Slandering the Savior, Part 2

Now with me in a moment of prayer. Father, we thank you for today. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to spend time in your word of God, worshiping and glorifying your precious name. Truly, Lord, you are a great God, and truly, Lord, we have the wonderful privilege of beholding you in your word. Today, Father, may we see you in all of your grace and mercy, all of your love, all of who you are, that Lord, we might leave this place different than when we arrived. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our coming King.

Amen. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. We are making our way through a passage of scripture that is extremely important for us to understand. It's important because it gives us the categories of people in the world. There are two of them. There are those who are with Christ, and there are those who are against Christ. Those are the only two kinds of people in the world. No matter how you slice it, no matter how you dice it, there's only two kinds of people in the world.

Christ says it very well in verse number 23 of Luke 11. There are those who are with me. There are those who are against me. Those who are with me gather with me, and those who are against me scatter others from me. So there are two kinds of people. The question is, what kind of person are you? Having said that, we come to a portion of scripture where Israel has made their final decision. They have come to a conclusion about the Messiah. They have seen all the miracles. They have heard all the messages, and now they come to a conclusion as to who Jesus Christ really is.

That's why over and over again Christ would ask the question, who do men say that I am? Well, now we come to a concluding part in Luke's gospel to help us come to a realization that the nation of Israel has a fixed mindset. They have determined in their mind who they believe that Jesus Christ is, and their conclusion after all the miracles, after all the messages, is that he is not divine, but that he is devilish. Believe it or not, that's their conclusion. How did they get there? How did they get to that point?

How did they come to that conclusion? We know that the Pharisees, and we know that the Sadducees and the scribes sent word down from Jerusalem, according to Mark 3 and Matthew 12, that this man, Jesus, cast out demons by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies. That was the message that was propagandized all throughout the land of Israel. And so when we come to our text in Luke 11, we saw in verse 14 that the multitudes would marvel at a miracle that Jesus would perform. And Luke just kind of puts it on the pages for us to read.

There's no fanfare. It's just a miracle about a man who was deaf and dumb, and Christ heals him. And the text tells us that the multitudes, they marveled. They were astonished at the miracle that took place because that was always the response. It was always a response of the multitudes that what they saw was unbelievable to them. They said, wow, this is amazing because it was supernatural. Supernatural because every miracle that Jesus performed was instantaneous. It was complete without any rehabilitation.

Nobody has ever done that, and nobody ever will except Jesus. He is the one sent from God. He is the one who is God incarnate. He is the one who truly does the will of his Father in heaven. And so the multitudes would marvel at this miracle. And as soon as they saw the miracle, the whispers began to come. He does it by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. And that would begin to spread all throughout the crowd. Yeah, but he does it by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. And the amazing thing is, is that as they began to slander the Savior, Jesus didn't hear what they were saying, but Jesus knew what they were saying.

And that in and of itself should cause people to want to repent from their sins, knowing that he knows what's going on in your heart, what's going on in your mind, knowing that he knows what you're going to say before you even say it should strike fear into every soul that's ever lived, but it doesn't should, but it doesn't. And the, the whisper throughout the crowd was that they would slander this one called Jesus, the Messiah, because that was the word sent down. That was the conclusion in Judea.

It was the same conclusion as we saw last week. That was in Galilee. They came to the same conclusion in Galilee. So the conclusion in Galilee, the Northern part of Israel and Judea, the Southern part was the same. He did it by a supernatural power. Yes, but it wasn't divine. It was devilish. It wasn't of God. It was of Satan. He is not of the light. He is of the darkness. He is not truth. He is a liar. That was their conclusion. Amazing. How do they, how do you get there? How do you come to that conclusion, which would allow Jesus to say, you know, you're either with me or you're against me.

You're a part of who I am and what I do because you believe that I'm the son of God or you don't believe. And although you might not say that I am Satan in the flesh, or you might not say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies, there is no neutral ground. You can't say, well, you know, I just really haven't come to a conclusion yet as to who Jesus really is. He, he might be a prophet. He, he might be something greater than a prophet. I don't know. You are just as damned as those who say you are of Satan.

There's no middle ground. You either with God or you're against God. And so the question comes, how do they come to that conclusion? Well, we left off last week, the Redeemer now is going to respond and how he responds is so incredible. Let me read to you how he responds to those, these people who say that he is Beelzebul.

In fact, they go on to say, show us a sign. They taunt him. They test him. In verse 15, show us a sign. Give us some kind of sign that, that, that you're not of Satan, but that you are of God. And you see, the problem is in verse 29 of this chapter, Luke says that this is a wicked generation because they're always looking for a sign. He says that because he was the sign and they missed it when it would stand right before them. When they would look the sign in the eye, they were unable to decipher who the sign led to.

It was him, Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords, King of Kings. And so Jesus knowing what was happening responds this way. You know, like I said last week, if it was me, I'd have the ground open up and have them swallowed up right there, but that wouldn't solve anything. Not at all. Listen to what Jesus says.

Verse 17, but he knew their thoughts. That's just a very scary statement to me. He knew their thoughts. Just like he knows your thoughts this morning. He knew their thoughts and said to them, any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and a house divided against itself falls. Now remember Jesus, the text doesn't say that Jesus heard what they said. They whispered it among themselves. He does it by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies. So Jesus makes a statement, a statement based on what they were thinking and what they were whispering.

Although he never heard what they said, he knew what they said. He makes a statement, a house divided against itself falls. Well, the crowd would respond because the crowd doesn't know that he knows what they're thinking. See? And the crowd would have some kind of response like, well, of course. Amen, Jesus. That's a good statement. You've got that part right. We understand that. We understand that any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste. We know that. That's axiomatic. That's a self-evident truth.

Any house divided will not stand. I mean, look at, look at just in a practical matter, marriages. If the marriages are divided, the house what? Crumbles. Right? We understand that. That's a self-evident truth. They understood that. They get it. But see, Jesus knows what they're thinking. They don't know that he knows what they're thinking. And so now that he's made a statement that they all agree with, because we would all agree with that. He traps them. He traps them by saying this. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?

For you say that I cast out demons, that I be illsible. Now they know, he knows what they're saying and thinking. I mean, if I'm in the crowd, I'm really nervous right about now.

Because what else does he know about what I'm thinking and what I've said? See? But he traps them. He traps them in a very significant kind of way. Right in the middle of a conversation, he says, if you are right about how I cast out demons, Satan then has empowered me to destroy his kingdom. Now Satan wants to build his kingdom. He doesn't want to divide his kingdom. He doesn't want to destroy his kingdom. He wants to build his kingdom. When Jesus came, he had an all out assault against Satan's kingdom.

1 John 3.8, the son of man has appeared in order to destroy the works of the devil. Now every Jew knew, you see, we figured about this. Jews knew Old Testament theology. They knew that because the children were raised in the synagogue. They were taught the truth of the Old Testament. So, excuse me, these Jewish people, they grew up learning the Old Testament. This is nothing new to them. They would know Genesis 3.15, that the seed of the woman would destroy the serpent, crush the serpent's head. They would know that.

They would know that the Messiah would come and defeat the usurper. They would understand that. And that's exactly what Jesus did. He came and destroyed Satan's kingdom while on earth. He was amazing at the works that he did. Satan doesn't want his kingdom to be divided, nor does he want it to be destroyed. Jesus is saying, it would be absurd for me to do what I'm doing under the power of Satan because Satan doesn't want to divide his kingdom. Do you see how irrational that is? Do you see how stupid that is?

Do you see how ridiculous that is? You are saying that I am here of Satan to destroy Satan's kingdom. That makes absolutely no sense. So, you have to come to a conclusion. Either I am of Satan and Satan is out to divide his kingdom or I'm of God here to destroy Satan's kingdom. What is your conclusion? And then Jesus is absolutely brilliant. Of course, he always is brilliant, but he's at his best in this incident, it seems like to me. This is so brilliant. He says this in verse number 19. He says, oh, if by the way, if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?

Consequently, they shall be your judges. Oh, by the way, if I am doing what I'm doing under the power of Satan, how is it your sons do it under the power of God? Now, there were Jewish exorcists in the days of Christ and they were very ineffective at what they did. And we don't have very many illustrations at all in the Bible. We have one. One illustration in the Bible about this in terms of Acts chapter 19 to explain it to you. This is really how it went. And the Jewish rabbis knew this and Jesus knew this.

That's why he is so brilliant at saying, if your sons do it by the power of God and I by the power of Beelzebul, we have a little bit of a problem here. See, look folks, he's trying to get them to see how irrational their thinking is. But you know what? When you deal with the unregenerate mind, the natural mind, they don't see the obvious. We see it because the Spirit of God has opened our minds, but they don't get it. Remember over in Acts chapter 19, it says these words, verse 11, and God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

But also some of the Jewish exorcists who went from place to place attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. And seven sons of one Sheba, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. So there was a Jewish chief priest who had seven sons. They had a business, and that was they would exorcise demons from people's lives. Well, because they weren't very effective and they had heard of this man Paul who would do it in the name of Jesus, they would adopt that formula in their organization.

So they would say in the name of, as it says, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. They said, well, if Paul can do it and he uses the name of Jesus, let's use Paul and Jesus in our exorcising of demons. So you read on, it says, and the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you? Can you imagine that? This man Sheba and his seven sons get together and they say, well, there's this formula that Paul uses. Let's use it in our exorcisms and maybe we'll be more effective.

Okay. And they use it and the demon speaks and says, I know Paul, I know Jesus, but who in the world are you guys? Now it gets even better. And if it wasn't so sad, it'd be humorous. Let's know what, what happens next. And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Now, can you imagine that? Can you imagine this Jewish priest coming to realize that his sons were overpowered by an evil spirit?

Listen carefully. Not once was Jesus and the apostles ever overpowered by an evil spirit. Not once. It never happened. Jesus would just speak the word and the demon would flee. He had no choice. So Jesus in the brilliance of his magnificence, that he is the master of the universe would just as he entraps them, get them to realize just how ridiculous their conclusion is. It just doesn't make any sense. If I, by Beelzebul cast out demons by whom your sons cast them out, consequently, they shall be your judges.

Who do your sons cast out demons by? Because here is the ridiculous nature of your conclusion. If your sons do it and they are ineffective and I, by Beelzebul do it and am effective, you are admitting that Satan is more powerful than the Lord God, Jehovah. Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't that ridiculous? And so he's, these Jewish priests, these Sadducees, these Pharisees, this multitude are sitting here listening to this and Jesus just significantly in a unique way entraps them. He is so masterful at getting people to see how ridiculous, how ridiculous, how absurd their conclusion really is.

This is this. But if I cast out demons by the, listen carefully, the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Wow. If I do it by the finger of God, then guess what? The kingdom of God is upon you. He's pleading with them. He is, he is, the Redeemer responds in such a way that he is trying them to get them to see the ridiculous nature of the conclusion. And he pleads with them, I'm doing this by the finger of God. And therefore the kingdom of God is right in front of you. In other words, you must remove all hypocrisy from your lifestyle.

You must move all, remove all the phoniness that's there. And to realize that your religiosity is taking you down the wrong road, that the kingdom of God is in your midst and you can't even recognize the finger of God when it points you, points at you right in the face. You can't even recognize it. Now, this is a very significant statement because like I said earlier, every Jew knows the Old Testament. You know, they're not like our young people today who, you know, go to church once a week, maybe, okay, if we're lucky, and they hear a little sermon here or a little sermon there and are not much in the Word.

The Jewish community is completely different. They're in the Word all the time, studying the Old Testament in the synagogue daily, that they might understand the Old Testament. And every Jew would know the story of the Exodus, wouldn't they not? They would know it inside and out. And they would know exactly what Jesus is referring to here. Listen to the words of Exodus chapter 8. Exodus chapter 8, verse number 16. Then the Lord said to Moses, say to Aaron, stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.

And they did so. And Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? What? That'd be such a downer if you're going outside, man. Gnats everywhere. And the magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. Remember the whole thing about Aaron's rod turning into a snake, and the magicians were able to replicate that, and they had their rods in some kind of trick way come turn into a snake as well.

Remember that? But they couldn't match this one. They couldn't turn the dust into gnats. So these gentile pagan magicians, listen carefully, came up with a logical conclusion. Here it was. Ready? Then the magician said to Pharaoh, this is what? Finger of God. We can't match this. This is the finger of God. Can you imagine that? Listen carefully. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them as the Lord had said. The phraseology that Jesus uses in Luke 11 is to get them to go back to Exodus chapter 8 and to realize that these gentile pagan magicians were unable to match the finger of God.

They recognized that what God was doing was above and beyond anything they could ever imagine. This was God. This was Moses' God who did this. But Pharaoh, in the midst of overwhelming evidence, did not respond, did he? He hardened his heart. Jesus is saying, listen carefully, you Jewish people are just like Pharaoh. He's comparing them to Pharaoh, a gentile pagan king, ruler, a man who was outside the covenant of God. If you don't respond to my words and recognize that this is the finger of God, you're going to be just like Pharaoh.

You're going to harden your heart against that which is absolutely obvious to you. Pharaoh did. And so did Israel. Did they not? Simply because they would not accept the truth when it stared them in the face. Isn't this unbelievable? And Jesus uses an analogy. He says in verse 21, 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.

Jesus says, let me tell you something, Satan's a strong man. He has his home. But when someone stronger comes, guess what? The stronger man wins. Jesus is a stronger man. He wins. He has overpowered Satan. I mean, remember back in Luke eight, when the man who was, who was demon possessed with legion and Jesus cast the demon out and, and there were myriads of demons that they went into the pigs and they, they went over the cliff into the sea. And the man sat in his right mind, perfectly normal. That was the power of God.

That was the finger of God proving the kingdom of God was amidst, in their midst. And Jesus says very simply, look, I'm the stronger man.

It's obvious. I've plundered Satan's kingdom. I am the fulfillment of Genesis three 15. All my Messianic credentials prove that I am Messiah. It's absolutely obvious. And then he comes with that, that, that magnificent statement. Listen, are you with me? Cause if you're not with me, verse 23, you are against me. You are against me. Now the question comes, how did they come to that conclusion? How did they get there? And the answer might surprise you. It might really surprise you. How did they come to the conclusion that what Jesus did was of Satan and not of the Lord, God, Jehovah himself?

How do they attribute the works of the Messiah that are so clean and so pure, so true, so holy to Satan himself? How did they get there? Like I said, the answer is going to surprise you. Let me read it to you.

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 state of that man becomes worse than the first.

Let me give you the answer. And then I'll talk to you about it. Here's the answer. Moral reformation damns more than immorality. Moral reformation is what the Pharisees had. They were into morality. They were into all the ceremonies, all the religious rites, doing all the right things. And Jesus would tell them, you know, you're clean on the outside, but you're all filthy. You got dead men's bones on the inside. And what would happen is that there would be a moral reformation, but there would be no spiritual regeneration.

That was their problem. What led Israel to come to this conclusion? Listen, was their religious lifestyle, not their immorality, their religious lifestyle. That's what brought them to this conclusion. Let me ask you a question.

Was there ever a prostitute who said that Jesus was of Satan? No. Was there a drunkard who said that Jesus's works were of Satan? No. Was there ever a tax gatherer who said Jesus's works were of Satan? Answer? No. There was never an professed immoral person who attributed Jesus's works to Satan. The ones who did that were the religious leaders of Israel, the moral majority, the religious rites. They were the ones who did it. And what happened is their religion had deluded them so much that it put them in the most dangerous position a person can ever be.

Let me tell you something. Moral reformation will put you in a situation that will damn your soul if you are not careful. You've got to be very careful about that. And so Jesus just gives a simple illustration to help them understand their problem. He just simply says this. He says, when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it doesn't tell us how it goes out of a man, but it goes out of a man. That's an interesting statement simply because there was a situation here that was unique. We don't know how the spirit goes out of a man, but he went in.

But here's a man. Here's a man who is tired of his sin. He's tired of his immorality. He's tired of his adultery. He's tired of his drunkenness. He's tired of his sin and he wants to clean his life up, right? He wants to live a righteous life. He wants to do the right thing. He wants to get religion. He wants to get church. He wants to turn his life around. And we know people like this all the time. They come to the conclusion, you know what, I got to get my life together. I got to get it right. And maybe it's because of the pressure of his wife.

Maybe it's because of the pressure of his kids. Or maybe it's a student. It's a pressure of his parents. They decided to get it right. They do whatever it takes. They go to AA classes, self-help groups. They'll go to those things because they got to clean up their life. They got to get their act together. And so they go to all these rehabilitation centers to get things together because I got to clean up my life. I got to get it together. So they do that. And in their efforts to get things together because they want to be a better person or they want to get religion or they want to have a certain level of morality, the demon becomes very uncomfortable in that person's life.

And so it leaves. It leaves. And it passes through all those places seeking rest, but it doesn't find any because demons have to operate inside of people. So the demon decides to come back and return to, the text says, whose house? My house. The demon decides to go back to my house, not the house he was in previously, my house, because that's where his domain was. He decides to go back to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. He comes back and the person's, he's got morality.

There's been a reformation. He's out of alcoholism. He's out of sexual addiction. He's out of the sinful lifestyle. He's doing pretty good. He's going to church. He's taking a family with him to church. There's been this moral reformation. This is good stuff. And the demon comes back. He finds a place, as Matthew's account says, not just put in order, but he finds the house unoccupied. Very important word. Unoccupied. Because that's how you know it's moral reformation and not spiritual regeneration.

Because of a spiritual regeneration, the house would be what? Occupied. By who? God himself. Right? So he comes back and he realizes that it's unoccupied. And so he takes up residence, but not only does he take up residence, listen carefully, it says, then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself. And they go in and live there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first state.

In other words, this man is worse off in his moral state without God than he ever was in his immoral state. Did you get that? See, we forget that. When he was immoral and living in adultery and having all kinds of his drug habits being met and into alcoholism, when he was in all that sinful stuff of the world, he had how many demons? One. But he decided to get things together. He decided to pull himself up by his bootstraps and get better, getting morally fit, have a reformation. And he gets, he gets out of alcohol.

He gets out of drug addiction. He gets out of all those things. Maybe he's been in prison. He wants to get out of prison, get his life together. And he goes to all this rehabilitation centers and makes sure that he's on the right track. And that demon comes back. He finds that everything's been put in order and the house is unoccupied. But he brings with him seven other demons, see, to occupy that which was unoccupied. So that the last state of that person is far worse than his first state.

Did you get that? That's where Israel was. They had a moral reformation. They lived moral lives. They, they, they, they, they, they wanted to live lives that in their minds were pleasing to God. And so Jesus condemned them continually. You clean the outside of the cup, but the inside of the cup is filthy. It's filthy. On the outside, you dress right, but in the inside, you're filled with dead man's bones. There hasn't been a regeneration. Yes, there's been a reformation on the outside, but there's been no regeneration on the inside.

And the reason they came to that conclusion that what Jesus did was of Satan is because Jesus condemned their morality. Because you see, now they think they're good enough for God, see. And Jesus came and said, no, you're not good enough. You ever talk to a Mormon? They're good enough for God. Do you ever talk to a, to a Jehovah's Witness? They're good enough for God. They do enough good things for God. They can, they can clean their life up and they can do a good for God. And they come to a place where, you know, God's a God of love and he loves me and, and, and, and I'm a good man.

I'm a good person. And I go to church and, and I carry my Bible and I serve the Lord. And I named the name of Jesus and, and I do good things for Jesus. Really? You have put yourself in a very damning delusion. And that's why Jesus said, I didn't come to call who? The righteous. I came to call sinners to attendance. I came to call the immoral man, because you see in his wretched state, he recognizes that he's a sinner, but the religious man in his moral state thinks he's pretty good. I'm okay. God's going to love me.

He's going to take me into his kingdom. I'm a good guy. See, I've cleaned my life up. I'm better than I was before. Not knowing that now he has occupied with seven demons instead of one demon. And that's why Israel was in the state they were in. They had a moral reformation. They had an outward appearance of godliness, but on the inside, they were, they were sinners. And Jesus came to expose that, which was on the inside. And when he did that, they hated him because of it. They hated him. Oh, they couldn't deny that the works he did were supernatural because that was absolutely obvious.

So what they did was try to discredit him by saying, well, what he's doing is by, is by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies. Well, Jesus quotes all that real quick. Well, that's the case. How do your sons do it? Because they're very ineffective. And I'm quite frankly, really good about what I do. And your guy, your sons, they're just not. So you're admitting that Satan is more powerful than the Lord God Jehovah. But we know that's not true. So you must come to the conclusion that I am from God, that I am the Holy one of Israel.

Because if you're not with me, you're what? You're against me. You're against me. And he lets them know, this is how you have come to your conclusion. You have missed it drastically. How many people do we know who get religion? They just get religion. Got to get religion. Got to go to church. Got to do it right. Got to make it happen. My marriage is falling apart. Got to go to church. Got to get it right. Got to go to counseling. Got to make it happen. Pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and trying to attack on this moral reformation.

That somehow on the outside, I'm looking pretty good. But on the inside, they are wretched. They are filled with sin and they will not repent of their sin. And because of their efforts in the reformation of their own lives, they begin to look pretty good. And because now there are seven demons, metaphorically, instead of one, they buy into the deluding deception that, you know what? I'm okay. I'm pretty good. I'm going to make it. It's going to be better. Jesus likes me now.

I got a better life. And that's the way the nation of Israel was. And that's what caused them to attribute God's work to Satan's work. He confronted them on their sin. He did. They hated him because of it. Hated him. You ever talk to a Roman Catholic? Well, they're trying to do all the right things, the good things. And you tell them that, you know, they've got all the lingo. The Mormons, they got all the lingo. They got all the lingo down. But on the inside, they are wretched sinners separated from the Holy One of Israel.

And they can't bring themselves to come to that point because they have bought into the deluding deception that they are okay. And because I'm okay, and you're telling me I'm not, you must be of Satan. You must be of Satan. And that's what they did to Jesus. And then, verse 27. It came about while he was, he said these things, he just finished saying these things. And 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.

Blessed are you. You are a blessed person. You are a blessed man. And the woman who bore you and the woman who nursed her, she is incredibly blessed. She commended Jesus. Folks, Jesus doesn't need your commendation. Doesn't need it. Because all you do in your commendation is increase your condemnation. That's all you do. So Jesus responds by just this very simple phrase that says this. On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and deserve it. You know who the blessed person is? He has heard what I've just said and he acts upon it.

He acts upon it. He hears it and he does it. And how many times have we seen over and over again in the scripture, where we're beginning to realize that the true believer is the one who hears God's Word, accepts it for what it is and how it's said, and says, I must obey the Word of my Master. That's the one who has had a spiritual regeneration. As opposed to the religious establishment of Israel, who passed the Word down to the nation that this man does it by Beelzebul, the Lord of the flies. They bought into that hook, line, and sinker.

So much so that without that little brief respite on Palm Sunday, we wouldn't think anything but evil of the nation of Israel. It was that brief respite on Palm Sunday. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That was it. That was it. Because they had bought into the lie. The lie that what he did was of Satan. And Jesus says, moral reformation is not going to save you.

You can get it all right on the outside, but there's not been a spiritual regeneration, a spiritual transformation on the inside. Guess what? It's not going to happen. How many people do we know? Do you know that? I know in our families, they get, they get church, they get religion. They want to clean their lives up because they were caught in their sin. They want to clean their lives up because they've been in their sin and they're tired of their sin and they do all they can to clean it up, to make it right, but they can't get it right.

Although they think that their lives now are better, they put themselves in that deception, that delusion that they're okay with God when they really haven't heard the word of God and obeyed what God said. How about you? Where are you today? Are you with Jesus or you against Jesus? You don't have to say that he's a, Satan to be against him. You're either a child of the light or a child of the darkness. There are no spiritual orphans in this world. None. You're with God or without God, a part of his kingdom of light or a part of Satan's kingdom in darkness.

There is no in between. You've got to decide where you are today. And the only way you can be a part of God's kingdom is to hear his word and obey everything he says. That's it. Only way. And what does he say? He says, today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation to wilderness. Don't do that. If you hear it today, respond today. And when Christ told them, if I do this by the finger of God, the kingdom of God is in your midst. And if you reject it, you're going to be just like Pharaoh and you're going to harden your heart.

And now you come to a place that's absolutely irredeemable. You cannot be redeemed. Hebrews 6, 4 to 6. You come to a place where your heart is hardened. And now God hardens your heart like he did Pharaoh's. And there is no opportunity for repentance. Don't go there. Hear his voice today and obey what he says in obedience to his word. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for today and for the grace of your name, the greatness of your word, the trueness of your word, the beauty of how it is you deal with those who are against you.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that grace today is one more time extended to those who might not know you. And if today is a day that there's someone here in our audience, or maybe they'll be listening on the radio, that Lord Jesus, they need to come to a place of repentance. They've done all they can on the outside, but on the inside there's been no change. We pray, Lord, for their salvation, that there be a true spiritual regeneration from the inside out, so that that man's soul becomes occupied with the Spirit of God.

That's our prayer, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.