Luke chapter 11 and look at verse number 1 Luke chapter 11 verse 1 and it came to
pass that as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased one of his
disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples
the title of sermon this morning is teach us to pray teach us to pray so we
see immediately here in verse number one we've seen this through the book of
Luke so far that it is the custom of Jesus Christ to go and pray to his
father you know even after having busy periods of work in the works of God
casting out devils preaching to great multitudes he still found time to go and
pray to the father and you know that that just brings a reminder to me
because quite often and I think you guys can probably share this experience is
that when we have a busy day you know when there's a lot on our plates
probably the last thing that we do or the last the thing that drops off our
radar is our prayer life you might be the last thing that you know we're so
busy we've got so many things to do that we just forget to pray and we see the
great example of Jesus Christ praying to his Heavenly Father you know it's such a
great example that his disciples ask him teach us to pray they thought this is a
an amazing part of the ministry of Christ an amazing part of his walk with
God the Father and they wanted to be taught to pray and even we see John the
Baptist taught his disciples to pray all right so this tells me a couple of
things number one that people don't know how to pray I mean even the disciples of
Jesus asked how do we pray and number two this tells me that we need to teach
people how to pray okay we need to teach especially our children how to pray
you know and you know I believe prayer especially a midweek service you know
midweek service on Wednesday nights when we come for church together it is such a
precious thing for us to pray together bring our prayer requests to one another
and pray for one another you know I know some families can't attend on the
midweek service and you know I understand but still it's such a
precious time you know it's a time where you can actually really build some
relationships with the people in the church you know you understand the
things that they're struggling with you understand the things that you can pray
for and you know you may not have the power in yourself to fix those things
but you do have the ability to pray for those individuals and I personally found
when I started praying for people in my church even in the past and I started to
love those people in my church more I started to think about them more and I
started to stop thinking about my struggles in life and started to think
about the struggles that other people have in their lives and you know it
brought to my attention to pray for them and you know even as a pastor now in
this church I realized just how important it is for me to be in prayer
to God about each individual person in this church you know and yeah you know
it's a great thing to be taught to pray look at this number two and he said unto
them when you pray say our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy
kingdom come thy will be done as in earth sorry as in heaven so enough so a
few things here number one is look when you pray and by the way this is known as
the Lord's Prayer and I've been in churches where I don't know maybe you've
been there where people stand up and basically quote the Lord's Prayer
word-for-word you know and you know obviously Jesus Christ told us to be to
be careful about the vain repetitions you know we shouldn't pray just a vain
repetition you know pray the same prayer that we pray for every meal time you
know Lord please bless the food to our bodies and it's just just rolls of the
tongue without any thought to it now I personally don't think there's anything
wrong with repeating this prayer you know I personally there's been times in
my life where I've felt a bit distant from the Lord and what's brought me
closer to the Lord is opening a psalm and just reading that psalm you know and
but going Lord yep that's my prayer to you Lord you know cuz I I don't know how
to express how I'm feeling right now but that's some that I just read right now
that's my prayer to you Lord that's that's what I want to lift up to you I
I personally don't think there's anything wrong with taking a prayer even an
example prayer like Jesus Christ gave as long as it's not a vain repetition as
long as it's not empty that you actually mean what what is being said here and
you want to bring that before the Lord but you notice that Jesus Christ is
speaking to the Heavenly Father here okay when we pray we ought to pray to
the Father which art in heaven and then he says hallowed be thy name what does
that mean hallowed it means holy your name is holy I'm lifting up your name
and this is another part of our prayer life that we need to get better at
that's praising the Lord and it's very easy to come to the Lord and just be
like Lord these are my problems help me out you know please answer these prayers
but you know we see that Jesus Christ spends a small moment there just to
honor the name of God you know to give him praise to give him worship to be
thankful for the things and the prayers that he's answered in our lives you know
he's deserving of that praise then he says thy kingdom come we see that the
the desire of Christ and the desire for that we all ought to have is for the
kingdom of God to come you know and we know that kingdom is to come in the
millennium but we also know that we can add people to that kingdom today by our
efforts in solving our efforts to preach the gospel to have these people these
precious people that Jesus died for to enter into that kingdom we ought to have
a desire for the kingdom of God and not the kingdoms of this world all right
then he says thy will be done as in heaven so in earth Lord we know your
will is done in heaven but your will is not always done on this earth in fact
even in my own life sometimes I pursue my own will rather than the will of God
and basically the desire that we ought to have is that our will would line up
with the will of God that we would want his will on this earth as much as it is
in heaven but I want you to notice there that when we pray true prayer
invokes the Trinity okay first of all we see that we ought to pray to God the
Father and you don't need to turn they'll just reach you very quickly in
Ephesians 6 18 it says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
spirits and watching their unto with all perseverance and supplication for all
saints so we say we see when we're praying we're praying in the spirit hey
when you're praying it's that new man it's that that new spirit that's been
born of the spirit that's calling out to God and praying to him hey we would not
be able to go to prayer if we were not born again if we had just his fleshly
sinful body we would not be able to enter that throne of grace of God and
bring out requests before him the fact that we're calling him our father points
that those that can pray are those that are children of God you count yourself
as a son of God hey there's a lot of people in this world that pray but
they're not born again they're not children of God and they're not praying
to the Father because he's not their father okay prayer is something that's
being given as an honor to the children of God that we can approach him yes we
know that he's the great God of the universe but we can approach him as our
father approach him as we would as children to our earthly fathers in the
same way all right but also and I'll just I'll just read to you quickly John
14 13 Jesus says and whatsoever you ask in my name that will I do that the father
may be glorified in the Sun and if you shall ask anything in my name I will do
it so quite often when we finish praying you know quite often we'll say things
like you know in Jesus name we ask these things Lord God in Jesus name so we can
see that prayer invokes the Trinity you know it touches all aspects of who God
is praying to the Father praying in the Spirit and asking in Jesus name because
that's what the power is the power is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it's
through Jesus that he gives us access to the Father and obviously being able to
be born again of the Spirit all right so look at verse number three give us
day by day our daily bread and I I already know you guys don't pray this I
mean I mean I assume that because I forget to pray this all the time you
know thank God we live in a nation of plenty you know we don't really need to
wonder is there going to be food on the plate in the mornings you know is there
going to be lunch is it going to be dinner you know there are parts of the
world that definitely don't know if they're going to eat today you know but
for us you know we've been given abundance but look whether we have
abundance or not we see the example that Jesus Christ game gave and that is we
should petition God to give us our daily bread to give us our daily food you know
so you know the Lord can see our humility that we still need him we still
need to call upon him for those provisions that we've acknowledged that
those provisions are coming from the Lord otherwise we can become quite
faulty and lift it up and say well the reason we have what we have is because
of me because of what I've done because of the work that I've done yes that's
true but ultimately it's the Heavenly Father that's given you those good gifts
and we ought to ask him petition of those things just even our daily bread
all right just just when you go to the store and you buy a loaf of bread you
know you have should have asked the Lord for that bread to begin with okay that's
the example that Jesus Christ gave us so even the smaller things we praying
for the kingdom we're praying for his will but even so far as your more sort
of bread that you're eating day by day verse number four and forgive us our
sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into
temptation but deliver us from evil I mean think about that think about those
words all right now this is not about salvation you know God has forgiven our
sins through the righteousness and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ this
is not about salvation you're not asking for forgiveness in the sense of being
saved but you guys know that our position is set before Christ and that's
perfect so we have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon us but we also have
our walk with the Lord that's not always righteous that's not always great
sometimes you know when we commit sin we're breaking fellowship with God you
know we ought to come before him and confess our sins to him and that's good
that's a good thing that we ought to do but notice that there's a condition here
all right and forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted
to us now I'm going to read to you the same prayer just in Matthew 6 12 because
it's a little clearer here it says and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors Wow what that means if you have not if you don't have forgiveness for
people you know that have done you wrong then you're essentially telling God
forgive me in the same way that I've forgiven others now if you've forgiven
others that's a good prayer to pray right if you have a forgive you know
your people have done you wrong but you know that you've forgiven them for the
wrongs that they've done then you have no problems because God will forgive you
with those sins that you've committed you know and he'll restore that
fellowship with you but what if you're harboring bitterness what if you're
harboring anger against people and you've not forgiven them then what are
you saying there when you ask for forgiveness for God go so well forgive
you as as far as you have forgiven those other people and so hey you know there
might be times when you've asked for forgiveness for Christ and you're still
not feeling his presence you're still not fellowship with him you're still not
communing with the Lord and you need to consider is it because I've not
forgiven others am I still holding on to grudges and bitterness of things that
have happened in the past and if you are that's going to hurt your relationship
with God the Father that's going to hurt your walk with God the Father okay so if
you want to be forgiven by God in your daily walk then you need to also forgive
others that have wronged you okay so this is really sobering a really sobering
thought because you know in our flesh when people do us wrong we hold the
grudges a little bit right but then we expect God to forgive us for everything
in our lives well hold on as long as I've forgiven others that's the
condition of God's forgiveness to you in your walk with him but also notice it
says here and lead us not into temptation so obviously you know we want
to ask God that he would maneuver our lives that you know we would avoid the
trials and difficulties and temptations that might come that causes us to see
sin all right we ought to ask God to help us in that area but it doesn't end
there it says but deliver us from evil so even when I do face temptations even
when I do face hardships and trials you're asking the Lord look deliver me
give me a way of escape give me a way so I won't sin against you Lord you know
and that reminds me and I'll just read it to you in 1st Corinthians 10 13 you
can say well you can turn there if you want but 1st Corinthians 10 13 and this
is such an important verse it says there have no temptation taking you but such
as is common to man hey whatever trial whatever temptation whatever difficulty
you're going through it's common to man everyone goes through similar
difficulties and sometimes and you know and this happens because you get
emotional you get frustrated and you're like why is this happening to me why is
why is no one else being a fake no everyone goes for trials and
difficulties okay the things you're going through is is common is normal all
right to everyone but then it says but God is faithful and will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able so when you go through trials of
temptations when you're tempted to sin okay God says he's not going to allow
you to be tempted above what you're able to bear that means hey there's no
excuse for your sin oh you can blame your sinful flesh but that's essentially
you blaming yourself hey when you're tempted to sin you can't turn around say
God will you allow me to be in this situation and therefore I've sinned you
can't blame God for your sins hey when you're tempted God makes sure that it's
not something you can't overcome okay so when you sin it's your fault okay it's
your fault and then it says but will that with the temptation also make a way
to escape that you may be able to bear it every time you're tempted to sin God
gives you an opportunity to escape that okay you're not trapped and forced to
sin and we see that highlighted in this prayer so lead us lead us not into
temptation Lord help us not to be in that situation to begin with but when we
are when we're facing evil things that can harm us then please give us that
opening that we can escape help me find that way of scape Lord so I want sin
against you
verse number five and he said unto them which of you have a friend and shall go
unto him at midnight and say unto him friend lend me three loves for a friend
of mine in his journeys come to me and I have nothing to set before him and he
from within shall answer and say trouble me not the door is now shut and my
children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee and I say unto you
though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of
his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth all right so
the question that Jesus Christ is asking here is a hypothetical question all
right when he says there in verse five which of you shall have a friend it's
kind of like who would do this so if you have a friend that's a neighbor and they
have an urgent need okay and they come to your door even if it's midnight even
if it's a time when your family's in bed and you know you're wrapped up for the
day even when someone comes to your door knocking urgently for your help it says
the two of you would not you know attend to that if you're able to to help in
that situation okay it's a hypothetical all right but the point is in verse
number eight it says though he will rot he will not rise and give him because he
is his friend yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as
many as he needeth so that word importunity is basically the the urgency
of the begging of that request that's coming he's saying look the reason
you're going to give to that person that's in need isn't so much because is
your friend and yes that's a part of it but more so because of their need
because of their urgent requests okay so I mean you could say a similar thing hey
if you had a neighbor coming to your house maybe he's not your friend maybe
he's never someone you really got along with hey but they come along and they're
asking for urgent help and you're able to fulfill that you know you're going to
honor that because you know of the need and the able and the ability that you
have to answer that need and this ties in with praying okay this ties in with
praying you know you can fall into the trap and say well you know the Lord
knows my situation the Lord knows what I need and that can stop you from praying
they can stop you from asking the Lord what you need but the answer the thing
is here if you want your prayers answered if you want your needs met you
have to come to the Lord and ask him that's what he wants he wants that
humility from you you know asking him with that request with that urgency Lord
please answer these prayers I need you to step in here and take care of this
that's what the Lord wants that's how he's going to answer you not just because
he's your friend but because you've actually asked in that urgent haste okay
so that that's a that's a teaching there you want you you want something answered
you have needs that need to be met you need to take that to prayer to God okay
our prayer life is such an important part of our Christian walk okay and I
find it just in my own life growing up that it's that part that I tend to leave
out okay it's that it's that part when I'm busy or I just don't feel right with
the Lord it's that part that I tend to leave out and I'm telling you that
because I assume you probably struggle with that same problem as well all right
look at verse number nine and I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek
and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you so what we see here in
verse number nine is that answer prayer to have your prayers answered it's more
than just asking you know when you come to the Lord and you bring your
petitions before him yes you're asking him aren't you you're asking him Lord
please answer this prayer but that shouldn't be the end of it he says you
gotta seek and knock let me give you a practical example of this you know if
you're looking for work you're unemployed you're looking for work yes
you take it to the Lord you go and ask the Lord to answer that prayer but then
do you just sit on your couch and watch TV of course not you think that prayer
is going to be answered by doing that it's happened once to me just once all
right just once I was looking for work and someone came and offered me work all
right just once but every other time I've had to go and seek all right I had
to go to seek.com literally right seek.com look for work get to that
workplace and actually literally knock and say I'm here for my interview all
right so look yes take your request to God but what you have control of you've
got to carry that through you've got to go and seek the answer you've got to go
and knock hey if you're reading your Bible and you're struggling something
you don't understand yes ask the Lord for wisdom but don't just close up the
Bible and say well the Lord's gonna answer that prayer now I've asked him
for the answer no he wants you to seek he wants you to keep reading keep
studying keep finding out the answer you know knock and search those things
when you combine that with what's in your control and then you leave what's
you know what you don't have any control you leave that up to God those two
things will answer your prayer you know you'll search for a wife you'll search
for a husband you know do you just ask God Lord God please send me a spouse
that I can get married no the Lord wants you to seek the Lord wants you to knock
you know the Lord wants you to introduce yourself to other people that might be
looking for a spouse you know sell yourself a little bit just like a job
interview so people can know who you are and make your intentions known you know
if you do you carry what you can do then the Lord will do his part and help you
out okay if you want to get married you need to say hey as a man I've got to
make sure that I I'm in a position where I can provide for my wife I need to make
sure that I have a job where I can put a roof over her head that I can I can
nourish her and feed her and if we have children we can take care of that you
know do what you can do and leave to God what you can't do all right don't
stress about what you can't achieve don't stress about what's out of your
hands leave that to God in prayer and just do what you can do all right and
when the Lord sees you take those steps then he'll answer that prayer you know a
very practical example of this for me you guys know when I came and started
well I had desired to be a pastor inside a church I had no idea where I needed to
go no idea whatsoever you know and I thought about Adelaide I was thinking
about Adelaide you know I could have started a church in Adelaide and I was
asking the Lord show me where do you want me to go Lord I have no idea okay
and I was trying to find a place where there wasn't a soul winning church okay
a church that wasn't you know I didn't wasn't right in the gospel wasn't at
least doing soul win that's the area that I was looking for and I packed up
our bags from Christine and the kids we went on a holiday to Adelaide hey it's a
longer drive from Sydney to Adelaide than it is from Sydney to the Sunshine
Coast all right and I did that we didn't feel any traction nothing was really
developing that area but I truly believe that God saw that that God saw me
seeking that that God saw me try and lock doors I was thinking to pastors of
other churches and asking them about the spiritual situation in Adelaide and I
when we got back very quickly after we got back I found out hey this is
Sunshine Coast I don't need to come to it all right I think I believe the Lord
looked at that and said well these guys are willing to make I think was a 16
hour drive whatever it was you know it's Adelaide and if they're doing that then
I'm gonna step in and now answer that prayer because I can see you know I can
see their heart I can see what they're trying to achieve I can see this isn't
just just a verbal but they're really trying to do something about this right
and so please guys when you pray again do what you can do okay the Lord will
see that and he will answer your prayer those two things need to come together
verse number 11 if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a fuck sorry if
let me read that again if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father
will he give him a stone or if you ask a fish will he give a fish will he for a
fish give him a serpent or if you shall ask an egg will he offer him a scorpion
if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much
more shall your Heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit to them that ask him so
in verse 13 when it says if ye then being evil okay so we as fathers we have
our sinful flesh we have our sins we have our selfishness all right but even
if you're not the best father you know if your child comes and wants food all
right you know unless you're a total derelict I mean I thought unless you're
a total loser you know even a bad father will want to feed his children even a
bad father even a sinful father with a sinful flesh would want to give and
nourish his children okay and so Jesus Christ says look if you guys are able to
do that then how much for more your father in heaven wants to give you great
gifts which has none of that evil that doesn't have that sinfulness in him
right he's perfect is pure he knows our every need and how much more is he
willing to give that to us but notice that it's not just a physical needs it's
not just a food in verse 13 he talks about you know how much more shall your
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him all right so let's
think about this for a minute what does that mean to ask for the Holy Spirit you
know you could apply that potentially to salvation you know people that you know
call upon the name of the Lord asked to be saved to be born of the Holy Spirit
to be born again of course the Lord will give the Holy Spirit in that example so
I don't think that's what it's been referred to here because this is someone
that's already a child of the Father okay so what we see here is that you
know as preachers as people that go out and preach the gospel if you just stand
behind the pulpit and preach the Word of God that we ought to be people we know
there are instructions in the Bible to be filled with the Holy Ghost right to
be given boldness through the Holy Spirit to have the power of God upon you
as you come and preach the Word of God so if you ask the Father if you ask God
to give you the Holy Spirit you know to do the works of God then he wants to
give you that Holy Spirit as well he wants to fill your life for the Holy
Ghost so that way you can be you know more able to be able to walk in that
spirit and not you know give into that flesh okay so both the physical needs
and yes the spiritual needs God the Father wants to give you those things
that ask him the last the last three words in verse 13 or last five words to
them that ask him hey when you come man when you come and stand behind this
pulpit and preach please get in the habit of asking God to give you the
Holy Spirit to give you the power of the Holy Spirit so you can preach with
boldness okay there's a huge difference with someone that preaches for things in
the spirit and people that preach in the flesh all right I mean it's obvious
it's obvious right you see people preach in their own strength in their own flesh
you can see how they contradict the Word of God you can see that they don't even
open the Word of God you know and they just preach their own earthly wisdom so
please you know people that come and preach or even before you go out soul
winning get in the habit if you don't do it already ask the Lord to give you the
Holy Spirit to give you that strength that you need verse 14 and he was
casting out a devil and it was dumb and it came to pass when the devil's gone
out the dumb spake and the people wondered so Jesus cast out an evil
spirit and verse 15 and some of them said he cast about devils through
Beelzebub the chief of the devil's and others tempting him sort of him a sign
from heaven so this is recorded in Matthew 12 and actually get you to turn
to Matthew 12 keep your finger there in Luke 11 but turn to Matthew 12 as well
these statements of people that say that he's casting out devils through Beelzebub
in Matthew 12 it's recorded as the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost okay
Matthew 12 verse 32 Matthew 12 verse 32 the Bible says and whosoever speaketh a
word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh
against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world
neither in the world to come I mean these words are black and white of Jesus
Christ that you can be someone that will not receive forgiveness in the world to
come you can be someone that takes an action that that frustrates and it
angers God so much that even if you were seeking forgiveness by God that he would
not forgive you okay you know this doctrine of reprobate is a true doctrine
all right there are people that have done certain acts where God is enough
I'm done with you you cannot be saved you will not believe on me and they're
ultimately destined to hell this is an example of a reprobate someone that has
blasphemed against the Holy Ghost what have they done what have they actually
said it's because they've equated Jesus Christ and his powers the works of God
that Jesus was doing the casting out the devil was a healing of the sick and they
said that's the power of Satan that's the power of Beelzebub you know they
said look he's casting out basically saying look Jesus is of the devil you
know he's a son of the devil he's got the power of the devil that is
ultimately what the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is and if you're making those
kinds of accusations against Christ that's gonna you're gonna be someone
that cannot be saved right then let me just say this if you're saved you're
saved eternal security once saved always saved amen all right so you know if
you've said some things and you're like oh man did I blaspheme look if you're
saved say okay you you wouldn't be able to blaspheme the Holy Spirit okay you've
accepted Jesus Christ you've accepted that is the Son of God obviously so
you're not going to be this person that blasphemes the power of Jesus Christ
that comes to the Holy Spirit all right but I just want to show you that there
that's and the people that said these things by the way were the Pharisees
okay and so we see that there were certain Pharisees in Jesus time that
were reprobate okay verse 17 I mean if they weren't before they are now
essentially right verse 17 but he knowing their thoughts said unto them
every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house divided
against a house full of if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his
kingdom stand because he say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub so notice
the words of Christ there he basically says that Satan has a kingdom right
Satan has a kingdom on this earth and he's saying look if I'm doing this by
the power of the devil by the power of Beelzebub casting out devils then that
kingdom would not be able to stand in other words the devil be stupid will be
foolish to cast out his own devils because that would cause his kingdom to
fall his own house to fall all right how shall his kingdom stand in this sorry
where am I reading from I'm reading from Luke sorry guys I've confused myself a
little bit I was reading from the Luke 11 17 but I want you guys to keep a
finger there in in Matthew 12 anyway but yeah I'm reading from Luke 17 and then I
says in verse 18 if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his
kingdom stand because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub okay
verse 19 and if I buy Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your sons cast
them out therefore they therefore shall they be your judges now you're in
Matthew 12 look at verse 24 look at Matthew 12 24 just to just to show you
who's saying this I already mentioned it but it says in verse 24 but when the
Pharisees heard it they said this fellow doth not cast doth not cast out devils
but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils all right now back to Luke 7
Luke 11 19 please Luke 11 19 notice that Jesus says here if I buy Beelzebub
cast out devils by whom do your sons cast them out now this is a bit of a
tricky verse I'll give you probably two two ways to interpret this or I'll give
you I'll give you the first way that I don't really agree with but one way is
this these sons are the sons of the Pharisees okay so he's saying look the
sons of the one way to interpret it is this that the sons of the Pharisees were
claiming to cast out devils but we're not okay they were claiming to cast out
devils we're claiming that they have the powers to cut to cast out devils so you
know in that case Jesus is kind of being sarcastic about it right and then it
says therefore shall they be your judges and the way you will take that verse in
that with that interpretation is therefore shall they the devil's be your
judges in other words there was that have been cast out they're going to make
judgment as to who cast them out was it Jesus Christ or was it the sons of the
Pharisees so that's one way to interpret that verse I know it's a bit tricky but
I prefer to take this verse pretty much at just face value you know just just
just as literal as you can there and I appreciate your thoughts later on if you
guys have some thoughts on this verse let me know but the way I seem to
understand this it says that by whom do your sons cast them out I just take that
at face value that some of the sons of the Pharisees were casting out devils
okay and how would they be able to cast out devils the only way they'd be able
to do that is if Jesus Christ gave them that ability that Jesus Christ gave them
that power so I assume here without it being clear in this passage that some of
the children of the Pharisees had actually come to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ okay and they might very well be numbered amongst those 70
remember Jesus Christ gave the 70 disciples the ability to cast out devils
to heal the sick you know not just the 12 so it's possible that some of the
sons of the Pharisees some of the children of the Pharisees were part of this 70
given the power of Christ to cast out devils and so he's saying then therefore
shall they your sons be your judges hey your sons have said they've cast out
devils maybe those Pharisees have praised them and but they're saying hey
they've cast out devils through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ so that
that's how I prefer to interpret it but if you guys have some other ideas there
I realize that it's a little challenging I appreciate your thoughts
but look at verse number 20 but if I with the finger of God cast out devils
no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you all right so I've been talking to you
a little bit about the kingdom of God I'm trying to build up some thoughts
here get into chapter 13 eventually but I want you to notice that Jesus Christ
says no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you okay now again we talk
about the kingdom of God a lot of people think about the millennial kingdom to
come and that's true it's awesome but do you also notice that he says the kingdom
of God is come upon you it's here now okay and he equates that with the cast
now of devils and the taking down of the kingdom of Satan something that you'll
come to realize is that when the king of God comes and he grows into that
millennial kingdom and then eventually the new heavens and the new earth that
the king of Satan is taking a backseat it's taking a beating through the kingdom
of God okay we'll see this a little play out a little bit more look at verse 21
when a strong man arms keep of his palace his goods are in peace but when
a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taker from him all
his armor wherein he trusted and divided his spoils so we see this this sort of
illustration here that if there's a strong man I believe this is a reference
to the devil or two devils that has his place as has his things in order but
when a stronger than him shall come that's a reference to Jesus to God
coming in he's able to overcome the devil takes away the armor that he
trusted and divided his spoils so in the context here of a possessed man of Jesus
casting out the devil we see that the devil or whatever devils they were had
taken hold of this man and the devil being a strong man had taken it had
owned it but then a stronger than he came in Jesus Christ and and took away
what the devil was trusting in from maybe that the soul of that man or
whatever takes away the armor takes away the weapons and divided his spoils he
takes what belonged to the devil at one point in time hey he recovers that man
he heals that man from that the possession of that devil and so what we
see here is when the king of God comes down the kingdom the king of Satan takes
a back step okay it's it's it's demolished it's taken down a notch okay
and ultimately it'll be done away with when Satan is cast into the lake of fire
forever and ever all right and of course I'll just quickly read to you first John
4 for the Bible very great passage ye are of God little children and have
overcome them because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world
hey the fact that you have the Holy Ghost which is God residing in you
dwelling you means you don't have to have the fear of the devil you don't
have to be afraid that he's gonna come and possess your body or anything like
that hey you have the power of God in you all right you call upon you ask the
Lord for help and he's going to deliver you from the powers of the devil we
don't need to be afraid of him we need to be aware of him we need to be aware
of the danger and the damage that the devil can cause but we don't need to be
afraid okay because we have the Holy Ghost verse 23 he that is not with me
is against me and he that gathers not with me scattereth all right so
basically being with Jesus is one that is in the gathering business we see that
when Jesus Christ came is preaching the gospel he's gathering people unto
himself when he's casting out these Devils you know these people are coming
and sitting to hear the Word of God and and to be saved and the Bible is very
clear here guys that we need to be people that are involved in the
gathering business of God all right if you're not gathering with Christ then
you're scattering all right if you're not involved in trying to get the gospel
out there getting people bringing people in gathering people in I'm not
necessarily talking about the church but we can associate that as well but
getting people say bring it into the kingdom then Jesus says you're
scattering okay you can never be a neutral in the Christian walk you're
either doing the Lord's business or you're hurting the Lord's business all
right verse 24 this sorry verse um actually no there's something that I
wanted to comment here because the question came keep your finger there
turn to Luke chapter 9 very quickly Luke chapter 9 verse 49 Luke chapter 9 verse
49 Luke chapter 9 verse 49 so just two chapters back these words were said by
John the Apostle and John answered and said master we saw one casting out
Devils in thy name and we forbade him because he followeth not with us and
Jesus said unto him forbid him not for he that is not against us is for us so
some people think that verse there sounds a little contradictive it's
obviously not contradictive but it sounds a little bit we've what we just
read in in Luke 11 23 which said he that is not with me is against me all right
so let's try to understand this is this an apparent contradiction between these
two verses the reason is the reason it's not a contradiction is because the
person in Luke 9 is casting out Devils in the name of Jesus Christ he's doing
the works of God okay he's doing the works of God and so as far as you're if
you're doing the works of God as far as Jesus is concerned is that you're not
against him but that you're for him okay that you're for him but it's the
disciple that said well hold on he's not walking with us he's not following after
he asked they're not in lockstep with us that for him because of that he felt
that this person was against them okay so when we look at verse in Luke 11 23
Jesus says he that is not with me is against me okay and then obviously he
that gathered not with me scatter so here's here's here's the here's how we
put it together and we can relate this to other churches other pastors other
ministries whatever if there's another church okay that's I've said this before
that's right in the gospel that has the same Jesus that has you know the same
spirit and their mission is to get the gospel that they're doing the works of
God even though they might be not be doing it in the same way that we think
is the best way to do it okay that is someone that is not against Christ and
is with with him okay but if you've got other people that are not involved in
the gathering business they're not involved in doing the works of God then
at that point they're against Christ okay so you know don't ever think that
the only people that are rights the only people that are for Christ are those
that are just like us that are just like-minded like us that believe just
like us hey look even within this church we don't necessarily believe everything
exactly the same on certain issues all right that does that mean that we okay
we can't work together no of course not if we're in the Lord's business we're
gathering we're serving him doing what we can to bring the kingdom of God a
little closer bringing people into that kingdom then we're gathering and we're
not against Christ and any other church that's doing that I don't care what
movement they're part of or what this or what that all I care about are they
rather gospel are they trying to serve the Lord if they're doing that I'm more
than happy to be a blessing to them so open up communication with them and work
with them all right let's look at verse 24 Luke 11 24 now before we read this
this is not a continuation of the previous conversation Jesus Christ had
about the stronger man overcoming the strong man okay in Luke it sounds like
they're the same story but it's verse 23 that separates these two stories all
right now this is a lot more obvious in Matthew chapter 12 okay we won't read it
in Matthew 12 but if you have time read this again in Matthew 12 and you notice
that it's very obvious these are not the same story okay these are totally
different things verse 24 when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he
walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none who sayeth I will
return unto my house whence I came out all right so some people have associated
this with an unclean spirit that Jesus Christ has cast out of a man that's not
necessarily what this is about this is just about an unclean spirit has gone
out of man for whatever reason all right and notice that when it when an unclean
spirit when a devil leaves a man it walks through dry places seeking rest
now I don't understand all this this is the spiritual realm but for whatever
reason these unclean spirits find rest find nourishment find joy in possessing
people okay and when they're not possessing people it's like walking in a
desert place for them all right then he says look he sayeth I'll return unto my
house whence I came out verse 25 and when he cometh he findeth he findeth it
swept and garnished so he comes back to the person that he possessed and he
finds this person has cleaned up their life like they swept a lot of the
rubbish out of life they're doing much better all right and then verse 26 then
go fee and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and
they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the
first all right so let's understand this I believe this story is about those that
are trying to get right before God through self reformation okay they've
lived a wicked life they recognize yep you know I've done wrong I'm a sinner
etc etc but they're like you know what to be right with God I'm just gonna
clean up my life I'm gonna repent of my sins right and I'm going to follow the
laws of God I'm gonna keep the commands of God but they miss out on the free
gift they miss out on understanding that salvation being right with God is that
free gift and as we know when you get saved you have the Holy Ghost in you
right which is greater than he that is in the world all right that is a
stronger man than the devil that were there before but what we find here is
that when the devil comes back there's no one there this person's not saved
it's just been swept it's been cleaned it's actually more attractive now to
come and possess this man so he brings these eight or seven other devil buddies
that are worse than him and trash up the place okay so we need to be careful
about you know a gospel of self reformation you know a gospel that says
hey just do good just just do the best you can you know just just clean up your
life repent of all your sins and that's how you get saved hey that's that's the
person that the devil's want to inhabit that's the person that was want to come
in and destroy their lives all right verse number 27 and it came to pass as
he spoke these things a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said
unto him blessed is the womb that bear thee and the pap switched out sucked so
here we have our first Roman Catholic right before the Roman Catholic Church
started here's the woman that wants to give you know Mary worship and and
praise and look Mary was a blessed woman don't get me wrong you know she's a
fantastic woman the real Mary the Mary of the Bible you know she's a she's a
fantastic woman a great role model for any young lady to follow after okay look
how Jesus Christ responds in verse 28 but he said yea rather blessed are they
that hear the Word of God and keep it so we see how Jesus deflects the attention
that Mary started to get all right and we can see obviously with the Roman
Catholic Church and and how much they praise and worship Mary Jesus Christ is
no look rather what's better than that to bless those that hear the Word of God
and keep it those that hear it and essentially do it I know the Word of
God they follow through and and try to keep the commands that God has given us
verse 29 and when the people were gathered thick together he began to say
this is an evil generation they seek a sign and there shall no sign be given
about the sign of Jonas the Prophet for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites
so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation so Jonah was a science in
Ninevites that he was swallowed by that whale that he was spat out right he
went preach into the Ninevites and he refers to himself that same example that
same sign would be of Jesus Christ to this generation and we know just like
Jonah the three nights and the three days and three nights in the whale that
Christ himself after three days and three nights would rise again from the
dead that he would overcome death and presents himself Jesus Christ he is
basically saying the sign what's important what you guys need to
understand is that I'm going to die for your sins I'm gonna rise again I'm gonna
come back that's a sign that you're gonna get hey that's the gospel message
that we go out and preach that's the sign for this wicked generation as much
as that wicked generation that death could not keep him verse 31 the queen of
the South shall rise up in judgment against sorry rise up in judgment with
the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the utmost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon behold a greater than Solomon is
here so this is confirmation to us that the Queen of Sheba got saved in the Old
Testament that she got saved when she came and heard Solomon and Solomon
saying how much God had blessed Israel and she was impressed by everything
Israel had this shows us a song and also preached of the gospel all right that
she had place of faith on God that she can rise up in judgment against that
wicked generation verse 32 the men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment
against this generation and shall condemn it for they repented at the
preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here all right so we are
Ninevites and Ninevites got saved at the preaching of Jonah okay now did
every Ninevite get saved probably not but a great majority did the king even
got himself right with God and and they they ended up cleaning up their city and
God did not bring judgment on them at that time all right but what's
significant about these two examples is again these are two Gentiles the
Queen of Sheba she's not a Jew she's a Gentile the Ninevites they were Gentiles
okay and Jesus is saying hey there's going to be Gentile believers that are
going to stand in judgment against you Jews you Jews that should be people that
are accepting me hey I'm greater than Solomon I'm greater than Jonas and you
won't even receive me these people receive prophets that were lesser than
me and they're going to be ones that in the judgment time are going to say words
against you all right we see that you know Jesus Christ we see it many times
he lifts up the Gentiles the Gentile believers all right they're not a
second-class citizen to him okay verse 33 no man when he have lighted a candle
put off in a secret place neither under a bushel but on a candlestick the day
which come in may see the light the light of the body is the eye wherefore
when thine eye be single let me just stop there so the light of the body is
the eye so if you guys know how the eye works it's a part of your body that
receives light you get light enters into your lens and it hits the retina at the
back so it's a part of your body that receives light and then it says therefore
when thine eye is single that word single it's kind of like you know a
single is one and one is a whole so it's essentially saying that um when your eye
is whole when it's when it's when it's when it's good when it's working okay
it says thy the whole thy whole body also is full of lights so if your eye is
healthy and good and whole you receive lights you know you can see where you're
walking all right the reason I can my whole body has light is because of my
eyes my eyes can see what what's right and I can walk and be careful of any
dangerous things all right but it says but when thine eye is evil or harmed
okay because evil is another way of saying harm so when your eyes harmed or
damaged or maybe partly blind or cataracts or whatever it says thy body
also is full of darkness so if you can't see well it's going to cause your whole
body to be in darkness you won't be able to see where you're going verse 35 take
heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness if thy whole
body therefore be full of light having no part dark the whole shall be full of
light and when the bright shining of a candle sorry as when the bright shining
of a candle doth give thee light so we see I think what Jesus Christ is saying
here is that these people around him are seeing him cast out there was I've seen
him preach and do great works all right and that Jesus Christ is this lights
that is this great lights okay and those that can see on that receive that lights
they're going to be full of light they're going to know how to be saved
they're going to know how to please the Lord they're going to know how to walk
in the past that Jesus Christ has left us but there are others that see that
same lights like these Pharisees and say it's the work of the devil and whatever
they're spiritually darkened okay they have the cataracts they're partly blind
and instead of receiving that lights they're receiving darkness okay they're
not receiving Christ essentially what's being taught there in verse 37 and as he
spake a certain Pharisees besought him to dine with him and he went in and sat
down to meet and when the Pharisees saw him marveled that he had not first washed
before dinner so I don't know did Jesus not wash his hands or was was this a
ceremonial washing of the Pharisees I'm not exactly sure but Jesus did not wash
his hands or whatever all right verse 39 and the Lord said unto him now do you
Pharisees may clean the outside of the cup and the platter but your inward part
is full of ravening and wickedness the word ravening is basically they prey on
other people okay says look you Pharisees you're so concerned about the
outside being clean but inwardly you have no care for other people you're
taking advantage of others okay you're wicked on the inside is what Jesus says
all right on the outward they appear holy but inwardly disgusting verse 42
sorry 40 verse 40 ye fools did not hear that made that which is without make
that which is within also you know God made the outside but God also made the
inside both are important is what Jesus is saying verse 41 but rather give arms
of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you so it says
look you know you're not giving arms you're not helping those that you can
help you're not being merciful you're not being compassionate to other people
okay you're not giving of yourselves you're not giving arms you're not doing
good works to others if you were doing that at least you'd be clean on the
inside as well you know the inward will match up with the outward you know verse
42 but woe unto you Pharisees for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of
herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God these ought ye to have done
and not to leave the other undone so you see the Pharisees were concerned about
minor things about tithing even on little herbs okay they'd give a tenth of
their little herb right now Jesus is not criticizing them over that because
he says these ought ye to have done like you that's right but you're so focused
on the little things that you know you pass over judgment and the love of God
you um basically when it comes to judgment you don't do what's right you
don't judge correctly you don't show the love of God to other people you know
these are the greater things these are the more important things you're doing
the little thing with yet it's good but you're not doing what's more important
okay but Jesus Christ basically says look both these things are to be done some
people have used verse 42 to say well God's done away with tithing but no Jesus
saying look yeah you should be doing that as well okay but you're missing the
point you're missing the point verse 43 woe unto you Pharisees for you love the
utmost seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets look if our
church grows and we need a bigger building one day I'm never gonna like
get nice chairs up here where you know let's say I have a song leader and then
I'm just sitting here and I'm just watching you guys you know I've got the
prominent CPR you know I don't like churches that do that where you actually
have seats and they have like all the important man like sitting on the seats
and then you know the lesser of you guys are down in the congregation you know I
have a lot of respect for pastors of big churches that actually when they're not
sitting down they actually sit down in the congregation of everyone else you
know I'm just one of you guys it's essentially what's being said there you
know we see the Pharisees know they want the good seats they want to look good
you know they want to be seen of men verse 42 44 woe unto you scribes and
Pharisees hypocrites for ye are for ye are as graves which appear not and the
men that walk over them are not aware of them so obviously we've got dead bodies
in graves people are not aware of their filthiness they see the nice on the
outside but they don't see the dead bodies under the grave verse 46 sorry
verse 45 and then answered one of the lawyers and said unto you master thus
saying thou reproaches us also look master look you're preaching against the
Pharisees but this is affecting us it sounds like you're preaching against us
master what have we done wrong it's so funny and then he verse 40 46 and he
said woe unto you also ye lawyers for ye laid men with burdens grievous to be
born and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers hey you
thought you're better than the Pharisees woe to you also you put burdens on
other people that you won't even push with one finger again repent of your
sins salvation repent of your sins to be saved you gotta turn from your sins hey
the people that say they have not even turned from their sins they don't push
you know that they put these burdens on people these great expectations and they
themselves haven't even done that now it's the same thing but I want you to
notice that Jesus is preaching against the Pharisees and so lawyers that are
kind of convicted like what are you preaching to us you know and I can kind
of relate a little bit you know preaching you know I preach whatever I
think is right for the church I don't necessarily preach about you know it's
very rare that I would preach about something specific that's going on I
thought I better preach on that right usually I just preach whatever you know
and now I'm doing chapter by chapter preach whatever's there but sometimes
when I preach people come to me and say oh I know why you preach that because
there's so-and-so or such-and-such like no and I think that's what we see in
Jesus Christ like you wasn't really preaching to the lawyers hey but if it's
got to do with you if it does affect you then take it on board it's for you all
right it is for you all right may the Holy Ghost is applying that to your
situation as well you know and this happens a lot when you preach because
it must have been about that person look don't worry about who you think it's
about it's about you whatever's being preached you've got to take that on board
and apply that to your life all right and it's very tempting because I've
obviously I've said in church as well I've heard preaching I'm like oh yeah
brother so-and-so really needed to hear that you know but sister so-and-so
needed to hear that it's like no actually I needed to hear that right
it's me that needed to take that on board and change my life apply that to
my life verse 40 what I have to guys 47 47 well once you for you build the
sepulchres sepulchres of the prophets those are graves and your father's killed
them truly you bear witness and you allow the deeds of your fathers for they
indeed killed them and you build their sepulchres so Jesus is criticizing these
Pharisees and these lawyers for building up sepulchres like making the graves of
the prophets nice I guess pretty now first of all there's nothing wrong in of
that of that in of itself okay that's not really the issue but look we'll look
at verse 49 oh actually before I read 49 the issue is that these people are
rejecting the preaching of Christ okay they're rejecting the message that Jesus
Christ came okay and it's the same message of the former prophets hey all
the prophets came to bear record of Jesus Christ to bear witness of Jesus
Christ it's the same message from the beginning all right so if you reject the
message of Christ you're essentially rejecting the message of all the prophets
that have come before him okay that's why Jesus Christ said that you know if
you believe Moses when he said to the Pharisees you would have believed in me
okay the fact that you don't believe in me means that you don't even believe
Moses all right so I want you to understand they they make these are
graves nice that's not really the problem the problem is they reject the
message of these prophets okay they're being hypocritical verse 49 therefore
also said the wisdom of God now this is interesting this is a conversation that
God the Father had with the Son at some point okay this is not recording
scripture anywhere else it says therefore also said the wisdom of God I
will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and
persecute that the blood of all the prophets which were shared from the
foundation of the world may be required on this generation for the blood of Abel
unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the
temple verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation okay just
like the Queen of Sheba just like the Ninevites heard of the preaching of the
prophets of old and they got right with God and they're going to be brought to
judge against that weaker generation then we also know that this generation
of Pharisees and leaders would reject Christ they would be guilty of the blood
of Christ that would crucify reject him hate him and because of that they will
be then guilty of all the prophets that have come before all the prophets that
came to say hey Christ is coming put your faith on him they're gonna be
guilty of all that it's a significant punishment for the Jews of this day all
right verse 52 woe unto you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge
and and ye entered not in yourselves and them that were entering ye hindered man
look you lawyers you've taken away the knowledge you've prevented people from
receiving me from here in the gospel and this is a sad thing it says it says ye
entered not in yourselves and them that were entering in ye hindered hey though
people that were coming to Christ that were starting to understand coming to
believe on him and trying to accept it and the lawyer said no he's a false
prophet no he's of Beelzebub he cast out devils of Beelzebub and that's hindered
them from coming in and receiving salvation what a sad thing again we see
this at the door right someone willing to hear the gospel someone behind the
door says hey they're not interested or whatever and they shut the door of the
gospel on that person what great judgment will come upon those people
verse 53 and he said these things unto them the scribes and the Pharisees and
as he said these things unto them the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge
him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things laying wait for him
to and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they that they might
accuse him so um just my last thoughts on this just be careful of people be
careful of the conversations you have especially on social media because we
see here that there were people waiting asking Jesus a lot of questions seeing
like they're just genuine people just trying to get answers but really they
were just trying to catch something out of Jesus's mouth all right trying to
find him say something and look you know thank God this has died down for me
but when I first put my phone number on the church website and this was after
several months that we had started this church I got so many weirdos calling me
okay and I couldn't really understand why I just put my phone number out there
it's almost like people were waiting for an opportunity looking at a website
where's that phone number coming up there it is now I'm gonna call it almost
looking and the questions at first they seem genuine at first I thought maybe
these are people that I can preach the gospel to you know I can answer their
questions then I get my chance to preach the gospel hopefully they get saved but
the wickedness that would come out of the mouth but the kind of questions I
would come and I was bit naive at the beginning I thought maybe this is this
is how it always is maybe maybe pastors are always getting these kinds of calls
right but it's died down since then but my point is I've come to realize these
people were trying to find something out of my mouth trying to find something
that they can grasp and try to destroy this church very early try to destroy my
ministry I don't know who these people were have no idea but it's obviously
people that are following what's going on people that are watching that this
churches has been established it's probably people that are closer to us
that we realize there are people that are trying to just find faults trying to
destroy the work of God please be careful all right you know I tend to
have a big heart for people people talk to me I'm willing to talk to them and
and answer questions and it comes later on to realize hey this person probably
means harm this person probably is a wolf and trying to hurt me or hurt my
church or whatever so be careful especially on social media especially on
the internet because whatever you type whatever you post is on the internet
forever forever all right I mean I can say something to you today and be like
maybe I'm wrong but then maybe in six months I might correct it and say well
actually I was bit mistaken there blah blah but if I took what was wrong and I
put that on the internet hey ten years you know in ten years time someone's
gonna find that comment somewhere and then be like look what this person
believes look what this person teaches and we I've seen that happen over and
over again so I guess just learn from the example of Jesus Christ see be
mindful as to who you talk to you know not everyone that wants to talk to you
about the Bible is actually genuine there are people that actually want to
seek and destroy us and you might say well that's a bit sad well at the same
time hey it's good because we must be doing something right you know we must
be doing something right if the devil wants to send its ministers and try to
hurt us all right we're hurting his kingdom you know as we help bring that
kingdom of God in here onto the Sunshine Coast all right let's pray