children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled, but some of them said, He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. While others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe, but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil, and whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through the waterless places seeking rest. And finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse. than the first. And he said, these things. And a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. But he said, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Well, let's pray that we could hear the word of God and keep it this morning. Father in heaven, draw near to us, we pray. and changes this morning for the glory of God we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Well, the title of the sermon this morning is simply this, the finger of God, the finger of God. Um, I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on this, but that's by the by. The fact is it's only recorded here in Luke's gospel. If we go to in Luke, it says Jesus, Luke records of Jesus, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. In Matthew's gospel, we read something, the same phrase, but Matthew records, but if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Now what do we learn from this? That the finger of God is used by Jesus to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit. And we need a greater effusion of the power of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church in this country. And if you don't believe that, that doesn't mean it's true or it's not true. but for the discerning that's definitely true for those who know church history it's definitely true the church right now is in a very low at in england But that's okay, because our faith is not in the church. Amen? Our faith is in the head of the church, Jesus Christ. And God is able, by the finger of God, to change things overnight. God could even change things in this very service. There are people as I look around this room, I don't know all of you and I don't know all of your past, but I know some of them and God could have left you in your sins. Some of you, God could have left you in your sins and you could have still thought that you were a Christian, but you weren't because you'd never been born again. But there are testimonies in this room alone of the working of the finger of God. that the finger of God has turned many of you from darkness into light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. And when the Lord begins a work, he completes it. Why? Because those who endure to the end, they shall be saved. They don't just run when they're happy, they run in season, out of season. And they run because it's been the finger of God that's turned them around and not religion, including Christian religion. Sometimes we think, well, if we do this, I mean, there's nobody probably more committed to doctrine than probably me. And one of the dangers I got into when I really was pursuing doctrine, I thought, well, if the church will get itself sorted out with what it believes, bingo! I know that's not a spiritual word, bingo. But you know what I mean? Bingo! Everything will sort itself out, but it won't except by the Holy Spirit. And that's exactly what Jesus is teaching here. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. We need a fresh baptism of life and power on the church in this nation. where I'm going next week, that the church there, they've got more strongholds, dare I say, than even we have here. But it doesn't matter whether it's strongholds of another religion that hates Jesus or it's strongholds of the new atheism. The finger of God can pull down those strongholds overnight. So I hope that our faith can be strengthened as we think about the finger of God. But I want just to give the context here that it's in the context of Jesus Christ casting out demons. And what it teaches us in the ministry of Jesus is that something unique happens that's never happened in the history of any other preacher except the Son of God. That there was an explosion of evil that came out against Jesus Christ. At first, Satan himself confronted Jesus. And he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And at the end of 40 days and 40 nights, Satan was dismissed. And for a season, he went around and he thought, I've got to try something else. And he motivated, Satan motivated the Pharisees against Jesus. Now, they were looked to be very holy. They were very pious. They were very religious. But pious, obedient religion doesn't mean the power of God. They were full of the spirit of Satan. And so now Jesus simply delivers a man who's mute. He can't speak. And Jesus discerns it's a demon. He casts out the demon. And the opposition against him is almost unbelievable. And the Pharisees begin to accuse him of casting out demons by Satan's power. And Jesus says this, he says, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. And he's teaching them and teaching us that just the finger of God alone of our creator is greater than all the power of Satan. And we need to be reminded about this. Because there can be false doctrines that affect the church. I met with a man yesterday, John Byer. He's 90 years of age. He's still preaching. We had fellowship together. I've known him for many years and we're talking together. And we're both were on the same page about the need for a revival from heaven upon the church. He said to me, there was a man years ago who, it was a renewal movement in England, and he went to meetings and so forth, and he said, it's so easy for the church and for Christian leaders to get off track. He said, and they got off track. They started off great. But they began to think, if they bound the demon over England, all of England would be reached. So they tried to bind the demon over England, and you know the rest is history. It's got worse since they prayed, not better. I don't know what they were praying. But the thing is, the finger of God can do the job. The Lord, not by mind, not by methods, not by committees. Not by how much of the Bible you memorize. It's by my spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. We need a fresh theology of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It's so easy to continue in your own strength. You can continue preaching. I know how to prepare sermons. But preparing sermons is important, but it's not enough. Prayer is important, but prayer's not enough. We need the mercy of God. Help, Lord. Help, Lord. You can be praying for your children, your covenant children. You can have covenant promises. But unless the Lord gives them a new heart, they're never gonna be born again. And even though there are covenant promises, we know that Jacob and Esau were both covenant children. But the Lord only regenerated one of them. And that's humbling. Are you saying, Lord, you may not save all my children? The Lord will remain silent because he's sovereign. He doesn't need to answer us. You and I need to submit to the sovereign Lord. Three simple headings for us this morning. And it won't be a long sermon, just three simple headings. Number one, the finger of God in the old covenant, because three times we have the phrase, the finger of God in the old covenant scriptures. Secondly, the finger of God in Jesus ministry. And thirdly, the finger of God in the church today. And I like the finger of God because it helps the children to remember the sermon. Because, you know, little finger, and he can go home and say, daddy, daddy, God's power, God's little finger is greater than all the power of this world. So let's look at the first heading, the finger of God in the Old Covenant. And the first example we have is in Exodus chapter 8 and verse 19. And guess who introduces this idea of the finger of God? It's not Moses. It's not Elijah. It's actually the magicians of Pharaoh. Remember, the finger of God is at work in Egypt. Why? Because over 400 years before, God cut a covenant with a man called Abram. And he put Abram to sleep because no one can see God and live. And he passed between those bloody pieces of animals which were dead. And he cut a covenant with Abraham, and he said, you're going to be buried in your old age. But in 400 years or whatever, I'm going to deliver my people from oppression and so forth. He prophesied the exodus. But it wasn't going to happen for 400 years later. And but when it happened, there was an Egyptian ruler called Pharaoh who persecuted the old covenant church, which was mainly represented then by Israel. And then God said to Moses, I'm going to deliver you. But the more of the finger of God was at work, the worse it seemed to become. And the very first miracle that happened was what? It was water turned to blood. Exodus 7. The next miracle was what? You know what it was? It was frogs. And the magicians could repeat the finger of God miracles that God was doing. The third miracle was what? It was gnats. Gnats. But this plague, the Egyptians couldn't reproduce. The magicians couldn't reproduce it. And they were frustrated. And the Bible says the magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. But what the Bible teaches us, even the world can have a supernatural power, but it doesn't mean it's from God. Sometimes a relative dies and people go to a fortune teller, and most of what the fortune tells you is right, but it's not coming from God's Holy Spirit. It's coming from Satan. So these magicians, they could do certain things, but then they couldn't do it any longer, and the gnats were on the man and beast, and the magician said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. Now you may think of that, their own magicians speaking to Pharaoh, Pharaoh would say, oh no, we need to let them go. But no, it says, the Bible says, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. The Lord by his finger kept on bringing miracle after miracle and plague after plague on Egypt and kept on hardening Pharaoh's heart. And Pharaoh hardened his heart even more. until God did a miracle and delivered them in the Exodus, which is one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. The finger of God, part of the Red Sea, and about a million to a million and a half people, not only passed out of Egypt, but they passed out of Egypt on dry ground. God had a supersonic hairdryer and dried the earth. And then the Egyptians thought, no, they're leaving. We're gonna chase after them. So they chase after them. The Lord waits until all the Egyptian armies in the bottom of the sea. And then their chariot wheels start coming off. The finger of God is at work again. And then the Lord calls the sea back when all the children of Israel pass through and Egyptians army is drowned. That's the finger of God. There's only one miracle. Well, there's a few miracles which are outstanding in the Bible. Creation is one. The finger of God at work in creation. The finger of God at work in the exodus. But we mustn't forget about the finger of God at work in the resurrection of Jesus. It all seemed hopeless. And the two women, two Marys went to the tomb. And they got what they didn't expect. The angel said, he is not here, he is risen. And we're worshiping a God through the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. But the second coming will be a mighty demonstration of the finger of God as well. And Jesus is coming again. It's the world that says, well, how come he's not come yet? But not Christians. We believe he could come even this very day. So the first occurrence is in Exodus 8, 19, Pharaoh's magicians. Secondly, it's used the phrase, the finger of God to Moses. And we've already read this. It tells us that the 10 commandments were given by the finger of God. It reminds me that the finger of God, it says in Exodus 8, 19, 31 and he gave Moses and finished speaking He gave him the two tablets of the testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of God And it says the same thing 40 years later in the book of Deuteronomy Verse 9 10 and the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone Written with the finger of God and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of fire And so what we see here is in the old covenant, this phrase, the finger of God is used and Jesus uses it now, which is my second heading, the finger of God in Jesus ministry. Now, let me just read it again. One more time. I know we've met really a few times Luke's gospel, but if it is by the spirit of God, I cast out demons. Then the kingdom of God has come upon you. One of the first thing that Jesus is teaching us here is the continuity between the covenants. There's only one covenant. It's the covenant of grace. But the fullness of the light of that covenant happens when Jesus comes. And Jesus doesn't come to bring a new doctrine. If we turned all the lights off in this room and put the shutters down, and it was black, and then we turn the lights on, nothing would change in the room, but there'd be more light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. If there was the finger of God in the old covenant, how much more in the ministry of Jesus? And so here he says, in the midst of casting out demons, he calls it the finger of God. So Satan is no match for the power of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So the finger of God through Jesus. is something for us to have our faith strengthened. We must remember the reality of the spiritual battle, and Jesus is referring to the working of the Holy Spirit. And we need the finger of God in reviving power in the church today. Would you agree? Every new birth is the finger of God. every powerful extension of God's Holy Spirit, who was given on the day of Pentecost. But we need a fresh, as it were, baptism on the Church of life and power, I believe. And Lord, may the Lord grant it. And things look very difficult after the resurrection of Jesus because things were getting extended. But whenever there's extensions, there will always be pushbacks from Satan. Do you believe that? You must never live forgetting about the devil. If you live as a Christian, not thinking about the devil, he may well start deceiving you. You say, oh, I won't get deceived, I'm not like other Christians. Well, you're already deceived by thinking like that. Corinthians says he comes as an angel of light. He comes to deceive, he comes to frustrate, he comes to attack. And with every fresh work of God, when the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost, things were great initially, but then they started arresting Peter. Then they started arresting Peter and John. Then they started arresting Peter and John and all the apostles. And then Satan was working through them. And then they started threatening them with the same thing they threatened Jesus and said, we're going to kill you. But the devil can't do anything beyond that, which God allows. And they turned to the Lord in prayer, which didn't remove the persecution. They didn't pray, Lord, please, can you stop us being persecuted? Lord, we didn't sign up for this. We were happy fishermen in Galilee. Jesus says, I like the King James Version. It's one verse in Acts. It says something like, act like men. You know that verse? And we need to be strengthened in the power of God. Because when we get born again, we've got enemies that we didn't have before. It's more difficult as a Christian, quite frankly, than as a non-Christian. Because now, as a Christian, you've got two things living inside you. You've got original sin, the remnants of original sin, but now you've got the Holy Spirit who moves into you, and the Holy Spirit starts to convict you. Why? You can't be a true Christian and keep yielding yourself to sin. Why? Because the Holy Spirit hates sin. And he comes and he'll convict us of sin. Yes, we will commit sin. Yes, we will fall down. Proverbs says, though a righteous man falls seven times, he will arise again. But the finger of God will begin to work in your conscience. And so you need to stop putting yourself in that place of temptation. And stop making excuses like Adam and Eve did. and turn you back on sin and freshly surrender yourself to Jesus Christ. Because there's a warfare, we're in the middle of warfare and we need to wake up and fight against sin all the days of our lives. Preaching, I'm preaching right now against the devil. Not as a person, but anything that the devil might do to you. Children, you need to resist the devil as well. Because wherever you go, the devil controls this world, and this world is against Jesus. Especially when you go to secondary school, you get a fresh baptism of resistance then, which you didn't have at primary school. But if you're a believer, you ask the Lord for his help, and he'll give it to you. But I want just to say one more thing. There was a man called Paul, well, Saul, and he was one of the biggest instruments of persecution. And he, the clothes of Stephen, the persecutors who stoned him to death were laid at the feet of Saul and he approved of the killing of Stephen. But the finger of God did something and converted the apostle. Well, he became an apostle. And what I want to remind us of this, because we can all succumb to unbelief, there's nobody beyond the finger of God to be converted. Nobody. Nobody. Some of you got converted in your 50s. I told someone that this week, and they said, yeah, but my sons are in their 60s. As if you're in your 60s, you're now beyond the finger of God. Listen, nothing is beyond the finger of God. Nothing. The apostle Saul got converted, and he was so on fire for Jesus, he immediately starts preaching. And they rightly think, this guy is a con man. He's using this to kid us on. And they were right to believe that. He wasn't. He genuinely was converted. But he had to. He had a zeal without knowledge. And he had to go into Arabia to be instructed better. But the fact is this, he later on says to King Agrippa, I therefore, oh King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but declared first to those in Damascus and those in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with repentance. And this is our message. And we never change the message to try to get results. Entertaining people will not deliver results. It's the finger of God. Music will not deliver the kingdom of God. Lloyd-Jones, he said, in the 1950s and 60s, they saw a working of the Holy Spirit in a measure. It wasn't a full revival. But Christians began to think, if we keep singing in services, the Holy Spirit will come down. But singing doesn't extend the kingdom of God. It's true. When there is a true revival, there will be singing. But the singing is a product, it's an overflow from the heart. Not by might nor by power, we need silliness to be swept out from the church. It's the finger of God. Our third and last setting, and I'm gonna turn to Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12. The finger of God today. Do you believe the finger of God can work powerfully today? Well, I do. And I believe nothing but the finger of God is going to give this baptism of life and power that we need in the church. The Lord always works in and through the church, but we need the finger of God to help us in this congregation and in any congregation. But Hosea is one of those prophets that's He delivers a lot of doom and gloom because Israel are very severely backslidden to the point of idolatry. But we have idolatry in the church. I remember going to a wedding a number of years ago and a Jewish man, I told him about Christ and he said, can I ask you a question? I said, yeah, sure. He said, I was in a Roman Catholic church recently, it was full of idols. He said, but the Ten Commandments says, you shall have no graven image. He said, how come you can have churches that break the commandments? It's a good question, isn't it? So there are idols in churches. Have you ever been to the Greek Orthodox churches? It's full of incense and trying to take the church back to the Old Testament. It's the gospel we need, not incense. It's not images we need. It's faith in the invisible God. But that man, that Jewish man who didn't get converted there and then, but I said, just because people break the commandments of God, it doesn't mean that's a true representation of the church. But we need to see the finger of God at work, but Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12 seems to give us a window into possibilities. And Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, he preaches to the old covenant church. He says, sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord that he may come and reign righteousness upon you. The prophet speaks both then and now, it's time to seek the Lord that he may come and reign righteousness upon you. And he's not speaking just to pastors. Well, pastors and elders, they can do the seeking and we'll just do the enjoying. No, he's speaking to all the people of God, not simply to priests and saying it's time to seek the Lord. And if in 2025 it's not time to seek the Lord, I don't know when will be. We have a prime minister who's an avowed atheist. People may get excited and think, well, it's okay because Trump is going to deliver things for us. And you know, John Byer said to me, he said, Donald Trump will probably end up being just like King Josiah and the reformation that he had, that he restored King Josiah, restored the Passover. But it's only the finger of God that can restore people spiritually. And we need the finger of God. We're desperate for a fresh work of the Holy Spirit. And I want to invite you to come to our prayer meetings when we pray for a week. I've not planned to say that, and I've not preached this for that. But if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, turn from their wicked ways, the Lord promises to hear from heaven. And it's not simply praying for your own family and for your own needs, though that's important. It's praying for God to come and move in power. And we believe Jesus is at the doors and he can do more than we can ask or imagine. and even the last hundred years in different parts of the world there have been many recordings of significant outpourings that have, boom, given huge increases for the Kingdom of God in places like Brazil, in places like the Far East in Asia. And we need a fresh impetus of power upon the Church. I met with Norman Green recently and I drove, it's an hour and a half from here, to his home, and I lost count of the number of buildings that I saw that are now wealthy people's homes worth a million pounds, chapels that have been converted into garages, chapels and Baptist churches that are now restaurants. But what it reminds me of, rather than feeling downcast, It reminds me, when the Holy Spirit's poured out and the finger of God gets to work, the fruit may well last for another hundred years. Because those chapels are still there. Some of them are what God began to do in the 18th century. And there are still buildings from that moving of the Holy Spirit. And naturally speaking, I know if God touches England, and this is not why I'm praying, but I know if God touches England, it will spread to lots of other countries. And maybe that's why the devil is really resisting us in this country in particular, because the church isn't a mess. So I'm going to lead us in prayer. Let's turn to the Lord. Let's humble ourselves before the throne of grace. Father in heaven, we bow in your holy presence, coming before our great high priest, who sits at the right hand of the throne of God, and yet we're instructed from the Bible that just his little finger has more power than all the kingdom of Satan. And we're crying out to you, Lord, that you would be merciful and that the finger of God may move powerfully in this congregation and congregations in our land. We're not looking to make names for ourselves. We only want the name that is above every name to be exalted. We want the name of Jesus to be restored to our honor. Will you cast down all false teachings in the church and in the world that resist the deity of Jesus Christ? Lord, I believe it's time for the strongholds of Islam to be shaken so that Muslims can be set free to be committed Christians and respond to the gospel. Lord, atheism is having its day in every corner that people are boasting that they don't believe that any God exists. And that must be grievous to you who created the heavens and the earth. Turn the tide, we pray, and cast down the idol of evolution, the idol of Charles Darwin. And may you raise up the truth. We think of the word of God that says, if the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him. And so we cry help this morning and pray for any of us here, children or adults who may not be saved. May you give them the honesty to acknowledge that they can never save themselves. but they can humble themselves before you and say, have mercy upon me, O God, a sinner. And help us, O Lord, to pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. So hear us from heaven, O Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.