A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

OOO. God’s Judgment Of Those Who Heeded Errant Leaders

(Luke 11:14-36)

I. Introduction

A. The Pharisees in Matthew 12:24 critiqued Christ’s exorcism of demons as being performed by Satan’s power, and some of Israel’s people embraced that critique and voiced it as their own critique in Luke 11:14-15.

B. In response to these people, just as He defended His exorcisms as an apologetic in Matthew 12:25-45, Jesus repeated that same apologetic and followed it with a polemic, critiquing Israel’s people in Luke 11:17-36.

C. We view this event of God’s judgment of those who heeded errant leaders for our insight and application:

II. God’s Judgment Of Those Who Heeded Errant Leaders, Luke 11:14-36.

A. When Jesus cast out a demon that made a man mute, and the healed man spoke, the crowd of people was amazed, Luke 11:14. However, some of the people voiced the critique the Pharisees had made about Jesus in Matthew 12:24, that He drove out demons by Satan, Luke 11:15. In addition, others of the people tested Jesus, asking Him for a sign from heaven, Luke 11:16, the same test the religious Pharisees had given to Jesus after He had answered their critique that He cast demons out by Satan’s power back in Matthew 12:38.

B. Thus, these critics among the people had adopted the faithless views of their religious leaders, the Pharisees.

C. In response, Jesus gave these people the same apologetic that He had given the Pharisees, Luke 11:17-32:

1. Just as He had done in Matthew 12, Jesus “refuted the false explanation of His person by presenting three proofs” (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 305):

a. Christ said that “if He got His power from Satan and used that power against Satan, then Satan would be working against himself,” what was “inconceivable,” (Luke 11:17-18; Ibid.; cf. Matthew 12:25-26)

b. “The second reason arose from the fact that there were in Israel that day those who practiced exorcism and cast demons out of the afflicted . . . If their exorcists operated by God’s power, why did they attribute His power to cast out demons to Satan (vv. 19-20)?” (Ibid., p. 305-306; cf. Matthew 12:27-28)

c. Third, Jesus “noted that before a man can invade a guarded citadel, he must be able to overpower the guards . . . (So, if) Christ can enter Satan’s citadel, it is evident that He has a greater power than Satan, who would have sought to resist Him.” (Luke 11:20, 22; Ibid., p. 306; cf. Matthew 12:29)

2. Jesus added that the people had to side with Him or the Pharisees – there was no other choice, Luke 11:23.

3. Then, as He did with the Pharisees in Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus told of the people’s state in Luke 11:24-28:

a. Jesus likened Israel’s people to a man who was exorcised of a demon, only later to be demon possessed by seven demons more wicked than before so that his latter state was worse than his initial one, Lk. 11:24-26.

b. Applied to Israel’s people, the nation had initially identified with John the Baptist’s ministry of repentance in preparation for Messiah’s arrival, but now that Christ had come, they had rejected His ministry, making the latter state of Israel worse than it was before they repented under John. (Ibid.)

4. When a woman of faith cried out a blessing for Jesus’ mother who gave Him birth and nursed Him, He pronounced a greater blessing on those who related to Him in faith over His physical ties (Luke 11:27-28).

5. Jesus further addressed those who sought a sign from heaven (cf. Luke 11:16), stating as He had with the Pharisees in Matthew 12:39-42 that no sign would be given it but the sign of Jonah, Luke 11:29: just as Jonah had been in the fish in judgment for three days and nights, so Christ would be in the grave for three days and nights before being resurrected as a sign of judgment on His unbelieving generation, Luke 11:30.

6. Christ repeated as He had with the Pharisees in Matthew 12:41-42 His statements that the queen of Sheba and the men of Nineveh who repented in their day would rise up to judge Jesus’ generation in Israel since they had believed with a lesser party where Jesus was a greater party the people rejected (Luke 11:31-32)!

D. In Luke 11:33-36, Jesus closed His discourse with a polemic and a call for the unbelieving people to repent:

1. What Jesus had done and taught fully revealed the Father to Israel (Luke 11:33), so the rejection of that truth was not a problem with Christ, the Light, but with the people who were in darkness (Luke 11:34).

2. Jesus warned Israel’s people to watch that what they thought was the light of God’s truth in their religious leaders’ teaching not be spiritual darkness, that they might believe the truth to be saved (Lk. 11:35-36).

Lesson: God held Israel’s people responsible for their decision to heed their ungodly leaders over God’s truth.

Application: May we hearers be sure to heed God’s truth and not just the words of our teachers, for God holds us responsible for adhering to His Biblical truth regardless what the teachers we have heard have told us!