Slandering the Savior, Part 1

Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful for today, the opportunity you give us to open the Word of God. And as we open your Word, Lord, you open our eyes and you open our heart that we might behold wonderful things out of thy law. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our soon coming King. Amen. We have had the glorious opportunity of going through the Gospel of Luke, and whenever you go through a Gospel, you have the opportunity to to examine the person and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The study of Christology is a is a beautiful study of Scripture as we begin to understand all that Christ is.

And we have been looking at at the fact that at the end of chapter 10, Christ gave us that priority. Make sure you listen to me. Mary has chosen the best part. She wants to she wants to listen.

She she is eager to hear all that I have to say. And we told you then that that that's going to set the tone for the rest of the Gospel. If you're not eager to hear what Christ has to say from here on out, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble when it comes through as we go through the Gospel of of Luke. But Mary chose the best part, and so we told you that you need to be ready to listen.

You want to you want to be eager to listen to to what the Lord has to say. And we'll hear this again and in Luke chapter 11, because when we come to verse number 28 it says, and it came about while he said these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast at which you nursed. Mariology began way back in Jesus's day. And Jesus responded, on the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it. So we concluded chapter 10 with that great admonition to make sure we're ready to hear what the Lord has to say.

We'll come back to that in a few weeks in Luke chapter 11 again. But then we went on to talk about prayer and the priority of prayer in your life and mine. We spent weeks looking at the petition of the disciples prayer that we might come to grips with how it is we communicate with the God of the universe. And the Lord says, listen to what I have to say about prayer because you need to communicate with me. And in that prayer we saw a parable about how it is God wants us to come to him. We saw the promise that God gave to us that if you ask you shall receive, if you seek you're gonna find, if you knock the door will be opened up to you.

What a what a beautiful promise that the Lord God gave us. And as we go through the gospel we see how eager Christ is to be involved in our lives as the king and and maker of our universe. But unfortunately we come to a place in Scripture that breaks the heart of our Lord and should break our heart as well. A very sad portion of Scripture. And we begin to see the tone completely change from here on out. In fact we we just heard the choir sing blessed be the name of the Lord. And from here on out in Luke's gospel there is no no part of that gospel that we see a positive response from the people of Israel.

Until that brief respite on the triumphal entry when they say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But that was just a fickle a fickle respite because it doesn't last very long at all. For in a few short days those people who said blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord begin to yell crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him. How do we get to that point? How do we get there? How how did they get there? And that's the great thing about the gospel. It opens to us the beautiful door of the ministry of our Lord and what took place in the lives of the people of Israel.

Let me read to you the account in Luke 11 verse 14 down through verse number 26. And he was casting out a demon and it was dumb and it came about that when the demon had gone out the dumb man spoke and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons and others to test him. Were dominion of him a sign from heaven? But he knew their thoughts and said to them any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and a house divided against itself falls.

And if Satan also is divided against himself how shall his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. But if I by Beelzebul cast out demons by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his own homestead his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder.

He who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man it passes through waterless places seeking rest and not finding any. It says I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself and they go in and live there. And the last date of that man becomes worse than the first.

This portion of scripture helps shed light on where people are in the world today. Contrary to popular opinion with all the many world views that we have and ideas that we have and religious views that we have there are really only two categories of people existing in the world. There's always been two categories of people. Those who are with God and those who are against God. That's it. Jesus made that declaration in this narrative. He who is with me versus he who is against me. Those who are with me are the ones who gather with me.

Those who are against me are those who scatter others from me. So Jesus makes it very clear that there are only two categories of people in the world. It was J. Vernon McGee, the late J. Vernon McGee, who used to say there are two kinds of people the saints and the ain'ts. There are those who are the children of God and there are those who are the children of darkness. There are those who are a part of the kingdom of light and there are those who are a part of the kingdom of darkness. There are only two kinds of people in the world.

Even those who say I really haven't made up my mind about the Christ. I'm kind of in the middle. I'm kind of neutral. Yes, their indecisive attitude is the decision against the Christ, not for the Christ. And that person in the neutral zone, although they say well I really haven't come to a conclusion yet, are just as damned as those who are Satan worshipers. There is no difference in the mind of God. Because he says you're either with me or you're against me. See, Jesus was very black and white.

Jesus was never gray. In the modern evangelical church today we have all this gray tone, all this fog that seems to settle over the church. Well we're not sure what we believe or where we're going or what we're doing or really what the Bible says about Christianity.

But Jesus says very clearly hey you're either with me or you're against me. There is no middle ground. There is no neutral ground. You're either going to be a child of God or a child of Satan. John knew that way back in 1st John chapter 3. He said by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. He didn't say well you know I'm not so sure you can tell who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. And maybe if you you might make a good guesstimate as to who they are but you can't really be sure.

John says no, no. I want to tell you the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil. Because it's very clearly manifested. There is no gray area. There's no well maybe he's saved maybe he's not. No. In the Bible there's yea or nay. Children of God, children of darkness. Why do we in the evangelical church muddy that all up? It's because we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. We don't want to we don't want to offend anybody or turn them away from the church. But Jesus as you will see as the crowds began to increase became more confrontational in his preaching.

Not less confrontational. He could have said wow look at all those people. Man you know what maybe I maybe I'd be a little softer on the gospel. And maybe the crowds will even increase all the more. Maybe if I wasn't so dogmatic more would come. On the contrary the more that came the heart of the message. Because he didn't want anybody out there to be confused. He didn't want to be anybody out there to be all messed up. Not knowing what they believed and why they believed it. He says you're either with me or you are against me.

John would say by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. Simple as that. Or he says the one who does not love his brother. If you practice righteousness you're gonna love your brother. You're gonna live a righteous life. You're gonna seek after the righteousness of God. You're gonna hunger and thirst for righteousness. It's the motivating drive of the believer. He wants to be like Christ. He wants to be right like Christ is right.

Because Christ is completely righteous. That's his motivation. And John says it's clearly obvious who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Jesus says you're either with me or you're against me.

It's not the first time he said it. He said in Luke 9 verse number 50 as well. Remember as they were going from village to village. He says that these words. John answered and said master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us. But Jesus said to him do not hinder him for he who is not against you is for you. So he said it again. But now he's gonna make it very clear, very definitive here in Luke chapter 11. This marks a very crucial moment in Judea.

Remember Christ is in the southern part of the land of Israel. He's in Judea. His men have been commissioned to preach the gospel. The 70 have been sent out. They in turn are preaching the gospel. They are performing miracles. They are even involved in raising the dead. And remember, please remember that there was never ever a question about the validity of the miracles that Jesus performed. I mean when the blind man was blind and now can see and the lame man who couldn't walk now walks and the dumb man who couldn't speak nor could he hear can now speak and hear.

When the dead man now is alive you really can't argue against that can you? It's pretty obvious. It's pretty clear. And the Messianic credentials of Jesus Christ were clearly seen all over the land of Israel. You could clearly see them. And so his men had gone out and they had begun to preach and and teach and and perform miracles. And we've seen that. We saw that in in Luke chapter 9 and in the Luke chapter 10. And they had been they had been going all around the land of Israel doing this in different towns and in villages.

And now they are in in Judea. And this after the record of the revelation of the Messiah this is the response to that revelation. Remember way back in Luke chapter 1 Luke said listen here's here's what it's all about O Theophilus. Luke wrote this gospel to one man. Little did he know how far-reaching this gospel would go. He wrote it to one man. So one man would know as Luke 1 4 says the exact truth concerning the things about the Messiah. Luke wanted there to be no discrepancy. I want you Theophilus to know the exact truth.

And so if you want to know the exact truth study the gospel of Luke because that's what Luke does. There was a great investigation about the Messiah. And then he takes us through the the whole ministry of Zacharias and Elizabeth and how the angel Gabriel had come to Zacharias to announce the the forerunner to the Messiah. Because Luke wants to prove that this man John the Baptist would come and preach before the Messiah would arrive. And so he gives us that story of Zacharias and Elizabeth. And he goes through that that whole ministry of the Messiah from the time where Gabriel would go to Mary and announced to her the the birth of the Messiah.

And she would go to Elizabeth and tell her that she was pregnant. And that great exaltation by Mary. And that great exaltation by Zacharias. All in chapter 1. That would lead us to chapter 2 and the birth of the Messiah. And how we came. And how the the glory of the Lord would shine around. And and the angels would say oh for you this day in the city of David has been born a Savior was Christ the Lord. That great story of Christmas. And thus the story goes as as Luke verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, incident by incident takes us through the life of Christ to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

That there is no doubt that he has the Messianic credentials. That he is the one that Israel had longed for. And he gives us such with great clarity that Jesus is that Messiah. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord. There is a book called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But the Bible is a composite picture of who Jesus Christ is. The coming Messiah. And John does that. And this now in Luke 11 is the response to that revelation. This is it. This is it. You're you're of Satan. You're not of God.

You're not the light. You're from the dark. You don't give the truth. You give a lie. You are an imposter. You're not the real deal. You're not the one we've longed for. This is their response. How did they come to that conclusion? What brings them to to that place? And so they asked for a sign. Show us a sign. They do that to taunt him. And Jesus calls them. Listen to what he says. He says in Luke 11 verse 29. And as the crowds were increasing. They were increasing. Look at chapter 12 verse number 1.

Under these circumstances after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another. Okay. So the crowds begin to increase. They're just growing astronomically. And as the crowds were increasing in Luke 11 he says this generation is a wicked generation. He calls them wicked. Now I don't know about you but that doesn't go over in today's preaching 101. When you talk to your people. You don't call them names. Wicked generation he calls them. And then in chapter 12 he tells them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

Your religious leaders are evil. Unbelievable. In Luke chapter 14 as the multitudes continue to increase Jesus just turns around says look if any man come after me in hate not his mother his father his brother his sister he or she is not worthy of me. If anyone comes after me and doesn't hate even his own life don't come any further. That's what Jesus said. Because Jesus wanted to make sure you understood the implications of the cross. You understood what it meant to follow him fully. Our Lord was so good at explaining the gospel.

He invented it by the way. It's all about him anyway. So I guess if you want to learn how to preach the gospel you ought to listen to the ultimate preacher himself. Jesus Christ our Lord. In Luke 11 we had this record. Three things I want you to see. Two this week one next week. The first one is the multitudes.

The multitudes marveled at what took place. And then they slandered the Savior. And then we're gonna see the Redeemer's response. How does Jesus respond to people slandering his name? It begins with the multitudes that marveled it says. And he was casting out demons and it was dumb. Casting out a demon and it was dumb. And it came about that when the demon had gone out the dumb man spoke and the multitudes marveled. Well of course they did. What else would they do? I mean if you read the account of the miracles of Christ.

Remember when Jesus healed somebody it was always instant. It was always complete. And there was no rehab. You know when I got a new knee with an evil I had to rehab my new knee. Because Jesus didn't heal my knee. A doctor put a new knee in. I had to go through rehab. And it was it was difficult times. But when Jesus heals you there's no rehab. You're done. It's complete. It's instantaneous. And so of course the multitudes would marvel. What else would they do? Here's a man who could not speak. Here's a man who could not hear.

We know that because kophos is a word that it's used not to be able to speak or hear. So he couldn't hear. He couldn't speak. How long he had been demon possessed we did not know. And how long he had been in this condition we do not know. But evidently he can now hear. He can now speak. And the multitudes marveled at what he did. But the simplicity of the miracle. There's no fanfare. It's just Jesus casting out demons. That's what he does. He's casting out the demon. The man can speak. The man can hear.

And the multitudes absolutely were astonished at the miraculous work of the Messiah. They always were astonished at what he could do. Because he always did it right. He always did it the best. But I want you to notice something.

There are some commentators who will take you back to Matthew 12 and Mark 3 and say that this is the same incident as recorded in Matthew and Mark. I don't think it is. I think it's a different incident for several reasons. One, the events before Matthew and Mark and after are different than the events before Luke's account. Also the whole mention of the blasphemy of the Spirit is mentioned in Matthew 12 and Mark 3. But it's not mentioned here in Luke. It's mentioned later in Luke. Why do I tell you that?

I tell you that simply for this reason. That the conclusion in Judea is the same conclusion they came to in Galilee. Because in Matthew's account and in Mark's account he's still in the Galilee region. Now he's in Judea. We know that because Luke 9 verse 51 says he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. He's making his journey up to Jerusalem. And he's just a few short months away from his death. But now you see in this gospel that the result of the crowd, the conclusion of the crowd in Judea is the same conclusion they came to in Galilee.

That what he does, he does under the power and influence of Satan. How did they come to that conclusion? How do you get there? I mean somebody in the crowd is just sitting there and they see this and they begin to marvel. And all of a sudden it says, but some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebul. Really? Yeah. He cast out demons by the Lord of the flies, the Lord of dung. That's what he does. How did they come to that conclusion? Was it all of a sudden invented on this day? That someone just had a brainstorm?

You know what? This can't be of God. It must be of Satan. Of course it is. No, nobody in their rational mind would come to that conclusion. After all, he's casting out a demon, right? And so the man now is instantaneously made complete. He is made whole with no rehabilitation. The crowds marvel, but they come to the conclusion that it is of Satan and not of God. Well, over in John 7 verse number 20, it said, the multitude answered, you have a demon. What? They told Christ he had a demon. What do you mean he has a demon?

Luke chapter eight, verse number 48. The Jews, now remember in John's gospel, whenever it says the Jews, it's always in reference to the religious establishment in Israel. It says, the Jews answered and said to him, do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? What? How did they come to that conclusion? Look at chapter 10 of John, verse number 20.

There arose a division, verse 19, again among the Jews because of these words. And many of them were saying, he has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him? Others were saying, these are not the sayings of one demon possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he? See that? How did they come to that conclusion? Well, the answer is given to us in the book of Matthew and in the gospel of Mark. In Matthew, it says very clearly in Matthew chapter 12, verse number 24, these words.

We'll start with verse 22. Then there was brought to him a demon possessed man who was blind and dumb. Oh, by the way, that's why the Luke account is also different than the Matthew account. In Luke's account, it doesn't say he was blind. In Matthew's account, it says he was blind. Okay? And then it says, and he healed him. So that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and began to say, this man cannot be the son of David, can he? So the multitudes are saying, is this the Messiah?

The son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, here he goes, this man cast out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Now listen to Mark's account. In Mark chapter three, verse number 20, and the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, he is possessed by Beelzebul and he cast out the demons by the ruler of the demons. How is it the crowd, the multitudes came to a conclusion as they did in Luke's gospel, because it doesn't say the Pharisees. It doesn't say the Sadducees.

It doesn't say the scribes. It says, but some of them said, who's the some of them? That's people in the crowds. What did they say? Cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. They came to that conclusion because their religious establishment wanted to destroy the credibility of the Messiah. What better way to destroy? They couldn't negate the fact that blind could see, lame could walk and dead were raised. I mean, how are you going to excuse all that away, right? I mean, he basically banished all disease from the land of Israel.

Everybody was healed. If you were a leper, boom, you were healed. They came to Jesus in droves to be healed and he healed them. So what are they going to do? How are they going to destroy Christ? Because when Christ came, he came to destroy their religious system. Well, they were going to spread the negativity and they were going to say, well, we can't negate the power. So let's attribute the power to Satan and let's convince the people that this is who he is. So from Matthew's account, they went to Galilee.

They came down from Jerusalem to go to Galilee, the scribes in Mark three. And they went there to spread the propaganda that what he does, he does by the prince of the demons, the Lord of the flies, the Lord of dung. They vilify him. The multitudes, oh, they marveled. And as the multitudes marveled, the Savior was slandered. Wow. Some of them, verse 15 said, he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Now, isn't this good? Jesus doesn't hear it. Okay. He just knows it. So it says, and he knew their thoughts, verse 17.

I like that phrase because, you know, as I'm preaching to you today, he knows your thoughts. I don't have to worry about what you're thinking right now.

The Lord knows what you're thinking right now. That's all that matters. He's going to deal with you as he sees fit. I don't have to do anything. He'll deal with you just exactly as he sees fit because he knows your thoughts. And that's why the multitudes began to marvel. And you can imagine how the crowd must have responded. And someone just leans over and says, yeah, but he does it by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Really? Oh yeah. Did you hear that? He does it by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.

It all spreads throughout the crowd. Jesus doesn't hear it, but he knows their hearts. He knows their thoughts. That's a scary thing. I don't know about you. That's just a very scary thing to know that Jesus knows everything I'm thinking. In fact, he knows it before I even think it. That's even scarier. But he knows. It wouldn't be good if everybody said, wow, this is great. The multitudes were marveling. This is great. This is so good. Can you be the guy for a minute? Put yourself in the sandals of the guy.

Okay. You can't hear, you can't speak. All of a sudden you can hear it and you can speak and you're saying, hey, I can speak. I can speak. And yeah, but you can only speak because of Satan. What? Yeah. Yeah. It's Satan who did that to you. How do you think he feels right about now? That what happened to me was done because of Satan? Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Are you kidding me? That's what happened to me. And, and, and, and so this poor guy who has been demon possessed is now set free. And the conclusion of the multitudes who once marveled is that you are this way because of Satan.

Couldn't they rejoice with the guy just for a moment. But as you read through the gospel, isn't that not what happens? Remember the man, the man in John chapter nine, who had been born blind and the disciples asked, who sinned, this man or his parents? Jesus said, nobody did. Has nothing to do with the sin of his parents or the sin of him. He was born blind because on this day, the works of God will be manifested and gotta be glorified. And God healed him right there in the pool of Salome. Those of you going to Israel with me will sit on the steps of that pool and begin to understand the miracle that took place on that day.

And they healed him. And the response of the religious establishment was not. Praise the Lord. You can see this is so wonderful. The response was you must not be that guy. You must be somebody else. And the crowd would say, well, but it looks like that guy who was born blind. He has the same clothes on by that guy who was born blind. He must be the same guy. No, he's a different guy because the guy that always sits by the pool is blind. That guy can see. And the religious, the religious leader said, who healed you?

Who healed you? Not like, oh man, you know what? Praise the Lord. You can see we are, we are so happy for you. What a beautiful blessing. What a joy that is. And so they said, who did this to you? And the guy was like, I don't know. I was once blind. Now I can see what, what, what, what, what can I tell you? And the whole story is about how this man in his, in the open, how God opened his eyes to show you how blind the Pharisees were to the obvious. How blind they were to the obvious. And this man who couldn't see a thing now understands the Messiah and all of his glory.

It's a beautiful story, but it just goes to show you the same thing that happened in John chapter five. Whenever the religious leaders got involved, it was like, you know what? Who did this? This can't be, this is of Satan. And that was their response. That's their conclusion. Isn't that amazing? That just astonishes me. In verse 16, and others to test him were demanding of him a sign from him. Give us a sign. Well, who's that? Well, that's the people who heard he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.

Really? Hey, give us a sign. Show us something else. That was always the response. Give us another sign. And that's why Jesus said they were a wicked generation because he was the sign. See that? He was the sign. And they just missed it. They didn't get any of it. Show us another sign. I mean, what do they want to do? Just jump up in the air and, you know, do a couple of cartwheels and, and stand up there and hover over them for a little while and fly over them. Is that going to convince them? No, no.

Show us a sign. See, they said the foot of the cross, didn't they? If you be the Messiah, come down off the cross. Come on down here. See, once you are convinced that Jesus is not the Messiah, there is nothing that will convince you that he is. Nothing. Nothing at all. How many years did the Jews wait for their Messiah? Centuries. How many years were they longing for the consolation of Israel, as Simeon would say it in Luke 2? And later in Luke 2, Anna would say she was looking for the redemption of Israel.

Right? How long? How, how, how was it that every Jewish mother would, would hope that her daughter would be able to be the one to give the birth or give birth to the Messiah? I mean, they had longed for the Messiah. They, they had prayed for the arrival of, of, of their Messiah who would come and, and fulfill Abrahamic covenants. Give him a land. Fulfill Davidic covenant. Be the king of that land. Give them a new covenant where he would sprinkle their hearts and cleanse them and make them a whole that they might see the purity of, of the truth.

And they longed for all those covenants and they longed for it over and over and over again. And Jesus comes, fulfills Abrahamic covenant, fulfills Davidic covenant, fulfills a new covenant because he is the covenant of God. And this is their response. They rejected him. They vilified him. There could be no more revelation. All the evidence was in, all the prophecy had been fulfilled up to this point, except for what takes place the week of his death. The revelation was clearly seen. It was here.

He was the sign. All the prophecy had been fulfilled. And their conclusion, he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Beelzebul, just translation, the Lord of the flies or the Lord of dung. It was an old Testament phrase used in terms of Satan. That's why there's no translation of it in Luke 11. Every Jew knew, knew what it meant. Beelzebul is the Lord of the dung, the lowest of the low. He's a Satan. And every Jew would know that that's exactly what was meant. Let me reiterate again.

You might be here today and you would say, you know what? I would never say that Christ is a I would never say that. I would never say that. I'm not sure who he is. I think he's a good prophet, but I would never say that he's a Satan. Let me tell you something.

If you're not with him, you're against him. And you're with those who said he was of Satan. Every unbeliever by inference says he is of Satan. Every unbeliever says you do what you do. Because you are of Satan. Oh, they would not, they would say, I would never say that, not me. And they remain in that neutral in between area, that gray area that they think that they can exist in for a while and think everything's okay, but it's not okay. It's a condition of being damned forever. Even though, even though they would never verbalize it the way these in Israel verbalized it in Luke chapter 11, because you only have two options.

You either with him, you say, he is the Lord. He is the King of Israel. He is the Savior of my soul. I give my life to him or you're against him. If you're against him, you are just as bad as those who say you are of Satan because you fall into that same category of condemnation. Jesus said, I didn't make it up. I didn't come up with this in my study this past week and say, well, you either with God against God. Jesus said that. I just quote what Jesus said. You either with me or you're against me.

There is no middle ground. Someone said, well, he's a good person. He's a prophet. You know, to say that Jesus is a prophet, that that's what irked me so bad when, when that guy down in Orange County prayed for the inauguration of president Obama, Rick Warren. Yeah. He prayed in the name of Isa. No, he says, right. He's the name for Jesus in the Quran. And he says the prophet, he's not the son of God. So Rick Warren really unmasked himself, didn't he? Because he said that Jesus was a prophet. Didn't say Jesus was God.

He called Jesus a prophet, a good man, a good person. He didn't call him the Lord of the universe, the king of the creed of the world, because if you have a national stage and you're going to pray to the king of the universe, you're going to make everybody know who he is. You're not going to blow the one opportunity you got. He unmasked himself in front of the whole world. And you know what? Pastors never even got it. They never even got it. How do you pray in the name of Isa and say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the king of the world.

You're either with me or you're against me, right? That's what Jesus said. So let's call it the way Jesus calls it. Let's be as dogmatic as Jesus was dogmatic. Let's be as clear as Jesus was clear because he was, and he is. And the mocking and the sneering of this day, show us a sign, you ruler of the demons. They did it to taunt him. And this taunting went all the way to Calvary. From here on out, it just follows him all the way to the cross. The sneering, the mocking, the taunting, the slandering, their self-righteous living caused them not to see the reality of the righteous one.

They did get one thing right. They did. If he's not God, he is of Satan, right? That would be true. If he's not God in the flesh, then he certainly is of Satan. But we know through the record of Luke's account and through the confirming work of the spirit of God, that he truly is this living God incarnate in the flesh, that we might behold the beauty and glory of our God. Folks, listen, if you're here today and you don't embrace him as Lord of your life, you have, by inference, said he's a liar. He's not the Lord of the universe.

If you don't claim him as your savior, your king, your master, and bow in submission to that kingship, then you inadvertently follow the crowd in Luke 11. You're either with him or you're against him. And you know, it wasn't like, it wasn't like he offered them something that was painful, that was wrong, that was bad for them. He offered them joy, joy, glory to God in the highest, goodwill to those who believe. He offered them joy. He offered them peace. What man doesn't want peace in the soul today?

What man, what woman doesn't want to have that inner joy, that inner contentment that radiates their life, that no matter what they go through, they know that Jesus is in control and that Jesus is their Lord and they have him as their master and they rely upon him and they have the joy of the Lord in their lives. What person doesn't want that? What person doesn't want the forgiveness of sins, right? I mean, come on, what person doesn't want to go to heaven when they die? I mean, when he came, he offered them the greatest of all things.

He offered himself to them. He offered him his home. He offered him his forgiveness, his peace, his joy, his love. It was all offered. And their conclusion was, you're Satan. You see, the most loving individual that ever walked the earth, our Lord, who is the God of love, walked the earth, who embodied grace and truth, offered them love. And what did they do? They rejected that love. People say, I don't want to hear another sermon about love. Really? If you hear it from God's voice, you're just going to reject it.

You're just going to reject it. Because that's what they did in Israel. They just rejected the love that he offered. They rejected the joy, the peace, the forgiveness. They rejected everything he offered them. Oh, you're of Satan, Lord of the flies. Show us another test. Give us another example. This isn't good enough for us. And Jesus says, I am the sign.

I am the revelation of God. That's who I am. And so what does Jesus do? I know what I would do. I just zap them all, man. That's what I would do, but not Jesus. Our Lord is so gracious, so kind. His responses is unbelievable. He sets out, listen, you can't convince people who are blinded from the truth, can you? But he sets out to convince them. Convince them. Because you see, they had put themselves, listen carefully. If you say, Jesus, what you do is satanic. You've put yourself in an irredeemable position.

Hebrews 6, 4 to 6, you cannot be redeemed. You have hardened your heart and God has effectually hardened your heart and there is no possibility of repentance for you. And these people prove that. They have come to a place that they are now irredeemable because they've attributed the works of God to the works of Satan. They have called God Beelzebul. They have called the Lord Jesus, Lord of Dung. They called Him. And He offered them everything. The love of the Lord was rejected by them all. Because true love offers what men and women need.

A Savior, who are willing to repent of their sins, turn from their wickedness. For God says, I dwell with the lowly.

I dwell with the contrite of heart. I don't dwell with the proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous. I dwell with those who shake uncontrollably under the authority of my Word. That's who I dwell with. That's who I bless. These people weren't about to submit. They weren't. And Jesus would just readily set out and He offers them, get it this, another invitation. Another opportunity to see the error of their way. Didn't zap them, incinerate them, or have the earth open up so they all go to hell. No, the God of grace offers them another opportunity to respond.

And next week we'll see how the Redeemer responds to these people who said, you are of Satan. See, God always offers hope. Hope is always the possibility. If you're here today and not experienced that hope, if you're here today and I pray that you're not in that nebulous ground of neutrality, well, I'm not quite sure who Jesus is. I'm not quite sure what Jesus did. I'm not fully convinced I need to give my life to Him. You know what? You're either with Him or you're against Him. Don't leave today against Him.

Don't leave today. You don't have to. You don't have to walk out those doors against the Messiah. You can be with Him today. Give your life to Christ today. Come to Him in repentance. Come to Him because He's called your name. Come to Him because you want to give your life away. Come to Him because you want to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow only Jesus the rest of your life. Give your life to Him today because He offers you one more day to respond. Let's pray. Lord God, thank You for this morning, the opportunity to examine once again the beautiful pages of Scripture that open up to us the graciousness and the kindness of our God.

I pray for those who are here today who do not know You that today would be the day of their salvation. For those of us who do, Lord, may we accurately present the truth of our King in Jesus' name. Amen.