Not for Jesus? YOU ARE AGAINST HIM!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.

Welcome back, guys. It is the end of the week and we're going to finish off with another chapter of Luke. I'm excited to finish off the week with you guys. It has been a crazy week and a whole lot going on. So, uh, let's buckle up, grab your Bible, grab a coffee, and let's do this. So yesterday we were taking a look at the start of Luke 11, guys. Jesus was breaking down the Lord's Prayer, Luke's rendition of it, and we looked at the purpose of that. So if you missed that, feel free to go back. If you guys are new to the podcast, feel free to go back to the beginning. You can go all the way through Luke with us, or you're welcome to just hop in right here where we are. Uh, today though, we're dealing with a little bit of demon work today. Uh, Jesus driving out demons and then how that's perceived by those that don't see him for what he is. And this can happen a lot in our walk. So, uh, us trying to do the thing that God has called us to do and others seeing some other working going on. So this is, this is going to be an important one, and I think it's a good one to finish our week on here, that we're able to dive in and understand that sometimes when we do the things that God has called us to, it doesn't always get received by the world the way we would expect it to. So, um, go ahead, grab your Bible. We're going to start Luke 11, chapter 14. As always, guys, I will be reading from the ESV. Uh, You're welcome to read along, of course, in any translation or paraphrase that you would like. Take a minute now if you need to go grab that, you know, just hit pause on the podcast, come back. I do encourage you guys to have a Bible in hand, but I understand if you're commuting, if you're at the office and you're working, that's, you know, your time that you listen to the podcast. Maybe you're at the gym and you're on the treadmill.

I get it.

So I will read it out for you, but if you can have a Bible in hand, I always encourage it. So let's get down to it. Luke 11, chapter 14. Now he was casting out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, he casts out demons by Beelzebub, 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 Beelzebub, If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 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. 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 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 7 other more spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you. But he said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. That's where we're going to stop for today, guys. So Jesus is just calling it out as he sees it. People start to accuse him of casting out demons using Satan, and he just can't stand this notion that people are that far off. And so he He begins to caution, and he speaks with strength, and he speaks with conviction, because this is no longer just a matter of them questioning what he is doing or why he is doing it. This is him being questioned for his very character and identity. The accusation that he is not the Son of Man, that he is not God's Son, and instead belongs to the devil. This is now an attack on the very character of God, and he won't stand for it. So he speaks out. And he makes it quite clear. In what world does the same army fight itself? That army's doomed to die. It just is. It makes no sense what you are saying. Calls them on it right away. This makes no sense. And even worse, you believing these things and you teaching these things is putting others at risk. It's putting yourself at risk because there will come a day When the army that casts out demons in God's name, my army, returns. And in that day, to the victor will go the spoils. And if you're not with me, you're against me. And this is very, very similar to the language that he used back when he sent out the— or when the apostles rebuked people that were sharing the word of Christ. And he said, don't do that. Those that are for us are those who aren't against us are for us, right? He was back then, he was saying, if you don't need to make enemies, don't. There are people out there that are spreading the gospel and they may not be your flavor, your denomination, your ethnicity. That's fine. Let them do that because those that are for us are for us. But those who are against us, this is the other side of that coin. He's being quite clear on this. Those who are not for Christ, are against Christ. There's no middle ground. There's no— it is what it is. Now, to be clear, he isn't saying that we are the ones that get to determine who Christ is saving. He's saying that those who are against you are against you. He's talking about what you need to know here on the earth. So take Paul, for example, later in Acts, right? Paul very much was against the church. You could look at him with this verse and say, those who are against you are against you. Paul was witness to Stephen's martyrdom. He then set out on the road to continue persecuting Christians. He was against him. Now, Christ was the one who decided that Paul would not be against him. He knocked him off his high horse, set him straight, and off he went. But there were those that were with Paul that didn't do that, that did not repent, or we have no account of their repentance and continued to be who they are. We know that the church after Christ died continued to face challenges from the Jewish authorities. They continued to face challenges from the Sanhedrin. Even with all that the Sanhedrin had seen, they continued to face challenges from them. So I think this is a couple of things here. One is we're not called to judge who is going to be of God's kingdom and not. That's not the lesson that's being taught here. But what is being taught here is those who stand opposed to Christ's character, those folks need to be treated as though they don't have the gospel. That's not to say that they aren't saved and won't come to repentance and redemption and live a life for God. We don't know that. But what we do know is currently in the moment, if they are standing against the things of Christ, they're against the Bible, they're against his Christ's teachings or against Christ's identity as the Son of God. Those people are, and this may sound obvious, aren't for him, right? You can't have folks that are saying, well, he is a way but not the way. No, that means that you're against Christ. It sounds like you're being accepting, but you're not. You can't have folks say, well, he was a great teacher or a great prophet, but he wasn't the Son of God.

No.

That's the exact thing that he's speaking out against here. And this is, this is kind of that foundational thing that makes a Christian a Christian is that you cannot, you cannot waver from that. We cannot move from that point. You have to stand on that point. Christ is either fully God, fully man, or everything that he did was for nothing. It's just additional teaching like you would find anywhere else. If he wasn't fully God and he wasn't fully man, you're done. There's no point to all of it. But he is, and he stands on that, and he shows us that. And as we move into Easter, we're going to see that more and more as we head further into Luke. So this is a critical, critical point for us, guys. And he adds cautions here as well of people thinking that, oh well, just because evil has been cast out, then all is well and good. And he goes, no, you misunderstand. If you don't barricade your doors, Once the the evil is set out, if you don't change your ways, if you don't repent, if you don't build up a defense against the thing that you've removed from your life, that sin from your life, you're going to have a serious problem. It's going to be a big issue because not only is it going to come back, it's going to come back with a vengeance. And then on the other side of things in this passage, what we see is is. A lady crying out from the crowd, you know, "Blessed is your mother," right? Like, "Good on the woman who gave birth to you. How blessed is she?" And I mean, this is a this is a big thing. All of us have driven through towns and seen the statues of Mary that are up. We've seen we've seen Catholicism raise Mary to this position of reverence, sainthood, and almost godhood. And the reality is there are multiple times throughout the scriptures in Matthew and Luke and John where Mary comes forward and they say, oh Jesus, your mother is here. And he says, no, truly I tell you, my mother are those who believe, right? Again, here, blessed is the womb that bore you, the breasts at which you nursed. Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it, right? It's a big deal. This is a big deal. Christ is looking for those who hear him speak, who hear his teachings, who hear his commandments, and they change your heart. God loves you so much, the Holy Spirit works in your heart so that you can hear what Christ is saying, that you can see what Christ is doing. And then you don't just hear and see. It's not a spectator sport. It's not YouTube. It's not Netflix. You're not tuning in and then Tuning out. You tune in and you apply it. It's a, it's an apprenticeship. It's a relational education. You're walking with Christ and you're learning from him so that you can do the things that he is doing. It's so important. It's so crucial. So therein also lies the challenge for this weekend. If you're just joining us today, I hope you've been doing daily devotions. If not, just use today's devotion. If you're somebody who's been walking through this for a while, go back. Don't go back and listen to the entire episodes, but go back maybe and find the challenge in the episodes and challenge yourself. Are you actually just showing up for the devotion every day, or are you showing up and are you challenging yourself? Are you doing the things that we're seeing in Scripture? And you may, you may be taking away something different than the challenge that I pose every day. That's just there for those that maybe are having a hard time, you know, finding something practical to apply to it. But if you are hearing something or you're convicted of something as we are going through the word, I would challenge you to do those things. When we see commandments and teachings where Christ says, do this thing, do those things. If you are struggling with sin in your life right now in a serious way, repent. Repent doesn't just mean say I'm sorry. Repent means acknowledge what you've done wrong and move in the complete opposite direction. Turn from it, run from it, build a barricade between you and it. Don't allow it the time or the space to come back. That's the challenge for today. Is the rubber meeting the road or are you just spinning your wheels? I'll leave you with that for the weekend, guys. Let's head to prayer. Lord, you are an amazing God, and Christ came and died for us, and it is a payment and a punishment that we can never fully fathom. We can never fully grasp, but we can appreciate it. We can recognize it for what it is. We can be called to the salvation in it, Lord. So I pray for the men that are listening, that for those that know you, Lord, and have become Complacent or nominal in their faith, that you would ignite their hearts. They would find passion in you, Lord, purpose in you, Lord. They would drive towards you and not away from you, or even worse, just stand still and watch. I pray for those, Lord, that are not for you. And so against you, there are many in Scripture that show that and turn back to you, Lord, or find you for the first time. That the Holy Spirit does a work in their hearts, and so I pray for those. I pray for those that are unsaved, Lord, that don't know you. I pray that they would come to know you. I pray that their hearts would be softened by the Holy Spirit so that they could receive your word. They could receive you. Your name we pray, Lord. Amen. Have an amazing weekend, guys. Enjoy your family, enjoy your church on Sunday, and I will see you Monday with another episode. Take it easy.

Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints Podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all until next time.