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In our Bibles, please, to Matthew 12, I went through my list yesterday and my outlook on the folks we send our sermon notes to, and I know everybody who receives them every Sunday morning don't read them, but we've got 220 addresses now we send them out, and I went through and tried to figure out how many that I thought were pastors, and best as I can tell there are about 105 pastors, and so, and I know some of them, you know, copy them and distribute them to their pastor friends, so it's really quite a ministry, and I would imagine there's people that are tuning in now to our live streaming that's been going on for what, probably four weeks now, five weeks thereabouts, and we should have cable internet up before long and should improve that quality of that signal, and so there may be people tuning in now in different places of the world, I sent a little note this morning, be aware that, you know, with these notes that are airing will be an hour off if you're in a country that doesn't have daylight savings time, so that may upset some or unsettle some of them, they won't be able to tune in, I don't know, but remember to pray for the Lord's blessing on these different avenues of ministry, it's quite incredible in the day we live, and it's really not through a lot of effort on our part, it just seems to be taken on a life of its own, the Lord is blessing, it's wonderful.
Well Matthew 12 I hope is before you, this is the third occasion on which we've addressed the third of these spiritual foes, our enemies, that being the devil, the devil is our foe, our enemy, spiritual enemy, and so at one time when we were non-Christians he was our master, he's the god of this age, we walked according to the course of this world, he was our master, our prince, but the Lord set us free from the devil's rule and now we're citizens of the kingdom of God, and so now Jesus is our Lord, our master, rather than Satan, and you're either going to have one or the two masters, you can't have, there's no third option.
The devil is the authority over all non-Christian people, and as we've tried to point out so many times, the way the devil controls people is he entices them to do their own will, and so when people serve themselves, they think they're free, they think they're independent, they're actually doing the bidding of the devil, the devil enticed Eve to do her own will, and Adam too, and that's the nature of the beast, and so we're no longer in his dominion, but rather we're in the kingdom of God, thankfully, however the devil still troubles us, nevertheless King Jesus has effectually deposed him in the devil's ability to do us true spiritual harm, and what a fitting psalm, Psalm 91 dovetails with this matter that we read this morning, yes the devil still tempts us, yes he sets snares before us attempting to capture us in sin, but he has no power to overwhelm us or defeat us, he may afflict us for a time, and he probably will, but he's limited by our Lord who protects us from him, and so we can say as Paul once wrote to the church at Rome, the God of peace will bruise Satan under your feet shortly, there's a struggle, trial, difficulty, but the victory is absolutely certain, and so the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you, Paul wrote, amen, he concluded his epistle to the Romans in that fashion, we of course are not to yield to the devil's temptations, but rather we are to resist him in Christ, James wrote to Christians, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you, we're not told to resist temptation, we're to flee temptation, but we are to resist the devil, and he cannot withstand us, he will flee, when we resist him biblically, when we resist him in Christ, not because you have the power, but Christ is protecting you by his power, the devil's got to flee, now in addition to what we've already considered in the past two Sundays, there are a few more matters that we should address, even though we'd certainly like to be able to move on to more delightful subjects than this, not pleasant, but we need to speak somewhat of the devil's minions, that is demons and their relationships to the citizens of the kingdom of God, a lot of error, a lot of ignorance about this matter, and so we'll begin with reading Matthew 12, 22 through 32, and one was brought to him, Jesus, who was demon-possessed, blind and mute, and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw, and all the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the son of David?
Now when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, but Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself has brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand, if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then will his kingdom stand, and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out, and therefore they should be your judges, but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you, or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house, he who is not with me is against me, he who does not gather with me scatters abroad, therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men, anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or the age to come.
You can see there's all kinds of landmines in this passage that we have to touch on for clarity, there's a lot of confusion, misunderstanding. In this account we read of the reaction to our Lord for having brought deliverance to a demon-possessed man, the people in general responded favorably to the event, it was inclining them to believe that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, could this be the Son of David?
It appears that the Pharisees, however, reacted to the favor of the crowds that they showed toward Jesus, so they spoke up against Jesus to the people in an effort to turn them away, and so they falsely accused Jesus of performing his miracles by the power of Satan, so our Lord showed their charge was not only nonsensical, didn't make sense, but that they were placing themselves in danger of everlasting damnation for their false accusations and their blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Now when we attempt to set forth what the Bible teaches about these matters we do so in the face of a great deal of errant and rather bizarre teaching and practice in the evangelical world regarding spiritual warfare.
If there were a subject that one should not attempt to research on the internet it's this one folks, please don't do it, the realm of spiritual warfare, Satan and demonology, stay away from doing so and you'll be better off for having done so or not done so I should say, but it's a subject from which we should have some understanding and so before we deliberate in detail the account we just read we first need to consider demon possession in the Bible, so let's just rehearse this matter.
The Bible describes demon oppression or possession as a problem from which God may bring deliverance repeatedly, actually the mention of the word demons is found mostly in the Gospels, there are only four references to the English word demons in the Old Testament, each of these instances the children of Israel are said to have sacrificed to demons.
Apart from the references to demons in the four Gospels the New Testament contains seven references to the English word demons, none of the references apart from the gospel account speak to the subject of demon possession, they refer to pagan worship as worshiping or sacrifices to demons, false teaching as the doctrine promoted by demons, James stated that demons believe in God and they even tremble, he's actually setting forth the fact that there are people who claim to believe the gospel, believe on Christ but it doesn't affect their life, he says even demons believe and they tremble, there's some people who claim to believe on Jesus they don't even tremble, they don't even go as far as demons is what James is saying, demons certainly know that God is real and true, the book of Revelation speaks of the fallen world system as the abode of demons in which demons have the ability to deceive people through miracles, a world in which people living for the world do worship demons, I suspect that most manifestations of miracles in today's world are the manifestation of demons working, the devil working rather than God, the Bible uses another word to refer to demons, the word spirit or spirits and occasionally the word spirits is prefaced by the adjective unclean, unclean spirits, we do not find the word demons in the book of Acts but we do read in a number of places the expression spirits or unclean spirits, for example we read of the Apostles who cast demons out of people, the people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits and they were all healed, unclean spirits is the same as demons and then Philip being a deacon also preached the Word of God and he exercised demons or cast out demons, now those who are scattered went abroad preaching the word and Philip went down to the city of Samaria proclaimed to them the Christ and the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip and when they heard him and saw the signs that he did for unclean spirits cried out, crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them and many who were paralyzed or laying were healed and so there was much joy in that city, the city of Samaria, that was quite profound and significant on Philip's part.
The Apostles didn't go to Samaria immediately it was a deacon who went originally and it's because he was a Hellenistic Jew who had become a Christian he was kind of Romanized in the Roman culture, Greek culture and so he was not as necessarily opposed to Samaritans as were some of the Palestinian Jews.
God also used Paul among the Gentiles to deliver many from demonic oppression, God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them, those were days of great miracles that the Lord brought through the Apostles.
On one occasion Paul used both terms spirits and demons in one context, one verse, now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some and that's in this entire church age, latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, not that they should be distinguished from one another they're one in the same but just that they're deceptive and their teaching is error.
In contrast to the few instances in which demons and demon exorcism are mentioned in Scripture the exception is in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke and here we read many references. Jesus delivered numerous people who were both oppressed and possessed by demons and I've listed a number of verses let's look at them and just to tell you we're not talking about a little obscure subject here we're talking about something that's quite prevalent in the Gospel records.
Matthew 8 16, that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. Matthew 10 1, he called to him his twelve disciples gave them authority over unclean spirits.
Jesus has absolute authority and demons have to obey him and he gave that authority to his Apostles they had authority amazing. Mark 1 27, they were all amazed so they questioned among themselves saying what is this a new teaching with authority he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.
They couldn't disobey him he has that kind of authority. Mark 3 11, whenever the unclean spirits saw him they fell down before him cried out you are the Son of God he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
He didn't want you know demons making known to the people he was the Messiah. They had all kinds of preconceptions of who the Messiah was a political leader and had they recognized him or acknowledged him as Messiah they would have cast him in that role and he wanted time to be able to show what the true nature of his mission was as the Messiah over time that's one of the reasons he called himself Son of Man.
He didn't go around announcing he was the Messiah and that's why some of the people he healed he says you remain silent about this you go show yourself as a testimony but don't tell them who I am that would have restricted him from his ability to teach and fill out his true person to the people.
Mark 6 7, he called the twelve began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Luke 4, in the synagogue there was a man that had the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out with a loud voice ha what have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth have you come to destroy us.
I know who you are the Holy One of God. He knew who he was he's the Son of God the eternally begotten Son of God he was a promised Messiah and he and he knew that he was going to be eternally punished by the authority of this of the Son of God but Jesus rebuked him saying be silent come out of him and when the demon had thrown him down in their midst he came out of him having done him no harm.
Luke the physician seems to add that detail and they were all amazed and said to one another what is this word for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out and reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Luke 6, he came down with them stood on a level place this is the sermon on the plain with a great crowd of his disciples a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem at the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured and all the crowd sought to touch him for power came out from him and he healed them all.
Luke 7, in that hour he healed many people of disease and plagues and evil spirits and and on many who are blind he bestowed sight. Sometimes the demons are associated with causing blindness or a person being mute and sometimes it's distinguished there's sickness and then there's demon possession sometimes they're they're linked with one another sometimes they're distinguished from one another.
Luke 8, soon afterward he went through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits.
Mary Magdalene had you know had seven demons cast out of her as we read Mary called Magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out she became a faithful disciple and these women were the ones who supported Jesus and the Apostles in their ministry.
Many others they provided for these women provided for them out of their means these women financially supported the Lord in his earthly ministry and then Luke 10, the 72 they were short-term missionaries returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name.
He said I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. That's an interesting clause it's describing the deposing of Satan of authority. We'll talk about that probably next week in some detail. Behold I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy nothing shall hurt you nevertheless don't rejoice in this.
Some people rejoice in this today in today's evangelical world you know they think they rejoice because they think that demons are subject to them and they're delivered. No what you should rejoice in is the fact that you have salvation that your name is written in heaven.
That's the basis of rejoicing is what Jesus said. The point we may make is that which is expressed here in the Reformation Study Bible a footnote the level and intensity of demonic manifestations and people during Christ's ministry was unique having no parallel in Old Testament times or since it was doubtless part of Satan's desperate battle for his kingdom against Christ's attack on it.
I think that's important one of the real problems of people who believe the Bible and they read the Bible is they make normative what is not intended by God to be normative. In other words if they read something that happens in the synoptic Gospels they assume it's got to happen in the same way today they assume that's normative for all times all people in all places.
No no you know this onslaught of demonic activity and whatnot was very pronounced during the ministry of the Lord Jesus as he was establishing the kingdom of God that's important to recognize a lot of people go to seat on this.
The manifestation of demon possession in the Gospels is seen in some cases as physical and psychological disorders. Here in Matthew 12 we have a blind and mute man due to a demon that possessed him. Earlier in Matthew there's an account of a man who was only mute due to a demon, Mark records the account of a demon being exercised by Jesus who had caused a man to be deaf and mute.
We also read of the two men possessed of demons in Gadara who seemed to manifest insanity. Later in Matthew's Gospel we read of a boy who had seizures and was at times suicidal and we read of this in Luke's Gospel of a woman who was physically disabled due to a demon.
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for 18 years she was bent over could not fully straighten herself when Jesus saw her he called her over and said to her woman you're freed from your disability and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and she glorified God.
Demons are immoral creatures who often lead people they possess into acts of immorality this is why they're called unclean. They led some to run about naked, Luke 8 27. They're said to be the cause of violence, sorcery, and sexual immorality.
The book of Revelation describes some the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons. All false religion, all false doctrine is the doctrine of demons.
Demons are able to give people they possess what seems to be superhuman strength. The demoniac of Gadara in whom was 7 ,000 demons. Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man for many a time it had seized him he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert he'd break the chains that people attempted to bind him.
When Jesus delivered people from being possessed or oppressed by demons he demonstrated he was bringing forth the kingdom of God into the world which was defeating and intruding upon the kingdom of Satan.
He was pushing back and invading the devil's territory and snatching people from that fallen kingdom into his. Well with that bit of background let's consider this one account that we read earlier in Matthew 12.
Some people brought this man to Jesus with the hope he would cure him of being blind and mute and it's clear from the count that the physical maladies that this man had were caused by a demon that possessed his soul and a demon oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and he healed him so that the man spoke and saw.
We read of the response of the people which was very favorable verse 23, and all the people were amazed and said can this be the son of David you betcha he was the promised Messiah. The people recognized that God was working through Jesus in a marvelous way which was extraordinary and so they rightly recognized that this was the promised Messiah or perhaps some wondered and said it must be.
The people anticipated the re-establishment of the Davidic kingdom over which they believed God ruled. That was the view of the kingdom of God, a re-institution of Israel as a political power in the world.
Ruled by a descendant of David this is what they're anticipating is this the one is this the son of David? Well the response of the Pharisees in verse 24 in contrast to the people the Pharisee said but it is only by Beelzebul the prince of demons that this man cast out demons and later our Lord would determine that the Jewish leaders sought to crucify him because they were envious and clearly their envy is betrayed here too isn't it?
They saw the people the favorable response to Jesus and so they sought to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people and it was envy. They accused Jesus to have performed this miracle through the power of Beelzebul.
The Jews regarded Beelzebul as the leader of the demons, prince of demons. The name itself is probably to be understood as another name for Satan. The name may mean Lord of Heaven. It has Old Testament roots being related to the word Beelzebub meaning Lord of the flies which was a God worshipped by the people of Ekron worshipping demons.
Well the response of our Lord verses 25 through 30 he responded to his detractors using several arguments to discredit their accusation and first he showed the illogical nature of their charge. It was just contrary to common reason.
It doesn't make sense your accusation. Knowing their thoughts he said to them every kingdom divided against itself has laid waste and no city or house divided against itself will stand and if Satan cast out Satan he's divided against himself how will his kingdom stand?
Probably most of us are familiar with the assertion of Abraham Lincoln back just prior to the Civil War as he was running for president. He said to the people in a campaign speech a house divided against itself cannot stand and he was of course speaking about the Union, the country.
Lincoln argued the Union could not remain united half free and half slave. Of course he was right and the context of the verse though as we look at the verse Lincoln based his assertion on this verse.
The context says nothing about such a thing but we would argue the principle is here on which he based his argument. We read that our Lord knew their thoughts. He knew what they were thinking and why they were thinking what they thought.
He knew they were not sincere seekers after truth. Of course he never turned away anyone who truly wanted to know to understand the truth but he knew these Pharisees were not of that nature and so he dealt with them accordingly.
But further because Jesus knew their thoughts and the way they thought he was able to take all of their reasons for rejecting him and dispel them as void of substance. Nobody ever won an argument against Jesus.
He shows how ridiculous their argument was by simply reasoning if it were as they charged then the devil would be fighting against his own purposes and how ridiculous is that? Satan has more sense than to destroy himself and so it's obvious that this was not what he was doing Jesus was doing.
Then the Lord next showed the illegitimacy of the charge and that it was common to contrary belief. It was contrary to common logic and it was also contrary to common belief of the Jews. Jesus said if I cast out demons by Beelzebul by whom do your sons cast them out therefore they will be your judges.
And so exorcism of demons was practiced by Jews. Their success rate was not a hundred percent as our Lord's. Of course even the Apostle success rate was not a hundred percent it almost was but there was one instance in Luke 9 in which they could not cast out a demon Jesus had to come and do it and he told them this kind isn't going to come out except by prayer.
It was a difficult case. In the book of Acts we read of some Jews they're non-christians but Jews who went about trying to exorcise demons from people and some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirit saying I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.
They didn't know him directly. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this but the evil spirit answered Jesus I know, Paul I recognize but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them mastered all of them overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded against supernatural strength and this became known to all the residents of Ephesus both Jews and Greeks and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
I don't think demon possession is as you know frequently seen or present as many think but it does happen. I've only seen a couple cases I think in my 40 plus years of ministry. I was reading yesterday I don't know where it is in one of John MacArthur's books he said he described a situation he came in and encountered he went into the room where this supposed demon possession possessed person was and then and supposedly the demon spoke out not him I know who he is not him you know there's some strange things going on and I think increasingly more in this world in which we live today.
There are many today who claim to perform exorcisms of demons and there have been a number of news releases recently I went on the Drudge Report and did a search and I found about a dozen titles of articles in the last 12 months there were many for a number of years but here are a few headlines I've seen on the Drudge Report.
Irish priest asked for backup as demand for exorcism rises exponentially be Roman Catholic of course. Dublin priest blast church for lack of training in exorcisms as in November. Vatican report surge in exorcisms worldwide.
Astonishing rise in demand for exorcism putting mental health at risk report fines. They're common news items and Drudge has a way of picking sometimes rather obscure accounts or news items because he knows readers it would perk their interest and response I realize that but there are quite a few of these.
How do we deal with this? Does this legitimize Roman Catholic priesthood in practice? I would say not at all personally this is my opinion. First we would assert that their methods of exercising demons is not biblical even heretical at times they often call on the help of Saints the Virgin Mary they use what they claim holy water relics sometimes you know or commonly they'll use Latin phrases, connotations, that kind of thing in their so-called exorcisms and besides on the day of judgment Jesus said on that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name?
I don't know that they cast out demons but they will think they had on the day of judgment and yet they will be damned they're not Christian and yet on the day of judgment one of their defenses is didn't we cast out demons in your name Jesus how can you condemn us?
I never knew you depart from me you who work lawlessness and then one very recent article I came across a woman in Burka writhes and back and forth as British Imam spits on her in Islamic exorcism here's bizarre stuff and I don't again I don't advocate you go and look look these up a little hesitant about putting them in here but I put this in to show you that you know in the Muslim religion they have exorcisms of demons or so they claim.
Actually I had a video of this of this Imam that was claiming that he had you know exercised I think 3 ,000 demons. It happens in other religions all the time. Hinduism other religions in Africa happens all the time.
And so claims of exercising demons has no proof of divine favor or legitimacy. Not at all. Now let's return to our account the implication of the miracle in verse 28. They could not dismiss what Jesus had done.
The man was healed of his infirmity delivered from the demon and so our Lord could then reason. But if it is by the Spirit of God I cast out demons then the kingdom of God has come on on you. And that is the that is to be underscored.
That's the whole purpose of this event the whole purpose of demons and demon possession and deliverance from demons exorcisms by the Lord and his apostles. The power of God manifested by Jesus Christ was proof the long anticipated and promised kingdom of God had arrived in the Son of David.
The kingdom of Satan was being pushed back and people snatched out of that kingdom and brought into the kingdom of God. And he said if I cast out demons by the finger of God this is proof to you that the kingdom has arrived and is being manifest wherever sin is being conquered and God is being served.
The presence of the kingdom of God is being made evident. The reign of God and people's lives is due the fact they've been taken out of the realm of the kingdom of Satan and placed into the kingdom of God.
You're either in one or the other. And so Paul wrote in Colossians to that church in Colossae he has delivered us from the power of darkness translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins.
By the way here is one of the clearest references to the present existence of the kingdom of God. I emphasize this all the time because it's not emphasized all the time by most. I would advocate that the very nature of the gospel must include the message of the kingdom the good news the gospel of the kingdom has arrived and been inaugurated by our Lord in his earthly ministry come.
Some conservative evangelicals good people who are dispensational have in effect denied this reality. They argue that the kingdom was offered by Jesus but because Jesus rejected Jesus because the Jews rejected Jesus and crucified him God's offer of the kingdom was withdrawn and will not be renewed again until a future tribulation period when the kingdom will once again be offered to the Jews and then they'll accept him and the thousand-year millennium will take place as a result.
And so they say the kingdom was not inaugurated but postponed. In fact some go so far as to say and I had a dear friend he's with the Lord now I know better now. But he advocated to me very strongly. He got on his knees in my living room this is back in Sacramento probably in 1988 got on his knees God bless Dean and begged me to embrace the fact Jesus is prophet and priest now.
But he won't be king until the second coming. And I couldn't go there although I've been taught that myself for years and he left my church because of it. He knew Greek New Testament Greek far better than I did at that point.
And yet because of this theological this doctrine that he had so shaped his thinking he did not see the present reality of the kingdom. He would never preach the gospel the kingdom. No that's the message for Jews during a tribulation period.
But that's not the message you proclaim in this time this age. And I think that's a terrible deficiency in the message proclaimed to the world today. The kingdom of God was established when Jesus came and even though they rejected him crucified him that did not result in a failure of the kingdom to be inaugurated.
It was the very means by which God inaugurated that kingdom. You rejected him nevertheless I vindicate him. I raise him from the dead and have enthroned him. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill Zion.
Regardless of your rejection of him and crucifixion of him he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so our Lord made it clear if he was casting out demons then the kingdom of God was invading and conquering the stronghold of Satan.
And yet we always acknowledge there is a future aspect of the kingdom that will be realized at the second coming. There's always a present and yet a future aspect and we keep that in balance. For example Paul could write of a future aspect of the kingdom.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his kingdom. See it entrance in the in the resurrection after the judgment we go into come inherit the kingdom that the father is prepared from you from everlasting.
He declares in in Matthew 25 for example to his people the Lord next shows the necessity of defeating the devil in Luke 12 29. And following how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods.
Unless he first binds a strong man then indeed he may plunder his house. The Lord is presenting himself in the posture of a man who intends to rob a house. That's the metaphor he's using. Jesus is the robber and the house belongs to Satan.
And he says how is he going to come into Satan's kingdom and plunder his goods. In other words pull people out of Satan's kingdom unless he first deals with the devil. And so the strong man. And the metaphor represents Satan who protects his house that for Satan's house would be his kingdom and his control over the subjects of his kingdom.
He's powerful. He doesn't yield an inch any ground must be taken from him. The devil has possession of his subjects will not let them go nor can they escape his control of them. If they're to be taken from Satan's house someone would have to break into his house disarm the devil subdue him and bind him tie him fast.
And then the robber can have free access to take whatever he wants out of that house. And the Lord Jesus is saying that it was necessary for him to defeat and depose the devil of his authority and particularly in this case this demon-possessed man so that he could be delivered from his controller and tormentor that being the devil.
And next week we're going to talk about this. We need to spend one more Sunday and talk about the nature of the devil and the way deals with nations in the course of this world and the millennium. I am all millennial in my understanding of end times which simply means that the kingdom of God is present and that God has bound Satan.
Not that Satan doesn't exist but Christ bound Satan. And that Satan is no longer able to prevent the Gentiles the world from hearing and responding to the gospel. He's bound so that the nations can no longer be deceived.
And that's why the gospel broke out of Judaism went into the whole Gentile world. Because that because the Lord dealt with the devil and deposed him of authority he still ravages the world and whatnot.
But only to the great degree King Jesus allows him to do so. He's subject to Jesus. Angels and principalities were made subject to King Jesus and so he shows that the devil's power authority needed to be defeated and taken from him.
The Lord expressed the same deposing of the devil from his power and authority when his disciples returned to him. We read it earlier 70 returned with joy saying Lord even demons are subject to us through your name he said.
I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven. That is it. That is a picture. Satan lost his authority. He can no longer keep people under his dominion when God purposes to set them free through Jesus Christ.
You and I as Christians today the only reason we're Christians today is because King Jesus issued the decree for us to be released telling the devil he could no longer hold us and keep us ignorant. He commanded light to shine in darkness revealing to us the glorious gospel.
It was all a work of the sovereign power came kingship of the Lord Jesus. And the devil was helpless to prevent it just as the demons were helpless but they could only obey him. And so it is with us. The Lord Jesus concluded this episode by basically saying choose your side.
And there's no neutrality. Whoever's not with me is against me. Whoever does not gather with me scattered. There's no middle road to travel no fence to ride. You're either for Jesus or against him. Your life is either promoting the kingdom of God or opposing it.
You're doing one of the two. If you're seeking by grace to believe and live according to the will Jesus you're participating in the gathering that Jesus is talking about which is an image of harvesting.
But if you're not actively for Jesus believing on him seeking to live for him by grace he regards you as one who is scattering his harvest not gathering. You're opposed to his kingdom not promoting it.
And you're not going to win that battle. The devil can't. And if the devil can't you certainly can't it will not come out good for you. Well we have to take a couple minutes and address this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Don't we a lot of problems with this in people's minds. The Lord declared and he's in the context of the Pharisees are accusing him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul. Therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people.
But the blasphemy against the Spirit will shall not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. It was understandable that there was ignorance regarding Jesus and the nature of his ministry.
But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or the age to come. In other words in eternity. And so Jesus declared all sins pardonable. And there's a glorious gospel promise here in these verses comforting thought.
Matthew Henry expounded this. Here's a gracious assurance of the pardon of all sin upon gospel terms. This Christ says to us. And it's a comfortable saying that the greatness of sin should be no bar to our acceptance with God.
If we truly repent and believe the gospel all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. There's no sin that can prevent you from being saved if you come humbly to the Lord Jesus. Though your sin has been as scarlet and crimson though ever so highnesses nature ever so much aggravated by circumstances ever so much repeated though reach up to the heavens.
Yet with the Lord there is mercy that reaches beyond the heavens. Mercy will be extended even to blasphemy a sin immediately touching God's name and honor. Paul obtained mercy though he had been a blasphemer.
And well may we say who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity. Micah 7 18. Even words spoken against a son of man shall be forgiven as theirs were reviled as theirs were who he reviled him at his death.
Many of whom repented and found mercy. Christ herein has set an example to all the sons of men to be ready to forgive words spoken against them. I as a deaf man heard not observed they shall be forgiven unto men not to devils.
This is love to the whole world of mankind. And that is a universal message any human being who acknowledges sin. There's no sin that can prevent a person from coming to salvation. And yet the Lord gave one exception.
And here is the one sin God will not forgive. And this is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And this is a troubling idea an unpardonable sin blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And a lot of tender-hearted sensitive Christians fear because they are afraid that they've committed this sin.
I bet you I've been addressed dozens of times over the years from troubled people about this matter. The weak soul with little faith will tend to trouble himself. But we may at the outset assert that only an unregenerate person someone who's not born again may commit this sin.
All other sins murder dishonesty blasphemy against God the Father and Son. A lifetime of sin can be pardoned in a moment before death as the dying thief bears encouraging witness to us. But not this said the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Why not. Well essentially they refuse to heed the promptings urgings convictions which the Holy Spirit has brought to them. And the Holy Spirit alone brings salvation. If you reject and disregard him then you disregard the way of salvation.
Some have therefore described the blasphemy against the Spirit as a result of a gradual progress of sin an accumulation of sin denying the Holy Spirit grieving the Holy Spirit. I don't think that's the case.
However let me give you an example of one. I had a good friend at the time. He was my best friend. He was also my employer. He was only three years older than I but he owned a steam laundry and I began working when I was 16 driving the truck operating the machinery.
His name was Pat. He and I used to go out and ride dirt bikes all too much of the time too much. He was married to a Christian woman and they went. He was about three four years. She was same age as I was.
He dated her throughout her two years and Pat would attend church weekly with her but he was no Christian and later I would witness to him regularly and one night as I was sitting across the table in his kitchen pressing upon him the gospel as I understood it Pat said to me I do not doubt anything you're saying.
What you were saying may indeed be true. I just can't bring myself to worry about it had absolutely no concern whatsoever about his soul or whether or not it was true or not it just it just had no weight upon him and so he I think had so long resisted the Spirit that he had probably blasphemed the Holy Spirit and the Lord abandoned him in his unbelief and sin and that was 40 years ago and he's still today I understand not a Christian.
Others argue the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit must be seen in a more limited way it can only be committed during Jesus's earthly ministry. They would argue they knew what he was doing was by the power of God and yet they tried to discredit him in the eyes of others saying that he was doing it by the power of Satan.
I think that's too restrictive of a view to isolate it just to the ministry of the Lord Jesus but it is a sin that can only be committed by a non-Christian and I think the result of that is a hardened heart with no concern for sin no concern for salvation no love or concern for the Lord Jesus and if somebody is characterized by those things they are just errant in thinking that they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
Well pastor you don't know what kind of thoughts I had and words going through my mind about the Holy Spirit I'm afraid I did blaspheme the Holy Spirit we didn't go into it but the devil himself is able to put thoughts into people's minds that are foreign to us we don't welcome them we reject them but terrible things blasphemous things vile things foul language can be put into our minds by the devil even though we're Christians.
The devil did it in Peter's mind you know get behind me Satan you savor not the things of God the man and oftentimes though as Bunyan so wonderfully portrayed in his progress those voice those demons can come behind us and whisper in our ears and so confuse us we cannot tell if they're coming from our mind or elsewhere.
Bunyan so beautifully portrays that in the Christian going through the valley of the shadow of death I believe it was. We have to close with this I realize the time is short but I have to make some words of application I'm going to go through this quickly.
First some have twisted the doctrine about demons to an unhealthy emphasis on demonic activity and exorcism in their churches. They focus their ministry on identifying demons and the physical and spiritual problems they cause and so their ministry is centered on delivering people from demons that they say are the root of every sin and sickness.
There's a sin or there's a demon that causes the flu. There's a demon that causes you know blindness. There's a demon that causes you know gross immorality and so in order to be healed or obtain God's blessing they say Christians need to be delivered from each one of these demons.
Take them one at a time and fight against them and take it back and this is a very deficient and defective form of ministry. It doesn't reflect the ministry of the gospel. It tends to diminish human responsibility rather than calling the person to confess and humble himself for his sin it causes a person to think it's something else outside of me that's sinning not me and so the Bible doesn't present dealing with sin in that way at all.
And second although we may be wary of the devil we're not to be fearful of the devil or his forces. We're to be wise respecting his wiles his trickery but we should always remember and affirm that our Lord dwells within us as Christians who far greater than the devil who dwells in the world and so John asserts that you are of God little children you have overcome them because he who is greater he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
The Christian need not fear the devil although he ought to be alert and wary of him he can be deceived by him. Third it's important to understand that demon possession is not a matter that is commonly experienced in modern industrialized generally Western societies and I personally believe that this is because the kingdom of God has been historically quite prominent in Western societies for many centuries.
Even non-Christians will be protected and preserved in a measure from the more radical and frequent cases of demon possession because they live in a society in which righteousness is manifest or the norm.
However as our society become increasingly anti-christian and unrighteousness is permitted and celebrated the instances of demon possession will occur more frequently and I think we're seeing that in our world.
And again I'm mindful that you know what we're saying right now is going to people that are in Africa perhaps India and they see this stuff all the time. Fourth the manifestation of demon possession and deliverance from this state was more frequent in the days of the Lord's earthly ministry and there and the Apostles than at any other time in history even in biblical history.
And so again don't make a particular instance or episode or series of episodes in the Bible. Yes the Bible contains normative lessons and whatnot but you have to be careful about what applies to all people at all times in all places.
Six it's not possible for a Christian to become demon possessed. No we're possessed Christians are possessed by the Holy Spirit they're not possessed by unclean spirits we're possessed by the Holy Spirit.
It's not possible for a Christian to be demon possessed. However they can be susceptible to assaults by demons oppressed by demons and this could be you know some very serious matters very troubling for true Christians.
But they cannot be destroyed by the devil they cannot be separated from God the love of God that's in Christ although they can be tormented and troubled a great deal. And then seventh and lastly our Lord spoke of the necessity to bind the strong man before his house could be spoiled and I think this sets the stage for dealing with the whole matter of the millennium and I feel we have to address that next week.
And the whole idea of principalities and powers and nations and what's going on in the world and next week we're Lord willing we'll address that and finish up on this this whole matter and I welcome our ability and the time we can go beyond this because I don't like dealing with this stuff at all.
Too much exposure to a lot of stuff and a lot of Christians get themselves into trouble when they when they make and you know make a study of Jesus Christ don't make a study of the devil study Jesus Christ and and you'll know enough to deal with the devil if that ever arises but make Christ the object of your study you'll find rest in him won't you as he says learn of me and you will find rest in your soul you're not going to find rest making a study of the devil let's pray.
Father we pray that you would help us to understand these matters help us Lord not to be fearful but help us Lord to be attentive help us our Lord to be able to recognize the wiles of the devil the snares that many times are not very perceptible that we not Lord fall or stumble that we not be sifted by the devil but preserved by Christ Lord onto the full saving of our soul thank you our God that you've translated us into the kingdom of your dear son Jesus is our master and our Lord and we rejoice in that who we pray in his name amen.
