Fatally Insufficient Responses to Jesus

Sermon on Luke 11:14-36, Lords Day July 27th, 2025 - Trinity Reformed Church Introduction:
Jesus is the son of God - here in Luke even though He casts out demons and does many signs and wonders they reject Him and accuse Him of being in league with satan. Jesus confronts them of these false accusations. Satan is not destroying his own kingdom Jesus is. He is bringing in the kingdom of God by the finger of God. Matthew says the Spirit of God. Jesus binds satan. Jesus takes Satan's possessions and thats people. His people. Today it is happening still.

V23 Jesus gives a very strong warning. Warning those who are testing Him or doubting Him.

The neutral beneficiaries:
Jesus is often rebuking the shepherds and they were supposed to gather the sheep but they instead scattered the sheep. They have come in contact with Jesus and have benefited from His present. When you hear the gospel you must not remain neutral. V24 - unclean spirit. What happens in his exorcism? He had a demon and He casts it out of him. Demons can physically harm people. Satan can do a lot but he is limited in what he can do. He can't possess you but he can tempt you and can physically harm you (if the Lord permits). The gospel was preached along with the miracles. V24 - satan and demons like harming people. Demons goes through dry places seeking refuge.. waterless wilderness was an inhabitable place. Jesus is saying here to be out of a man torments demons.. they seek to possess a man. They are restless otherwise. The home to a demon is a man. Finding rest for a demon is turmoil for a man. V25 - the demon finds the house (man) is in order. In this case the mute was able to speak again. There are benefits coming in contact with Jesus - a healthy society - law and order - advances in medicine. When Jesus was He did many things. Of the 10 lepers only one returned to give thanks. Jesus healed people but not all of them were saved. When the demon returns if the man doesn't have Christ his condition is much worse than the first state.. That can't happen if the person is a Christian. The man was neutral. There are many that come close to Christ but aren't saved:

Hebrews 6:4 - “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,” Hebrews 6:4 NKJV

2 Peter 2:20 - “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” - II Peter 2:20 NKJV

There are many people who at first are committed to Christ for a time and they fall away - and their lives fall into ruin. For Christians this is a cause for us to examine ourselves. Cry out to Jesus to reveal any falseness in us and forgive us and keep us on the path. Satan cannot possess us but we can fall prey to him.

Luke 11:14-36 (NKJV) 14 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. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, testing [Him,] sought from Him a sign from heaven. 17 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. 18 “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19 “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast [them] out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22 “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. 23 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 “And when he comes, he finds [it] swept and put in order. 26 “Then he goes and takes with [him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first.” 27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed [is] the womb that bore You, and [the] breasts which nursed You!” 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed [are] those who hear the word of God and keep it!” 29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 “For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 “The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon [is] here. 32 “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah [is] here. 33 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts [it] in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. 34 “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when [your eye] is bad, your body also [is] full of darkness. 35 “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 “If then your whole body [is] full of light, having no part dark, [the] whole [body] will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”