The Prince of Persia (Angels & Demons - Part 3)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Your words were heard, and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days.

And behold, Michael, the archangel, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.

Do you realize what's being said in this passage? Because Daniel sought the Lord and set his heart to God, this angel visits Daniel, but he was delayed because he was prevented, he says, by the prince of Persia.

Well, who's the prince of Persia? Well, it's a high-ranking fallen angel. So he opposed him until the holy angel got reinforcements from who? From Michael. You know, Michael brought in the Calvary, so to speak.

So Daniel, would Daniel have known this? Daniel receives this word from God and help from God. The only reason he knows this happens is because the angel told him. So Daniel received this information, and Daniel is a prophet doing the work for the Lord.

Here's just something that I thought about. It makes you wonder if there's not a work of God happening right now because of something that's happening in the angelic realm. Why did the angel visit Daniel?

Because he set his heart to understand the things of God. Is it possible there's not a great work of God happening throughout the world? Because number one, men do not set their heart on God like Daniel did.

Or number two, there's some heavenly battles being lost because God's people here on earth are not doing, we're not doing our part. We're not spending that time in prayer and godly worship. You know, what we do here on this earth has some impact with the heavenly realm, and the heavenly realm has some impact of what's happening here on earth.

I'm not claiming to understand it all, but when there's a lack of people setting their hearts to understand the things of God and crying out in prayer and assembling with godly worship, that may, in fact, and I believe does, hinder the work of the Lord.

Of course, Revelation chapter 12 talks about warfare in heaven and how Michael and his angels fought against who? The dragon, right? And it says the dragon, his tail swept a third of the stars of heaven and brought them down to, that's where we get the idea of a third of the angels followed Lucifer in the rebellion.

Then look at Daniel 10 verse 20. So this angel delivers to Daniel the message, and he has to leave, where does he have to go? He has to go back to the battlefield. Verse 20, do you not know why I have come to you?

And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I have gone, indeed, the prince of Greece will come. So this appears to be another high-ranking demon who is opposing the work of God in the angelic realm.

He says in verse 21, but I will tell you what is noted in the scripture of truth. No one upholds me against these except Michael, your prince. So I don't know about you, I find that really just fascinating information about the angelic realm.

I had mentioned on Wednesday night, when we were studying the subject of the cult and the occult, how there is a growing movement. I just want to address this one thing. Can believers be possessed by demons?

We're talking about demons tempt believers. The holy angels can come and deliver believers. Can a believer be possessed by a demon? There's a growing movement right now within evangelicalism, some well-known names.

There's a resurgence in what is called deliverance ministries. Have you heard of these, deliverance ministries? Well, here's what we know for sure. Jesus clearly gave his apostles the ability to cast out demons.

It's questionable though, whether or not any man on earth today has that ability. We can certainly pray for people. And then you don't even really know when someone is suffering from an illness or some disability or whether it's demonic possession.

I mean, there's so much we don't know, but even if we were able to identify demonic possession, what would we do other than praying for a person? I'm not so sure there's a lot we can do. I just wanted to share this one thing, just on the subject of demonic affliction and being tempted.

I am convinced, I am convinced when I first came to faith in Christ, the devil was throwing the kitchen sink at me. Some of you I'm sure could tell similar stories, but I believe he was preventing me from serving God and moving forward in the Christian life because I think the Bible is clear.

No Christian can be demonically possessed. 1 John 4, for greater is he who's in us than he who is in the world. So if a believer has the Holy Spirit, I don't believe any Christian can be demonically possessed.

God owns us, not the devil. He can't possess us, we belong to God, amen? But here's the thing, Christians can be demonically afflicted and demonically oppressed. I mean, God's honest truth for months and months, when I first started going to church, every Sunday, like clockwork, something would happen.

Something would happen, someone would wake up in a horrible mood, something would go wrong every single week for week after week, months after months after months. And I really believe it was the devil's way, and I felt afflicted at times.

I believe it was the devil's way to prevent me from getting serious about the things of God. But you know what the scripture says? It says in James 4, verse 7, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he'll do what?

Flee from you. So after a while, when I said, you know what? I don't care, I'm going to be in church every Sunday, and I don't care what happens, I'm just going to be there. After a while, I think when the devil saw that, and it just wasn't working, all those problems just instantly stopped.

And I haven't had issues like that since. So I think the devil sees our weaknesses, and he's willing to throw all sorts of things at us and tempt us and oppress us to prevent us from moving forward. You know, he's happy.

If someone's in a false religion, if they don't believe in Christ, he'll leave. The devil's not going to bother with people like that. He has nothing to worry about there. But when someone comes to faith in Christ, they're a target.

So if you have recently come to faith in Christ, or maybe you've recently recommitted your life to Christ, and you're like, I thought things would get better, they're getting harder. Well, that's exactly what you should expect.

They will get harder. But just know that's the devil's way trying to stop you. It won't be like that forever. It's a challenge at first, but if you stick with it and determine in your heart to do the right thing, it becomes easier.

So if there is something that's hindering you from moving forward in the Christian life, that's the devil's thing, whatever it is, to keep you stuck where you're at. So that's why we need each other, to encourage each other, to pray for one another, and pray that God would help you.

And maybe God will send an angel to deliver you from that temptation. I don't know. But with God's help, we can overcome. And we have overcome. So when God sees that we're serious, and we set our heart, like Daniel, he set his heart to understand the things of God.

When God sees we're serious, he will deliver us. And I just wanted to spend the last couple minutes giving some application to what we've learned so far. The message is angels and demons. To receive the benefits afforded to us by the holy angels, and to protect ourselves from the demonic spirits, we have to be like Daniel, set your heart to understand the things of God.

Write this down. Remember it. We must submit ourselves fully to Christ. To receive the benefits of the angels, protection from the demons, we must submit ourselves to Christ. Again, that statement, James 4, verse 7.

Therefore, what? Submit to who? Submit to God, resist the devil, and he'll give up on you eventually. Now, he might go to work in some other area, but he says he'll flee from us. That passage in Ephesians 6 about the whole armor of God, the apostle then goes on to say that we should pray always with all prayer in supplication of the spirit.

Obviously, prayer is a huge, huge part of it. I also think worship. Here on Sunday morning, you know, there's something spiritual happening in this building every time God's people gather together. Worship, view worship as a type of warfare.

What if all churches closed up and no Christians assembled for worship from here on out? I'd probably be like, well, even in the great tribulation, believers are going to gather together. There's somebody going to be gathering together, but you understand things in the world would get much worse, right?

Worship is warfare. Psalm 22, verse 3 says that the Lord is enthroned, right? The Lord is enthroned in the praises of his people. So to be victorious, we need to submit to God. We need to pray and we need to gather together in corporate worship because something happens when we do that.

Something happens on the Lord's day. We must worship God, Jesus said, in spirit and in truth. And we must do this with our whole heart. You say, well, that's good. I understand that. I agree with that.

But what can I actually do? Give me some concrete things that I can actually do. Well, here's a few ideas. Number one, start by paying attention. This is another way the devil works. You might win the victory and you might get to church, but he has a way of tempting you and distracting you while you're here, right?

You don't want to admit that, but I was in the pew once. I know how it is. So when you're here, pay attention. Here's another thing. When you sing, or when we sing, sing and sing out loud. Remember, the Lord is enthroned in the praises of his people.

When we sing the hymns, what are we doing? We are singing praises to God. So when you sing, sing it like you mean it. Listen, if I can do it, you can do it because I can't sing. So if I'm singing, hey, you're singing.

But Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Just imagine if a visitor came in and sat down and everyone's singing. These people aren't really committed, but if he hears powerful thundering, singing praises to God, that's another story.

So I think you get the point. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. These are some basic things that we can do. Sing out loud. Obviously, read your Bible every day. Pray multiple times a day.

Be in church. Find a way to serve. These are just kind of the basic things every Christian can do. Draw near to God, in other words. Draw near to God, the scripture says, and he will draw near to you.

And the closer you are to God, you might be a target by the devil, but you're gonna have God's protection. There's a whole world of people out there that the devil, he has their way with them. They have no protection.

So draw near to God. So in conclusion, just a few final thoughts. When Christ encountered two demon-possessed men in Matthew chapter eight, you remember that? The demons knew the name of Jesus. They said, what have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God?

In Acts chapter 19, when someone who is not a follower of Christ tried to cast out a demon, and the demon responded to that person, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? And it didn't work. So Christ and his word has to dwell in us richly.

And of course, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, remember Jesus was in a weakened state, not having eaten for 40 days. The tempter came to him. And you remember how Jesus responded?

Jesus responded by wielding the sword of the spirit. That's our offensive weapon. Jesus quoted scripture, and he recounted the promises of God. And when Satan saw that he wasn't getting anywhere, here's what it says, Matthew 411, then the devil left him.

And behold, the angels came and ministered to him. And I believe they will minister to you if we would draw near to the Lord. So commit our way to the Lord. Amen. And we will receive his benefits. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCoronetChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.