Go back to Luke chapter 11, verse
14, and he was casting out a devil. You can't read the New Testament
without seeing that a large portion of the Lord's ministry was casting
out devils, casting out demons. There is an unseen world that
we know very little about, yet that according to the scriptures
is very active. Hold your finger there and turn
to Ephesians chapter 6. Verse 11, Paul says to the church
at Ephesus, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be
able to stand against the wilds. the deceptive practices of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, men, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness,
in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day and having done all to stand." He cast out a demon. Now, the only one who can cast
out a demon is him and the people that he enabled to do it as well. And usually when we think of
demon possession, we think of exorcist type of scenes. And
I'm sure that there are scenes such as that, but he works in
many ways to oppose the gospel. I want you to think about this.
Every unbeliever is called a child of the devil. Every unbeliever
called. a child of the devil and he works
to wreak havoc. He inspires and he works through
men and women and he even works in the lives of believers. You
can't read the Bible and fail to see that soul. What about
what he said to Peter? When he said to Peter, get thee
behind me, Satan. You don't savor the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Remember when he said
to Peter, Satan has desired to have thee, that he may sift you
as wheat. And I wonder how many of us in
this congregation he's desired to have that we might be sifted
as wheat. Turn with me for a moment to
second Timothy chapter two. I thought a lot about this scripture
the last couple of months. And the servant of the Lord,
2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 24, and the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient, and
my marginal reading says forbearing. in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, those that are in opposition, if God
peradventure will give them repentance. If someone is opposing, their
only hope is that God would grant them repentance, a change of
mind to the acknowledging of the truth. And look at this next
verse, that they may recover themselves. And my marginal reading
says awake out of the snare of the devil. This is talking about
believers, that they may awake out of the snare of the devil
who are taken captive by him at his will. We're taught to
pray, deliver us from the evil one. Do you pray that? Deliver
me, deliver us from the evil one. And look how our Lord described
Satan in verse 21 of Luke chapter 11. We're going to be considering
this next week when we consider a true and a false conversion.
But he says, when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, that's
talking about his rule over men, his goods are in peace. Now this devil that the Lord
cast out in verse 14, and he was casting out a devil and it
was dumb. It was unable to speak. You know,
the human tongue is to be used for the praise of our God, isn't
it? But this devil had rendered this
man to where he could not speak. He could not speak of the praises
of God. And that's what a demon can do.
Now Matthew's account tells us that this demon was also blind
and deaf. Blind, deaf, and dumb. This is
the havoc that this creature, and it is a creature, it's God's
creature, it's God's devil, but he was permitted. And I'm so
thankful for this. When we talk about demons, it's scary. I don't
even like to think about it, but what a blessing it is to
remember they're God's creatures. They're God's demons, and they
can't do anything except what He permits them to do. And they
are used for His glory and the good of God's people. Even in
these horrible conditions we read of right here, the Lord's
in control of this, and I love to think of the Lord's power
where He casts them out. But this demon caused blindness,
deafness, and dumbness. Blindness. This man couldn't
see. And isn't that a picture of what
a natural man is? Blind to the beauty of the gospel.
No matter how clearly it's preached, he can't see it. Because he's
blind. He cannot see. Deaf. He cannot hear. Unable to hear
the gospel no matter how clearly it's preached. He's unable to
hear. Deaf. Dumb. Unable to speak of
the glories of Christ, he can't. Rendered unable. And the Lord
comes along and casts him out with the very power of God. You know, the Lord, our Savior,
our Redeemer, He demonstrated power that only God has, didn't
He? Only God can cast out demons. No man can do that apart from
the power of God. He demonstrated creative power. Only God can do that. He brought
matter into existence that was not there. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. He
cleansed lepers. I love thinking of this. He raised
the dead. What mighty power there is in the Lord. Well, did Paul
say in 1 Corinthians 1 24, Christ, the power of God. He himself is the mighty power
of God. He didn't attempt to cast this
devil out. He cast it out, showing that
he is very God of very God. Now, look in verse 14. And he
was casting out a devil, and it was dumb, and it came to pass
when the devil was gone out. You see, he didn't try to do
anything. If he cast it out, it was cast out. And the people,
and so what happened when it was gone out? The dumb spake.
He who could not speak now speaks. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. The dumb spake, and the people
wondered, but, verse 15, but, And here we have the power of
human prejudice. But these people saw this mighty
miracle, a demon being cast out, and look what they said. But
some of them said he casteth out devils through Beelzebub,
the thief. of the devils. Now, like I said,
this story demonstrates to us the power of prejudice. You know
what prejudice means? Prejudging. Prejudging. Judging beforehand. These men
saw, they witnessed the Lord cast out this devil, and they
attribute it to the work of the devil. They attempted to discredit
him, and to blacken his character saying he was in league with
the devil so they wouldn't have to pay any attention to what
he said. That's what was going on here. He, through the devil,
cast out the devil. And there are no lack of these
men today. Men determined to see no good. Prejudice when they
hear the gospel. Prejudice. Looking to darkened
the character of the servants of Christ, believing things about
them that are not true, so they don't have to hear their message. That's what was going on here.
Why should we believe him? He, through the devil, casts
out demons, and he makes this horrible accusation regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these people, like I said,
there's no Lack of them today, here's their thinking. If someone
does right, well, they had bad motives. If he speaks the truth,
it was with sinister views. If he does good, it was for self-interest. He casts out devils through Beelzebub,
the prince of the devils. Now prejudice, you think of what
all prejudice does. in our world prejudging people,
prejudice in race and so on. What a horrible thing that is,
the way people treat other people because of the color of their
skin. Prejudice, what it does, or prejudice against a certain
group or a certain way of thinking where you have this mindset that
you're thinking that they have and you prejudge them and condemn
them before you really even hear what they say. Prejudice is a
horrible thing. But most especially is it a horrible
thing in spiritual things. Prejudice, prejudging. These
people were fault finding of the Lord Jesus Christ and it
rendered them unable to hear what he said. And it made them
make this awful accusation. He through Satan himself casts
out demons. What a horrible accusation. May we hear with an open mind. I want to be open-minded, don't
you? I want to be closed-minded regarding that which is not true. I want to be closed-minded to
everything that's not in the Word, but I want to hear the
gospel with an open mind. I don't want to be like these
fellas who, even though our Lord was casting out demons, they
just attributed wickedness to him. They attributed things to
him that were not true, so they couldn't possibly hear his message.
Isn't that sad? The way they would get mad at
the Lord when he'd heal someone on the Sabbath day, they'd say
he did it on the Sabbath day. He's breaking the law. He's wrong.
This harsh view. Oh, may the Lord make me to be
like a little child hearing his word. I want to be that so bad. Don't you love the way children
just have a disposition to believe what you tell them? May the Lord
make me and you just like that, hearing the word. Now look at
the way the Lord answered this objection. But some of them said,
verse 15, he casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief
of the devils, and others tempting him, sought of him a sign from
heaven. And we're going to get back down to that. later on in
Luke chapter 11, because that issue is taken back up, this
thing of tempting him for a sign to show the validity and the
reality of what he said. But he, knowing their thoughts. Well, that's a wonderful thing
to think about, isn't it? You know, the Lord knows every
thought I'm having. And, you know, that really comforts me.
Not because the thoughts are good, necessarily. But because
he knows him, there's no point in me trying to hide from him.
And he views me in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how I am. He knows
my bad thoughts, and they're put away and forgiven. He knows
the good thoughts. He knows the thoughts of his
son. He knows the thoughts that view the Lord Jesus Christ highly
and trust him. He knowing their thoughts, and
he knew these people's thoughts. He knew exactly what they were
thinking. And look how he replies. But he, knowing their thoughts,
said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation, ruin. If Satan was against Satan, his
kingdom couldn't stand. He's showing them the unreasonableness
of this. And a house divided against a
house falleth." If there's disunity and division in a house, in a
home, among a family, that house falls. If Satan also be divided
against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? It can't. Because
you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I,
by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them
out? Now, there were people other than the disciples that cast
out devils. God enabled them to even before the time of Christ.
What about the sons of Sheba in Acts chapter 19 who were seeking
to cast out devils? But it was something that was
done. I don't understand all that, but it was something done
on a normal basis. And he says, Your sons, you Jewish
people who cast out demons, you don't say you do it by the power
of the devil. Why, even your sons that cast out demons, they
would condemn what you're saying. He says in verse 20, but if I,
with the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom
of God has come to you. Now, our Lord answers this by
dealing with this thing of division. A house divided against itself
cannot stand. Division. Now division is a horrible
thing. Division in a home, division
in a marriage, most especially division in a church. It's a
horrible thing. Now the only way we can understand
what it is, is to understand what unity is. Turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter 10. Or 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'm
sorry. Beginning in verse 10. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 10. Now, I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing. Now, you know, he's not talking
about just repeating the same sentences, but the same thing
concerning the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know this,
I know believers believe exactly alike. They do. Every one of them, if we're believers,
we believe the same thing. And Paul says, I beseech you,
speak the same thing. Don't let there be any disunity
in what you're saying. That there be no divisions among
you. but that you be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now that
is the mind of Christ. If I have the mind of Christ
and if you have the mind of Christ, and Paul says we have the mind
of Christ, don't we? If I have the mind of Christ and you have
the mind of Christ, don't we? We have the same mind, don't
we? We see eye to eye. There's no
disagreement. There's complete unity. We believe
the same gospel. We've been taught by the same
Lord. If I'm taught of God and you're taught of God, you reckon
He'd teach you something different? No, he teaches us the same thing.
We believe the same gospel. We've been saved by the same
grace. We have the same righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
We have the same view of the Lord. We all believe that he's
all. We believe that Christ is all
and men are nothing. We believe the same thing. There's
a true unity, same mind and same judgment. Now verse 12, Paul
said this to the church or verse 11, Here's the problem, for it hath
been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are
of the house of Chloed, that there are contentions among you.
Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I'm of Paul, and
I'm of Apollos, and I'm Cephas. And then the real pious ones
say, well, I'm of Christ. I don't follow any man. That's what's
going on there. I'm one of Paul's converts. I'm
one of Peter's converts. Well, I'm one of Apollos' converts.
I'm not the convert of any man. I'm of Christ. That's the real
pious ones. And Paul asked this question. Is Christ divided? Are there any divisions at all
in the true body of Christ? Believers believe the same thing,
don't they? They see eye to eye. There are no divisions. That's
one of the reasons why I do not believe in denominations at all. Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian,
all these denominations are purely man-made. There's nothing in
the Bible about any of them. And when I'm a part of the domination,
I'm saying I've got a little bit clearer view of the truth
than you do if you're not in my denomination. Now is Christ
divided? No. No, there's not divisions
in the body of Christ. We all believe the same thing.
Somebody says, well, you expect people to believe just like you
do. Well, if I'm a believer, I do. I do. I plead guilty to
that if I believe the gospel. I mean, but as far as wanting
people just to believe like I do in the sense of just believe
like me, I could care less if you believe like me. I mean, in that
sense, I don't care. I hope I don't take myself that
seriously, but I want you to believe exactly what God says,
and I want to believe exactly what God says. Is Christ divided? No. Now, here's where true unity
is. Unity is not getting along even
though you don't believe the same thing. It's the power of
united hearts believing that Christ is all. How can two walk
together except they be agreed? There is true agreement with
the people of God. The Bible is the word of God.
You believe that, don't you? The Bible is the authority. Not
any man, not any church, not any denomination. The Bible is
the absolute authority. That's what we believe. We believe
what God says. Whatever God says, that's what
we believe. And even if I don't understand
it, if that's what the Scripture teaches, it doesn't matter, that's what
I believe. But we believe in the absolute authority of the
Scriptures. We believe that God is as the
Bible declares Him to be, don't we? We believe He's exactly as
He manifests Himself in His Word, in His holiness, in His sovereignty,
in His justice, in His power, in His grace, in His immutability,
in His... However He makes Himself known
in the Word, that's what we believe. We believe man is as the Bible
declares him to be dead in sins. We believe that. And we believe
salvation is as God declares it to be. Salvation is of the
Lord. Can you say amen to that? Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the father in election.
It's of the son in redemption. It's of God, the spirit in regeneration. We believe the same thing. Right down the line, we believe
the same thing. What about, what about nothing?
We believe same thing. And anything we don't believe same, it's something
that's irrelevant anyway and doesn't even matter. I mean,
we don't have the same political views and all those different
things, but that stuff just doesn't matter. Concerning God, who Christ
is, who he is in salvation, how God saves sinners, we believe
the exact same thing. Now that's unity. That's unity. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? And you know, God only works
through unity. I love to read of the church being of one accord
and of one mind, and the Lord working through that. Oh, may
the Lord make us truly to be. Just like, you know, if God be
for us, who can be against us? I have a God for me. Just as
God's for me, I want to be for you. And just as God's for you,
I want you to be for me. Now that is true unity. And Satan is not going to try
to knock Satan out of business. But what does the Lord say back
in our text? He says, if Satan, verse 18,
also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?
Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And
if I, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your sons
cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. They can't
agree with what you're saying there, that Satan casts out Satan.
But if I, with the finger of God, I like the way the Lord
uses I with the finger of God. He doesn't even say I with the
arm of God. Now the arm of God, we read quite often of the arm
of God, his power, his strength in what he does. But the Lord
is so strong that with his finger, he casts out these demons. This
is talking about the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I with
the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt, The kingdom of God
has come upon you. And the kingdom of God has a
king. Now I can say, I believe with all
my heart that this is what I love to speak of the most. The kingship
of Jesus Christ. I love to think of him as the
mighty king and of him as my king and of him as the king over
everybody. He lived, well he was born a
king. We've come to worship him who
is born king of the Jews. He was born, that infant that
seemingly so helpless was the ancient of days and the king
of the universe. He lived as a king. Oh, his perfect
obedience. He kept God's law perfectly. Only a mighty king has such power
over himself that he can render perfect obedience to his heavenly
father. And oh, he died as a king. You know, when they were murdered,
He was willing everything they did. He was no victim. When a
man struck the nails through his hands and feet, it's because
he willed for it to happen. He was in control of it. When
he died, he gave up the ghost. He's the only one who ever did
that. He said, death, I'm now giving
you permission to take me. You're allowed. He died as a
mighty king, you know, to think of how he was raised from the
dead as a mighty king whose will must be done having all power. He's the king of kings and lord
of lords. And even now he sits on a throne
ruling and reigning and he's undisturbed by any opposition. That's the kind of king he is
in absolute control. He is, as Paul says, the power
of God. With God, nothing shall be impossible. And with God, all things are
possible. Now, I'd like to spend the last
few moments of this message talking about the power of Christ. If I, he said, He didn't say,
if I'm enabled, he said, if I do this with my finger, cast out
the demons. He created the universe. Isn't that glorious? He created
the atom. He created the atom. He created
all that's associated with the atom. He created the galaxies. The universe was spake into existence
simply by an act of His will. Now that's power, isn't it? The
power of Jesus Christ. That's the power of our Savior.
His power is seen in providence. Everything that happens, happens
because He causes it to happen. He upholds all things, the scripture
says, by the word of his power. I love it when Pilate comes to
him and he says, don't you know that I have power to crucify
you and I have power to release you? And he answered, oh, I'd
love to hear the tone of his voice when he said this. You
have no power at all over me, except it be given thee from
above. You see, the king's heart is
in the hand of the Lord. Now we think of all these people
who are over us, that have power, the rulers, the kings. Got nothing
to worry about. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it withersoever he will. He's in control of everybody. Somebody says, I just don't believe
that. He's in control of that too. He's in control of every
thought that goes through your mind. he rules in providence. By him all things consist. And you know, I love it this
way. I just absolutely love his power, his kingship. His power is seen in his own
person and work of redemption. What power was involved in the
incarnation? when all the fullness of the
Godhead resided in a human body. Isn't that glorious? The incarnation
of Christ. What power is seen in His, Marty
touched on that, His sinless life, in His death, the accomplishments
of His death. He saved everybody He died for. Divine power is seen in Him making
something from nothing in creation, but it's also seen in His death
when He made something nothing. He made my sins, as real as they
are, to not be. How glorious is His power. My sins right now, they're not.
They're purged away. He's made them to where they
are not. Now that is powerful. You know,
He has the authority to forgive sins. You know, I can't say to
you, Your sins are forgiven. You can't say to me, your sins
are forgiven. I can say to you, I forgive you.
And you can say to me, I forgive you. But we're talking about
God having the authority to actually forgive sins. Christ Jesus can
forgive you of every single one of your sins. He's got the power
to do that. And you know, sin is the thing
that troubles us. If you had no fear of sin, you
wouldn't be afraid to die right now. You'd just be plumb happy
to do it. If you knew the sin question
was effectually taken away and then we're all forgiven. Christ
has the power to do that. His power is seen in raising
a dead sinner to life. As the Father raises the dead
and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. He's got the power to give you
a new heart, to give you life from the dead. Eyes to see, ears to hear, a
tongue to speak. What power is seen in Him making
us partakers of the divine nature? And what power He demonstrates
in the progress of the gospel. Nobody can hinder it. Isn't that
wonderful? Nobody can hinder it. What power
he displays in the instruments he uses for the progress of the
gospel. People like me. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. What? Yeah. That's what it says. God
can use an, you know, you can see where, what if an angel came
down from heaven? Everybody saw an angel come out
of the sky and come down and start preaching. You reckon folks
would believe? Well, no more than they will if I preach. But
the Lord, it seems much more, it seemed a lot more impressive
to use an angel, wouldn't it? Than to use a weak, sinful, fallible
man. But oh, the progress of the gospel,
God's power is seen in that and what power he displays in the
perseverance and the preservation of his people. Right now. As I stand before
you. In all my weakness. I love Jesus Christ. I adore Jesus Christ. He's altogether lovely to me. I can say with Peter, when Peter
said, or the Lord said to Peter, Peter, do you love me? He said,
Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Now that
is a testament to the mighty power of Christ. The fact that
I haven't fallen away, the fact that I haven't left the gospel,
the fact that I haven't, whatever I haven't done is a testament
to the mighty preserving power of Jesus Christ. Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his presence with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our
Savior, Jesus Christ, the honor and glory forever. Amen. And
how his power is going to be displayed when he comes back. You see, when he returns, The dead in Christ will rise
first. They will. The dead in Christ will rise
first. And they went into the grave
and began to decay and rot and corrupt. But when Christ returns,
they'll be raised incorruptible. perfectly conformed to the image
of His Son. And there's going to be some
people who are alive at His coming. So maybe somebody like me. I'll
be walking around just, you know, going through whatever it is
I go through during the day, thinking whatever I think. Whether
it's bad or good or all the dumb things I think, I'll just be
walking around being myself, being myself. And all of a sudden,
He's going to appear. And I'm going to see Him. And
I'm going to be just like Him. Now that, that my beloved friends
is power. When he takes this poor, weak,
corruptible man and makes him perfectly conformed to his image
just by one sight. Power, power, power. Oh the finger of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't you love his power? Oh
how he cast out this demon. He cast a lot out during his
earthly ministry, and I pray that he casts a lot more out
now by his grace. Now, we're getting ready to observe
the Lord's table in obedience to him. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. And I hope by the grace of God,
when we take the bread, we will think of the power of that one
who was broken. amazing, what can you even say,
the power of him that was broken. And because of that power, what
it accomplished, the actual putting away of sin. He bore the wrath
of God and He drank it up. Now, you want to talk about power.
He satisfied God. He drank the wrath of God completely
dry. It would never go dry for me
or you. It would last eternally because we could never satisfy
God. But He, because of His mighty
power, because of who He is, by His broken body, He actually
satisfied God. Oh, may the Lord enable us to
meditate upon Him. And you think of the power of
His precious blood. His blood actually made it to
where my sin is no more. My sin, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, has been
nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. Let's pray together.