Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20090819.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part XLI: Christ's Identity As God's Worldwide Savior By His Response To The Charge Of Being Satanic
(Luke 11:14-26)
  1. Introduction
    1. Since the Messiah was to be identified by Israel in part by His performing miraculous signs in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (cf. Isaiah 35:4-6 with Luke 7:18-23), once people began to claim He was performing His miracles by Satan's power, the test as to the true spiritual character of Jesus would be evidenced in how He responded to this charge. After all, Satan flees when resisted by true faith (James 4:7b; 1 Peter 5:8-9), and were Jesus of Satan, such a flight tendency in Jesus should have surfaced.
    2. However, Jesus did just the opposite, and extensively so, revealing He is truly God's Messiah (as follows):
  2. Christ's Identity As God's Worldwide Savior By His Response To The Charge Of Being Satanic.
    1. One day as Jesus exorcised a man who had been made dumb by a demon (Luke 11:14a), and onlookers marveled at this miracle (Luke 11:14b), others explained He cast demons out by Beelzebub, that is, by Satan himself, Luke 11:15. [Beelzebub "means 'lord of flies,' a guardian deity of the Ekronites (2 Kings 1:2), but used by the Jews as an epithet for Satan." Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matthew 10:25.]
    2. Knowing of this charge before it had humanly been voiced to Him, Jesus addressed it, dramatically and extensively countering it in that address (as follows), Luke 11:17-26:
      1. First, Jesus showed the logical inconsistency in claiming He cast demons by Satan's power, Lk. 11:18:
        1. Christ noted that if a kingdom or a house was divided against itself, it would fall, Luke 11:17.
        2. Thus, were He to cast Satan's demons out by Satan's power, Satan's kingdom would end up fighting against itself, and thus would not stand, curtailing evil spiritual influence on the earth, Luke 11:18.
        3. However, since evil spiritual influence has not decreased, Satan's kingdom was not at war with itself so as to self-destruct, so Jesus could not have exorcised Satan's demons by Satan's power!
      2. Then, Jesus exposed the double standard of those who held He worked by Satan's power, giving an illustration of what had really happened in the angelic realm when He exorcised demons, Lk. 11:19-22:
        1. The Jews themselves practiced exorcism, so judging Jesus' practice of exorcism as being Satanic meant the Jews who exorcised demons were Satanic as well, Luke 11:19a. The Jews would not make such a charge against their own exorcists, so their charge against Jesus was false, Lk. 11:19b!
        2. Besides, if Jesus had not cast demons out by Satan's power, He had to be using God's power, the opposite Force in the angelic conflict, so the Kingdom of God was come to them by Christ, Luke 11:20. Jesus then illustrated how He, the Stronger Man, had come to bind Satan, the strong man, in order to divide Satan's spoils, for Jesus was winning souls to God's kingdom from Satan's domain by exorcising demons from people and justifying them through faith in Him, Luke 11:21-22.
      3. Third, Jesus charged His listeners that they could not remain neutral regarding Him and Satan; either one sided then with Him, or, if they opposed Himself, they were guilty of aiding Satan's cause, and that was a slippery slope to ultimate spiritual disaster, Luke 11:23-26:
        1. When it comes to the issue of the angelic conflict, there are only two sides, and they are extreme opposites -- God's side and Satan's side. Thus, if people opposed Jesus' identity as being from God, saying He ministered by Satan's power, they were opposing God and doing Satan's work, Lk. 11:23!
        2. To oppose Christ and thus to help Satan was a disastrous path to take in life, for one taking it would eventually end up in disastrous Satanic defeat much like a man who is exorcised of a demon, and who remains an unbeliever only to be open to worse final demonic possession and trauma (Luke 11:24-26 in view of the accompanying record of Matthew 12:43-45a and 45b in this context).
Lesson: Jesus firmly, logically and directly OPPOSED any claim that He functioned by Satan's power when so charged, indicating He was NOT of Satan's realm as one who FLEES when opposed in faith in God! Thus, Jesus gave evidence that He is the TRUE Savior of the world as sent by God the Father.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as God's True Savior. (2) May we RESIST Satanic pressures for victory as did JESUS by a STRONG RELIANCE upon GOD and HIS WORD, 1 John 2:14b!