Introduction:

1. I would like to speak on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory as our Delivering Prince.
2. There has been an enormous spiritual war raging since creation, and you should understand it fully.
3. We want to remember what Jesus Christ has done for us legally, vitally, practically, and finally!
4. By learning and holding to the Bible truth, we wage war against the strong man and his lies to men.
5. We earnestly contend against the other jesus in order to defend and exalt the Jesus of God (Rev 3:20)!
6. Every time a person dies, you can see the power of Satan in the world, who has clutched another soul.

The Text (Luke 11:14-26)

11:14 Jesus cast a devil out of a man that was dumb, meaning it caused its victim to be dumb.

When the spirit was cast out of the man, the man was able to speak with ordinary ability.

There are other Bible examples of devils causing bodily ills (Job 4:4-7; Luke 13:10-17).

 

11:15 Some that were present accused Jesus of operating by the devil, the unpardonable sin.

You cannot commit the unpardonable sin: you are not a Jew watching Christ’s miracles.

 

11:16 Others that were present tried to provoke Jesus into other carnal evidences of His power.

The power of casting out devils, which impressed others, did not impress these skeptics.

The only sign Jesus gave to scorners was that of Jonah – 72 hours buried (Mat 12:38-40).

 

11:17 Jesus gave the basic axiom that division destroys organizations and all units of society.

Successful families, business, churches, nations, or any other organization requires unity.

 

11:18 Jesus denied working for Satan by the logical implication that Satan’s kingdom endures.

Satan’s kingdom has endured much, much longer than any temporal earthly kingdom.

 

11:19 Jesus denied working for Satan by appealing to His differences from the Jewish gypsies.

There were Jewish gypsies that feigned exorcisms of spirits by witchcraft (Ac 19:13-20).

If they believed the Jewish exorcists did it by the power of God, why not Jesus Christ?

 

11:20 Jesus denied their supposition by two arguments and then proposed His power from God.

Rather than any internal division in Satan’s kingdom, Jesus proposes another kingdom.

Of course, the proposition and conclusion are true – no doubt, Jesus had kingdom power!

 

11:21 Jesus described Satan’s kingdom as a palace with goods guarded by a strong, armed man.

Men by nature are born into his kingdom and kept in his palace by his strength and arms.

The devil’s armour includes fear of death, guilt for sin, the justice of God, ignorance, etc.

 

11:22 By the metaphor, a stronger man can overcome him, take his armor, and steal his goods.

The stronger man is Jesus Christ, Who came to destroy the works of the devil (I Jn 3:8).

The armor in which Satan trusted – ignorance, darkness, lies, and death – are destroyed!

Jesus spoiled the devil’s palace and set many of his captives free from his dominion.

 

11:23 Jesus Christ was the acid test of Jehovah’s religion, and there was no neutral ground.

Anyone even countenancing the Pharisee’s with a listening ear was the enemy of Christ.

Anything short of Christ’s doctrine and practice left a man opposed and scattering saints.

Jesus and Satan were not connected at all, and neither were Jesus and the Jewish leaders.

 

11:24 Devils cast out of men will seek to return to the same body, unless the heart is occupied!

Devils cannot stand being useless at all, and useless means not destroying men’s lives.

Here is casting out devils and the work of outward reformation without inward grace.

 

11:25 He finds the place all ready for him with the man in a state of mental and spiritual calm.

Outward reformation may sweep and garnish a house, but it does not fill it with the Spirit.

 

11:26 Men will return to their folly and be worse than before, if the change is only fleshly.

Matthew recorded Jesus prophesying of that generation of wicked Jews, which Titus and Josephus confessed as eyewitnesses forty years later to be absolutely true (Matt 12:45).

 

The Strong Man

1. Satan, the strong man, took our parents and us captive for death and hell (Gen 2:17; 3:1-7).
2. How strong is the strong man? Not even Michael the archangel rails against him (Jude 1:9).
3. Consider what Satan did to Job, David, and Peter (Job 1-2; I Chron 21:1; Luke 22:31-32).
4. Since we sold ourselves to him and sin, we willingly followed by vital depravity (Eph 2:1-3).
5. What was Satan’s armor? Guilt, sin, condemnation, ignorance, lies, darkness, death, fear, etc.
6. Men have been dying, afraid of death, and under bondage since the Garden (Hebrews 2:15).
7. We did not care and could not see, for the god of this world had blinded us (II Cor 4:3-4).
8. He, the prince and god of this world, deceived the nations into abject idolatry and ignorance.
9. The whole Gentile world was in darkness, by the deception of Satan (I John 5:19; Rev 12:9).
10. He and his kingdom are the “power of darkness” – sin and ignorance (Luke 22:53; Col 1:13).
11. Unless God regenerates and grants repentance, men are easy slaves to Satan (II Tim 2:25-26).

The Stronger Man

1. Promised in the very beginning to Satan, the woman would bear a victorious Son (Gen 3:15).
   1. The devil is a liar, and Catholics promote his lies in the Douay Version of Genesis 3:15.
   2. What a sick religion! Their “virgin Mary” is their stronger man! Catholic art has Mary standing on the head of the serpent. But Mary needed a Savior herself (Luke 1:46-47)!
   3. Observe that he is behind Catholicism with lying wonders (II Thess 2:7-12; I Tim 4:1-3).
   4. The Seed of the woman is Jesus Christ, and He crushed the serpent’s head, by the weak person that he initially tempted to disobey God and her cursed childbearing (I Tim 2:15).
2. The purpose of Jesus Christ coming in the world was to destroy the devil’s works (I Jn 3:8).
   1. The works of the devil were his armor, his success in Eden and after, leading men to sin.
   2. Jesus came, as foretold in Eden, to live a perfect life and undo the consequences of Eden.
   3. By dying on the cross, Jesus destroyed the claims of the devil against the elect and spoiled the palace of the strong man and delivered us in dominating fashion (Col 2:15)!
   4. We were translated vitally out of the power of darkness into Christ’s kingdom (Col 1:13).
3. In order to legally stand in for us, Jesus had to be made of flesh and blood to die (Heb 2:14).
   1. Jesus lived a perfect life, in spite of the devil’s efforts, to die for us and destroy death.
   2. His death and resurrection legally delivered us; His gospel practically delivers us! Glory!
   3. The power of death has been so vanquished that Paul could mock it (I Cor 15:55-57).
4. When He ascended into heaven, He was promoted over Satan and all devils, the principalities and powers of heavenly places (Eph 1:19-23; 3:10; 6:12; Phil 2:9-10; Col 2:10; Heb 1:4).
5. Jesus came to Israel and commanded devils without begging! What a word! (Luke 4:30-37).
   1. The seventy servants could not believe the power Christ gave them (Luke 10:17-20).
   2. Jesus taught a secret about devils, but the remedy is gone in false bibles (Matthew 17:21).
   3. The difference between Paul and the Jewish, gypsy imposters was great (Acts 19:13-20).
   4. Paul was sent to turn the freed captives of Satan to the light of the gospel (Acts 26:18).
   5. The gospel is light that frees men from the darkness of ignorance and sin (I John 2:8).
6. When was the timing of this great victory, but when Jesus died to destroy death (John 12:31).
   1. Our accuser was cast down, for heaven is not big enough for both (Revelation 12:5-11).
   2. He cannot accuse us any longer, because there is nothing to lay to our charge (Rom 8:33).
   3. He was bound from deceiving nations, as he had done for four millennia (Rev 20:1-3).
   4. The gospel went forth with power to convert Gentiles against hell (Matt 16:18; 28:18-20).
7. We have the stronger man in us by His Spirit to overcome Satan (Gal 4:6; I John 2:14; 4:4).

Conclusion:

1. Each of us has been rescued from Satan’s kingdom, evidenced by love and service to Jesus Christ, for unless you were saved from his kingdom, you would have no interest at all in the Christ of the Bible.
2. We know nothing can separate us from God’s love, even principalities and powers (Rom 8:38-39).
3. We are bound to give thanks to God always for this incredible plan of salvation (II Thess 2:13).
4. We are bound to show forth the praises of Him Who hath delivered us from darkness (I Peter 2:9-10).
5. We are bound to earnestly contend for the once delivered faith against all perversions (Acts 13:10).
6. If we keep God’s commandments and testify of Jesus Christ, we will face opposition (Rev 12:17).

For Further Study:

1. Sermon Outline: “Give No Place to the Devil,” teaches about the devil and exhorts saints to holy vigilance.
2. Sermon Outline: “The Power of Darkness,” teaches about Christ’s victory over the devil and our vigilance.