Father, we especially ask today, given what your word has said,
we especially ask today that you would be kind to us and merciful to us
and pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might hear what your Son teaches,
that we might hear what he teaches, and that we might keep what he teaches.
Father, may your Holy Spirit bring the words of Scripture deeply into our lives
so that we will be disciples gripped by the Gospel living for your glory.
And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated.
Every fourth week I speak on CFRA radio at 6.30 in the morning.
I do the taping on a Tuesday morning a couple of weeks in advance.
I think I'm on next week.
I can't remember when I'm on.
I sort of always lose track of when I'm on.
Anyway, I'm part of a team of four different people who all take turns speaking.
And a fellow who's part of the committee that runs and the team that runs the whole thing, a layperson,
he very helpfully provided for the four speakers just recently a list of things,
like a survey of things that 20-somethings are interested in when it comes to the Bible
and it comes to religion and the Christian faith and just life in general.
And it very helpfully provided the four speakers with a list.
And I just want to let you know that what we're talking about today is not on the list.
It didn't show up on the list at all.
Because I guess 20-somethings aren't really interested in talking about hardcore demonic possession,
which is what we're going to talk about.
So if you have your Bibles, please open them to Luke chapter 11, verses 14 and following.
And if you don't have a Bible with you, there's always some Bibles here at the front of the church,
which you're welcome to use.
And if you want, you can keep it afterwards.
Take it home as a gift from us.
And it's Luke chapter 11, verse 14.
And here's how it goes.
Now, Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled.
Now, just sort of pause.
We're going to spend a couple of minutes on this verse.
But this verse, this is just like a bit of a throwaway thing.
Notice how it begins.
It says, now.
Some of you know that I often have conversations in Starbucks or other coffee places
because I usually work on my sermons in Starbucks or places like that.
And so when you have an open Bible, eventually you start to have conversations with people.
And a very regular conversation that I have with people is that the Bible is completely and utterly untrustworthy
because it's filled with contradictions.
That it'll show things out of order.
That if you read Matthew, it'll show things following in one order.
And then you read the book of Luke and it shows things happening in a different order.
And so you can't trust it.
And so this is just a little bit of a throwaway for you.
Part of the reason that we think that is because most people are like me and don't know Greek,
which is the language that the New Testament was written in.
Because I don't know Greek, part of what I do for my preparation for sermon is read things called commentaries
where people know the Greek so I can find out if there's things going on in the original language
which don't get brought out in English.
And in the original language, there's...
So look here at verse 14.
It begins with now, right?
Now he was casting out a demon.
And in English, usually when we read now, we think,
okay, first the things in verses 1 to 13 happened.
And now these things happened.
But the actual word underneath that is really saying something like,
now I want to talk about this.
In other words, it's not making any claim that it's in any particular type of order.
The person writing the gospel basically wants to try to help us to understand who Jesus is.
And so, you know, just like if you were telling somebody a story about a friend or something like that,
you're trying to tell somebody about a friend,
and you might tell them about this really funny incident of what happened to them.
And then that funny incident makes you aware of other types of things that are like it.
And so you tell the person other things like that
because it sort of gives you a bit of a picture of the person.
And then maybe you go back to your story about something that happened after the first event.
And we all understand how that works.
And that's basically how especially Matthew and Luke are written.
So it means that you can't sort of look at Matthew and look at Luke and say,
oh, you know, he has this happening after this and this happening after this,
and it doesn't follow.
Well, no, no, in the original language, it's as if Jesus has just taught us about prayer,
and he's just taught us about the Holy Spirit.
And then Luke says, you know what, now I'd like to talk about this.
And that's what happened.
So look at verse 14 again.
We'll actually get more of my point.
Now, Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
Now, I'm going to try to describe the event fairly clearly.
And I'm aware of the fact that this text is actually highly problematic for social workers,
psychologists, and doctors, and probably others.
It's counselors and therapists.
It's a very, very difficult text.
In fact, of all the verses that I read, basically, we have this very, very tiny, short description of an exorcism,
and then sort of a long comment about it.
And the text is very clear.
Probably what happened is something like this.
People believe that Jesus had the power to heal, and so they bring somebody to Jesus who has been mute.
They're not able to speak, and they haven't been able to speak for quite a while.
And I guess they're expecting Jesus to heal the man.
But Jesus surprises them.
He doesn't heal him.
He looks at him, and he must have said something like,
Demon, be gone.
And because the crowd all recognizes that it's an exorcism.
And when Jesus says, Demon, be gone, the demon leaves.
And maybe people looking at the man who had not thought that he was demon-possessed,
maybe they saw a change in his eyes, or a relaxant of his shoulders,
or some type of physical bodily type of thing.
But the most astounding thing that they saw was that all of a sudden the man was able to speak.
And that's what the Bible is describing as having happened to Jesus.
It's all very, very terse.
Verse 14, now he was casting out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
It's a public miracle he does in front of many people,
and most of the people are completely and utterly astounded by what has happened.
And, well, here's the point.
So here's the thing.
Here's the very, very, very difficult thing about this text.
If you're a doctor and you're treating somebody who can't speak,
do you suspect that there's a demon there?
If you're a therapist dealing with somebody,
or a social worker dealing with somebody,
in Canada in the year 2014,
what would happen if you went to your supervisor and said,
I don't really think that this is a social problem,
I think that they're possessed by a demon?
And I'm guessing that would be a very awkward conversation
for a social worker with their boss,
or a therapist with her boss or supervisor.
And yet, I'm going to talk a bit more about this
throughout the rest of the sermon,
but, I mean, this is the very, very first thing to notice about the text,
that if this text is true,
it's saying that some of our physical problems and symptoms
can be a sign of demonic possession.
So here's the first point.
I'm going to talk a little bit more,
but, Andrew, if you could put the first point up.
I need to pray for myself and for others
that we will remember God's Word written
and learn how it applies to our jobs and our lives.
The grammar's not really perfect.
I apologize for that.
I'll try to polish it up later on.
But you get the basic point.
I need to pray.
We need to pray.
Christians need to pray.
Congregations need to become a prayerful congregation.
And one of the things that we need to pray about
is that each of us will hear God's Word
and remember God's Word,
and that God's Word will have an impact,
an effect on how we understand our jobs
and how we understand ourselves.
I'm sure that some of you, maybe many of you,
maybe all of you, pray on a regular basis for me,
and I'm very thankful for that.
Please keep praying for me.
I need lots of prayer.
But everybody here,
everybody who's a follower of Jesus needs prayer.
Like, what does a doctor do who's a believing Christian,
who believes that texts like this are possible
when he examines people?
Should he or she be spending some time
praying for spiritual discernment?
How does he wisely handle something like this
in the medical establishment?
Should she, as the doctor,
when she sees something like this,
should she be coming to her church
and saying, you know, I'm facing this situation,
it might just be medical,
but I have a feeling there's something else.
Would you pray for this person?
Like, how does that work?
You can see it's difficult,
but it's not just difficult for doctors
and social workers and stuff like that.
What's it like for a person in financial services
or in sales,
where the boss is completely and utterly consumed with greed,
and you're in financial services or sales
and you're dealing with people who are consumed with greed.
And how do you sort of manage that?
Like, how do you manage if you maybe have a boss
that wants you to always upsell,
even when it's not really good for the client,
and on the other hand,
maybe, you know, if you're doing stocks and bonds
and you realize that what's driving this person
is a really, they worship money,
and how do you deal with that?
You know, like, that requires prayer and wisdom.
And you could multiply examples.
You know, maybe it's not specifically,
maybe if you're in some type of engineering,
there's not a specific technical engineering thing,
but there's always people issues.
There's always control issues.
There's always issues of right and wrong and conscience
and limits and all that you shouldn't go beyond
and dishonesty.
And I'm not saying that the whole world is bleak,
but it's not as if you can live years and years and years,
and you never have to face this in your job or in your life.
And so this text,
by making some very, very shocking claim to Canadians
about physical illness,
might have a spiritual component.
It's really challenging all of us to do two things.
The first is to actually remember God's Word
and know it,
because if you don't know it,
you'd never even know to look or to think about it
or just to ponder it.
And we desperately need to go into the type of congregation
where we pray for each other.
I mean, one of the very powerful things
about going to a men's group or the woman's group
or one of the small groups
is that there's an opportunity to build relationships
where some of the stresses in your life
and in your jobs can be shared,
and that you can have people who pray for you specifically.
It might be hard for us as a congregation to do it,
but as you get to know other men or other women
or youth in the youth group
or in small groups,
it becomes a way by which you can pray for each other
with knowledge and with persistence and check up on it.
Now, some of you might be saying,
okay, George, this is very, very interesting,
and yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to do this,
but you're spending all this time in the sermon,
and then what are you going to do?
You're going to come up to yourself,
oh, and my time's up.
I guess I can't talk about demons.
Sorry.
And you sort of just bypass the whole thing.
No, we're not going to do that.
Let's look at verse 14 again.
Now Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
Here's the second thing,
not just about this,
but about the commentary that's going to happen,
because the exorcism is very brief,
but the commentary is long.
Here's the second thing,
if you could put it up, Andrew.
The Bible teaches that demons really exist,
and they will cause real harm,
and they should never be trifled with.
The Bible teaches,
Jesus teaches,
demons really exist,
and they will cause real harm,
and they should never be trifled with.
Now this isn't going to be a sermon
on demonic harassment,
and oppression,
and a whole range of different things.
Many of us might live our entire lives
without ever having to be face-to-face,
or deal with somebody
who's fully demonically possessed.
That might happen here in Canada.
Most of us experience demonic,
it's through most of us in our experience
with being influenced by demons,
it has more to do with a sense of slander against us,
an attack against us,
a self-worth,
a lack of confidence,
the type of things that cause division,
and that's our more common things,
and that would be another sermon.
That's not what the text is talking about.
But even in those, in a sense, lesser cases,
it's still clear that demons exist,
that they cause real harm,
and they're not to be trifled with.
This week,
I don't know if it was in The Citizen,
it was in other papers,
there was a big statue of Satan,
big red statue of Satan that appeared.
I was going to say Granville Road,
but it's the highway in Vancouver.
It doesn't matter,
Grandview, I think it is,
the Grandview Highway in Vancouver,
that you could see it off that.
It was a large red statue of Satan.
He had the horned salute,
and he had a massive erection,
and he was big and red,
and it appeared out of nowhere,
and then it got taken away.
And the newspaper article was about the fact
that many people liked the statue.
Some wanted it to return,
some would like to find out where they could buy it,
and have it in their house.
Or their garden,
or their front yard,
or in their dining room,
I don't know.
But here's the thing,
it was just like a curious newspaper thing,
and in pluralistic Canada,
some people like Satan, that's fine,
some people like Gaia, that's fine,
some people like Krishna,
some people like Buddha,
some people like Muhammad,
some people like Jesus,
some people like Jack Daniels,
and watching NFL football on a Sunday,
and they're just sort of all the same,
and whatever sort of turns your crank,
that's just fine.
And so in pluralistic Canada,
that's just the way it is.
But you see, the Bible here says,
the Bible is teaching that if demons really exist,
and the Bible says that they really exist,
and if they cause real harm,
then they should never be trifled with.
They should never be trifled with.
And as we read the,
I'm not going to just keep reading verse 14
over and over and over again,
not that that would be bad,
I'm not going to just keep reading it.
We'll read more,
and you get more of a picture
of the type of harm that demons cause.
But that's a fundamental takeaway for us,
that it's not to be trifled with.
Some of you might say,
George, are you just trying to kill curiosity,
and create fear,
and stop inquiry?
Well, no, not at all.
I'm well past having really tiny young children.
I have some grandchildren.
I'm not going to bore you all
with cute grandchildren stories.
But, you know, for those of you who are parents,
or those of you who observe parents,
it's a very, very tricky thing with kids.
On one hand,
a wise parent wants to encourage curiosity in their kids.
Right?
If you go and you visit somebody,
and every time the kid's trying to ask a question,
or try to touch something,
the parents are slapping them,
or verbally slapping them down,
and you think to yourself,
that's terrible.
You can't,
you know, that parent's way, way too controlling.
Like, curiosity's good in kids,
and inquiry's good in kids.
And so on one hand,
you want to encourage that with kids.
On the other hand,
there's certain things
that are just fundamentally dangerous,
and you don't want them to do it.
So, for instance,
one of my grandkids,
he's figured out,
he's very, you know, like this,
and he's figured out how to open doors.
And you don't want him opening the door
and going out on the street by himself.
Right?
So, I mean,
that's sort of an obvious type of thing.
And the Bible's trying to say
that it's the same type of thing here.
If you read the Bible from cover to cover,
if you've listened to the sermons,
it's very, very obvious
that Jesus loves questions,
that God is able to handle honest questions.
He wants us to ask questions.
In fact,
I would suggest that probably when we die
and we get to heaven,
God will rebuke us
for not asking enough questions in our lives,
for being far too complacent,
and not, in fact,
asking more and more and more
that too many of us get old.
Like, you know,
somewhere about the time we turn six,
or, you know, or 16,
we stop asking childlike questions,
and the rest of our life
is like a withering, withering, withering,
withering consumption
with just scheming and getting,
and we've stopped wondering.
And I wouldn't be surprised if God says,
why did you stop wondering
and being so curious?
Why didn't you not just say,
even if I live to be 98,
I'm going to be curious.
I'm going to have inquiry.
One of the things we're going to see in this text
is that this text, in fact,
talks a little bit about
what it means to be human.
But at the same time,
just like with kids,
you want to encourage their curiosity,
their inquiry,
their site of experiment.
There's just,
if something's really dangerous,
you also want to say,
no, no.
Okay, Greg,
you just,
you don't go,
you don't open the door
and go exploring
out by yourself.
You're too young.
There's too much danger.
And the Bible here is saying
that demons really exist.
They will cause real harm,
and they should never be trifled with.
So,
but here's the other thing.
So,
Jesus does this miracle,
and you can ask yourself,
well,
how is it that people respond
to this exorcism?
Do they show inquiry?
Are they curious?
Do they say,
gosh,
Jesus,
how do you do that?
Like,
whoa.
Well,
let's see.
Some people go,
whoa,
and other people have
one of two other responses.
It's in verses 15 and following.
But some of them said,
so go back to the very last part
of verse 14,
and the people marveled.
Verse 15,
but some of them said,
Jesus casts out demons
by Beelzebul,
the prince of demons,
while others,
to test him,
kept seeking from him
a sign from heaven.
Just sort of pause there.
Keep your finger there.
Some of these people
have really come right up
in Jesus' face
to really insult him.
Beelzebul was one of the
Jewish names
for the devil.
And the name,
this name for the devil
was created
by taking
an ancient pagan god,
Baal,
an ancient pagan god,
Baal,
and adding the word
for poop
only said
far more foul,
which I can't say
from up front
at church on a Sunday.
And they put
this pagan name
for God
with this word
for excrement
and they call devil
the lord of excrement.
And that's why
in some versions
it's also understood
as the lord of the flies
because excrement
left out
attracts flies.
So in a sense
it was a polite way
to say
lord of,
and fill in
how you may be
on the street
here,
excrement referred to.
And that's what
they say.
Jesus is just
under the power
of the lord of excrement.
I see it right
in front of everybody
to his face.
And others just say,
you know what,
Jesus,
yeah, yeah,
I've seen you
cast out a demon
before,
I got the t-shirt,
got the hat,
got the tattoo,
come on,
show us a real sign
from heaven.
And that we sort of
going to talk about
next week
because Jesus
sort of deals
with that
like later on
in the text.
But now he focuses
on those
who say that
what he's doing
is because he's
under the power
of the devil.
So verse 17,
but Jesus,
knowing their
thoughts,
said to them,
every kingdom
divided against
itself is laid
waste,
and a divided
household falls.
And if Satan
also is divided
against himself,
how will his
kingdom stand?
For you say
that I cast out
demons by Beelzebul.
And if I cast out
demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your
sons cast them out?
Therefore they will
be your judges.
But if it is
by the finger
of God
that I cast
out demons,
then the kingdom
of God
has come upon
you.
Just sort of
pause here.
We're going to
talk about it
more in a moment.
What we see
in Jesus'
response
is he says,
surely,
I mean,
he's talking
to a different
cultural context
than postmodern
Canada,
whereby many
of them would
accept the
reality of
demons and
have a certain
degree.
Some would be
fascinated and
want the power
that comes from
connection with
them, but many
would be
frightened of
it.
And Jesus
is in a sense
going to say,
I'm dangerous
too.
I'm dangerous
too.
I'm going to
explain it in a
moment, but
just say,
if, verse
20, but if
it is by the
finger of God
that I cast
out demons,
then the
kingdom of
God has come
upon you.
When a strong
man, fully
armed, guards
his own palace,
his goods are
safe, but when
one's stronger
than he attacks
him and
overcomes him,
he takes away
his armor in
which he trusted
and divides
his spoil.
Whoever is
not with me
is against me,
and whoever
does not gather
with me
scatters.
Now, just
sort of pause
here for a
second.
The finger
of God
is a very,
we don't get
it, and the
early readers
of Luke's
gospel, who
many would
have been
pagans who
become
Christians,
without having
become Jewish
first, they
might not have
got it as
well, but for
those who
were Jewish
who were
listening,
this reference
to Jesus and
the finger of
God would
have been a
very, very
powerful type
of a statement
because two
of the most
famous texts
in the Old
Testament,
there's two
very, very
famous texts
in the Old
Testament about
the finger
of God,
and the
first one
is if you
go back to
the early
books of
the Bible
and you
look at
Exodus and
Deuteronomy,
and as God
brings the
people of
Israel out
of Egypt
and on the
way to the
promised land,
and he's
going to enter
into a
covenant with
them where he
offers, in a
sense, to be
their king
over them,
and he
accepts them
as his
treasured
possession and
his people,
and a key
foundational part
of him being
their king and
them being their
treasured possession
is that he
gives them ten
summary statements
or laws called
the Ten
Commandments,
and that's a
crucial part of
it, and how
is it written?
The Bible says
that Moses takes
stone tablets and
by the finger of
God the
commandments are
written, so
it's pointing
to God's
active presence
in gathering
of people for
himself to be
his treasured
possession, and
in a sense, the
terms of what it
means to belong to
him are actually
written by the
finger of God, and
towards the end of
the Old Testament,
there's a story in
Daniel chapter 5,
which also would
have been a very
telling illustration
of this.
You can go back
and read it later,
but basically, in
summary, the people
of Israel are in
captivity by the
Babylonians, and
Belshazzar, who's
the successor of
Nebuchadnezzar, he
decides to throw a
huge party, and he
asks for the
temple, stuff from
the temple of
Israel to come out
so that they could
get drunk with it,
and as they're
doing that, and
they're all having a
great time partying
and praising the
gods of gold and
of bronze and of
stone, in the
midst of it, it
appears as if the
finger of God shows
up and writes on
the wall, many,
many, tickle,
tackle, parson.
And then Daniel's
brought in, and he
interprets it that God
has written that he
has judged the
Babylonians, he's
judged Belshazzar, and
that that night the
kingdom will fall from
the Babylonians and the
Persians will take over
the empire and Belshazzar
will die.
And that's what Jesus is
saying when he says
about the finger of God.
God, he says, okay,
well, you push back,
you think I'm doing
this by satanic power,
and he gives some
reasons why that might
some, you know, some
from what if types of
things, but he says,
but if what you see is
the finger of God, it
means the kingdom of God
has come upon you.
And then he describes
himself as the strong
man that's able to
bind and that's able
to bind.
So some of you might
say, okay, so George,
okay, okay, okay, I
knew it was going to
get to this.
Okay, so George, you
don't want us to buy
big red statues of
Satan, and you don't
want us to use Ouija
boards, and you don't
want us to just, you
know, you can say,
okay, maybe you can do
yoga if you're just
stretching, but if you're
asking you to chant,
you know, Hindu gods,
you shouldn't do it.
And, you know, George,
I knew it was just
going to come to a
whole pile of negatives,
right, because that's
what you Christian and
religious types do.
All you want to do is
just talk about
negatives.
Don't do this, don't
do this, don't do
this, don't do this.
Is that now, George,
what your application's
going to be of all of
this?
Just it's going to be a
whole lot of no's?
No.
Actually, what the text
is showing is that,
well, actually, Andrew,
if you could put it up.
Only following religious
and spiritual rules
creates the illusion
of emptiness.
The kingdom of God is
primarily about the
saving presence of Jesus.
Only following religious
and spiritual rules
creates the illusion of
emptiness, like a free
space, a space where you
can just sort of be
yourself.
You learn the different
no's.
Okay, I can't do this,
I can't do this, I can't
do this, I can't do this,
I can't do this.
What it ends up leaving
is a place where you
sort of can do whatever
you want.
If it's Islam, you follow
this rule and this rule
and this rule.
If it's different ways
of Christianity being
understood as a religion,
then you don't watch
pornography and you don't
do this and you don't do
this and you have your
own thing and you learn
this ritual and you learn
this.
But all it is is creating
all these no's and in a
sense where the heart is,
where you really are as
yourself, it's like that's
just sort of empty.
You can do whatever you
want.
It's unchanged.
And spirituality, for the
spiritual, not religious,
it might be that the rules
are a bit more transgressive
and some of them are like
giving the finger to
religions or some of them
are just something which is
highly idiosyncratic but
it's still a whole pile of
no's that creates what I'm
going to suggest is an
illusion of emptiness.
But as we're going to see,
Jesus here is saying that
I'm not about emptiness and
I'm not about religious
rules.
I'm about the heart and the
real true living God in a
world where God, the living
God really exists and the
human heart, which is the
center of who we are, is
really there and it's how
God comes into the human
heart and the human heart
comes into God.
It's about presence, not
absence.
Only following religious and
spiritual rules creates the
illusion of emptiness.
The kingdom of God is
primarily about the saving
presence of Jesus.
That's what it's actually all
about.
See, it comes if you read
verses 24 to 26.
Let's read them.
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.
And when it comes, it finds
the house swept and put in
order.
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.
So maybe they followed rules
and as a result of rules,
they're empty.
Maybe as a result of therapy,
some of the type of
harassment that a person had
been experiencing that we
might understand as having a
connection to the demonic,
that that goes away.
Maybe by doing certain
rituals, there's a type of
peace so that certain types
of harassment all don't
come.
And in a sense, it describes
what happens with mere
religion or with therapy or
mere religious principles or
mere spirituality is that it
can create a type of
emptiness within.
But what Jesus is saying is
that there's never really an
emptiness.
It's an illusion that there's
emptiness.
And it's very possible that
after what you think is
emptiness, that something
spiritual comes right back in
and something far worse.
wilderness.
Now, I'm not going to try to
explain, I'm not going to try
to explain, I'm not going to
try to explain what
wilderness means.
That's one of those things
of just, I think it means
that the demons go towards
barrenness.
It's all part of the thing
that the demons, when they,
well, how do demons harm us?
They create within us a
fascination of barrenness
instead of a fascination with
life.
They create within us a
fascination with death.
So the barrenness rather than
fruitfulness, of death rather
than life, of harm rather
than of healing, of binding
rather than of freeing.
That that's what demons do
as they come in.
Of belittling rather than
building up.
Of pushing down rather than
lifting up.
Of turning inward eyes and
being self-centered rather
than having eyes for others
and wanting to help.
Of being completely and
utterly, of not being at all
interested in the needs of
others rather than what
Jesus does which makes us
aware of the needs of others.
That that's that's what the
demons are doing and I
think that's partly why
that this image of
wilderness is there.
But that's one of those
things that we just have to
remember the scripture and
meditate upon the scripture
and ponder the scripture and
allow that scripture to
influence how we see and
understand what goes on in
our own experience and what
goes on in our life.
But Jesus is talking here
about the danger of an
illusion of emptiness that
can get filled by a
spiritual power.
So some of you might say
okay George I'm a little
bit confused by all of
this and if religion is not
just a matter about learning
certain rituals, spirituality
is not a matter of learning
certain rituals, if it's not
just a matter of learning a
whole pile of no's and the
really religious person knows
more no's than everybody
else and the spiritual person
just has different no's or
less no's, different and
less, like what?
Here's the thing.
Everything in this, remember
every week I'm going to say
this, but everything that
happens in Luke that we're
reading right now in the
weeks to come is all within
the context of Jesus going
to Jerusalem to die.
It's all about Jesus is going
to Jerusalem to die on the
cross and he's going to
regularly remind the
disciples we're heading to
Jerusalem, I'm heading to
Jerusalem to die on the
cross.
And you see, so what this
text is inviting us to say
is not to despair that all
we can do is create an
illusion of emptiness.
It's creating a context where
we ask for a saving power
that only comes from God.
If you could put up the next
point, Andrew, the context of
the book of Luke, if you read
it and you see in Luke chapter
nine, Jesus says to his
disciples, I'm going to go to
Jerusalem, I'm going to die on
the cross.
And we're going to see it
like every couple of
chapters, he says it again,
he says it again until in
Luke chapter 19, he arrives
in Jerusalem.
It's going to be a regular
feature of his teaching.
Everything that we read is to
be understood as something
Jesus teaches as he goes to
Jerusalem to die.
And the deep mystery of what
is it all about is that Jesus
is the strong one who dies at
the hands of the weak to save
the weak.
We're going to look again in a
moment at verses 21 and 22,
but that's one of the, see,
that's the positive thing that
Jesus is saying.
He's saying, listen, the devil's
a strong man, but he's not
strong compared to me.
I'm vastly stronger.
The devil is a strong man
compared to you.
He's stronger than you, but I'm
vastly stronger than you and I'm
vastly stronger than Beelzebub.
I'm incomparably stronger.
Incomparably stronger.
And yet the profound mystery,
which is a deep offense to those
of us who worship power, even if
we don't realize it, is that Jesus
is saying this as he's on his way
to die.
Jesus is the strong one who willingly
dies at the hands of the weak to
save the weak.
You know, you'll hear me pray over
and over and over again that what
I'm hoping, what I want for myself
is I want to be a disciple of Jesus
gripped by the gospel, living for
God's glory.
What do I want to do?
I want to be used by God to make
disciples gripped by the gospel,
living for his glory.
And as we're gripped by the gospel,
we're gripped by the story of the
strong one who willingly went to
Jerusalem to die at the hands of
the weak, to save the weak.
And the Bible describes that this is
the power of God for salvation,
that God provides a power.
I can only stand naked as a weak
person, as a beggar.
And God provides a power for
salvation that comes in the strong
one, willingly out of love for you
and me, submitting to weak ones.
And by his death, the weak are
saved.
That in him submitting to weak ones
to kill him, God is providing a
power that saves if we receive.
And so Jesus tells this story, and he
tries to reveal that if it's just
about rules, and it's just about
therapy, and it's just about
principles, and it's just about
religion, and it's just about
spirituality, and it's just about
all of these types of things, it's
just about no's, it creates an
illusion of emptiness.
But what's actually needed is the
presence of a power for salvation
that all we can do is receive, that he
desires to give.
And there's sort of another image
within this that helps to put it
into its context.
Look up again at verse 21.
I'm just going to draw this to a
close.
It says something very significant
about human beings.
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.
Look at that.
Verse 21.
When a strong man, fully armed,
guards his own palace.
Look down again to verse 24.
When the unclean spirit has gone
out of a person that passes through
waterless places, seeking rest and
finding none, it says, I will return
to my house from which I came.
What is the house or the palace of the
devil?
In this particular case, it was the man
who was deaf.
It wasn't that there's a hell down
there and that there's demons sitting
on thrones.
It's describing the man who had the
demon cast out of him, that that man
understood the man to be his palace,
his home.
And the demon sat on the throne in the
man's life.
See, here's the thing which the Bible is
opening up to us.
If you could put it up, Andrew.
The Bible teaches that every human being
has a throne at the center of who they are.
The great question is, who or what is on
the throne?
Every human being has a throne at the center
of who they are.
The great question is, who or what is on
the throne?
See, what the Bible teaches is that human
beings, each human being was ultimately,
well, human as a race, but each of us are
created by God and that God made all
things good.
And God made human beings, even though
there's an integrity to us and a
certain type of a self-possession of each
of us, God made human beings so that the
very center of who we are, which the Bible
uses the word heart, but the very center
of who we are, God placed a throne.
And in the center of whom we are, God sat
on the throne.
And what happens in Genesis 3 is that, you
know, our, in a sense, our primal ancestors,
Adam and Eve, when they reject God and desire
to be like gods themselves, it's as if they try
to say, I'm going to sit on that throne at the
very, very center of who.
But the throne is made for God.
It's not made for George.
George doesn't have a throne in the center of
who he is that he's to sit on.
George has a throne in the center of who he is
that was made for God.
It's God's throne in the very center of who I am
that he is to sit on.
And when he sits on that throne, when the
kingdom of God, in a sense, is present in
George, that's when George knows not barrenness,
but fruitfulness, not death, but life, not pain,
but joy, not ugliness, but beauty, not being
bound, but being free.
That's what happens when God is sitting on the
throne, which he built into every single human
being.
Every single one of you who are here has a
throne at the center of whom you are that was
made for God that only God should sit in.
And part of what religion and spirituality and
therapy and moral principles is all about is
that since we have vacated that, we've pushed God
out of that throne.
We've, in a sense, kicked him out.
And we can't even really sit on the throne very long.
And so what happens is that throne is filled with
idols.
And so, in a sense, the throne in the center of my
life is a very crowded throne.
Because maybe I'm trying to sit on that throne, but I
also have an idol of money.
Or I also have an idol of power.
Or I also have an idol of prestige.
Or I also maybe have an idol of my grandkids.
Or I have an idol of my job.
Or I have an idol of my political beliefs.
Or I have a whole pile of idols.
And all of these idols are sitting on the throne of my life.
And a lot of times, all that therapy and religion and
spirituality does is it kicks out the idol of Jack Daniels
and puts a Pharisaic idol in its place.
Sometimes what appears to be conversion is just a changing
of idols.
An unruly idol is replaced with a very well-ordered idol.
The unruly idol of just being completely crazy is replaced by the
soccer mom idol.
And so, what Jesus is saying here is that if there's a throne at the
center of every human heart, then he is the strong one on the way to
Jerusalem to die at the hands of weak ones for the weak.
That there is a power from God for salvation that comes.
And we're invited to say to God,
God, I have tried to kick you out of the, it's an illusion that there's this
empty throne.
It's, in fact, I can never sit on this throne.
And I acknowledge I have a constant parade of idols that I try to put on the
throne at the center of who I am.
And I'm actually helpless to try to deal with this.
I thank you, Jesus, for dying upon the cross for me.
I thank you for being the strong one who dies at the hands of the weak one for the
weak.
I am weak.
May you come and take your rightful place with saving power and healing
authority on the throne of my life.
And that's when the Christian life begins.
And the Christian life is lived not by seeking to know more religious rules and
more rituals, although there's things obviously to know, but being so gripped by
the gospel that we understand that Jesus, the one who sits at the throne at the
center of our lives, is a strong one who died for us, who became weak to die for us.
That by nothing that I have done or could do, that Jesus is a power of God for
salvation to be at the very center of who we are.
And that Jesus, when we ask him, will come and live in who we are.
He'll make his home in us, in the throne that is properly his.
Please stand.
Thank you.
I'm just going to invite you, all of us.
You know, even, you see, one of the things that's about being a Christian is that we
ask Jesus to be on the throne of our lives.
And part of what happens to us is, before we know it, we want Jesus to have a seat up
there, but we also would like him to sit beside money and power and looks.
And so partly what it means to be a Christian is to be gripped by the gospel and say, once
again, Jesus, I'm slipping into illusion.
I'm slipping into having idols be at the center of who I am.
And Jesus, I want them all out.
I only want you to be at the center of who I am.
And I understand that when you are at the center of who I am, there is freedom.
There is life.
There is fruitfulness.
There is fullness.
Even if external things in my life don't, that that's what you do as you truly reign with
saving power and healing authority at the center of who I am.
That there is fruitfulness in life and reconciliation to you with my creator.
And Jesus, once again, kick out the idols.
I really want to have you enthroned at the center of my life and you alone.
And for others, the Christian life begins by saying, I didn't realize that, Jesus.
This makes sense.
Please come in and sit in the throne of my life as my savior and as my Lord.
And I'm not going to lead you in a prayer.
I'm just going to say the Holy Spirit is convicting some of you to pray words in your own words.
And all you have to say is, Jesus, there's a throne.
You need to be on it.
Please come in and live in it.
But I'll just say a prayer in closing.
Challenge you, though, to invite Jesus to be on the throne of your life.
Let's pray.
Father, you know the different idols.
Maybe even for some demonic presence that has a presence on the throne of our lives.
You know what's going on in the lives and hearts of every single person who is here.
And we ask that, Father, in your kindness, that your Holy Spirit would fall with might
and power and deep conviction upon each of us to turn us to Jesus.
Father, deliver us, Father, from illusions of emptiness and illusions of religion and illusions of spirituality.
And, Father, grip us with the gospel.
Grip us with the gospel so that we call out, Father, upon Jesus to sit on the throne of our lives
to be the savior and the Lord of who we are.
Father, please do this.
Please rule.
May there be nothing in our lives that is not under your healing authority and saving power.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.