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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