WITH HIM OR AGAINST HIM

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 28, 2020 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: October 28, 2020 from Luke 11:14-23

Theme: A true encounter with Jesus Christ reveals whether we will be with Him or against Him.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this Bible Study.

As we continue our study of Luke’s Gospel, we find ourselves confronted with a question. It is the most important question anyone can answer—and no one can avoid answering it. A refusal to answer it is—itself—an answer to it. The consequences of our answer to this question are eternal in nature; and have a bearing on the course that our life will take from then on.

The question is: What will you do with Jesus Christ? Once you have encountered Him as He truly is—once you discover the truth about Him in such a way as to bring conviction to your soul—you must do something with Him. You must either accept Him as He is, or you will reject Him as He is. There is no middle ground. You will either be with Him or against Him.

The decisive nature of that important question is the true point of this morning’s passage.

* * * * * * * * * *

In Luke 11:14-23, we read a story of a miracle that our Lord performed. In performing it, He showed clearly the greatness of His power and authority as the Son of God. Those who witnessed what He did were forced to come to a conclusion about what they saw. But the reality of what they saw was so convicting to the soul that many of them sought to avoid the conclusion by reinterpreting Jesus.

Luke tells us;

And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters (Luke 11:14-23).

In this story, there is much that our Lord reveals to us about the demonic world. He teaches us a lot in it about the activities of Satan and of the fallen angels. There is also much that He teaches us about the limitations of those spiritual beings. But as important and as fascinating as those things are, they are really secondary to the main point of this story. The story is really about the supremacy of Jesus’ power and authority—and about the choice that you and I must make when that power and authority are revealed to us. If you really want to understand the thrust of this passage, take the first verse and place it right next to the last verse. The first verse tells us that “He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.” And the last verse tells us His words—as if they were a commentary to all that had just been seen: “ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

In other words, a true encounter with the divine power and authority of Jesus Christ reveals whether we will be with Him or against Him. Once we clearly see who He is, we become absolutely responsible for making a choice of what we will do with Him.

* * * * * * * * * *

There’s a famous quote from C.S. Lewis. Perhaps you’ve heard it. It describes something that is sometimes called ‘the trilemma argument’. In his book, Mere Christianity, professor Lewis was thinking of people who try to take a ‘neutral ground’ approach with Jesus; and – despite His miracles and His claims about Himself—simply say that He was a ‘great moral human teacher.’ Professor Lewis wrote;

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else He would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

I would suggest that what this passage does is take things a step further. No one can encounter the miraculous things that Jesus did, and then be neutral about Him. You must come to a conclusion about Him. And that conclusion establishes whether you will be either for or against Him. To simply try to ‘redefine’ Him, in order to avoid having to bow down to Him, is to be against Him.

Notice first …

1. THE MIRACLE HE PERFORMED.

Verse 14 tells us of how Jesus was showing compassionate mercy to someone in need. We’re told, “And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute.” In other words, the demon that afflicted the man was a ‘mute-making’ demon who took away the man’s ability to speak. We, of course, shouldn’t take from this that every illness or affliction is caused by a demon. But apparently, some demonic activity actually afflicts people in this way. And in His earthly ministry, our Lord always showed mercy to people who were suffering from such demonic oppression. We shouldn’t pass by that too quickly. We should love and adore our Savior. He is merciful; and He shows compassion to those in the deepest need and in the most helpless conditions. His doing so often gave immediate and dramatic proof of who He was. Early in this Gospel—back in Luke 4:40-41—we’re told about His ministry in the city of Capernaum:

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ (Luke 4:40-41).

In our passage this morning, Luke goes on to tell us; “So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.” It might have been that, in the case of this mute man, the demon—when cast out—said something similar to the others that our Lord cast out. It might be that the demon declared that Jesus was the Son of God; and that it had to be rebuked and told not to speak any further.

If so, that might explain why people who watched responded as they did. After witnessing this event, we’re told next about …

2. THE INTERPRETATIONS PEOPLE GAVE.

People marveled at what they saw. And you would think that everyone would have responded by recognizing Jesus as the Son of God—at least as much, at any rate, as the demons might have done. But no. Luke tells us in verse 15, “But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.”

Consider the two kinds of interpretations of Jesus’ miracle that these observers made. They all had to deal, of course, with the fact that He had cast out a demon, and the man was healed as a result. But in the first case, some were saying that He cast the demon out—not by the power of God—but by the power of the devil. They said that he did so by ‘Beelzebub’. This name is mentioned in 2 Kings 1:2; and it’s used of a false god of Ekron—a god worshiped by the Moabites. It’s a name which many scholars tell us may have originally meant ‘lord of the house’; but that may have been changed by the Jewish people to mean ‘lord of flies’. Clearly, by Jesus’ time, the Jewish people used it as a name for Satan—the “ruler of the demons”. And so, they were saying that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub—that is, Satan. This was a horrible blasphemy; and it wasn’t the only time that the enemies of our Lord said such a thing.

In the second case, though, others were apparently questioning that He had actually done anything miraculous at all—that it was all, somehow, just a trick. In verse 16, they were challenging Him to perform another miracle to their satisfaction—to prove that He was who He was claiming to be. They were demanding this of Him as if the casting out of the demon was not a real miracle at all.

These two arguments together were very much like C.S. Lewis’ ‘trilemma’. They were either calling Him a fake and a fraud, or they were calling Him an instrument of the devil. But they weren’t allowing themselves to come to the conclusion that the miracle demanded—that He truly was the Son of God. They were trying to put a ‘spin’ on things. People say the same kinds of things about Him even today.

Now; our Lord knows the thoughts that people think. People may not speak their opinions about Him aloud and out in the open; but those opinions are, nevertheless, thoroughly known to Him. And notice, in response …

3. THE ARGUMENTS THAT HE OFFERED.

Luke tells us, in verses 17-18, “But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.’” Our Lord was showing the absurdity of their argument. Any time any group is divided against itself, it is sure to fall. And if Satan was actually casting out one of His own demons—if he was actually fighting against his own kingdom in that way—then he and his kingdom would surely fall. If that were actually happening—if Satan were actually that foolish and self-defeating—then the Jewish people should have rejoiced over it and encouraged it. But the very craziness of the idea showed that it couldn’t be true.

And in verse 19, He asks, “’And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.’” It would be as if Jesus were saying, “So; you see Me casting out demons, and then point the finger at Me and say that I do so by the power of Satan. Well; let Me ask you—by whose power do your followers cast out demons? Oh … they don’t cast any out at all? Well then; he who can do something always has the advantage over he who can do nothing. The very fact that your devotees don’t cast any demons out by any power at all—while I cast them out by the power of God—makes them your judges by their inaction. Their inability to do anything condemns you and your argument against Me!” Jesus puts their whole criticism to death when—in verse 20—He says, “’But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.’” This, again, shows that their argument couldn’t be true. It was just another avoidance tactic.

Even today, you hear people bring forth arguments against the miracles of Jesus and the proofs that He was who He said He was. But on closer consideration, those arguments don’t stand. This leads us to …

4. THE CONCLUSION THAT MUST BE DRAWN.

Jesus puts it this way in verses 21-22; “’When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.’” It’s simply the argument that a strong man is only conquered by someone stronger. And if he is conquered—and in fact, if his palace is broken into and his goods taken from him—it means that whoever did it was stronger than he.

And that’s what the Lord Jesus was doing. He wasn’t casting out demons by the power of Satan; because that would be absurd. And He wasn’t playing tricks; because He was clearly doing what none of His critics could do. It all pointed to one inescapable conclusion. Jesus was who He said that He was. He was the Son of God—come in great power and authority—proving that power and authority by breaking into the devil’s own kingdom and setting the devil’s prisoners free.

And that leads our Lord to highlight …

5. THE CHOICE THAT WE ALL MUST MAKE.

What will you and I do with Him? He looked upon those who were refusing to believe on Him—who were dismissing what He did and trying to reinterpret it in a non-convicting way—who would not bow to the truth; and He declared in verse 23, “’He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.’” There can be no middle ground. To even try to redefine Him is to reject Him as He truly is.

* * * * * * * * * *

Jesus once asked His disciples who people said that He was. They had seen His miracles; and people all had lots of opinions. The disciples said, “’John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said, ‘The Christ of God’” (Luke 9:19-20).

Never mind what others say. Who do you say He is? What will you do with Jesus?

EA