Sermon on Mark 3:20-35, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost 2021 (B), "Warring Kingdoms"

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. God’s and the devil’s kingdom are at war in this world. We pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God, send your kingdom here on earth! God’s Kingdom has intense opposition. The devil is deeply entrenched and fights his losing battle to the bitter end. The devil’s kingdom and God’s are as different as darkness and light, evil and good, death and life.

But the devil is a powerful Liar and Deceiver, ever since the beginning. The devil lies so well, that in Isaiah, God rebuked His people for getting things totally backwards. He says: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). It’s deep trouble when we can’t tell right from wrong or good from evil. The devil is expert at keeping us confused! The devil is an expert liar and murderer from the beginning.

This fog of confusion and war occurs in Mark 3. Jesus attacks Satan’s kingdom, liberating demon oppressed people. We don’t often encounter demon oppression, or so we think. But it’s all over the Gospels. Jesus met tormented people, begging for freedom from evil spirits. Others weren’t begging at all; they were just terrorizing everybody! Into this chaos, Jesus speaks peace, and visibly frees numerous people. And while they’re being freed from evil, onlookers say Jesus is doing this by the power of Beelzebul! He does good and they call it evil. Beelzebul was another name for the devil, meaning “lord of the house”. The subtle twist “Beelzebub” meant “lord of flies.” The devil lies so powerfully and convincingly that when his kingdom was being attacked, onlookers couldn’t tell friend from enemy.

Jesus’ battle plan takes that into account: “while we were still enemies, Christ died for us.” Jesus attacks the devil’s kingdom to “plunder” it. For the confused prisoners of war in enemy camps, who couldn’t tell friend from foe, Jesus explains: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.” No kingdom or nation, no household or home, can remain divided and effectively continue to stand. Division weakens and ultimately if continued, will be the fall of a kingdom or nation, a church or congregation, or a family. The devil cannot war against himself, Jesus says, or his power will quickly end.

It's a simple truth often repeated through history. A house divided cannot stand. Famously, young Abraham Lincoln said it when he was running for senator. USA was divided over the slavery issue, and he quoted Jesus, that a house divided cannot stand. Lincoln said the country must become all one thing or all the other. Slave or free. He lost his run for Senate after this speech, but later became president. The rest, as they say, is history. Over 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War for us to become free.

Divisions will undo any kingdom, nation, church, or family. Jesus prophesied it, Lincoln saw it, and many others sing and write about it. Division and unity. Slogans like “United we stand, divided we fall.” One can’t help but see that the world is bitterly divided. Politically. Religiously. Morally. Economically. Racially. In families. In schools and churches. The devil masterfully turns us against each other and sows division. Using lies, deception, and appealing to our selfish natures and appetites, he divides and conquers us. Prince of demons, or “Beelzebul”, “lord of the house”, Jesus describes him as the “strong man.”  

In the strong man’s house are many captives. Divided and conquered, confused and calling good evil and evil good, many are under the devil’s thumb. So how do you rescue prisoners from the strong man’s house? Jesus’ simple answer is: bind the strong man. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. Tie him up. Tie up the strong man, and then enter his house and plunder him. This is just what Jesus does. If the devil is the strong man, Jesus is the Stronger Man who ties up the devil and deprives him of his power. When Jesus cast out demons, they were forced to obey. They had to yield control to Jesus, the Stronger Man.

Jesus’ death on the cross looked like a clear win for the devil, the strong man and his gang. After years of setbacks, they had Jesus surrounded and cornered at last. Jesus was bound and handed over for death. Nailed to the cross, exhausted, dying, dead. Had the devil’s kingdom won? Far from it, Jesus took death’s blow, the deadliest shot the devil could deliver—died, and then rose to life again. When Jesus rose, He clearly turned the tables on the devil, so now it was the devil who was bound and stripped of power. The devil, big brute that he is, intimidator and jailer of captives, is attacked and overcome by Jesus Christ, the STRONGER ONE, who ties him up, disarms him, and the winner takes the spoils!

So, Jesus establishes that the two warring kingdoms, the devil and God’s kingdom—they are not equal. God wins. But the devil doesn’t stop fighting and wreaking havoc. He’s bound on a heavy chain, but he still has reach and power on earth. He still assaults God’s people, abuses, sows division, and lies.

Jesus goes on to describe the devil’s deadliest trap: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin”—for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Here is both an astonishing Gospel promise, the beauty of complete and merciful forgiveness, and a grim Law warning, about the one unforgivable sin. Of all the sins that one may commit, Jesus describes only one unforgivable sin. By no means does that mean we should go freely commit any sin we want to; that would be foolish. God’s forgiveness should never be treated as an incentive to sin. That’s abusing grace. But the question is often asked here: “What is the unforgivable sin, and how do I know if I have committed it?”

Blasphemy is essentially speaking outrageously toward someone to dishonor and devalue them. Especially towards God. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to call God’s good work something evil. To call a wonderful act of healing and freeing a person from Satan’s power wicked and evil; to call the Holy Spirit’s work the devil’s work. A flagrant rejection and insult of God’s work. It should be unmistakable when someone is freed from Satan’s chains, that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. So why is this the unforgivable sin? To blaspheme the Holy Spirit in this way, there is no forgiveness, FOREVER, Jesus says. You harden your heart so much against God, that you utterly reject the work of the Holy Spirit, drive out faith, and viciously attack God’s work as evil. Jesus severe warning to the scribes was a huge, bold billboard warning those about to hurtle off a cliff into never-ending guilt (Piper). Had they gone over already? Had they already committed this sin? This was a shocking jolt to rescue any who had not yet sealed their fate in their rejection of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ redeeming work.

This passage has caused a lot of fear and anxiety for many dear Christians, who do not reject God’s work, are grieved by their sin, and who eagerly hope to enter God’s kingdom but from a tender conscience fear that at some point they might’ve committed the unforgivable sin. Perhaps in a period of rebellion when they said they hated God, or because of angry and abusive words that they spoke against God during a difficult time in life. Or perhaps in their thoughts, they fear that somehow they may have sinned against the Holy Spirit, and worry that they might be excluded from forgiveness and eternal salvation. However, if you agonize over such thoughts or fears, it shows the Holy Spirit is alive in you and you have an earnestly repentant heart. If you have such unresolved spiritual wrestling, talk to me. No one who’s actually committed this sin, and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, would be overcome with remorse or doubt. The opposite. They could care less about God or repentance. The fact that you earnestly desire to be included in Christ’s redemption, and are sorry for any foolish rebellion, is proof the Holy Spirit is alive and well within you, and you are a believer. The sin against the Holy Spirit is not simply the sin of unbelief or of unrepentance. Nor is it rejecting God through foolishness or spiritual blindness, both of which are recoverable. What many faithful pastors and theologians have said through the ages, is that what makes the sin unforgivable, is precisely the fact that the person who commits the sin against the Holy Spirit never wants forgiveness! They not only refuse to repent, but also permanently reject the work of the Holy Spirit. But if you are seeking forgiveness, the Spirit lives in you, and you are forgiven.

So that’s the unforgivable sin, but don’t pass by the incredible flip side of the statement, that all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin. God is incredibly forgiving. Humanity is terribly sinful and continues to grieve God with all manner of sins. To our own harm and the harm of others. God convicts us by the work of the Holy Spirit; Jesus barnstorms the devil’s house and rescues us captives. He ties up the strong man, the devil, and Jesus plunders his house of prisoners. You and I were saved by this rescue operation. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, wars against the kingdom of the evil one and wins. Our sins are forgiven; we know it by faith. We celebrate and give thanks whenever Jesus’ mighty name, declares victory over sin in someone’s life, declares victory over fear, over death, over the sin-slavery that once held us in bondage. Christ, the Stronger One, opens the way to everlasting life. He opens the way to freedom from the devil’s destructive and blasphemous kingdom. He opens the way to our refuge in His eternal, indestructible kingdom. Oh Lord, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven! Amen.