LOJ #124: ‘Overtaken Pt. 1’
Andover Baptist Church-Date
Opening
A. Text for today is Luke 11:14-18and our sermon is titled
‘Overtaken: Pt 1’
B. Scripture NET:
“11:14 NowHe was casting out a demon that was mute.Whenthe demon had gone out, the man who had been mute began to speak,and the crowds were amazed. 11:15 But some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul,the rulerof demons, He casts out demons.” 11:16 Others, to testHim,began asking fora signfrom heaven. 11:17 But Jesus,realizing their thoughts, said to them,“Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed,and a divided household falls.11:18 SoifSatan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I ask you this becauseyou claim that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”
C. Children’s Sermon(SLIDE)
1. Have Ian come forward with the kids with which he has
some candy in a baggy
2. “That candy in his hands is your candy, now Caden I
want you to get that candy from him”
3. ‘Why can’t you get the candy?’ (obviously because Ian
is stronger)
4. ‘Richard come get this candy from Ian and give it to the
kids’
5. ‘How come Richard was able to do it? Because he is
stronger than Ian’
6. ‘Did you know that is like the devil and Jesus? The
devil wants to take the good things away from us, but if
we trust in Jesus, Jesus will come and He will take from
the devil what is ours’
7. ‘Nobody is stronger than Jesus, don’t forget that!’
D. Introduction
1. It’s amazing how the world can make that which is good
seem like it’s bad
2. In 1997 my dad and I went to Washington D.C. to be a
part of the Million Man Promise Keeper Event
3. The event was focused on being better men, better sons,
better husbands
4. The fact that it was an all men event sent some feminine
liberal groups into a tailspin
5. It was if we had become the Little Rascals who put a
sign on the outside of their playhouse ‘No girls allowed’
6. They were sadly ignorant that this was not the case
7. Jesus encountered this kind of reaction to Him through
out His ministry, but with much more hatred and
animosity
8. Today’s text is no exception
9. The world still hates Him, the world still denies Him
even in the face of insurmountable proof that He is the
Son of God and the He is sovereign
10. And the world continues to blaspheme Him as they do
today in our text Luke 11:14-18
Sermon
READ: Luke 11:14 (Scripture slide)
“NowHe was casting out a demon that was mute.Whenthe demon had gone out, the man who had been mute began to speak,and the crowds were amazed.”
A. ‘Now’: after the talking about prayer
B. 'He' = Jesus
C. We find Jesus nonchalantly casting out a demon from a man
1. This demon had the characteristics of muteness
a. This muteness was either it’s specialty or also an
affliction it was stuck with itself (we are not
sure, but probably the former)
b. We have seen such possession like this before in
the Gospels (Mt 12:24-30; Mark 7:32-37)
Matthew 9:32–33 (NET)“32 As they were going away, a man who could not talk and was demon-possessed was brought to him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!”
c. Why muteness? I believe because it cuts the line
of communication between people, hurts them
socially
2. Now Jesus casts out demons faster than a red hot knife
goes through butter
a. Thedemon did the only thing it could, submit to
Jesus and leave the man.
b. Demons must bend to His will
c. We Jesus' absolute control and authority over the
spiritual realm
d. Exorcists often tried using roots and concoctions
and by calling on higher spirits….Jesus just
speaks
e. As believers this should give us pause to know
that our Savior is in control, fully and totally and
regardless of the situation that we find ourselves
He is there with us and no weapon formed
against us will prosper
READ: Luke 11:15, 16 (Scripture slide)
“11:15 But some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul,the rulerof demons, He casts out demons.” 11:16 Others, to testHim,began asking fora signfrom heaven”.
A. Some of the crowds were amazed 'But some of them' were not
1. The book of Mark tells us that these critics are from
Jerusalem
2. Mathew narrows it down even further and tells us that
these, surprise surprise, were the Pharisees and the
Scribes
B. They mention the name Beelzebul (also known as Beelzebub)
1. We see here in the text that they saw him as the ruler of
demons
2. In the Old Testament we are told that he was worshiped
in the Philistine city of Ekron
3. We also see the wicked King Ahaziah of Israel inquiring
of this demon demi-god as to whether or not he will
recover from a nasty fall
4. The account of this can be found in 2 Kings 1:2-6
2 Kings 1:2–6 (NET)“2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, “Go, ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”3 But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. 4 Therefore this is what the Lord says, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!” So Elijah went on his way. 5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?” 6 They replied, “A man came up to meet us. He told us, “Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”
5. This demon is prominent in cultic mythology as well
a. As we have already said he is seen as the prince
of demons
b. Some claim that he is in the order of the
cherubim (a powerful class of angels)
c. The demon has been referred to as one of the 7
princes of hell, the chief lieutenant of hell and
even the second in command to the devil himself
d. Some claim that he is the demon in charge of
false gods and religions
e. The name is also prominent in witchcraft,
6. Speaking of his name it is unique
a. Literally it translates to ‘Lord of the Flies’
b. It is believed that ‘zebul’ is a reference to dung
c. Which would fit with the Jewish rabbinical texts
that mock the worship of Baal (a name well
known in the OT and is associated with this
demon) in those who worship him are actually
worshiping dung and they are like the flies who
gather around it
7. Lastly he is identified as none other than Satan
C. These critics make the claim about Jesus that, ‘By the power of
Beelzebul,the rulerof demons, He casts out demons.’
1. Here we just saw something that was obviously good,
that one under the bondage of darkness is set free.
2. But those who are evil can take something that is good
and make it look evil. That is the work of the devil, that
father of lies and the spinner of lies.
3. They are claiming that Jesus' abilities are satanic! (the
Babylonian Talmud, completed by the 6th cent. A.D.
claimed that Jesus was a sorcerer)
4. In Mark's account they were claiming that Jesus was in
fact possessed by the devil
5. They have a problem you see, on one hand they know
that Jesus is exhibiting power that can’t be naturally
explained and on the other to claim that it is from God
ruins their position on Him
6. By calling Jesus in league with Beelzebul, it showed
their absolute hatred for Him
7. They hated Jesus because He was winning people over
to the Gospel and away from them
8. They hated Jesus because of His claims, because of His
teachings, His miracles, His disregard for their earthly
religious rules, for His compassion for sinners and for
being a polar opposite to them
9. The Jews saw the crucifixion as vindication for their
hatred that God had rejected Jesus (totally missing the
point that He went their willfully to save those who
would come to Him from their sins)
10. Their hatred extended to the early Christian Church
with the persecutions and murders we see in the book
of Acts
11. They turned on fellow Jews who would follow Jesus,
they changed their well-known Shemoney Esreh
prayer to include this request, ‘May the Nazarens and
minim [Jews that had accepted Jesus as the Messiah]
perish and be exterminated in a moment’
12. In effect cursing those who believe in Jesus, and they
felt so highly of this that if any synagogue leader
skipped this part of the prayer they would lose their
position
13. Doing all of this this puts them in dangerous territory
Mark 3:28–29 (NET)“28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
D. It just wasn’t these guys giving Jesus trouble as 'Others, to test
Him began asking for a sign from Heaven'
1. If they truly believed that Jesus was working with the
devil, why would they continue to ask for a sign
2. Jesus defeated evil, but that was not good enough for
them to see that He was from God
3. For some no amount of proof enough for them to accept
the truth (isn’t that a picture of the world today?)
4. They could care less about the truth, they just want to
shoot down Jesus
5. He had already here done a miracle and it was
discounted as demonic, why would He do another.
6. Because of this Jesus would not give in more tests as
His teachings and previous miracles were statement
enough.
7. There is no need for a sign from Heaven
Matthew 16:1–4 (NET)“1 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.”
8. Jesus IS God's Sign from heaven!
9. Still the same today
10. Atheists today do the same of God, when all of the
heavens declare Him.
READ: Luke 11:17, 18 (Scripture slide)
“11:17 But Jesus,realizing their thoughts, said to them,“Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed,and a divided household falls.11:18 SoifSatan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I ask you this becauseyou claim that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”
A. Jesus knew what they were thinking (we’ve seen this before)
B. So to show them the complete and utter foolishness for
claiming this Jesus employs simple logic
1. If a kingdom were to fight against itself, or a household
to turn upon itself the eventual outcome is destruction
of that kingdom or home.
2. This translates to the spiritual world as well
3. If Satan were to fight against his own kingdom it would
not stand
4. So Jesus asks their logic in saying that He casts out
demons by the very prince of demons.
5. I watched a movie the other night with Kirk Douglass
called Paths of Glory (1957)
a. In which Douglass is a coronel in the French
Army during WWI
b. Brings charges against a French general who
angry at his troops for perceived cowardice
orders an artillery attack on his own troops
c. Of course such an attack was seen as complete
madness and ignorance
6. In the same way there is no way the devil would be
waging a civil war against his own demonic kingdom
Application (slide)
A. Church a battle is waging around us, one that is already won by
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
B. We can rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus has won
C. Does your life reflect that? Does it show the victorious life that
can be found in Jesus?
D. For those of you here today that have not come to know Him
yet as your Lord and Savior, you know who you are
E. There is no room for those who are undecided and
uncommitted
F. To reject the calling of the Holy Spirit puts you in the very
same danger the enemies of Jesus found themselves today in
our text
Invitation
Let us sing our last song #,
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