Demons & Deliverance Part 2 - Demons in Christians
About this sermon
In part two of his deliverance series, Pastor Dean Odle argues that a Christian can be genuinely saved and still require deliverance from demonic oppression or indwelling influence in areas of life that have not been surrendered or cleansed. He distinguishes salvation from sanctification and deliverance, using Israel’s exodus, wilderness journey, tabernacle cleansing, and several Gospel accounts as patterns for the believer’s continuing spiritual warfare.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle introduces the disputed question of whether Christians can have demons and previews later teaching on doorways and cursed objects. He asks listeners to set aside denominational assumptions and examine the biblical patterns and ministry evidence he will present.
He distinguishes Christ’s once-for-all provision from its personal reception through faith, confession, and obedience. Salvation gives the believer to Christ, but Odle argues that cleansing and deliverance may still be needed in areas previously yielded to sin or spirits.
The tabernacle’s cleansing rites are used as a model for more than one stage of purification before service. Odle treats the blood and water imagery as illustrating salvation followed by the ongoing removal of defilement from a believer’s life.
Israel’s exodus and wilderness journey become a picture of conversion followed by a difficult cleansing of learned bondage. Odle stresses that leaving Egypt did not instantly remove Israel’s habits, fears, and rebellion, just as new believers still require obedient transformation.
Odle discusses fallen angels and disembodied unclean spirits to explain what he believes demons are and why they seek embodiment. He presents this framework as the background for Gospel accounts in which spirits inhabit, torment, or control human beings.
Answering the claim that God and a demon cannot affect the same person, Odle points to biblical scenes where divine presence and evil influence operate in the same place. He distinguishes ownership by Christ from demonic occupation of an unsurrendered area of life.
The sermon describes backsliding, lukewarmness, and renewed sin as ways previously cleansed ground can be reopened. Odle warns that returning to old practices can give unclean spirits renewed opportunity even while God continues calling the believer back.
Odle says listeners who recognize a need for deliverance remain responsible to seek help and follow through rather than repeatedly postponing it. Teaching alone does not create freedom; the believer must repent, submit to ministry, and obey what God reveals.
In the account of the Canaanite woman, Odle argues that Jesus addresses the mother’s faith before freeing her daughter because lasting deliverance requires right relationship with God. Casting out spirits is therefore not presented as a stand-alone ritual.
Odle closes with Gospel pictures of death, cleansing, and restoration, relating physical miracles to salvation and deliverance. The application is to repent, receive Christ, cooperate with biblical ministry, and maintain freedom through obedient discipleship.
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- 0:01:02
Open doorways to demons and how to get rid of them, and also God willing in this series will deal with accursed objects that you bring into your possession and the effect that they can have on you even if you're a Christian. So this morning we're going to talk about, this is part two, demons and deliverance two, that's in Christians. So everybody if you want to take out your Bible, I'm going to review just a little bit from last week because I want to establish that I did cover a little bit of this issue, can a Christian have a demon last week? We're on slide two now. I don't know where, there we go, but anyway, this is Ephesians 4.27 and of course as I stated last week, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1 says the book of Ephesians written by the Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the book of Ephesians was given to the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, that's who he was writing to. So Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 1 that he's writing to board again Christians to the church of Ephesus. And then in chapter 4 verse 27 he makes this statement, he says neither give place to the devil, that means don't give any place to the devil. So again, if a Christian could not give place to demons in their lives, why would the Apostle Paul warn Christians to not give place? And the word place here is topos, which we get our word topography from, which means space, space on the map, well the map we're talking about here, the ground we're talking about is spirit, soul, or body of the human being. If you give place to the devil, he will take it every time. Of course Peter warned, 1 Peter 5.8 be sober, be vigilant because you're adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
- 0:04:03
So we're in a war, in Ecclesiastes, I shared this passage last week, this makes it very clear that anyone can break the hedge. Ecclesiastes 10.8 and it says this, he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it, and whoso or whosoever breaketh a hedge a serpent shall bite in. Now this is an important passage here because we know that Jesus revealed in Luke chapter 10, he referred to demons as serpents and scorpions, that's a symbol for them or two different symbols, serpents and scorpions. So this Old Testament passage here from Solomon is giving us a picture here that whosoever breaks the hedge a serpent will bite him. Now a serpent, if it bites you, it latches onto you, it's things going in you, and it leaves some poison inside of you to try to harm you or kill you. This is how Satan and the demons work, they wait for you to break the hedge and breaking the hedge can be done by ignorance, it can be done by will from sin, we're going to get into all those doorways next week in detail, I can't do it all today. But I just want you to see it says whosoever, and as I said last week, if a Christian can sin, then a Christian can break the hedge, open the door for a demon to latch hold of him and bring harm and been bitten by a water moccasin so I know how it works. Alright now let's keep going. This is a very important passage today that I want you to get ahold of. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 10, I don't want you having fellowship with devils, fellowship
- 0:07:07
with demons. Now the word in the Greek for fellowship here is koinonia, and it's the same word used when we talk about having fellowship with the Holy Spirit. It's an intimacy, it's a closeness, it's a spiritual thing, not just a physical thing. So I want you to just see that Paul wrote this, now think about this, he wrote this to the Corinthian church. This was 2 Christians, this was not 2 unbelievers, he said look the unbelievers they do all this stuff, but I'm telling you don't have fellowship, intimacy, spiritual interaction with demons. So that means folks for Christians it is possible. If you want to go into idolatry, if you want to play with idolatry, if you want to play with sin, you open the door to have fellowship with demons and they can come in, and I'm going to say this and I can prove this by scripture, they can come into your spirit, your soul, or your body, doesn't mean again that you're totally demon possessed or totally controlled, but they can come in and get a foothold or a stronghold in you and cause great problems. Now we're going to look back, look at Matthew chapter 8, 16, and 17 here. I covered this last week, but I wanted you to see it again. This is right after Jesus healed, rebuked the fever of Peter's mother-in-law, and she was healed, and he was at Peter's house that evening, it says, and when the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Now I want to say this about this passage before I go any further, that what's interesting about this is it talks about Jesus, Isaiah 53, and Jesus bearing our infirmities and our sicknesses. Isaiah 53 also talks about, in verse 5, he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. This is the same passage that talks about how Jesus paid for sin, for our sins. He paid for salvation, but it goes on to talk about how he paid for healing, and then it applies to this right here, where it says how he paid for deliverance from demons. The blood of Jesus has paid for these things, but listen to me, Christian, very closely this morning. Everything that Jesus bought and paid for doesn't come to you automatically. Everything must be received by faith, meaning you have to do some. For instance, to get saved, Jesus died for everyone. The Bible tells us this. First John, that Jesus took on himself the sins of all mankind. Jesus died for all, once for all. But does that mean all will be saved?
- 0:10:08
No, it does not mean all will be saved. Only those who believe, exercise faith, and then confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in their heart that God has raised him from the dead, and they're willing to repent of their sins, put actions with what they say they believe. Only those people are given the power to become the sons and daughters of God. Only those people get what Jesus paid for, and that is the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of eternal life in heaven. Right, faith must be exercised. Well, the same goes for healing or deliverance from demons. It's not automatic. It's not I get saved and I get everything, and I don't have to do anything, or speak anything, or act upon anything. As the book of James says in James 2, he says it several times. Faith without works is dead being alone. Faith has corresponding actions. Faith will always say something or do something. It believes it, says it, and then acts upon it. That's faith. So I want you to get that down in you. If you don't speak and repent, you don't receive salvation. If you don't speak and believe, you won't receive healing or delivery. If you don't resist the devil, he will not flee from you. If you don't bind him and cast him out, he's not going anywhere, even though Jesus paid for it. Now, last week we defined the words possession. This is, next one here is the Greek word for possession or possessed with devils. It's Dahimonizomihi, try to say that three times fast. It says to be exercised by a demon, have a demon, be vexed with a demon, basically to be controlled by a demon. As I said last week, the next word from Acts 10, to be oppressed of the devil, it's really the same word. Everybody gets all this bent out of shape. Well, Christians can be oppressed, but they can't be possessed. I'm sick of these games we play. The word oppression here from Acts 10, 38, again, says to exercise harsh control over. So I don't know which one sounds worse, possession or oppression. Either way, the devil has got a foothold in your life, whether you call it possession or oppression. Like I said last week, annihilation or destruction, whichever one you want to pick, two different words mean the same thing. Same thing with possession. It just means to be vexed, to be afflicted, to be pushed, to be controlled. And that the devil has a legal right, because you've given him a doorway, an opening, you've given legal right for Satan to do this, or a Christian does. Last week I shared with you that there are degrees of possessions or strongholds in people. We went through the scriptures, of course, the three passages, a daughter of Abraham
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