Luke 13 31 Luke 13 31 The same
day The same day in which our Lord
said, Behold, there are last which shall be first, and there
are first which shall be last. There are those who are preeminent
in the eyes of men and in their own eyes, which the Lord esteemeth
not. And then came the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out,
and depart hence. For Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, go ye and
tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils. And I do cures today
and tomorrow. And the third day I shall be
perfected. The title of the message is a
message for Herod, but there's a note of, there's a facetious
note to the title because I believe that this message was for the
Pharisees more than for Herod. There's a few reasons for believing
that. First of all, do you really believe that the Pharisees were
concerned for the Lord's safety? You better leave. Herod's going
to kill you. We wouldn't want that to happen. They were trying
to kill him every day. They're not giving him a sincere
warning. If they thought that him staying there would result
in Herod killing him, doing their dirty work for them, in other
words, they would have done everything they could to keep him there. Secondly, the real reason that
they wanted him gone from them is because he was putting them
out of business. Or at least that was their perception.
He wasn't there to do that. He was really just calling out
a few sheep from among them that had been deceived by them for
a time from the godless religion of the day. But they saw the
truth, they saw him and his gospel as a threat. When the truth is
a threat to you, you're in a bad place. And I've met people, I
met a pastor, He called himself a pastor of something that he
called a church. That when presented with the
truth of God's sovereignty and his electing love and grace in
Christ, he said if I preach that it would split this church. If
the truth is a threat to you, you're in a bad place. Thirdly, Herod would not have
been pursuing Christ to do him any harm at this time. Herod
knew the gospel. I didn't say he believed the
gospel, but he knew the gospel. He didn't know it by faith, but
just as Paul had said to Agrippa later, he said, I know that you
believe. Herod believed in that same way.
He'd heard the gospel and knew that it was true. Pilate would
not have killed Christ. You remember? He said, I'll let
him go. I'm going to let him go. Pilate's wife had had a dream
and told him, have nothing to do with that just man. And Pilate
said in Luke 23, 22, I find no cause of death in him. I will
therefore chastise him and let him go. Turn to mark chapter 6 Let's look at this Matthew mark
chapter 6 Verse 14 Herod like those other men who
had some earthly authority they weren't trying to kill the Lord
it was religion It was the ones who said they worshiped God who
wanted him dead. But look at Mark 6, 14. King Herod heard of him for his
name was spread abroad and he said that John the Baptist was
risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves
in him. He thought as Christ was being
priest that it was John the Baptist had been brought back from the
dead. Others said that it is Elias, and others said that it
is a prophet or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard
thereof, he said, it is John whom I beheaded. He is risen
from the dead. For Herod himself had sent forth
and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake,
his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John
had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's
wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him. Doesn't
say Herod did. Herod knew he was right. That's
offsend. But Herodias had a problem and
would have killed him, but she could not. She didn't have the
power, but she She pulled it off in a sneaky way. For Herod
feared John, knowing that he was a just man and unholy. And
Herod observed him, and when he heard him, he did many things
and heard him gladly. Herod wasn't trying to kill John.
Wasn't trying to kill. Wouldn't have tried to kill the
Lord. He thought he was John the Baptist come back from the
dead. He wasn't going to kill him again. He was sorry. Look,
and what a convenient day. was come, verse 21, that Herod
on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains and
chief estates of Galilee. And when the daughter of the
said Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod, them that
sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, ask of me whatsoever
thou wilt, and I will give thee. And he swear unto her, whatsoever
thou shalt ask of me, I will give it to thee unto the half
of my kingdom. And she went forth and said unto
her mother, what shall I ask? And she said, the head of John
the Baptist. And she came in straightway with hasten to the
king and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in
a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding
sorry for his oath's sake and for their sakes, which sat with
him. He would not reject her. And
immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his
head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him
in the prison and brought his head in a charger and gave it
to the damsel. And the damsel gave it to her mother. But you
see, Herod was exceeding sorrowful. But that had worked out the way
that it did, although it was his own foolishness that had
caused it. And he was thinking that the Lord was John the Baptist
come back from the dead. He was sorry he had killed him
the first time. He wasn't going to do it again. And then in Luke
23, verses 6 through 9, When Pilate heard of Galilee,
he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he
knew that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to
Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time. And when
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad. For he was desirous to
see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him,
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned him in many
words, but he answered him nothing. And he sent him back to Pilate.
So Herod wasn't trying to kill the Lord. He was just curious. He wanted to see a miracle done
and things like that. He was glad to see Him. He wasn't
pursuing Him. And the Herod that's mentioned
at our Lord's birth, who was trying to kill the Lord Jesus
Christ as a baby, that's a different Herod. Not the same one. So it was the Pharisees. It was
the religious Jews. It was this world's free will,
self-righteous, man-centered religion, just as it is today,
that hates the Lord Jesus Christ and murders him in their heart. The only reason they didn't kill
him way before this text was because they feared the people.
In other words, it was going to cost them something to kill
him and they wouldn't have that. So our Lord is speaking to the
Pharisees here and what a message. Tell that fox. That word means
fox or a sly and crafty man. Now, Herod was a politician.
He didn't believe on Christ. He just wanted to see a miracle.
And he was afraid. He was superstitious. He thought
at one time that he was John the Baptist come back from the
dead. But he had no love for the Lord. He was John's friend
as long as it didn't cost him anything to be John's friend.
He wouldn't stand up to his own family in order to defend John. Because, you know, that would
cause him problems. But he felt bad about it. That's
not worth much, is it? Oh, sorry I cut your head off,
you know. That's not worth a whole lot. But the real foxes were these
Pharisees. He's talking to them, isn't he,
too. This whole conversation was them
being sly and crafty. They were always trying to catch
the Lord in something that he said or in something that he'd
done. They asked him these convoluted questions. And it says in the
scriptures that they tried to trap him. They tried to get him
to say something that they could accuse him before the people. They just wanted him gone. They
wanted him gone however they could get him gone. And when
they couldn't trip him up with their stupid questions, they
tried this stunt. Herod's going to kill you now,
you better get out of here. They had no idea who they were dealing
with, did they? I don't know how the Lord could
more effectively have expressed his sovereignty, his power, his
dominion, his utter mastery than in what he said to them. Go tell
that sly and crafty politician Behold, I cast out demons. The demons of hell are subject
to my command. You think I'm afraid of you? I added that last part. But the implication is pretty
clear, isn't it? You think I'm worried about Herod or anybody
else or you Pharisees? That's the Master speaking now.
And that's who we need to hear from, the master. Herod was just another pawn in
the hands of the master. Acts 4.27, for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together for to do whatsoever God's hand and God's counsel
had determined before to be done. In all of their opposition and
hatred of the master, they were acting according to the will
of the master. And then he said this for good
measure. I'm doing what I came to do today. I'm doing cures. And what's he going to be doing
tomorrow? Same thing. When you've done your worst,
I'll still be doing what I came to do. Well, you talk about bold now.
That's the master. I do cures today, and that's
what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. Wow. This is the one Nebuchadnezzar
spoke of when he said, all of the inhabitants of the earth
before him are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or even question him. saying to Him what doest thou? I'm doing what I came to do and
tomorrow I'm going to do what I came to do. Our Lord spoke here of His power. Behold, I cast out demons. Of
His purpose, He came to heal, didn't He? And of His perfection. When I'm done, I'll be perfected." And with what boldness and power
he spoke. You remember what they said when
they heard him? Nobody speaks with power like
that. He doesn't speak like the Pharisees.
They marveled at the authority with which he spoke. And I pray
for some of that boldness that he had. We who speak for him,
may we do so with boldness. Boldness in him, not in his flesh. He's the master. He's gonna do
whatever he wants to do with you, with me, and with everybody
else this morning. And tomorrow, he's gonna do the
same thing. I'll tell you why he came down here. He didn't
come down here to condemn us. He came down here to heal us.
We're already condemned. He came down here to heal. We
preach the word with boldness in the hope that God will stretch
forth his hand and heal somebody this morning. He said, I'm doing
cures today and tomorrow. I'm going to do that. That's
not just the next day. Tomorrow and then tomorrow and
then tomorrow. There's always tomorrow until
there's not. And you know who decides when
there's not? The master. For us now, there's no tomorrow.
We're not to depend on tomorrow. We're not to be so bold as to
expect. or to presume that there's tomorrow.
Today, now, is the day of salvation. We preach the word now with boldness,
and the Lord is still in the healing business. Now he can
heal you of physical maladies and problems, and I'm glad, because
I have had a few of those, and he's healed me. He may do that
again. But we all need to be healed
of our sin. Our souls need his healing For the sake of Christ may God
forgive and give life to sinners Heal them of their sins of their
souls disease by the preaching of the gospel of Christ Now we've looked at a lot of
scriptures regarding demons in in the recent past and so we
won't Look at them all again now, but I'm really glad that
demons are under the absolute control of the master, aren't
you? Because they're not under yours. You're no match for them. And are demons active today?
I reckon so. I don't see any reason why they
wouldn't be, or do you? The Lord hasn't cast them into
the lake of fire yet. He will, but he hasn't yet. And
he used them then, so I suppose he's using them now. But listen
to this scripture now. Luke 22, 31. This is what we
need to know about demons. I don't want to scare anybody
or anything. I want to comfort you with regard to demons. You
know how I can do that? Speak of him who is the master
of them. The Lord, look at Luke 22, 31.
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired you. The prince of demons. The one
who controls the demons and sends them by God's permission. I can't think of a better word
than that. To different people and places.
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when
you're converted, strengthen the brethren." What does this
tell you about what would have happened to Peter if the Lord
had not interceded? The Lord didn't say he's desired
to trouble you, or to take you on, or to fight you, He's going
to grind you to powder. That's what he wants to do. He's
not going to try. He hadn't asked for a shot at
it. He would do it. That's what would
happen. And Peter's faith would have
failed if not for the intercession of Christ. You can only be destroyed
by Satan if you have no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's pretty clear here, isn't
it? If Christ is your hope, your righteousness, your sin offering,
your refuge, then no enemy can touch you. And that faith, think of it, that
faith that he gives. Listen to what John said in 1
John 5, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith." You think about what
God did for you when he gave you faith in his son. That's
how this is all going to end well for you, because he gave
you faith in his son. That's the victory. Who is he
that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the son of God. That's your hope. The grace of
God through faith in Christ. Not your strength. Not your tenacity. Not your spirituality. Not you
or anything. Not you or anything about you.
We are vitally united to Christ by grace through faith in Him.
And that's our hope. That's how we're going to persevere.
Because we are preserved in Christ Jesus. Of course, it's Christ himself
that is our victory, but it is by faith that the victory is
given. That's how he gives us victory,
by uniting us to him in God-given faith. He's the author of our
faith, Hebrews 12, 2. He's the finisher of our faith,
same verse. Faith is his gift that he gives
to us, not of works, lest any man should boast, Ephesians 2,
8 and 9. Clearly from Luke 22-31 there where we read about Simon,
our faith depends upon the intercession of Christ. He preserves us and keeps us
believing. That's Him being the finisher
of our faith. He's the author of it and He's
the finisher of it. So the Lord doesn't just order
demons around. He casts them out of sinners. That's mercy. Him just ordering
demons around, that's power. If He casts them out of somebody,
that's mercy. He keeps them from harming us,
from dominating us, which they do and would continue to do until
the stronger comes along. In meekness, Paul taught Timothy,
instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken
captive by him at his will. So thank God for the power of
Christ. We're in bad shape by nature.
We're in big trouble. We don't have a free will. We
are captives. We are slaves to everything evil. And only the master can save
a sinner. But here's the good news. He's mighty to save. He could save any sinner that
he's pleased to save. He said his affection. on his
people, on his sheep from the foundation of the world, and
nobody can stop him from saving me. None can stay his hand as
he reaches for one of his own, though he reach way down. Because of his precious sin-cleansing
blood, no one can accuse us of any wrongdoing. No weapon formed
against us shall prosper. Not even a dog can wag its tongue
at us. A thousand shall fall at our
side and 10,000 at our right hand, but no plague can come
near us. Because the Lord, even the Most
High, is my refuge, there shall no evil befall me. That's the power of Christ to
save. That's the power of his precious blood. And his purpose
is unstoppable. He said, I do cures today and
tomorrow. This may just be one of those
tomorrows that he was talking about. You can't. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ
mighty to save But he's gonna save all that
he came to save He said I do cures How many cures for how
long He's the master He'll do cures until he has cured all
he came to cure and Is that not pretty clear from the text? I'm
going to be curing today, I'm going to be curing tomorrow.
If he's pleased to cure the day after that, he'll cure then too.
I do cures. To heal and to make whole. That's what that means. It implies disease. It implies sickness. The whole
have no need of a physician. I do cures. It implies sickness
and it implies helplessness. I do cures. This isn't going
away on its own. And I can't do anything about
it. Can you? I do cures. And understand it this way, because
this is the truth now. If there's going to be a cure,
any cure of anything, it's something that Christ is going to have
to do. I do cures. Who else does? Every cure that our Lord did,
he did and does by virtue of his righteousness perfected at
Calvary. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, and he does it by virtue of the precious,
sin-atoning blood that he shed there. That's how he cures. With his stripes, we're healed. Now think about this, Christ dying,
the Son of God giving up the ghost on Calvary, happened at
a moment in time. But all healing before that,
during that, and after that is accomplished right there in that
moment when he died for his people. He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That not only
answers the question how are we healed, But it teaches this. When he shed his blood to heal,
he healed. It's not with his stripes. Now
because of his stripes we got a shot. We're healed. It's accomplished. Isaiah wrote thousands of years
before the Lord died that we are healed by that. We are healed by him doing what
he's going to do a few thousand years from now, Isaiah said.
Isn't that glorious? There is healing power now in
his word. The centurion said in Matthew
8, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. But the reason that there's power
that he speaks with power What is the word that we preach? His
word may heal you this morning. And what is that word? We preach
Christ and him crucified With his stripes if you're going to
be healed, there's one way that healing is accomplished It's
by the Lamb of God dying in your place. The healing power of his word
is by the virtue of what he did for sinners on Calvary. Simon
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2.24, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Isaiah said, we are healed by
something that's going to happen thousands of years from now.
Simon looked back to the same cross, to the same lamb, to the
same Savior, to the same precious blood and said, by whose stripes
you were healed. Everything points to the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory in anybody else or anything else. Look at this now. He said the
third day I will be perfected. Now, let's ask this question. Why? Why does everything look
to Him? Isaiah looked forward to Him.
Simon looked back to Him. Talking about healing. Past tense. Healing. Healed. Simon said, you know why it's
past tense? Because it's finished. It's perfect. And that's the third thing that
our Lord said. You tell that fox this, the third day I will
be perfected. Now there's a whole lot of perfection
included in that. If he came to save me, now think about this, if this is
the purpose for which he came, then he's not going to be perfect
until I'm perfect. You think about that. if that's
the purpose for which he came was to save me. You know when
that's going to be perfected? When he saves me. And not until. We're going to read that in a
minute in the scripture. But look at this as a mathematical
equation for a second. His power and his purpose add
up to what? Perfection. That's what. If he
can't fail and if his purpose is to perfect Then that adds up to what he
cried just before he gave up the ghost on the cross. Perfect.
Perfect. He's the master. And his purpose,
if it's what he said he is, then perfection is inevitable. What
is his purpose? How does he cure? By being the
perfect righteousness for his sheep. And by being, by offering
a perfect satisfactory sacrifice for the sins of his people. That's
the only way I can be healed. By perfection. So you know what's
going to happen? Perfection. That's what he came to do. Can
he do it? He's the master. His power and
his purpose equal perfection. Him being perfected is my righteousness. Or another way to say it, him
being perfected is my perfection. Him being perfected is my sin
offering, which is my perfection. If I'm gonna be perfect before
God, I can't have any sin. How does that happen? By his
perfect offering for sin. Now listen, for him to be perfected, I've got to be perfected if He
came to save me. Hebrews 2.10, for it became him
for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. Now look, we know that we don't
add anything to the perfection of Christ. As God, he's perfect. He is essentially holy. And you don't add anything to
that, you don't take anything away from that. But if he is
the captain of my salvation, you know how he's gonna be the
perfect captain of my salvation? If he saves me, that's how. And
how does that happen? Through his suffering. And his death on Calvary. You
see the glory of that? He is made perfect as the captain
of our salvation through His sufferings. That's what He's
talking about in our text. I'm going to be perfected and
so are they. Perfect. Wasn't He perfect already? Of course He was. Perfect in
His person. But His purpose was not perfected
yet. He was not perfected in that
office yet as the captain of my salvation until he suffered
and died. That's what he's talking about
in our text now. Perfect. What he did is integral
to who he is. Him being perfected is me being
perfected, Hebrews 10, 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. So through him being made perfect
as the captain of my salvation through his sufferings and death,
I'm made perfect. That's what I said a while ago,
there's a whole lot of perfection in that word. I will be perfected. So how do we sum up that message,
that three point message? I cast out demons. Are you going to threaten him?
Are you really going to oppose him? And he said, I do cures today
and tomorrow and just as long as I want to. I'll do cures until
everybody's cured that I came to cure. I'm going to go to the cross
and cry out with a loud voice. Perfect. So what do we say? We need the
master, don't we? We need the master. We need the
one who casts out demons. Just by saying it. We need him
who has power on earth to forgive sins. Nobody else does. I can't think of anything more
profane than for a man to try to forgive somebody's sins. You
ever think about that? Oh, you talk about blasphemy. We don't need a chance. We need
the Master to come where we are and heal us. To rid us of that
which has control over us. The sin under which we are helplessly
burdened. The demonic power of our own
nature and the demonic power in whose grip we all are by nature. That's what he came to do and
nobody can stop him or question him. He's doing that today. And if He wants to do that tomorrow,
He'll do it tomorrow. Aren't you glad? That's the one
we trust in. He's my hope. And the result of all that He
has done, and is doing today, and will do tomorrow, is perfection. He said one word from that cross,
one word, just before He gave up the ghost, perfect. Perfect
salvation. Perfect righteousness. Perfect
redemption. Perfect results. What are the
results of what he did? You are. We are his workmanship. Created in righteousness and
true hope. Perfect results. Us. and all of this because He
is the perfect Savior. May He give us grace to trust
Him. And those who trust Him, Lord, increase our faith. Let's
pray together.