watched the movies that have come out either in the BBC versions that were older or the newer ones I think what Dawn Treader is hitting the screen this week. But anyway, the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe, is the first of those and it gives us a picture that is quite comparable to what we're talking about today from the scriptures. 

Why did Aslan come to Narnia? Well, one reason He came to Narnia and one of the things he did was to help Edmund out. Edmund is a boy who had gotten in league with the witch, and he was in deep, deep trouble and because of his treason he deserved a death and he was in her control. And so he came to save Edmund, but he didn't just come to save Edmund. There was a whole realm that was under this terrible witch, and trapped in perpetual winter without Christmas. We've got our first dose of winter and the kids were glad that they would not be glad if it was winter all the time and if Christmas never came, and if there was some nasty witch running the whole show. So in the story, Aslam comes to break the power of this witch and the endless winter that's been going on for over 100 years, and to break the power of that. So he's come not just to rescue an individual or to die in his place, but also just to confront all of the evil and deadly forces and to defeat them. 

Now, as in the true story of Jesus, there is a very strange and unexpected thing that happens where Aslan hands himself over to the witch in Edmund’s place and is killed. And that seems as you're reading along like a devastating defeat, but as in the Scriptures it's the key to the whole victory, because he's eliminating the punishment that Edmund deserves. And he's entering into the very powers of death and unearthing what's labelled a deeper magic. Not just the magic of if you break the law, you're dead meat. But the deeper one that if an innocent and willing victim will die in the place of another, death itself will be destroyed and the powers of death will start working backward and destroying the very people who destroy and bring death in the first place. And that's what Aslan is doing. He's rescuing Edmund by dying in his place, but he's also setting in motion powers that turn the power of evil and death back on itself and destroy it. 

Now, CS Lewis was not just having fun with a little kids tale, when he told that story. So he was showing the basic core of the gospel and one core of the gospel is substitutionary atonement. Aslan took Edmonds punishment, he forgave him, he saved him. And there is something wonderful and personal about the truth of the gospel that every one of us can say, Well, why was Jesus born? He was born to die in my place. He was born to take the punishment I deserve as God put my sins on him, and he suffered for me. And so that is a great and wonderful truth of the gospel. But there is also simply the fact that Jesus conquers death that he defeats the evil forces that he brings his reign until he puts all things under his feet. Aslan is not just the nice personal savior he is in the story, the great lion who triumphs over the power of evil who comes back from the dead. And just when the battle is getting at its worst, he shows up with a roar, and all the forces of evil are scared out of their wits, and the witch is finished. 

Now again, that whole story is Louis's way of taking the story that he wanted to communicate to two kinds of people basically. There were a lot of church people and Christians who had lost the amazement and the wonder of what Christ had done for them. And he thought that maybe if he told the story without some stained glass, it might hit them afresh what Christ had done. And it was also doing it with people who aren't familiar with Christianity at all, just to try to give them a story and to tap into something very deep in all of us that there are truths that awaken in us longings, got a sense of Yeah, that's what I want. That's what I that's what's right. And to tell that story again, in a little different mode to people who had gotten sick of religion in a sense, but still needed to hear the basic message. 

Well, Paul is telling us his story, too. And in this context, where he says he defeated the rulers, He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. That comes in in the wider context where he's talking about not getting captive to evil powers. Don't let anyone take you captive by empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. And he says for in him, you've been filled in Christ, who is the head of all rulers and authorities. That's one reason to be trapped. But another reason is he's rescued you. And so once you been rescued, you don't go back and he wants to remind them of what this great rescue is. And as we talked about, in a previous message from Colossians, this passage, he says, You were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, and God made you alive together with Him. And He did this by forgiving us all our trespasses cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. 

Now, just to review what that was about and how it leads into this rescue from evil powers. Think of it this way, there are still a lot of evil powers in the world and some of them take on a great collective power. You get governments, sometimes you get crime bosses. Now think of a crime boss, a mafia chief or the head of a criminal cartel, really nasty. Has a lot of very nasty people working for him. And one of the illegal businesses that he runs is smuggling people into the country. A lot of people want to get into the country and one of his businesses so to speak is smuggling the man and often subjecting them to terrible wages or or to slave labour. This does go on in our world still today. Now think of a person who's doing that. And he's gotten these people in illegally. They don't have a right to be there. They're kind of under his thumb. But they also know that the law is against them. And let's say he's got these people there illegally there. He also gets some of them hooked on drugs and working for him. 

Now one of the things that he can do, to keep them under his control is to directly threaten them with his own power, and to keep on maybe passing out some favors to keep some people wanting what little pleasure they can get from. And there's a variety of ways that he can manipulate and control. One is through fear of death. Another is through the pleasures that he promises. And there are a variety of other ways that I'm not going to get into. But think of this criminal boss and his nasty lackeys. They've got these various ways of controlling the illegals that they bring into the country. But they've got another way too. They can threaten and say, if you step out of line, we're going to make sure the government finds out about you, and they will arrest you, and they will either imprison you and punish you right here for the crimes you've committed. Or they will kick you out of this country because you have no right to be there after all. And so part of what this criminal cartel does is use the legitimate power and its laws against the people who are under its control. This is how Satan operates. He takes God's good law and he uses it to accuse and to condemn. And that's what the powers of darkness do. They have their own threats. They have their own pleasures that they try to offer. But one of their biggest weapons is to turn God's very law against us and say you have broken it. You deserve to be punished. You will be punished you might as well not even think about getting it right with God because you've got no chance with him. You are a criminal. And if you ever fall into his hands, you are a goner. 

And there's a lot of truth to that. If you're part of an illegal ring that's been brought into the country illegally and you've participated in criminal activity and you have no right to be there in the first place. What hope you have? And you've got these crooked cops that are working with a criminal cartel. They're always threatening to turn you in, even though they're bigger crooks than you are. And the criminal boss, the mafia, they're bigger crooks than you are. But they will use the written code against you. And they will use the fact that you don't have a right to be part of that realm. And this is how Satan operates. The accuser and his demons will in a sense, rightly tell you that you don't have a right to be in God's kingdom. You don't belong there. You were dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh. Remember, we talked about that and that you were not part of the chosen people of God, Israel. And so you didn't really belong. You don't really have a right to acceptance with God and God's Law condemns you. And besides that, satan has already got you anyway. So you might well just go along with it. You know, it's the very kind of thinking that you would have with criminal boss and with crooked cops who work for it. They use their own powers. Plus, they turn what is right and good against you. 

And having said all of that, what Paul says is you've got these evil powers who misuse the law, but God set this aside in Christ. He put all of your sins on Christ and nailed them to the cross. Just like the accusation against Jesus was nailed above his head, all the accusations against you are put on Jesus and on his cross and nailed to that cross. And so the prince of darkness, the head of those evil powers, the ultimate crime boss, and all the bad cops in line with him, who fell with him, they can't charge you anymore. Because the charges against you have already been paid for and now they are dismissed. And so the scripture says He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him. On the cross, He hung there and took all the guilt, all the shame all of the evil of the world upon himself and he suffered in our place, and he counseled the rightful accusations that can be brought against us. And he also overpowered the dark powers that stood against us. He overpowered death We read in Hebrews that he came to destroy the devil and destroy him who held the power of death so that we wouldn't be held any longer in slavery by our fear of death. The law cannot be brought against us anymore. Even death cannot be brought against us or intimidate us anymore, because Jesus has been there and done that, and he has defeated death itself.

Why did Jesus come into the world? Why was he born on Christmas? To take away the accusation against us so that we can be forgiven but also to liberate us and to liberate all of his people in all of his realm from the grip and power of Satan. And what this means brothers and sisters, is that we ought not to listen to Satan. If you don't yet know the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to know what Jesus said in John chapter eight. You don't accept me because you're a child of the devil yet. You're still in league with that evil one. And you need to switch sides. If news comes of amnesty for illegal aliens, an amnesty, forgiveness, pardon for those who have committed crimes while they've been under the thumb of a nasty crime boss. Those people have a decision to make. If they're told that their crimes are taken away and that the prince, the ruler, the crime boss has been defeated and locked up, they've got a decision to make. Is it true? Do I believe it? If I don't believe it I say, Well, come on. That's just a rumor that he's been defeated and locked up. And I heard some stories somewhere, that somebody was talking about amnesty. That can't be, you know, they're not going to just going to pardon us and let a bunch of us illegals stay. The news of the gospel is that those who had no part in the people of God, Gentiles who were not part of the children of Abraham, sinners who are hostile to God have forgiveness announced to them and the defeat of Satan announced to them, to us, and now we've got to decide, Is it true? And if it's true, do I live by that? Do I switch sides? 

Now that doesn't always mean that it's entirely pleasant and safe yet. Even when a crime boss is locked up in prison, he can easily pull a few strings from there, and he's still got some of his lackeys out there trying to do damage to you. But you still have to decide who is going to win in the end. And whose side do I want to be on? Not just for my own benefit, but also who do I really want to win? Even when I'm told who has won do I really want him to win? And if you are glad that Jesus has won, that He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him in Jesus Christ. Or another translation says at the cross, because in him can also mean it. And in the immediate context, he's talking about how he set everything aside and nailed it to the cross. 

So He disarmed them by what he did the cross and that's the announcement the gospel each one of us has to say, Do I believe that God announces pardoned to me, and do I believe that Satan is defeated and locked up? And if I do, despite what some of his powers are still doing from his imprisonment, despite what some of his evil henchmen are still up to, I know that that side is going down. They're finished. And I don't want to be in their boat. I want to be on the side of the one who has triumphed. So every every generation faces the same call of the gospel. Choose you this day whom you will serve. You gotta serve somebody that can be the devil. It can be the Lord, you gotta serve somebody and it doesn't have to be the devil. Because the devil has been defeated and even the laws of accusations that he would use against you have been cancelled out, and you have been pardoned. 

Well, that's the introduction of the sermon and I think we'll hear the rest of it next week. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. That's the announcement of Christmas. That's the announcement of what Christ has done. What are the details? How did he put them to shame what happened at the cross? And how do we live in our daily conflict and defeat the demons who are still out there trying to mess things up, trying to lie to us? That's one of the keys. Remember, they can't do anything to you that you don't let them, when it comes to destroying your soul and your spirit. If you believe their lies, they can still suck you in. But if you believe the truth, and if you live in Christ, victory is yours. We'll get into the details of that next Sunday. 

This Sunday we've got a lot to do yet. With the Andersons to share with him saying and our fellowship together. I was telling him just going out this week sermons gonna be shorter because it's only on one verse. Then I found myself Well, I think I'll have to quit after the introduction. So here we are. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them open shame by triumphing over them in him. Just a brief word about that picture. Actually, that's a picture of by Rembrandt, about Jesus resurrection, and the soldiers who are fainting and falling away represent the powers of darkness who are trying to keep Jesus down and keep him in the tomb. And Rembrandt being good reformed guy didn't want any picture of Jesus at all. So he has a picture of an angel and then behind the angel, the light coming from the open tomb and it's not just the angel, it is the light that is sending the powers of darkness crumbling to the ground. So remember the words of the truth. Remember too a few pictures of the truth. The  dragon going down. The lion of the tribe of Judah sacrificing himself for your sins, but also rising again and roaring and putting to flight the powers that have locked this world in such a long and deadly winter for so long. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.

Father, we thank you for sending Jesus. We thank you that in Jesus and through His cross you have disarmed your enemies you will triumph over them that what seemed like a time of shame and humiliation for Jesus coming into this world in a manger and then dying on a cross has brought you incredible glory, in using your foolishness and your weakness to show yourself greater than all the strength and wisdom of men. Indeed greater than all the strength and cunning of the evil spirits. We praise you for what you have done, Lord Jesus and we pray you'll give us that spirit of victory in this Christmas season of rejoicing that you are Lord and that your enemies are being put under your feet until all things must submit to you. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.