The Mighty Hand of our God

Jesus and Beelzebul

Luke 11:14–26 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. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “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. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Return of an Unclean Spirit

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Matthew 9:32–34 32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

Mt 12:22–32. 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

When the demon was gone the mute man spoke… Freedom church. This is why your here and I’m here. This is why were are all here. The mercy and grace of our amazing God. This man found freedom. Freedom He couldn’t find anyplace else.

Unable to speak, unable to see… The man Jesus healed was so bound in oppression He couldn’t even physically ask for healing. He was so bound by oppression He couldn't couldn’t see to find His way out of the darkness.

How many of us have seen others in this condition… The drug addict. The alcoholic. The person caged by depression, anxiety or fear. Or maybe pride has become their master. People completely and totally lost to the point they have no way to even ask for help ?

I have been there… Most, if not all of us if we are honest with ourselves have been. I was so wrapped up in my little world and deceived by pride before Christ even if I could have recognized how bad things were I wouldn’t have had the humility to say anything. But something happened. Something got ahold of me like it got ahold of that man. Because Jesus reached into that mans life.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power and authority to speak directly to sin… Jesus speaks directly to what is broken in your life.

Mark 1:23–26 “And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.”

There is power and authority in Jesus, the word of God made flesh.

That Word, that Truth, has the unique ability to cut through the lies enemy has told us and even the lies we have told ourselves.

Never was anything like this seen in Israel… They saw what they had never seen before. Signs and miracles like no prophet before Jesus had ever preformed. People were being delivered from Demonic possession in dramatic fashion right in front of their eyes.

There were three responses to Jesus miracle…

Those who marveled at what Jesus did… We don’t know how this happened but we are at least open to the fact it was a miracle

Those who sought signs and wonders… These were people who wanted something to be able to deny what Jesus has done. The doubters who just want to argue, so they can be right. They were looked for anything they could find to argue with the truth they had just witnessed.

Those who attacked Jesus.

They didn’t argue that He had healed the mute and deaf man... They argued how He healed him. Consider how important a detail this is. Even enemies of Jesus Christ didn’t claim the man wasn’t healed. If you wanted to discredit Jesus Christ’s ministry the easiest way to do so would have been to argue the miracles He conducted never happened. Yet none of Jesus’s enemies tried that route. Why? Because they couldn’t argue with the evidence. There were too many people walking around radically changed by Jesus Christ in ways that nobody could argue with. Hey can’t speak or see for years Bam now you can. O born blind from birth Bam, o you can. O you cant walk, you been lying by the pool for years hoping for a miracle, Bam now you can walk. O your brothers Dead, dead no more, Bam, rise.

O Jesus may this be our experience. May the abundant love and grace of God to transform the lives of people around us become the reality we live in

This should cause faith to stir in your hearts… Next time you take a step of faith and pray for a person in need I want you to remember Jesus’s miracles. Not even His enemies could claim they didn’t happen. And what did Jesus say, All authority has been given to me, Go, do likewise! Church you have become and extension of the Fathers power and love to the lost, trapped, sick and dying.

This is what you will encounter… As you witness to people you are going to see all three of these responses and it’s okay.

You hope that you get the first response Luke recorded Jesus got. You hope that whoever you have prayed for marvels at the truth and power of God. A seed has been planted in that persons life. God is working to reveal Himself to them, they have not outright rejected Him.

You might get the second response. They may simply try to discredit you or God like those that sought signs and wonders. Well if God is so good then how come...xyz. Well then why didn’t He...123. These are the people who value their opinions and thoughts above the truth of God. There is a way that seems right to a man and in the end it leads to death.

You might get the third response. They may attack you and try to completely discredit the truth. What were they really saying about Jesus? Ignore this man He serves the devil. At very least they will call you crazy and laugh at you. At the worst it could lead to real persecution.

What would have happened to Jesus if the Pharisees had convinced the crowds that He actually served the devil?.. They probably would have had Him stoned. There are sometimes very real consequences to witnessing for Christ. Remember in scripture the time they tried to stone Him and He slipped away? They could have tried to do that to Him right there.

Fear of Man… That may cause fear to rise up within you, but I tell you to opposite, denying Christ, is much more frightful than denying men. I call this the fear of man. The fear of man if is the opposite of the fear of God. It puts the opinion’s of others and your own comforts and wants in the place God should occupy. Instead of serving Him you serve others to make things better for yourself.

Mt 10:25–28.

25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. Have No Fear 26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus was willing… Jesus was willing to do the work of the Father no matter the opposition was He faced. It didn’t matter if some didn’t believe. It didn’t matter if they attacked His character or His ministry. It didn’t even matter if they tried to take His life, which they unsuccessfully did at least once before the cross. Jesus was unashamedly who He was, the Son of God.

What if we were wiling … I wonder what would happen to us if we got that picture of who we are to the Father. I wonder what would happen if we said it doesn't matter what you do to me my Father in Heaven reigns and in His hands I commit myself, I am a son of daughter of the most high God. Jesus in His one life of complete sold out service to Father was able to do so much. I wonder what a room full of believers doing the same things could do. I wonder what a city full of believers could do. I wonder what a state full of believers could do. I wonder what a nation full of believers could do.

Will you speak up for Jesus. Will you go out on behalf of Jesus. Will you put you faith into action for Jesus.

By the finger of God that I cast out demons… The phrase Jesus used, the finger of God should have been familiar to the Jews.

Ex 7:1–13.

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

The staff and the serpent

The Nile turned to blood

2. Frogs

3. Gants

Ex 8:16–19.

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’ ” 17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. 18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. 19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

4. Fly's

Lets fast forward to Mount Sinai

Ex 31:18.

18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

There is a common theme associated with the finger of God…

God is revealing Himself - The Pharoah, Egyptians, the Israelites

As God is revealing Himself He is overthrowing the Kingdom of satan- He confronts the pagan idolatry of the Egyptians with Moses, Confronts the idolatry of the Israelites on Sinai{What's the very fist commandment “the Lord your God is one” why did the 10 commandments start with that commandment? First of all its the most important commandment, you shall worship God and God only, there is no other like Him. Secondly the Israelites have spent 400 year surrounded by Idola worship. That had to be broken from them. The fact that they were prone to idolatry worship is evident in the account when Moses comes back down Sinai with the tablets written on by the finger of God and finds them worshiping the golden calf the made with their own hands.

His hand versus their hands vs our hands… Do you see the contrast in scripture here? How without God, the hands of man only create idolatry and sin, but the finger of God, even one finger, just the smallest amount has the power to set men free and overcome the darkness?

The connection was meant to be convicting … Jesus’s connection to the Gods old testament display of power to an unbelieving nation and an unbelieving people should have been convicting. Instead to them it was insulting. Think about this. Even the Pharoah’s magicians admitted that what was happening had to be the hand of God Himself. Yet as Jesus preforms miracles that clearly only God can do the Pharisees, in their embarrassment and their jealousy, Good Jewish believers, not like the Samaritans who broke away, attribute the move of God to the enemy of God.

This is what happens when what God does to convict us becomes something we let offend us. We can either fight Gods truth or surrender to it. When we fight it ultimately it drives us further away from Him. When we surrender to it it draws us closer. If you find yourself offended with God pump the breaks. Something is wrong and He is trying to get you attention before you crash.

The Kingdom of God… Jesus tells them that this is the Kingdom of God come. Seeing His children set free is the will of the Father.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done…

The Kingdom of the enemy… Do you see how these passages are linked together by the common theme of the two kingdoms? The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan. It began in the old testament when God confronted the pagan idol worship in Egypt, false worship in the kingdom of satan. It continues here in Luke and Matthew were Jesus confront the demonic and throws them out of a place God has claimed as His own, one of His children.

v21-22.… When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil… What is Jesus talking about here? Jesus is saying guess what, somebody stronger is here. God has shown up and the devil must go. They were not just words either were they? They were followed up by action. The demon left.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters… Listen there are only two Kingdoms Jesus ever talks about. Gods Kingdoms and the enemy's. There isn't a third one called Undecided. There are no Swedish people in Spiritual war we are in. We may live in Missouri but we don't get to sit this one out. Jesus made it clear. You’re going to fight for one side or the other, even if you don’t realize it. The ranks of the enemy's forces are filled with men and woman who have no clue their even in a war.

James 3:14–4:12.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Warning Against Worldliness 4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Do these things sound like the world around us today? … Certainly. Why. Because a whole lot of people are enlisted in a war they don't even know is being fought.

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Jesus freed that man from His prison… But it was still up to Him about what to do afterward. Did He leave it empty after Jesus evicted the occupant? Was he a target once again for what He had been a slave too? I don’t know, The narrative doesn't tell us.

Imprisoned over and over again… Have you meet the person before, who finds freedom from their vice only to go back to it again? I have known people who have gotten clean at least 20 different times in their life only to return to their addiction. The problem is without Jesus, you may escape the prison of sin you were in, but when the lure and attraction of sin catches up with you, How do you beat it? But if Jesus becomes the ruler of your house, and sin shows up, it doesn't have anyplace to go. Jesus is already there.

Closing

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.… A God who forgives.

Halloween… Engage.