Latest / Scripture Unscripted / Luke chapter 11
Transcript
- 0:00Luke Chapter 11. Let us pray, oh Heavenly Father,
- 0:09how good you are, how great you are.
- 0:12God, we thank you for these eternal words that we hold in
- 0:16our hands. We thank you, God, that you have
- 0:18given us life and life abundant. We thank you, God, that you have
- 0:22given us the full authority of your word.
- 0:26Thank you, Lord, that you have given us your complete work,
- 0:31Father, all the words that you have spoken, Father.
- 0:36And I know, Lord, that we are just dipping our toes in the
- 0:40water. God, I know that this is just
- 0:43the tip of the iceberg. But Lord, it is what you have
- 0:46given us to mandate our lives over.
- 0:50And God, we walk in light of this word.
- 0:53And God, I pray for a supernatural zeal to fill this
- 0:57house. God, consecrate this house,
- 1:00drive out anything that does not belong.
- 1:03Father, all the times that we've made it about self, all the
- 1:07times that we've made it about money, all the times that we've
- 1:10made it about our own security, God, all the times that we've
- 1:15made it about saving our own skin, God, and we're operating
- 1:20in the spirit of fear. God, I pray in the name of Jesus
- 1:24against that. God, I pray that we will be men
- 1:27and women who take up the cross daily, who follow you, who lock
- 1:32eyes with you. God, I pray against the spirit
- 1:35of fear. I pray against the spirit of
- 1:37timidity. God, give us a sound mind.
- 1:40Help us to take every thought captive today.
- 1:43God, I pray that we will see Jesus high and lifted up over
- 1:48our families, high and lifted up over the world.
- 1:51God, I pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, for our children to
- 1:55know him. Lord, I pray that we can know
- 1:58Christ and Christ Cruise. God, I pray in the name of Jesus
- 2:02that you will give us our worth, give us our dignity, give us our
- 2:08marching orders, give us our very next breath.
- 2:12God, I pray that as we get into your word today that your word
- 2:16will get into us. God, read us today.
- 2:19Pull out anything that does not belong.
- 2:22God, any wrong theology, God, any kind of wrong doctrine.
- 2:26God, I pray in the name of Jesus.
- 2:28Lord, that Holy Spirit, you will be our teacher.
- 2:32Holy Spirit, you will be our guide.
- 2:34I pray in the name of Jesus that I will decrease as you increase.
- 2:39God, give us a greater measure of your heart.
- 2:42Give us a greater measure of your love.
- 2:44God, let us feel the depths of your love.
- 2:47Father, I pray that you'll break our hearts for what breaks
- 2:50yours. God show us where we are
- 2:53shortcoming, Show us where we are unforgiving.
- 2:57God show us where we have got it wrong.
- 3:00God and help us and give us strength, Lord to do away with
- 3:05all of those things. Help us to step into the
- 3:08identity that you have for us, our bridal identity.
- 3:12God help us to wait well. Help us to fill our lamps.
- 3:15God help us to trim our Wicks. God help us to look up and see
- 3:20that our redemption is drawing near.
- 3:22God, I pray that you, Lord, will be honored and glorified through
- 3:27the reading and the teaching of this text.
- 3:30God, it's all about King Jesus. It's always been about King
- 3:34Jesus. It will always be about King
- 3:36Jesus. And it's in Jesus's holy and
- 3:39precious name that I pray. Amen.
- 3:45Well, let's start in verse one. And it came to pass that as he
- 3:53was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his
- 3:58disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also
- 4:05taught his disciples. So here in verse one you can see
- 4:10a few things. Primarily what you're going to
- 4:15need to see is that Jesus and all of the power was connected
- 4:21to his prayer life and our Lord was a man of prayer.
- 4:26How much more should we be praying if the Lord prayed and
- 4:32if John prayed? That's the other thing you need
- 4:35to see here is that John the Baptist was a man of prayer and
- 4:40he had a miraculous birth. You can see that he was the
- 4:44forerunner for our Lord and he still saw the need to pray.
- 4:50And it's the same with our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 4:53He often withdrew to desolate places to go and to look upon
- 4:59the Father's face. I pray that that has become part
- 5:02of your habit, friend. I pray that you look forward and
- 5:05long for the time that you get to spend looking upon the face
- 5:11of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was only one found worthy
- 5:15to open the scroll. There is only one that is worthy
- 5:18of all of our attention and adoration, friends, and our
- 5:21affection friends. And I pray that you look forward
- 5:25to that time. And if I could give you any kind
- 5:28of advice, this is what it would be.
- 5:30Do it in the morning. Do it before you get your day
- 5:34started. Do it before you do anything
- 5:37else. Only look upon Him before you
- 5:40look upon anyone else. Speak to the Father before you
- 5:44speak to anyone else. Don't let your prayer life go by
- 5:48the wayside. It should be the very lifeline
- 5:52that you and I have to get through this day, this very day
- 5:57that we are in. And the Lord has a lot to say
- 5:59about it. Let's see what He has to say.
- 6:02Verse 2 And he said unto them, When you pray, say, our Father,
- 6:13which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy
- 6:21will be done as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our
- 6:30Our Daily Bread for and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive
- 6:38everyone that is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation,
- 6:46but deliver us from evil. We could camp out here for a
- 6:51lifetime. And I pray that these are the
- 6:55words that you bring on your lips when you're facing a hard
- 6:59time, whenever there's chaos and whenever there are turbulent
- 7:06times all around you. I pray that this is the prayer
- 7:10that you go to. And you can see how the Lord
- 7:14models it for us. You can see how He gives us a
- 7:20very clear mandate. And it all starts with
- 7:24acknowledging the Lord's supremacy.
- 7:27It all starts with acknowledging Father.
- 7:32And He is our Father. He's not just your Father, He is
- 7:37our Father. For God so loved the world that
- 7:41he gave his only begotten Son, and that whosoever will believe
- 7:46in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
- 7:49We can see that He is our Father.
- 7:53He's not hyper fixated upon just one people, group friends.
- 7:59He is for the whole globe. And you can see here it all
- 8:03starts with Him worshipping Him right here in the beginning of
- 8:08this prayer. What does He say?
- 8:11He says when you pray. He doesn't say if you pray, the
- 8:15disciples saw that the power to raise people from the dead and
- 8:20to drive out demons, to heal the sick, to walk on water was all
- 8:27connected to the prayer life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 8:32And here the disciples, they wanted to learn how to pray like
- 8:38their Master, and it would do us well to learn how to pray like
- 8:43our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 8:46And he's giving you a very clear prayer that we can go to.
- 8:51And we should not pray this in a very casual way.
- 8:58We need to dissect each one of these little sections and then
- 9:04meditate upon them. And you could spend hours just
- 9:08on one section. Friends, take a section and pray
- 9:15about it and expound on that one section.
- 9:19Here we go, our Father, which art in heaven, where is he?
- 9:27He is in heaven, and He is all around.
- 9:30Hallowed be thy name. This is His name as holy.
- 9:33It is set apart, friends, your Kingdom come.
- 9:37This is getting rid of our own presuppositions.
- 9:40This is getting rid of our own desires and wants and cares.
- 9:45This is getting rid of all the things that we bring to him that
- 9:50are filthy rags. Friends, when we lock eyes with
- 9:57him, everything else fades. When we bow to him, everything
- 10:00else fades away. Friends, we come in with all
- 10:06these selfish desires and ambitions, but one look at him
- 10:11and all of that fades away and he is enough.
- 10:14Friends, your will be done. This is whenever we really start
- 10:23catching the heart of God is when we stop praying selfish
- 10:27prayers and we finally get to a place where we just want what He
- 10:33wants. We just desire what He desires.
- 10:36And this is when you see your prayer life get unlocked and you
- 10:41get to see so many of your prayers getting answered is
- 10:44because you're praying the heart of God.
- 10:50Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth.
- 10:53So there is this Kingdom that's coming, friends, and it is here,
- 10:59but it is coming in its fullness, this New Jerusalem
- 11:03coming to the earth, touching down the city of God.
- 11:09And God will be with us and it is being prepared.
- 11:12He went to prepare this place for us, And in my father's house
- 11:19there are many mansions, there are many rooms. 3 Give us day by
- 11:26day Our Daily Bread. The word of God is the daily
- 11:29bread. And of course He cares for us in
- 11:32our physical needs. Of course He feeds us Our Daily
- 11:36Bread. But by and by, we desperately
- 11:40need the Word of God, friends, to live.
- 11:44And we shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
- 11:49proceeds out of our Father's mouth.
- 11:52We should hang on it. It is Our Daily Bread.
- 11:54It is the manna from God. It will sustain us.
- 11:57It will get us to our very next day, our very next breath, our
- 12:01very next heartbeat. Friends, we desperately need
- 12:05this touch from God, this daily bread.
- 12:08Open up your Bibles, read your Bibles, get in your Bibles,
- 12:12learn your Bibles, Own your Bibles.
- 12:15Friends, it is your life blind unto the Father to finish this
- 12:20race. Well, for forgive us our sins.
- 12:24We desperately need to know that our sins are forgiven and they
- 12:28will not be counted against us. And we're going to stand before
- 12:32an Almighty holy God and He will not see any of our sins.
- 12:36He's only going to see the blood of Jesus Christ covering us from
- 12:40the bottom of our feet to the top of our head, the palms of
- 12:43our hands, the back, all of us as covered, friends, nothing
- 12:49hidden, nothing. And God sees only the blood of
- 12:55Jesus. He sees the righteous, holy
- 13:00blood. And he invites us in, Friends,
- 13:04He invites us in to the banquet. He invites us into eternity.
- 13:10Blessed is the man whose sins will never be counted against
- 13:13him, whose transgressions are as far as the east is from the
- 13:19West. Friends, they are thrown as far
- 13:23as the east is from the West, Infinitely gone from the
- 13:27Father's sight, and he only sees the blood of Jesus Christ.
- 13:31Praise God, Hallelujah for this truth and that is why we forgive
- 13:38everyone that is indebted to us when we lend.
- 13:41Do not expect anything back friends.
- 13:44Do not be like the heathen and the pagans, friends, do not
- 13:49think that you should get it back.
- 13:51Give liberally for his. It has been given to you freely
- 13:56friends, and lead us not into temptation.
- 14:03So this is part of the prayer where we need to understand that
- 14:12there is a war that is waging all around us, friends, and God
- 14:18allows this war to rage. He could snuff it out today.
- 14:26He could completely annihilate it today.
- 14:28But there is a purpose and a plan and it is a grand plan.
- 14:32And His ways are not our ways, friends.
- 14:34And this temptation that comes our way, there is no temptation
- 14:40that is not common to man that is overtaking you.
- 14:45But God provides a way out, friends.
- 14:47He always provides a way out. And this temptation will purify
- 14:55you, friends. This temptation will purge out
- 14:58all the dross, all the impurities, and it will make you
- 15:02more like Christ. And God allows the temptation to
- 15:08continue. And the tempter we know is the
- 15:11devil. We know that it is all the
- 15:14demonic host that is going on all around us, in the spiritual
- 15:19realm, all around us, and God could take it out today.
- 15:23God could completely get rid of it today.
- 15:26But there's a purpose and there is a plan in it, and that is
- 15:28hard for our little finite minds to understand that there is no
- 15:33power struggle between God and the devil.
- 15:38There's a purpose in it all, and that is very hard for us to
- 15:42understand. However, we we are heading to a
- 15:45place. We are going to a place,
- 15:48friends, where the tempter is taken out of the way.
- 15:51We are going to a place where no evil thing will ever enter into.
- 15:56But we must do battle today. And that is what this little
- 16:00caveat here at the end of the Lord's Prayer is talking about.
- 16:04Do not let us be LED off into temptation, God.
- 16:07The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life.
- 16:11Do not let it come our way. Lord, we are asking for holy
- 16:16ground here today. Deliver us from evil.
- 16:23So much of it is wrapped up in our own selfishness and our own
- 16:28emotions. Friends, so much of it is
- 16:31wrapped up when we are greedy. So much of it is wrapped up when
- 16:35we are lustful. So much of it is wrapped up when
- 16:39we don't want the conviction. So much of this being let off
- 16:44into evil. We wrap these chains around our
- 16:48own selves. We have the cares of the world
- 16:50that choke out all of the grace of God, and we don't walk in our
- 16:56bridal identity. We don't keep our lamps full.
- 17:00And here Jesus is showing his disciples that we need to be on
- 17:04guard, friends, because deception is so deceitful that
- 17:12we don't even realize that we're being deceived.
- 17:16Lord help us and we know that His is the Kingdom.
- 17:23His is the power and the glory. It is His glory that we need all
- 17:30around us where the ministers cannot even minister because the
- 17:34glory of God is all around. And it is His Kingdom that we're
- 17:38after, friends. And it is the power that we
- 17:41desperately need, this wonder working power five.
- 17:48And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and
- 17:51shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend
- 17:57ME3 loaves. 6 For a friend of mine in his journey has come to
- 18:03me, and I have nothing to set before him. 7 And he from within
- 18:09shall answer, and say, Trouble me not.
- 18:12The door is now shut, my children are with me in bed.
- 18:15I cannot rise and give you AI say unto you, Though he will not
- 18:22rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his M
- 18:28fortunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 And I
- 18:37say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you seek, and you shall
- 18:43find. Knock, and it shall be opened
- 18:47unto you. 10 For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks
- 18:55finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be open.
- 19:00So this is the parable of the friend who will not give up.
- 19:08He knocks and he knocks, and he knocks, and he knocks, and he
- 19:13will not give up. And this is how we must be with
- 19:15our Father. Don't give up whenever you don't
- 19:19get your prayer answer. Keep knocking.
- 19:23Keep seeking, for our relentless pursuit of the Father's face
- 19:31will get him to move. That's what moves the heart of
- 19:37God. That's what dispatches the
- 19:40angels. That is what we desperately
- 19:44need, friends, is to not give up when our prayers don't get
- 19:47answered. And don't change your theology
- 19:50when you pray about something and it doesn't happen.
- 19:53Just know that God's Word is eternal and He is showing you
- 19:58here. What is the model for us in our
- 20:02prayer life. That is what Jesus is concerned
- 20:06with, and he's showing it in the parable of the friend who's
- 20:09asking and knocking and seeking. And God here is like the man who
- 20:18doesn't come to the door immediately, but he increases
- 20:25your prayer life. And what a thought here,
- 20:27friends, what a thought that God desires our voice, He desires
- 20:35our heart, He desires our prayers, He desires this
- 20:40conversation. He is pleased when we don't give
- 20:43up. And that is a hard truth for
- 20:48some, that God doesn't just open the first time.
- 20:52He doesn't just come running as soon as we ask.
- 20:55And it is in the waiting that God is doing the greatest work.
- 21:00It is in that that we start to drift off.
- 21:04If we don't see God behaving in the way that we want Him to.
- 21:08We start to go back into and revert into our own fleshly
- 21:13desires. And we try to change the way
- 21:18that we see God based upon Him not doing what we have asked him
- 21:23to do, even the things that are seemingly good, like curing
- 21:27cancer and making people well again.
- 21:31And when He doesn't, we get hard hardened.
- 21:38And God already knew that we would.
- 21:43And it is this divine mystery that we're wrapped up in,
- 21:48friends, that we should not give up.
- 21:51Keep seeking Him. And that is the principle here
- 21:55that Jesus is trying to drive down in your heart and your mind
- 21:59and your thoughts and your prayers is don't give up,
- 22:02friends. Be relentless in your prayer
- 22:05life. Even when you don't see the
- 22:08mountain move, even when you don't see the sea part, Don't
- 22:13give up, friends. Keep seeking, keep knocking.
- 22:19And he promises us that he will open the door, and he will pour
- 22:24out so much blessing that we cannot even contain it.
- 22:27Friends, it will be open to you if you do not give up. 11 If a
- 22:36son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he
- 22:42give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he
- 22:48for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg,
- 22:54will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know
- 23:01how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
- 23:07your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
- 23:12him? What a mystery.
- 23:15Here, friends, you can see that God is good.
- 23:19He is good all the time. We can see here that He is not
- 23:23like us. He is not evil.
- 23:28He wasn't born with the sin conscience.
- 23:34He did not have the the atom fall following in his bloodline.
- 23:40God is holy. God is holy, holy holy goddess.
- 23:44The only uncreated God is the great I am.
- 23:49God cannot be put in a box and here He is showing us that we
- 23:55are evil in all of our attempts to try to even make it right and
- 24:00live in our own truth and try to make it to heaven by our
- 24:05behavior is evil. We need desperately need the
- 24:09blood of Jesus Christ. We desperately need to be born
- 24:12again. We desperately need to confess
- 24:15all of our sins and to repent and to receive our forgiveness.
- 24:18We desperately need the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
- 24:23And we should ask that the Holy Spirit would well up within us.
- 24:28We should ask for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
- 24:32We should ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us so we can live
- 24:36in that power. And Jesus here showing them that
- 24:40it is not wrong to ask for the Holy Spirit.
- 24:45And here we should see that we can quench the Holy Spirit, that
- 24:52we can grieve the Holy Spirit. Here you can see that we can
- 24:58sear our consciences to where the still small voice of the
- 25:03Holy Spirit that roars louder than the lion, that we can bring
- 25:11it to a place where it's no longer loud in our hearts and
- 25:15minds. And Jesus is saying, don't give
- 25:18up, Ask for the Holy Spirit to come and to dine and to Sup and
- 25:23to fill you. Friends, we desperately need the
- 25:27power of the Holy Spirit. 14 And he was casting out a devil, and
- 25:36it was dumb, and it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the
- 25:42dumb spoke and the people wondered, This is the wonder
- 25:47working power. Praise God, Jesus shows us the
- 25:52model of what it is that we are to be doing when we're out in
- 25:56the field, out in the harvest. Friends. 15 But some of them
- 26:01said he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the
- 26:06devils. Don't be surprised when you're
- 26:08misunderstood. Don't be surprised when the
- 26:11devil starts stirring up all kinds of controversy that
- 26:16surrounds your ministry. Friends, don't be surprised when
- 26:20people say all kinds of ill things about you.
- 26:23Don't be surprised whenever the subtle persecution comes, when
- 26:27you didn't get the raise, when you didn't get the promotion,
- 26:31when you didn't get all of the fanfare in the office because of
- 26:37your connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, because you
- 26:40refused to go and be debaucherous with your
- 26:43constituents. Don't be surprised, friends.
- 26:47Count it all as joy. Friends, when people say all
- 26:51kinds of ill things about you, count it all as joy, for great
- 26:55is your reward in heaven. 16 And others tempting him, sought of
- 27:02him a sign from heaven. We know that this is one of the
- 27:07ways that Jesus would correct is anytime he was asked for a sign.
- 27:16Think of all the things that he was doing raising people from
- 27:20the dead, casting out the demons.
- 27:23Think about the the sick being healed, friends.
- 27:27Think about The Walking on the water and the dividing of the
- 27:31bread and the fish, the feed feeding, the multitudes, the
- 27:35thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people that he fed
- 27:40with just a small amount. Think of all of the voice from
- 27:45heaven, the dove descending. Think of it all, friends, and
- 27:52these people have the nerve to say, Give us a sign, and it is
- 27:58as if they're saying, We won't believe unless you give us the
- 28:01sign. And what does Jesus have to say
- 28:04about it? 17 But he, knowing their
- 28:08thoughts, said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself
- 28:16is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house
- 28:21falls. So we would do well to lock in,
- 28:26to pay attention. Go to verse 17.
- 28:29A house divided cannot stand. If you see this division and
- 28:33discord amongst brethren, just know that it is not from God.
- 28:41It is not from God that we as believers should be divided.
- 28:47We need to be of one mind, the mind of Christ. 18 If Satan also
- 28:54be divided against himself, how shall his Kingdom stand?
- 29:00Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
- 29:05He's talking to them in an elementary school children kind
- 29:11of way. Playground kind of theology
- 29:14here. How can Satan cast out Satan?
- 29:19How can Satan cast out the demons?
- 29:24His Kingdom would never stand friends.
- 29:28He's not divided against himself.
- 29:30He is limited in his resources, and he doesn't just throw
- 29:35unlimited resources everywhere. He's not omniscient, he's not
- 29:40omnipotent, and he's not omnipresent.
- 29:45He's limited in his power. And Jesus here is showing all of
- 29:52the people, and he's showing you and he's showing me that he is
- 30:01the Son of God, and he has all power and all authority.
- 30:06Friends 19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your
- 30:15sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your
- 30:19judges. So here he flips the script.
- 30:22He beats them at their own game. He shows them the duplicity and
- 30:26the hypocrisy of their theology. 20 But if I, with the finger of
- 30:33God, cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God has come upon
- 30:39you. So Jesus is showing them that
- 30:42they are in grave danger of the fire of hell by calling the Son
- 30:50of God in the blasphemy that they impart upon him.
- 30:56He's showing them that the Kingdom of God has come, and
- 31:00they would do well to bow and to confess and to repent and to
- 31:07believe on the Son of God. 21 When a strongman armed keeps his
- 31:17palace, his goods are in peace, but when the when a stronger
- 31:22than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him
- 31:27all his armor where he had trusted, and he divides his
- 31:32spoils. Jesus Christ is the stronger man
- 31:36in this parable, friends, Jesus Christ is making it plain.
- 31:40He's saying that look at how the devil is strongman armed and he
- 31:46keeps his palace of the devil's trying to keep all his demons
- 31:50and he's trying to keep all of his captives.
- 31:53And before Jesus comes on the scene, his goods are in peace
- 31:58and he thinks of himself as powerful.
- 32:05But what does Jesus say here? But when a stronger than he
- 32:08shall come, Jesus is the stronger than he.
- 32:12He overcame him. He takes from him his armor that
- 32:16he trusted in and he divides his spoils.
- 32:19He what he does is Jesus is taking back enemy territory.
- 32:24What Jesus is doing is going in and he's freeing people.
- 32:28He's breaking the chains, he's freeing the captives.
- 32:31Praise God, Hallelujah. You were once enslaved and in
- 32:35bondage to sin. But whom the sun sets free is
- 32:39free indeed, Friend 23 He that is not with me is against me,
- 32:47and he that gather is not with me scatters.
- 32:51So he's showing you that there is no neutrality.
- 32:56You're either for them or you're against them.
- 32:57There is no middle ground, friends.
- 32:59You cannot be lukewarm friends. If you are lukewarm friends, you
- 33:04are in grave danger of being overtaken by evil.
- 33:08When you just make this little life all about self and about
- 33:12money and about position and power, you will be let off into
- 33:16the Hellfire. 24 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a
- 33:23man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest and finding
- 33:27done, he says, I will return unto my house where I came out.
- 33:32So here he's going to show us what it looks like whenever we
- 33:43are not built on the solid rock, when we have shallow soil, when
- 33:47we play games with religion, when we're playing games with
- 33:53God, and whenever we allow just the the Spirit of God to come
- 34:03and to drive out the unclean and we prepare our hearts and minds
- 34:08to receive Jesus Christ. You can see this happen time and
- 34:13time and time and time and time again with people who come in
- 34:18and they receive the Lord, but they only receive him as long as
- 34:23he behaves in the way that they need him to or want him to.
- 34:27And whenever times come and tribulation comes, whenever
- 34:32there's hardship, what happens? They open themselves back up,
- 34:37and this evil spirit that was driven from them goes and finds
- 34:42seven more evil than himself. And the final stage of that man
- 34:47is worse than the first. Let's see what Jesus has to say.
- 34:5125 And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished.
- 34:57So here this is what happens whenever we open ourselves up to
- 35:02the spiritual realm, and if we do not fill ourselves with Him
- 35:08constantly and daily with the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens?
- 35:13He's going to show us. 26 Then goes he, and takes to himself
- 35:18seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in
- 35:23and dwell there in the last state of that man is worse than
- 35:26the first. Think about it, friends.
- 35:28This is simple stuff. This is somebody who is
- 35:34interested in God. They're interested in the Bible.
- 35:37They're interested in church and they go in and they partake of
- 35:44the Holy Spirit. They partake of the good things
- 35:47of God and they open themselves up and they receive the healing
- 35:51of God. And then what happens?
- 35:55They do not fan the flame. They do not allow themselves to
- 35:59grow. They stay a baby Christian.
- 36:02They don't grow in maturity. They don't put on the full armor
- 36:06of God and they think that they are are good to go and
- 36:11everything's fine and dandy and they are thinking that they
- 36:17belong to him. And what has happened, you see
- 36:20it time and time and time again, people that are on fire for God
- 36:25and they burn out and then they renounce their faith.
- 36:30They walk away from it in the final state of that man is worse
- 36:35than the first. You see it happening all around
- 36:38you, friends. 27 And it came to pass.
- 36:43As he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company
- 36:47lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb
- 36:52that bear you, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
- 36:59So she is pouring out and lavishing upon him praise for
- 37:06his mother. She sang, Your mother is
- 37:09blessed. But what does Jesus say?
- 37:13But he said to her, yeah, rather blessed are they that hear the
- 37:18word of God and keep it. That is how we guard ourselves
- 37:23from being overtaken and overrun by the demonic friends.
- 37:28He tells us how. He shows us how.
- 37:31He shows us that we need to hear the word of God and keep it.
- 37:37It is not just interpretation of God's Word, it is obedience to
- 37:43His Word. And the obedience grows out of a
- 37:46love for Him. We need to hear it and we need
- 37:51to keep it. And He shows us that we will be
- 37:54blessed. 29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he
- 38:02began to say, This is an evil generation that seeks a sign,
- 38:06and there shall be no sign be given to it, but the sign of
- 38:10Jonah the prophet. 30 For his Jonah was a sign unto the
- 38:14Ninevites. So shall the Son of Man be to
- 38:17this generation. 31 In the queen of the South shall rise up in
- 38:22the judgement with the men of this generation, and condemn
- 38:27them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to
- 38:32hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon
- 38:37is here. 32 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment
- 38:44with this generation, and shall condemn it.
- 38:47For they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
- 38:50And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
- 38:54We know that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three
- 38:58days, three nights. And we know that Jesus went into
- 39:02the earth, friends. We know that he went and
- 39:05preached to the spirits. We know that he led a
- 39:09procession. We know that Jesus is showing
- 39:13them that a greater than Jonah is with them, a greater than
- 39:19Solomon is with them. And they refused to believe.
- 39:25They just wanted to see Jesus as the carpenter's son.
- 39:30They just wanted to see him as a man who had a lot of wise things
- 39:34to say. They just wanted to see him as
- 39:37equal with the prophets. They just wanted to see him as a
- 39:41constituent of Solomon. And he is showing them that he
- 39:45is God Incarnate. He is all sufficient sacrifice,
- 39:51the atonement for our sins, and we would do well to bow at His
- 39:56feet, kiss His feet, anoint His feet with your tears, wipe them
- 40:01with your hair. Give Him all of your praise, all
- 40:06of your adoration, all of your life, all of yourself.
- 40:11Friends do not hold anything back from Him. 33 No man, when
- 40:17he has lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a
- 40:21bushel, but on a Candlestick, that they which come in may see
- 40:27the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye.
- 40:31Therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is
- 40:35full of light. But when your eye is evil, your
- 40:39body also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the
- 40:43light which is in you be not darkness. 36 If your whole body
- 40:50therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole
- 40:54shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle
- 40:59does give its light. So we can see here that we are
- 41:03the light of the world, that we cannot be hidden.
- 41:06We can see here that we need to be full of His presence, full of
- 41:11the Holy Spirit. And this is what this wicked and
- 41:14dark perverse generation desperately needs to see.
- 41:19Is one person completely sold out to the King of Kings and the
- 41:24Lord of Lords? Not thinking about the money
- 41:28that they can get from teaching the word of God, not thinking
- 41:33about how they're going to support their family, not
- 41:36thinking about how they can save their skin when persecution
- 41:41comes. We desperately need to see one
- 41:43man who is completely sold out to the King of Kings and the
- 41:48Lord of Lords, and we desperately need to see one man
- 41:52finish this race well, without the controversy and without all
- 41:57of the things that get uncovered after someone dies.
- 42:03We can see the moral failures of that person's life.
- 42:07We desperately need to see one man who is full of Jesus Christ
- 42:14and full of the Holy Spirit and has captured the heart of God.
- 42:19I pray that you are that person. I pray that I can be that
- 42:24person. 37 And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to
- 42:31dine with him, and he went in and sat down to meet. 38 And
- 42:35when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first
- 42:38washed before dinner. They were watching him like a
- 42:41hawk, friends, and he saw that Jesus didn't even wash his hands
- 42:47before he sat down to eat. 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now
- 42:54do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the
- 42:58platter? But your inward part is full of
- 43:01ravening and wickedness. So he's showing them that they
- 43:05do not need to worry about if he washed his hands or not.
- 43:08They need to get rid of all the evil inside of themselves.
- 43:12For to you fools, did not he that make that which is outside,
- 43:17make that also which is inside? 41 but rather give alms of such
- 43:23things as you have, and behold, all things are clean unto you.
- 43:2842 But woe unto you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint, and rue, and
- 43:32all manner of herbs, and Passover judgement, and the love
- 43:36of God. These you ought to have done,
- 43:38and not to leave the other undone. 43 Woe unto you,
- 43:42Pharisees, for you love the uppermost seats in the
- 43:45synagogues and greetings in the markets. 44 Woe unto you,
- 43:50scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are as
- 43:55graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not
- 44:00aware of them. So he's showing them that they
- 44:06are in grave danger because they're so wrapped up and so
- 44:12concerned with their outward appearance and their outward
- 44:15traditions and their outward ceremony that they have
- 44:19forgotten to actually cleanse the temple.
- 44:22They have actually forgotten to do the things that God actually
- 44:28wants. That moves the heart of God.
- 44:30And Jesus is God. 45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and
- 44:35said unto him, Master, you saying thus, it reproaches us
- 44:42also. 46 And he said, Woe unto you also you lawyers, for you
- 44:49laid men with burdens grievous to be born, and you yourselves
- 44:55touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
- 45:00They won't even try to uphold the law that they are making all
- 45:08of their subjects obey. 47 Woe unto you, for you build the
- 45:17tombs of the prophets, and your father's killed them.
- 45:22What duplicity and hypocrisy? Their fathers killed them, and
- 45:26then they build these monuments to them. 48 Surely you bear
- 45:31witness that you allow the deeds of your father's, for they
- 45:34indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore
- 45:39also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and
- 45:43apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute. 50
- 45:48That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from
- 45:52the foundations of the world, may be required of this
- 45:56generation. 51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of
- 46:01Zechariah, which perished between the altar and the
- 46:05temple. Truly I say unto you, it shall
- 46:08be required of this generation. 52 Woe unto you, lawyers, for
- 46:13you have taken away the key of knowledge.
- 46:16You entered not in yourselves and then that were entering in
- 46:21you hindered. This is the worst thing that
- 46:26they could possibly do. If they were not going to come
- 46:29in, they could at least allow others to come in.
- 46:34But some twisted, wicked way is those that are not going to
- 46:39enter in, they do their best to make sure others do not enter
- 46:44in. And you can see the Satanic
- 46:47revolt, you can see the deception, friends, you can see
- 46:52that these men are evil and they just want to exact the power and
- 47:00the greed of the masses. And God sees through it all.
- 47:05And it's no different in our day.
- 47:07It's no different in our our friends.
- 47:09You see it all around us, friends.
- 47:13We would do well to get connected to the power source.
- 47:17We would do well to be the men and women of God who desperately
- 47:21cry out for a touch from him. And we are not steeped in our
- 47:26traditions. We're not steeped in all of this
- 47:29outward ceremony. We have captured the heart of
- 47:32God, and we want to please our Father. 53 And as he said these
- 47:40things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge
- 47:44him vehemently and to provoke him to speak of many things. 54
- 47:52laying wait for him, seeking to catch something out of his mouth
- 47:58that they might accuse him. You can see it here, friends.
- 48:02They're laying a trap. They're going to plot his
- 48:07demise. They are going to hold councils
- 48:12of how to rid their land of this rogue St. preacher who speaks
- 48:19out against them and calls them the brood of Vipers who
- 48:25pronounces these woes upon them. Think of old Queen of the South
- 48:35who came to see Solomon. Think of the Ninevites who were
- 48:41going to rise up in judgment. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah
- 48:48rising up in judgment over the land that refused him.
- 48:54I want to say to you friends, that we have access to the Word
- 48:58of God. We have access to the full
- 49:00authority and counsel of God. And what do we do?
- 49:04We let it collect dust on the shelf.
- 49:09It has been well said. If your Bible is falling apart,
- 49:16your family staying together. If your Bible is staying
- 49:21together, your family's falling apart.
- 49:24Open up the Word of God today. Seek divine counsel today.
- 49:32Receive your healing and forgiveness today.
- 49:35Repent today. Turn from your wicked ways
- 49:40today. Ask the Lord God Almighty into
- 49:43your heart today. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
- 49:49God, and all these things will be added to you.
- 49:54Don't let a day, don't let a moment, don't let a second go by
- 49:59without worshipping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords for
- 50:05the rest of this little life that God has given you.
- 50:08Be completely sold out to Him. Nothing compartmentalized,
- 50:14nothing hidden, nothing held back, nothing behind your back.
- 50:20Nothing that is not confessed and forgiven.
- 50:25Nothing that is more important than the heart of God for your
- 50:32life. This is how we must live.
- 50:35We cannot just sit on our blessed assurance, friends.
- 50:40We cannot just have a false sense of salvation because we
- 50:46grew up in a Christian home, or we own 100 Bibles, or we go to
- 50:50church every Sunday and Wednesday and Sunday night.
- 50:55We cannot have a false sense of salvation, Friends.
- 50:59We must know that we know that we know that we know that we
- 51:04belong to Him and He speaks to us and He is indwelling us and
- 51:08we are the temple of God. I pray that for you today,
- 51:12friends. I hope you've been blessed by
- 51:18this chapter. I know I sure have many times
- 51:22over. Praying for every single one of
- 51:27you. God loves you, so do I be
- 51:37blessed today. Pray for those that are broken
- 51:41hearted. Pray for those that have lost
- 51:44loved ones and are wrestling through that loss.
- 51:51Pray for them. Pray for strength through this
- 51:54battle, knowing that God is in full control.
- 52:02Even whenever we don't understand it, He is still good.
- 52:09Love you. We'll see you back here
- 52:11tomorrow. God bless you.