Well, it's a joy to greet you this morning, and it's a joy to stand before you to point you to the Word of God and to the Savior that it points to, Jesus. And so take your Bible this morning and turn with me to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Now, when Randy was praying a little while ago this morning, he mentioned D-Day, and it was pretty remarkable that this past week is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, 75 years ago, the largest joint military operation ever to take place on planet Earth took place on that day, June the 6th, 1944. Tens of thousands of troops from the United States and the UK and France and Canada, a total of 150,000 troops landed on the Normandy coastline in France. And that landing commenced an all-out effort of invasion to bring down one of the most prolific, notorious, and hostile, demonic world leaders this world has ever known. An operation to liberate Europe from the diabolical Third Reich. And from that point, war raged across the continent for almost a year until the man of sin was brought down and his forces with him. It was on May the 8th, 1948. Could you imagine, if you just stop and think, had that invasion not happened and that war not been won, what would the world be like today? I mean, we can think how bad it is, but think about how bad it would be if not for that. Well, as we come this morning to our time in God's Word, our attention is directed to a different and more important invasion even than the invasion that took place on D-Day. I'm talking about the invasion when Jesus came to earth and he invaded enemy territory. He invaded a land that had been taken over by the prince of the power of the air and he did so to deliver, to bring liberation. And there was and there remains a war of all wars. It is ongoing. Now we think World War II has passed us and it is in the history books and World War I is back there, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, all the wars that our generation has at least had some touch with. But there is a war that has been raging ever since the devil went into the Garden of Eden and lured Eve and along with her Adam into sin. There has been a war, and it is a war that has really been from humanity, been directed at God. But God has not been pleased to allow human beings to languish in our terrible lostness. But there has been a counterattack and an offensive by God. And it came in the person of His one and only Son. And it came to bring deliverance to captives who were overtaken underneath the power of the prince, the prince of the power of the air. And the reality of this battle and this war is sort of unseen to the normal naked eye of the world. The eyes of the world when it thinks of wars it thinks of those that we can with guns and national and boundary type of skirmishes and wars that have taken place on the surface of the earth. But the most real and fundamental battle, the war of all wars is a war that is still ongoing. It's going to be, it's going to reach an end one day. But it's ongoing. And it was certainly ongoing when Jesus was walking the face of the earth. And so as we come to our text for this morning, this is what stood out to me is that though Jesus is having a conversation here and basically instructing the Pharisees, what He has to say to them brings this reality of the war of all wars to the front. And so let's stand together and read and see how this comes out. In Matthew chapter 12, This morning we're going to focus on verses 22 to 30, Matthew chapter 12, 22 to 30. And just by way of information, if you look right after this text you've got those verses that deal with the sometimes troubling topic to Christians of the unpardonable sin. I'm stopping short of that today. That's what we're mainly going to be concerned with next week. So let's look here. It sets the stage for those verses. But Matthew chapter 12, verses 22 to 30. Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, that is to Jesus. And he healed him so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, Can this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons, knowing their thoughts. Now, I'm not even going to hardly be able to touch that little verse, that little phrase right there this morning because of all the other stuff. But just think they were saying they were talking, but Jesus knew their thoughts. Jesus knows your thoughts as you're sitting here today. He knows them. Make sure they're thoughts that honor and glorify Him even while we're reading this passage. Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by who do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come to this passage today, we just want to bow before your throne to say we acknowledge this to be the Word of God. This account that Matthew gave of Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees here dealing with The charges that they made against him, that he was casting out demons by the prince of demons, and the way that Jesus responded to them. This, as Matthew gives it to us today, is given by the Spirit of God and is therefore profitable for doctrine, reproof, rebuke, and for correction and training in righteousness that we might be complete well furnished to every good work. And so we pray today that every believer in Christ here today will be better furnished unto every good work because of the time spent in God's Word today. And we pray, Lord, for those among us this morning who are not believing in Jesus, that they would be challenged that, Lord, the Spirit of God, the same Spirit of God by which Jesus cast out demons, would be working in their hearts this morning, Lord. And we pray that you would draw them to yourself, that you would show them that that every human being belongs to one of two kingdoms, either the devil's or God's. And Lord, beckon unto them to leave Satan's kingdom this morning and come and join the kingdom of God. And to the glory of God and to the praise of your marvelous and wonderful grace. It is in Jesus' name that we pray this morning. Amen. Well, you may be seated. Now, just to set the stage this morning, you might remember a couple of weeks ago in our study, Jesus had an encounter with the Pharisees in regard to the Sabbath. It was a Sabbath day. Jesus and His disciples were making their way down a path that led through a field and there was grain and the disciples were rubbing the grain in their hands and eating. And then Jesus went into the synagogue later that day and He healed a man with a withered hand. And there was this squabble going on between both Jesus and His disciples on the one hand and the Pharisees on the other. They were wanting to point their callous, calculated, cold-hearted fingers at Jesus and His disciples accusing them of breaking the Sabbath and being worthy of death and certainly being guilty of sin. But instead Jesus revealed to them how callous was their hearts and how they knew nothing about what God truly wanted from people because of the absence of mercy when it came to looking inside them. And so with their callousness exposed their hard-heartedness out in the open the Pharisees were seething on the inside and they went away and they began to scheme and to plan to determine how they would go about bringing the downfall of Jesus and Jesus on his part withdrew He pulled away from the battle with the Pharisees and went on his way, continuing to minister, healing people and preaching the gospel. In the course of that ministry we read this morning about a man who was brought to Jesus. This man was blind and mute. He couldn't see, he couldn't talk, and we also learn in the passage here that he was oppressed with a demon. This was likely connected together, these physical ailments as well as his spiritual bondage that engulfed him by the power of the devil. And at this point, when this man is brought to Jesus, we see a battle taking place of sorts, a battle in this great war. There is a collision here between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. And Jesus strikes a crushing blow. I want you to just think about this moment, just in the fact that we're focusing on one instance, but Jesus was regularly doing this kind of thing. Demon-oppressed people being brought to Him, or He encountering them, and something happens. Little skirmishes that represent the greater war take place and we also see in these the power of the one over against the weakness of the other. Jesus heals the demon oppressed man. And so the bystanders see this and they witness and they realize that great power has been put on display before them such as they cannot imagine. And so they naturally begin to do this questioning thing of wondering, is this possibly the Messiah, the Son of David, the fulfiller of all these prophecies that God has been speaking to us? And so they begin discussing the possibility among themselves, but the Pharisees overhear this discussion and already with their hearts set completely against Jesus. They want to make it known that Jesus is not doing this by spiritual God-ordained power, but that Jesus is casting out these demons by the power of the devil, by the power of Satan. And by saying that and making this accusation, they imply that Jesus is absolutely disgusting reprehensible and appalling and they should have nothing to do, no care, no respect for him whatsoever. However, Jesus responds by exposing the absurdity of these charges. It's silly. It's absurd that they would say such things. Jesus goes through a logical explanation to show how ridiculous would be the case if what they were saying was true. And by this Jesus reveals that The Pharisees are in fact railing against the Holy Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit by whom Jesus is accomplishing these things. They are railing against the Holy Spirit of God and they are warmongering against the kingdom of God. They have set themselves in opposition to God himself. And so the insinuation then on the part of Jesus is that the Pharisees are the ones who are on the side of the devil. And the reason is, when you get down to it, it's because they oppose Jesus as He comes to plunder the devil's house. That, in a nutshell, is what we read this morning. To study and glean some things from this text, I felt like the thing to do was to highlight that there is this thing that Matthew brings before our attention and that happens as Jesus speaks, this reality of this war that's ongoing. And we see We see this conflict in action. And this brings to our attention something of an awareness, I hope, of the reality of what it means to live on earth with a raging war all around us. That there are two kingdoms and they are in utter conflict. And we need to realize some of the implications of that and what each one is like and also be determined to be part of the right kingdom and realize that there's no middle ground. And so that's what I want to do this morning. Let's start with the kingdom of Satan. As we look through these verses, there are several aspects of the domain of darkness that emerge in the text that we need to have in the forefront of our minds as believers who are seeking holiness and seeking a relationship with God and seeking to walk faithfully while we live here on earth. These are also important things for unbelievers to know. If you don't believe in Jesus, if you have not yet come to the place where you repent of sin and trust in Him, you need to know the kingdom that you belong to. Because if you're not in His kingdom, this is the one you're in. And here's what it's like. Number one, we see that Satan's kingdom is detrimental. Satan's kingdom is detrimental. That means it brings damage, it brings harm, it brings hurt. We see this, Satan's kingdom brings captivity also, darkness and bondage and the fact appears in the condition of the man who was brought to Jesus. He was oppressed by a demon, and as a result, he was unable to see and unable to speak. Satan closed this man's eyes, shut his mouth, and held him in bondage. And that is the nature of the work that Satan does. And that's just putting it pretty mildly here. These outward marks of bondage give us just a glimpse into the spiritual darkness and death in which this man was engulfed. This is what Satan comes to do. This is why he went into the Garden of Eden. And this is why he will lurk around in your life. He goes around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He comes to steal. He comes to kill. He comes to destroy. He comes to violate every command God has ever given because he hates God and he hates his law. Love your neighbor as yourself. No, hate your neighbor and love yourself. That's the devil. And that's the way he lives, and that's what his kingdom is all about, and that's what he wants people to do for themselves. And when they do that, it is catastrophic, it is detrimental to oneself as well as to everyone else. Look around in our world at the blindness and hurt and pain and the ravages of a sinful world, people shooting up each other in their workplace, people hacking each other to death in their own hearts with hate and animosity towards one another, people going around miserable And it's all a result of their own sin and a sin that first was brought to the temptation for which is brought by the devil himself. He is full of hostility and hate. So when he went to the garden and he reasoned with Eve to persuade her that to eat the fruit that God had said don't eat was actually in her best interest instead of in her worst interest and she gave in, the domino fell And dominoes have been falling ever since. And as every domino falls with every additional sin, there is additional pain and heartache, and there is additional detriment that comes to people's hearts and bodies and souls. And so the cataclysmic result of that garden event so many years ago that results in the things that we see and hear and feel when we turn on the news and we see it every day. When we look out in our own homes and families and we see the dysfunction and the heartache and the animosity and the wars that are being fought among people actually illustrate the war that's going on in a more fundamental way. Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of depravity, of darkness, of destruction, of delusion and despair. That's what he brings. What an important reminder for when we face temptation. trying to walk in holiness, you will be tempted. You will not be tempted with the idea that this is really bad for you and you don't want to do that. That's not temptation. Satan comes to you and the flesh comes to your heart the same way Satan came to Eve in the garden with every reason to believe that if you disobey God, you will be so glad you did. You will be so much better off than if you didn't. But to look here at the condition of this man that was brought to Jesus because of and in connection with his demon oppression is a reminder to each one of us that every time Satan comes and every time the flesh cooperates with Satan to bring temptation to our heart the outcome if we give in will be destructive. He is a liar. Don't believe what he says because he's there to bring destruction. He is there to ruin, corrupt, pollute. He is there to rob people of happiness, not give people happiness and joy. You just need to remember that when you face temptation. This will not turn out to be for my good. This will not bring happiness. This will not bring satisfaction. The one who's ultimately responsible for getting these temptations to me hates me and desires my destruction. And that is why he is trying so hard to tell me it's going to be good if I will simply give in. You need to remember that when you come to temptation. Who is this who is the tempter, the one whose name itself tells what he is, the tempter. If you're not a follower of Jesus, on the other hand, you need to think long and hard about the nature of Satan's kingdom because this is what it is. Delusion, destruction, detriment, depression, His kingdom is detrimental and destructive to hearts and minds and bodies." Do you want to really be a part of a kingdom like that? I mean, surely there's not a person in the world that wants to be miserable and mournful and sorrowful all the days of their life. But see, he believed the lie that it's going to be better, but he's a liar. you need to know that's what this kingdom, the kingdom of Satan, is all about. Well that's the first thing I want you to see and we see it as we look at this man in the condition that he was brought to Jesus. Well secondly I want us to look at Satan's dominion as delusional, that it is a lie, that it itself is a lie and it's built on lies. The whole way that Satan operates is through the tactic of lying. So Satan is a liar, and the Bible says he's the father of lies. Jesus said he was the father of lies. And even though the lies can be exposed, they are still believed by people. It's a lie. But some people just don't care. They want to believe it even though they know it's not true. This is why the Bible says that it's a fool who says in his heart there is no God. That's what he wants to believe so he denies what he knows in his heart to be true. Well, the Pharisees had accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul. Now, this accusation was highly provocative. Think of what someone would say in our day, if we had somebody up here, we don't want to do this, right? But this is if, what does the world do? If there is someone the world wants to impugn to the rest of the world, what will it do? What name will it use to call this person? How will it refer to somebody that the world wants you to see this person is bad news? Well, that's what the Pharisees were doing when they were saying that Jesus conducted his exorcisms, that he cast out demons by the power of Beelzebul, because we've talked about that here a few weeks ago, and how dreadful of a title this was, because this is definitely a reference to Satan, the Prince of Demons, he is called by the Pharisees themselves, but they use this word Beelzebul because it means the Lord of Dung. And so you just, you know, how wicked and how corrupt and how awful. So Jesus is attached and connected with the Lord of Dung. This is the most contemptible expression that Jews had to speak of the devil. And so this accusation was charged with emotion and public contempt. Whether the accusation was true or reasonable or even logical is simply irrelevant to them. They just want to make the accusation because that accusation made can affect the way people look at him. I mean, I'm reminded of some news stories that have appeared in the last year or two in which the news agencies have propagated stories they knew to be false. But they were so filled with vehemence just to get it out there. So they print the bold story and then the retraction a few days later comes in the fine print in the back page of the paper. They get it out because they have an agenda here, and their agenda is not truth and objectivity. Their agenda is to form your mindset and my mindset and make us think in certain ways. And they can call a person or this person or that person a name enough, then we'll all get on the bandwagon and start stomping our feet and join up with the news media who wants us to do that. And thus, this is how they're trying to work in the public arena today. That's what the Pharisees were doing there when they came to Jesus. And they were having an effect. Because, in fact, you notice that when Jesus performed this miracle, the bystanders were asking whether Jesus might not be the Son of David, the Messiah. Well, you might say, well, yeah, weren't they asking? It's like they were potentially even more convinced, but the Pharisees are standing within an earshot, and they already know the Pharisees are not, so they're talking kind of low. Could this be the Messiah? Could He be the Messiah? Could He be? Because in their minds, if there was nothing holding them back, they were just about, can this not be the Messiah? But the Pharisees were there, and the Pharisees then were ready to pounce. ready to argue that, no, Jesus is doing this work by the Lord and done. And so Jesus then, on his part, exposed the delusions of the Pharisees. They're deluded and they're determined to delude others. But Jesus points out that it was ludicrous to think that he was operating with the power of Satan. For one thing, just the logic of it breaks down. If Satan is against Satan, then how can he do anything? If his kingdom is torn within then nobody has anything to worry about from the devil because he's going to kill himself gradually imploding from the inside. And then Jesus also makes mention of some apparent associates of the Pharisees who whether they actually casted out demons or not they had a reputation for casting out demons and so Jesus brings to their attention so And what are you going to say about these associates of yours that before now you're ever so glad to be associated with the fact that they cast out demons because they're associated with you? It builds you up. And now you're coming to me saying, I do this by the power of the devil? So what are you going to say about those? He shows their inconsistency. Now not only are they illogical, but they're inconsistent. Now, just to be a little practical about this for a moment, look around at the voices crying out these days from the world, the voices of the politically correct, and you hear them saying things like homophobe, you hear them say bigot, and you hear them say those things, and I'm willing to admit that there are people that are fitting of those labels. But in many cases, what you have is the same kind of delusional cry that was uttered by the Pharisees. Truly, they're not interested in truth when they say this. They're more interested in politics. They're more interested in framing a discussion. They're more interested in shaping and molding the American mind. They're not interested in truth. They're delusional. And whether it makes sense is irrelevant. They're interested in stirring up a frenzy that redirects the attention of the world away from the power and righteousness of the kingdom of God and any moral standard whatsoever and directing God's people away from that and directing people in the world away from the guilt. that many experience when they engage in all kinds of sinful behaviors that are running rampant through our society. So the people that stand up and say, wait a minute, that's not right. Or there is such a thing as sin. I've heard people interviewed recently about what is sin. And you know what the people of the world typically think or just some anecdotal evidence of, you know, sin is just, you know, when you don't love yourself the way you ought to, that's got to be a sin. It's like everything's been turned upside down. It has nothing to do with God. And so if you are one that says, you know, it has to do with God, God gave us His law, and we look at His law and we're broken His law, that's sin, and we deserve punishment for that. Well, you bigot! Well, that's what we're hearing and they don't care if they reason through these things. It's really irrelevant to them. They're just an attempt to sway public opinion to make sinners more comfortable in this world and give them more freedom to multiply sin upon sin upon sin. When you hear things like that, that is not from God. These are the ways and the methods of the enemies of God. So be careful operating in today's society that you don't get caught up with a, you know, that kind of gasping. That person said that. Don't get caught up in the ways of delusions. What is true? Is the question that needs to be answered. Not what is provocative. Now, Satan's kingdom also, I want you to see as we look at this passage, so we've seen it's hurtful and it's delusional, but thirdly this morning I want you to see that Satan's kingdom includes some interesting characters. I mean characters that the world would not want to say are part, if anybody's part of Satan's kingdom it's certainly not very religious people, but we see right here this morning that Satan's kingdom includes very religious people. The Pharisees of Jesus day were the most highly regarded in Jewish society. They were the most rigorous rule followers probably in the history of the world. But this encounter with Jesus reveals that they were enemies to the kingdom of God. And by default, as we shall see in a moment, they were part of the kingdom of the devil. They were not with Jesus, but against him and against the kingdom of God. And so the kingdom of God has come upon them. And that was just fine with the devil. The devil loves having religious people amongst his group because they divert attention away from him. But he's got them and he's glad to have them. And the thing that we need to learn here is that we need to be careful that we don't think we're good because we're religious. Because here are people who are religious to the nth degree. Religion is of no value. when it comes to being right hearted toward God or being in right standing with God. Religion cannot help. Religion can delude You know, I think it's the evolutionary thinkers, maybe it was Karl Marx that said religion is the opiate of the people. I think that's true. It's ever so true. Probably the only time I agree with Karl Marx. But he was thinking that, you know, he was calling religion even, you know, people who fear God and love God. That religion It keeps people from coming face to face with the truth as he saw it. But I think religion keeps people from coming to repentance and faith, because they think that by doing these things, they are going to somehow be right with God, that God's going to look down and pat them on the back because they say, Hail Marys, or because they go to church a certain number of times. But what did we learn through what Jesus told the Pharisees just a few verses back? God wants mercy, not sacrifice. Your religious shows don't ... God doesn't need that. He wants your heart. So reading in the Psalms the past week in Saul where the psalmist is talking about how God has enough, he's got enough of people's sacrifices. What he wants is their hearts. He wants them to come thank him. Just thank me. Acknowledge that I'm God and I give you what you have. Not think that you're feeding me because I own the cattle on a thousand hills. If I was hungry, I wouldn't call you. And so religion won't do any good. You do not need religion. Hopefully you don't come to church thinking you're getting brownie points with God. I was talking with somebody this week about the whole reason why people go to church. They say, I don't go to church because I hope to please God. I go to church because I need God's people. I need to be with them and I need to encourage and be encouraged by them because I love God. And that's where I find some of the most important aspects of my seeking to know and love God. It's not religion. I don't need religion. And you don't need religion. You need Jesus. And when you've got Him, you need His people. And you will want His people because this is the closest foretaste we have to heaven when we're going to get there with Him and see Him face to face. See, even through preaching, because preaching is the explanation of the truth and the unfolding of the character and glory of God, well, when we get to heaven, what is it going to be about? The glory and majesty of God. But in the preaching and in the worship and in this thing we join together, this is about getting as close as we can while still here in this war in which we find ourselves. Well, one more thing here about Satan's dominion. And this is what I like about Satan's dominion. There's something I like about Satan's dominion. And you're thinking, what is it? It's entirely defeatable. In fact, it's as good as defeated. And we see that here in this passage. Satan's dominion cannot withstand the offensive maneuvering of Jesus. The devil was not able to withstand the healing work of Jesus in the case of the blind and mute man. Jesus cast those demons out because he is able to do so. Satan is vulnerable. He cannot win. That's what I like about His kingdom and His dominion. It cannot and it will not win. So the fact that Jesus was able to cast out the demon and heal the man shows the superior power of Jesus. Effortlessly, Jesus exerts His sovereignty over the demonic realm. And we saw this previously when Jesus engaged a whole host of demons. And remember, in a Gentile section of the land, they caused a whole herd of swine to run down the hill and get drowned in the lake. But did Jesus get tired doing that? It didn't seem so. They were no match for Christ, these demons. Jesus would become weary from traveling and hungry from going without food, but he exhibits no fatigue whatsoever in casting out enemy spirits. What seems such a great exhibition of power is something on the part of the devil and his kingdom, it is completely under the sway and control of the sovereignty of Jesus, who rules the demons. That's what I like about that kingdom, is that it can't win. It cannot win. The devil goes about like a roaring lion, but he can do nothing to thwart the ultimate purpose and power of Jesus. The kingdom of Satan is dark, delusional, destructive, downloaded with religion, but it is as good as defeated. Its final defeat is on the horizon. We can see it just over the hill. Because the main blow, the nuclear bomb that was dropped was the blood drops of Jesus that fell from the cross when he died and then rose again to show he's not going to be defeated by it, but he has won. Now, so that's what I see about the kingdom of the devil, the kingdom of Satan in this passage. I want to also show you some things about the kingdom of God in this passage. So there's two kingdoms. We've seen the one, let's look at the other. First of all, Jesus' kingdom overrules satanic dominance and brings deliverance. Now, we've already said His power was greater, so let's just focus on the fact of what He does with His greater power. Jesus uses his power and his authority to bring people out from under the domination and the power of Satan and his kingdom. What Satan's kingdom does brings detriment, but it's no match for the authority of Jesus. Before the demon-oppressed man was brought to Christ, he was blind and mute. He was in bondage. He could not see. He could not speak. He was dominated satanically. But when he came to Jesus, all that went away. Jesus was the answer to his situation. He was brought to Jesus, and Jesus healed him. This man was no longer blind. He could see. He was no longer mute. He could speak. He was no longer under spiritual bondage. In the place of these things came healing and wholeness. Sight replaced blindness. Speech replaced silence. And freedom replaced the bondage that he had been under. The dead and debilitated state of humanity as a result of sin and as a result of the influence of Satan is no match for the power of the Spirit of God operating under the authority of Jesus. That is something in which God's people should be going, Amen! Paul is filled with this when he gets to Romans chapter 6 and starts talking about why we should flee from sin. It's because we don't have to live under its dominion anymore because if you're in Christ you've been taken out from under the bondage of Satan and sin. And so this dead and debilitated state of us, you look at your own life and see those sins which so easily beset you, those ones you tend to fall back into. Listen, you don't need to do that. And if you look back and you're filled with, oh, I'm so defeated, you don't have to be. In fact, you shouldn't be because this power works in you. So, well, now what do you do if you're feeling, well, yeah, but here I am. Well, get up in the power of the Spirit. Get up. Say no to all of that and yes to him and begin to walk, continuing to know and affirm what he says to be true, that the power of God in you is greater. that you have been freed and you have been delivered and that you have been given the same spirit in your own heart and life by which to say no to sin and yes to obedience. Well, Paul depicts beautifully to the Ephesians this power and authority of Jesus that overrules the destructive work that comes through sin when he says, and you were dead. You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of the world, and following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which you loved us, even when we were dead, in our trespasses, made us alive, by grace you've been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That means in His power and in His authority and in His position. If you are a follower of Jesus, listen, It's not because you never belong to the kingdom of Satan, because you were born belonging to that kingdom. If you are a follower of Christ, it is because you've been delivered by Jesus. He has infiltrated and He has brought you out from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of His light. He has brought you out. And not only has He brought you out, Just as surely as this man came to Jesus with an inability to see, He has given you an ability to see. Things that you understand and comprehend about the Kingdom of God, things that you grasp about the truth of your sin, and the fact that it deserves rightly to be punished by God, and the fact that you don't want that to happen, and that you want to know Him better and better, That is a gift of His delivering grace because He gives sight to the blind. And what about that voice? That voice before you belonged to Christ was a voice held captive under the domination and dominion of Satan. Now when Christ has been set free and that voice ought to be used That voice ought to be used to speak forth the greatness and glory of God who saved you. It ought to be used to speak forth the gospel by which you've been saved to other people. It ought to be used to give thanksgiving to God for His goodness and greatness and to extol Him for the fact that you were once blind, but now you see. You once were in dominated and dominion, but now you're free. Just think, if you were that guy and you came and Jesus did all this, you would be beside yourself. Well, in a spiritual sense, everyone who's come to Christ has experienced far more than that. And it ought to be evident in the way we speak. We need to open our mouths and sing His praise. And we need to open our eyes and indulge in what He's given us the ability to see. and not be content just knowing a little bit. Want to know more, see more, grasp more, love Him more. Well, a second thing here about Jesus' kingdom. First of all, it overrules satanic dominance and brings deliverance. But secondly, Jesus' kingdom is insulted by its opponents. Now, I've already intimated this, so I'll try not to deal with it too much, but just think about this. These Pharisees here are ascribing the work of Jesus Christ to the devil. It's sort of mind-boggling to me on the one hand. They are ascribing, the one who is deserving of all glory, they are saying is worthy of all hate. That's what they're saying. And I would just like to say to us, don't think it's going to be different for you if you stand steadfastly with Jesus. What did Jesus say? He said to his disciples, he said, you will be hated by all for my name's sake. He also said, if they call the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? So if you are a Christ follower, Look at these Pharisees and be placed on high alert. Be prepared. Do not expect this world to respect you because there is good reason to hold a biblical and God-honoring conviction. You think you can explain why this is truly better and why living a lifestyle that corresponds with God's law is better? That's not what this world is interested in hearing. If they're determined to consider you a bigot, it doesn't matter what kind of reasoning you bring to the world for your conviction. So don't think that they're going to call you good names or they're going to say, well, you know, I understand why you won't bake cakes for homosexual marriage. Don't expect that. They're going to say, no, you are truly messed up. You won't commit euthanasia, you doctor. Get with the program. What's wrong with you? There are people who want euthanasia. And that's more important than your so-called right not to do it because you believe that it's wrong before God. That's irrelevant. People want it. People can do it. If you won't do it, let's just take your medical license away. That kind of thing seems to be on the horizon. Articles written in Canada and the United States in the last couple of weeks seem to indicate such is coming. If you want a job that you don't have to lose, then maybe you ought to rethink going into the medical field, is what some people are saying. You and I have no right to become hostile or hateful. We must simply persevere in godliness and holiness and let God take care of setting the record straight. There will be persecutors. What are we supposed to do with persecutors? Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. Okay, thirdly this morning, we're looking at the kingdom of Jesus. Jesus' kingdom is also vindicated by truth. The world may not care, but one day truth is going to win out. When God's on His holy throne and judgment is exercised, it's not going to be out of accord with truth, but in complete accord with truth, and truth will win. The kingdom of Christ is not defeated by the lies and by the delusion. The Pharisees' insults notwithstanding, Jesus was undaunted in His assertions and He was undaunted in His mission. Even when they led the charge to put Him to death, it was not because Jesus was overcome by them, overcome by the enemy. The cross was the plan of God all along. And these mindless people following the pursuits of their hearts are doing the very thing that God's foreordination determined what happened. Jesus bore up under the hostility that was directed at Him in order to complete the work given Him by the Father. And the lies of the Pharisees and the deceit of the devil are shown to be what they are in fact, lies and deceit. And Jesus rises from the dead. And just last, this last resurrection day taught, we showed how Paul when preaching to the Athenians there was showing that the resurrection is the testimony of God to the world that judgment is certainly coming." And it is. Jesus was clearly working by the power of the Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God was present, manifesting authority. Now a fourth thing here about Jesus' Kingdom and that is that Jesus' Kingdom, and this is what I especially like about Jesus' Kingdom, I like all the other stuff, all the good stuff, but this kind of corresponds to the other thing I like about the Devil's Kingdom. Now this thing about Jesus' Kingdom is that he plunders the Kingdom. of the devil. Having asserted that the Kingdom of God has made itself known, that it has come upon them, Jesus uses the image of a thief of all things to describe himself. Not because he is a thief, but because he is doing something that corresponds to the work of a thief. He is using this to depict his own ministry. Now if you are a thief, And you have a particular house in mind that you would like to plunder, when do you go? You go when the homeowner's not there. Remember the movie Home Alone? You know, he just tried to convince these thieves, somebody's there. Because you don't want to go when somebody's there. You got more work to do. But the thing is, when it comes to Jesus plundering Satan's house, there's never a time when Satan's not home. And Jesus is not trying to come behind his back. He is meeting him straight up in this war. And so Jesus uses this image here. He uses this image of one who comes and binds the strong man. so they can pillage, so that they can plunder, so they can take things away from him. The things that are in bondage in his house he can remove. So Jesus says basically first I'm coming in fact to bind the strong man which in this context says I have come to bind the devil so I can take what he has locked up in his house for myself. What is he saying? Jesus is declaring that He has invaded the strong man's house, that Satan is the strong man, and that by Satan's strength, He has brought humanity into bondage in His house. And so now Christ has appeared. He has not come to do the devil's work. Of course, it couldn't be because He's coming to plunder him. He's not come to do the devil's work, but to work in opposition to the devil. He has come to pillage Satan's house. So by the Spirit, Jesus has bound the strong man. And it is the Spirit that the devil by the spirit that the devil has been restrained. He has been bound and Jesus is plundering his house. What has Jesus taken out of the house of the devil? But people. Why in this very context, what has he taken out but this one who was oppressed by the devil, by the demons. He has brought him out from under his power. And so this is what Jesus is depicting here. Jesus is plundering his house. He has invaded a set captives free. He has come to bring release to those held captive under the prince of the power of the air. The plunder is the people Jesus came to gather together. They are sheep. for whom he came to die, like Moses coming back to Egypt to invade and to bring God's people out from the dominion of Pharaoh. Jesus has come to bind the strong man and to bring out of his dominion people that are set apart unto himself. He's leading captives to the promised land, just as sure As the Allied forces landed on Normandy Beach to plunder the Third Reich and deliver captives from German occupation, Jesus came to redeem His people and set us free from the delusional, destructive reign of the devil. And He will fully accomplish what He came to do. He will. He's doing it. It is ongoing. And when it's complete, He's coming back to end it all, to bring an end to Satan's dominion altogether. Satan is a strong man. You know, it is interesting that he's called the strong man. Jesus wants us to know that Satan's got power. He has authority. He is the strong man. But Jesus is stronger. He's stronger. He's not just a little bit stronger. Without any effort, He rules over him. He showed His strength, Jesus did, when He resisted the temptations of the devil. He showed His strength in other ways. He certainly showed His strength when He gave Himself on the cross and when He rose from the dead. And when He comes back, His strength will be in full display. And if you are in Christ, His power is at your disposal. His authority is that under which you live and breathe. You have been delivered and you shall ultimately be delivered. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Now, so we have these two kingdoms. The kingdom of the devil and the kingdom of Jesus. And that's it. There is no other ultimate kingdom in the world. And so that brings us to this fact. that in this war of all wars, neutrality is not an option. Trying to be Switzerland won't work. Trying to be somebody that's neither on the north or on the south, it won't work. You can't be in the middle. There is no fence upon which you can sit. And Jesus is the one that makes this abundantly clear. Look to verse 30. Jesus says, is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." So what is Jesus indicating here? That there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to these two kingdoms. You either belong to one or you belong to the other. And how do you know which one you belong to? Well, if you're not with Jesus, you're in the other one. That's how you do it. If you are not with Him, you are against Him. And if you are against Him, you are in the devil's dominion. Pharisees, do you hear that? You say, I do this work by the power of the devil, but it's you who are in the devil's kingdom because you are against me. And this is also said maybe for those who are in that crowd who are saying, could this be the Messiah? Could it be? They need to come to terms with the fact that it won't do them any good to simply be asking whether this can be the Messiah. They must come to terms and say, He is the Messiah and I'm with Him. If you're going along wondering and trying to walk the middle line, you're in the devil's kingdom. It's outside of His, Jesus' kingdom and in the devil's. You see, by default, you and I are on the side of the devil. By nature, we all follow the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air. We live under the dominion of Satan. We're slaves to sin by nature, by birth. That's how it is. And we show it by living in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. So what do you have to do to join up with Satan's kingdom? Nothing. You're in it already. You're born into that kingdom and subject to it. The Satan worshippers are not the only ones that make up Satan's kingdom. They're just the ones that make it up most vocally. Others make it up by silence. Now, if you do not want to be on the devil's side, can anything be done? Absolutely, Jesus has done it. You need to run from Satan, and he will plunder you out of his kingdom, out of Satan's dominion. If you join up with Jesus, though, I want you to see this. Jesus is real specific here. He's already painted a picture that Jesus is a plunderer. He invades the house of the devil, and he is gathering out of his house people to come with him. So if you join up with Jesus, he expects you to join up with him in his mission. And he makes that clear because he says, whoever's not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. So if you're with me, you're going to gather with me, you're going to join me and let's plunder this thing together. We are to go to a lost world, preach the gospel, proclaim the truth and call people to come out and to come follow Christ. People who truly join up with Jesus, join up with his cause. The devil silences people. Jesus opens their mouth so they can share and talk and tell. Jesus has bound the strong man and he calls his disciples to get in on the plunder and we get in on the plunder by speaking the gospel. There can be no doubt. Adolf Hitler's Third Reich was hellish. Much blood had to be shed in order to overturn the bondage and darkness that it brought on the European continent. 150,000 Allied troops came ashore on D-Day. Thousands perished in the mission, but they succeeded in binding the European strongman. And they began plundering his house. And so the world celebrates this week. All these dignitaries from all over the world got together over there in Normandy to celebrate a monumental victory that was begun there and eventually spread to deliver all of Europe. Well, in contrast, our passage this morning points us not to thousands of soldiers, but to one. one who infiltrated the stronghold, not of Adolf Hitler, but of the devil himself. His works bound that strong man and his death, the death of the one soldier, the son of God, the Messiah, his death alone secured invincible victory for all who follow him. But if you're not with him, you are against him. You think you're a good person? You're against Him. You think you've done things that make God happy? You're against Him. Until you come in repentance of sin and faith in Jesus, you're against Him. And when you come in repentance of sin and faith in Jesus, you understand you're coming to join a movement to plunder the house of Satan by preaching a gospel that brings the mute out and gives them voices to speak, that brings the blind out and gives them eyes to see the glory of God, that brings people out oppressed and hurt and disabled and full of disfigurement and brings them out into glory to know Christ. That's plundering worth doing. That is plundering worth doing. So let's, you know, in a manner of speaking, let's go forth this week and plunder. the kingdom of Satan in the power of Jesus and His Spirit for the glory of God. Let's pray. Lord God, our Heavenly Father, how thankful we are to be instructed once again, how thankful we are that Jesus has died, how thankful we are to be a part of His kingdom by grace through faith. And Lord God, we come Just wanting to be the plunderers that we need to be as believers. Lord, you're pretty stark here in this passage. He who does not gather with me scatters. He who is not with me is against me. With you in your mission to bring salvation to a lost world, to bring deliverance to captives, Lord, we pray as we have VBS in view and we're going to be doing things to help Bring children out of the darkness by teaching them about your creation and about Jesus. And we just pray that it would be used of you in a mighty way to call sinners out of darkness and out of captivity into your marvelous light. And use each one of us, Lord, this week on the job, in our neighborhood, wherever we may be, for the joy that you've given us in our hearts, the joy to obey, the joy to speak of our Savior. Lord, open our mouths this week. that they may speak, and we ask it in Jesus' name.