A House Divided

Mark 3:20-27

A house divided

• What did Jesus mean
• In the simplest of terms, Jesus meant that if Satan was the one casting out Satan, he’d be coming against himself and that doesn’t make sense
• Because- if a kingdom comes against itself, its going to destroy itself, and no one would do that who wanted their kingdom to endure
• Now- I realize we’ve been talking about Satan and the powers of darkness the past few weeks, but I guess that’s what the Lord is speaking to us
• There is a divided spiritual house that exists.
• Either the house of God or the den of devils
• Jesus is trying to clean out the devils to prepare for the kingdom of God
• Jesus said to the Pharisees

• John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
• This spiritual war continues to be fought today by the people of God who stand for truth and come against the lies of Satan
• We’re fighting a cosmic battle- we are against the power of Satan on this earth
• You can see in America the division within our house. You can feel it. We must be united
• 1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
• Satan does whatever he can to try and convince people to come over to his side and some of these peoples minds are seared
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
• Jesus knew this- this is why he told his disciples-
• John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
• There is nothing of God that is evil, deceptive, or in error. Everything of God is pure, holy , just and righteous

• What does it mean

• Are you divided? Is your Father God, or Satan? Are you double minded? Unsure about who you are and who you aren’t?
• 1 Corinthians 10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.
• There are two big areas of division when it comes to child of God

• Number 1- divided in your own life

• The biggest problem that many people have is that they waver in their commitment to God and his church
• They are on again off again Christians
• James 1:8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
• The problem is that they lack discipline in their earthly life and it transfers to their spiritual life
• Disciplined single minded living is the calling to the Christian- to be disciplined in our ways not wavering
• 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
• Psalm 119113 I hate the double-minded, But I love Your law. 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word. 115 Depart from me, you evildoers, I will keep the commandments of my God!

• Too many people have not made a determination that they are going to live by Christian precepts. To decide to line their life up with the word of God
• Its in how we speak, live, act, think, work, relate, everything.
• Decide- God- I am going to live in your kingdom and not the kingdom of this world
• A Christian business person does whats right because God is watching
• You go and buy something and they give you incorrect change- you say something

• Number 2 division in the church

• Jesus is more powerful than Satan, and he is going to take him down and plunder
• We as a church must agree about who we are and who we are not.
• We are loving. We are forgiving. We are welcoming. We serve. We give.
• We don’t gossip. We don’t backbite. We look for reconciliation at every turn. We pray for eachother. Encourage each other. We always add another seat at the table.
• 1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
• This type of thing can destroy a church- strife and division- that’s why we cover it in membership
• If there is someone you have a problem with in this church- TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT
• You have my phone number, email, facebook, and most of you have been to my house
• Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
• If people are avoiding you, think about if you’re being divisive and causing offenses.

• Bind up the strong man

• 27 No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
• Now, Jesus was describing to these detractors that he was not Satan, because Satan would and could not cast out himself, and his description to them is simple
• Jesus is saying- If we’re going to take back the souls of men from the evil one- we’ve first got to take him out
• John 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep
• Jesus has and will bind up the Devil so that the work of reaping souls can happen in this lifetime
• When Jesus went around healing, and casting out demons, he was binding up the strong man so that he could preach the Gospel and set people free from the law of sin and death.
• Jesus wanted to come and teach the people to live righteously before God and love one another, but Satan first had to be bound and beat up and Jesus came to beat him up
• According to 1 Jn. 3:10, whoever is not a child of God is a child of the devil.  In this age, only those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior are children of God 

• Everyone else is a child of the devil
• John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (Eph. 2:1-3, 12; Jn 8:44; Acts 13:10).
• In Jesus’ earthly ministry, he didn’t bind the Devil, “the strong man.” He loosed some of his prisoners.
• However, at the Second Coming of Christ, the angel with the chain in Rev. 20:1-2 will literally “bind” the Devil in the bottomless pit for a thousand years.  
• At the Second Advent of Jesus, “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever,” (Rev. 11:15).  
• In the wilderness temptation, during Jesus’ 40 day fast, the Devil offered Jesus the kingdoms if Jesus would bow down and worship him.  Jesus refused, knowing that he would one day gain the kingdoms when he spoils the Devil’s house.

• What does it mean

• 1. Realize that Satanic attack is temporary- not eternal- eventually he’ll be fully destroyed
• 2. Operate in a spiritual plane that is fully aware of the spiritual nature of your situation
• Now- specifically- in this verse I don’t believe it’s a call for us to “bind up the strongman” but we can infer- that if we’re not operating under the power of Jesus and HIS ability to bind the strongman- we’re just idly standing by and watching the ship go down in flames
• Many people are spiritually divided because they haven’t ‘bound up the strongman’ so to speak
• They are trying to live for Jesus while hanging out with the Devil- The Devil is a welcome guest in their house
• 1 John 3:10  In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

• Some people aren’t binding up the strong man- they are giving him a seat at the table
• I’m not saying you should go toe to toe with the Devil and bind him up
• But I am saying that as a Child of God, who has the seal of the Holy Spirit on their life, there is nothing good that comes from hanging out with Satan and doing what Satan does
• Walk in the victory that Christ provides
• Realize that there will still be spiritual wars and battles that we must wage on this side of heaven because Satan hasn’t been fully defeated yet.
• Eph 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
• But we’ve been made alive! Quit associating with Satan!
• Do you remember High School? Remember the guy who couldn’t stop hanging out?
• Dude- You’ve graduated- this isn’t you anymore- move on- Go and grow up. Get a life

Here’s my favorite part of this- and where I think the remedy is of this whole thing

Could not eat bread

• 20 Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 
• This part of the story sets the stage for the rest of it- I want to talk about this one phrase
• “So that they could not so much as eat bread”
• These disciples- these followers of Jesus were so consumed with following Christ at this moment that even the natural instinct to eat was subdued
• They wanted Jesus more than they wanted to eat. When they came together- their only concern was being close to what Jesus was doing- so consumed they didn’t eat
• Henry– They whose hearts are enlarged in the work of God, can easily bear with great inconveniences to themselves, in the prosecution of it, and will rather lose a meal’s meat at any time than slip an opportunity of doing good

• What does it mean to you?
• Are you more concerned with the comforts of this world than Jesus?
• I get it- we need food- we need nourishment-its part of our life.
• But have you ever been so consumed with the things of God that you stop caring about anything else?
• 1 Corinthians 7:35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
• We are a distracted people- We can’t even sit through an hour and half service to the God who created us without getting distracted
• I get it- sometimes I’m on my laptop and my phone at the same time while watching TV- distracted from it all
• Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
• Get rid of the distractions in your life that keep you from focusing on the things of God
• Get relentless in setting up your schedule and your life in such a way that the things of God take priority
• If we would make the things of God our priority- we wouldn’t be a house divided. We’d bind up the strong man. We’d walk in victory

• The truth is that when we are in spiritual despair, its usually because we are consumed with the bread of our life and not consumed with the things of God
• O God that we would not be a divided house within our own souls! That we would have singlemindedness!
• Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.