Satan & Spiritual Warfare
I started to go to bed early, but there was that presence that stole over me, and I knew what it meant. So out of this came a word for you this morning on “Our Spiritual Warfare”. I suggest you pay close attention because I’ll not use too many words. I’ll try to be concise so take it in. Now we’re starting here first of all with Ephesians 6:10-13:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
First we have to notice a general fact among other passages. As you will notice in Matthew 12, there is a reference to two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of God, and there is also the kingdom of Satan.
“Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? (They didn’t) Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” Matthew 12:22-28
First, we want to recognize, folkses, that we are part of the kingdom of God, that there are in fact two great spiritual kingdoms: the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Satan is engaged in an unrelenting war against the kingdom of God all the time. There is no such thing as a truce. Satan will not come to a truce. We perhaps would like to make a truce, have our peace and be left alone. There is no such chance.
Here you see in this passage a basic fact on which I want to build more or less: that there is a kingdom of Satan and a kingdom of God. Now that of Satan was described in Ephesians 6:12, “Wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, rulers of the darkness, and spiritual wickedness.” Those are the spiritual forces against which we are engaged in unrelenting warfare whether we want to or not, whether we know it or not.
Take a look again at this section there in Matthew. These Pharisees had an emotional prejudice against what Jesus was doing. They were far more interested in defending their ecclesiastical tradition than they were interested in the deliverance of a soul from the power of the devil. Their traditional interests, traditional position arising from their emotional prejudices were more important to them by far than the deliverance of a soul. Even though the evidence stood before them, they rejected Jesus. They didn’t like what He was doing. By so doing, they were helping the kingdom of Satan while they were hindering the kingdom of God.
They were more interested in defending their traditional position than they were interested in discovering the truth. The fact that Jesus delivered people made no difference to them. They would have preferred he hadn’t done it so that they themselves would not be exposed by the very things Jesus accomplished that they didn’t. My! The hypocrisy of this thing! Take Ephesians 2:2:
“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
Satan is a worker, untiring. Now here he’s described as the prince of the powers of the air. There is again that portion in Ephesians 6:12 where you have a reference to an immense host of incredibly wicked spirits bent on doing all the damage they can to God’s people, highly efficiently organized, and over which Satan himself is there as the prince of the whole army of wicked spirits arrayed against the kingdom of God.
In Mark 5:9 you have the Lord dealing with a person. Jesus asked the man who was vexed with a demon, “What is thy name? “ He addressed the spirit in the person. Don’t you ever be so foolish and expose your ignorance to such an extent that you deny the personality of satanic spirits. They can see, they can hear, they can will, they can speak. They are real. To deny their reality is to deny the revelation of the scriptures. I would a thousand times rather put my faith in the revelation of the scriptures than in the rationalization of men.
He asked them, “What is thy name?” They had names. Their names have a relationship with their work, to their nature - it’s a combination. And he answered saying, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” This statement here is taken to indicate that we’re dealing with an immense, innumerable host of wicked spirits. These spirits are very capable of
extreme violence. Here I’ll take you to Mark 9:17-27 reading now from the Berkeley, which I’m very fond of:
“One of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I have brought you my son who has a dumb spirit. Whenever it gets hold of him, it throws him down, he foams at the mouth, he grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So far I spoke to your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.
“Oh unbelieving generation, he replied. How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. So they brought him to Jesus. The spirit, on seeing him, instantly threw the boy into convulsions so that he fell to the ground and rolled over foaming at the mouth. (We send him to the psychiatrist)
“Then he asked his father, How long has this gone on? He said, From early childhood. Often it has thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him, and if you can do anything to help us, take pity on us.
“Jesus said to him, If you can do anything? Everything is possible for the person who believes. At once the father of the boy exclaimed, I believe, help me because of my unbelief.
“Jesus noticing that the mob was collecting, rebuked the unclean spirit to whom he said, Dumb and deaf spirit, I order you to come out of him and never again enter into him, and shrieking and throwing fit after fit, he came out and the boy looked like a corpse so that many declared that he was dead. But Jesus taking him by the hand raised him and he stood up.” Mark 9:17-27 Berkeley
I want to make just one point: These spirits are capable of extreme violence as is so aptly described in this particular incident. I don’t suppose all of them are, but at least some. Likewise these fellows are also exceedingly wicked as seen in Luke 11:24-26:
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; (presumably looking for another habitat) and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
There are spirits who vary in degrees in wickedness, more wicked than himself. So they combine their wickedness in a return engagement to re-conquer the territory lost. Don’t think these are fantasies. These things are realities that we ought to pay more heed than we are accustomed to. These spirits have a very deceptive nature.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” II Corinthians 11:13-15
An apostle is one sent forth. Satan has apostles. Did you know that? He has ministers; he has servants; he has messengers, oodles of them, in the nature of human personalities. Like God uses human instruments in the promotion of the truth, so Satan uses human instruments in the promotion of error. It is part of the conflict between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. He has evangelists; he has messengers, “For such are false apostles.” They claim divine authorization, but they are lies. They claim divine authentication for the doctrines they teach.
Satan is a masquerader. He wears a mask and adjusts his strategy to the culture at a given time in a given area. He adjusts his strategy to an ecclesiastical system. He adapts himself. In the Far East he may masquerade as a Buddhist monk, shaved heads, saffron garments with a beggar’s bowl in his hand. In so-called civilized countries, he may wear (so to speak) the garments of elegance going about in tuxedos if he wants to. He adapts himself to any given culture so as to mask, as much as possible, his activities.
That’s why we need discerning of spirits so we can see through the dark and his cover which lies behind some things. He’s a masquerader and he is seductive. Here I’m going to read to you a most illuminating section from the New Testament from 26 Translations. These translations give you a little different ray of light on the very same thought. Let me read to you I Timothy 4. I’m giving you now a different reading from different translations. Never mind which they are. You can get the book and see for yourself:
Now the Spirit expressly says (Get this thing here folk, and notice how carefully God tries to bring an important matter to our attention.) “The Spirit explicitly says,” “The Spirit distinctly says,” “The Spirit clearly says,” “The Spirit specifically tells us (What?)” “That in the latter times, some shall fall away from the faith.” “That in after times, some will desert the faith.” “That in later days, there will be some who abandon the faith.” “That in later seasons, some will revolt from the faith.” “Certain people will rebel against the faith.” “Some in the church will turn away from Christ. (How come?)” “Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” “Giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons.” “Because they continuously give their attention to deceiving spirits and the things that demons teach.” “And devote their attention to misleading spirits.” “And give their life to subversive doctrines inspired by devils.” “They will yield to deluding spirits and demonic teachings.”
So we’re dealing here with a personality: violent, wicked, deceptive and seductive. There can be seduction in more than one area. There is such a thing as spiritual seduction; there is such a thing as intellectual seduction; there is such a thing as moral seduction. I suppose there is such a thing as physical seduction, but whatever area there is available to the enemy, he seems to use his seductive capabilities to mislead, to deceive and ultimately destroy the people of the kingdom of God.
We have another section in II Corinthians 2:10-11. You see I brought all my artillery with me. I have a new Bible and it’s hard to work it right in finding these passages.
“To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” II Corinthians 2:10-11
If we need anything, and we need many things, as part of our theological education, our equipment to combat the enemy successfully, it is sound, solid, adequate information. We need to be an informed people in many areas, but not to the exclusion of the area of the kingdom of Satan.
Notice what you have here. Satan takes advantage. Do you see that? “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us.” Ephesians 4:27 says, “Give no place to the devil,” the idea being: Give no opportunity, give no chance to the devil to take an advantage over us because be sure when he discovers an opportunity, he is shrewd enough to take advantage of it. That is why we need to be alert, not alarmed or in fear. Oh no! But we need to be alert, as much as can be. “Give no place to the devil.”
You know that certain situations, certain circumstances; certain environmental factors provide an opportunity for the enemy to get at you. These opportunities vary. I can identify them, but our time is moving and I have a few things to say yet. Remember what I have said, I have said. There’s no argument about it.
All right, “Give no place to the devil.” Here is an interesting point that has attracted my attention only recently. In studying the entire subject in the set of notes on Satan, currently at the printers, I noticed how Satan is able to take advantage.
“Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.” Luke 22:3
Isn’t it something that he entered one of the twelve disciples? Look at this thing in perspective. Judas was one of the twelve apostles. He had a genuine call to the apostleship. He was among the twelve who had received power and authority to cast out devils. Judas was among the twelve who went out to do the very thing of casting out devils and healing the sick. His name, like the names of the others, were written in heaven. Now we find the devil is getting into him. I’ll turn to my second Bible simply for expression, not for proof, but the wording is so suggestive.
“But now Satan found his way into the heart of Judas and took possession.” Luke 22:3
“Satan found his way into the heart of Judas and took possession?” Yet here is a man with his name in heaven, with a genuine call, power to heal and to cast out devils. What happened? He gave Satan an opportunity. He gave Satan an occasion. I can’t tell you how because I don’t know, but we do find in the heart of Judas a covetousness for money. Jesus once gave us a cue when Judas criticized the woman with the perfume and said, “Oh my! We could have sold it and have gotten so much in our treasury.” Jesus said Judas said that not because he cared, but because he had the bag.
Judas had a covetous sinful desire somewhere in his heart waiting for exploiting. Presumably, when that desire began to develop and enlarge, Satan took access into the heart of Judas through an open door of a sinful desire, and then he went in. I would say the man was immune to that kind of a thing until he opened the door by entertaining a sinful desire of getting money and so on and so forth. Satan moved in and worked on that thing and put into the heart of Judas to betray Him. But he opened the door, and Satan came in. Whew!
There’s another interesting case in Acts 5:3. Here again I’m using the 26 Translations, only for wording, because it makes it so clear. It’s taking me longer than I thought, but I’ll finish it. If any of you don’t like it, you may walk out, and if all of you walk out, I’ll stand here and finish it anyhow. (Laughter) I mean it! Let’s try it. I have a commission. I know what God gave me when He gave it. No matter how you look at it, no matter what you think, what you do, what you say, it makes no difference, none at all. You can say all you like, criticize all you want, leave me all alone, then leave me alone. I’ll be on my way. You can all leave me alone, and come June 2nd, I’ll be on my way. Maybe you’d have a more solid reason to speak if you went on your way like that for the Lord. Maybe your credentials would be better. Why don’t you get your credentials first?
“Peter said to Ananias, How is it that Satan had so taken possession of your heart that you have defrauded the Holy Spirit?” Acts 5:3
Here is a Christian, and Satan got in. Here is a man, a member of the church and the devil got in. Let the Word of God be true and everybody else a liar. How did Satan get in? He’s a member of the church and from all appearances you don’t get any other impression. He was one of the company of believers. How did Satan get in? Sin.
They wanted to have the praises of the people, “Oh Ananias and Sapphira! Those two sold their house; they sold their property; they sold their television set; they sold their Frigidaire, their washing machine and put the money at the apostles’ feet. Oh what a wonderful saint this Mrs. Ananias is, just wonderful.”
They thought they had everybody fooled and said to themselves, “We got some of the money in our pockets besides. Ha, ha, ha. We’ve got one over on them.” Hope we won’t need repenting before I get done! (Much laughter). Sin sprouted in their hearts. I don’t
know how. They thought, “Let’s get all the credit for having given everything.” When they had conceived that kind of a plan, they opened the door, and whew, in he (Satan) went. Is it my fault that this is written?
Now you have a statement in I John 5:18 that I want to use here.
“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” I John 5:18
Remember God said before, “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not,” but then He added, “If any man sin, we have an advocate.”
“He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not,” but if we don’t keep ourselves, it’s another ball game. As long as sin is not allowed, or if we do sin, we take care of it quickly and go to the Advocate confessing the sin and getting right with God, the door is shut. But if there is a continuation in unrepentant sin, the door is open, and the troublemaker has access.
There is security provided the door stays shut, and sin is not allowed to remain and develop in our hearts. I’m not saying that this happens all at once. Oh no! But eventually, an opportunity comes and God says, “Give no place to the devil.” Sin opens the gate. Sin destroys the immunity. You might still secure the help of the Lord. Sure, He does many times, but immunity is gone.
You’ve noticed in II Corinthians Paul saying, “We are not ignorant of his devises.” That’s why we need to be informed. That’s what I’m giving you this morning - information as well as a declaration. Satan has many devises and I cannot afford the time. I’ll merely read some of them to you with the scripture. If any of you want my outline, you’re ever so welcome to it. What are his devices?
1) He provokes - I Chronicles 21:1: This has to do with David numbering the people, however there are two books that you have to look at further. Satan can take a latent sinful desire like David had at that time in numbering the people. My! I’m a big man. I have lots of people. There was a pride in there and Satan took advantage of it with God’s permission. 2) Satan dissuades - Matthew 16:23: That is to say, he uses well-meaning people to talk us out of the way of the cross. 3) He sifts - Luke 22:31: He gets us into circumstances to try to bring into manifestation our failures if there are any. 4) He oppresses - Acts 10:38: He weighs people down with heavy burdens, physically, mentally, and spiritually by means of the wicked use of his power. 5) He hinders - I Thessalonians 2:18: He hindered a man of God on a journey. 6) He ensnares - I Timothy 3:7: That is to say he sets a trap like you set a trap for animals. For different animals you use a different trap. Satan uses different traps for different animals. Some are susceptible to temptation and failure along one
line, others along other lines, and he sets the trap in the form within the susceptibilities to ensnare and catch them. 7) He imprisons - II Timothy 2:26: When I was in New York there was a man who had a girl working in his office and got himself involved. The time came when he wanted to get rid of this girl; he wanted to dismiss her. He said, “Sorry, I want to let you go.” She said, “No, you’re not.” He said, “How come?” She said, “You know. The day I walk out of this office dismissed, I’ll go and see your wife. How about it?” He said, “Oh, you can stay, you can stay.” He was a prisoner. He was her prisoner. He was in a trap he couldn’t get out. Satan knows how to set traps. 8) He’s a lion - I Peter 5:8: We’ll get some exhortation here. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” What do you think Peter is talking about - a lion in a circus? Oh no! Now here we are faced with the fact that Satan is on the prowl to overthrow us, harm us, destroy us if he can. He’s prowling about looking for you and for me to see how he can get at us. Therefore, you’re called to sobriety – “Be sober, be vigilant,” be on the alert, be on the lookout. I don’t think we should go around, “Oh me, where’s the devil, devil, devil.” I don’t mean it that way. He would just laugh at us.
Instead we need to resist the devil when he comes prowling around, “Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” There are three things here. The other one we had was not giving him an opportunity, “Be sober, be awake, be alert, resist steadfastly in the faith.” What faith? Now folks, I’m going to tell you something here. I don’t believe there is any such thing as blind faith. I don’t believe it. As far as I’m concerned, faith is never blind. Faith must have a reason; faith must have a foundation for its existence. There is one exception, the gift of faith imparted by the Spirit. That is not related to this. This is a different kind of a thing, but what we generally call faith, this faith must have a basis.
“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Now if we are to resist Satan in the faith, then what is the basis, the ground, the foundation of our faith? We must have this to resist successfully. You can’t just punch him in the snoot. You’ll get punched. That isn’t what is meant by resisting.
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Hebrews 2:14
Now that doesn’t mean the devil is death. It’s not death on his account. For that matter, he’ll never be dead. When Jesus bowed His head and gave up the ghost, the devil was licked, his power was broken. That doesn’t mean he no longer goes around as a roaring lion. What it does mean, there is now made provision by the death of Christ whereby we need no longer be the captive slave of the devil, whereby we can be free, all things being equal. The provision is there, but it still takes alertness. He’s still prowling to see if he
finds somebody with an open door, and zoom, in he goes. Then we have problems. Now it’s not a simple matter, it’s a different ball game. So, in the faith, hallelujah! Jesus has conquered the devil. This has to do with the work of the cross.
“Disarming the rulers and authorities, he publicly exposed them to disgrace, and he triumphed over them by means of the cross.” Colossians 2:15
Oh! I like that! It speaks here of disarming rulers and authorities. Do you know what He did? When Jesus conquered the enemies of the cross, He humiliated the spirit rulers, these rulers of high authority in the spirit world. Jesus disgraced them before the other spirits. They were disgraced; they were embarrassed. The little spirits saw that their rulers’ power was broken and those fellows had to be ashamed. I like that. He humiliated them. That’s the basis of our faith, “who resist steadfastly in the faith.” Jesus has done this.
Then in Luke 9:1, we have the fact that Jesus gave His disciples the necessary equipment: “He gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” Power is the dynamics, and authority is the right to expel spirits from human bodies into which Satan has intruded usually by means of his spirits.
You’ll notice this is in the Great Commission. Not only do you have the preaching of the gospel and speaking in tongues, you have the expulsion of spirits there as part of your work, part of my work. Whether they’re doing it or not is another question. It deserves to be done His way.
You look as though you think that’s terrible. I think it’s wonderful that God gives power and authority to men to act in His name and expel spirits from people whose lives are bound and can’t help themselves. We’d rather send them to the psychiatrist. That is what bothers me. When they get done with them, they are worse than they were before.
Let’s not be like the Pharisees and say, “Hey, that’s not in accordance with our established religion.” Students, we are in a real battle with a real person, a wicked person out to defeat us at every turn he can, using many instrumentalities and circumstances to wear us out and wear us down. We can never let down our guard, never make a truce.
We must put on the whole armor of God to ward off the fiery darts of the wicked one, and having done all to stand because the promise is given, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
This message is one of the sixty-six surviving transcripts of Walter Beuttler's teaching. To hear his voice, visit the Messages page. To read the story of his life — from the Brooklyn Bridge to the school of the Spirit — see Who Was Walter Beuttler? The True Story of the Man Who Knew God.
The Man Who Knew God
Walter Beuttler was never famous, yet he carried God's presence to more than a hundred countries. His students said that when he walked into a room, the air changed. This is the first full account of a friendship with God that was specific, sustained, and costly. Read the story of his life →