Conquering Satan's Strongholds - s.m. Davis — From the Pulpit & Classic Sermons

Welcome to From the Pulpit. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers too. This week we have S .M. Davis with his message, Conquering Satan's Strongholds.

David Conquers the Stronghold of Zion

Turn in your Bible with me tonight please to the book of 2 Samuel chapter 5 and then be ready to turn with me to several other passages throughout the Bible. But we'll begin in just a moment with 2 Samuel chapter 5.

I believe it was in 1998 that a preacher came here from Kenya, Africa by the name of Titus Kamala and he gave one of the most unusual testimonies of how he was saved. He was raised in the home of a drunkard and eventually became one himself, got drunk one night out in public and passed out and was so passed out and so out of it that the police came by, picked him up and thought he was dead.

Took him to a third world country morgue, opened the door and threw him in on a pile of other dead bodies. Locked the door, I don't know why you lock the door to a morgue, but anyway they did. Locked the door and he woke up after a while and realized where he was on a pile of other dead bodies and he told how that the news report literally was picked up and went around the world of him trying to get out of there and finally being rescued and how God used that to bring him to Christ.

I don't know about you, but if I got that close to death, I think if I was lost, I'd want to be saved too. And after he was saved, he started preaching and winning souls and one of the villages he was in in Kenya, Africa, the witch doctor got wind of what was going on and came after him.

And the witch doctor said to him and two fellows with him, my God, referring to Satan, is bigger and more powerful than your God, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm going to prove it to you. And the witch doctor reached around, picked up a basket, opened it, took out a large deadly cobra that he had already used to kill other people and threw it at brother Kamala.

The cobra reared its head, spread its cape, and posed and poised to strike. And brother Kamala said, I didn't know what to do, so I did the only thing I could think of to do. Now would you look with me at 2 Samuel chapter 5, an unusual passage that I don't think I've ever used as the text in a message before.

This is the time when David is becoming the king over the entire nation of Israel. Chapter 5 verse 3, so all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel.

Verse 6, and the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, which spake unto David saying, notice this, very, very unusual saying, except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither, thinking David cannot come in hither.

Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, the same is the city of David, and David said on that day, whosoever getteth up to the gutter and smiteth the Jebusites and the lame and the blind that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain.

Wherefore they said, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. Now, isn't this a very strange thing? What is he referring to when it says that verse 6, except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither, and then David says that the blind and the lame are hated.

Now, you won't need to turn there, but just let me read to you a passage from Psalm chapter 115, verse 4, because I believe this is what it's referring to when it refers to the blind and the lame. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They're blind. They can't see. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not.

Feet have they, but they walk not. See, they are lame as well. Neither speak they through their throat. And so you could refer to these not only as blind and lame, you could also refer to idols as deaf and dumb.

Because they're nothing but the Jebusite said to David, you cannot take this unless you do something about the blind and the lame. You should not come in hither because they're looking at their idols as being powerful, as part of the strength of this stronghold of the city.

And notice that David took the strong, very key word for the message tonight, David took the stronghold of Zion. This was a fortress. It was a stronghold that they thought was strengthened by the idols and the idolatry, but it was not.

And so David sent those folks up and they said the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. They're going to be tossed out. I believe they were burned or torn apart or whatever. Verse 9, so David dwelt in the fort and called it the city of David.

And David built round about from Milo and inward. And David went on and grew great and the Lord God of hosts was with him. So David took a city that had been a stronghold for idolatry and conquered it and made it a fortress for God.

Empty Religion and Spiritual Strongholds

How interesting that is. Turn over in your Bible to Matthew chapter 12. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus used a true story about an unclean spirit to describe the attitude of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel, by the time Jesus came, had cleaned the idolatry out.

The blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb. Those idols that could not see, speak, hear, walk, touch, or anything. And the children of Israel had finally gotten rid of that, but in Jesus' day they had not replaced it with love and sincerity and obedience and true worship.

And notice the story that Jesus then tells. Matthew 12 verse 43,. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear again. The kingdom of... excuse me, I'm in chapter 13.

I need to be in chapter 12. Sorry about that. Chapter 12 verse 43,. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out.

And when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell therein. The last state of that man is worse than the first, even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

So the demons now have created. This man started out with one demon. He wound up with seven more, more wicked than himself. And the demons have created a stronghold in this man's life. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

Pulling Down Strongholds Through Spiritual Warfare

And the apostle Paul here gives one of the most powerful verses in the New Testament for Christians to be aware of, especially because we are in a spiritual battle. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4,. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they are not fleshly weapons, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

You notice again, the casting down of strongholds. And a couple of more verses in Ephesians chapter 4. Here are instructions to the Christians at Ephesus concerning their walk as Christians. In verse 26,.

Be ye angry and sin not. That's a present passive imperative in the Greek. It means be angered, be acted upon by somebody trying to get you angry, but don't react and sin by getting angry. So be you angry means be you angered and sin not.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Read verse 27 out loud with me, would you please? Neither give place to the devil. This word stronghold is a powerful, powerful word. And the key truth that I want to share with you this evening is that God wants to use His people to conquer Satan's dark, wicked strongholds of deception and idolatry and ungodliness.

Isaiah 34, 13 described a fortress that was an habitation of dragons and a court for owls. And God wants to use His people to conquer these strongholds and replace them with fortresses of truth and godliness and righteousness.

So I want to speak to you tonight on the subject, conquering Satan's strongholds or how to conquer Satan's strongholds. How many of you have ever visited a fort? Let's see your hands. A fort or a fortress.

A little over a year ago now, my wife and I were in South Alabama and we went to Fort Morgan right on the Gulf of Mexico. And we saw there walls and cannons and barracks and places to store food and ammunition.

A group of men could literally hold off an attacking force for days or weeks and I suppose that they probably did. I remember when I was in Baltimore, Maryland visiting Fort McHenry. That is where Francis Scott King was on the ship and saw the Star Spangled Banner, deer still flying.

In fact, just recently I was able to visit the grave of Francis Scott King there in Frederick, Maryland. And here is Fort McHenry and it was a powerful fortress that was able to withstand the bombardment that came against it.

A fort is a stronghold. It is a place of tall, often stone walls, sometimes up on a hill. It may have massive secure gates. It would be a place that could stand up to a powerful assault because of its almost impregnable nature.

I've also visited castles and forts in France and in Romania and saw rooms and yards full of all kinds of ancient weaponry. I looked through the Bible to see how many times this word stronghold occurred and I found out that it occurred 27 times in your King James Bible, but that the Hebrew word mipsar is translated fortress or fence city or strong city 23 more times for a total of exactly 50 times if I counted right.

The first time the word stronghold occurs is in Numbers 13, 19 where they were checking out the inhabitants of Canaan land. Before they went in to conquer Canaan, they wanted to check out and find out whether they lived in tents or in strongholds.

It made a difference what your strategy was. If you're going to go up against an enemy and he's in a tent or he is in a stronghold, such as a fortress of a walled city. In 1 Samuel 23, 14, David was in the wilderness in strongholds and God protected him there.

It's interesting to me that the city of Tyre, right on the coast, the city of Tyre was referred to twice as a strong city in Joshua 19, 29 and then it was named after several other cities in 2 Samuel 24, 7 as a stronghold.

I love Nahum 1, verse 7. It says, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. But that word stronghold only occurs one time in the New Testament. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

It is saying to us that Satan is a builder of strongholds, not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm. Do you realize that it is possible that there are people here tonight that Satan has built a stronghold, a fortress in their life?

And you live in continual defeat because of it. Now if you study the biblical history of Satan and the unclean spirits, you will find that Satan, our adversary, was once Lucifer, the light bearer and anointed cherub of God, Ezekiel 28, 14.

I believe he may have been an archangel along with Gabriel and Michael. He had incredible power, beauty, and wisdom. His very being rang with fabulous music of every sort. Isaiah 14, 11 refers to the vials.

We get the word violin from that. He had in his very being the ability to make the music of stringed instruments. Ezekiel 28, 13 refers to the tablets in him, timbrels and drums, pipes, flutes and trumpets, wind instruments.

And so he in his very being had the ability to make this fantastic orchestral music. But Ezekiel 28, 17 tells us that his heart was lifted up with pride and he wanted to be equal with God. Apparently he deceived many of the angels into following him in his sin.

And Revelation 12, 9 records that the devil was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. But Satan and his army of fallen angels do not simply float around all the time. Yes, they travel, but primarily they look for a place where they're able to reside.

Ephesians 4, 27 commands you and me as Christians to not give place to the devil. It means the same thing as a room. In fact, that same Greek word is translated five times in the New Testament as room.

And Paul is saying to Christians, don't give Satan a room in your life. In Matthew 12, 43 -45, an unclean spirit left a man. We read it a few minutes ago. That man had apparently been providing a place for that spirit to live.

The Home Satan and Demons Desire

Now that man, the Bible says when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man. Perhaps the unclean spirit was cast out of the man. Maybe something happened to make the demon feel uncomfortable about staying.

Maybe he experienced true salvation. Maybe godly music came into his life. Maybe there was words of praise. Maybe there was sincere worship. I don't know. Maybe the spirit just decided to go looking for a new place to stay.

We're not told why. We're simply told he went out of the man. And what did the spirit do? He started looking for a place to stay. He walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. And the word place is there when it says he walketh through dry places seeking rest.

Same word used in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 27. Neither give place or room a place to rest to the devil. The same word is used in Luke 9, 12. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, Send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get victuals for we are here in a desert place.

Now you could stay in a dry desert place, but it wouldn't be very pleasant. Humans don't like it. Neither do demons. When the spirit found nowhere else to call home, he went back. And amazingly, that fella had cleaned up his house.

He threw out all the filthy junk in his life. You can imagine all the filthy junk a man could get in his life. He got an empty religion with ritual and no reality. Let me tell you, nothing is emptier than empty religion that just has ritual and no reality.

And the spirit said, wow, what a place to live. So he went traveling again and found some other spirits who were looking for a place to stay. And he invited them to move in with him. And they did. And the latter end of that man was worse than the first.

The history of the unclean spirit. Secondly, the home they desire. They left their home in heaven. That is still the home of the rest of God's angels who did not follow Lucifer. Matthew 22 .30 refers to the angels of God in heaven.

Matthew 24 .36 refers to the angels of heaven. Mark 12 .25 refers to the angels which are in heaven. Apparently heaven is the home of the angels and they are dispatched to earth to accomplish specific purposes for God.

I remember a preacher years ago who made it come alive for me as a little boy. He talked about that passage where the angels do always behold the face of their father which is in heaven. And he said, here's what's happening.

The father's on the throne. The angels are right there in front of him. And they are beholding the face of the father which is in heaven. And the heavenly father looks down and sees one of his children who needs some help.

And he says, angel, quick, go there. And with the speed of thought, the angel is right there to rescue you and me, to minister to us, to help us. Thank God for the angels. Jacob in Genesis 28 saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder that reached to heaven.

Angels delivered messages to Mary and Joseph and Zacharias. The shepherd saw a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God at the birth of Jesus. Then Luke 2 .15 says, it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven.

The fallen angels left their past home. Matthew 25 .41 tells us about their future home. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Revelation 20 .10 expounds further on that. In Matthew 8 .29, the unclean spirits living in the men of the country of the Gergesenes said to Jesus, what have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?

They were saying, please leave us alone. Art thou come hither to torment us before our time? And the word time means appointed time or season. They were saying to Jesus, you're not going to make us go to hell early, are you?

Heaven was the past home. Hell is the future home of Satan and his demons. Their favorite place to reside right now is with humans. But they'd rather live in hogs than in hell or not have anywhere to live.

In that same passage, they begged Jesus to let them live in hogs and he gave them permission, but the hogs wouldn't put up with them. There's a big lesson there to lost folks. If somebody lost here tonight, if unclean spirits fear the torment of hell badly enough to prefer living with hogs, maybe you better think twice before you flippantly laugh and joke about going to hell.

The hogs wouldn't have them and cast themselves into the sea. Now, what is the home that Satan and his fallen angels desire? They desire to live with or in human beings. Now, some of you are already thinking this, so I'll ask it and then answer it.

Pastor, do you believe a Christian can be demon-possessed? Doctrinally, I personally believe that a Christian can only be oppressed and not possessed. Practically, it seems to make little difference.

I have seen Christians who have definitely allowed what Paul warned the Christians at Ephesus not to do. Don't give the devil a place, a foothold, a room, an area of control, an area of jurisdictional authority.

Don't give the devil ground in your life. Don't do that. Third, how do Satan and his demons move in? Several years ago now, we visited Uganda, Africa, and we were there with the stencils, and they took us in their house, and they showed us everything.

They said, here's your room, here's the bathroom, here's the kitchen, make yourself at home. They came here to the United States. We took them to our house. And we said, hey, you treated us, now we're going to treat you.

And here's your room, and here's the bathroom, and here's the kitchen, here's the living room, you make yourself at home. And some people think that that is what you have to do to get Satan to take a room in your life.

Now, I'll admit, that will work. And there are spiritually blinded fools in our day who will pray to Satan and ask him to come in and take over their lives. And they are fools. Some worship Satan and involve themselves in all types of satanic rituals.

Deception, Witchcraft, and Satan's Subtle Attacks

You know, if I were to ask you, what is one of the poorest countries on the face of this earth? And you were thinking, you would say the country of Haiti. Do you know why Haiti has had so many problems for so many years?

I think it's because of a letter I received from a preacher just a few years ago now when he said, I was in Haiti this past February. I was contacted by several pastors asking me to arrange a crusade for the year 2004.

The reason is because that is the anniversary of the signing over of the island to the devil. Parenthesis, voodoo. On January 4th, 1704, the island was given to Satan by the sacrifice of a pig and by the people drinking its blood.

Do you wonder why Haiti is in such a mess tonight? Until somebody turns that around, that will stay a curse for generations on a country. Now, may I insert right here, if you're wise, you won't read stories or watch movies about these kinds of witchcraft and satanic things.

Demonism and witches and all of this. You are inviting Satan to have a place. I remember so clearly. We were, a group of us were on an airplane flying to Ghana, South America. And there weren't enough seats for us to all sit together.

So they sat together and I had to sit in another seat just up there with somebody. Right next to me there was a man reading a Stephen King novel. I really didn't know anything about Stephen King. Don't really to this day.

I'm just telling you what I glanced over. Saw his book open and read one paragraph. That so glorified demonic powers that I felt a chill come over me and an oppressive spirit surround me. And I had to pray immediately for God to forgive me for reading that and cleanse my mind and put His hedge of protection about me.

I was afraid God was liable to take that plane down because of me. I'm serious. I said, oh God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. God, cleanse my mind. I plead the blood of Jesus against what I just read.

Folks, watch out for psychics and fortune tellers and palm readers and witches and spirit guides and those that the Bible refers to as those having a, quote, familiar spirit. Most of the time when Satan gets ground in a person's life, he does so without them knowing about it.

You don't have to say, Satan, come in and take over. I seriously doubt if there is a person in this room whom Satan hasn't gotten ground in your life at some time or other, whether you even knew it or not.

He doesn't usually use a frontal attack. He is deceitful and cunning like a lion slipping up on its prey. He roars after the victory, not before. He kind of puts his foot in the doorway of your life and works his way in without you even knowing it.

He is a master deceiver and his work to destroy you and me is not always an obvious thing. John 8, 44 tells us that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Many are having their lives and families destroyed by Satan but don't even know it.

In fact, they will defend and fight for that which is destroying them because Satan is a deceiver. Hear me, homes don't just fall apart. In many, many cases they have succumbed to Satan's well-planned attacks.

Young people don't just become rebellious. They often fall prey to Satan's subtle plans to defeat them. He is very deceitful. 2 Corinthians 11, 14 tells us that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

He came as a serpent in the garden. Eve did not suspect who he was. It's very easy for you to not recognize Satan as Satan when he comes. I noticed two families continually having problems getting along some time back.

And as I watched them, I wondered if they realized that it was probably Satan working to divide them. Somebody wisely warned, do not negotiate with Satan. You must learn to recognize his attacks. Somebody told a little story like this.

A hunter raised his rifle and took careful aim at a large bear. When about to pull the trigger, the bear spoke in a soft, soothing voice. Is it not better to talk than to shoot? What do you want? Let us negotiate the matter.

Lowering his rifle, the hunter replied, I want a fur coat. Good, said the bear. That's a negotiable question. I only want a full stomach, so let us negotiate a compromise. They sat down to negotiate, and after a time, the bear walked away alone.

The negotiations had been successful. The bear had a full stomach. The hunter had his fur coat. And Satan says to you, let's negotiate. But there are some things that are not negotiable. You cannot compromise with the devil.

You can't negotiate with him at all. You've got to learn to recognize him. Brother J .B. Buffington in a message said, we must identify our enemy if we're going to have victory. He said, during World War II in the Air Corps, we had to identify all the battleships and airplanes of the Japanese, the Italians, the Germans, the Russians, and the Americans.

We had to know friend from foe in a split second. He said, by the time you had an airplane bearing down on you, you didn't have time to say, hey, let me grab the book and see which one of those, what kind of plane that is.

He said, by the time you do that, you're a dead duck. I saw a World War II training video where they were showing the men, this is the way you identify. They put the American plane on this side. They put the Japanese plane on this side.

And they said, they look alike like this, but these are radically different. Here are the differences. You must learn to spot them in an instant. Could I tell you something? You better learn to spot the devil in an instant because if you wait, it may be too late for you.

Satan's Organized Spiritual Warfare

Ephesians 6 describes ranks in Satan's organization. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the spiritual wickedness in high places. He has his forces well organized on this earth.

Principalities refers to governments. Powers refers to top demon princes, such as Daniel had to deal with in the book of Daniel when his prayer was delayed all of that time. And then the angel came and said, we've been working to get this to you.

Then there are rulers, those under the demon powers. Then there is spiritual wickedness, a multitude of Satan's forces, an unseen host of demonic powers. Are you recognized that there could be more angels and demons in this room tonight than there are people?

Satan works wherever he can get permission to work. And we debate about demon possession or demon oppression and we miss the simplicity of the truth. Demons go where they are allowed to go or have a right to go for as long as they are allowed to be there.

Satan goes where you let him go. He gets a place in your life. One way he does it is through certain possessions. In Mark chapter 5, the Jews had those hogs and it was a possession they were not meant to have because they were under the Levitical law and it was an unclean thing and the unclean had a right to enter the unclean.

See? Jesus wasn't deliberately destroying a herd of swine. Jesus was giving permission where ground had already been yielded. I'm thinking of a family that had a problem with a child and they changed a lot of things, but they didn't go through their home and cleanse their home of whatever things may have been in their home that were allowing Satan to get ground in their child's life.

And this child still had these demonic things he was playing with in his bedroom. And the parents were telling me, the child seems to be tortured, but we've already pleaded the blood of Jesus against them.

And I said, but you don't understand. They have a right to be there. You have given them that right. You must take away that right. Then you can reclaim the ground and rebuke them in the name of Jesus and the oppression can be ended.

Material Possessions, Anger, and Demonic Ground

With some possessions comes a curse. Joshua chapter 6 and 7, there was Achan who took that thing that the Bible says was a curse because it was devoted to God. He wasn't supposed to touch it. And because of that, until they dealt with that, they could not go on.

We must always consider the spiritual value or impact of earthly or material possessions because sometimes material possessions aren't just material possessions. They have spiritual things that tie in with them.

In the book of Judges, Gideon destroyed that grove of idols. He destroyed them. That's the reason I try to not allow idols to be displayed in missionary displays. When missionaries come, I'll say to them ahead of time, now if you have anything that's an idol, if you'll do me a favor.

I know some people say, well, you've prayed over it, there's nothing left there. And I have no debate with that. I'm just asking, don't put them out. I don't want them there. In Acts chapter 19 verse 19, there were books that were burned.

And they counted the price of these books that were full of sorcery and witchcraft and all of this kind of stuff. And they found out the value of it was 50 ,000 pieces of silver. And that was in Acts chapter 19 verse 19.

And in verse 20 we read, So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Sometimes Satan can take ground simply through the possessions that you have. But a big way according to the context of the passage here in Ephesians chapter 4 that Satan can take ground is through anger and its related sins.

Notice, be ye angry and sin not. And then in verse 34, you have the catalog of sins that relate to anger. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, that's brawling, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.

That's intention or desire to hurt somebody else. So when he says, be ye angry and sin not, neither give place to, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Why does he say that? Because if you get angry, if you get angered, and then in your anger you allow your anger to rise till it becomes sin, and you don't deal with that right away, and the sun goes down on it and you sleep on it.

Parents, do not send your children to bed with angry words. Do not let your children go to bed when they are angry. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. Do not let the bedroom become a place of bitterness.

Because when that anger turns inward and the sun goes down, and you lie in bed and you think of those angry words that were said to you, and you think of how disgusted you are and how upset you are, that anger can turn into bitterness, which can give Satan ground or a place in your life.

The only time, folks, that anger is right is when it's God's anger, not yours. Any time that it's your anger, it is wrong. James 1 .20,. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Psalm 37 .8,.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Ecclesiastes 7 .9,. Anger rests in the bosom of fools. Ephesians 4 .31,. That word in Ephesians 4 .31 referring to anger is the same word that was used in Mark 3 .5 where Jesus displayed anger.

It is never used again. The Greek word is never used again in the rest of the New Testament in relation to any other human being, but it is used right there to say to you and me, let all bitterness and wrath and anger be put away from you.

Jesus could handle it. You can't handle it. Get it out of your life. One of Satan's biggest ways of getting his room or his place in a family's home is through the father's anger or the mother's anger or both of their anger.

Listen to this article. My husband and I have three children. In the last two years, we have tutored our 13-year-old daughter in math. However, when daddy tries to tutor her, it becomes a confrontation instead of a learning experience.

He yells at her. He makes sarcastic comments. She in turn gets an attitude and resents that he ridicules her in front of her siblings. I find his methods immature and inefficient. He shouts. She cries.

What is being accomplished? I no longer like the person my husband has become. He finds a reason to yell about something as soon as he gets home. He's told the kids that he would use physical discipline if it weren't for me.

I'm ready to get a divorce because I'm unhappy. The kids are unhappy. He's obviously unhappy too. Now what is happening in that home? That father's anger is creating all kinds of destruction for his wife and his children.