Spiritual Warfare Part Three: How the Battle is Won (1)!

In part one we looked at the devil and reminded ourselves of four truths:
The devil is a liar
The devil is a slanderer
The devil has power but no authority
The devil is completely defeated at the cross.

We mentioned last time that the battles we now fight are those which centre around mopping up operations, although the victory over sin and death has been one.

In part two we covered the following:
What is the Battle For? - souls!
That delays do not destroy a destiny.
Where’s the Battle Fought? In three realms. Earth. Spiritual. Mind.

Today we will look at the first key in winning the battles we face. Next twin we will look at the second key: being properly dressed.

Key Number One: Don't Overreach! 
What I mean by this is not to claim authority we do not have. We need to remain "in Christ" in all these matters of spiritual warfare, not try and exercise authority where we have not been given it (yet).

Areas of overreaching:

1. Binding and Loosing
I mentioned binging and loosing last time. We find references to this in Matthew 16 and 18. Matthew 16 is the man passage where we garner some information for Spiritual Warfare:
Matthew 16:19 [NKJV]: And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

We discussed last time the idea of there being a spiritual battle and that we can bind and loose. we also said that we do not need to punch through the atmosphere to heaven, for prayers are heard instantly, answers despatched immediately.

So this raises the question: where are we binding and loosing? Answer: earth. We bind on earth, it's bound in heaven. We loose on earth, it's loosed in heaven.

We do not bind or loose in the heavens to release on earth. So we rebuke and bind the enemies activities on earth. This is our current domain and reality.

In Ephesians 6 we read of the armour of God. The sword is the Word of God, the Bible. The sword spoken of in the illustration is the 'short sword,' about 18 inches long and used in close combat. It is a reminder that even though there is a spiritual battle we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, we wrestle with the enemy who tries to encroach on our turf! It's when the battle gets personal! (Ephesians 6:17).

Don't overreach beyond the area of your authority. Pray for our rulers. Pray for salvation as. Pray for change here, now.

2. Binding the Strong Man!
Mark 3:22-29 [NIV]: And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub ! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." [23] So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? [24] If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [26] And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. [27] In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. [28] I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. [29] But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."

The phrase bind the strong man where Jesus is responding to some Jewish scribes who were accusing Him of being possessed by Beelzebul. Their argument was that “by the prince of demons he is driving out demons” (Mark 3:22). In other words, the reason the demons listened to Jesus was that they were in league with Him and recognised Him as their commanding officer, so to speak.

Jesus refuted their blasphemous argument with plain logic: “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mark 3:23) and then gave them a parable.
First, Jesus spoke of the principle of a divided kingdom, which cannot stand (verses 24–26).
Then He told them, “No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house” (Mark 3:27).

Jesus refers to Satan as the “strong man” and to Himself as the One who enters the house and plunders the place. Of course, before Satan allows his domain to be “plundered,” he must be incapacitated. Jesus was not in league with Satan, as the scribes suggested, but had come to the earth, to what is essentially Satan’s “house”:
1 John 5:19 [NKJV]: We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
Jesus had come to plunder that "house", the earth, and so had bound the strong man.

The plunder are the souls of people (John 17:15; Luke 4:18; Ephesians 4:8).

Another passage says this: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder” (Luke 11:21–22).

Satan is strong, and he holds possessions that he guards jealously. But Jesus is the One who was and is stronger than the strong man. He is the only One who can bind the strong man and rescue us from his clutches (John 12:31).

Some Christians teach that Christians are the ones who must “bind the strong man” in their lives or in their cities and then win the victory in Jesus’ name. Some even name the “strong men” and attempt to identify the cities or geographical areas over which they hold power. Such teachings go far beyond what Jesus said. The Lord’s parable was simply to impress upon the scribes that He was not in league with Satan.
So how did Jesus bind the strong man?
There is a theological tension that exists here where we see an “already/not yet” in New Testament eschatology. The New Testament speaks of Christ’s victory over Satan and of our salvation in three tenses: past, present and future. Christ defeated Satan on Calvary, is defeating Satan through the Church, and will defeat Satan when he fully establishes His Kingdom on earth.
 Clearly though Jesus is casting out demons, is showing victory over the devil, the strong man, here on earth before calvary. How come?we do not read about Him binding the enemy, yet clearly the enemy is bound by Jesus!

I believe (and I have not got a raft of theological back up for this) that Jesus personally overcame the enemy and, therefore bound Him, on earth.

Jesus overcame the enemy in the wilderness by overcoming temptation. He takes back that which Adam lost through succumbing to temptation in Eden. He uses the Scriptures to do this. He uses His character to do this. He uses these things as a man, fully God, to vanquish the enemy.

This meant Jesus walked the earth as a man as Adam was intended to do - with dominion! Another what of looking at this is that the devil had no hold over Jesus! I believe this is born out by the armour passage in Ephesians 6 which we will come to later in the series.
[For more on the temptation of Jesus get my book, Exquisite Jesus, sorry for the plug].
We need to stand behind Jesus when the 'strong man'
is active. Jude, speaking of those who were godless and justified all kinds of immoral practices in the church, said this old them:
Jude 1:8-10 NIV: [8] In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. [9] But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" [10] Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals---these are the very things that destroy them.

Even the Arch Angel Michael said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

When we pray and we fee we are in a spiritual battle our racers are not said in our name. They are said in the name of Jesus!
(John 14:13-14; 16:24; Acts 4:12)

3. Presumption!
Sometimes we can get full of ourselves. Our victory is in Christ, is on Christ and through Christ. It is not of ourselves.
Acts 19:13-17 [NIV]: Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." [14] Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. [15] One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" [16] Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. [17] When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour.

Here we have an account where "professional" exorcists tried to invoke Jesus' name with no relationship to Jesus. Clearly the demonic spirit is terrified by Jesus (James 2:19). They know Paul too. They don't know these guys who come along and then give him a whooping.

But there is a similar event in Mark's gospel with different results:
Mark 9:38-41 [NIV]: "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." [39] "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, [40] for whoever is not against us is for us. [41] I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

How does this marry up with what happens in Acts 19?
It's about relationship with Jesus! Being His! The disciples complained because the unnamed man casting out a spirit was not known to them (38); he was known to Jesus though. Jesus knew this man would not profane His name. In Acts 19 the evil spirit did not know those trying to use Jesus' name - but they will know true disciples by the mark and seal of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

It's about who gets the glory. In Acts 19 the sons of Sceva were doing this for their own reputation and status. he unarmed man in Mark 9 evidently was not. Make no mistake my friends, we have to give glory to God for His works, not take it for ourselves. He does not be mocked in this way (Galatians 6:7-8).

We have to ensure that we are in good relationship with Jesus, filled with His Spirit and have the right motives when engaging with Spiritual Warfare.

Wrapping this up:
Don't overstretch in the battle.
Rely on Jesus not your win strength.
Make sure you are in right relationship with Jesus.
Next time we will look at the armour of God.