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  • Victory in Jesus
  • At Your Feet
  • We Fall Down

  • Luke 11:14–28 ESV
    Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
    Introduction
    It’s good to finally be back in the pulpit in front of you again. I’m so appreciative of Shane filling in while I was out of the country and Jim filling in last week giving me some rest from the weekly grind of sermon preparation. It’s a joy that I get to do this each week but it does feel great to have a break every now and then.
    I had a good few days at EFCA headquarters in Minneapolis learning about our history, theology, and polity as a network of churches. I’m looking forward to attending our biennial national meeting this summer. I want to encourage you that I was so uplifted by the Gospel centered focus of our people. It’s really encouraging for me as a pastor.
    Let’s get to our passage today in Luke 11:14-28.
    All three synoptic gospels give us a glimpse of the conflict between Jesus and evil forces. Part of this glimpse is when we see Jesus kicking demons out of people. We’ve already read about His power over evil spirits and now we get another example.
    People don’t seem to doubt that Jesus has power over the evil spirits. The issue is that some tried to attribute the source of His power to Satan instead of to God. This is a dangerous mistake they were making.
    In our passage today, Luke presents us with an example of the type of critics that Jesus crossed paths with. There were both slanderers and skeptics.
    We are going to look at how Jesus deals with His critics, the fact that there’s no middle ground in following Jesus, not leaving an opening for the enemy in your life, and what true blessedness looks like.
    MI: Our lives should reflect what we believe about who Jesus is. If we say He is God and changes lives then our lives should be changed by that truth. However, if we don’t believe that truth, our lives will give evidence of that as well. There is no way to remain neutral about Jesus. You can’t be Switzerland in this thing. You don’t get to just say, I’m not deciding. Not to decide is to decide.
    When we open our passage, Jesus is casting a demon out of a mute man. Apparently the demon was causing the muteness because after the demon was gone, the man could speak. The miracle is incredible. But instead of simply being joyful that such a rescue had been accomplished, the people step to Jesus in critique.

    I. Jesus deals with skeptics and slanderers. (v. 17-18)

    Luke 11:17–18 ESV
    But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
    As referenced earlier, there were two types of critical people that Jesus was face with here.
    Two kinds of people contend with Jesus here:
    - slanderers
    - skeptics
    Jesus responds to the slanderers in verses 17-26 with some teaching on spiritual warfare. Then, in our passage for next week (v. 29) Jesus addresses those who are looking for a sign because they are skeptical of Him and testing Him.
    These slanderers we find out in Matthew were Pharisees and in Mark they are called scribes.
    From our previous studies we know that these are not folks given to believing in Jesus. It seems like they are always lurking around to oppose our Lord.
    Regarding the use of the name Beelzebul, scholar Leon Morris wrote:
    “It seems fairly clear that the name was ‘Beelzebul’, but why it was applied and what it means are difficult questions. The form ‘Baalzebub’ occurs as the name of the god of Ekron (2 Kgs 1:2, 3, 6, 16; in the Hebrew text, not lxx). This means ‘lord of flies’ and may well be a Hebrew pun on a similar sounding Philistine name (like the Ras Shamra name noted below). Some suggest that the Jews further corrupted this into the similar sounding ‘Baalzebul’, ‘lord of dung’, a way of referring to the heathen god, and then transferred this name to a demon. But the form ‘Baalzebul’ also occurs in the Ras Shamra tablets as the name of a Canaanite deity, the term apparently meaning ‘lord of the dwelling’ or ‘lord of the high place’. Our best understanding of the evidence seems to be that the Jews took this name of a heathen god and understood it in terms of the similar sounding Hebrew, ‘lord of dung’. They applied it to a prominent demon, perhaps to Satan himself. Jesus clearly understood it to refer to Satan.”
    In June of 1858 Abraham Lincoln gave one of his famous speeches at a gathering to determine the republican nominee for president of the United States. He said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” He said this in reference to the precipice and strife the country was facing. But those words were not original to Honest Abe. They actually go back to Jesus in this passage.
    Jesus uses this old proverb to explain why this simply wouldn’t work.
    Divided Kingdom - when a kingdom is destroyed by disunity the houses fall down… it can not stand. Moffatt says house after house falls down.
    R.C. Sproul writes, “One of the oldest strategies of warfare is to divide the enemy. A nation preoccupied with internal disputes is weakened and made vulnerable to attack from without. Every general knows it, every competitor knows it, and Jesus draws the attention of his critics to it. If Satan has control of this world, and has possessed this poor man and made him unable to speak, why would he then empower Jesus to redeem him?”
    Jesus exposes the inconsistency and really the absurdity of their argument.
    Who do your sons cast out demons by?
    Luke 11:19 ESV
    And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
    Your sons - emphatic… could refer to either their actual sons or may mean "your own people or your followers."
    Either way, the point Jesus is making is that if casting out demons means being in the power of Satan than the same thing would be true of the Jewish exorcists that were apparently operating at the time. v. 19
    If by the finger of God - they would have to deal with the consequences of this… they needed to think through this and Jesus invites this in them.
    The finger of God is an interesting expression. We can find its roots in Exodus.
    Exodus 8:19 ESV
    Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
    Pharoah’s magicians used this phrase to describe one of the plagues they were experiencing in Egypt.
    Matthew records that Jesus uses a slightly different phrase here.
    Matthew 12:28 ESV
    But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
    Jesus, the Son of God, was always working by the Spirit of God. He was always doing the will of the Father. This is the complete opposite of what these slandering critics were accusing Him of.
    Jesus’ power over evil spirits comes from God only and from no one else. If that’s true then the kingdom has come upon them. The nearness of the kingdom was visible in the power that got rid of evil forces. It was in the here and now.
    As preachers do, Jesus has an illustration to strongly get His point across. The picture is of Satan as the strong man guarding all his stuff. He’s guarding over those who are under his power.
    Someone stronger comes along and the strong man loses his grip on those who are under his captivity. The one who is stronger can set them free. Sin has a strong grip on humanity. But this illustration shows that Satan has no ability tot stand in the face of the power of God. He has been defeated. I love what Morris says, “The kingdom is not beautiful words; it is the overthrow of evil.”
    I was reminded of the musical interpretation or what you might call a skit that we did in Belize. It’s a simplified version of one we traveled around doing in college. It is set to the song, “He Holds the Keys”, by Steve Green. **SHOW PICTURE**
    It’s a little poetic in its approach but the first couple of verses and chorus go like this:
    [Verse 1]
    Death rides blackened clouds across the sky
    The Son of Man lays down to die
    With every pounding blow upon the nail
    Thunder rumbles all through Hell
    And from Death’s barren womb the captives cry
    “Who is there to free us should He die?”
    [Verse 2]
    His grave becomes a door He enters in
    To face the author of all sin
    Defying Death and the grave He takes their keys
    And with them every captive frees
    And from Death’s barren womb the captives cry
    “Arise, for our redemption draweth nigh”
    [Chorus]
    For He holds the keys
    He holds the keys
    And though we’ve been held captive
    At long last we are free
    For He holds the keys
    The point is that Jesus is one who holds they keys over death and the grave. He holds the keys to eternal life. He has power over the enemy because HE, Jesus the Christ, is the King. He’s the risen Savior. He won the fight. He is the stronger one. So why

    II. There is no middle ground with following Jesus. (v. 23)

    Luke 11:23 ESV
    Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
    Gather and scatter - imagery from gathering a flock together… If you don't gather with Jesus, you'll scatter...
    Gather with Him.
    Those who love and follow Jesus will join Him in His work.
    This flows from a regenerated heart.
    You are for Him or against Him. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND with Jesus.
    Have you ever thought of yourself as against God? That is what we were before coming to Jesus. If you aren’t for Jesus, you are actually against Him.
    James 4:4 ESV
    You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
    Romans 8:7 ESV
    For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
    1 John 2:15–16 ESV
    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

    III. Don’t leave an opening for the enemy in your life. (v. 24-26)

    Lest you think that Jesus is simply talking about behavior modification or simply readjusting your morality, He gives and additional story to show that He’s actually talking about a complete and total defeat of evil.
    How was that thing gotten rid of? Seems like in this case it wasn’t expelled but just left.
    - by your effort (or by God). the man's life is better without the evil in him... cleaned and tidy up… moral change
    It comes back with more and moves back in. The word for dwell there means settle down, live permanently, inhabit, SETTLE IN
    - What will you replace it with? Not with still doign the same old things... You can't live in a moral vacuum…
    Input the things of God in its place
    - Substitute?

    IV. Truly blessed people are those who hear and obey the Word of God.

    It’s as if this woman is saying, “Your mama surely is blessed because such a wonderful, powerful, kid came from her.”
    This woman did not understand that the family of God is not expanded biologically but spiritually. The one who is blessed isn’t someone closely related to Jesus by humanity but one who is adopted spiritually because of the sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for their sin.
    Conclusion
    Gospel connection
    Certainty in Luke’s gospel
    Jesus is from God
    The works done by Him are of God.
    Point about the finger of God.
    Those who claimed to serve God were the ones standing up against Jesus. (they were deceived). Their skepticism put them in a very dangerous situation.
    He Holds the Keys… The 3rd verse:
    Verse 3 - [Verse 3]
    Against the gates of Hell I now resist
    For the shackles that had torn my wrists
    Lay before me now upon the ground
    To sin I am no longer bound
    For from Death’s barren womb He heard my cry
    And loosed the chains that bound me to a lie

      • Luke 11:14–28ESV

      • Luke 11:17–18ESV

      • Luke 11:19ESV

      • Exodus 8:19ESV

      • Matthew 12:28ESV

      • Luke 11:23ESV

      • James 4:4ESV

      • Romans 8:7ESV

      • 1 John 2:15–16ESV

  • Trust in God
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