Spiritual Warfare Series

INTRODUCTION

• There are days when we can feel all alone and defeated.

• Have you ever had one of those days?

• Or maybe you are having one of those years. 😀

• Please make no mistake; we are in spiritual warfare.

• We have to understand the battle going on around us.

• Today's passage is found toward the end of chapter 3 in Mark’s Gospel, but you'll notice something if you read chapter 3 from start to finish.

• There is a growing sense among both strangers and friends of Jesus that something isn’t right with Him.

• The chapter begins with the Herodians wanting to destroy him because of “work " on the Sabbath (more on that in week 5) and then climaxes when His family tries to restrain him and declares Jesus to be “out of his mind" (v. 21).

• The criticism Jesus faces in our text today should give us hope.

• If you believe in and trust Jesus, this criticism and how Jesus answers it should encourage us all, especially when we feel defeated.

• We can lose hope and faith when things are not going well.

• If we are not careful, we can start to feel like the enemy cannot be defeated and that we will ultimately lose.

• Jesus will clear up that myth in our text today.

• We are not fighting the battle alone; Jesus has fought the battle and gives us ultimate victory!

• We will be in two passages today, Matthew 12:22-37 as well as our main text, Mark 3:20-30.

• These two passages are parallel passages of the same event, and each helps to fill in some holes from the other.

• Let's begin with Matthew 12:22-24 and Mark 3:20-22.

› Big Idea of the Message: Jesus waged war against the powers of darkness.

• Jesus has won the battle for us because He is more powerful than the powers of darkness!

Mark 3:20–21 (NET 2nd ed.)

20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat.

21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Matthew 12:22–24 (NET 2nd ed.)

22 Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see.

23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!”

Mark 3:22 (NET 2nd ed.)

22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!”

SERMON

I. The criticism of Jesus.

• Jesus was heading home, and the crowds were gathering, so much so that Jesus and His disciples could not eat.

• The crowd brings Jesus, a demon-possessed man who could neither speak nor see.

• Jesus healed the man.

• The crowds were AMAZED; the crowd wondered and said, could Jesus be the Son of David?

• The Son of David was a phrase used for the coming Messiah.

• The miracle excited the crowds who were looking for the Messiah to come.

• Could Jesus be the one?

• Now here comes the party poopers, the religious leaders.

• Here is the problem for the religious leaders.

• There was a miracle that was performed by Jesus that they could not deny.

• If you look carefully at their response in verses 22 and Matthew 12:24, they were in a position where they did not deny the miracle.

• So what do you do when you cannot deny what happened before your eyes?

• You make up a new story.

• In verse 22, the scribes declare that Jesus "is possessed by Beelzebul” and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."

• We see three claims from his critics: Jesus is not thinking clearly; Jesus is not in control of his actions; Jesus is not serving God.

• Why are they saying this?

• First, they cannot deny what’s happening.

• Jesus is casting out demons (v. 11).

• But He isn't acting in a way they believe a respectable, law-abiding Jew should act (vv. 1–6).

• So if Jesus is not acting the way they expect a religious observant Jew to act, yet he is casting out demons, in their mind, there is only one conclusion: he is an agent of Satan.

• That is a very serious criticism.

• The Pharisees' explanation had merit since the people understood there were only two possible powers that could pull off such a powerful miracle, God or Satan.