Plundering Satan's Kingdom

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, you meet me in your Bible, this is the book of Mark.

Mark chapter 3, Matthew, Mark. Mark chapter 3, get to Luke, get to John, you've gone too far, just go back a book, Matthew. Our Mark chapter 3, we'll begin at verse 7. And once again, Rosalie is right that I had typed up months and months ago that we were going to look at 7 through 12, but we're actually going to look through the entire chapter. Mark chapter 3 beginning at verse 7 and we'll read through the end of the chapter together. Mark chapter 3, thankfully for you the page is still the same, page 1015. Here now God's perfect word.

But Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, and Jerusalem, and Udamaea, and beyond the Jordan, and those from Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, when they heard how many things he was doing, came to him. So he told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him, because the multitude, lest they should crush him, for he healed many. so that as many as had afflictions pressed about him and touched him.

And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him and cried out, saying, You are the Son of God. But he sternly warned them that they should not make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted. And they came to him.

Then he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sickness and to cast out demons. Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. And they went into a house. Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him. For they said, He is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub. By the ruler of demons, he casts out demons. So he called them to himself, and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies that they utter. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation. because they said he has an unclean spirit.

When his brothers and his mothers came and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him, and a multitude was sitting around him. They said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. But he answered them saying, who is my mother or my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him and said, here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and mother.

Prayer for Illumination

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Father, we have heard your word read. And Father, we pray now that as your Holy Spirit attended to it as it was being read, we pray that you would now open our eyes. Father, we plead with you that you would use this hour, that we might know who you are and love you more. In Jesus's name, amen. My grandma, my paternal grandmother, had a funny habit.

Sermon

Most people go to Disneyland because they want to go ride on the rides. The kids want to go see cartoon characters. My grandma used to go to Disneyland with a special purpose, Diet Coke in hand, sitting on a bench, because she didn't want to go on the rides. She didn't want to see the characters. She wanted to see all the people.

And I kind of scratched my head at that. Grandma and Grandpa would take us to Disneyland, and there'd be Grandma sitting on a bench, people watching, and just wondering. She'd just sit there and think, I wonder who they are. I wonder where they came from. I wonder what they're up to. I wonder what they're like. And she would just sit there for hours, perfectly content to just people watch.

I think if we come to the Gospels, we come to the passage before us, we can ask the same thing about Jesus here. Who really is Jesus? What's he doing? Why is he doing this stuff? And as we answer those questions today, what we're gonna find out is that Jesus is the Son of God, who's plundering Satan's kingdom. What we're gonna find out today is that we must believe that Jesus himself is the Son of God, and that he is plundering the kingdom of Satan himself. So first, look with me at verses seven and eight.

All sorts of people are hearing about Jesus. His fame is spreading. But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea, and Jerusalem, and Utimaea, and beyond the Jordan, and those from Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. Jesus' fame is spreading like wildfire.

This is over a 150 mile radius, before they had cars. People are traveling all the way from the south, way down where the Edomites used to live, all the way up in the north, when predominantly Gentile Tyre and Sidon. They're coming from both sides of the Jordan. They're all coming to this rural area of Galilee.

Who is this guy? They've heard about him. They hear that he does miracles. And so they're going to go find out about him. They're going to go to him. And notice, as one commentator said, the pictures we have of Jesus as he's sitting around and, you know, it's a nice orderly group, people around him. Yeah, that's true. Jesus puts people in rows at the feeding of the 5,000. But I've never seen a picture that people have painted before of Jesus being afraid he's going to get crushed by mob rule.

But this is what's going on. People are so desperate to see Jesus. The word in the Greek here is literally that He's concerned they're going to crush Him. They're trying to figure out who He is. They're bringing all of their sick people to Him. So who is Jesus? Who is this man that people would flock from all these miles to go see? Well, we start learning about it in verses 9 through 12.

So He told His disciples, that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitudes, lest they should crush him. For he healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about him to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him and cried out, saying, You are the Son of God. But he sternly warned them that they should not make him known. So what we find out here is that the crowds know one thing about Jesus. They know that He can heal. And so they pressure Him. They want to get close. Why? Because they just want to touch Him.

Do you remember that story where the woman with the issue of blood comes to Jesus? She thinks she's so desperate in her faith. If I could just touch the hymn of His garment, I'll be healed. I see these people, they're crushing in on Jesus, and He says, hey guys, hey boys, there's a little boat right there, make sure that's ready, because when these people come pushing on me, we've got to have an escape route. We've got to be able to go out into the middle of the lake, and we've got to be able to let the crowd disperse a little bit. Because they know one thing, that Jesus is able to heal them.

But things take a twist, don't they? Were you expecting verse 11? Maybe you've just read the Gospels too often. Verse 11 seems to come out of nowhere. All these people are flocking to Him. All these people are just wanting to touch Him. And then all of a sudden we read about unclean spirits. And the unclean spirits say something. Let's read it again. I pray that we can read it with fresh eyes.

And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, You are the Son of God. Right, these unclean spirits, James tells us that the spirits know that there is a God and they tremble. This is not them saying, you know, oh we love you Jesus. No, this is them trying to expose Jesus and say, we know who you are. They use the ultimate Christological title.

They say that he is the Son of God. God had proclaimed this at his baptism, didn't he? Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is a truth statement. But why does Jesus tell them, be quiet? Verse 12, but he, Jesus, sternly warned them that they should not make him known.

Why would you? I remember reading the Gospels. I took a year. I'd read through the whole Bible twice, and I thought, I'm going to take one year, and I'm just going to read through the Gospels. I'm going to really pick them apart. And I came to these passages again in Matthew, Mark, Luke. And again and again, Jesus is telling people, shh, don't say who I am. Don't say who I am.

Why would he do this? And I'm convinced the reason why is that Jesus knows that these unclean spirits are trying to short-circuit things. If they can just let it be known that the Messiah has come, what are all the people going to want to do? Oh, he'll overthrow the Romans. Oh, he'll get rid of the political oppression. Oh, he'll fix the system around us. But Jesus has a far greater foe to conquer than Rome. He's got a much bigger kingdom to conquer than Nero's. Jesus is going to overthrow Satan's kingdom. And none of Satan's unclean spirit minions are going to try to expose and short-circuit it.

Jesus has come so that they might know that He is the Son of God. But this can't make sense humanly. The demons are trying to get people to know that He's the Son of God. But the next time that phrase is going to be used, do you know when it's used? The next time Mark is going to use the phrase, the Son of God, when it's going to come off a human's lips, it's going to come from the lips of a Roman. A Roman centurion who just helped put Jesus to death. It will come from the lips of a converted person in the light of the crucifixion to say, surely this man was the Son of God.

Satan wanted to short-circuit that. Just make him like all the other messiahs, all the other proclaimed, you know, deliverers of God's people. They had popped up all over Israel's history. People who were going to finally save them politically. But Jesus had far deeper and broader aims. So this is a truth. Jesus is the Son of God. When the high priest asked him this, In Mark chapter 14, when he's on trial, Jesus doesn't deny that he's the Son of God. So what's he doing? What is Jesus about?

Well, to figure that out, we need to continue. Let's look at verses 13 through 19. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him. Then He appointed twelve that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sickness and to cast out demons. So here Jesus now, the scene moves us from this place where Jesus is about to be crushed, and now He goes up into the mountain. Which mountain? We don't know, but He goes up into the mountain, and there He commissions the first missionaries. There He gives 12 to be apostles.

And notice, this isn't just like, hey guys, I got a suggestion. Why don't you follow me? And they go, yeah, maybe we'll do that. No, when Jesus calls them, the Holy Spirit draws them, they listen, they obey, and they follow after Him. And then Jesus does something that shows that He actually is the Son of God once again. Did you miss it? It starts in verse 14.

Then he appointed twelve. A better translation would be, then he appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out, number one, to preach. He gives them a message to declare as heralds of the kingdom of God. Jesus is commissioning the twelve apostles. But then notice what else he does in verse 15. Jesus is not just some ordinary teacher. Who is Jesus?

And to have power to heal sickness and to cast out demons. What authority or what right does Jesus have to tell others they can heal? Or to give twelve ordinary guys, fishermen, tax collectors, blue-collared guys, you know what? You have authority to go cast out demons. Where does Jesus get this authority? That He can then delegate it and deputize His disciples.

It's because He's the Son of God. It's because He is God incarnate in the flesh. It's because He's the King. of Isaiah 49. It's because he is the one who is going to put an end to Satan's kingdom. And so he deputizes his disciples, and then we get a list of them being named, beginning at verse 16. Simon, this is his Hebrew name, to whom he gave the name Peter. This is his Greek name, Petros. He's a rock.

James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Bonaerges, that is, sons of thunder. And we're able to kind of get a little bit of character, insight into these guys, right? I'm not convinced that the list of the names is the most important part here, but we do think about James and John when they were leaving Samaria, and the people had rejected Jesus because he was set to go to Jerusalem, and James and John, these sons of thunder, what do they say? God, Jesus, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them? These were men who were given over to harshness, quick, Jesus calls him out on that. Verse 18, more of them. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus. Why do you need to recognize that there's James and say who his dad is? Well, because there's another James, right? The son of Zebedee. Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite. This word Canaanite there means he's a zealot. He's religiously devoted to the kingdom of God. It's not Canaanite in the sense that he's a pagan from that land. No. Verse 19, and lastly, Judas Iscariot. And we get a glimpse of the end of the story, don't we? Who also betrayed him. And they went into a house.

Jesus, as the authority, as the creator, renamed some of his disciples, just as if God, when he changed Abram's name to Abraham, or Jacob's name to Israel, Jesus looks at his disciples and he says, here's your identity. But not everybody likes this. Not everybody is a fan of what Jesus is up to. So we don't just need to see what Jesus is, who he is, but also what he's doing. Look with me at verses 20 through 22, some of the reactions to Jesus.

Then the multitude came together again. The guy can't get a break, can he? Anytime he enters into a house, people crowd on Jesus, and rightfully so, that they could not so much as eat bread. Could you imagine how tired you would be If you've been working, working, working, working, working, and you get into the house, and you can't, there's so many people there, there's so many pressing needs on you, that you can't even eat your lunch. It's constant pressure on Jesus.

Why would people be coming to Him? Well, but when His own people, that's Jesus' family, when they heard about this, they went out to take hold of Him, for they said, Notice they didn't say, we need to make sure he gets his dinner. They don't say, we need to make sure that he's in good health. They're concerned. What do they call Jesus?

Let's put this into a folk translation here. It's a nice way to say he's out of your mind. But in reality, what this is saying, our brother's gone bat crazy. We don't know what Jesus is up to. We don't know what's going on, but our family's reputation is at line. We don't know, like this, this is something is wrong and Jesus is insane. We need to go take him home before we take him to the mental institute, because something is desperately wrong. He needs observation. So this family is not too happy about it. You know, people still think about Jesus this way. I'm going to push this a little bit further for you.

If you actually believe the claims of scripture, people might think that you're crazy. That you would take a book, no less than 2,000 years old, and believe every single word in it. Some of them will think that, honestly, you should be put in a prison camp. That you're a danger to yourself and to society. But it's not just the families.

Look at what the scribes say. Who do they think Jesus is? Verse 22. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, they come down from the center of power, they come down from where the religious authorities are supposed to be. And what do they say about Jesus? He has Beelzebub. And by the ruler of demons, he casts out demons. They think Jesus is in league with the devil. So his family thinks that he's crazy, and the scribes think that he's in league with the devil. So what's true? Who's Jesus? Is he really the Son of God, or is he bat crazy? Is he truly the Messiah? Is he the Christ? Or is he in league with the devil?

Well, Jesus has something to say about this. And he defends himself, he answers these charges in verses 23 through 27. So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, and here we get three different parables. The first parable, how can Satan cast out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Alright, so parable number one, a divided kingdom. Parable number 2, verse 25. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. So a house cannot be divided against itself and still stand. Parable number 2. Parable number 3, verse 26. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless first he binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. Parable number three. The strong man of the house has to be bound before you can plunder it. The question is here, with these three parables, a kingdom divided, a house divided, in a strong man's house, what is Jesus getting at?

Who is Jesus? Is he the son of God? Is he out of his mind? Or is he something else? Well, first, we'll see that he's not in league with Satan. Secondly, we'll see that by his clear usage of logic, he proves he's not out of his mind. But we'll also see that he is binding Satan and plundering his kingdom.

First Point

First, look at how Jesus just defends himself in the general thrust and tone of this. How can Satan cast out Satan?

Right? The logic doesn't work. In all three of these parables, the logic doesn't work. If you're going to try to build up your kingdom, like the common idea would be that Satan wants his kingdom to grow and to get stronger, you can't fight against yourself. Right? If you want to have a healthy marriage, is it a good idea to tell your wife that she's ugly? I hope the men said, no, that's not a good idea. Right? Because you're fighting against yourself. That's fighting against your marriage. That's fighting against the house. You can't do that. Neither can Jesus be in league with Satan if you're thinking that Satan's building his kingdom. That doesn't work.

But then also by his logic as he's going through this, he's showing to his family, look, I am clearly rationally thinking. I'm able to show you rational arguments that these things aren't true. But most importantly, He's showing what He really is doing.

He's binding Satan. I think the heart of this is verse 26 and 27. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he does what? He's got to tie up the strong man. And then he's going to plunder his goods.

Jesus isn't in league with Satan. Jesus has come to defeat Satan. And Jesus doesn't think that Satan's going to go down without a fight. Satan's the one that Mark will tell us in chapter 4 is going to try to steal the seed that's along the soil, or along the path. Satan is the one who's going to try to tempt Jesus himself to short-circuit the cross through the lips of Peter himself, and Jesus is going to have to rebuke Peter, get behind me, Satan. Satan's not going to try to just, you know, roll over on his back and say, okay, Jesus, the world is yours, these people are yours, I give up.

No. No, Satan would even enter into Judas and try to stop the plan of God by even getting one of his disciples to betray him. Luke chapter 22. Because see, God had promised in Genesis chapter 15 that God would give the woman a seed. And that seed would bruise the head of the serpent. Satan knew that that day was coming, the foot was going to come down. And he wasn't going to give up without a fight. Satan's our adversary. Our accuser. The one who opposes us. The one who tempts us.

And what is Jesus doing? As Jesus is going to Calvary, He's binding the strong man. Each step that Jesus took in obedience to His Father, He was tying up Satan. And at the resurrection, he showed that he was going to plunder Satan's goods. This world doesn't belong to Satan anymore.

I need you to understand, Christian, there is nothing in this creation in which Jesus Christ, as Abraham Kuyper said, does not cry out, Mine! God has come to plunder satan's goods to destroy his kingdom your marriage once belonged in the past to the dysfunctional fighting of satan part of jesus plundering satan's kingdom is redeeming your marriage our children were once disobedient and objects of wrath without hope without any type of encouragement just like the rest of the world and yet God makes a promise to us and he says to you and to your children they're mine this is why at baptism we we acknowledge that our children are given to us by God Jesus is calling people saving people redeeming people Jesus is the one who is plundering Satan's kingdom.

All of life is Christ. Our minds are Christ. Our hearts are Christ. Our families are Christ. Our children are Christ. Our jobs are Christ. There is not one square inch of your life that has not been redeemed by Christ. You're not owned by Satan if you are Christ.

He's bound up the strong man. He snatched you up and he's holding you in his bosom. He's purifying your heart. He's renewing your mind. That's why every inch of your heart, every inch of your life, every part of your soul, every aspect of your livelihood is meant to be ruled and governed by King Jesus because he saved us.

He's bound the strong man. Jesus is the one who's saying, I'm not crazy. I'm not in league with Satan. I've come to destroy him. He's put him on a chain. He still prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you. But brothers and sisters, the day is going to come when Jesus is going to return. And Satan's rule will completely end.

And so Jesus gives a stern warning to those who are saying he's out of his mind and has a clean spirit. Look with me at verses 28 through 30, really harsh words, sobering words. Don't take them lightly. Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whoever blasphemes and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness. but is subject to eternal condemnation because they said he has an unclean spirit.

Scribes came down from Jerusalem, not because they wanted to marvel at Jesus, not because they wanted to hear from Jesus, not because they wanted to be healed by Jesus, not because they wanted to fall down before him and worship him, But because they wanted to tell other people, this guy's got an unclean spirit, don't listen to him.

Who indeed was doing the work of Satan? It was the scribes. It was the scribes doing the work of the adversary. It was the religious rulers who were trying to stop the kingdom of God. And Jesus says that's blaspheming the Holy Spirit. I remember when I first read this as a Christian, and I walked in to Pastor Snap's office, and I was, I mean, I'm sure I had read it before and thought about it before, but I was doing my devotions. It had to have been in the fall because it was the New Testament portion. I remember going to his office really concerned, like, God, you know, Pastor Snap, I've used God's name as a swear word before.

Does that mean that I have no hope? I remember him just very lovingly and his deep voice and, you know, Eastern Virginia coal country accent. Oh, Brian, the fact that you're concerned that you've grieved the Holy Spirit gives me hope that you haven't. No, this is, what is this saying?

It's saying exactly what the book of Hebrews says. If you've tasted, if you've seen the goodness of God, and you look at it and you go, that's demonic, there's no hope for you. The scribes see Jesus Christ in the flesh. They see the people crowded in the house and they're touching Jesus and they're being healed. And instead of bowing down before the creator of the universe, they say, that's of the devil.

Jesus says to unbelieving hearts like that, there's no hope. That sin of disbelief and of outright going against the kingdom of God, there's no hope for that. twisting the work of Jesus, twisting the identity of Jesus, saying that Jesus has an unclean spirit and is in league with Satan. It should be sobering for us. There's no hope, no forgiveness for that.

And then Jesus's family actually arrives on the scene. The last part of this section, 31 through 35. Then his brothers and his mother came. Notice Jesus had brothers. Notice his mother. Where's Joseph? We don't know. Most likely he's gone to be with the Lord by this point. And he's standing outside. And they sent to him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting around him.

And they said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. But Jesus answered them saying, who is my mother or my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him. And he said, here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. I wonder how his family felt when they heard this. as they were confronted with their unbelief. Jesus is getting at the fact that there's a spiritual family that's deeper than even his physical family. Those doing the will of God are his brothers, his mother, his sisters.

Let's make sure we ask ourselves, what are they doing? What are these people doing? They're sitting. They're standing. Where? Around Jesus. They want to be with Jesus. They want to hear from Jesus. They want to be taught by Jesus. They have faith in Jesus. They have come from hundreds of miles away just to be near to Jesus. They're doing the will of God. They've heard of Him. Now they want to follow Him. They want to come to Him. despite the scribe's criticisms, despite the people who are saying he's crazy, despite Satan's schemes and plotting, they want to go with him. Because they know that he's the son of God.

So I have to ask you, are you Jesus's family? Has He poured out His Spirit into your heart that cries out, Abba, Father? Has He adopted you as His beloved children, full heirs of the covenant? Do you believe that Jesus truly is the Son of God? Are you one of God's redeemed people? Is the Holy Spirit making you follow Christ? Obey Christ. Love Christ. Are you doing the will of God? When He commands, do you obey?

So I need to ask you, who is Jesus? Is He crazy? Is He in league with Satan? Or has the King come? Is Jesus truly the Son of God who has come to plunder the kingdom of Satan? And are you one of the riches that he has snatched out of Satan's hands and said, this one is mine?

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit might comfort us might teach us to follow you. Lord, we pray that we would believe who you are and that we would love you. In Jesus' name. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.