By the Finger of God

Jesus is inviting you today to trust in him and be released from the clutches of demonic power, never to be controlled by them again.

[00:00:00] Well, thank you Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge for sharing your music and your stories with us this morning. What a moving example of the gospel at work. Restoring hearts and minds and souls, setting captives free. That’s what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does in everyone who receives it. God is at work in these ladies in the same way that he sets us all free from bondage. These testimonies that you just heard are unique to the individual, but they’re not unique to humanity. Substance addiction is just one of the countless ways evil has shattered everyone in the world, and everybody in this room. All of us are in need of being restored through the one Savior who came to put it all back together. And so, thank you, ladies, for your bold sharing of your stories and drawing our eyes to the Savior who redeems us all. What I am going to do this morning is give a peek behind the stories that you just heard to get a glimpse of the spiritual battle that’s taking place. You may recall from Ephesians chapter six, Paul talks about putting on the full armor of God. Remember that story, the way he illustrated it? He said, put on the full armor of God. Here it is. Listen to him describe the battle, why you’re putting this armor on. This is Ephesians 6:11-12. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

[00:01:38] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” So, we may say that we are battling addiction or harmful thoughts or past bad decisions or pornography use or anger issues. There’s so many physical fronts where we can see the physical battle that we are waging, but behind those physical battles and skirmishes, there’s a spiritual war that’s being waged. There’s an enemy, and his army is trying to rule over a kingdom that is under attack by the inbreaking kingdom of God. As C.S. Lewis put it, we live in enemy-occupied territory. That’s where we live right now. There’s an enemy who very much likes how the world is broken and is doing everything he can to see that Jesus and His kingdom doesn’t take any of his territory. And that territory is people. It’s not land. It’s not physical land. It’s the hearts and minds and souls of people like you and me. Now, if what I just said is a little bit foreign to you, maybe a little over the top, maybe even as a little bit crazy. I want you to hear it directly from Jesus today. You may feel like demonic influence and spiritual warfare and the power of the gospel are outside of your zone of belief.

[00:03:20] You’ll believe so much, but you may feel that this is sort of outside of that. But if you have ever looked at the incomprehensible evil of our world and thought, why, how could any person do that to another person? If you’ve ever had that thought, you ought to give a hearing to Scripture on this, because the Bible gives answers to these questions about what you’re seeing in the world that you won’t find in the world itself. The Bible gives sense to the insensible. It draws a spiritual picture that makes sense of the physical reality that we can see with our eyes. Here again, I’m going to quote from C.S. Lewis, who wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” It makes sense of our world. The spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of people is real. It’s a real battle. There’s a real enemy who wants to be your king. And there is a real king who wants to save you from that enemy. In the coming of Christ into the world, kingdoms collided. If you came this morning hoping to hear a Christmas sermon. There you go. Jesus came into the world, and he brought with him a kingdom. And during his entire preaching ministry he brought this kingdom to the people.

[00:04:53] And he invited people to join it, to enter into it. And at the cross, he died, and he opened the gates of this kingdom, so that you and I, by trusting in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for our sins, we are released from the clutches of an evil king and can stand with Jesus in the kingdom of God. That’s where Jesus is taking us today in Luke chapter 11, from the passage that you just heard read aloud. Jesus is inviting you today to trust in him and be released from the clutches of demonic power, never to be controlled by them again. So, if you have your Bible, you can open to Luke chapter 11, or if you have that Bible in front of you, you can keep it open there and you can follow along this morning. Jesus is confronted in verse 14. He’s confronted with a faulty accusation from the people who want to take him down. Let’s begin with that accusation, Jesus casts a mute demon out of a man, which frees the man to be able to speak. And it says the people marveled at this. There was a lot of excitement over his ability to do this. We don’t know how long the man couldn’t speak, but it must have been long enough for commotion to be caused when he did speak. There are two reactions to this

[00:06:17] it says from the crowd. One of those reactions Jesus completely ignores, and the other he addresses directly. There’s a group that wants him to do more miracles. They want to see even more signs from heaven. Really, what they want is a show, and Jesus just ignores that group. But the other group makes an accusation that Jesus addresses at length. They say that he casts out demons by Beelzebul, the Prince of demons. Now Beelzebul is the proper name given by the Jewish community to Satan or the adversary. It probably means either Lord of the flies. Or Lord of the dung heap, depending on where you think the word comes from. But let’s be honest, does it really matter? I mean, between the two you get dung heap and flies. Usually those go together, right? So, it really doesn’t matter. He is the prince of something terrible is what’s being said there. And the argument goes like this. Hey, crowd! Jesus is able to cast out demons because he’s been given the power to do so by the prince of demons. See, they want to get the crowd to turn against Jesus, and they can’t do it by denying his power because his power is undeniable. Because the mute man is speaking. So, they attack the source of the power. Hey, everybody, you don’t want to be touched by this man, do you? Because then you’d be coming under the influence of evil. This argument is not unlike the tactic here in our Western culture today, that tries to dissuade people from listening to Jesus or adhering to the gospel, or even attend church services, or be part of a church community by declaring what we do here evil. I just had one of my non-Christian friends make his yearly holiday reminder to all of his friends not to give any money to the Salvation Army bell ringers, because in his mind they are a hate group. Now the Salvation Army, why are they a hate group? Because they teach the Bible. That’s why. This sort of thing is only going to increase. It’s only going to get worse over time, as those who follow Jesus are moved further and further from the path that everybody else is on. And so, as representatives of Christ sent to share the gospel in this community where God has placed us in ways that can be understood by our community, we should not only expect to be slandered, we should be prepared to respond as Jesus does here with both love and clarity. So, Jesus has two arguments. The first argument against this accusation is a logical one. Any house or army or kingdom that divides against itself will fall. And we know this is true because it’s true in every realm of life. It’s true of nations, full nations.

[00:09:27] Abraham Lincoln famously drew from Jesus words here to describe how the US couldn’t continue to be half slave and half free. This was before the Civil War, before he was even president. In a speech in 1858, he looked at the country divided over the issue of slavery, and he said, it’s going to become all one thing or all the other a house divided against itself cannot stand. But it’s not just nations. It’s true of everything. It’s true of sports teams. Commentators talk about whether coaches have lost the locker room all the time, meaning the players no longer listen to the coach. Everybody starts blame shifting. The players start to battle each other instead of the opponent. And what happens? The team implodes. It falls apart. It’s true of marriages. It’s true of the place you work. It’s true of the school you go to. Anywhere people have to work together to succeed, if they start to battle each other, they will fail. They will fall apart. Jesus says every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. That means it cannot stand up to outside attacks. They will be badly beaten if an opponent comes against them. And the other thing he says here is a divided house falls. It collapses from a lack of structure, like when you pull the wrong Jenga piece out, right? And the whole thing just topples down to the ground.

[00:11:01] So it makes no logical sense at all to say that Jesus is ending demonic influence, that he’s opening the mouths of people who were once mute using demonic power. That doesn’t compute at all. And I think his opponents probably know this, but at this point they’re just trying to grasp for anything that they can to undermine Jesus and win back the crowds of people who have turned from following them to follow Jesus. And then Jesus switches to a second argument here in verse 19, which is really the last word on this accusation. He says, look, if I’m using Satan’s power in order to destroy Satan, what power is your own team using to do the same thing? See, there were other Jewish leaders who were healing and praying, casting out demons and doing their work in the name of the Lord. Now, they didn’t have the authority that Jesus did. That’s what made Jesus so special, so set apart. But they were doing the same sort of work. And Jesus says, if you assign satanic power to what I’m doing, then you have to assign it also to what they’re doing, too. And if these opponents start calling every healing and every good work an act of satanic power, they may find themselves opposing the Lord himself. So, in the stunned silence that those two arguments must have produced that day, Jesus fills the crowd in on what’s really going on here, what’s really happening.

[00:12:42] And this is where we get that peek behind the curtain to see what’s happening truly, spiritually. But if it is by the finger of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus was doing more healing and greater works than anyone else. When he healed the man who was born blind, people were amazed because they said, no one has ever been able to heal a man who was blind from birth. No one has ever been able to do that. If Jesus is working in power, if he’s releasing captives and transforming lives in ways that no one else can, and he’s doing it with God’s power by the by the finger of God, then it is undeniable that the kingdom of God has come into this earth. Satan isn’t attacking Satan, Jesus says. Here’s what’s happening. Both in Jesus’ day and in our day here, right now, 2024, in Rochester. Here’s what’s happening. God in his sovereign power, his reign over all of creation has allowed Satan to have some influence. He’s given him some room to move. We can call this his small K kingdom. It has created what Paul calls in Ephesians chapter six, this present darkness that we can all feel. And the root cause of this is human rebellion against God

[00:14:16] when Adam and Eve decided to listen to Satan’s voice and disobey the Lord’s voice. But the result of that has been that Satan has now been given limited reign over a kind of kingdom. Three times in the Gospel of John, Satan is referred to as the ruler of this world. Not the ruler of all creation, but the ruler of this world. But his kingdom has been defeated in the coming of Christ and the decisive battle of this war has already taken place. It took place on the cross. I want you to listen to how Jesus describes his impending death. His crucifixion is coming up and he’s talking to his disciples, and he describes it like this. This is John 12:31-33. “‘Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” So in the coming of Christ, the kingdom of God broke through the walls of Satan’s kingdom. That’s what happened. Jesus came. He broke through the walls and on the cross the death blow of Satan’s kingdom was delivered. And now God’s kingdom is taking ground by drawing people to Jesus.

[00:15:47] And here in Luke 11, Jesus describes that act like this. He gives us a picture. He says it’s like a strong guy. He’s a strong guy. He’s in front of his palace to guard it so that he doesn’t lose his stuff. He’s going to be out there and he’s going to guard it so he doesn’t lose his things. It says he’s fully armed. So, we know he’s a Republican, right? And so he’s out in front and he is battling. He’s ready for war. And Jesus says that when a strong man does this, his goods are safe. Everything behind him is safe because he’s willing to battle. The implication is nothing can get through this guy. So, what does it take to break that defense? What’s it going to take? It takes a stronger man. It takes someone who’s better equipped, has better weapons to get through. The stronger man has to attack him and overcome him. You don’t go around the strong man. You have to go through him because he won’t relent. The stronger man has to subdue him and to defeat him. And when he does that, he takes away the armor that the strong man trusted in. And he divides the strong man’s goods. Friends, that’s what happened at Christmas. The stronger man showed up.

[00:17:22] He came into the world to bring down the strong man. When the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ is shared with someone, and that person puts their trust in Jesus, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit and their life is made new, Jesus just took Satan’s stuff. He just plundered him. The gospel is plundering Satan’s palace. The stronger kingdom of God is disarming, overwhelming, and subduing Satan’s kingdom. So, when you hear stories like you just did today. When you hear stories of people trusting in Jesus and overcoming addictions and having their lives made new, you’re not just hearing a nice story about someone who found a way out. And sometimes we hear it that way. Oh, that’s a nice story of someone who found their way out. That’s not what you’re hearing. You’re hearing a story of spiritual victory in that. Our rescuer has broken us out of Satan’s jail and brought us into the family and into the kingdom of God, never to return again. And this is why we as Christians are called to share the gospel with people. That’s why we’re told to share this with people. Share it with everyone. In a sense, the message of Jesus is the stronger weapon. You know, in the list of the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter six, the sword in the weaponry. The sword is called the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.

[00:18:54] It’s the message of Christ, the Word of God contained in the scriptures that pierces through Satan’s grip on people. So, Satan holds people with lies. That’s his primary weapon. He holds them with lies. He says, don’t think about your sin. Don’t worry about judgment. You’re fine just the way you are. Or he says, you’ll never be good enough. You’ll never overcome your past. You’ll never overcome these problems in your life. So why try? Just do what’s easy. Why try? Or he says, you know you’re the good one. You’re the right one. Everybody else is wrong. And you’re the one that’s right. The examples of Satan’s tactics that we are given throughout Scripture are varied, but they all have to do with lies, and these lies will be shaped uniquely to you, the way you’re set up, the sort of things that you’re susceptible to. They’re going to be unique to you. And what they’re going to do is they’re going to try to get your eyes off of the Lord and onto yourself. And these lies are the weapons and armor that Satan is trusting in to protect his palace and the goods inside and the goods inside are men and women. They’re you and me. He has fooled men and women into turning from the truth. That’s what he’s done with his lies. And since Satan’s weapons are lies, well

[00:20:21] the stronger weapon would have to be the truth, right? That’s the only thing that can defeat lies. The only thing that can defeat lies is the truth. And this leads us to the very next thing that Jesus says, which is a warning. And I’m going to read it in full again, because it’s just that important. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.” Jesus says, if you are not with him in his kingdom, then you are in the kingdom that is being conquered and destroyed. There’s no neutral ground. There’s no other place that you can be. There’s no other kingdom. You’re either safe with Jesus or you are unsafe without him. You are either under the reign of Jesus or you are under the collapsing reign of Satan. There’s no other place to live. And that’s why he tells this account of this unclean spirit. Now, I know that this story is a little strange because it again, it’s picturing spiritual realities that we can’t see.

[00:21:51] But the sense of this is pretty clear. A person is set free from an unclean spirit, that one that makes him sick or harms him in some way. And that’s great. That’s a great start. That’s what you’re hoping for, right? That somebody would be free of this thing that is tormenting them. But then the unclean spirit heads out into the wilderness and finds no one else to torment and then decides, you know, I’m going to head back to that guy, I’m going to head back to that guy, and I’m going to torment him again. But what does the unclean spirit find when he comes back? Well, it says he finds a house or that person is all cleaned up, all put back into order, free of torment. That guy got his life back together. But the house is uninhabited. There’s nothing in there. The mind and the body. Maybe they’re cleaned out, but the soul is still sick, right? The heart is still sick. So the unclean spirit goes and gets seven spirits who are more evil. And they all live together there. And that guy is now far worse off than he ever was before. Now, that’s hard for us to picture spiritually, but it’s really easy for us to picture physically. We see it all the time.

[00:23:11] I’ll tell you why I love a ministry like Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. When I took a tour there a little while back now, one of the things that stood out to me the most about that ministry is how gospel centered they are in their approach. You heard that here this morning. You heard that from the folks themselves. They understand that they are not there simply to help people overcome addiction. They are there to set captives free in Jesus. That’s their motivation. That’s their mission. See, addiction is just a symptom, okay? That’s all it is. Addiction is a symptom of the greater problem that every one of us has. We need to exit the crumbling kingdom of Satan by grabbing hold of the Savior, Jesus Christ. See what Jesus is describing here is a situation where someone might be set free of some demonic presence, something that’s tormenting them or bringing them down, but then not follow that up with trust in Jesus Christ that would lead them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They’re an empty house. They’re not a temple of the Holy Spirit. They’re just an empty house. They got their their life together in some way. The release of Satan’s grip is wonderful, but if you don’t follow that up with faith in Jesus, you leave a vacuum in your soul that eventually will be filled up again by something far worse.

[00:24:38] You know, it’s because of that spiritual reality that I am very concerned with any approach to helping other people that doesn’t present the gospel of Christ as the solution. It’s the only solution. It’s the only solution. I don’t want people to feel more comfortable and living at peace in the kingdom of Satan. I don’t want that. I want people to find real peace and real, eternal life in the Kingdom of God. See, a well-ordered life lived apart from Jesus might look honorable on the outside, but it’s just a ticking time bomb. It’s only a matter of time. It’s an empty house that will eventually be filled again. And you may say to me, but Kyle, what about all the people that seem so happy who don’t follow Jesus at all. And I would remind you that Satan is perfectly happy and content for you to be happy with his lies, if it will keep you from leaving his kingdom. While Jesus was saying these things, a woman shouted from the crowd, blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed, which I can only assume was a really big compliment back then, right? Probably wouldn’t have phrased it quite like that myself. But the idea is, Jesus, you’re wonderful. Blessed are you, Jesus. You are a great teacher and he is! What she said, there’s nothing wrong with what she said, that she is exactly right, but never one to pass up an opportunity to teach,

[00:26:15] Jesus said, you want to know who’s really blessed? You want to know where real blessing comes from? Blessed is the one who hears the Word of God and keeps it. That’s who’s really blessed. Friends, what will you do with the Word of Jesus this morning? What will you do with the words that Jesus has shared with you today? You’ve heard the words of Jesus about his kingdom. What’s spiritually, truly happening behind the scenes. You’ve heard and you’ve seen the testimonies of those who have been set free by Jesus. But what are you going to do with the Word of God? I want to invite you to stand with me. Please stand with me as we close our service in prayer. And after I pray you’re going to be dismissed from the service. But I invite you to come and pray here at the front if you’ve got to do business with the Lord this morning, if you’ve got to respond, and we all do. If you got to respond to the words of Jesus this morning, we got our prayer teams down here in front and come forward and pray with them. Don’t leave your life well-ordered but empty of faith in Jesus. Let’s pray.