LUKE 11:14\u201323<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cBut if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
(Luke 11:20)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Today we return to our studies in Luke. Remember that Jesus had driven out a demon, but some in the crowd said He was doing it by the power of the devil. Jesus exposed their folly: \u201cAny kingdom divided against itself will be ruined.\u2026 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand?\u201d (Luke 11:14\u201318). At the same time others in the crowd also \u201ctested Him by asking for a sign from heaven\u201d (v. 16). Jesus replied that the act of casting out Satan was already a sign that the kingdom of God had come to them.<\/p>\n
In recent years there has been a fascination with demon exorcism. Throughout church history, however, the exorcism of demons has not played a large role. The reason for this is in Jesus\u2019 day the decisive battle for the world was fought, and Satan unleased all his strength. After Jesus\u2019 defeat of Satan, his power was broken, though not destroyed. He is still a mighty threat to the growth of the kingdom, but he no longer has the kind of power he possessed before Jesus vanquished him.<\/p>\n
Jesus explained this in verses 21 and 22: \u201cWhen a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.\u201d Up to this time in history Satan had been the ruler of the house because Adam had turned the world over to him.<\/p>\n
A Stronger Man, however, had arrived. He was going to tear down the walls of Satan\u2019s castle, break the back of his defenses and divide up his spoils. The Second Adam was going to take the world back from the evil one. Jesus concluded his remarks by saying that neutrality on this issue is impossible: \u201cHe who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters\u201d (v. 23).<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Job 32\u201333<\/p>\n
Acts 13:1\u201325<\/p>\n
There are some areas in life about which Christians disagree, and we must exercise tolerance. Basic loyalty to Christ, however, allows for no gray areas. By what standard do you judge the things about which you cannot be neutral? From this month\u2019s Tabletalk<\/i> articles, consider the severe consequences of neutrality regarding Christ.<\/p>\n
For further study: Ephesians 6:10\u201318; tape #B57INT.52\/53<\/i><\/p>\n
friday<\/p>\n
july<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LUKE 11:14\u201323 \u201cBut if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you\u201d (Luke 11:20). Today we return to our studies in Luke. Remember that Jesus had driven out a demon, but some in the crowd said He was doing it by the power of the … Continue reading “A STRONGER MAN IS HERE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}