The Stronger Man
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Scripture Introduction:
Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was teaching at a synagogue…he grabbed a scroll, read Isaiah 61...
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he sits back down and says, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Really as Luke is unfolding it’s the question of whether or not Jesus is who he says he is....is he doing what he said he would do in Isaiah 61?
What does it mean if Jesus fulfills this...
pushing back darkness...
So what do you do when Jesus is doing things that confirm this type of identity…what do you decide...
Today he’s healing a man who is mute…can’t talk…how will the people respond to Jesus? How will we?
Luke 11:14–26 (ESV)
Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, 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. 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. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“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.”
Sermon Introduction:
One of my favorite passages to preach is the story of the Gersasene demoniac. And I love the way Mark tells that story. It’s connected to Jesus calming the wind and the waves. As we read in Mark we’re supposed to see that the sea cannot be contained…the wildness of the waves…it’s threatening humanity. Chaos. That’s the realm of the demonic. That’s all that comes against us. And Jesus—with just one word—rebukes the storm and it goes quiet.
Then Mark introduces us to this man who is the very picture of what happens when the enemy gets his way. He destroys his humanity. He becomes less than human—living among the tombs, harming himself, being a harm to others—he’s out of his mind. And Mark makes it a point to say that they couldn’t contain him. He kept breaking chains…chains…they had to chain the guy up he was so out of his mind. A horrible picture.
But then Jesus comes to town and the story ends with him clothed and in his right mind. Jesus calms the chaotic. That’s a similar picture to what we have here…in fact there is some of the same language used in our text here this morning about Jesus binding the strong man. Jesus is the stronger man.
This is what you’re supposed to picture in this story…chaos. Darkness. Evil. Sadness. Sorrow. Hopelessness. All of those things as the backdrop to the story. And then Jesus enters the scene proclaiming Isaiah 61. He’s making all things new.
You see this in the very beginning of the passage...”he was casting out a demon that was mute...” He was doing what he does. He was overturning the darkness. He was bringing calm to the chaos. Healing to the hell.
He was casting out a mute demon. I love the wording here. Yes, the guys ends up being mute…but it’s the demon who is mute who overcomes this guy. I think the commentator James Edwards is correct when he says:
...the demonic abhors that which is different from itself. It wants to make objects like itself, absorb and consume them. The divine, in contrast, glories in the freedom of creation and its differentiation from the Creator
We have chaos, We have brokenness, we have sin, we’ve made a shipwreck of our human condition. Where there was supposed to be love and joy and peace and freedom and beauty and all of those wonderful things we have disaster. That’s the human condition.
And when Jesus comes it’s like a window into the kingdom of God…it’s a preview of things to come..that’s what these miracles are…it’s the kingdom of God breaking into the chaos…it’s restoring what is broken…
And so the demon goes out…the people marvel…they are amazed…BUT
There’s always that isn’t there…it’s not JUST a story of redemption. For some foolish reason we oppose this redemption. We oppose the work of Jesus. We see here two faulty responses to Jesus. The first one is antagonism. He’s driving out demons by the prince of demons. The second one is a skepticism…one that leads to indifference and not following Jesus.
There is a decent amount of ink in this passage given to that first one—those who would chalk up the work of Jesus to the work of the demonic. I don’t know that we have a ton of people who would say that in our day. Few are that bold.
But it was much different in that culture. The scribes and Pharisees were the ones holding the power over the people. They had much to lose. And as we’ve seen kind of in the background of the gospels…they seem to be impotent when it comes to pushing back the works of darkness. It’s like they believe…but they don’t ACTUALLY believe.
Let me ask you this question…why don’t you see kids walking around with a walk-man anymore, or a boombox, or a transistor radio? Their walking around with phones and earbuds and listening to whatever song they decide. It wasn’t the case in previous years.
Why?
If something obviously more powerful, more efficient…something BETTER comes along then that other thing become obsolete. This is the position that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day found themselves in. They weren’t able to push back the darkness…I mean they should have been able to, at least in part,…but they were powerless against the darkness. So what do they do if Jesus is actually fulfilling Isaiah 61.
You’ve got a couple options. You could join him. You could celebrate. You could hand over the keys to the guy who you’ve been holding them for. OR you could dig your heels in…you could turn on him…you could labor to try to keep your power and position. And try to convince people that this new kid in town is dangerous and deadly and awful and they need to stick with the tried and true.
They picked the second option. “He’s driving out demons by demons.”
Now notice what this type of rebellion does to our hearts. It’s makes us illogical. They would say that Satan is undoing his own kingdom. Satan is working to push back the darkness. Satan is healing the mute. That is essentially the “gospel” that the Pharisees ended up preaching.
“A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” Yes, that’s Abe Lincoln. But it was first Jesus who said it. Abe said that in the time of the civil war. If we turn on one another and lose our center we’ll be done for. Oh, what a word for us today. But this isn’t fundamentally about political kingdoms. This is about the kingdom of God. Is Satan going to start working for the kingdom of God? Is he going to undo his own kingdom? Of course not. That’s not who he is. That’s not his character. Sure, he might mimic good…he might be an angel of light. But he’s not going to ultimately do good. He’s not going to restore a man.
Verse 19 gives us a little big of confusion. “by whom do your sons cast them out?” What does he mean here? What is Jesus’ point. I’ve heard three decent options here.
First, and this is the most commonly accepted interpretation. He’s speaking of others within the Jewish community who were casting out demons. When they did it the religious leaders celebrated. Why? Because they were on the same “team”. Oh what a lesson for us today…when we have subgroups and our different “teams” distract us from the kingdom of God. We cannot celebrate the movement of God somewhere because they aren’t part of our “team”. We saw that with John and James already in this gospel… “they aren’t part of us…they are driving out demons and they aren’t us.” And what did Jesus say? Essentially, sure they are. They are on team “push back the darkness”. Celebrate. So if this is the interpretation then Jesus would be saying…you’re inconsistent. If you celebrate one you ought to celebrate both.
Second possibility… the “sons” is a reference to Jesus’ disciples and the work they’ve been doing. He’s saying...”Okay, I’m driving them out by demons..but these who are also of your people…what do you say of them?” I don’t find this one as convincing.
The last option…and this is the one I lean towards—though possibly the first—is that it’s almost a tongue in cheek type of statement. I like that first option—that he’s speaking of the other Jewish exorcists…but the problem is that history seems to tell us that there wasn’t much of that going on at the time. So it’s maybe more Jesus speaking into the void… “Okay, so tell me about how you are driving out demons...”
Uhhh....we…uhhh...
It’s like what the guy said about the constant critic…that’s not the right way to do evangelism. That’s not the right way to do missions. Well how are you doing it? I uhmmm…I am....uhhhh....right. So my not the best practice is better than your non practice.
It’s possible that Jesus is doing something similar here. What he’s ultimately doing though by pointing out their inconsistency and their completely illogical position is to back them into a corner so to say…put a pebble in their shoe, blow the roof off the house...
Kind of what CS Lewis did with the Liar, Lord, or Lunatic. If Jesus claims to be God and to be doing the things he says he is doing you only have one of those options. He’s a liar. He’s a lunatic. Or he’s the Lord.
He’s pressing to a decision. If I’m doing this by the finger of God (that’s language from Exodus) then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Isaiah 61 is true. I’m doing all those great and wonderful things.
Then he illustrates that in verse 21-22.
A strong man…fully armed…guarding his palace. His goods are safe. Now who is this in the illustration. It’s Satan. He’s guarding his kingdom. He’s guarding all those souls deceived…all the darkness…all the chaos…all the confusion…all the pain…that wicked kingdom…he’s guarding it with everything he has.
He’s going to fight to keep the darkness. You’re going to see what you see in Mark 4 and 5 with the storm and the demon possessed man. Helpless. Hopeless. In chains. In bondage. Thinking you’re free. That’s what the enemy is shooting for. And he’s stronger than you. You aren’t busting out on your own. You aren’t going to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and leap over the wall.
But.... “when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him...” That’s the work of Jesus. When the stronger man gets his way that’s when you see redemption. That’s when you see the demon possesed man sitting and in his right mind. That’s when you see the mute talking, freedom to the captives, etc.
Jesus is stronger than the devil. Always. This section is from Isaiah 49:24-25
Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
For thus says the Lord:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
Satan is trusting in himself and in his own armor, his own abilities…that’s the way of the demonic. Self-trust. But Jesus is trusting in the power of the Spirit.
This is the work and the mission of Jesus.
--
So why does this matter? Verse 23, “whoever is not with me is against me.” That’s why this matters. It’s speaking to those who would call his work that of the demonic....but it’s also speaking to the second group. And I think that’s also his main audience in verses 24-26.
You cannot ride the fence. You cannot be neutral in this battle. And to just sit there and “wait for a sign” or “need a little bit more” is actually making a decision.
That is in part what I think is going on in verse 24-26. Jesus just cast an unclean spirit out of a guy. That’s great, that’s awesome, but what happens if the demon tries to come back? “I will return to my house from which I came.”
It’s swept and in order and it’s life is all cleaned up…things are nice and tidy…there is actually room now for even more demons—that’s what Jesus is saying.
What is going on here?
I think we see this a good deal with biblical counseling. Somebody comes with what is called a presenting problem. This is the part of the iceberg that is visible. It’s the thing that you see. It’s usually the thing that has you saying, “I think I need to go talk to somebody. I’m depressed, I’m angry, I’ve just blown all our money gambling, I’ve lost the kids because of my addiction, I’ve lost friends because of my gossip…etc. etc.”
Now what can happen is that you get the help you need to fix the presenting problem. You feel happier, you get some tips on not blowing your cool (hiding your external anger), you do better with finances, you get your kids back, you restore those friendships...” now everything is great and wonderful. Things are getting tidy in your life…stuff is starting to come back together.
But you never actually addressed the issues of the heart. You fixed the iceberg that was seen. You saw the demon leave for a bit. But now things are tidier in your life and so there is even more to wreck…there are more places for chaos. There is even more room for the demonic.
And so when the demon returns…when other parts of that iceberg start to be exposed it’s uglier than it was at first…and it’s often more difficult because, “I’ve tried that Jesus stuff and it didn’t work.”
Or take this guy who was mute. He can talk now. Awesome. Does this mean that everything is better for him now? No more work needs to be done. End of story. All is good. His biggest problem is solved and so life is peachy now? You know it doesn’t.
And that’s what Jesus is saying. Healing—even having a demon cast out of you—is only a temporary fix if you don’t deal with the bigger issues. If you don’t get to the root....and now hear this…this is the biggest point…if you don’t replace those voids with Jesus.
That’s how you see idols topple. If you don’t plant Christ in the void then something else yucky is just going to take it’s place. Jesus’ point then is this...you’re only safe in Jesus. You’re only safe with the stronger man. That’s the point here. Look at all that Jesus has done and is doing. Trust him.
The good news of this, though....making all things new. Overturning works of darkness, etc.