Now we're turning in our Bible
once again to Luke 11. I want to bring the message from
verse 14 down through verse 20. I'm taking the title for the
message from the words the Lord declares in verse 20. Let's read
that verse. Luke 11 verse 20, but if I, with
the finger of God, Or as Matthew has it, by the Spirit of God,
if I were to finger of God cast out devils, no doubt, no doubt,
the kingdom of God is come to you. In other words, this is
a no doubter. This is a no doubter. No doubt,
the kingdom of God is come to you. That will be the title.
There is no doubt about this one. Now the word, this is a
no-doubter. You who maybe used to listen
to the old Reds baseball game, you remember Joe Nuxall, and
when someone stepped up to the plate and hit a home run that
was just out of the ballpark, he would say, well that's a no-doubter.
It's gone. And that's what the Lord is saying
here. This is a no-doubter. The kingdom of God is come unto
you. This is a no-doubter. In other
words, someone would put it this way, this is a no-brainer. You
don't have to think about this one. This is just a given fact. It's a no-brainer, a no-doubter.
This is without controversy, without debate, without argument.
It's not even up for discussion. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. This is a no-doubter. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. This is a no-doubter. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came in this world to save sinners, of whom I am
the chief one. That's a no-doubter, is it not? In due time, when we were yet
without strength, in due time the Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. A no-doubter. Everything about
the gospel, every gospel promise to the believer, no doubt. No doubt. It's a no-doubter,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
absolute King. in His spiritual kingdom and
as such He has absolute, undisputed, right and rule and sovereign
reign over all things. You mean the Lord God Almighty
reigns over all things in heaven and in earth? Absolutely. He reigns in heaven and he reigns
in earth according to his own will and purpose and none can
stay his hand. David declared unto those that
asked him, David where is your God? Do you remember his response?
Our God's in the heavens, and He had done whatsoever He had
pleased. Whatsoever the Lord is pleased
to do, that's what He does in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep
places. That is the preacher's message.
The Lord Jesus Christ, He's Lord in His kingdom. You remember
Peter on Pentecost? His message was the Lordship
of Christ, was it not? This same Jesus whom you crucified,
He is both Lord and He's the Christ. He's God our Savior. You see, this is our message.
The Lord reigneth, Isaiah 52. This is quoted over in Romans
10, where it describes those who were sent to preach the gospel.
Isaiah 52, seven, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publish salvation, that saith unto Zion,
here's the message, thy God reigneth. He reigneth. That's the absolute,
sovereign, undisputable, unchanging rule and reign of the sovereign
God from everlasting to everlasting. How long has He reigned? Everlastingly He has reigned.
Romans 5 verse 20 declares, grace does reign through righteousness. There's sovereign grace. Someone
asked me the other day, where is sovereign grace found in the
Bible? Well, it's found everywhere.
It's the Lord reigneth. Grace does reign through righteousness. Listen to these psalms. There's
four psalms. Psalm 99 verse 1 says, the Lord
reigneth. Psalm 93 verse 1 says, the Lord
reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. Psalm
96.10, Psalm 97.1 declares, the Lord God Almighty, He's in charge. He reigns everywhere, over everything. His dominion is from everlasting
to everlasting. Now this reign in this kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ is not something that's natural and
carnal. Alone, His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The kingdom
of God is not something yet to come. He said, the kingdom of
God is come among you. Or the King is here. The King
that does reign has arrived. He's here. He's among you. The
kingdom of God is not a temporary kingdom, but an everlasting kingdom. You remember back in Luke chapter
10, take a look at verse 9, when He sent those 70 men out and
told them to declare in verse 9 of Luke 10, the kingdom of
God has come nigh unto you. Remember what Paul said in Romans
10, the word is nigh thee in thy heart, in thy mouth, that
is a word of faith, which we preach. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
therefore, is the undisputed King with all dominion, all authority,
and all power in heaven and in earth. Now, can we make too much
of that? Can we give him too much power? Can we give him, not that we
give him any power, but can we describe unto him and declare
unto him all power and authority and overdo that? Absolutely not. We are just touching
the fringes when we say that he has absolute sovereign dominion
overall. As it says here in Luke 1120
he has all power to cast out demons and this is the mirror
and think about this It's just the finger work The finger work. I mean finger work is you know,
I've got arm I got the hand, you know, the arm has strength
and the hand has strength, but the fingers That's just a little
part He says, it's just finger work. For God Almighty who has
all power, just finger work. Casting out demons, casting out
devils. The cast of demons out is the
mere finger work of God by the Spirit of God. That is, there's
no problem for the Lord Jesus Christ. to tell devils to go
here or to go there. They even recognize that He is
Lord. He speaks and it's done. He commands
and it stands fast. The arm of the Lord is a symbol
of His mighty power to save sinners. Remember Isaiah 53, to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed and that arm there is a symbol
of His mighty power. And then the hand of the Lord
is a symbol of His power, power of His love toward His elect.
We read in Isaiah 59, 1, the Lord's hand, His hand is not
shortened that He cannot reach out and save. Hand is not shortened
that he cannot save. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to
make intercession for us. The Lord declared in John 10
that none can pluck them out of my hand. His hands are almighty
hands. Remember, none can stay his hand.
The hand of the Lord is upon his people. None can pluck them
out of his hand. His hand's always been upon his
people. But his mere finger work here, he talks about his finger work
to cast out demons. We read in the scripture about
his mighty creation. Psalm 8 verse 3 says, When I
consider the heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars which thou hast made, what is man that thou wert mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou would visit that sinner,
son of man. Now, I've got four points to
the message today. Back up to verse 14. And he was
casting out a devil, a demon spirit. And this man who was
possessed of a demon spirit could not speak, he could not see,
as it says in Matthew 12. And it came to pass, when the
devil was gone out, By the command of Christ, this man who was demon-possessed,
who could not speak and could not see, both saw and talked,
and the people were amazed. The people wondered. Now much of the Lord's ministry
upon this earth while he was in the flesh, was spent in healing
people who had need of healing. Look back just a couple pages,
remember in our study from Luke 9 verse 11, and when, and the
people when they knew it, they followed him and he received
them and spake of the kingdom of God. There's that kingdom
again. And He healed them that had need
of healing. Everyone that had need that came
to Him, He healed them. Every one of them. Remember the
words of our Lord to the disciples
of John. Turn back to Luke chapter 7.
Luke chapter 7. when John the Baptist sent two
of his disciples, Luke 7, 19, unto the Lord, saying, Art thou
he that should come, or do we look for another? When the men
were come unto him, they said, John hath sent us unto thee,
saying, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Luke 7, 21. In the same hour he cured many
of their infirmities, and plagues, and evil spirits. And unto many
of them that were blind he gave sight, many, And the Lord answering
said, You go your way, and you tell John what things you have
seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, to the
poor the gospel is preached, blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ healed
untold numbers. Matter of fact, it says over
there in John, he did so many miracles, that if every one would
have been recorded, that the world itself couldn't contain
the books. So, we're just reading a few
of the miracles of his healing power toward sinners. His mighty,
many, and mighty miracles demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt
that He is indeed the promised Messiah, the Son of David, Christ
the Lord, the Savior of sinners, that is, He is God our Savior. All His physical healings of
those who were blind, deaf, dumb, ignorant, crippled, and those
he raised from the dead all picture our sad state in which we are
in by nature, being dead in sin, having no spiritual ears to hear
him, no spiritual sight to see his glory, no spiritual life
to believe him, no will to seek him. Everyone we read of in Scripture
that He healed, that was demon-possessed, who was crippled, who was blind,
who was deaf, who was dumb, who was lame, who was crippled, could
walk, all of that describes us spiritually before God, dead
in sin. Without God, without Christ,
and without hope. And no ability. No man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me draw him. But thanks
unto the Lord for His saving mercy to us while we were yet
in our sins, dead in our sin, He came and He healed us. When we were yet without strength,
Christ died for the ungodly. I want you to read this one with
me. Turn over here to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter
2. And we have to say with the psalmist,
this is the Lord's doing, is it not? Now I have eyes to see
his glory, eyes of faith. I have ears to hear his word.
I have feet that run to him. I have life from the dead, Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 1, and you hath he quickened, made alive who
were dead in trespasses and in sin. Where in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath even as others, but God." Now who made the difference?
But God. But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace are ye saved, raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ, that in the ages to come ye might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ. Well,
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself,
it is a gift of God. The Lord in healing all these
people during His earthly ministry is a fulfilling of the Scriptures. Turn back to Luke chapter 4.
Luke chapter 4 verse 18. Luke 4 verse 18. And the Lord
Jesus Christ came to His hometown synagogue in Luke 4. Verse 16,
He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and His
custom was, as He went in on the synagogue on the Sabbath
day, stood up for to read, and there was delivered to Him a
book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he opened the book,
he found a place where it was written, or where he had written.
This is Isaiah 61, 1 and 2. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach the
liver, to the captive, the recovering of sight, to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. And he closed the book. gave it to the minister,
sat down, and the eyes of all of them in the synagogue were
fastened upon him, and he began to say in his name, This Scripture is fulfilled in
your ears. You see, when He came as the
promised Messiah, He accomplished all that the Father gave Him
to do. This is the Lord's doing, and
it's marvelous in our eyes. Now, here's the second point
found in Luke 11. The last part of verse 14 says,
This miracle took place, a notable miracle. They could not deny
it. And the people wondered, you see that? Verse 15. Some
of them said, he casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the
chief of devils, and others tempting him, sought of him a sign. Now, think about this. Others tempting him and sought
of him a sign from heaven. What did they just see? Evidence
from heaven. It says over here in Matthew
12, all the people were amazed and
said, is not this the son of David? And all the people were
amazed and when the Pharisees heard it they said, this fellow
doth cast out devils by Beelzebub who is the prince of the devils. Here's the second point on the
message. There were three responses. Some
people wondered and were amazed and said, well, you know, this
might be the Messiah. This could be the promised son
of David. They could not deny the miracle,
but they did not believe on Him. Some marveled, some wondered,
but they did not believe on Him to the saving of their soul. And many people have some good
thoughts. about the man from Nazareth,
but they do not believe him to the saving of their soul. They may wonder for a while,
they may be amazed for a while, but they have not faith to trust
him alone for all of salvation. Number two, the Pharisees said,
he does what he does by the power of demons. Now, think about that
a while. He does what he does by the power
of the devil. Such is the wickedness of our
own depraved heart when the Lord healed a man with a withered
hand. Remember back in Matthew 12. They stood right there and watched
that withered hand restored whole like the other. And it says there
in that Scripture, they went out and held a council how they
might not worship Him, but how they might destroy Him. Now,
don't tell me that we're not wicked through and through. When
Pilate presented the Lord Jesus to that jeering mob that day
and said, Behold your King, They all screamed out from the depths
of their depraved heart and said, away with him, crucify him, give
us Barabbas, we have no king but Caesar. Think of it. Such is the state of our dead,
dead, dead heart. We will have the same estimation
as the Pharisees who said, away with him, what he does, he does
by the power of demon spirits. And then the third response was
found, we read of in verse 16, and others. Now, wouldn't it
be great if these three, some wondered, some said he was a
demon, some said, show us a sign. Wouldn't it be a miracle of God's
grace, and it's not recorded here, if it would have been recorded,
and some believed and trusted him. But we see the sad, sad
state of our depraved heart, and others tempting him, tempting
him or they wanted to put him on the spot. They wanted to try
him, try him out. They said, show us a sign from
heaven and we'll believe you. Now, look right across the page
in Luke 11, 29. When the people were gathered
thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. Do you reckon our generation
is any different? This is an evil generation. They
seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the
sign of Jonah, Jonas, Jonah the prophet, as he was three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth, as Jonah was For
as Jonah was assigned unto Nineveh, so shall the Son of Man be to
this generation." That is, the Lord is saying this. There is
no sign given, or will be given, but the Gospel that salvation
is of the Lord. And that's what the story about
Jonah is all about. It's of the Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord. And that's what happened to Jonah
when he was swallowed by that fish and spent three days in
that belly of that fish. And he said, if I'm ever delivered,
it's of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
let me read this to you. The Jews require a sign and the
Greeks seek after wisdom. People are no different today.
They're always looking for signs and wonders. They'll find the
silliest, stupidest things upon the earth and say, well, look
at that cloud over there. That looks like God. Or look
at that rock over there. That looks like God. And they
just dismiss the Word of Truth. God speaks through His Word. The Jews require a sign. The
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block unto the Greeks' foolishness. But
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, Christ the wisdom of God. So we don't look for signs,
do we? Faith doesn't come by seeing
signs. That one guy said on the side
of that tobacco barn, they painted that thing and got halfway done
and he said, man, look at that, it looks like the Messiah over
there on the side of that barn. Faith is not born of these crazy
things. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. So, if you're a believer sitting
here today, it's a miracle of God's grace. Now here's a lesson
for us we need to hear. Every rebel, every sinner today
is just like these people in our text. No different. We're
no different. No different. Willful unbelief
is the dominant nature of our dead, dark, dead, dark, deaf,
blind, ignorant heart. Preacher, you call me that? God does. I'm just repeating
what He said. He said, there's none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seeketh after God. No, not one. None. Not apart from His grace. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me, draw him." John 3, 19. Men by nature
loving darkness, hating light, loving a lie, casting aside the
truth, loving self and hating the Lord Jesus Christ. The carnal
mind is still enmity against God. The carnal mind still will
not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Unless the Lord
is pleased to heal us, Casting out the demon spirit of unbelief
and religious pride, we will die in our sins. That's just so. Our Lord said,
if you believe not that I am, you'll die in your sins. We only
believe according to the working of His mighty power. As many
as were ordained to eternal life believe the gospel. Oh, may the
Lord be pleased. Have mercy on me, to enable me
to call upon the Lord for salvation. Lord, be merciful to me! I'm
a sinner. Have mercy upon me. The Lord
says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Well, if you call upon Him, it's
only because you have life. You've been able to do so. Now,
here's the third thing, moving right along. What's the Lord
going to say to these people? Verse 17 down through verse 20,
we see the Lord's strong rebuke and true answer to their false
accusation. Now notice this first of all,
but He, verse 17, knowing their thoughts. The Lord knows the thoughts and
heart of every sinner, every human being living upon this
earth right now. He knows the deep recesses of
our heart. As our sovereign King over all
things, He has access. He has access to your heart,
your mind, your thoughts, Your affection. He knows all about
us. There is nothing hid from us. No, not one thing. Now children, let me read this
scripture to you. When I was a little boy, I always
hid things from my mama and especially from my daddy. When I did things
wrong, I didn't want to whoop it. So I would do things that
were wrong and I'd hide from them. And I think they're not
going to find out. But you know, I almost started
to think that Mama's omniscient. She knew everything about me. She knew what I was up to. She
knew everything. But God knows all about us. Listen to Scripture. The Word
of God is quick and powerful. sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intent of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do." The Lord knows the thoughts and
intent of our heart. Now, to me, that's a comforting
thought. Because I can say with Peter,
Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you, that
I believe you, that I trust you for all of salvation. David said,
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and you have known me. Now here's the second thing I
want to look at. And even most of the time, when
these criticized the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, every kingdom
divided against itself shall not stand, and when the Pharisees
accused him of doing what he did in the name of the devil,
oftentimes even the most, and most of the time, when the Lord
went about doing good, even his enemies tried to discredit him Him or even John the Baptist. If you'll turn back just a few
pages to Luke 33. Oftentimes, when the Lord or
His disciples or apostles went about doing good, oftentimes
they were criticized. Look what it says in Luke 7 verse
33, where John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking wine,
and you say, he had the devil. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, And you say, behold, a gluttonous
man, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. You
see, John was doing the will of the Lord in preaching the
gospel, and they criticized him. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to fulfill all salvation, and they criticized him. They said
in another place, this man eats with sinners. He can't be the
Savior. Many times, even true ministers of the gospel today
are accused by Many people of false things, mean things, and
malicious things. Oftentimes that's so. It's sad.
The Apostle Paul faced this in his day. Remember Acts 24? We have found this man, a pestilent
fellow, a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world,
a ringleader of a sect of the Nazarenes. It's no wonder that
the Apostle Paul prayed and said, pray that we be delivered from
unreasonable and wicked man. You see even when you go about
doing good in the name of the Lord and preaching his gospel
they criticize John the Baptist, they criticize the Lord and don't
be surprised that the enemies of the gospel criticize you and
criticize the man who stands to preach the gospel. Now our
Lord said in this rebuke every kingdom divided against itself,
every house divided against itself shall not stand." Now, I recently
read this. There was a man in Illinois who
was an Illinois congressman, and on June 16, 1858, he gave
a speech to the Illinois Congress and he used this text
and the title of his speech was A House Divided Against Itself
Cannot Stand. You know who that man was? Who
later became the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
He was talking about slavery. Slavery. And he used this message,
used this verse to try to make his point. A divided kingdom,
my Lord said, cannot, will not stand. Now among men divisions
are to be expected because of our sinful nature. Men always
fall out over something, don't they? They do. Countries, families even, domestic
disputes. You hear about people shooting
each other all the time? I shot my brother. I shot my
mother. Denomination, religious fights and splits, all these
different factions and sects and different things, division
among men. There is division among men. That's so. But be
assured of this, in the Kingdom of God, in the Kingdom of God,
there are no divisions. None. God's people aren't divided. We're all one in Christ. You
see, He is the head, we're the body. By the one Spirit are we
all baptized into the one body. John says this, which is recorded
in John 17. We read it recently, the Lord's
Prayer. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word, that they All may be one
as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that we also may be
made one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent
me, and the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, Thou in
me, that we, that they may be made perfect in one, that the
world may know that Thou hast sent me and hast loved them as
Thou hast loved me. Yes, there is division among
men. But thank God in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
body is one. And in His body there are no
denominations. There are no denominations. There's
just one church, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There's one
body. There are no denominations. Denominations
are man-made. That's what they are. Here's
the last thing. And I've got a few minutes here,
verse 20. In the kingdom, Luke 11, verse 20. But if I with the
finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is
arrived on your doorstep. The kingdom of God is come to
you. Now in the kingdom and reign
of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ has all power, all authority. In Matthew 28, the risen Lord
declared to those apostles, go and preach the gospel knowing
I have all power in heaven and in earth. And He said, I will
never leave you, I will never forsake you. In creation, He
created all things by the word of His power, right? In providence,
He rules over all things by the word of His power. He said, I
spake and it was done, I commanded, and it stands fast. Of Him, and
through Him, and to Him are all things. And in salvation, He
has all power to save sinners. He receiveth sinners, even me,
with all my sin." He has all power to save sinners. Does He not? Aren't you glad?
It takes almighty power to save a sinner like me and like you. Christ has all power to give
eternal life. John 17, 2. He prayed, Father,
You've given me power over all flesh that I should give eternal
life to as many as Thou hast given to me. In Luke 5, 24, the
Lord Jesus said to that crippled man on the bed, your sins are
forgiven. And the Pharisee said, well,
no one can forgive sin but God. And he said, you're right. To
demonstrate the fact that I am God and I've forgiven this man
his sin, stand up and walk. And that man got out of that
bed. went leaping and praising God, and again they stood there
and wondered. He has all power to forgive sin. You see, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all our sin. He has power to give
us eternal life. He has power to forgive sin,
saying He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ
has all power to Keep us, does he not? We are kept by the power
of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to keep
us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. Christ has all power to raise
us from the dead and take us to glory. He is able to change
our vile body and fashion it like unto His glorious body. What a transformation is that!
How is that going to happen? Mom and dad are not going to
do it. The church is not going to do it. The preacher is not
going to do it. God is able. He has all power. Christ has
all power to raise us from the dead and take us to glory that
we might enjoy Him forever. And that's what makes heaven
heaven. It's not any kind of a mansion. It's ridiculous to
sing a song about, I'm going to see Mama in glory. Now I hope
Mama is there and you may know that you had a relationship with
her on this earth. I don't know about those things
because I read in scripture where it says all things, former things
will be passed away. But I know this, heaven is heaven
because of Christ. He said, where I am there you
may be also. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all glory, power, both now and forever. That's
a no doubter. That's a no doubter. He has all
power in heaven and in earth.