Verse 31, The same day there came certain
of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart
hence, for Herod will kill thee. Now, this was said to the Lord
Jesus Christ by the Pharisees regarding this man named Herod. Now, this is the same Herod who
had already had John the Baptist beheaded. You remember the story. Would you turn to Mark Chapter
14? Or Mark Chapter 6, I'm sorry. You remember how the Lord loved
John the Baptist. He said, among them that are
born of women, there has risen none greater than John the Baptist. What a commendation our Lord
gives of this man. He loved him. And he had seen
what Herod had done to him, beginning in verse 14. And King Herod heard
of him. the Lord Jesus, for his name
was spread abroad, and he said that John the Baptist was risen
from the dead, and therefore mighty works to show forth themselves
in him. Others said that it's Elias,
and others said that it's a prophet, or it's one of the prophets,
but when Herod heard thereof, he said, it's 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. It was an
illicit relationship. It was wrong. He'd taken his
own brother's wife and married her. For John had said unto Herod,
it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore
Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him,
but she could not for Herod feared John. knowing that he was a just
man and a holy and he observed him and when he heard him he
did many things and he heard him gladly now he didn't do the
one thing needle needful but he did a lot of other things
he was impressed with the preaching of john the baptist verse 21
and when a convenient day was come 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, and them that sat with him, the
king said unto the damsel, ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and
I'll give it to thee. And he swear unto her, whatsoever
thou shalt ask of me, I'll give it thee, unto the half of my
kingdom. And she went forth and said unto her mother, what shall
I ask? And he said, the head of John the Baptist. And she
came in straightway with haste unto 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. Remember, he
was impressed in some measure with John the Baptist. Yet for
his oath's sake and for their sakes would set 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 he brought his head
in a charger and gave it to the damsel. And the damsel gave it
to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took
up his corpse and laid it in a tomb. And the apostles gathered
themselves together unto Jesus and told him all those things,
both what they had done and what they taught. But our Lord had
seen this beloved disciple of his beheaded by John the Baptist,
or beheaded by Herod. John the Baptist was beheaded
by Herod. So back to our text in Luke chapter
13 verse 31, that same day there came certain of the Pharisees
saying unto him, get thee out and depart for Herod will kill
thee. Verse 32, and he said unto them,
go ye and tell that fox, that deceitful man. He knew him altogether. He said, behold, I cast out devils.
You think I'm afraid of you? Do you think I'm quaking in my
boots because of you? I cast out devils. Only God can
cast out devils. I do cures today and tomorrow. You can't prevent those. Whatever
I will to do, I will do. And you can't stop that. Lord
wasn't afraid of Herod. You better leave. Herod will
kill you. No, it won't. No, it won't. I'm in control.
Actually, Herod was a pawn in the hand of God. Remember that
scripture in Acts 4 27 where it says both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. Herod was a pawn in the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You think I'm afraid? You know,
I'm not really sure that Herod even said, I'll kill you. It could have been the Pharisees
who were trying to get him to leave that place. They didn't
want to have anything to do with him. But whether it was them
or whether it was him, he said, you go tell that fox. I cast
out demons. I do cures. And the third day,
speaking of his resurrection, I will be perfected. Now, the Lord was on his way
to Jerusalem at that time. Look in verse 22 of this same
chapter. And he went through the cities and the villages,
teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And he knew that he
was journeying toward Jerusalem to die as the substitute for
his people, as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
what was determined before time, he was doing in time. He had
to come to die. The scripture says he'd set his
face as a flint to Jerusalem. And Herod is not going to stop
him from doing his will. Now in this message to Herod,
we have three things that he's going to do. He's going to cast
out demons. He's going to do cures. And the
third day, He'll be perfected. He said, you go tell that fox
this. I'm going to cast out demons today and tomorrow. I'm going
to do cures and the third day I will be perfected. Now I want us to consider what
it was the Lord said to Herod. He knew Herod. He knew Herod
was no different than Pilate. I think of Pilate saying to our
Lord, Speakest thou not to me? I have power to crucify you,
and I have power to release you.' And the Lord replied, Thou couldst
have no power at all over me, except it were given thee from
above." And he could say the same thing to Herod. Herod thought
he had so much power. The Lord says, You don't have
any power at all over me. Now, the first thing he says
that he came to do is to cast out demons. Look in verse 32,
and he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I
cast out devils. Do you think I'm afraid of you?
I cast out demons. Now this is something that only
God can do. Can you cast out a demon? A devil? Are you any match for a devil? Is there anything you can do
with regard to a demon? No. No. Me and you are no match
for demons or devils in any way. Now there is an unseen world
of Satan and his demons. They're restrained, but I imagine
there might be some here tonight in every worship service, wherever
the gospel is preached. If there's anything they could
do, they would do it. An unseen world of demons. Now, they're the fallen angels
and they know who Christ is. I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. Art thou come to torment us before
the time? You know, they demonstrated more
knowledge of Christ than most religious people do. I think
of that passage of scripture in James 2 where he says, you
believe there's one God, you do well. The devils believe and
they tremble. I think of the Gadarene demonic
filled with so many demons that it took 2,000 pigs to fill them
up. I mean, the demons left his body
and they filled up 2,000 pigs and cast themselves into the
sea. The Lord cast them out. He's able to cast out demons.
You remember Mary Magdalene? What a special woman. She was
the one that was there waiting at the for the resurrection of
Christ when none of the rest of the disciples were. And you
know, even the Pharisees knew about it. They said, this deceiver
said he's going to raise from the dead three days, set a watch
on the tomb. And you know, he told the disciples that three
times. None of them were there, but Mary Magdalene was. She was
the one that he had cast seven devils out of. Now he would cast
out demons. Now, We're no match for demons,
but they're no match for Christ. Now somebody may wonder, are
demons at work in our day? Certainly. And their main sphere
of action is the pulpit, is religion. Let me show you this. Turn to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. You know what I'm talking about
scares me. All I can say is, I'm glad they're
under the thumb of the Lord, and they can't make a move without
Him. But look in 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it's no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. That's how they come, ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Is there demon possession in
our day? Well, I don't see why there's
not. I know, I believe there is. I don't think it's something
that's just stopped. Well, can a demon affect a believer? Asked Peter. The Lord said to
him, get thee behind me, Satan. That's what he said to Peter.
Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Turn with me to 2
Timothy 2 for a moment. Now, when I think about this
unseen world, The only thing that gives me any comfort is
the fact that they're the Lord's demons. He's in control of them. We're no match for them, but
he's in control of them. Look what Paul said to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 2, verse 23, or verse 25, I mean. Verse 24, let's
put it there, verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach. patient, in meekness instructing
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 what? The snare of the devil, who are
taken captive by him, at his will. Do you remember the Lord
saying to Peter, Peter, Satan hath desired to have thee, that
he may sift thee as wheat, that he might turn you inside out. Now, regarding all this information
in the scriptures about Satan and his demons, I know they're
real, and I know me and you are no match for them, but I know
they're no match for our Redeemer. And they can't do anything unless
He allows them to, and they actually serve His purpose as His pawns,
performing His will. He's in absolute control of everything,
and He says to Herod, You tell that fox, I cast out demons. And you think you're gonna kill
me? I cast out demons. But you know this thought of
demons being cast out, he does cast out demons, but what the
Lord does, and this was so comforting to think about this, the Lord
causes something to leave one place and go to another. When
those demons left the Gadarene demonic, they left him and they
went into those 2,000 pigs and they were choked in the sea.
In salvation, God causes my sin to leave me just like he cast
out those demons. He casts out my sin into the
depths of the sea. He causes it to leave me and
go somewhere else. Now, where did it go? It went
into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He put it away. He caused it to be gone. Just
like He has power to cast out demons, He cast out my sins.
Thou hast cast our sins into the depths of the sea. And they
are gone. Where did they go? They went
into Him who is own self, bear our sins in His own body on the
tree. Sin cannot be two places at once. Isn't that wonderful to think
about? If my sin has left me and Christ has borne it, I don't
have it anymore. You tell that fox, I cast out
demons. And thank God that's not the
only thing he casts out. He casts out sin. And then he said in our text,
in Luke chapter 13 verse 32, and he said, you go and tell
that fox, behold, I cast out devils and I do cures today and
tomorrow. I do cures. You can't threaten
to kill me. You see, you may want to, but
you can't because I have a work to perform today and tomorrow. I do cures today and tomorrow. And that word cure is translated
to heal and to make whole. I do cures. Now, I want to be
the subject of the great physician's healing, don't you? I want to
be somebody that he cures, that he heals, that he makes whole. Now, in order to be cured, first
of all, what has to happen? You have to be sick. You have to be sick. And to a believer, sin is very
much like a disease. On two occasions in my life,
I've been told that I have cancer. And when I'm told that, I think
of this thing in my body that's killing me. And I want it out. I want it out. I don't want it
to be in there. And, you know, you see these
commercials on TV about, you know, we fight cancer and we'll
whip it together. You know, the people that the
hospitals and so on get us together, we'll whip it together. Well,
I hope that happens. But I tell you what, when I found
out I had cancer, there's two things I knew. One, I couldn't
defeat it. And number two, only God could
take it away. Now, to a believer, sin is like
having a cancer in his body. It makes you feel, and if you
have any kind of sickness, chronic, you know what it is to have that
sickness? You hate it. You want it to be gone. You want
to be delivered from it. Now, the Lord says, I do cure. Don't you love the way he's called
the great physician? The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. He healed them that had need
of healing. And I know something about feeling
the sickness of sin. David said, my loins are filled
with a loathsome disease, and there's no soundness in my flesh
because of my sin. And every believer knows exactly
what David was saying when he made that statement. Sin is like
a disease to a believer, a disease he wants rid of, a disease he
doesn't want to have. I want to be made whole. I want
to be cured. I want the great physician to
heal me. Now, listen to this. Healing
comes from the cross. And that's very important. I want to feel healed. Well,
I want to feel healed too, but understand this, this thing of
healing, it comes from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn
to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Verse 4, Surely he hath borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. Now, this statement is made by
the prophet 700 years before Christ did what he did. But he
says, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities, that chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes we are healed. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 2.
1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 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, what's
that next word? Were healed. Now, when Isaiah spoke prophetically
about the death of Christ, he said, by whose stripes you are. at the stripes of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He bare my sin in his own body. What all that means is horrible
to think about. But my sin, he actually bore
it in his own body on the tree and God showed him no mercy.
He felt the stripes of God, his wrath against sin, and by his
stripes we were healed. Now that sin that grieves you
so bad, let me tell you something, it's already been taken care
of. by whose stripes you were healed. Do you believe that?
Well, if you were healed by it, you believe that. You believe
healing came completely by what the Lord Jesus accomplished on
Calvary's tree. Now, when the Lord announced
His public ministry in Luke chapter 4, one of the things He said
was that He came to heal, same word, He came to heal the broken Now, everybody has experienced, or
probably everybody, I imagine, has experienced at one time or
another a broken heart where you have lost someone or you've
been rejected by someone and you feel broken hearted. What a horrible thing that is.
But do you know that's not really what the Lord's talking about
when he's talking about being broken hearted. You're broken
hearted when your heart is no good. It doesn't work. It can't do what it's supposed
to do. It can't. It's broken. What do you do with broken things?
You throw them away. They're no good anymore. Now
he came to heal the brokenhearted. Now understand this. My heart,
my heart, infinitely so, it's the biggest
problem I have. That's where all my sin comes
from. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, murders, thefts, false witnesses. These
are the things that defile a man. Out of the heart. And he came
to heal. the brokenhearted. I think of what that Roman centurion
said, speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Healing comes simply from a word.
You know, when the Lord healed somebody, there wasn't any gradual,
you know, If somebody crippled, they didn't just get up and drag
on. No, they walked straight. They walked strong. They could
get up and leap and jump around. When the Lord healed somebody,
they were truly made whole. By His stripes we're healed.
By His word, by His will, by His authority, we are healed. And notice it says, he will do
cures, and that same word is translated, he will accomplish
cures. He will complete cures. He will
finish cures. He will make perfect cures. He
will perform cures. This is what he does. Go tell
that fox, he can't stop me because I've come to do cures, to heal. And oh, I think of the healing
of the Lord, the healing of his precious blood, the healing of
his grace, the healing of his mercy, the healing of his touch.
A leper came to him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched
him and said, I will be thou be thou whole. And oh, when the
Lord heals, you're healed. By his stripes you were healed. Now, I'm speaking to you right
now, conscious, conscious of my own,
even while I'm speaking to you, I'm conscious of my own sinfulness. I know I don't see it as bad
as it really is, but I've got a glimpse of it. And that being
said, I really believe I'm healed. That I'm holy, that I'm unblameable,
and that I'm unreprovable in the very sight of God. I really
am healed. How do you know that? Faith.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Now I can't see that
I'm completely healed, but I believe that I am. Do you? Do you believe that by his stripes
you were healed? Not you will be healed if you
do something, but by his stripes you were healed. Now the Lord says to Herod, You
go tell that fox, I cast out demons. You're not going to stop
me from doing my work. This first and second day, I'm
going to do cures. You can't stop that. But look
what he says at the end. I love this. Luke chapter 13,
verse 32. And he said unto them, go ye
and tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils. I do cures. I accomplish them. I don't try
to. I don't say, I'll heal you if
you have enough faith. No, I actually do these cures. I save. And the
third day I shall be perfected. Now this is a reverence to his
resurrection. On this day, I'll be perfected. Wasn't he already perfect? Wasn't he already perfect? He never sinned, but on the cross,
He lost that status when he took my sins and my sorrows and he
made them his very own. That's why he cried out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because he lost that status
of perfection. He was made sin. He was made the detestable thing. God showed him no mercy. He couldn't
even say, my father, at this time. My father, why have you
forsaken me? He lost the right to call him
his father at this time. He said, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? You know who else was nailed
on that cross, suffering the wrath of God? I was. I was right there with him. Paul
said, I'm crucified with Christ. You know who else was? All believers,
all who are united to him. When he died, all of his people,
united to him, died as well. And on that third day, when he
was perfected, he wasn't the only one perfected. He wasn't the only one. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He was perfected, he was made
complete, and you know who else was? All of his people. I was perfected at that time.
You don't look perfected. I may not, but I still am. I
still am, and I believe that. You know, faith is the evidence
of things not seen. I might not be able to see that
I'm perfected physically, but I know that I am through the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when he was dying on the
cross, saving us, the scripture says he was saving himself. Now,
this is how real, this is how intimate, this is how true union
with the Lord Jesus Christ is. When He saved me, He was saving
Himself. Now, is that so? Yes, it is. You remember in 2
Thessalonians, or 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 13, if we believe
not, He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself. If He'd deny me, he'd be denying
himself. He that loveth his wife, the
scripture says, loveth himself. When Christ Jesus loved me on
Calvary's tree, he was loving himself. And this is why I'm
so easy to love. I'm easy to love. Now, you might
not know it, but he does. because Him loving me is loving
Himself. You know, that's the way every
one of us ought to treat each other. Remember who we are in
Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, you're Himself. Remember when the Lord said to
Saul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? He wasn't persecuting
Him? He was seated at the right hand
of the Father in absolute control. Yeah, but wouldn't you persecute
one of my little ones? You persecute me. He didn't say, Saul, Saul, why
persecute Todd? Why persecute thou me? Turn with me to the book of Zechariah.
It's the second to the last book in the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. O daughter of Zion. Now I want
to be in on this, don't you? I want to be somebody who's rejoicing
greatly. I don't want to rejoice just a little bit. I want to
rejoice greatly. I want to enter into this thing
of rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Now he says, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
And here's what we're to rejoice greatly and shout about. Behold,
thy King cometh unto thee. Now I'm interested in coming
to Christ, but I know this, I won't come to Him unless He comes to
me. And this is what I need. I need
Him to come to me. Lord, come to me. Visit me. Have mercy on me. Reveal yourself. That's what I need. Right now,
I need the Lord Jesus Christ to come to me. Oh, if he comes
to me, I'll come to him. I have no doubt about that. But
here's where I need to begin. Lord, come to me. Like the good
Samaritan who came to the man who was half-dead, laying in
the ditch. The scripture says, he came to
him where he was. Can you cry out? Oh Lord, come
to me. Come Lord, I can't get to you. If I'm going to have you, you're
going to have to come to me. Would you come to me where I
am? Not where I should be, but where
I am. Oh Lord, come to me. Behold,
thy king cometh unto thee. Look in verse 9 once again. He
is just. Now, this is always who he is. He's just. He is merciful, but
it's in a way that magnifies His justice. He comes to thee. He's just. He's always just. He's never anything but just.
If He saves you, it'll be a just salvation. Now, isn't that the
kind of salvation you want? a salvation that magnifies the
justice of God. Yes, I want God's mercy magnified
in my salvation, I want His grace magnified in my salvation, but
I want Him to come to me in His absolute justice, saving me in
a way that honors His justice. Nothing unjust about it, nothing
unrighteous about it, this salvation. He comes to thee, He's just,
and look what it says next in verse 9, and having salvation. Now my marginal reading, I hope
you have a marginal reading, because my marginal reading says,
saving himself. Saving himself. When he comes
to me in his justice, he's saving himself. When he saved me, he
saved himself. That's why If we believe not,
he abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. Saving himself, and what's it
say next? He's lowly. He's lowly. You know, you'll never feel threatened
by him. You'll never feel judged and
condemned by him. You'll feel that way by everybody
else, but not him. He's lowly. humble. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in
heart. Don't you love the character
of the Lord? Anybody else? I think it's amazing about, I
know this from my own experience. I wish it wasn't like this, but
anything somebody does, I'll end up judging them for it. Oh,
I say I won't, but I do. I do. You do, too. You do, too. It's a horrible way to be. It's
not right. It's hypocritical, but it's reality,
isn't it? But you can come into the presence
of Him who is holiness itself and not be threatened and not
be judged because He is lowly, the meek and the lowly one. The Pharisees say to the Lord,
you better get out of here. Herod's going to kill you. And
he says, you go tell that fox. I cast out demons. You know what
I say? Lord, cast out my demons. I've got so many of them. Cast
out my demons. The things that haunt me. Cast
them out. Cause them to where they're not.
Oh, I want to be delivered. And secondly, when he says, I
do cures, Lord, cure me. Heal me. Heal me, make me whole. Oh, make
me whole in your sight through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in my behalf. Make me whole. Give me the grace.
Lord, give me the grace to be whole. To walk in a way that
honors your gospel. Make me whole. Make me whole. I don't want to sin anymore.
Make me whole, make me pure, make me holy, deliver me. But
oh, here's my understanding that that will take place. He said
in the third day, I'll be perfected. and everybody in me will be,
has been perfected. So I say these three things.
Lord, cast out my demons. Lord, cure me. And oh, that I
might be found in Christ. This is my greatest, this is
the greatest desire I have, that I might be found in Christ. Lord knows that's so. This isn't
just talking. My great desire is that when God comes, I might
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, perfected. perfected by him. May the Lord enable us to make
that prayer of his identification to Herod of what he was doing.
Lord, this is what I need you to do for me. And you know, now
let me tell you this, everybody without exception who asks him
to do this for them, he doesn't. If you ask him these three things, he doesn't. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
glory of our Redeemer, for his power, his power to cast out
demons, his power to do cures, and that the third day he was
perfected and everybody in him was perfected. Lord, how we thank
you for that. And Lord, take this word, your
word, and bless it to our hearts for our good and for your glory.
And Lord, we ask for grace to believe thy gospel, to receive
thy gospel, and to live thy gospel. Now bless this message for the
Lord's sake. Lord, as we face this coming week, we ask that
you would open up doors for us to preach your gospel. And Lord,
we ask that you would enable us to continue to rest in thy
dear Son. In his name we pray. Amen.