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Choosing Sides between Good & Evil (Luke 11:14-26)
14 Plays25 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 02 February 2026
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Would you open
Introduction and Context
00:00:07
Speaker
God's word to Luke 11, verses 14 to 26? Luke 11, verses 14 to 26. I had this message all ready for last Sunday. And so that's why it was so hard not to be able to give it.
00:00:20
Speaker
But anyway, I told Josh, I said, you're you're supposed to preach the first Sunday of each month. And he said, no, you go ahead and preach that message that you didn't get to preach. So anyway, i appreciated him being gracious and he will preach, Lord willing, next Sunday.
00:00:36
Speaker
But what we're about to read is actually found also in Matthew and Mark. We're going through
Miracles in the Gospels
00:00:41
Speaker
Luke. We're just, whatever is in the swath, that's what we deal with. So we're not dodging anything. We just deal with all of it.
00:00:48
Speaker
But Luke 11, 14 to 26 found in Matthew verses It's also found in Mark chapter verses to I wonder when your boss says something three times, when your parents used to say something three times, did you take it seriously? Well, if God's saying the same thing, we need to say, okay, there's something here he wants me to learn.
00:01:14
Speaker
You know, some scholars say this is the same miracle in all three gospels, but then others say, no, wait a minute. It can't be because in Matthew and mark Jesus was in Galilee, but here in Luke, he's on his way to Jerusalem. He's in Judea.
00:01:31
Speaker
As a
Origin of Evil
00:01:32
Speaker
matter of fact, if you were to read Matthew, the man that's about to be healed in this text in Luke, it says that he's mute, so he can't speak. But in Matthew, it's not only he's mute, but he's also blind.
00:01:45
Speaker
So some say these are actually two separate incidents in which the Lord taught the same lesson, only he repeated it again. you know it's good for us sometimes to hear something more than once.
00:01:58
Speaker
But the Bible reveals to us that God is good. God is so good. But you know what? The enemy, Satan, the devil, he's not good. And that's why we live in the midst.
00:02:10
Speaker
of a spiritual war. If you ever wanted to know where did the devil come from and how did this all happen and why is there evil in addition to good in our world? Isaiah 14 verses 12 through 17 and Ezekiel 28 verses 11 through 19 tell us the origin of evil and why, how did Satan get to be the way he is?
00:02:35
Speaker
Like how did that happen? He at one time was a good cherub. He was a good like angel. He tried to revolt and overthrow God. And that's why he was cast out of heaven. That's what those two Old Testament passages refer to.
00:02:51
Speaker
And that's why in Genesis 3 verses 1 through 19. It informs us that humanity was tempted when there was just Adam and Eve. The devil came and tempted Adam and Eve. And unfortunately, they believed Satan's lies rather than trust God's truth and command.
Choosing Sides: Good vs. Evil
00:03:09
Speaker
But it's like God gave them a choice, good and evil. Which one will you choose? I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I played a lot of backyard football. I played a lot of driveway basketball.
00:03:22
Speaker
But one thing we always did, we'd pick teams. Usually we'd get a captain for each team and the captain would pick the people he wanted to be on his team. But that's where we started.
00:03:33
Speaker
Well, it's just like that with the passage that I'm about to read in Luke 11 verses 14 through 26. It's a call for every one of us, everybody around the world, not just us, everyone around the world.
Jesus Heals a Mute Man
00:03:47
Speaker
God is saying, do you want to be on the good side or would you prefer to be on the evil side? Because there's only two sides. So in our text, we're told that there was a man without the ability to speak.
00:04:00
Speaker
He was unable to talk until Jesus cast out a demon. Once the man began to speak, a firestorm came down because people started trying to distract and disrupt and mislead and so forth. And so a firestorm began of false accusations against the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:04:21
Speaker
So I want you to find that passage in the Word of God and turn with
Accusations and Authority
00:04:26
Speaker
me. I'm going to read it and then we'll get started. Would you stand in honor of God's Word? Here's what it says in Luke 11, verse 14. I'm going to read down through verse 26.
00:04:37
Speaker
Now he, this is Jesus, was casting out a demon that was mute. And when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled.
00:04:51
Speaker
But some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, while others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
00:05:04
Speaker
But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself, is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
00:05:17
Speaker
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?
00:05:33
Speaker
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.
00:05:46
Speaker
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.
00:06:05
Speaker
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,
00:06:22
Speaker
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.
00:06:42
Speaker
Don't worry, I spent two weeks now studying this. I'm going to help you understand. Let's pray.
Satan's Tactics vs. Jesus's Authority
00:06:47
Speaker
Lord, we need understanding. We need understanding because every day we live, we're in the midst of a spiritual battle. There's a war going on around us.
00:06:56
Speaker
We just always don't label it right. You already said in your word, we don't really wrestle against flesh and blood. It's those principalities and powers, those spiritual things in the spiritual realm are making a difference in life.
00:07:11
Speaker
And so help us to see that and to listen to you, to sit at your feet and to let you speak to us today as the master. I just want to get out of the way and I want to let you just teach your people.
00:07:22
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In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank You you may be seated.
00:07:28
Speaker
Jesus exposed what Barnhouse called the invisible war. You know, Ephesians 6, 11 says that one of the reasons the word of God was written was to be to give us the ability to stand against the schemes of the devil.
00:07:46
Speaker
If he can't get you one way, he's going to try another way. That's why that word schemes is a Greek word, methodeia. It meant It's a compound word of meta, which is with, but hodos, which is road or way.
00:08:01
Speaker
So what he does is he'll use this way to get in your life, to get you to stop following Christ or to doubt him. If he can't get you that way, he'll come in another way. So he has schemes.
00:08:12
Speaker
So what we see here, the Lord's gonna sort of lift the veil and we're gonna see some of the schemes that the devil uses. I want you to know where we're going. So let me give you the five points right off the bat. And that way you relax and you can just listen.
00:08:27
Speaker
The first point is gonna be about the conflict. See, there was a man and he couldn't speak. And the reason he couldn't speak was because there was a demon that was shutting him down.
00:08:38
Speaker
So Jesus wades into the darkness. There's conflict in the darkness in verse 14. But then verses 15 and 16, like I said, everybody didn't get excited.
00:08:50
Speaker
Some marveled it said, but others, they didn't marvel. They began to say, this guy can really be a threat. We better shut this whole movement of Jesus down. So there was confusion that was beneath the division.
00:09:04
Speaker
So really what they were trying to do was divide the people, get them away from Jesus. And so they just wanted to cause a little confusion in order for that to take place. We'll delve more into that in verses 15 and 16.
00:09:17
Speaker
But then 17 to the end of our passage, you're going to listen to the clarity, the clarity that Jesus brings on the deliverance.
00:09:28
Speaker
He did help that man. He did set that guy free. That guy did begin to speak, right? So
The Choice Between Good and Evil
00:09:34
Speaker
Jesus says, you're totally misunderstanding this. You're misrepresenting me and who I am.
00:09:41
Speaker
So we're going to look at the clarity about the deliverance. But then in verses 20, 21 and 22, we'll see the certainty of Jesus' authority, the certainty of his domain.
00:09:52
Speaker
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is the rightful king. He's the one, and that's why he can tell the devil and the demons and all these things to just beat it. Because when he says go, they go.
00:10:05
Speaker
But then we're going to be called to a decision. Verses 23, 24, 25, 26, all in there. We're going to end with, we have to make a decision. If he's king, if he has all the power and all the authority, then why are we being tricked to be on the other side?
00:10:21
Speaker
Because it's a losing conflict there. Well, let's go to the conflict in verse 14. That's where I want to begin is the conflict in the darkness. Now, on the surface, you may assume like I would probably assume if I met somebody who couldn't speak, I wouldn't think that it was caused by a demonic reason. I would think it was something physical, wouldn't you?
00:10:44
Speaker
I would think, well, it must be some kind of illness of the larynx. Or it must be something neurological. Maybe the brain is not working correctly to tell him to speak. Or maybe there was an injury earlier in his life.
00:10:58
Speaker
But you know what? We're not given that luxury with this text, right? If you're going to let the Bible be the authority, you have to go by what it says. And what it says is he was casting out a demon that was mute.
00:11:12
Speaker
When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled. And so I thought, wow, you know, not all physical muteness, not all physical illness is ah related to spiritual attacks.
00:11:27
Speaker
But some are. Some are. This one was Ephesians 6, 12, like I quoted earlier, says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. I realize we do sometimes wrestle against flesh and blood. But I think the point is we don't only wrestle against flesh and blood.
00:11:46
Speaker
There's spiritual realities out there that are making a difference. Did you know that by this point in Luke, if you've been keeping tabs on this kind of thing, this is actually the fifth demon that Jesus has cast out.
00:11:59
Speaker
If you're a note taker, you may want to write these down. But if Luke 4 verses 33 to 35, Jesus cast a demon out of a man in synagogue. In Simon's house, Luke 4, 38 to 41, he was out on the porch and the town was coming to him. lot of people just needed healing a physical illness, but some, some it says he would cast the demon out.
00:12:24
Speaker
You remember the wild man in the cemetery of the Gerasene Cemetery? Luke 8, 27 to 37. He had to free that man from demonic intervention.
00:12:35
Speaker
And then there's the valley. When he was up on the mountaintop, transfigured, man, it was a glorious event for Peter, James, and John with Jesus up on the mountaintop. When they came down, there was a demon in the valley.
00:12:48
Speaker
Maybe that's how you feel. After every Sunday, you feel like, man, it was so glorious. And then you go to work, you go out in real life and you go and there's conflict
Dominion and Authority of Jesus
00:12:57
Speaker
everywhere. And you're saying, wow, you know, it's it's not real.
00:13:00
Speaker
it is real. What we talk about in here, it is real. It's real out there and it's real in here. And so what's happening is we've got to say, Lord, please, I need you to help in this conflict that we're facing.
00:13:14
Speaker
So here we are now on the roadside. Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. It's about to wind up for him. And so Luke 11 verse 14 says he has this clash, this conflict.
00:13:27
Speaker
He sees a man who can't talk. Don't you know how gifted we are? That we can talk, we can communicate. It's such a blessing from God that you can see.
00:13:38
Speaker
It's such a blessing from God that we can see. These are all things that didn't just happen by chance. Our creator wanted us to see. He wanted us to be able to talk.
00:13:49
Speaker
But there was something keeping this guy from being able to talk. He couldn't praise the Lord. He wanted to. Maybe he did silently, but he couldn't verbally. And so Jesus saw him over there and he said, you know what?
00:14:03
Speaker
Your problem is a spiritual attack from the enemy. So he casts out the evil spirit and two things happen. One thing was a miracle. This guy that couldn't speak before Jesus came walking up to him, he went away talking.
00:14:18
Speaker
And I bet he had a lot to talk about. Maybe he didn't think others, you know, others thought, you know, ah well, he can't say anything. So we can say anything we want about him. I bet he said, I've been listening all along. I'm going to use my words now. And I'm going to tell everybody what y'all been saying.
00:14:33
Speaker
But the mute man spoke. Isn't that glorious? But then not only did he speak, the people marveled. Yeah, there was not only a miracle, they marveled. You ever marvel when the Lord does something good in your life?
00:14:47
Speaker
You know what? This is the fourth time that Luke records the marveling over something that Jesus said, like in Luke 4.22. In Luke 4.22, they marveled over his words. You ever just marvel over what Jesus says?
00:15:06
Speaker
But then it moves then to marveling over his work in Luke 8, 25, Luke 9, 43, right here in Luke 11, 14, three times people are saying, man, I've never seen anything like that.
00:15:21
Speaker
That word marvel is sort of the idea of amazed. Are you ever amazed at the Lord? you ever just say, I'm astonished at what God has done?
00:15:33
Speaker
Well, let's move from the conflict in the darkness to the confusion beneath the division in verses 15 16. You know, 1 Corinthians 14.33 tells us as believers why there's a lot of confusion in our world.
00:15:50
Speaker
It's not God. For God is not the author of confusion. That's what you need to read in 1 Corinthians 14.33.
00:15:59
Speaker
But you know what should have happened here? What should have happened here is there ought to have been some record record here of guys just saying, Lord, I thank you. My buddy's never been able to say one word to me.
00:16:11
Speaker
And now he can talk. Maybe the guys that he would work with, maybe they would say, man, I'm just going to worship God that he opened up your mouth. But that's not what we have here.
00:16:22
Speaker
What we have here in verses 15 and 16 is not thanksgiving and not worship. But what we have here is deception. Deception. You know, it's like deception and misdirection for the purpose of division. Have you ever seen that take place?
00:16:39
Speaker
There's two groups of
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:16:40
Speaker
protesters. And what they're doing is they're instilling confusion into the crowd by two different methods. See, some were in instilling confusion by slander.
00:16:52
Speaker
It says that they were telling this group that was standing around, well, he casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Is that right?
00:17:04
Speaker
That's not right. That's not right. Everything that people say is not right. And so you have to say, what is the truth here? What is really happening here? And so the first group was saying we can cause confusion by simply saying something, accusing him, vilifying him.
00:17:23
Speaker
Do you know that unbelief always tries to undermine? You had to be careful. There was an old saying among attorneys. I don't know if ah Leonard is going to get me on this one, but there's a ah group of attorneys that used to say, when the facts are on your side, argue the facts.
00:17:41
Speaker
When the law is on your side, argue the law. But when neither the facts nor the law on your side is on your side, then all you got left is attack the witness, attack the witness, attack the witness. Isn't that true? I mean, so you see the slander that's a part of this group that's gathered there, but you also see not only confusion caused by slander, you see confusion caused by this thirst for sensationalism.
00:18:09
Speaker
It's like, we just want to see another miracle. Really? i mean, a guy just got to talk. He's never been able to speak. And that's not enough for you.
00:18:19
Speaker
you know, like sometimes I wonder, you know, like he saved our souls. Is it not enough for us? he gave his He gave us his Holy Spirit. He wiped away our sins. He's given us a home and glory and eternity in heaven.
00:18:35
Speaker
what What else do we want from him? But for some people, it's just like it's not enough. It's not enough. It's never enough. And so that's what it says. they're They're testing him. They kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.
00:18:49
Speaker
Maybe that's what they were looking for. If you're really real, why don't you call something down from heaven? Let us see a real miracle around here. You know what they were trying to do? They were trying to minimize his accomplishments and by maximizing their own dissatisfaction.
00:19:06
Speaker
And so they were saying, you know what? We need to see more evidence in order to believe. Do you remember what the devil said when he was tempting Jesus? If you are the son of God, if you are the son God. He always was saying, it's not enough.
00:19:23
Speaker
It's never enough. So here we have three types, three types of responses to the miraculous work of Christ. Which one best describes sort of like where you are spiritually?
00:19:36
Speaker
Are you with those who would say, you know what, I'm in the group that's amazed. I am just saying I stand amazed in the presence of the Lord. there was another group, though, that said, you know what? We just want to accuse him.
00:19:50
Speaker
We're just going to say it's all Beelzebul. You're casting out demons by the prince of the demons. There was another group that simply so apathetic toward him. It's like, nah, show us more. Show us more. Do it again. Do it again.
00:20:06
Speaker
Well, before we step into the light of verses 17 and 18 and 19, I just want to make sure that you're keeping track of Satan's approaches.
00:20:16
Speaker
So I wanted to make sure you didn't overlook them. So I wrote some down. This is just an aside. We're about to get to the clarity about the deliverance. But let me first say this.
00:20:28
Speaker
Verse 14 tells me what I see the Lord, the Satan doing sometimes to the Lord's people. He wants to silence God's people. He's trying to shut us down so we never say one word about the Bible.
00:20:40
Speaker
We never say one word about the truth, about Jesus, about the gospel. So if he can get us silent. He's winning. Satan's winning. But that's not all he does. He also slanders.
00:20:52
Speaker
You know what? He's going to slander Jesus to you. And he's going to tell you he's not real. He can't change your life. You're too bad for him. You know, verse 15 is so full of slander.
00:21:05
Speaker
But also verses 17 and 18 and verse 23. We haven't looked at 17 and 18. We're just about to. But I want to tell you another thing the devil does. He likes to separate.
00:21:16
Speaker
He likes to scatter. He wants to separate marriages. He wants to scatter different people all over, make people where nobody wants to agree about anything. He just wants to divide because if he can divide us, he can conquer us.
00:21:30
Speaker
But when we get united around Jesus Christ, I'm telling you, powerful things can happen. But then verses 21 and 22 remind us of that slavery.
00:21:42
Speaker
He wants to subjugate you. You see, Jesus wants to set you free. When you are loyal to Christ and you obey him and you surrender to him, guess what comes in your life?
00:21:54
Speaker
A straitjacket? No way. Freedom, real freedom. But guess what happens when you go over on Satan's side? You become driven by obsessive things. Suddenly now you're a slave to habits and different things. And that's exactly where the enemy wants you to be.
00:22:13
Speaker
So why don't we let Jesus come to the mic now in verses 17, 18, and 19, and let's listen as he clarifies about the deliverance.
00:22:23
Speaker
What just took place? They said it was the prince of demons. They said, well, it's not enough. We need to see more. What does he say?
00:22:34
Speaker
Well, he's going to give us clarity based on one thing, omniscience. Look at verse 17 carefully. Now this ought to really comfort you, but if there's something you got to hide, this ought to scare you to death.
00:22:50
Speaker
but he knowing their thoughts. Yeah, man. You know why you can trust the Lord? Because he knows the whole story.
00:23:02
Speaker
He knows what people are thinking. He knows what the motives are. And so I thought, you know what? He can bring clarity because of his omniscience, but he can bring clarity because of a second thing.
00:23:13
Speaker
He can bring clarity because of his intelligence, because of his intelligence. Don't you think that the creator who thought of your lungs, the creator who thought of sun, moon, sun comes up, moon, moon goes down. Then the moon comes up, sun goes down. Like, don't you think he knows what he's doing?
00:23:35
Speaker
You know what? Our creator, i' I've been studying this for a long time. I'm convinced he's brilliant. He's brilliant beyond anybody else that's on the face of this earth.
00:23:46
Speaker
If we only knew the intelligence of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would say, I'm going to trust whatever he says. Well, listen to what he said to them.
00:23:56
Speaker
Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. Did you catch that? Every kingdom, every kingdom laid again, ah divided against itself is laid waste and a divided household falls.
00:24:11
Speaker
And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand for you? Say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. See what's happening? He's just talking. He's talking rational, logical. Don't think that Christianity is just sort of like a fable. It's just so mysterious. Nobody figures it out.
00:24:31
Speaker
No, it's very logical. He's just kind of talking to the people, very calm. And he's just saying, you know what? This is the way it is. And I just thought, he's so brilliant. He's so intelligent. Of course, why would Satan give you power to cast out Satan? It doesn't make sense, right?
00:24:49
Speaker
Well, that's what he was telling them. But I think also you can say he's going to bring clarity to anything because of his coherence. Because of his coherence, his omniscience, his intelligence, but also his coherence.
00:25:04
Speaker
You know, those detractors were overlooking something when they started accusing him of casting out demons by the prince of Beelzebul. Some of them, some of the Jewish exorcists, they were out there trying sometimes. Sometimes they probably did it, but they would try to cast out demons.
00:25:23
Speaker
And so he was saying, okay well, who do you guys do it by? So suddenly it's like, uh-oh, we left ourselves wide open on that. A biblical example of Jewish exorcists is a group of guys called the seven sons of Sceva.
00:25:39
Speaker
<unk> almost It's almost humorous when you read Acts 19, 11 through 17. There was a group of these Jewish guys, they weren't Christians, but they were so impressed with the apostle Paul and what God was doing through him.
00:25:53
Speaker
They said, well, we're gonna cast out a demon. So they started trying to cast out a demon in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches over there. And so the demon said, I know Paul and I know Jesus, but I don't know who you are. And the demon whipped them. They went out of there without any clothes on and just wounded and so forth. It's like, what in the world?
00:26:13
Speaker
So you see, we need to say, okay, whatever God has said, I'm just going to trust it I'm going to trust Him about Well, one thing you need to trust the Lord on is the certainty, the certainty of Christ's dominion, the certainty of Christ's dominion. You know, even in the Old Testament, it was pointing to Jesus, pointing to Jesus over and over again.
00:26:37
Speaker
For example, in Daniel chapter seven, verses 13 through 14, it talks about a coming king and it uses the word dominion three times.
00:26:48
Speaker
It says, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom. A little later, it says his dominion is an everlasting dominion.
00:26:59
Speaker
Three times talking about Jesus, he uses the word dominion. And what it means is he's got the authority. He's got the power to do whatever he wants to do.
00:27:09
Speaker
So what I wanted you not to miss in this passage is don't miss the certainty of his dominion. So let's explore it together in this text and look at it a little closer.
00:27:20
Speaker
Did you notice the certainty of the authority of his kingdom? He says, if by the finger of God... Does that, have you ever read in the Old Testament in the days of Moses, how there were, you know, the the plagues, the, I know we got 10 commandments, but we also 10 plagues over in Exodus.
00:27:40
Speaker
You know, after the third plague, the Pharaoh of Egypt was just, he was so baffled by the whole thing. So he says to all of his magicians, look, you guys, whenever he turned the water into blood, you did that.
00:27:53
Speaker
Whenever he brought the frogs up out of the river, you did that. But when he did the gnats, How come you guys haven't brought gnats? And they said, you know what? We can't do that.
00:28:04
Speaker
They said, as a matter of fact, he's left us behind, this God of Moses. Now, these gnats, I'll tell you what it is. They say, it's nothing but the finger of God.
00:28:14
Speaker
And so it's like, god if God wanted to, you know what he could do to the whole planet? He could just thump us. And it's gone. I mean, when I was in the cafeteria, almost got fights sometimes. Guys go behind you, thump you on the head. That used to be a thing back in the day. I know maybe nobody does anymore. But I mean, if he thumped us, we're gone. All it takes is his finger.
00:28:37
Speaker
In his little finger, there's more power than we could ever imagine. But don't miss the authority of his kingdom by the finger of God, he says. But don't miss the arrival.
00:28:48
Speaker
When is he gonna be king? When is his kingdom coming? Oh, it's here already. But it's not to the degree that we're all gonna see it like it will one day. When he comes back, when he's coming back to say, who stepped on the other side of the line?
00:29:03
Speaker
Who joined my team? You come over here to me and the rest of you, buddy, it's gonna be rough. But the certainty of the arrival of his kingdom, because in verse 20, he goes on to say, then the kingdom of God,
00:29:16
Speaker
has come upon you. That's what they weren't willing to recognize at this point. You know, that's why a lot of people don't receive Christ. It's not about evidence. It's all about control.
00:29:27
Speaker
Am I willing to say, okay, I'm going to release my life. must surrender to Jesus as Lord. That's the only way he's going to do it. When we say, Lord, I'm surrendering my life to you, but also don't miss the other certainty. There's a third feature of certainty. Yes, the certainty of authority of his kingdom. Yes, the certainty of the arrival of his kingdom.
00:29:50
Speaker
But thirdly, the certainty of the ability of his kingdom. Verses 21 and 22. It's almost like in these verses, there's like this mini parable or something in there. It's like he makes this comparison.
00:30:03
Speaker
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when one's stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
00:30:18
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What is he talking about? If you don't pay careful attention to the context, you wouldn't know what he was talking about. But when you slow it down, it begins to be evident, doesn't it?
00:30:29
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Let me go back through it again. He says, when a strong man, that's Satan. When Satan, he's got all this armor, he's got all this power.
00:30:40
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When he guards his own palace, what he says is his power. Well, his goods are saved. What are his goods? It's men like this guy that was in here. He couldn't talk.
00:30:52
Speaker
Satan had shut him down. The demon had shut him down. And you know what? The next part says, but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. So you know who the one that's stronger is?
00:31:11
Speaker
Jesus. That's Jesus. So it's like he comes into our lives and habits we could never break on our own. It's like he comes in and says, you know what? Time for that to go.
00:31:22
Speaker
Time for this to go. And he just comes in and starts winning. Well, I want to close with the last thing that's the most important thing. The call, the call for a decision.
00:31:34
Speaker
The final four verses are a sobering warning that we have to decide which one you want to be on. You want to be on the good side or you want to be on the evil side. There is no middle ground.
00:31:46
Speaker
So here's what he says in verse 23, the decision to gather with Jesus. So either we're going to scatter people away from Jesus with Satan. Satan's going to try to get people to leave Jesus. That's what this whole thing was about, getting them to walk away from Jesus. So you want to be with Satan and scatter people, cause people to stumble, get away from Jesus, or...
00:32:10
Speaker
Would you rather say, you know what? I want to actually help him. I want to be a part of seeing more people come to know him. So if so, whoever's not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
00:32:26
Speaker
So you want to gather with Jesus? You want to say, Lord, I want to be on your side. But there's another thing we have to think about. Some people will say that they are on Jesus' side, but they're really not.
00:32:39
Speaker
Maybe even their lives are pretty moral, pretty good person, good old boys, but they're just not born again. They're not really loyal to Christ.
00:32:50
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So that's why he gives this amazing you know description of what it would be like. You know, he says, know what that is? Swept and put in order.
00:33:01
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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 you know what that is swept and put in order The house is empty.
00:33:17
Speaker
Jesus is not in the house. The Lord's not in the house, but this guy's saying, look, I'll be better. I'll be a better person. I'll quit this. I'll quit that. You see, there has to be a decision beyond mere reformation without Jesus.
00:33:34
Speaker
It's not self-reformation without spiritual regeneration to be born again. The Lord wants to fill the house. He doesn't want you to clean the house and say, I don't need Jesus because I can clean up my own life.
00:33:49
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It's not about moral improvement. It's about the Holy Spirit coming to indwell every believer that trusts in Jesus Christ. You see, verse 25 describes order in the house, but the house is empty.
00:34:06
Speaker
There's no spiritual force in there. Jesus isn't in there. Holy Spirit isn't in there. All that's happened is this guy's trying to clean up his own life. And the Lord's saying, that's not good enough.
00:34:19
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So what does he want? Well, he wants transformation. The decision for spiritual transformation transformation that takes place in Christ. it's kind of It's like some people reach this point where they say, you know what? I'm sick and tired of Satan pushing me around.
00:34:37
Speaker
I'm so entrenched. He is so entrenched in my life. He agitates me. You know, Revelation 3 verses 14 to 22 describes a group of people. And here's what the Lord said.
00:34:51
Speaker
You know what he said? You're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth.
00:35:03
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And so what is he saying? What is he saying in this whole passage? What he's trying to tell us is the impossibility of being neutral. The impossibility of saying, I don't have to decide.
00:35:15
Speaker
You know what it'd be like? It'd be like at the Battle of the Alamo. When Colonel Travis is there and he takes his sword and he draws this line in the dirt and he says to the other, what is it, 185 men? He says to the 186 men, he says, look, you need to make a choice here.
00:35:36
Speaker
He said, those prepared to give their lives in freedom's cause... Come over to me. That's all Jesus is saying. He's saying, come over to me. I've already won the battle.
00:35:47
Speaker
Just come over to me. Step over the line. That's why on June 16th, 1858, Abraham Lincoln spoke in the old state capitals hall of representatives as he accepted the nomination for the U.S. Senate.
00:36:04
Speaker
He was in a campaign against a man named Stephen A. Douglas. And the nation was deeply divided. Maybe you're in your heart, you're deeply divided. You can't decide.
00:36:16
Speaker
Their division was over the expansion of slavery. It was escalating. The division was getting worse and worse. And so when Lincoln was giving his speech, you know what he quoted?
00:36:27
Speaker
He quoted this passage. He quoted Luke 11, 17. A house divided against itself cannot stand. And here's what he went on to say. He said, it will become all one thing or all the other, but it's not going to be in between.
00:36:46
Speaker
So that's the same way it is with the Lord. As you consider which side you're going to stand with, i want to just give you one verse or two verses from Colossians chapter 2, verses 14 15.
00:36:58
Speaker
verses fourteen and fifteen It says, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this Jesus set aside, nailing it to the cross.
00:37:12
Speaker
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. God said, you know what? I'm sick and tired of the enemy.
00:37:25
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I'm going to put him to death right now. I'm going to win over him right now. So one side is not only going to win in the future, one side already won in the past at an old rugged cross.
00:37:39
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That's where he's already decided. and so God drew a line in the sand, and here's what he said, come to me. Just come to me. Just step across the line and come to me and make a clear, definitive you know decision.
00:37:54
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Have you ever done that in your whole life? have you ever said, Lord, I don't think I've ever really publicly stood on your side. Well, that's what I feel like is the call, the call to decide.
00:38:07
Speaker
Am I going to stay with Satan? Am I going to stay with sin? Am I going to stay with self? Am I going to stay with the world? Or am I going to just step across that line and say, you know what?
00:38:17
Speaker
I'm going live for Christ. I want him to change my life. Let's stand together. I want to pray. i want to invite our musicians to come. And we're going to give an invitation. And if you would like to make a decision for Christ, I'd love to to talk with you.
00:38:32
Speaker
We can begin a conversation about you and about putting your faith and trust in Christ. I don't want to be in a hurry, so we don't have to decide it today. but you know what? You could come and say, you know what?
00:38:44
Speaker
I want you to pray for me because I'm thinking about it. I want to talk about it more. I need to study it more. Let's pray together. Lord, I pray for hearts that are on the line.
00:38:56
Speaker
They've been thinking about it a long time. If they're honest, they haven't just been thinking about it today. This has been a long, long, hard journey. The way of the wicked is hard.
00:39:07
Speaker
Maybe they're just so tired of what sin has been doing. Sin's been wrecking their lives. And they're so ready for a change. A change that's real.
00:39:17
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One where someone comes to get on the inside of their life. and change them from the inside out. And so please, Lord, if there's anybody here that needs to do that, I pray they would do that during this time of invitation.
00:39:31
Speaker
So we give it to you. We want you to win. We believe you already won at the cross. That's when you overcame all of those evil forces. You overcame even the sin debt that was listed against us.
00:39:45
Speaker
And so now we just need to decide, is it Jesus or is it the enemy? So bless us as we go into this time of invitation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:40:01
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.