S7E27 - Luke 11:14-32 - The Devil Owns The Fence

A man can’t speak, Jesus sets him free, and instead of worship the crowd starts explaining it away. That’s where Luke 11 gets painfully relevant, because the pushback isn’t just intellectual, it’s personal. We talk through the accusation that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, why a divided kingdom can’t stand, and what it reveals about spiritual blindness and hidden motives that still show up in our lives today. 

We also slow down for a grounded conversation on spiritual warfare. Satan is real, but he is not God’s equal, not God’s opposite, and not a rival on the same level. Jesus is the stronger one in the strong man illustration, and that matters when fear, temptation, and doubt feel louder than faith. If you’re searching for help understanding Luke 11, demons, deliverance, or what the Bible actually says about the enemy, this section brings clarity without hype. 

Then Jesus tells a story that hits close to home: a house can be swept and put in order, yet still be empty. We connect that warning to moral reform, white-knuckle change, and why self-improvement without real spiritual transformation can collapse fast. We close with Jesus’ call to obedience, what it means to hear God’s Word and keep it, and why the sign of Jonah ultimately points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and a decision you can’t avoid. Subscribe for more Bible teaching through Luke, share this with a friend, and leave a review that helps more people find the podcast.

New episodes every Monday
www.lifehousemot.com
info@lifehousede.com

Join us Sundays at 9 & 11 AM

Intro music by Joey Blair

Transcript

Summer Catch-Up And Luke Setup

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Well, what's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. It's another Monday, it's another episode of the podcast, and we are excited. We are in the heat of summer. It is July 6th, and man, we just celebrated, like we talked about last week, America's 250th birthday. I celebrated my 43rd. I'm getting really old, but I'll Mitch. I'm a little closer, you know, to that.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Why am I getting called out again?

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Because you're the retired guy here, so I need some retirement advice. You know, 43, it's you know, it's it's getting there, man. So alluding to have Mitch Poe with me, man. How was your fourth? How was good? Everything good with the family, spending time with the grandkids and great. Lots of fireworks. Awesome, awesome. We got Mitch Poe with us. I also have Rico da Silva, number three on the new streak, Indies.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So do you have a good fourth? Everything good? A lot of fireworks, a lot of uh hot sauce and hot dogs, and the fourth of July thing. That's the only thing about being 43, man. I don't always make it up, you know. Sometimes I just want to go to bed, you know. So I did the same thing, Jeremy said whatever my wife wanted in the schedule. We did that.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

That's right. And Jeremy Alrich is back with us.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Jeremy, what's going on, man? Hey man, just happy to be here. Happy birthday, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Thank you, thank you so. I appreciate it. I didn't get the gift from you, though, by the way. You didn't give me anything. I guess being on the podcast and putting up with me, that's the gift, right? So I I can get I can totally buy into that. So, but you had a good fourth, everything good with the family.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Some great time away some with the family, some good fireworks, you know, getting getting the grill out, hopefully, and you know, and just yeah, day off of work, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:56

So but we don't take any breaks, no holidays on the podcast. We keep rolling, working to bring you some good content. We continue to have fun, but we also want to take seriously and working through God's word. And so last week we had Mitch take us through some in-depth prayer discussion, which is always relevant at every time in our lives. But we're gonna get into some really good stuff here as we continue to work through Luke chapter 11, how we should look at Satan in a divided house and some really other good teaching. So, Jeremy, which what you got for us in this section of scripture? We're going through what verse are we going through today?

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Since you called me out last week. I did call you out last week.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

You were not ready for the quality assurance last week.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I made sure I was ready. Okay, you're ready

Accused Of Demonic Power

SPEAKER_02 2:40

on the week.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

All right, all right, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

So well, Luke actually drops us into a moment of spiritual collision here. Jesus frees a man from a mute demon that a miracle that no one can deny. We see the crowds in amazement. Yet instead of worship, the spiritual leaders respond with slander. And so, Nate, I got some alliteration for you.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Excellent. We have been weeks without the alliteration. I was really struggling this week without. So I'm not sure. I didn't want to disappoint.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

So we see Jesus is confronted by accusations. We see that the heart, a heart that is clean but empty, and we see that we are called to obedience. So let's dive in to verse 14 that says now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marvelled. But some said to them, He cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, while others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For I say that I cast out for you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out, therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when a stronger one than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. So we'll pause there and reflect. Jesus is just cast out a demon from a man who couldn't speak, and then suddenly can. The crowd is gathered in amazement, and the religious leaders begin to slander and twist this miracle that he cast out demons by Beelzebub. But Jesus responds, dismantling their accusation. Satan cannot and does not sabotage his own kingdom. Jesus gives us this parable or this illustration about a strong man, and Satan the par in the illustration, Satan is the strong man guarding his house, but Jesus is stronger, who's overpowering him, binding him, and plundering his captives. So showing that Satan, the Satan's work and Satan's the kingdom will not stand. One of the commentators that I that I reference had a note in that I wanted to highlight here. It might be a bit of a rabbit trail, but people often can get confused and think of Satan as the equal or the rival to God or to God. And you know, we can often think of, and it's easy to be like, the what's the opposite of of good? It's evil. What's the opposite of light? It's dark. What's the opposite of God? It's not Satan. God has no equal. But people sometimes get confused by that. Satan is a created being, not an equal or a rival. He isn't competing with Jesus. And then so moving on, sorry for the rabbit trail, but moving on, Jesus exposes a deeper issue, which is the spiritual blindness that misinterprets God's work and attribute and is attributing it to the work of Satan. And then Jesus draws this line in the sand that says, Whoever is not with me is against me. Neutrality isn't neutrality, it's rejection. And I was drawn to this illustration that I heard in a in a in a connect group plug for connect groups.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

I love it. Keep that theme going. Yeah. So there's a Which fits with the C alliteration, by the way. The confrontation and connects.

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Well, there was this illustration that we talked about, and it's probably been around for a while. It's not in scripture, but it's a powerful illustration about a man who spent his whole life on the fence. Believers urged him to follow Jesus, but he always said, I'm not choosing either side. He thought neutrality was safe. But when his life ended, he discovered the truth that the fence that he had been sitting on wasn't neutral ground at all. It belongs to the enemy. The devil's words were simple. I own the fence. So Jesus is saying the same thing here. The fence is enemy territory. If you're not with me, you're against me. So I'll pause and I'll see what you all think about this section of the scripture.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Yeah, this is a good one. And yeah, it's just people wanting to, I think, like you pointed out, using well, the confrontation, people are just looking for reasons, you know, to try to confront Jesus. We even we'll get to it next week, too, of just the Pharisees, this consistent opposition that continues continually comes, but Jesus doesn't pull any punches. You know, it's if you're not with me, you're against me. And there has to be a decision, there has to be a response to Christ. And so people try to justify it in many different ways, but that's ultimately

A Divided Kingdom Cannot Stand

SPEAKER_03 8:45

the decision you have to make.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

Yeah, I was kind of struck by the the crowds or whoever it was that's asking this. It never says specifically that it's the Pharisees, it does later in the passage talk about the Pharisees in this chapter rather, but it doesn't call out specifically who it is, but it does tell you something about them. In verse uh 15 it says, but some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, while others to test him. And we've seen that theme before, that a lot of people have ulterior motives really in the in this culture of approaching Jesus, and it was to test him or to trip him up. In last week's episode of podcast we talked through, or maybe it was two weeks ago, I think it was, with uh with Rico talking about the lawyer, and the lawyer stood up to test him again and desiring to justify himself. And here you kind of had that same thing. But look at Jesus, really knows the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. He demonstrates this and he says, verse 17, but he, knowing their thoughts, said to them. And it just kind of struck me that there's nothing that you know in our hearts that's not completely visible to the Lord. He knows our motives, he knows our dark secrets, he knows the corners of the hearts that we've tried to hide from others or for him or from him, and he knows it all. And then Jeremy, I'll I'll indulge you on your rabbit trail that you ran because I love that little rabbit. I studied that years ago about the angels. I studied that there's three named angels in the Bible. It's Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Right.

SPEAKER_05 10:14

And if you read in Revelation, it says a third of the angels fell with Lucifer. So it kind of implies there's this hierarchical uh structure within the angel structure. But but Lucifer was, he was a created being. You're absolutely right. And he's not God's equal. He he's created. I mean, you think God and Satan, he was he was an angel, just like Michael, just like Gabriel, and he happens to be the only other one that's named in the Bible, and a third of the angels fell. So I don't know if there's an implication there that uh, you know, he's very powerful, and I think there's a lot of, you know, and the story goes on and talks about casting out demons. There's I think there's this the spirit world is very alive all around us, and I think we don't we're not aware a lot of times of how powerful it is and the influences on our lives that that demons have, and they're very present in our lives. But anyway, I indulge your rabbit trail. I thought it was a good one. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

I I like the fact that it this is a is so rich for us to read. Uh and this correlates to the heart of the man, the thoughts, the pride, the know it all. I mean, the same thing that we see here happens in Genesis 3. The test. Did he say? Right? With one simple question. And he he he if we can see the correlation between Genesis 1 all the way through Revelation, we can see that in the same system with different mechanics to distract us from the reality that God is good. I like the rabbit hole that you guys went to. I mean, just to point out that nothing is equal to God, nothing is opposite to he's everything. Right? He he is the Alpha and the Omega, he's the one who creates everything. And I'm glad that he creates everything with a free will that we must do not as we please, but as he says. So to hear this, that even him casting demons, why would the enemy cast himself? But even in that good deed, we still, and I say we because we uh seen this happen even with uh people who believe why are we trying to allow our pride to consume something that is already done to disprove what is good? And I think uh we talk about this in the previous podcast about prayer, the relationship that we must have with the Father. And I believe this guiding that, misleading that, he will guide us to stuff like this when we question everything about the goodness of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

That's my point. Yeah, awesome. Well, moving on, we're gonna see our next point, a heart that is cleaned but empty. We'll start in verse 24 and we'll

Satan Is Not God’s Equal

SPEAKER_02 13:10

read through 26. When uh when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of the person is worse than the first. Jesus tells us this parable about an unclean spirit leaving a person, wandering, and returning with seven more. And I what I what I want to clarify is that Jesus is not here describing a believer, he's speaking to the Pharisees, the unbelieving Pharisees. Scripture teaches us in many places that we are that at when you are when you become a child of God, when you place your faith and trust in the Lord, that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as it says in First Corinthians six, nineteen, that you are indwelt by the Spirit in Romans eight, nine, that what fellowship has light with darkness in in 2 Corinthians 6 14 through 16. Uh believers may be tempted, attacked, and oppressed, but not possessed. So this is not Jesus is describing an unregenerated person who has experienced a moral reform but not a salvation. A life tidy but spiritually empty. And a lot of people wear themselves out trying to clean themselves up instead of letting Jesus actually transform them. Jesus is exposing here the danger of a life that looks clean on the outside, kind of like what the Pharisees were talking about, but is is is is bankrupt on the inside. The danger of moralism without the spirit.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

So you're totally stealing the thunder for next week, by the way. But but I do think that's 100%, and and just thinking as you were talking through that reminded me of an interaction I had with a guy one time who was kind of worked security for the VA, and I may have told this story a long time ago, but it just conversations like this remind me of it. And he was in the addiction wing. You know, he was guys who were veterans who would come in struggling with addiction, and he said to me, Those that find Christ and never see them again, but those that don't, that try to just white knuckle it and do it themselves, it's a revolving door. They just keep coming back and coming back. So that idea that we can clean ourselves up apart from Christ is is a total fallacy. And and I think in this passage it says it's actually going to get worse, you know, because we can't do it on our own. It's actually then seven are going to come back. So to think that we can stand in our own strength is a complete fallacy.

SPEAKER_05 16:09

Yeah, I think we're completely dependent on God for that. You know, this is a story about, you know, potentially an unbeliever who, you know, one demon leaves, brings

The Clean House That Stays Empty

SPEAKER_05 16:20

back seven more. You can't do it on your own. It's completely impossible. I think there's also, I mean, if you if you take it at another level, I think it was also for the believer. I think there's a there's a nugget of truth in here for us. And I think that is, you know, when you think you've cleaned up your own house, possibly in your own strength, you're going to be attacked. And the enemy is real. We just got talking about, you know, casting out demons. And then he gets into this passage about, you know, the spirit, an unclean spirit, leaves this person, seven others return. I mean, we cannot do this in our own strength. And that's kind of the point for an unbeliever certainly can't be converted in their own strength and clean their own house. But also as a believer, I think we have to rely on the spirit and the strength of the Lord to keep really the enemy at bay, because he's going to be consistently bothering us. Rico mentioned the Genesis 3 reference, and I love that passage because you know, the first four words out of Satan's mouth, recording all the scriptures, did God actually say? His whole MO, his whole shtick is to question God's word. And we're going to get into that in a little bit later because the Bible actually says down in verse 28, talks about, you know, blessed rather are those who hear the word and keep it. And that's really the point as we do that, it protects us from a lot of the things that that that he talks about earlier.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Not in our own strength. This is something for believers to really check their heart to see where we are. Because if you've been following Christ and you know that we need to depend on him, and if we read this story, I mean, mind you, the story says that the spirit left, but then he came back seven times. That that's an observation for me thinking as an unbeliever. There could be a possibility of well, I feel remorse about something. I feel sad about something, I feel I can sympathize about something. But pride can go ahead and erase all that. Therefore, whatever you were doing or whatever comes to you comes harder than before. And I had experienced that before I came to Christ. And this passage, I'm glad that you reiterate in there that listen, if you have the spirit of the living God, you cannot be possessed by the spirit, by the wrong spirit. Now, yes, we can we can have some some differences in there, but the the point that he mentioned here that only Christ, only Christ can save, only Christ Christ can restore, only Christ can truly forgive. And not only that, but just the analogy that when he mentioned at the last stage the man became worse than first. And how many people I don't need God right now, I'm good. How many people will go to different social clubs to stop drinking or to stop whatever they doing, then something bad happens, and then they go back to whatever they were doing, and it would be worse. So this observation right here is very is very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Yeah. And then we move in, moving on. We we see our last C here that Jesus is calling people to obedience. So starting in verse 27 and continuing through verse thirty-two, he says it or it says, as he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast at which you nursed. But he said, Blessed rather are those who hear the words of word of God and keep it. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation, it seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon

Blessed Are Those Who Obey

SPEAKER_02 20:50

is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. So we see in this in this section that a woman cries out, Blessed is the womb that bore you, but Jesus redirects her emotion to the to a proper focus. Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Admiration is not obedience. And then Jesus confronts the crowd that demand a sign because signs not not that signs are bad, but because their hearts are hard. The sign of Jonah, just some little bit of uh teaching here, that the sign of Jonah actually points to Jesus' resurrection. Jonah was as good as dead for those three days before returning. And Matthew 12, verse 40, this is a uh makes a parallel, makes this parallel between J Jesus and Jonah explicit. When it says, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah's return foreshadows the resurrection of Jesus, who is the greater Jonah, bringing and brings the ultimate sign. Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching and rejecting Jesus after his resurrection brings a greater accountability, is what Jesus is saying. Something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, like when I was studying, she probably traveled like a thousand miles, and in that day, that thousand miles is like really hard to fathom to see to to see the wisdom of Solomon, and yet one greater than Solomon is standing right in front of them. Jesus is exposing a tragedy that their greater res revelation should lead to greater repentance, but this generation in front of him is unmoved. So I'll pause and see what you all think.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

Yeah, a lot to as always with many of these, and we could do whole episodes, but we look to tackle a lot. But I even a couple things, you know, just the the woman and Jesus, you know, those who would pray to Mary, you know, I just kind of see in that first part, you know, people would say the womb and try to elevate Mary, but Jesus is saying no, it's those who believe me, follow me, keep the word of God. So I just think that's you know worth pointing out. But then, yeah, the sign of Jonah, you know, we just see like Jesus is the sign. You know, even today, people are like, uh, you know, well, if God showed up or, you know, something I saw a miracle, but we have the signs, we have the Bible, we have all that we need for faith, you know, to believe, to have salvation. And I think that's always very important too, because the same attitude then is the same attitude, you know, that we see today.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

I think the

The Sign Of Jonah And Closing

SPEAKER_01 24:05

the verse that really struck to me beyond verse 28, and the last part that he came with that. More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God, but it doesn't stop there. Right? It says, and keep it. So a little mini mini little story, not story, study on that word keep. Keep it means in the different wings, especially on this segment. And let me let me say that before that. How many of us can hear the word, read the word, but are not impacted by the word? Can we consider because we do not keep what are we listening to, what are we hearing? So a good words of observation in here. What the word keep means, it means to guard, to watch over, to persevere, to obey, to hold firmly. So when I read this, and it's good to read, it's good to listen, but more importantly, the command of that statement, to keep it, that's what is make the difference. So that's what stuck with me.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Yeah, Jesus is calling us to obedience, right? It's easy to to be curious, or the current the crowd wants a sign, or they want like a miracle, but Jesus is calling people to obedience, to something deeper, to something that will actually reshape our lives.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

And that was really the story of Jonah. I'm gonna be teaching a series on Jonah in the fall here at Lifehouse, but I've been studying for that already, and he references you know, there's only one sign, and that's gonna be the sign of Jonah. It's expounded a little bit more in Matthew's rendering of this. Uh Matthew 12, he says, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah was in this belly, he gets vomited back out in chapter three. He preaches an amazing, literally an eight-word sermon, eight words in the Greek, or eight words in the English, five words, I believe it is in Hebrew. Uh that at least that's all that's recorded, and the entire city completely repents. And that's that's the obedience that you're talking about, Jeremy. But you don't want this is a completely rabbit trail, you love rabbit trails. Yeah. So the sign of Jonah in my study on this, I don't know if you know this, but because of that rendering in Matthew, where it says Jesus was three days and three nights, Jesus died. We know that. You can make a case from Jonah chapter two, the prayer of Jonah, that Jonah actually died. If you read into it, and it's not a stretch. I wouldn't, I wouldn't stake my career on this one, but you can make an implication there. And then it resonates so much more with what Jesus said. Being dead for three days and three nights, the sign was that he was resurrected. So that's an I don't know. I've always kind of wondered why is it just the sign of Jonah? Both of them are in the belly, one was in the belly of the earth, one was in the belly of the fish. But you can make an argument, both died, and you can see that in Jonah chapter two. So, anyway, for those of you who are Lifehouse, a little paid political announcement.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Yeah, starting in the fall, conspiracy theories. Everybody's gonna want to come to the study to be good about this. It's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Oh man, sticking it up. So well, man, this is a lot of good stuff. Again, Lifehouse Family. We hope this helps really think through just some of those confrontations and how in your own walk, maybe you're seeking, and we'd love to talk to you if so. But maybe that was you confronting Christ, but being for him. So we all have to make that call. We all have to make that decision of whether we're going to face and do things ourselves, or if we're going to trust in Christ, we're going to accept that sign of Jonah. So we pray that is you and that this episode encouraged you. And uh, if not to keep seeking in your faith, it's the most important thing that we all have to decide. So, again, hope this episode encouraged you. And join us next week. Jeremy already telegraphed it will be digging into the Pharisees and more confrontation and more alliteration to come. So stay tuned, and we will see you next week. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.