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by Sandy Shaw
In the Gospel of Luke at Chapter 11 and verse 21, Jesus portrays a picture of Satan - thinking he is safe and secure in his evil palace - surrounded by strong-arm guards - and thinking he will never lose his possessions. What a picture!
When a stronger man appears - when Jesus appears - Satan is overcome - all the armour upon which he has relied is taken away, and all his possessions are taken from him.
It is a total irreversible defeat. What a powerful picture we have of Jesus Christ here. Christ is the strongest man around. In these present times we need to have a good strong biblical picture of Jesus Christ. There are many other modified edited watered-down pictures of Jesus Christ. These will be of little use when spiritual conflict arises and it is arising all over our world in fierce violent forms.
Verse 23. Then Jesus says, He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. What words! It is almost frightening to read them.
Jesus is saying, No man can remain neutral. You cannot sit of the fence. He who is not openly siding with Jesus and His Disciples, is on the other side- and in one sense there is no fence on which to sit. (And if there was a fence, then, when the Holy Spirit comes, He electrifies the fence - and people have to get off - on one side or the other!)
People who have no time for Jesus Christ and His Church are at that point against Jesus Christ and His Church. There is no neutral ground. People like to think that they can tolerate The Church, and let us silly folks believe in all this. O, leave them alone. But that day has gone and those who believe in Jesus Christ and His Word are no longer being left alone.
There is a day coming, when all will see, that there are those who are for Jesus Christ, and there are those who are NOT for Jesus Christ. There is nothing in between.
Jesus says something further. When an evil spirit goes out of a man, it goes seeking somewhere to rest. But if it finds nowhere to rest, it will return to the man, finding the man clean and swept - but empty - and it will bring seven others - and the situation is worse than before.
They seem to go around in gangs. Have you noticed that? Evil spirits appear to go around in gangs!
What is Jesus meaning? What is He saying here? It is not enough just to be clean. We also have to be filled - filled with the Holy Spirit - with His power - and with God's love and grace - so that there is no room for anything else.
An empty heart is a tragedy. An empty life is in great danger. A negative life is a danger too. It is never enough to say, ‘You mustn't do that and you mustn't do this’. Jesus Christ has to fill and permeate every room in the house - every corner of our lives.
Jesus not only saves us from our sins and cleans out what not to be there, but He also wants to fills us - and feed us - and satisfy us. There must be both aspects. This is vitally important.
Verse 27. A woman shouts out from the crowd, "Blessed is your mother. God bless the woman who brought you into the world, and nursed you and raised you and produced such a mighty preacher and teacher and deliverer.” Jesus turns round and says - "Woman, you have got it all wrong."
Jesus will not accept false compliments. Jesus will not receive sentimental comments, nor will He allow Mary appreciation societies.
"Blessed are they who hear The Word of God and keep it.” Blessed are they who hear The Word of God and act upon it - positively!
Jesus was never afraid to correct people when they said wrong things - even when they thought they were complimenting Him by saying nice things.
The true disciple of Jesus, is the man or woman who having been believed - who having been born again - goes on to serve Jesus Christ actively and positively - and hears what Jesus is saying - and agrees with it - and obeys it - and willingly sides with Jesus - and who also stands up with those and in the company of those who openly and unashamedly stand up for Jesus - and who is not afraid of being seen with those who stand for Jesus Christ and His Word - and often we can be challenged within 24 hours.
We are not all called to be preachers, but each of us is called to be a witness.
Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and obey it. You cannot get anything more clear or final than that. Let these words encourage you throughout this coming week.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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