SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: We do study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like a paper copy, would you just lift up your hand and someone will bring one along to you?
SPEAKER_00: It would be good to have a copy of the Bible in front of you or on a device so that we can read along in the text.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have a paper Bible, by the way, and you'd like one, feel free to take one of ours as our gift to you.
SPEAKER_00: Also, want to welcome those who are worshiping with us online.
SPEAKER_00: From last week, we had folks from Adelaide, South Australia, Kaluukan, Philippines, I think I'm saying that right, and Covington, Louisiana, among others.
SPEAKER_00: May the Spirit of Christ move among you wherever you might be here today.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you haven't been worshiping with us recently, we have over the past several months been giving our attention to the Gospel according to Luke.
SPEAKER_00: And Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Luke, the physician, is the only Gentile writer that we are aware of in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Luke also has more written material in the New Testament than any other author when you combine the Gospel of Luke along with his second volume, Acts, which we'll study, Lord willing, a little bit later on.
SPEAKER_00: Luke is an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: He's writing with a singular purpose.
SPEAKER_00: He tells us at the beginning of his account, writing to Theophilus, that we might know with certainty who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not surprising then that throughout, I think, Luke's writing, he emphasizes and he highlights the ministry and the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It's not surprising.
SPEAKER_00: Luke, throughout history, church history, is known as the historian theologian of the Holy Spirit, and it finds its pinnacle in Acts 2 at Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: But before we ever get to Pentecost, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Luke introduces the work of the Holy Spirit from the very first chapter of his gospel account, and he keeps on showcasing the move of the Spirit throughout the ministry of Jesus and his resurrection and the explosive growth of the church in Acts.
SPEAKER_00: So why does Luke emphasize the Holy Spirit's work?
SPEAKER_00: We actually just read about it in the Confession of Faith.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's several reasons, but perhaps foremost, one of the Holy Spirit's primary roles throughout the New Testament is to point away from himself and to give glory to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: J.I.
SPEAKER_00: Packer, he would call it the spotlight ministry of the Spirit, shining a bright beam on Jesus the Messiah, verifying the divinity of Jesus, empowering the ministry of Jesus, drawing people out of darkness and into the light of Jesus, bringing them life in his name.
SPEAKER_00: So in the unfolding of Luke's testimony in our text here that we're going to read this morning, two and a half or three years into the ministry of Jesus, Jesus himself has turned towards Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: In just a few months, he would lay down his life for sinners like you and me on the cross of Calvary.
SPEAKER_00: His ministry has grown.
SPEAKER_00: There's a heightened curiosity from the crowds and a growing antagonism from the religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: We've been reading about that.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Willful unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Hardened hearts, cynicism, skepticism that simply refuse to believe that truth.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's Adler.
SPEAKER_00: He's still preaching, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was a preacher too.
SPEAKER_00: And as he's preaching in this ministry, the skeptics, the cynics, these religious leaders simply did not want to believe what they saw before their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of thing that we see here.
SPEAKER_00: In our study last week, if you remember, Pastor Jim walked us through this text where Jesus was teaching about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And curiously, I think, Jesus ends that teaching, he concludes that teaching on prayer with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the Father will generously pour out the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And in other words, one way you can look at that is for those with a posture of humility, for those who have come to the end of their own resources, with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Holy Spirit is generously poured out, pointing us to Jesus, drawing us near to him, and turning those who turn to him in face, and the Spirit unites us to Jesus, bringing spiritually dead men and women to life.
SPEAKER_00: And he's still doing that work today.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you believe that.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know him this morning, I pray you will today.
SPEAKER_00: If you do know him, I pray we might all come to know the depths of his immeasurable love even more this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We've been singing about it, we've been praying about it.
SPEAKER_00: I invite you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 11, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 11, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll allow me, I'll pray for us before we get started.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we bow before your presence this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Open your word to us and open us to your word.
SPEAKER_00: May your spirit illuminate it.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us, may your glory, Father, be our supreme concern through your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We all said Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 11, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Now he, Jesus, was casting out a demon that was mute.
SPEAKER_00: When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke.
SPEAKER_00: And the people marveled.
SPEAKER_00: But some of them said, He cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.
SPEAKER_00: Just another way of saying Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, while others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But he, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste.
SPEAKER_00: And a divided household falls.
SPEAKER_00: A kingdom and a household.
SPEAKER_00: He uses those two images.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, and if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
SPEAKER_00: For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, they will be your judges.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is by the finger of God, or some other gospels say the Spirit of God, that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: We'll pause here for just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Let's not run past this extraordinary story.
SPEAKER_00: There's a healing right there at the beginning, a mute man.
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't speak.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus comes on the scene and he casts the demon out.
SPEAKER_00: His tongue had been chained.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know how long, but his tongue had been chained.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had been teaching about prayer and this man couldn't pray out loud.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus sets this man free.
SPEAKER_00: He sets his tongue free.
SPEAKER_00: Loosen tongues employ from the old hymn.
SPEAKER_00: And it's three responses that we see here to this healing.
SPEAKER_00: We see some who marvel at what's just happened.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine the crowds?
SPEAKER_00: Wait, that guy couldn't talk, and now he's talking.
SPEAKER_00: So some in the crowds marveled.
SPEAKER_00: Some were cynical.
SPEAKER_00: He's casting out that demon by Satan himself, by Beelzebub.
SPEAKER_00: You could translate that, the Lord of flies, the king of the dung heap.
SPEAKER_00: It's blasphemy.
SPEAKER_00: Some, though, still willful unbelievers, I think, but some weren't quite as cynical, but were also skeptical, or but rather were skeptical.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see another sign.
SPEAKER_00: He had just given them a sign.
SPEAKER_00: He had just healed this man, set this man free from this demon.
SPEAKER_00: So we have these three responses: marveling, cynicism, and skepticism.
SPEAKER_00: It's not so different today.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to remind ourselves why the miracles of Jesus, why Jesus performs these miracles.
SPEAKER_00: It's not simply entertainment, it's not simply a spectacle.
SPEAKER_00: We bring this up often, but the miracles of Jesus do several things.
SPEAKER_00: One, they reveal his compassion.
SPEAKER_00: I think Jesus had compassion on this man who couldn't speak.
SPEAKER_00: They display his authority.
SPEAKER_00: They mark his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the kingdom of God is like.
SPEAKER_00: Mute people who can talk.
SPEAKER_00: Lame people who can walk.
SPEAKER_00: Blind who can see.
SPEAKER_00: It marks out his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It affirms his identity.
SPEAKER_00: It inspires faith, wonder, and worship.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, though, it inspires cynicism and skepticism.
SPEAKER_00: Back to verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He had just taught them the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Thy kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus here is saying, Hey, if this work is actually from God, the kingdom of God has come.
SPEAKER_00: And you're seeing it before your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
SPEAKER_00: 23 Whoever is not with me is against me.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever does not gather with me scatters with me.
SPEAKER_00: Or scatters, rather.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting, we'll pause here for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus first turns his attention to those who are skeptics, and he uses two, what I'm just going to call parables, two stories, and he starts with this one.
SPEAKER_00: And in this story here of a strong man and a stronger one, who is Jesus, I actually think we see in miniature here the ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus goes to the cross, he does it so that in his place my sins can be taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: I can be in right relationship with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So I am forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: That's true, but it's more than that.
SPEAKER_00: He also vanquishes Satan himself and the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: So we see in miniature here in this little parable that Jesus teaches the ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, though, whoever is not with me is against me, whoever does not gather with me scatters.
SPEAKER_00: This is a hard word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is essentially saying there is no neutral ground.
SPEAKER_00: You can't find some alternative.
SPEAKER_00: When you've been shown the truth and you turn away from it, you're either with me or you're against me.
SPEAKER_00: There's no middle way, there's no Switzerland in this cosmic battle between two kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: There's no neutral ground.
SPEAKER_00: So he tells another story, verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places or desolate places, seeking rest, and finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came.
SPEAKER_00: And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: What's Jesus getting at here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we could spend a whole week on this.
SPEAKER_00: But in essence, he's saying when a demon is exercised, or when a demon leaves a person, it goes and it seeks out, it says here, rest.
SPEAKER_00: It's trying to find a home.
SPEAKER_00: What it's looking for there is someone to torment, a soul to torment.
SPEAKER_00: And when it realizes, no, I can't find one, it's going to go back to this person, and of course, this person is swept out and put in order.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps speaking to these religious leaders, because the Gospel of Matthew tells us that these skeptics were religious leaders.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus looking at them, with all of your religious duty and the things that you do to sweep your house and put it in order, you can do all kinds of stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00: Even in a secular way, we can do all kinds of things that could be good.
SPEAKER_00: Exercise and eating right and therapy, all those things can help clean out the interior of our life.
SPEAKER_00: But if we are vacant, if we're not filled with the Holy Spirit, we are vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in his paraphrase.
SPEAKER_00: On return, this demon finds the person, the original person, swept and dusted, but vacant.
SPEAKER_00: There's a vulnerability when we aren't putting the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, when we're not ingesting that, feasting on that, instead doing anything else to sweep and put our house in order.
SPEAKER_00: So in this teaching of Jesus, I think you can get a sense that the temperature in the room or outside wherever they are is rising.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is really giving a hard word to these skeptics and cynics.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 27, this woman exclaims, she actually sees something happening here in Jesus' teaching.
SPEAKER_00: She don't think she quite knows what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: She says, verse 27, so as he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you in the breast at which you nursed.
SPEAKER_00: But he said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: So the woman in the heat of this moment, at the height of this teaching, she's trying to honor, I think, Jesus here and honor his mother, Mary.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think Jesus is dismissing Mary.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you turn back just a little bit to Luke chapter 1, it's really interesting how Luke puts it.
SPEAKER_00: So Mary has just been told by an angel that she would bear the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 1, verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Mary does.
SPEAKER_00: Here's her response.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am a servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: So I think what Jesus is saying back in our text here at verse 28, correcting this woman a little bit, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keeping it, keep it.
SPEAKER_00: I think he's actually honoring his mother Mary.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, here's what Mary actually did.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get caught in the trap that if you are born in the right community, if you're born of the right person, if you have the right rituals, if you're doing the right religious kinds of things, you're in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what a blessed life looks like.
SPEAKER_00: This is a beatitude.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it looks like to be a disciple, to hear the word of God and to keep it.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, to hear the word of God and follow.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually an invitation to all these cynics and skeptics here to follow him, to turn to him in this twofold discipleship, hearing the word and following the word.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that Jesus, the word of God, is preaching the word of God and they would not hear it.
SPEAKER_00: And he gives an invitation here.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to him.
SPEAKER_00: There's grace and mercy in this hard word.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, now he turns to the skeptical, those who are looking for another sign.
SPEAKER_00: When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation.
SPEAKER_00: It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: Jonah, the reluctant prophet, the prophet of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: For as Jonah, this prophet, became a sign to the people of Nineveh, a sign of coming judgment, is what he's talking about, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_00: The Queen of the South, so he moves to a different character, the Queen of Sheba.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember this story, the Queen of Sheba will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.
SPEAKER_00: For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the weight of this.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon was the king of Israel at its pinnacle, the wisest king, the pinnacle of Israel, the most wealth, the most power.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is here claiming in front of these leaders, these skeptics and cynics.
SPEAKER_00: Someone greater is here than Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: And Queen of Sheep, the Queen of Sheba, this Gentile woman, who saw that God was up to something in Israel at that time, who actually could see that the power of God was at work, would condemn those standing in front of Jesus that day.
SPEAKER_00: A Gentile could see the power of God at work, but they couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: They refused to.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: So he mentions a king, he mentions a prophet, and Jesus here, a priest.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing all these three things coming together.
SPEAKER_00: And using Nineveh, this is a wicked Gentile nation.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, that wicked Gentile nation turned when they heard the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: When they heard the word of God, they turned to him.
SPEAKER_00: They were disciples, and they will condemn these men that are standing in front of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to venture to guess.
SPEAKER_00: You likely haven't seen this passage printed on a coffee mug in a trendy font or embroidered and hung on your mom's dining room wall.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen a t-shirt that had Beelzebub on it.
SPEAKER_00: Not yet.
SPEAKER_00: But there's so much treasure here in this teaching of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Although a hard word, I think we witness mercy for the cynic, the skeptic, and the sinner.
SPEAKER_00: And that includes all of us in here.
SPEAKER_00: And comfort for the believer.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you see that.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you're in need of any of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Grace, mercy.
SPEAKER_00: The story begins with a man whose tongue had been locked down, chained, held captive by the power of a strong demon.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus showed up.
SPEAKER_00: A stronger one had come and set the man free.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know the approach that Jesus used to this miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he touches people, sometimes he just uses a word.
SPEAKER_00: It could have been one little word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus walks next to this man and simply says, Go.
SPEAKER_00: And the demon has no other option but to go.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had been teaching his disciples about prayer, but this man didn't have the freedom to pray out loud.
SPEAKER_00: He was quite literally speechless.
SPEAKER_00: He could not cry out, Our Father, who art in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_00: He could not say that out loud, but now he could.
SPEAKER_00: Satan was at work from the very beginning in the garden with a serpent, twisting the truth, seeking to devour.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cosmic battle going on between two kingdoms, but they are not equal.
SPEAKER_00: And if there's one thing you take away here today, that's it.
SPEAKER_00: There is a cosmic battle going on, but they are not, these two kingdoms are not equal.
SPEAKER_00: The evil one has some power for now on earth, but it's restrained.
SPEAKER_00: It has boundaries and it has a time limit.
SPEAKER_00: He may be like a lion, Satan, says in 1 Peter 5, but he's a cheap imitation of the Lion of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love for us to reflect briefly on just a few facets of this teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you can see on the screen there the reality of spiritual warfare, opposing yet unequal kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis offers us some great insight.
SPEAKER_00: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.
SPEAKER_00: One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.
SPEAKER_00: They themselves are equally pleased by both errors.
SPEAKER_00: Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.
SPEAKER_00: That from the preface of the screw tape letters.
SPEAKER_00: The evil one and his workers are fallen creatures.
SPEAKER_00: They are not like our Creator God.
SPEAKER_00: They create nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Everything they do is derivative.
SPEAKER_00: When the Son of God Jesus came near the mute man, the demon had no choice but to flee from his word.
SPEAKER_00: And it reminds me of the great hymn of Martin Luther.
SPEAKER_00: A mighty fortress is our God.
SPEAKER_00: It talks about a bulwark never failing, a fortress never failing, a stronger one has come.
SPEAKER_00: In the third verse, it says, The prince of darkness grim.
SPEAKER_00: We tremble not for him.
SPEAKER_00: His rage we can endure.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: For lo, his doom is sure.
SPEAKER_00: One little word shall fell him.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, one little word can take him out.
SPEAKER_00: For those who are in Christ Jesus, brothers, sisters, find comfort here.
SPEAKER_00: We need not fear the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: But we shouldn't be naive to his influence.
SPEAKER_00: He does have schemes, his temptations, his deceptions, his attempts to undermine God's word.
SPEAKER_00: We should remember that Jesus had already triumphed over Satan in the wilderness temptation for 40 days at the beginning of his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And as we keep reading in Luke, Jesus will triumph over Satan and his greatest weapon, death.
SPEAKER_00: If you think back to your Old Testament, it's in the very opening pages of Scripture that the first proclamation of the gospel is preached, and it's preached by God Himself while cursing the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: In God's sovereign plan of redemption, there would be one who would crush the head of the serpent, Satan, and the gospel was preached there in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus preaches this same gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The stronger one.
SPEAKER_00: The stronger one overcomes the influence of the evil one with every advance of his kingdom, silencing the lies of the deceiver.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord crushes the head of the serpent step by step as he calls people to himself, as he brings them into the light, as he gives sight to the physically blind and the spiritually blind.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it by way of a cross, a resurrection, and one day his glorious return.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, we are one day closer to that glorious return.
SPEAKER_00: The stronger one will take back what belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: He will bring his family back.
SPEAKER_00: Theologians have a term for some of what our Lord has accomplished for us.
SPEAKER_00: Christus Victor, Latin for victorious Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Scottish preacher William Still, one of my favorites, he summarizes this for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ is victorious over the guilt of sin, our turning away from the Lord, the power of sin, which is death, and the influence of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And like a good Scottish preacher, he says, it could be summarized like this: the fruit, the root, and the brute.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus vanquishes all three.
SPEAKER_00: And so much more on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: I was going to try to give a Scottish accent, but I would have failed miserably.
SPEAKER_00: The fruit, the root, there you go, and the brute.
SPEAKER_00: Or one day be no more.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Revelation names Satan as the deceiver of the world, Revelation 12.
SPEAKER_00: And it also tells us of his destiny, that he will be thrown down forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 20.
SPEAKER_00: Find comfort here.
SPEAKER_00: We need not fear him.
SPEAKER_00: There is a spiritual battle that we don't always see with our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible doesn't shy away from it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't shy away from it.
SPEAKER_00: But praise be to God, the stronger one rescues us and keeps us firm in his grip.
SPEAKER_00: Our destiny is bound to his victorious kingdom that is forever.
SPEAKER_00: But there is another layer to this teaching we shouldn't run past this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm calling it the clarity of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The clarity of the kingdom, number two, no neutral ground.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me, if you would, at verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Now he was casting out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we just stop there, at that point, it seems to me it would have been reasonable to expect that a great spiritual awakening, a revival, should have broken out among the people.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine the crowds?
SPEAKER_00: Did you see that?
SPEAKER_00: He's telling his wife he loves her.
SPEAKER_00: His son that he's proud of him.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps he was praising Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what he said, but they were marveling, they were astonished, they were amazed at what just had happened.
SPEAKER_00: For some of them, it might have been that Isaiah 53 was ringing in their ears.
SPEAKER_00: When the Messiah comes, Isaiah tells us, the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And here it was, happening before their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Yet there were some religious leaders, some theologians, perhaps scholars, who refused, simply refused to believe.
SPEAKER_00: A hardened heart is spiritually dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Now there is a difference, I want to make sure this is clear, there's a difference between sincere questions and self-assured cynicism.
SPEAKER_00: There's a difference between those two.
SPEAKER_00: Honest doubts.
SPEAKER_00: It's different than willful unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Each of us are given minds to use, and we aren't asked to put our minds away when we're talking about spiritual matters.
SPEAKER_00: But willful unbelief, a refusal to believe what's before your eyes and in your heart, it can seem in the moment to some actually like a more enlightened approach.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to acknowledge the reality before my eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I need to keep my mind open.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it can, that's the approach that'll be taken.
SPEAKER_00: And G.K.
SPEAKER_00: Chesterton said, this is really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He said, an open mind is good as long as at the end of the day we close it on the truth.
SPEAKER_00: The self-assured cynic and the skeptic and the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Did you notice in the text, they never denied that a miracle had taken place?
SPEAKER_00: They didn't deny that.
SPEAKER_00: They just had these terrible excuses to explain it away.
SPEAKER_00: Bealzebub and others wanted another sign.
SPEAKER_00: He had just set a mute man free.
SPEAKER_00: Hardened heart, willful unbelief is dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: A.W.
SPEAKER_00: Pink puts this so well.
SPEAKER_00: Unbelief is the cause of all of our troubled troubles, rather, and failures.
SPEAKER_00: This is the strategic point where Satan concentrates his forces against us, and therefore it is here above all that we need divine help.
SPEAKER_00: These skeptics, cynics, were looking for a Messiah, perhaps more to their liking, apparently wanting a Messiah more in line with their expectations.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was claiming to be a prophet greater than Jonah, a king greater than Solomon, and they were angry.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at verse 18, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus responds and says, If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
SPEAKER_00: For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Jesus is doing what I what I think is merciful logic for them.
SPEAKER_00: A civil war will bring down a nation, a divided household will collapse a family.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had been casting out demons, healings of all kinds throughout his entire ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And if all of that had been from the power of Beelzebub, then it would have been tantamount to a civil war.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the logic he's using here?
SPEAKER_00: I think he's using logic as a means of mercy for these hardened hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Even some of their Jewish leaders apparently were also casting out demons, and Jesus again turns their faulty reasoning on them.
SPEAKER_00: We see that there in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus says, and I love this, I encourage you to highlight it in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: But, very important word there, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: The language of the finger of God comes directly from the book of Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: It's language that they would have known very well.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying the same divine power that carried out the Exodus from Egypt is the same power that is before you.
SPEAKER_00: The finger of God is the same phrase.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the story of the magicians that Pharaoh employed?
SPEAKER_00: It's the same language they used.
SPEAKER_00: The magicians were constantly trying to mimic the miracles of God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that in the story?
SPEAKER_00: In the Exodus?
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, these pagan musicians, they came to Pharaoh and they said, this is what they said in their words, actually, these plagues that are coming from Moses are from the finger of God.
SPEAKER_00: Even the pagan magicians of Egypt would recognize the work of God, but these religious leaders in the crowd had so hardened their hearts they refused, like Pharaoh, to believe.
SPEAKER_00: However, in these hard words from Jesus, I think there is a mercy, a hard one, a severe mercy.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, the king, the priest, the prophet, stands before them like Jonah to the Ninevites.
SPEAKER_00: And he's telling them the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And he's telling them the truth, why?
SPEAKER_00: So that they might repent and turn back to him.
SPEAKER_00: They might hear the word of God and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: The offer of grace was still there.
SPEAKER_00: Set your eyes at verse 23, if you would.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
SPEAKER_00: Put another way, like I said before, there is no neutral ground.
SPEAKER_00: There is only one king.
SPEAKER_00: There is a lion in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: There is no Switzerland in this war, to those to whom the truth has been revealed.
SPEAKER_00: We don't belong to the kingdom by our service, by our church attendance, by who we were born to, like that woman who spoke up, but only by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone through faith.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, our Lord loves the cynic and the skeptic and the sinner.
SPEAKER_00: We only have to look to examples like the Apostle Paul and Peter and Nicodemus and doubting Thomas.
SPEAKER_00: I think in these difficult words of Jesus, he is inviting them again to receive mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to me.
SPEAKER_00: Come into this blessed life by hearing my word and following me as a disciple.
SPEAKER_00: That brings us to our third reflection: the mercy of spiritual warning.
SPEAKER_00: Hope for the cynical, the skeptical, and the sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Brian Hedges is helpful here.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy will attack, temptation will come, but left to yourself, you're like a tumbleweed in a tornado, a handkerchief, a handkerchief and a hurricane.
SPEAKER_00: The lion will roar, the viper will strike, the flaming arrows of temptation will fly, and you will fall apart from grace.
SPEAKER_00: That is why you need God.
SPEAKER_00: Beware of self-confidence.
SPEAKER_00: All of us were once under the bondage of sin, death, the kingdom of the world.
SPEAKER_00: In Ephesians, Paul says, we used to follow the course of the world and the power of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: That's who we once were.
SPEAKER_00: No matter how cleaned up we might have looked at on the outside, swept and put in order on the inside, until Jesus comes and rescues, draws us by his spirit, we have no hope.
SPEAKER_00: Paul continues in Ephesians, he says, but God, being rich in mercy, even when we are dead in our trespasses, even when we are following the Prince of Darkness, He made us alive in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: By grace we have been saved.
SPEAKER_00: His Spirit draws us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the greater King than wise Solomon, wisdom personified in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes a wise word is a hard word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a challenging word meant to wake us up and to bring us to life.
SPEAKER_00: And these warnings from Jesus, we should pay attention to what I'm calling the lessons of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: For those who have hardened hearts who have turned away from the Lord, for those who are indifferent or content to just be on the fringes of faith, looking for one more sign, or to those who are attempting a foolish effort of living apart from God, independent of God, maybe you've come to the end of your foolish attempt and you've noticed that that well's dry.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Come.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed, it's a beatitude, blessed are those who hear the word of God and turn to Him.
SPEAKER_00: He offers grace.
SPEAKER_00: So for the unbeliever who might be with us here today or online, perhaps you hear that call of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Would you turn to Him?
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is a turning away from sin, which is living as if God didn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: Faith is turning towards God for His forgiveness, His grace, and His mercy that He is so eager to give.
SPEAKER_00: And in that process, you find that you're not only forgiven, you're not only cleansed from your sin, you not only can call God Father, but you're also free.
SPEAKER_00: Free from the power of the devil, free from fear of death.
SPEAKER_00: One of our great hymns says, No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck you from his hand.
SPEAKER_00: If you've turned to him, you can count on it.
SPEAKER_00: To the believers this morning, including myself, here this is a call to examine ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We are held firm in his grip, but we are still vulnerable to the temptations and the deceptions of the evil one, who will try his best to diminish the intimacy of our relationship with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot simply sweep the interior or the exterior of our lives with the resources of the world, the resources of the self, some of which can be good and helpful, like I said before, self-care and therapeutic work, just a little bit less social media, right?
SPEAKER_00: Exercise.
SPEAKER_00: But without the work of the Spirit, who points us to Jesus, who keeps us united to Him and empowers us.
SPEAKER_00: Without a regular, hear this, without a regular feasting on the Word of God and asking to be filled up again with the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: So what Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, being continually filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If we're not feasting on the Word and being filled with the Spirit, we are vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure that the schemes of the evil one look like the craziness of the scary movies of our day with heads that are turning around and weird sounds.
SPEAKER_00: That's not often, I don't think, how the evil one does his work.
SPEAKER_00: The way the evil one does his work often looks good in some way, but twisted.
SPEAKER_00: I love Spurgeon.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite quotes, he says, discernment isn't choosing between right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's choosing between right and almost right.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where the devil actually majors in.
SPEAKER_00: It's the half-truths.
SPEAKER_00: The half-truths.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Peter actually gives us really practical help in 1 Peter 5.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Your adversary, he calls out the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: He names him.
SPEAKER_00: Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what you should do: resist him, firm in your faith.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter 5 8.
SPEAKER_00: I'll just take the three ways that he names it.
SPEAKER_00: His identity, he's your adversary.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning he's your enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Two, he has a method.
SPEAKER_00: He prowls around.
SPEAKER_00: He's slow, he's methodical.
SPEAKER_00: And three, he has intentions, he seeks to devour you.
SPEAKER_00: Lions are very patient.
SPEAKER_00: They stalk and they watch from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter tells us to be sober-minded and watchful.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, Jesus tells us, hear my word and walk in it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we become sober-minded and watchful.
SPEAKER_00: Two sides of discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Two kingdoms are opposed in this world.
SPEAKER_00: One is powerful, but one is limited.
SPEAKER_00: The one is advancing and will one day be fully realized when he returns.
SPEAKER_00: So hear these spiritual warnings as mercy, as a call to turn to him.
SPEAKER_00: Matt Smether says, Satan is a lion.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is a lion.
SPEAKER_00: One is on a leash and the other is on the throne.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Just take a moment of solitude just to consider the great mercy of God for us in this morning in this room.
SPEAKER_00: And to give him thanks.
SPEAKER_00: And that it would cut to the quick this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Wake us up, wake me up in areas where I have become slack.
SPEAKER_00: Wake me up in areas where I fear in ways I shouldn't fear.
SPEAKER_00: Lift my eyes towards the hope of the heavenly kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Especially when I've only paid attention to the uncertain world around me or the tossing winds inside me.
SPEAKER_00: Come, Holy Spirit, do your work in us today.
SPEAKER_00: Teach us to live in simple obedience to your word.
SPEAKER_00: Comfort those this morning who are in the throes of sorrow and the throes of suffering or fear.
SPEAKER_00: Give us the grace to set our hope fully on you.
SPEAKER_00: Draw us more and more to you.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we all said.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.