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What we are going to talk about today is two kingdoms.
Up to this point in Matthew we have only read about one kingdom: “The Kingdom of God”.
But in this passage today we are introduced to another kingdom who has a spiritual ruler, who is able to enslave men and women and has great influence in this world in which we live.
Who am I talking about?
SATAN and the kingdom of darkness.
And one thing we should recognize from Scripture is that Jesus took the devil very seriously and so should we.
It is easy for us today to trivialize the power of Satan, the work of Satan, the temptation that Satan uses to lure us away from God, but they are very real and a great danger to us all!
Satan can inflict diseases, can influence our minds, can blind us to truth, can lure us into dark places of sin that we would have never dreamed we would go.
Jesus called Satan “The ruler of this world” (John 12:31).
Satan has a kingdom unleashed on this world right now.
And what he wants to do is get as many people as he can to turn from Jesus, and follow him right into hell.
He wants to suppress the people of God from sharing the truth of God so that people do not turn away from him and come to know the Savior.
There are two rulers of this world whom we cannot see
Explanation
THERE IS THE RULER OF GOD’S PEOPLE:
This is the Son of David: this is the coming ruler who was promised in the OT.
God was sending a great King like David, but yet this King would be so much greater.
He would bring freedom to God’s people, He would rule with a fist of iron, He would bring the life that people always wanted.
So the people see Jesus give this blind man sight and the ability to speak and immediately begin to think they are in the presence of the Messiah, of God’s coming Ruler.
Why?
Because the OT prophecies give a very specific description of what will happen when the Messiah comes.
Isaiah 35:3–6 (NASB95)
Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
These people knew their Bibles!
And they saw things that Scripture talked about would happen when the Messiah comes.
So when they saw these things take place they immediately thought, “this is HIM!”
ILLUSTRATION
How many of you so your shopping online?
And how many of you know what time the fed ex truck comes?
Or the mail carrier comes?
How many of you know exactly what kind of vehicle your mail carrier drives and when you see him you know he has what you’ve been waiting for?
The Messiah was bringing something to Israel that they had been waiting for and they were well aware what kind of vehicle He was driving!
Application
How many of us could recognize Jesus if he were here today simply by what He was doing?
We don’t know what he looks like so it would have to be by His character, His teaching, His mission.
How many of us have studied the Scriptures intently enough to know what is going to happen when Jesus comes the second time?
How many of us have made the Word of God such a priority in our lives that we are continuing the work that Jesus began?
God’s people should be educated in the things of God.
If we are not, we are going to miss Him when He comes, and we will not be able to recognize a lie when it is presented to us.
Do you know when Jesus comes again there will be spiritual deception?
Do you know that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light and His tool of choice when the end of this age comes will be to deceive with signs and wonders?
How prepared are we?
THE RULER OF DEMONS
Beelzebul is just another way of referring to Satan.
And what we see here is the power of God delivering a man who has been enslaved by the power of Satan.
What does that tell us about Satan?
He has come to bind people up, to enslave them to darkness, and destroy people’s lives.
And we should take this very seriously because the same activity we read about here, is the same thing that is going on in our world today.
Im not saying everyone is demon possessed.
But I am saying that Satan has great spiritual power to enslave people and control them.
And if people could be demon possessed then, why should we think they could not be demon possessed now?
There are only two rulers whom we cannot see
There are two Kingdoms whom are led by these rulers
Explanation
The Pharisees are accusing Jesus of getting His power from Satan to cast out demons.
But Jesus makes a logical argument to show that their suggestion is impossible.
He says he cannot be exorcising demons by demonic power, because then Satan would be fighting against himself.
And if Satan fights against himself, then his kingdom would not stand.
No king would throw his own soldiers out of battle and call it a victory; neither would Satan throw his soldiers out because his kingdom would then be divided against itself.
Such a kingdom would be laid waste.
Satan is no fool!
He has been at this game since the beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve and we should not trivialize the wisdom and power that he possesses.
He knows the Bible way better than we do, He knows the work, power, and character of God better than we do, and he is determined to get as many people as he can to go to hell with him!
So to throw his own soldiers out of their line of duty would be foolish.
Makes sense right?
Bridge
(v 27) Then Jesus says:, “If I am not driving out demons by the power of Satan, then I must be doing it by the power of God.
And if I am doin git by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you”
The only logical explanation is: The Kingdom of God has come to earth.
The Pharisees acknowledge the Kingdom of darkness and now Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom of light is here as well.
This is not future event as if Jesus were merely pointing to something that would be true one day.
“Has come” is a present tense verb, pointing to a present reality.
The kingdom has come, and the reason it has come is that Jesus has come.
If the kingdom has come because Jesus has come, then Jesus must truly be the king, the Messiah of the world.
Application
If the Kingdom of God has come, we must NOT live out our days as if it is non-existent!
As if there is no kingdom of God.
As if the coming of Jesus never happened.
As if everything is going to be ok if we just ignore and live our lives as the rest of the world!
Every decision we make should be made as if it has eternal implications!
Every day that our minds and hearts are consumed with this world and not God should cause us to fear at the thought of our present reality!
Hebrews says we should FEAR not entering God’s rest!
Our greatest achievement in this life SHOULD NOT be this world or the things of this world, but living for the kingdom of God!
God is here amongst us!
Judgement is coming!
Sin is not something we should take lightly!
The Kingdom of God is here!
The presence of good and evil are at work and it is all coming to an end sooner than we think!
How many of us if Jesus were to come back today, would be clearly recognized as kingdom servants?
There are only two kinds of servants
Explanation
It is as if Jesus turns to the whole world at this point and is looking at us from the pages of Scripture and says, “LISTEN TO ME!”.
There are only two kinds of servants.
There are those who are with Me and there are those who are against Me!
There are those who gather with Me and there are those who scatter!
Every Kingdom has servants
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