Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.21UNLIKELY
Fear
0.18UNLIKELY
Joy
0.16UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.49UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.57LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.24UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.89LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.58LIKELY
Extraversion
0.03UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.33UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.67LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
March 22, 2015
Intro – (Read Luke 11:14-23).
You probably heard about the CW vet who had relatives on both sides.
He couldn’t decide which way to go, so he finally dressed in Union blue pants with a Confederate grey shirt.
So – the Rebs shot him in the legs and the Yankees shot him in the chest.
When war is in your back yard, you can’t remain neutral.
You must declare a side!
Such is the spiritual warfare that envelops us.
People all over the world are dying – literally and physically in this warfare.
It is very real and present.
It is a war between a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light – an empire of Satan and an empire of God.
God already won the war at the cross.
But for purposes of His greater glory the battles rage until He says, “Enough!”
The world in which we live is right in the middle of this battle.
C. S. Lewis says, “Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is.
Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed… and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign in sabotage.”
That leaves us with two questions.
First, which side are we on?
God’s or Satan’s?
The illusion of a middle ground called “Self” is just that – an illusion.
There is no such place.
We are born as residents of the evil empire and remain so until we choose for God.
Then the issue becomes will we live in our new present rather than our old past.
We’re in enemy occupied territory, and compromise is easy.
This passage is about how we can have continued victory against the evil empire – the kingdom of darkness.
How do we escape and how do we stay out of its clutches.
Five principles for overcoming evil.
I. Evil Does Not Cast Out Evil
14 “Now he was casting out a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.”
The amazing has become commonplace in Luke.
This man was possessed by a demon that prevented his speech.
Jesus cast the demon out and his health was restored.
Crowd reaction is mixed.
Many still marvel.
But opposition is deepening.
For the first time in Luke we see the story the Pharisees have concocted to counter Jesus.
15 “But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”
Now the most important thing to notice here is that the one thing they do not do is deny the miracle.
They can’t deny the miracle!
That would be the modern approach, right?
Claim it was tricks, sleight of hand.
But no one in Jesus’ time ever questioned the miracles.
They were undeniable.
And they could never catch Him in any moral or legal issue.
Every effort to discredit Him failed.
So here’s their last resort.
“He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”
So who is Beelzebul?
Well, in II Kings 1:2 reference is made to a Philistine god, Baal-zebub which meant Exalted One.
The Jews had changed a couple of letters to rename him Beelzebul – Lord of the flies or Lord of dung – a gross insult to their hated enemy.
Over time the name became Yiddish slang for Satan.
So unable to deny Jesus’ miracles or catch Him in any legal or moral impropriety, the Pharisees hit on the idea of attributing His work to Satan.
They were saying, “You think he’s great?
He’s empowered by Satan himself.
He’s an infiltrator, a phony.
The Devil empowers him to fool you and lead you to disaster.”
It was enough to get a few on the fence thinking, “Maybe.”
So they reacted as in v. 16, “while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.”
Jesus will come back to this request for a further sign in v. 29.
But first He deals with the accusation that He is empowered by the Devil.
He attacks their argument in 3 ways.
First, he notes that if He were casting out demons by Satan’s power, Satan would be working against himself.
That would be sheer stupidity.
V. 17, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.
18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.”
Maybe Satan would allow 1 or 2 exorcisms to set a trap – but Jesus is casting out demons all over the countryside.
He is leaving devastation in his wake.
This is no con game.
I used to pitch a little.
But I never let a ball go hoping the batter would tag one.
That would be a house divided, right?
I was pitching to 3-year-old Meagan one day (found someone I could get out!),
She hit a few, but after about 5 futile swings in a row, she put her hands on her hips and said, “Grandpa – you’re supposed to hit my bat.”
She hadn’t quite got the picture yet.
Pitchers don’t help hitters.
And Satan wasn’t helping Jesus.
That’s Jesus first point in answer to this charge.
Divided houses fall!
He gives a second answer in v. 19, “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.”
Judaism had exorcists – people who used crazy incantations and spells to cast out demons.
They experienced little if any success.
In Acts 19 Paul arrives in Ephesus casting out demons in the name of Jesus.
Now Acts 19:13, “13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”
[Obviously they were having little success with their incantations, so why not try this?] 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”
16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”
Don’t you love it?! That’s the exorcists Jesus had in mind.
He’s saying, “If you say that I – who never fail – am casting out demons by Satan, then who in the world is underpowering the miserable attempts of your colleagues?”
If they claimed God empowered the failures, then God must be empowering Jesus who never failed.
Thus the failure of their own exorcists brought judgment against them.
Jesus’ final point is v. 20 If someone enters the house of a strong man and takes what he is so intent on protecting, that one must be stronger yet.
And since Jesus is ordering demons around like new recruits in book camp, there is no question about who is stronger.
By every measure, Jesus is acting by the power of God.
So what is the principle behind all of this?
Simply this.
Evil does not work against itself.
Evil does not cast out evil, and if we are ever to be freed from the kingdom of darkness, it will not be by our good works which to God are as filthy garments (Isa 64:6).
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9