Luke 11:14-28: The Parable of the Haunted House

Presented to Swift Current Corps 31 October 2010; Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, 01 November 2015; and Alberni Valley Ministries, 31 October 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2021 Version presented to Alberni Valley Ministries. Links to the other versions are listed at the conclusion of this post. (There is also a video below, if you would prefer to see and hear this message)

 

Today is October 31^st so I thought that it would be good to start off with an October 31^st quiz today:

 

1)     What historic event happened in Wittenburg on this date in 1517? (Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church.)

2)     True or False: Ghosts are mentioned in the Bible. (True, especially The Holy Ghost in the Authorized Version)

3)     True or False: A king of Israel went to a witch to speak with the spirit of a dead person (True, 1 Samuel 28).

a.      Bonus Marks name the King (Saul), the dead person (Samuel), and the witch (the Witch of Endor)

4)     How many people can you name who the Bible records God used to raise others from the dead?

a.      God used Elijah to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-23),

b.     God used Elisa to raise the Shunammite woman's son (2 Kings 4:32-37);

c.      There was the man they through into Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:21)

d.     Jesus raised:

                                                    i.     the widow's son (Luke 7:12-15),

                                                  ii.     Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:49-55),

                                                iii.     Lazarus (John 11:43,44),

e.      God uses Peter to raise Dorcas (Acts 9:37-40)

f.      Paul raised Eutychus (after he had bored him to death? Acts 20:9-12)

5)     The man possessed by so many demons that they called themselves Legion, where did he live? (In the tombs, the graveyard near Gerasenes; Mark 5:1,2, Luke 8:26-27)

6)     True or False: Jesus tells a parable about a haunted house? (True, Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-27, Luke 11:17-22)

 

The parable in Luke talks about a demon-possessed man and a demon-possessed house. Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place. This is in the Parable of the Haunted House.

 

There are many important things to come out of this Parable of the Haunted House. We obviously don’t have time today to spend on all of them. One of the key things to come out of this parable is that God is more important than anyone in the Christian’s life. This is highlighted in the Mark’s version (Mark 3:20-35). We are not to be distracted from serving the Lord by anyone – not even our family. This is very important.

 

About the Haunted House, Luke 11:17-18, “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? ...” And Luke 11:23, Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me” Jesus is drawing the line here. He is being quite clear. Jesus has had a serious accusation levelled against him. He has been accused of exorcising demons by demonic power.

 

Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Luke 11:15, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22). We are familiar with the term Beelzebub, right? Milton named one of his characters in ‘Paradise Lost’ Beelzebub. In Milton’s story he was the devil’s henchman but Beelzebub here in scriptures isn’t the right-hand man of the devil. Beelzebub is the devil himself. Beelzebub is another name for the Satan. We remember that the ancient Israelites – long before the time of Jesus’ birth– were often split between those who worshipped YHWH and those who worshipped a Canaanite god by the name of Baal. One of the names people who worshipped Baal used to call him was Baal-Zebul - which literally means ‘Baal the Prince’ (Cf. 2 Kings 1:6; Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19). Knowing this, the people who didn’t worship Baal gave the Canaanite god a nickname. They called him Baal-Zebub, which sounds like Baal-Zebul, ‘Baal the Prince’, but in reality means Baal, Lord of the flies; Baal the pest; or Baal, Lord of the dung heap. It wasn’t a favourable name, Baal-Zebub. It was a derogatory name. By Jesus time, with Baal-worship relegated to the dustbin of history but they couldn’t let this good nickname go to waste though; so they applied it to the devil, Satan inherited this nickname. Beelzebub, in the first century CE, was a common derogatory name for Satan. Jesus in our text here is being accused of working for the devil.

 

In our society today we think nothing of people dressing up like evil characters or using the language of demon-possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. There were on TV last night alone dozens of movies and TV shows trivializing or glorifying evil. It is so common in our contemporary Canadian society that many times we don’t even twig when we hear references to sorcery or divination but it was very different in Jesus’ day.

Witchcraft was punishable by death (1 Samuel 28:9, Galatians 5:20). These religious teachers who are accusing Jesus of being an agent of evil here cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked. 

 

Jesus doesn’t stand by and let these accusations stand. Knowing their thoughts Jesus tells them: “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges” (Luke 11:17-19; cf. Matthew 12:15-17, Mark 3:23-26). Jesus tells them that if he is driving out evil with evil than his opponents are doing exactly the same thing when they perform exorcisms and even more than that Jesus says, one won’t and one can’t even drive out evil with evil: a house divided against itself will fall. Jesus says, Verses 21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils (Luke 11:21-22; cf. Matthew 12:29, Mark 3:27)” And, Verses 24-26, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (cf. TSA Doctrine 9). These are the only two options. A divided house cannot stand. So just like an American president said not too many years ago as they were embarking on one of their many wars, “You are either with us or against us.” Jesus says, Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”

 

Well, on this Halloween Day, on this Reformation Day, 2000 ₊ years after the birth of our Lord, where do we stand? Are we with him or are we against him? Jesus defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb (TSA Doctrine 6) but if we look back in our text to Luke 11:27, we notice that a woman who hears what Jesus is saying and who witnesses what Jesus is doing; she calls out to him, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus then gives her an answer which should be our answer to the deliverance he has offered each of us through his death and resurrection. Jesus replies, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me.”

This is the choice set before us today. We can ask Jesus to sweep our life clean of the demons that haunt us – whatever it is that is troubling us - and he will. But in that we have to choose whom we will serve. We can serve ourselves, our own desires, we can serve the Enemy; we can invite the demons back in to haunt our lives again or we can serve the Lord and live life abundantly (TSA Docs 6 and 8).

 

Please remember too that any and all of us can ask our Lord Jesus to come and clean our haunted houses of whatever is haunting us. Even if he has already cleaned it once or a hundred times and we have subsequently messed it up. While we still have breath in our body, we can invite him back into our lives to clean them up and sort us out and then, we can continue on to receive the Lord’s blessing of eternal life, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” As we do this, we will continue in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. This is holiness and this holiness is available to all of us but we must make a choice (cf. TSA Doctrine 10). And, as Joshua said on the very border of the Promised Land, when faced with this very choice, Joshua said ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15) and I pray that that will be the same response for each and all of us today.

 

Let us pray.

Swift Current 2010: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/10/luke-1114-28-matthew-1225-29-parable-of.html

Toronto: 2015: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/10/luke-1114-28-haunted-house.html

John 20:19-23: Breath of God

Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto; 03 April 2016 
by Captain Michael Ramsay

Today we will be speaking about the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. You did so well on Palm Sunday on our quiz that I have another one for us today. Let’s see how we do. [Answers below, before footnotes]

1)      When is the first time the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God shows up in Scripture?

a.       Genesis 1:1

b.      Revelation 2:4

c.       John 1:1

d.      Acts 2:4

2)      When is the first time the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned contending with a multitude of people for their salvation?

a.       Genesis 6:3

b.      Isaiah 9:6

c.       Matthew 1:23

d.      Acts 2:4

3)      When is the first time the Bible openly talks about specific people having an indwelling of the Holy Spirit or a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit?

a.       Genesis 41:38

b.      Judges 2:7

c.       Matthew 1:18

d.      Acts 2:4

4)      What book in the Bible is an anthology of separate incidents of the Holy Spirit personally empowering people for salvation of themselves and others?

a.       Exodus

b.      Judges

c.       John

d.      Revelation

5)      When is the first time the Holy Spirit shows up chronologically in the New Testament?

a.       Matthew 1:18

b.      Mark 1:8-10

c.       Luke 1:15

d.      John 1:32

6)      When is the first time the Holy Spirit is recorded as being poured out to people after the resurrection of Christ in the New Testament?

a.       Matthew 1:18

b.      Mark 4:35

c.       John 20:22

d.      Acts 2:4

John 20:19-23: This is a really interesting passage. It is mentioned in the liturgy for many Christian churches. It is in the same chapter as the Resurrection, which every Christian church celebrates at Easter, and yet for some reason people in the 21^st Century Church often skip over this chapter and think that the Holy Spirit first shows up in Scripture in Acts 2 or that He first enters peoples lives personally in Acts 2 or that He first shows up to empower people for salvation in Acts 2 or that He first shows up in the Christian Church in Acts 2.[1] None of this is technically true[2] (unless, of course, Acts 2 is simply Luke account of John 20 here, which it could be).[3] God, the Holy Spirit is part of our life and our world at the creation of the world and God, the Holy Spirit is still apart of our life at the creation of the church and beyond.[4]

This week I have spent a lot of time contemplating the Spirit of God. We have just finished reading the Gospel of John as a congregation and I have spent a lot of time looking at articles, commentaries and resources about the life and role of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. Let me share with us a little of what struck me this week.

First, John Chapter 1: John 1 is known as one of the great trinitarian pericopes in the Bible. What does trinitarian/trinity mean? (3-in-1). Right off the top in John’s Gospel, John tells us that Jesus is God and God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is Jesus. John then goes on in this very same chapter, Chapter 1 of his book, to mention the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus as a dove at His baptism (1:33) and from that point on it is really interesting to look at what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit.

I have handed out a few verses for some people to read aloud, which I will ask you to do shortly but first I have another question. John uses the Greek word ‘Paraclete’ to refer to the Holy Spirit. Does anyone know what ‘Paraclete’ means? (One who is a comforter, an advocate, and/or who comes alongside). Jesus throughout this Gospel – and especially during his farewell discourse –repeatedly promises that the same Spirit of God that descended upon Him, that is within Him and that has been with God since before the creation of the world, that same Spirit of God that is in everything and that God has poured out at pivotal times in salvation history, will be our Paraclete, our comforter, our advocate.

Today we have given a number of people verses in John about our Paraclete, our comforter, our advocate, the Holy Spirit. If you have one, please read it aloud now for all of us to hear:

·         John 3:5, 'Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the [Holy] Spirit.'

·         John 3:34, 'For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the [Holy] Spirit without limit.'

·         John 7:38-39a: Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this He meant the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.

·         John 14:17: the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and in you.

·         John 14:26: But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

·         John 15:26: When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about me.

John has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit that is really important for us to understand today. To recap, John says:

·         The world can’t accept the Holy Spirit (John 14:17), and

·         Without the Holy Spirit no one can enter God’s Kingdom (John 3:5), but

·         Those who serve Jesus will receive the Holy Spirit (John 7:38), for

·         God gives the Holy Spirit without limit (John 3:34), and

·         The Holy Spirit will empower you to tell people about Jesus (John 15:26); so that they can be saved unto eternal life and be a part of His Kingdom forever.

The word for ‘spirit’ both in Hebrew and in Greek has the same range of meanings. What does the word ‘spirit’ mean? (Wind. The word for wind and the word for spirit in each Greek and Hebrew and in each the OT and NT is exactly the same. Hebrew, ‘Ruach’; Greek, ‘pneuma’; we can even think of God, the Holy Spirit as the Holy Wind or the very Breath of God.)[5]

This is exciting because in Acts 2 we have the Spirit coming like a wind to empower us to share the gospel;[6] In Genesis 2 (cf. Ezekiel 37) and John 20 we have God breathing His Spirit into, onto or over people. Genesis 2:7, at the creation of mankind, records, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” The psalms (104:29) even tell us that if that Spirit of God is removed from us then we will all die. And John here in our passage today draws on that same imagery as he tells us about the coming of the Paraclete.[7] John 20:21-23, Jesus says to his disciples, probably many more than ten, eleven or even twelve of them; reading Luke into this, possibly even the people who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus are present with this crowd:[8]

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

The Holy Spirit is given here so that we can share the Good News with the World, just as Jesus did. And what is that Good News? That Good News is that, John 3:16, for God so loved the whole world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life... in His Kingdom to come.

I have a short story for us today and then we will conclude our time here. I love everyone here and as I have been getting to know all of you more, I love you even more. I am getting to know and love the city and I am even beginning to learn about baseball as we have a great team here. But one thing that I have missed here – because I was new or for whatever reason – is ‘leading people to Christ’, being there when they receive that gift of salvation and eternal life from God. Honestly, it had been weeks and months and I was starting to wonder if it might become a year even without my having the joy of celebrating with someone as they accept the forgiveness of sins and the eternal life (where none of what we have done before – no matter how bad – even matters anymore). I even brought up this at one of our staff meetings, asking people when the last time any of us have had the joy to be there when people accepted God’s gift of forgiveness of sins. I was starting to be sad about this because I know there are people are suffering through the struggles of this life alone when they don’t need to; we all can rest in the Spirit and enjoy the comfort of the Paraclete; we can each ask Jesus to come into our life and be saved. This all was in the back of my mind as I was preparing for today. I was sad.

In the front of my mind this week was the Holy Spirit and the fact that the word ‘spirit’ means ‘wind’ or ‘air’ or ‘breath’ and that as we receive the Holy Breath, we can be saved in everything both now and forever.

And then the phone rang. I was told there was a man in the Toronto General Hospital who had a terminal respiratory illness. He was going to die from not being able to breathe the air, the wind. I was told he might not live until tomorrow. I was told he needed a minister and I was told his family wanted a Salvation Army Officer there. I was told he might be ready to accept forgiveness for his sins and receive eternal life. I ran downstairs, I told Patricia and Monica, asked for prayer and John drove me over the the hospital, he prayed and I headed upstairs to see the man and his family. And to make a long story short, this man who was dying of a lack of breath, accepted the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit and received eternal life; so that even as he dies, yet shall He live. This man accepted eternal life, God’s Holy Spirit, even on his death bed. Praise the Lord!

What about us here? Is there any in this room who have never asked Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit to come into our lives? Are there any of us here who our dying of an eternal respiratory disease? Are there any of us here who are going through and the struggles of life without being a Christian, without taking hold of the comfort God offers? Is there anyone here who hasn’t prayed to receive the Holy Spirit yet? If so, you don’t need to wait until your death bed; you don’t need to wait until your dying breath; you can accept forgiveness for sins and live forever today.

Is there anyone here who has not asked God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus into their lives yet? Would you like me to pray for you? If so come up to the front here and we will pray for you.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

Answers to Quiz:

1)  (a) Genesis 1:1 – Right in the beginning of the Bible: “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

2)  (a) Genesis 6:3: Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

3)  (a) Genesis 41:38 mentions the Moses as having the Holy Spirit in him and Exodus 35:30-32 speaks about the Holy Spirit being with Bezalel son of Uri, many more example follow throughout the OT.

4)  (b) Judges

5)  (a) Matthew 1:18. Matthew 1:18 records: ‘This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:8-10 first mentions the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism. Luke 1:15 speaks about the Spirit in terms of John the Baptist "for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born." John 1:32: John 1:1-18 implies the presence of the Holy Spirit at creation but – like Mark – first mentions Him specifically descending on Jesus at His baptism like a dove in 1:32.

6) (c) John 20:22

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[1] Cf. Gary M. Burge, ‘John’ in NIVAC Bundle 6: Gospels, Acts. NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Mi, Zondervan: 2000), 70911-70934

[2] Cf. Rodney A. Whitacre, John (IVP NT Series: IVP Academic: Downers Grove, Illinois: 1999), 482

[3] Gary M. Burge, ‘John’ in NIVAC Bundle 6: Gospels, Acts. NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Mi, Zondervan: 2000), 70952

[4] Cf. John Kistendahl, ‘2^nd Sunday of Easter: John 20:19-31: Exegetical View’ in Feasting on the Word Year C Vol 2:Lent through Eastertide, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown, ed. (Louisville, Kentucky,  Westminister John Knox Press: 2000), 14135

[5] Gregory Robbins, ‘2^nd Sunday of Easter: John 20:19-31: Exegetical View’ in Feasting on the Word Year C Vol 2:Lent through Eastertide, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown, ed. (Louisville, Kentucky,  Westminister John Knox Press: 2000), 14176

[6] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 2: Scene 1. Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 12 August 2007, Swift Current Corps 23 May 2010 and 17 May 2015, and Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto 04 October 2015. On-line:http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/05/acts-2-scene-1.html

[7] Gerard Sloyan, John, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching,  (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988), 225

[8]Cf. William Hendricksen, John (New Testament Commentary: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2007), 460

Luke 11:14-28: The Haunted House

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 31 October 2010; Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, 01 November 2015; Alberni Valley Ministries (abridged), 31 October 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the 2015 Corps 614 Toronto version, to view the original 2010 Swift Current version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2010/10/luke-1114-28-matthew-1225-29-parable-of.html 

To view the 2021 Alberni Valley, BC Version, click here:  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2021/10/luke-1114-28-parable-of-haunted-house.html

To view a video of the abridged 2021 version, click here: https://youtu.be/zkKz9y_uBoQ

Yesterday was October 31^st so I thought that it would be good to start off with an October 31^st quiz today (answers in footnotes):

1)      What historic event happened in Wittenburg on October 31 in 1517?[1]

2)      True or False: Ghosts are mentioned in the Bible.[2]

3)      True or False: A king of Israel went to a witch to speak with the spirit of a dead person[3]

a.       Bonus Marks name the King, the dead person, and the witch

4)      How many people can you name who the Bible records God used to raise others from the dead?[4]

5)      The man possessed by so many demons that they called themselves Legion, where did he live?[5]

6)      True or False: Jesus tells a parable about a haunted house?[6]

The parable – especially noticeable in the Lukan account – talks about a demon-possessed man and a demon-possessed house. Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place. This is in the Parable of the Haunted House.

There are many important things to come out of this Parable of the Haunted House. We obviously don’t have time today to spend on all of them. One of the key things to come out of this parable is that God is more important than anyone in the Christian’s life.[7] This is highlighted in the Markan account (Mark 3:20-35).[8] If even one’s own parents are opposed to the life and work of Jesus, Christ goes as far as to model disowning one’s parents; when his mother and brothers came to interfere with his work, in order to take charge of and/or arrest him Jesus replies, “Who are my mother and brothers?” (Mark 3:31-34; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 11:27-28, 8:19-21).[9] We are not to be distracted from serving the Lord by anyone (cf. Matthew 10:38-39, 16:24-24; Mark 8:34-35; Luke 9:23-24, 14:26-27, 17:33; John 12:25; 1 Corinthians 15:31; cf. also Gospel of Thomas 55b).[10] This is very important.

There is in Matthew and Mark’s record of this parable also the important, significant, and controversial statement about the unforgivable sin, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:32, Mark 3:29).[11] This sin is almost certainly not a once-off and in this context here, especially in Mark’s version, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit appears to refer to anyone who gets in the way of the work of the Lord or anyone who consistently attributes the work of God to the devil. Luke speaks about sweeping the house clean and then the spirits returning to haunt to the haunted house once more.[12] This is similar to John’s words about the apostate and those who walk with Christ but then reject him completely so much so that they never return to Him (1 John 2:18-26, 5:13-20, 2 John 1:7-11; cf. Matthew 10:14, 12:31-32; Mark 3:29-30, 6:11; Luke 9:5, 12:10; Acts 13:50-52; 2 Peter 2:17-22). These ‘rejecters’ appear to be the ones who have committed the unforgivable sin (cf. TSA Doctrines 7 and 9).

Each of these interesting points we can talk about later if you like but today I would prefer to concentrate on something else in this, the Parable of the Haunted House. Recorded in Luke 11:17-18 and Mark 3:24 and Matthew 12:25, “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? ...” And Luke 11:23 and Matthew 12:30 each record Jesus’ comment that “He who is not with me is against me” Jesus is drawing the line here. He is being quite clear. Jesus has had a serious accusation levelled against him. He has been accused of exorcising demons by demonic power.

Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Luke 11:15, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22). We are familiar with the term Beelzebub, right? Milton named one of his characters in ‘Paradise Lost’ Beelzebub. In Milton’s story he was the devil’s henchman but Beelzebub here in scriptures isn’t the right hand man of the devil.[13] Beelzebub is the devil himself. Beelzebub is another name for the Satan. We remember that the ancient Israelites – long before the time of Jesus’ birth– were often split between those who worshipped YHWH and those who worshipped a Canaanite god by the name of Baal. One of the names people who worshipped Baal used to call him was Baal-Zebul - which literally means ‘Baal the Prince’ (Cf. 2 Kings 1:6; Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19).[14] Knowing this, the people who didn’t worship Baal gave the Canaanite god a related nickname of their own. They called him Baal-Zebub, which sounds like Baal-Zebul, ‘Baal the Prince’, but in reality means Baal, Lord of the flies; Baal the pest; or Baal, Lord of the dung heap.[15] It wasn’t a favourable name, Baal-Zebub. It was a derogatory name. By Jesus time, with Baal-worship relegated to the dustbin of history, they couldn’t let this good nickname go to waste though; so they applied it to the devil, Satan inherited this nickname. Beelzebub, in the first century CE, was a common derogatory name for Satan.[16] Jesus in our text here is being accused of working for the devil.

In our society today we think nothing of people dressing up like evil characters or using the language of demon-possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. There were on TV last night alone dozens of movies and TV shows trivializing or glorifying evil. It is so common in our contemporary Canadian society that many times we don’t even twig when we hear references to sorcery or divination but it was very different in Jesus’ day (cf. Deuteronomy 18:10; 1 Samuel 28:9; 2 Kings 19:22; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Micah 5:12; Nahum 3:4; Galatians 5:20).

Witchcraft is a serious crime. It was punishable by death (1 Samuel 28:9, Galatians 5:20). These religious teachers who are accusing Jesus of being an agent of evil here cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days (unlike today when many of our kids and grandkids or their friends watch cartoons or other  shows relating to the occult or dress up as devils and witches) people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked. 

Jesus doesn’t stand by and let these accusations stand. Knowing their thoughts Jesus tells them: “…Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges” (Luke 11:17-19; cf. Matthew 12:15-17, Mark 3:23-26). Jesus tells them that if he is driving out evil with evil than his opponents are doing exactly the same thing when they perform exorcisms and even more than that Jesus says, one won’t and one can’t even drive out evil with evil: a house divided against itself will fall. Jesus says, Verses 21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils (Luke 11:21-22; cf. Matthew 12:29, Mark 3:27)” And, Verses 24-26, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (cf. TSA Doctrine 9). These are the only two options. A divided house cannot stand. So just like an American president said not too many years ago as they were embarking on one of their many wars, “You are either with us or against us.” Jesus says, Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”

Well, on this day after Halloween Day, on this day after Reformation Day, 2000 years after the birth of our Lord, where do we stand? Are we with him or are we against him? I have run through a litany of the contemporary evils of the western world and of the English-speaking Empire many, many times. Even though Canada was founded upon Psalm 72, the Word of God, now we no longer say the Lord’s Prayer in the House of Commons or even read the Word of God in our public schools. If whatever demons our ancestors had were exorcised when we chose to build our nation on the Word of God (the Godly principles of Isaiah 9:6: Peace, Order, Good Government and promise of Psalm 72 claiming this land as the Lord’s dominion from sea to sea) then I think in our lifetime, as we’ve left our historic values, those demons that were exorcised have returned, found our house swept clean and brought many, many of their friends.

Some of the legions of demons that currently haunt our nation have the same names as the deadly sins mentioned by Dante in his historic book (which would be very appropriate for Halloween) entitled ‘Inferno’, which he wrote many, many years ago. Some of our cultural demons include: Pride, the belief that we can do things on our own, without God (Psalm 10:4; 2 Chronicles 26:16; cf. Proverbs 16:18); Vanity, the desire to do what is right in our own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25) – it seems that our whole political system these days revolves around this sin; There is Lust, not only pornography, but you have noticed commercials and advertising these days? Sloth is another demon that seems to have made his home in our culture; has there ever been a less active generation in service in the history world? Just look at the declining membership not only in churches but also in service groups across this country. We have seemingly been raising a generation or two of people who would rather stay home and indulge themselves than get out there and do something. There is also Gluttony; did you know that the number of people in the world who suffer from malnutrition as a result of hunger is in excess of 1.2 billion and -at the same time- the number of people in the world who suffer from malnutrition as a result of over-consumption is in excess 1.2 billion?[17] We rich nations are mal-nourishing ourselves by eating the food that the underdeveloped nations so desperately need. That contains a scary symmetry. Did you know that children in our society are now suffering from adult onset diabetes? Adult onset diabetes in children is a direct result of eating too much bad stuff.[18] This can also relate to greed and the so-called deadly sin of Greed could also be the name of one of the demons haunting our nation’s house here today: it seems that our whole economy depends upon greed.[19] I read once that if the North American societies went even just one day without spending any money on frivolities our entire economies would collapse.[20] Ire / unholy anger is another demon; have we forgotten that ‘vengeance is mine…saith the Lord’ (Romans 12:19)? With this unholy anger comes an appetite for violence that I imagine would even make the Romans in their coliseum cringe: there is a not only a market for violent movies and television but people also watch real people brutalize each other in ultimate fighting or other such events and not only that but we Canadians allow our children to sit down and watch the never-ending violence that is on TV. Do you think that so many people would support international wars of aggression and violence against foreigners if we weren’t conditioned from the time we were children to see revenge and even so-called ‘pre-emptive strikes’ as normal? As sure as in generations past God used great churchmen and women and faithful servants of our Lord as a broom to sweep this land clean of the demons that had plagued it; the devil has now found it well kempt and come back stronger than ever. Our nation, it seems, is haunted by many demons.

This we know not only applies to our nation; it also applies to ourselves as well. The sin spiral has many parallels with addictions for example. Any of us here who have ever struggled with addiction or who know others who have, we know that each time one becomes clean and then slips up, it becomes more and more difficult to become clean again remain that way. The metaphorical demons of addiction come in apparently stronger (bringing in more friends) each time we invite them in. It doesn’t need to be that way. Jesus can clean our haunted houses and when Jesus cleans our house we can let him keep it clean too (TSA Doctrines 6 and 10)! Pretty good deal!

So what can we do? Well, of course, we can do nothing to clean the house: Jesus defeated sin and death between the cross and the empty tomb (TSA Doctrine 6) but if we look back in our text to Luke 11:27, we notice that a woman who hears what Jesus is saying and who witnesses what Jesus is doing in delivering a man from evil; she calls out to him, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Jesus then gives her an answer which should be our answer to the deliverance he has offered each of us through his death and resurrection. Jesus replies, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me.”

This is the choice set before us today. We can ask Jesus to sweep our life clean of the demons that haunt us and he will. But in that we have to choose whom we will serve. We can serve ourselves, our own lustful desires, we can serve the Enemy by inviting demons back in to haunt our lives again or we can serve the Lord and live life abundantly (TSA Doctrines 6 and 8). Today we must decide, are we with our Lord or are we against him? 

Please remember too that any and all of us can ask our Lord Jesus to come and clean our haunted houses. Even if he has already cleaned it once or a hundred times and we have subsequently messed it up. While we still have breath in our body, we can invite him back into our lives to clean them up and sort us out and then, we can continue on to receive the Lord’s blessing of eternal life, Luke 11:28, “blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” As we do this, we will continue in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. This is holiness and this holiness is available to all of us but we must make a choice (cf. TSA Doctrine 10). And, as Joshua said on the very border of the Promised Land, when faced with this very choice, Joshua said ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15) and I pray that that will be the same response for each and all of us today.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1]  Answer 1: Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church

[2] Answer 2: True, especially The Holy Ghost in the Authorized Version

[3] Answer 3: True (1 Samuel 28), King Saul went to the witch of Endor to contact the deceased prophet Samuel

[4] Answer 4: God used Elijah to raise the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-23), God used Elisa to raise the Shunammite woman's son (2 Kings 4:32-37); There was the man they threw into Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:21) Jesus raised: the widow's son (Luke 7:12-15), Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:49-55), Lazarus (John 11:43,44); God used Peter to raise Dorcas (Acts 9:37-40) and Paul to raise Eutychus (after Paul had literally bored him to death? Acts 20:9-12)

[5] Answer 5: In the tombs, the graveyard near Gerasenes; Mark 5:1,2, Luke 8:26-27

[6] Answer 6: True, Matthew 12:25-29, Mark 3:23-27, Luke 11:17-22

[7] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, 'Mark 3:20-35: The Family of God', presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps (February 17, 2008) Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html

[8] Cf. C.L. Mitton. The Gospel According to Mark. London: Epworth, 1957, p. 26

[9] Cf. F.C. Grant, The Gospel According to St. Mark. Vol. 7. IB. New York: Abingdon, 1951, p. 694: “In place of broken family relations, ostracism and persecution, was the close and intimate relation to the Son of God.”

[10] Cf. Lewis Foster, ‘Luke’ in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Mi : Zondervan, 2002), note on Luke 9:24, p. 1589.

[11] Walter W. Wessel, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Mark/ Book Version: 4.0.2l: The words of v. 29—"will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin"—have caused great anxiety and pain in the history of the church. Many have wondered whether they have committed the "unpardonable sin." Surely what Jesus is speaking of here is not an isolated act but a settled condition of the soul—the result of a long history of repeated and wilful acts of sin. And if the person involved cannot be forgiven it is not so much that God refuses to forgive as it is the sinner refuses to allow him. Ryle’s famous words are great reassurance to any who might be anxious about this sin: "There is such a thing as a sin which is never forgiven. But those who are troubled about it are most unlikely to have committed it" (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [New York: Revell], 2:59). On the other hand, those who actually do commit the sin are so dominated by evil that it is unlikely that they would be aware of it.

[12] Ibid: "because they were saying, `He has an evil spirit'"—suggests an explanation for the unforgivable sin. Jesus had done what any unprejudiced person would have acknowledged as a good thing. He had freed an unfortunate man from the power and bondage of evil (cf. Matt 12:22; Luke 11:14). This he did through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the teachers of the law ascribed it to the power of Satan. Taylor (p. 244) says that the sin described here is "a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of moral values elects to call light darkness." Further, Mitton says, "To call what is good evil (Isa 5:20) when you know well that it is good because prejudice and ill will hold you in bondage, that is the worst sin of all. The tragedy of the `hardening of heart' (as in Mk 3:5) is that it makes men capable of committing just this sin" (Gospel of Mark, p. 28). Perkins, Pheme. NIB VIII: The Gospel of Mark, p. 547: The evangelist’s comment in V. 30 shows that the judgement saying is directed against those who have charged Jesus with using Satan’s power.”

[13] John Milton featured Beelzebub as seemingly the second-ranking of the many fallen cherubim in the epic poem Paradise Lost, first published in 1667. Wrote Milton of Beelzebub "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat." Beelzebub is also a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678. See Absoluteastronomy.com, Beelzebub: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Beelzebub

[14] Cf. Choon-Leong Seow. The First and Second Book of Kings. (NIB III: Abigdon Press, Nashville, 1999), p. 170 and R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: 2 Kings/ Second Kings Note 1:3, Book Version: 4.0.2

[15] Cf. R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:2 Kings/Notes to Second Kings/Second Kings 1 Notes/Second Kings Note 1:2, Book Version: 4.0.2

[16] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, "2 Kings 1:6: Is it because there is no God in [this place]?” Presented to the Nipawin Corps 31 May 2009.

[17] Cf. Sheepspeak, ‘Be a Hero Stuff’, Monday, December 19, 2005 (posted at 1:53PM). Available on-line at http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html#113502200702877662

[18] ‘Overweight’ in PAEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 1 January 2004, pp. 152-154

[19] Cf. http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/ for more information about ‘Buy Nothing Day’.

[20] Cf. also John Wesley, 'The Use of Money': Sermon 50.