MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2026
8:2 0AM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“His Preaching”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
4:31-34a
Message
of the verses: “And He came down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and He was teaching
them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at Hs teaching, for His message was
with authority. In the synagogue there
was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a
loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of
Nazareth?”
This morning I begin the third SD
from the verses above, and I think that I will have to finish this section up
in this evening’s SD.
MacArthur writes “The second phrase
translates the verb daimonizomai, which appears thirteen times in the New Testament (8:36;
Matt. 4:24; 8:16, 28, 33; 9:32; 12:22; 15:22; Mark 1:32; 5:15, 16, 18; John
10:21) and is translated, ‘demon-possessed,’ or ‘demoniaics.’ Like the first phrase, it refers to someone
indwelt and controlled by a demon or demons to the point that he cannot
successfully resist, not to the general influence demons have in promoting
false doctrine (1 Tim. 4:1), false worship (1 Cor. 10:20-21), immorality (1
Tim. 4:1-3), and attitudes of jealousy, divisiveness, and pride (James
3:13-16).
“Third, the Bible speaks of those
with an ‘unclean’ spirit (Mark 1:23; 5:2) or having one Mark 7:25). Those phrases also indicate that demons
indwell their victims.
“Finally, Acts 5:16 speaks of those ‘afflicted
with unclean spirits,’ emphasizing the torment demon-possessed people suffer.
“In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus gave an
illustration of demon possession. The
demon possessed person is likened to a house (v. 44), once again showing that
demons indwell their victims. For some unspecified
reason, this demon left his victim. It
may be that he sought another more suitable person to indwell, or that he was
annoyed by the attempts of exorcists (like the sons of “”Sceva in Acts
19:13-14) and decided to leave. It may
even be that he was cast out by Jesus from an individual who never came to
saving faith in Him. In any case, the
demon left his victim, and ‘passes [d] through waterless places seeking rest,
and [did] not find it’ (v. 43). But
unable to find a better situation, the demon decided to return to the ‘house
from which [he] came’ (v. 44). When he
returned, the demon found the house ‘unoccupied, swept, and put in order (v.
44)—a reference to moral and religious reform apart from true salvation. That made him an even more attractive host
for the demon and his friends; demons can more successfully disguise themselves
as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:14-15) in outwardly religious people. The net effect was that ‘the last state of
that man becomes worse than the first’ (v. 45).
Ritual exorcisms and efforts at self-reform apart from true salvation
will not free anyone from Satan’s kingdom.
Only those who have ‘faith in Christ Jesus…[are] rescued…from the domain
of darkness and transferred…to the kingdom of His beloved Son’ (Col. 1:4, 13).”
That is all that I have time for
this morning, and Lord willing will finish this section this evening.
5/17/2026
8:45 AM
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