Mark 3:22-27 "The Fallacy of a Divided Kingdom"

Introduction

A. Jesus had members of His own family saying He was out of His mind. Such criticisms are still made to this very day about the historical Jesus and those who seek to follow him.

B. But the idea of a crazy Jesus is just one way in which people have historically tried to explain the person and work of Jesus Christ away. The religious leaders of Judaism had their own accusation as we see in our passage this morning. Look back at your text to Mark chapter 3, verse 22 :

I. Expressing the Accusation (22).

Notice that the scribes have moved from asking questions, as they have done in the past, to making an accusation.

They are accusing Jesus of being possessed by the devil. Beelzebul is a Hebrew name that was derived out of Baal worship that was used to refer to Satan.

They are arguing that He is possessed by the devil and by that power He is exercising authority over the demons and evil spirits that He is casting out.

The accusation is being made to discredit His miracles as being from God. They do not deny the miracles themselves. The scribes know He is working miracles by the means of supernatural power. That is undeniable, but they are accusing Him of being empowered by the evil one.

Remember that we saw last week that Jesus’ family were arguing that He was out of His mind and now we have the scribes saying that He is possessed by the the devil himself.

But the Lord Jesus knows better. He is fully aware of their twisted logic and He exposes this accusation as a fallacy of logic. Look at what I am calling “Exposing the Fallacy” in verses 23-26:

II. Exposing the Fallacy (23-26).

Jesus uses two parables that illustrate the problem with their logic.

In one parable He uses a Kingdom. And He makes the point that a Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. This is obvious because at the heart of such an argument is an internal contradiction. The Kingdom would fall under its own assault and it would undermine the legitimacy and vitality of the Kingdom itself.

The second parable is one regarding a house. And he applies the same line of argument to the house. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Again this would create an internal conflict with the legitimacy and vitality of the house.

He then takes the obvious logic of His line of argumentation and applies it to Satan and his dominion over the demonic realm. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided he cannot stand but is coming to an end.

And the implication would be that Satan is bringing himself to his own destructive end.

Christian notice how the Lord Jesus turns the tables on the scribes. Instead of discrediting Him and His ministry he discredits them and their logic by stating the obvious. And by doing so He makes it clear that His Kingdom and ministry is in direct opposition to Satan and his demonic realm of darkness.

And we have already seen that Jesus has exercised His preeminent power over the realm of darkness.

And yes Christian it is a real realm that Satan operates in. But it is one that the Lord Jesus has ultimate authority over. It is the anti-type of the Kingdom of God in the world. There are only two dominions that operate in the world. There is the Kingdom of God and the dominion of darkness under Satanic domain.

One of the ideas that people have is that there are three. God’s Kingdom and then the dominion of darkness under Satan and then one that is just a material existence in a material world that people believe is like a neutral realm where men live out their lives in indifference to either of the spiritual realms of good versus evil.

Truth is there is only two realms of dominion. One is the Kingdom of God and the other is the dominion of darkness. All of the material world of human existence is under the direction of one Kingdom or the other, there is no middle ground.

Christ came into the world for the purpose of taking Satan head on. He came to crush the head of the ancient serpent in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15.

Jesus is not ministering in a divided house. He is at work bringing God’s purpose to completion. And He explains His purpose in verse 27:

III. Explaining the Purpose (27).

Jesus again uses a parable of someone robbing the house of a strong man. The strong man must first be bound in order to plunder the house and take what He has.

The strong man that He is referring to is Beelzebul, Satan himself. The house is the dominion and realm that he rules over and operates in. His goods are the people that are under his dominion. All those who fell into sin in Adam and continue in sin up to the current day.

Satan cares not for real estate except in how it pertains to human life and existence. He care not for the material world except in how it pertains to human life and existence. His goal is to claim as many of the human bearers of the divine image of the glory of God as possible.

And most notably he most often does not use the demonic manifestations of the non-material world or the metaphysical realm. As a matter of fact that realm is way to obvious and not really his most deceptive approach under his dominion. It is real and it is there but he is far more effective just using the mundane aspects of the world being dangled in front of our fleshly appetites.

His realm is destructive and we are powerless over it without King Jesus.

It was King Jesus that came into the world to bind the evil one and to plunder his house and to liberate the captive and set them free.

It was King Jesus who has rescued us Christian from the dominion of darkness and set us free to walk in the freedom and liberty of His divine grace.

It was King Jesus who has established the Kingdom of God and gave us an eternal residence in it with eternal provisions regardless of our ethnic identity and our status in the world.

Conclusion:

Christian if Christ has delivered you from the dominion of darkness, you know it came at a heavy price. He died on Calvary’s Cross to pay your debt. He ransomed us by a payment made to God the Father so that you could be justified before God by faith alone. That is your place of security and the basis of your current appeal for the benefits of mercy and grace to your life.

That is why we confess our sin and know that He is faithful and just to forgive us and to keep us secure in His grace.

But if you are not in Christ you are under the dominion of the evil one. There is no middle ground, there is no neutral realm. You are either rescued by the work of Christ or you are not. The difference is the rescued come to faith in Christ and they believe the gospel of Jesus Christ as the reality of their salvation.

Christ is here to plunder the dominion of darkness today and to claim what is His for His own. He has bound the strong man from deceiving the nations of the world Jews as well as Gentiles.

Come to Him and believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation by faith alone. Let’s Pray!