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- As you think of outside of Christ,
think of in Ephesians 2:1-3
that describes our state in sin.
In sin, it will speak of us as being dead in our sins,
it will also speak of us being under the power
of the Evil One and of course
that Evil One there would be Satan
and then you would think of demonic forces
so that in our sin,
we are not just sort of innocently doing
it on our own, but we are part of the Scripture will say
a world spirit, controlled by the prince of the air,
Satan is real, demons are real, in our sin,
they can greatly influence us
and even control us and we see in the Gospels,
people that have gone to such an extent
where there's control by demons
and Jesus has to cast those demons out.
Now the question becomes, when we become Christians,
is that possible still for us to have that kind
of possession that you would see in the Gospels
and even that kind of strong, strong influence on us.
My answer to that would probably be no.
Now why I'm thinking there is that
when you think of Christian salvation,
Christian salvation is depicted in Scripture as a transfer.
It's a transfer from being in Adam
and the entire age controlled by sin and death
and the devil and being transferred into Christ.
In Christ, we are no longer dead in transgressions and sins,
we are born of the Spirit, we have new life,
we are forgiven of our sins, we are joined
to the Savior, we have the power of the Savior,
now indeed we have to wait until His coming again
when we are totally glorified
and we will sin not again,
yet to think of now in Christ those who are forgiven of sins
and born of the Spirit and have new life
as being then possessed by a spirit, an evil spirit,
a demonic Spirit is quite unthinkable.
In a fallen state, yes, but in Christ, no.
But the Scripture will also say that Satan
is, you think of 1 Peter 5, he's described
as a lion, a roaring lion.
He attacks the church,
the Apostle Paul will say in Ephesians 6
that we wrestle not against just mere humans,
flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
and those principalities and powers
in Paul aren't just human states and governments and so on
as some have thought, they really do refer
to the demonic realm, so that we wrestle against them,
but that doesn't mean that's the same as possession,
so that the demonic stand against the church,
they are trying to ultimately lead the church astray,
yet the church overcomes Satan by the blood of Christ,
by the work of Christ,
so can a Christian be demon-possessed?
No, to be demon-possessed would mean one
is outside of Christ, one is dead in their sins,
one is under the power of the Evil One.
Can Christians though battle against principalities
and powers, is Satan a roaring lion who's trying
to deceive and lead us astray?
Yes, but that's quite different than possession
and we have in Christ and by the Spirit,
we are told to, Peter says in 1 Peter 5
when he says Satan is a roaring lion,
he says resist him, right, and we can resist him,
we have power over him,
Satan's power has been defeated at the cross
and in the resurrection, he hold no longer,
can hold death over our heads,
he can no longer hold sin over our heads,
we have been justified in Christ
and we have the victory in Him
and even though we still battle in this world
until the end, we still will face trials
and persecution and sufferings,
Christ Church is victorious, the gates of Hell
cannot prevail against individual Christians
and the entire Church,
so we should take comfort that Satan
is defeated by Christ and we await
for the time where He comes
and will bring all things to the end.
In the meantime, the Church needs
to be vigilant as we know
that we are already triumphant in Christ.
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