Luke 11:14-28
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. 27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” 28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:14-28)
This passage speaks about the authority of Jesus Christ to drive out demons, and about what the one who has been set free from demons can do — and must do — in order to keep and hold on to his deliverance. If we had to name the subject of this passage in a single word, it would be “deliverance.” The mute man was set free from his bondage to the dark powers, and in this text we read about the deliverance, about the deliverer, and about the delivered one — what he must do once God has set him free.
THE UNDENIABILITY OF THE DELIVERANCE
First of all, the text speaks about the deliverance:
14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. (Luke 11:14)
For Christ, driving out “demons” was not something unusual. It was part of His ministry. This was simply one of many cases of deliverance from the dark powers. When the text here speaks of a “demon,” it does not mean rabies, the disease that afflicts dogs and animals, the sickness against which there is a vaccine — that is something else entirely. Here it means a demon, a person without a body. What we can understand from this case is that there are illnesses and infirmities that are caused by spiritual beings. Not that all infirmities and mental disorders are caused by demons, but some are. Demons are persons without bodies, subject to Satan, subject to the dark side. As believers, and as people who accept the truth of God’s Word, we believe not only in God, who is the Creator of everything in this world, but also that there is a Satan, and that there are angels and demons.
Satan tries to conceal himself in this world, and his greatest lie is that he does not exist. He makes people say, “Ah, there’s no such thing as a devil…” But in fact Satan really does exist, and we read about him in the Word of God. There are also demons. What we can see about them from the text we have read is that they can be identified by how they manifest themselves. For example, this spirit was called a “mute” spirit because it caused muteness.
Demons exist, and we are weaker than they are. A person cannot overpower a demon by his own strength. But we see something else in this deliverance as well, and it is this: Jesus Christ has authority over the demons and is able to drive them out. There is One who is stronger than the demons, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only He, but also those who drive out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For what Jesus did while He was on the earth, the apostles of the early church also did when the Holy Spirit was in them. And in the name of Jesus Christ they too drove out demons.
In Acts 16:16-19 we read how Paul was followed by a woman who had a spirit of divination, which was a demon. And one day, as he was going to the “place of prayer,” he turned to that spirit inside her and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” At that very moment the spirit left the woman, and she could no longer “tell fortunes” — she could no longer foretell and predict the future.
But what happened? Even though the people saw the miracle, they did not turn to God; instead they seized Paul and began to beat him. Why? Because the owners of that woman — for she was a slave — saw that, along with the departure of the spirit, as Luke says with a touch of humor, their hope of profit had also departed. Since they could no longer make money from their slave girl’s fortune-telling, they became furious and turned the crowd against Paul for driving the spirit out of their slave. How foolish we human beings are — instead of seeing God’s glory, humbling ourselves, repenting, and receiving God, we look at the money…
WHO IS THE DELIVERER?
And so, the miracle of delivering the man enslaved by a mute demon took place, and it was so obvious, so indisputable and undeniable, that its authenticity was not even questioned by Jesus’ opponents. The deliverance was clear, but a dispute arose over who the deliverer actually was. Just as in the case of Paul and the spirit of divination in Philippi, instead of glorifying the Son of God, the people turned against Him. Here, in our text in Luke 11, we see the Lord Himself performing this work of God. The very Son of God was on the earth, driving out demons in the name of the Father.
15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” (Luke 11:15)
They made themselves out to be great experts in spiritual matters. And they said that Jesus Christ was not driving out demons by the power of God, but by the power of Satan. They disputed His authority and the source of His power and might.
16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. (Luke 11:16)
From Mark 3:22 we understand that those who called Christ’s power and authority into question were in fact teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem for the very purpose of disputing Jesus Christ’s claims to be the Messiah.
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” (Mark 3:22)
The objections against Christ’s act of deliverance came from two sides. On the one hand, His opponents accused Him of performing His miracles and deliverances by unclean powers; on the other, they demanded from Him a “sign from heaven” that would prove that the source of His power came “from above,” from heaven, and not “from below,” from Satan and the dark powers.
Further down in the text Jesus answers both questions. He answers the question about the source of His power in verses 17-28, and He answers the question about the sign from heaven in verses 29-32. But today we will consider only the first part of His answer — the part that concerns where the power for deliverance from demons comes from. Is Satan the deliverer? That is absurd! No, the deliverer is the Lord Jesus Christ!
17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul… (Luke 11:17-18)
Notice, the text here speaks of “Satan’s kingdom.” Satan, like God, also has his own kingdom. And he rules over this earth. He rules over human beings. Jesus Christ called him “the prince of this world.” And he governs through his system of demons, who hold various ranks. He also rules through certain people who are his servants (2 Corinthians 11:15). Jesus Christ, however, is stronger than the demons and is able to drive them out.
19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. (Luke 11:19)
Beelzebul in this passage is a demon of a higher rank, but not Satan himself. Some take Beelzebul to be a name for Satan. And perhaps it is so. But I think Beelzebul is actually a demon of high rank, though not Satan himself. So then, Satan is the highest adversary of man and of God. And he is a person, but he is not omnipresent, as God is omnipresent and almighty. Satan governs through a system of demons, a system of his subordinates, who are various spirits. This is why, in Ephesians 6:12, the apostle Paul says:
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)
If you trace the various Greek words used in this verse to describe the different kinds of demons, you will see that the text is talking about different ranks. There are demons that are territorial rulers and authorities (“archas” and “exousias”); there are demons responsible for the world religions that deceive humanity and are behind the world’s problems (“kosmokratoras”); and there are demons that produce various supernatural manifestations, such as magic, sorcery, fortune-telling, and other occult abilities (“pneumatika tes”). There are all sorts of demons. And perhaps one of them is Beelzebul, a higher territorial ruler, while this “mute” demon is a spiritual power of the lowest rank. And so these teachers of the law from Jerusalem were saying that Jesus drives out the lower demons by the higher ones. Jesus, however, says, “That is not so!”
20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:20)
Glory to God! Look, this word Beelzebul is very interesting. In some other versions of the Bible he is called not Beel-zebul, but Beel-zebub. Beel-zebub is simply a translation with a different pronunciation of Baal-Zebub. He is spoken of in 2 Kings 1. Baal was one of the gods of the Philistines. And Baal-Zebub was the god of Ekron. And here there is a play on words. For Baal-zebul means “lord of the high places.” But they called him Baal-zebub, which means “lord of the flies.” This was simply a way of mocking that god. And even worse, Beel-zebel means “lord of the dung.” They were saying to him, “You are not the lord of the high places, you are the lord of the toilets!” That is how they mocked this god. I am simply giving the meaning of this name. But be that as it may, he is an unclean spirit. And you cannot expect an unclean spirit to drive out uncleanness. But Jesus Christ said, “I do not act through unclean spirits; I act by the finger of God, by the power of God!”
In the parallel passage in Matthew 12:28 it says:
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew 12:28)
That is, the “finger of God” is in fact the Spirit of God. So Jesus Christ had authority over the demons when He was on the earth. And “He is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). And He has authority over the demons today as well — to drive them out and to glorify His name. And this driving out of demons is actually a sign of the coming of the kingdom of God. We saw that there is a satanic kingdom, but there is also the kingdom of God. Some wanted a sign from heaven from Jesus. But in fact the driving out of this mute demon was itself a sign from heaven that the kingdom of God was arriving. For remember, when John was in prison and sent to Jesus Christ to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Luke 7:19-20), what did Jesus Christ do? He drove out demons and healed the sick (Luke 7:21-23)…
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Luke 7:21-23)
Why did Jesus do these works? Because these very miracles of healing and deliverance are the signs of the coming of the kingdom of God. They are the works that usher in the age to come — “the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:5).
21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. (Luke 11:21-22)
Who is the “strong man, fully armed”? It is the demon that rules over the possessed person. He is the “strong man, fully armed.” And he guards “his house,” he guards his “possessions.” What is his house? It is the body and soul of the person. The demon has entered them and filled them — he has possessed the person and made a dwelling for himself in him. And from there, from inside, he carries out his demonic works and manifestations through him. But “someone stronger” can attack him. Who is stronger than this demon? Jesus Christ! And not only Jesus, but also the Christian who has authority over demons in the name of Jesus. For remember, Jesus Christ gave His disciples authority to drive out demons. And they returned and said, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” What did Jesus answer them? In Luke 10:18-19 we read Jesus’ reply.
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (Luke 10:18-19)
So a Christian who has been washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Christian who has a living connection with God, a Christian who strives to live a holy life — such a person need not be afraid of Satan and his powers. They can do nothing to us, because God protects us. In Numbers 23:23 it says:
23 There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’ (Numbers 23:23)
And this was said by a sorcerer who, for money, tried to put a spell on Israel and so to place them under the authority of the dark powers, but he could not… because God did not permit him. This is the truth. We have full power over the demons, and as long as we are in a good relationship with God and have His protection and defense, they can do nothing to us! Glory to God! So the deliverer is Jesus Christ, not Beelzebul. The deliverer is God, not Satan.
Someone may say, “But what does this driving out of a mute demon have to do with me? I don’t have demons in me and never have…” If that is so, glory to God! The truth, however, is that the whole essence of Christianity is deliverance. Believing in Christ is itself a deliverance from the power of Satan and his kingdom. In Acts 26:18, where the apostle Paul describes his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he quotes the divine words like this:
16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:16-18)
“To open their eyes” — the people in this world are spiritually blind. And their blindness is caused by ignorance and by Satan. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 the apostle Paul explains the main reason why unbelievers reject the gospel:
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
For a person to gain sight and to see the truth — this is a miracle from the Lord Jesus Christ. A person who has turned to God has been set free from the power of Satan and has gained sight regarding the things that are unseen.
Notice that in the words of Acts 26 salvation is bound up with deliverance from the power of Satan and passing over into the authority of God. The apostle Paul says the same thing in Colossians 1:13, where he speaks of God who, in His goodness, “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13). Yes, the advance of God’s kingdom is bound up with spiritual warfare and with delivering people from the power of Satan. And this applies both to someone who has been possessed by a demon and to someone who has been spiritually blind to God’s truth but whose eyes have been opened through the enlightenment and working of the Holy Spirit.
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DELIVERED ONE
We have seen the deliverance. The Lord Jesus desires that we have freedom from the powers of darkness. We have also seen who the deliverer is — not Satan, nor his subordinates, but God the Father Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever drives out demons does not do it by their prince. For the satanic kingdom, evil though it is, is not a foolish kingdom. And in it, unlike in the church, there is no division. In this respect we ought to take a lesson from them. For we often have division among ourselves and fight one another. But as the Lord Jesus said, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall…” and “Satan does not drive out Satan,” while we, on the other hand, do all sorts of things against one another. May God help us to be united. And it is Satan again who divides us. He is not divided within his kingdom, but he “sows discord among brothers.” For this is his tactic: “Divide and conquer!” But let us gather and care for one another, rather than divide and seek to rule. May God help us in all of this!
What Jesus speaks about further on is the responsibility of the delivered person. And his primary responsibility, once he has been set free, is not to remain neutral. Neutrality is one of the causes of an incomplete deliverance from the powers of Satan. What does “neutrality” mean? Neither plus nor minus — zero — “lukewarm and bland.” This is what is said of the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-16:
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
Neutrality is repulsive to God. We must not be neutral; we must not be lukewarm. We must be on fire for the Lord. For Jesus went on, and what He said is especially important for people who have been set free from the power of Satan — and all of us have been set free from the power of Satan. Glory to God! And it is especially important for people who have been set free from demons. You must not remain empty! You must not remain neutral! For the Lord Jesus said:
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (Luke 11:23)
This means that you must be actively involved in the work of God. The Lord gathers… What? The harvest! He gathers those who are to be saved, and we must take part in this work of salvation, this work of the gospel. We must work together with God. For if we do not build God’s kingdom together with the Lord Jesus Christ, we scatter and we destroy. You cannot be neutral! Why? The Lord Jesus said:
24 When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. (Luke 11:24-26)
May God keep us! Look, what Jesus reveals to us here is that the demons always come back. Satan always comes back. We see that even when the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan and defeated him on his own ground in the wilderness, it says that Satan did not withdraw from Him forever, but only “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13):
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13)
The devil withdrew not forever, but only “until an opportune time,” for a little while. Why for “an opportune time”? Because he came back again. He always comes back. He is like a fly — like the lord of the flies (“Beel-zebub”!) — he always comes back. You drive the fly away, and what does it do? It comes right back to the same spot. That is exactly what the devil is. Did Satan come back to Jesus to tempt Him? Did he not say to Him, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40)? Satan kept coming back, again and again, and Jesus waged His struggle against Satan continually. In Gethsemane He again waged this struggle against Satan — the struggle against temptation (Luke 22:40-44). So do not be surprised when the problems come back again. The good season of peace and quiet is given to us not so that we may rest, but so that we may prepare for battle, for the fight. To gather and to build, so that when Satan returns we may be strong, be ready, be armed. In Ephesians 6:13-17 it says:
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:13-17)
So we must be armed with this full armor of God so that we can resist Satan. For the demon always comes back, Satan always comes back. And this applies both to people who have been set free from demons and to people who have been set free from spiritual darkness. Look, how many people were here among us in the church, and now they are gone… Why? Because Satan went to them and sought to steal the seed that had been sown, while they were neutral… How careful we must be in this regard. It is very important that “the house does not remain empty”! How can such a worsening of the condition of the person delivered from demons be avoided? The demon’s house, which has been set free by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the “stronger one,” must not remain empty. The “house” is in fact the body and soul of the person. And here now lies the responsibility of the person, because he has a free will — he is to invite Jesus Christ: “Lord Jesus, come into my heart! Dwell in it! Let me be a temple of the Holy Spirit, and not a dwelling place of demons!” We must not remain empty, but be filled with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus Christ. How can this happen? Not only through receiving Jesus Christ into our hearts, not only with a prayer, but also through keeping God’s commandments. For:
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” 28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:27-28)
This woman was emphasizing the physical bond — the bond between Jesus and His mother. But Jesus emphasized the spiritual bond. And in order to have a spiritual bond with God and to be blessed, and so that when the demon returns it cannot enter you, you must have Jesus Christ in your heart. And in order to have Jesus Christ in your heart, you must hear the Word of God and keep His commandments. Why are those who hear the Word of God and keep it blessed? Because they have a spiritual bond with God. Their house will never remain empty. It will never be taken over by demons. For their bodies and souls will be a dwelling place of the Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit. In John 14:21-23 Jesus said:
21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:21-23)
Glory to God! This is exactly why those who hear the Word of God and keep it are blessed — because they will not remain empty, but the Father and the Son will dwell in them through the Holy Spirit. If our bodies and souls are dwelling places of the Father and the Son, can any demon come and enter our souls? Never! They will flee from us, and none of them will come near us, because the Father and the Son are within us. But the requirement is that we submit our will to God and keep His commandments — to love people, to bear witness, to fulfill the “Great Commission,” to take part in the gospel and in the salvation of others, to live a holy life, to live worthy of the calling we have received, to live in unity, to live in love…
So, when we have been set free, what is our responsibility? Not to remain indifferent, not to remain neutral, not to remain empty. This is what we are speaking about this morning — about the deliverance, about the deliverer, and about the delivered one — what our responsibility is — to guard our deliverance by keeping the Deliverer always in our heart. May God help us never to stop gathering together with Him. May God keep us and help us to guard our deliverance. The strength of a Christian is in the presence of Jesus in his heart. Therefore, let us never allow ourselves to drive Him out of our hearts — by our words or by our deeds. For the house will not remain empty. It will always be full — either with the subordinates of the prince of this world, or with the Father and the Son. Who do you want to remain living in your house? That depends on you!