S - Gospel of Mark Pt. 12 (Mark 3:22-30)
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Why was the book of Mark written?
To prove that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who suffered, died, and rose again as Lord.
What was Jesus’ plan?
His plan is to save the world from its sin through His death and resurrection.
Last week we spent some time learning about how Jesus spent time with people even though it was hard. And because ministry was hard, Jesus prepared himself so that others could learn from him, so that they could help him carry the weight of everything, and so that they could keep up the work Jesus started even after He left.
Jesus continues to pursue ministry even when it was hard and it is a calling on our life to pursue God in obedience even when it’s hard and trust me friends, it will be hard.
But why don’t you and I keep reading to see what happens next:
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
So Jesus has done a few things He has:
Been Baptized.
Healed the Sick.
He Has Set People From Demonic Possession.
He Preached the Gospel.
But there is one thing He has done that’s made some people upset. Do you guys know what that is?
5. He Has Claimed to be God.
In other words Jesus said: I am God. And now because of this people want to kill Him. That is terribly sad news guys. Awful. Imagine this for second.
Imagine it is the hottest day of your life. And you have been in the sun all day. But someone has promised you if you keep going that at the end of the day you will get your favorite flavor ice drink from Pelicans. What are you going to do when you get that drink from Pelicans??
Would you throw it on the ground? Would you refuse it? Would you dig a hole and bury it? What would you do with it after being in the sun all day?
Jesus is way better than a cold treat on a hot day guys. Think about this, These people have been slaves for generations and they were promised that one day they would get a Messiah that was going to free them. And then Jesus shows up and says: I am that Messiah and what do these guys say?:
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
These people called Jesus satan. Isn’t that crazy? Instead of seeing what Jesus was capable of, instead of noticing that He could heal people and drive out demons, they called Him satan. Isn’t that crazy? This honestly teaches me something crazy about the world we live in:
The World Calls Evil, Good.
The world hates God so much that when they finally see Him, they call Him evil. This also teaches me that I am capable of that. Since I grew up in this world, I can begin to use the same language the world uses. I can get my signals crossed and I can begin to call God’s Goodness evil. So how do I avoid that? I have to latch on to what Jesus says. I have to choose to follow Jesus so that He can show me what good is and what evil is. Let me fill you in on a little secret, we don’t get to define what good and evil is. Because no one can agree on what good is and what evil is. I might say that stealing is wrong and someone else might say, when you can steal sometimes, and another person might say stealing is never wrong. We can not agree on what good is and we can not all agree on what evil is.
So in order for us to come to a consensus we have to allow God, who is all good, define good and evil for us. I have to read God’s Word because in it I can find out what is evil what is God, and in it I can find eternal life. Jesus is trustworthy because of what He has done for you and I. If I trust Him with my soul, then I can trust Him with my life here on earth.
But how do you think Jesus felt after He heard this people call Him satan? I am certain this broke His heart. He came to save these people and they called him satan. That’s crazy. But let’s see how He responds:
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
Jesus call them out for being dumb. He does, He says: Why would satan fight against himself? Now Jesus is much kinder than I am and praise God for that. But have you ever heard anyone say something absolutely dumb? Just ridiculous? And sometimes they don’t even realize how absurd they sound so you might say something like: Do you even know how dumb you sound right now?
Jesus didn’t respond to them like this because Jesus loves them right? But these guys are supposed to be the smartest people in town and they called the man that was driving satan out of people, satan himself.
That’s like kicking myself out of the house or turning myself into jail after I get away with robbing a bank. Jesus says: How can satan drive out satan? He can’t. But this is what’s amazing about Jesus, even though He is being accused of this nonsense, He takes a step back and a takes this opportunity to teach: in verse 27:
No one can enter a strong man’s house without tying him up first. This end has come.
What? Is Jesus teaching us how to rob a strong man’s house? Absolutely not. Jesus knows who this world belongs too. Do you know who this world belongs to? Let’s check out Ephesians:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Paul says: before you met Jesus, you used to follow in your sin and the guy who owns this world. And the guy who owns this world is satan. God is the creator of this world, and when He created it he gave us the keys to the house. In other words, God gave this world to us. But when turned our back on God, we took the keys to this world and guess who we gave it to? To satan. So Jesus does something incredible, He comes to satan house, ties him up, and then He plunders that mans house.
In other words, Jesus comes to satan house, this world, and he defeats satan at his own game and He takes you and me back. Jesus says: I can’t be satan because I came to deliver you from satan. I came to take away from this world so that you can have a new home with me in heaven.
Jesus could have gotten angry, Jesus could have thrown these guys to the moon for speaking ill of Him, but instead He teaches them that Hid love for them is great, and just because they say something dumb like this, it’s not going to stop Jesus from coming after you and me.
But then Jesus tells them they need to be careful with what they’re saying:
28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
Jesus tell these guys, you need to watch out because there is one sin that cannot be forgiven. have you guys ever heard of the unforgivable sin? It’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is a sin that God can not forgive. And you may be thinking to yourself, well Pastor Luis I thought Jesus can forgive all sins? Let me explain this one to you as best as I can:
The unforgivable sin is to knowingly, willingly, and persistently attribute to satan the works of God done by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, when you witness God do something that only He can do, and you claim satan is the one who did it. That’s what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.
William Lane says this:
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit forever removes a man beyond the sphere where forgiveness is possible. This solemn warning must be interpreted in the light of the specific situation in which it was uttered. Blasphemy is an expression of defiant hostility toward God. This is the danger to which the scribes exposed themselves when they attributed to the agency of Satan the redemption brought by Jesus. The expulsion of demons was a sign of the intrusion of the Kingdom of God. Yet the scribal accusations against Jesus amount to a denial of the power and greatness of the Spirit of God. By assigning the action of God to a demonic origin the scribes betray a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of the truth, chooses to call light darkness.
I want you to pay close attention to this:
The failure of the scribes to recognize Him as the Bearer of the Spirit and the Conqueror of satan could be forgiven. The considered judgment that his power was demonic, however, betrayed a defiant resistance to the Holy Spirit. This severe warning was not addressed to laymen but to carefully trained legal specialists whose task was to interpret the biblical law to the people. It was their responsibility to be aware of God’s redemptive action. Their insensitivity to the Spirit through whom Jesus was qualified for his mission exposed them to great danger. blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as a deliberate and final rejection of God's grace and the Holy Spirit's work, leading to a state of spiritual hardening and ultimate apostasy, rather than an unforgivable sin in the sense of God's unwillingness to forgive.
Jesus is willing to forgive us from all of our sin, but there will be people that will die because they will refuse to acknowledge their sin and when we don’t want to recognize our sin, God can’t forgive us. In other words:
God can’t forgive us from our sins if we don’t ask for forgiveness.
This can be very scary to think about. You may be thinking to yourself, Pastor Luis have I committed this sin before? OR who commits this sin? What happens now? There are 7 ways in which you can know if you or someone has done or is doing this:
(1) It is a sin of full knowledge.
(2) It is an ongoing disposition of the heart that resists the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
(3) It is a verbal act that attributes the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan.
(4) It is a willful rejection of God’s grace in Jesus.
(5) It is rooted in unbelief.
(6) It is a sin a Christian cannot commit.
(7) It is a sin not committed by one who is concerned that he may have committed it.
I want to close us out but I want to remind you of Jesus Parable:
27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
Jesus has come to satan house He has come to his turf and He has come to take us away from this evil mans house. But we have to choose to follow Him. My question for you this morning is: Will you follow Jesus out of this house when you leave? Or will you stay tied to your sin in the same way Jesus has tied satan up. We have a great opportunity to follow Jesus and to make His name known. If you don’t know who He is and would like to know, please talk to me.
