Sermon Tone Analysis

I like to go to Sams.

Presentations.

They quickly go through the details of the product.

Then they eventually come with the punch line which leads you to either purchase or walk away.

Luke has recorded all that needs to be known about the ministry of Jesus.

Now how would they respond?

-Greek word for mute = deaf and unable to speak

-Not uncommon for Jesus to cast out demons and heal, it was an every day occurrence

Luke 7:22 (ESV)

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

v. 23 - you are either with Jesus or against Him

No doctrine in the whole Word of God has more excited the hatred of mankind than the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God.

The fact that “the Lord reigneth” is indisputable, and it is this fact that arouses the utmost opposition in the unrenewed human heart.

Charles Spurgeon

The promises of God will eat their way over all the Alps of opposition.

Thomas Brooks

How do people try to oppose the truth?

Opposition Makes False Accusations

-Not the only time

Where is the rejoicing?

They wanted so bad to discredit Jesus that they overlooked the life that had been changed

Beelzebul - prince of Satan, lord of flies, lord of dung

They called the Most Holy, the most evil

-In the false accusation they were attempting to disprove that Jesus was God

-He knew their thoughts, yet He did not wipe them out

2. Opposition Disregards Logic

-Opposing Jesus, the truth, is irrational, it lacks sense

-There is no middle ground, either Jesus is God, who performed miracles or He is from Satan, and in no way can Jesus cast out Satan if He were from Satan

-Others mocked, asked for a sign, they were basically saying there was no evidence v. 16

-This was their attempt to try to explain how Jesus could do the supernatural

-Jesus pointed out their unreasonable response

-v.18 - He has not only exposed their irrational response, but has proved that He is God in that He knew what they were thinking and whispering among themselves

-sons cast out - rabbis, pharisees claiming to cast out demons, to do exorcisms, not very successfully - but claiming to do it by God’s power

-which would mean if Jesus was doing by the power of Satan then Satan would be more powerful than God which is false

3. Grace is Still Available

-the truth - no one compares to Jesus, He is the truth, the evidence points to Jesus, over 400 OT prophecies, all the miracles one could ever imagine, the death prophesied, over 500 seeing Jesus fully resurrected from the dead, why would anyone discredit what has been proven

-Notice how Jesus mercifully invites these opposers to embrace Him as God

-They were so spiritually dead, hard-hearted to not see that God was right in front of them.

There are only two responses: you are either with Christ or against Him?

Where do you stand today?

Do you know someone who is against Christ?

Pray for them.

Share with them the evidence of Jesus.