Why Demons... today? For God's greatness to be seen more clearly everyday.

Hey Church family:  You know the story in Luke 8, about the man with the demon problem?  Have you ever thought, why did the demons even exist for the man to have the demon problem?   I think most of us would agree that Satan and his demons exist.  They are real.  They fight against God and His purposes.  They are murderers, liars, and thieves as scripture tells us.  Throughout scripture Satan and his helper demons tempt, separate, and isolate people for future destruction.

And yes, it is true God could take out at this very moment every demon that exists and their leader Satan with just a breath but He chooses not at this time.  God is all-powerful and Satan is not.  Satan is a created being and God is not.  God made Satan and his demons and God can destroy them.  The reason we know He could destroy Satan and his demons is because we know He will and when He does He will throw them in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41).
 
So, if God could destroy Satan and his demons now and save the world much destruction and sadness and suffering, why doesn’t God hurry up and get this done?  Wouldn’t this life be much more happy, joyful and pleasant without Satan and his little helpers around?  I am sure that the demoniac man would have agreed during the time his life was dominated by demons.

Well, Scripture does not tell us clearly why God delays the destruction of Satan and demons but there are some hints we can gather throughout Scripture as to why God allows for Satan’s work to continue today.  One important Scripture in answering this question is Romans 11:36, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.”

Paul teaches us, and the rest of scripture, clearly that everything that exists, exists because it was in God’s plan for it to exist.  All things continue to exist because God continues to want them to exist.  And all things, including Satan, continue to exist for God’s Glory and to bring God the greatest amount of greatness.

So, as God permits Satan and his helpers to continue to exist and persist in their daily workload in our lives and in our community and the world we must remember that our interaction and response with these demons is for the purpose of bringing a greater glory to God than if He were to cast them into the lake of fire today.  That is a hard truth to accept.

Therefore, we can confidently say that when believers love God and His ways rather than loving Satan and the world and sin, we show off God’s greatness more than if we had never been confronted by sin or Satan.  When God works in us through His Holy Spirit and wins our affections and faithfulness to Jesus as we resist and say “No” to the lies of Satan, God gets greater glory.

As we persist in this life of sanctification and we grow in Christ-likeness through daily battles against Satan and sin, God wins not us.  God wins because He has the power to pull off a win not us.  When we trust and rest on His all-sufficiency during spiritual attacks He gets the glory not us.  Our flesh is always weak but He is always strong.

As we struggle with sin or demons, God will be patience with us and his mercy towards us will be strong and pervasive.  He will be pouring forth His enduring grace as we go through dreadful physical suffering that Satan may be the immediate cause.  Remember in Luke 13:16, "This woman . . . whom Satan bound for eighteen years.”   She had a bent-over back, and Satan was the cause of it, and God was ordaining that Satan be allowed to do that work in her.  God ordains all of these things so that His glory—His grace, mercy, justice, and wisdom—will shine forth more brilliantly.

Many times our flesh wants to argue with this truth and say, "I don't agree with God, He should not run the world this way!”  When we find ourselves thinking this way, we must humbly remember that if we disagree with God and how He is running things, then we reject God, and we also reject the Bible.  Instead, let us choose to trust God and trust that His way of managing Satan, demons and evil is much wiser than the way we might choose to manage all of it.

I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday. Please do not forget about the meeting following worship.   - Steve

Hebrews 2:14–15  Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.