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Immunity from the Devil
By Tom Brown
 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the
one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.—
I John 5:18
You can live in a place with God where you have immunity from the devil. The
evil one cannot harm him.
Immunity legally exempts a person from any natural or usual
liability. Synonyms for immunity are license, liberty, and rights.
Antonyms are susceptibility, proneness, and liability.
An alien who works in the embassy has license when living in another
country. If he should commit a crime, he cannot be prosecuted under our
laws. He has license to do wrong. This is an area where we do not have
immunity. We do not have a license to sin and expect to be protected. No
way! If you continue to sin then you have lost your immunity from
Satan’s attacks.
We all sin. This passage does not say that if you make a mistake and
repent you are not born of God. He says that anyone born of God does
not continue to sin. The word "continue" means to
habitually practice as a lifestyle. If sin is your lifestyle, then you don’t
have immunity.
The area we have immunity in is in the area of liberty and rights.
Christ has liberated us and made us free. Because of this, we have certain
inalienable rights. Inalienable comes from two main words: In meaning
not and alien meaning without citizenship. Jesus said, "You
are in the world, but you are not of it."
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is
under the control of the evil one. (I John 5:19)
Look carefully at Jesus prayer for us:
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am
not of it. (John 17:15-16)
Glory to God! You are not of this world, and are, thus, not subject to
this world’s curse. You are not citizens of this world but of heaven.
You don’t have to have the same problems of the world. You can be exempt
from sickness, poverty, worry, fear, calamities, and anything else that is
normal to this world.
Jesus prayed that God would protect them from the evil one. We
are the them He prayed for! He has prayed for your protection from
the evil one. This is immunity.
Jesus had Immunity
Jesus said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of
it." Jesus was not of the world. He had immunity. Look at Jesus
immunity:
John 14:30 "He has no hold on me." That ought to be your
confession. "Satan has no hold on me!"
John 7:44 "Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on
him." Say, "No one can lay a hand on me!"
John 8:20 "Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet
come." Make this your profession, "No one can seize me,
because my time has not yet come!"
John 10:39 "They tried to seize him, but he escaped their
grasp." Come on, say it: "When people try to capture me, I
will escape from their grasp."
John 10:18 "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord." Boldly say, "I am not of this world. No one can
take my life from me, but I will lay it down of my own accord!"
Most would agree that Jesus had immunity, but they balk at the notion
of the believer having immunity.
"Well, Pastor, this sounds good, but experience tells us that we
don’t have immunity. Satan is pretty much free to do what he wants to
us."
The trouble with that statement is the person who makes it is listening
to experience and not the Word. Yes, experience seems to contradict these
promises, but we are not to live by experiences but by the Word.
Evangelicals are always getting upset at us charismatics for
emphasizing our experiences, yet they are doing the same thing by taking
sides against the Word and in favor of their experiences. I don’t care
what I have experienced. I see in the Word a place I can abide in where I
have immunity. I am going to live in this place, how about you?
No Automatic Immunity
All of God’s promises are conditional. There are no automatic
promises. God does not make a promise, and, all of a sudden, that promise
simply takes off by itself and fulfills itself in our lives. No, God’s
promises are conditional, including the promise of immunity.
Notice the original passage we looked at:
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who
was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. (1
John 5:18)
The New English Bible says, "it is the Son of God who keeps him
safe," however, the King James Version says, "but he that
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one touches him
not." I believe it is our responsibility to keep ourselves in the
protective arms of God.
Who is the one that keeps him safe? It is the one who was
born of God. We are born of God. Yes, Christ is also born of God, but
He expects us to do are part in keeping ourselves in the place of
immunity. This scripture won’t work for you, simply because you want it
to work. It will work when you put it to work, and you put it to work by
faith. You must believe in it in order for it to work. If you don’t
believe, then it won’t work.
Religion tries to make excuses for us when the devil attacks us.
Instead of acknowledging the possibility that we are not in the place of
immunity, it teaches that the devil’s attack against us was for our
good. I don’t believe that! I believe we simply gave the devil an open
door to come into our lives and wreck havoc.
It’s time we learn how to appropriate our immunity. I want to show
you how.
The Believer’s Immunity
I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to
overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (Luke 10:19)
Nothing will harm you! No thing can hurt you, not even your
mother-in-law!
You have authority over Satan and his cohorts. They can’t hurt you
when you walk in your authority.
You might say, "I wish I could believe that!" You can believe
that, you have simply chosen not to believe it. Quit doubting. You have
immunity.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you
can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)
How many arrows can your faith extinguish, some, most? No! All the
flaming arrows of the evil one can be quenched. You don’t
have to have one of them pierce you—not one!
For this to work, you have to take up the shield of faith.
God won’t take it up for you. You have to pick it up and use it.
Paul was using a vivid analogy known to the people of his day. Only
until recently, have we finally understood what this means. The movie The
Gladiators resplendently showed how the shields worked in Bible days.
You might remember the movie.
In the beginning of the movie was the battle scene. The enemies of Rome
began to light their arrows and fling them across the cold crevice. As
they did, the Roman soldiers hooked their shields together, creating an
impenetrable barrier. The soldiers calmly found shelter under their
shields.
That’s the picture Paul gives. We don’t have to worry that there
will be an opening in the shield. There is no opening. When we hook our
faith together, we become an impenetrable force that Satan can’t enter.
We have total protection against him. This is why Satan wants us to fight
against each other. Our faith must work together. When we believe and
trust God together, there is immunity from Satan. You can’t stand-alone.
Immunity won’t work that way. You must join your faith with others. I
call this "community faith."
I’ve seen miracles take place when people come together, believing
God for miracles. Sure, you can trust God for a miracle on your own, but
why not hook your shield of faith with others, so nothing can hurt you.
Jesus sent out His disciples two by two. He knew the power of community
faith.
The Tongue
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but
it will not come near you. (Psalm 91:7)
I really believe this. Everyone else could be having trouble, but I’m
not!
"Pastor Brown, do you ever worry that your plane is going to
crash?" No! It can’t crash if I’m in it, and if it does crash,
everyone else may die, but not me. Now, I’m not wanting anyone to die, I
am simply saying that I won’t die. I know when you began to talk like
this, people will think you are crazy.
"Who do you think you are to say you aren’t going to die!"
I’m saying what the Psalmist said. He said it. A thousand may fall
at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near
you. I believe I have immunity. Even when it looks like I am about to
die, I will have protection.
Jesus had this protection. I love the story when He preached in
Nazareth. Everyone got angry at His message. They grabbed Him and took Him
to a cliff. What did Jesus do? "He walked through the crowd"
(Luke 4:30). I love it! No fighting. No Kung fu. No Karate. He simply
walked through the crowd. He knew His immunity.
If you took your immunization shots for polio, would you be afraid to
be near someone with polio. No, because you know you have immunity. When
you know you have immunity against Satan’s attacks you don’t worry
about being harmed. You know you have protection. You don’t worry about
losing your house. You are not afraid of dying with an incurable disease.
You are not concern that your ministry will go under. You don’t have
fear, because you have immunity.
What is the key to exercising this immunity? The key is your mouth
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my
God, in whom I trust." (Psalm 91:2)
He does not hope that the Lord is his refuge. He knows it.
How do we know he knows it? His words reveal what he really believes. He
wrote: "I will say of the LORD." He verbalized his faith.
If your faith is silent then your faith is aborted. You might have
conceived God’s promise of immunity, but you were not sure to verbalize
it. You did not want to sound presumptuous. You thought, Maybe it might
not work, so I don’t want to give God a bad name if He fails to protect
me. So you kept silent. Your faith was aborted.
Your faith must be released through words. You must say that you are
immune. Your words are the shots in the arm to keep you immune.
You can have immunity from the devil
by saying...
The evil one cannot harm me, because the Lord keeps me
safe.
Satan has no hold on me.
I’ve been marked with the seal of ownership by God
Himself. He marked me with the Holy Spirit. I stand by faith in this.
Christ is my ark of safety. When I can pass through the
waters, the river will not sweep over me. When I walk through the fire, I
will not be burned, because the Lord is with me. I fear not, because he
has redeemed me. He has summoned me by name. I belong to God.
The blood of Jesus is over my life, and demons must
pass over me. I eat the bread of sincerity and truth. I live by the truth
of the Word of God.
I have the mark of the Lord on my forehead; therefore
no harm will come to me.
A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my
right hand, but no disaster will come near me. I make the Most High my
dwelling, even my refuge, and so no harm will befall me, and no disaster
will come near my dwelling. God rescues me and protects me, for I
acknowledge his name and I love him. I say of the Lord, he is my refuge
and my fortress, in him I trust.
I have immunity from the evil one! Send your
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