No Neutral Ground

Luke 11, 14 to 36.

Now, he was casting out a demon that was mute.

When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled.

But some of them said,

He casts out demons by Beelzebul, 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 you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, 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 one stronger 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.

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 that person is worse than the first.

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 breasts at which you nursed.

But he said,

Blessed rather are those who hear the 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 will the Son of Man 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 is here.

The men of Nineveh will rise up 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.

No one,

after lighting a lamp,

puts it in a cellar or under a basket,

but on a stand,

so that those who enter may see the light.

Your eye is the lamp of your body.

When your eye is healthy,

your whole body is full of light.

But when it is bad,

your body is full of darkness.

Therefore,

be careful,

lest the light in you be darkness.

If then,

your whole body is full of light,

having no part dark,

it will be wholly bright,

as when a lamp with its rays

gives you light.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

In an essay written in 1953 entitled,

What is an agnostic?

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell famously defined this widely used label.

An agnostic, he says,

thinks it is impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned.

Or, if not impossible,

at least impossible at the present time.

Are agnostics atheists?

No.

An atheist, like a Christian,

holds that we can know whether or not there is a God.

The Christian holds that we can know there is a God.

The atheist, that we can know there is not.

The agnostic suspends judgment,

saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial.

To a generation that is leery of commitment,

like ours,

this suspension of judgment can appear quite virtuous.

I'm neither a dogmatic atheist or a dogmatic Christian.

Both claim more than they can prove,

but I am an agnostic.

I don't form judgments without conclusive evidence.

I occupy the middle ground.

I'm a neutral, undecided party.

But according to our passage today,

this is neither wise nor virtuous.

Because when it comes to spiritual matters,

there is no neutral ground to stand on.

To make no choice is to make a choice.

And to suspend judgment on Jesus and his message

is the same, in effect, as rejecting Jesus and his message.

And so the main point of this passage

that Jesus is getting across to us

is that we must repent and believe in Jesus Christ,

for there is no neutral ground.

And Luke demonstrates this point

with three sets of contrasts in this passage.

First is Jesus versus Beelzebul.

Second is hearing versus seeking signs.

And third is light versus darkness.

And the first contrast between Jesus and Beelzebul

is interesting.

It says in verse 14,

Now Jesus was casting out a demon that was mute.

When the demon had gone out,

the mute man spoke,

and the people marveled.

The demon is described as mute

because it's what the demon causes

in the hosts that it occupies.

Jesus casts out this demon

so that the man can speak again,

and the people, it says, marveled,

which seems like initially a good reaction, right?

It seems like a positive response.

But it turns out that it's just,

it's a mere fascination with what Jesus has done

without faith.

There's no response to him in faith.

And we should heed this warning

because marveling at Jesus is insufficient.

We must not reduce Jesus and the works that he did

and his teachings to a spectacle,

a curiosity, an interest.

Jesus is Christ the Lord,

and he demands our faith and obedience

in response to what he teaches.

But this crowd does not respond that way.

And instead, we see two different negative responses,

which is a warning to us in verses 15 to 16.

But some of them said,

this is the first response,

he casts out demons by Beelzebul,

the prince of demons,

while others,

this is the second response,

to test him,

kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

So two negative responses.

The first group responds with a smear campaign,

misrepresenting Jesus' miracles

as acts of Beelzebul,

the prince of demons.

Beelzebul probably comes from the name Beelzebul.

Beel, as most of you know,

is the name of the chief deity of the Canaanites

that dwell the promised land that Israel later occupied.

Zebul,

Beel, that means lord.

Zebul means high place,

or lofty dwelling.

So it probably refers to Beel as the lord of the high place,

or the lord of the skies,

as he was popularly called.

It's conceptually similar to the way Ephesians 2,

Ephesians 2:2

verse 2 describes Satan

as the prince of the power of the air.

In the air,

occupies this airy realm above the earth.

And here,

Beelzebul is just another name for Satan,

which we see clearly later in verse 18.

So the first group is smearing Jesus' ministry,

misrepresenting him,

saying that it's the act of Beelzebul.

The second group responds with skepticism,

disbelieving Jesus,

and seeking further signs.

And Jesus responds to both of these negative responses in turn.

First, he addresses the smear campaign,

people who are misrepresenting him,

in verses 17 to 26.

It says in verse 17 that Jesus knew their thoughts,

and whenever this happens,

this is now the fourth time we've been told

that Jesus kind of perceives someone's thoughts,

knows their hearts.

Jesus is about to confront them with something.

And again,

that happens here in verses 17 to 18.

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 you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

Civil wars destroy nations.

Divorces destroy families.

Likewise,

the kingdom of Satan,

if divided,

will crumble and fall.

That's the logic.

And Satan is not so stupid

as to be divided against himself

by opposing his own demonic forces.

His influence is still clear

and formidable throughout the world,

and so it can't be that he is working against himself.

So using this reason,

Jesus neutralizes the crowd's slander

that he's casting out demons by Beelzebul.

It's illogical.

Jesus continues in verse 19,

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul,

by whom do your sons cast them out?

Therefore they will be your judges.

So their own sons,

their own,

maybe not literal children,

but people that come from them,

they are casting out demons also.

And we see examples of this,

for example,

in Acts 19,

the sons of Sceva,

they are also Jewish itinerant exorcists.

And if they are doing these things too,

and these Jews,

from whom these itinerant Jewish exorcists come from,

are accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul,

he's asking them,

what about people from your own midst?

What about those people whom you endorse?

Your Jewish itinerant exorcists,

who do they cast out demons with?

Are they too using the power of Beelzebul?

So Jesus is saying that exorcists,

from their own number,

will judge them

for their slanderous dismissal of Jesus' ministry.

And then Jesus states

what is actually happening in verse 20.

But if it is by the finger of God

that I cast out demons,

then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Jesus is casting out demons.

It's not an activity of Beelzebul,

but it is the activity of God Almighty.

And it's the sign

that the kingdom of God has come upon them.

The phrase, the finger of God,

is an allusion to Exodus,

Exodus 8:19

chapter 8, verse 19,

where Moses brings various plagues

upon the land of Egypt and upon Pharaoh

because of his refusal

to let God's people, Israelites,

go to worship him in freedom

rather than being enslaved in Egypt.

The Egyptian court magicians

are able to replicate

using their tricks or sorcery

to replicate Moses' first two plagues

of turning the water into blood

and then making frogs come up from the land.

So they are able to replicate it.

And so the Pharaoh hardens his heart.

But when Moses turns the dust of the earth

into gnats and plagues humans and animals

all throughout Egypt,

it says this,

that the magicians

tried by their secret arts

to produce gnats,

but they could not.

So there were gnats on man and beast.

Then the magician said to Pharaoh,

Pharaoh, this is the finger of God.

But Pharaoh's heart was hardened

and he would not listen to them

as the Lord had said.

So Jesus is making an allusion

to this account in multiple levels.

First, Jesus is not performing

some secret tricks

or relying on the spiritual forces of darkness

to cast out demons.

Rather, his work is not of the same ilk

as even these inferior Jewish itinerant exorcists.

Rather, Jesus is casting out demons

by the very finger of God.

Yet, like Pharaoh who hardened his heart

in spite of this clear demonstration

of God's power,

these crowds are also hardening their hearts

against Jesus.

Then Jesus uses an analogy

to explain the situation further

in verses 21 to 22.

When a strong man fully armed

guards his own palace,

his goods are safe.

But when one stronger than he

attacks him and overcomes him,

he takes away his armor in which he trusted

and divides his spoil.

So this analogy is taken from

the messianic prophecy

about the servant of the Lord

that's coming

in Isaiah 49, 24 to 25,

which says,

Can the prey be taken from the mighty

or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?

For thus says the Lord,

Even the captives of the mighty

shall be taken

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued.

For I will contend with those

who contend with you

and I will save your children.

So this was God's promise.

This is what he promised he would do

with Jesus,

the coming Messiah.

And Jesus is saying that

this is what is actually happening.

Satan is the fully armed strong man

who is guarding his own palace.

The word palace can also be translated

fortress or a castle.

So this is really a military imagery.

So Beelzebul,

the Lord of the high place,

is guarding his high castle.

When the strong man is guarding his castle,

he says his goods are safe.

But when one stronger than he,

and that's Jesus,

attacks him

and overcomes him,

he takes away his armor

in which he trusted

and divides the spoil.

This is the second time now

Jesus is being described

as the stronger one.

One who is mightier.

That's how John the Baptist

earlier described him.

One who is mightier than I

is coming

and he will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So Jesus is the stronger one.

Satan is the strong one in the world

but Jesus is stronger still

and he is the mightier one

who wields

not the powers of evil forces,

these minions,

as Satan does,

but with the Holy Spirit.

He comes with the Holy Spirit

of the Almighty God.

Satan holds sway

over this world

but he is powerless

before Christ the King.

This is a wonderful image.

Jesus coming as the conquering king,

invading the kingdom of Satan,

disarming the prince of demons

and despoiling his goods.

And the spoils

that he takes from the evil one

refer to the salvation benefits

that Jesus secures for his people,

the redemption from spiritual slavery,

the salvation benefits,

the forgiveness of sins,

the Holy Spirit,

his gifts and eternal life

in the kingdom of God.

We are called the inheritance of Christ,

the special possession of God

in Ephesians 1, 18.

And so he comes to claim us,

to save us,

to despoil Satan and his kingdom.

And as the redeemed people of God then,

as people who have now joined him,

we get to partake

in this ongoing kingdom advance.

And that's what Jesus is referring to

when he promises Peter

and the other apostles

in Matthew 16, 18.

And I tell you,

you are Peter.

On this rock,

I will build my church

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

Christians often read this promise

as a promise of protection,

as if we're huddled up

in this secure bunker somewhere

and the forces of hell

cannot overcome it

because Jesus is this bunker.

But that's not the image

that is being conveyed to us

because gates are defensive structures.

They're not offensive structures.

They are built to keep enemies out.

So what's being promised here

is not protection from the assault

of the enemies,

but empowerment to assault the enemies.

We are to invade the kingdom of Satan,

the realm of the spiritually dead,

and to liberate the captives

and despoil his goods.

That's what we get to partake in.

That's what Christ did for us.

We are weak,

but Christ is the stronger one.

There may be family members,

friends, neighbors,

and maybe even some of us

who may seem so captive

to the power of the enemy

that our rescue seems hopeless,

but we have to remember

that we are going actually

with the stronger one

who is able to disarm

and dispossess the strong one.

If some of you are struggling

in your fight,

in your battle for holiness,

I hope this encourages you

in your daily spiritual warfare

against the enemy

because Satan is strong.

He is a strong one,

and it seems at times

like his hold over us

may be evident in our besetting sins

or in the stubborn unbelief

of our loved ones

that we pray for,

that we share the gospel with.

It may make it seem

like his whole sway of,

his sway over us is unbreakable,

but we have to remember

that the stronger one

is on our side.

Our victory is assured,

and it is our destiny

to gain more and more ground

in the battles

until the war is won in fullness

because Christ has won

the decisive battle on the cross

and victory is assured to us.

The demons flee at the mention

of the name of Christ,

Christ the King,

the kingdom of Satan is falling,

not because of internal discord,

not because of a civil war,

but because of an external,

overwhelming invasion

by Jesus Christ and his church.

That's why earlier in Luke 10,

17 to 18,

when his disciples,

72 disciples returned with joy

from their mission,

saying,

Lord, Lord,

even the demons are subject to us,

subject to us in your name,

Jesus replied to them,

I saw Satan fall

like lightning from heaven.

Through the ministry of Christ

and his followers,

Satan falls from his high abode

and is dispossessed.

In 1 Kings chapter 1,

1 Kings 1 · chapter mention

we find the derogatory form

of the word Beelzebul.

They change it to Beelzebub,

which means Lord of the flies.

That's where the title

of the novel comes from.

And so in reality,

when with the coming of Jesus,

the Lord of the skies

is reduced to the Lord of the flies.

That's what Jesus does.

And because this is a cosmic battle

that is being waged over the entire world,

there is no neutral ground.

There are no Switzerland's

in this spiritual arena.

So Jesus says in verse 23,

whoever is not with me

is against me.

And whoever does not

outgather with me scatters.

So the first clause of this verse

is using military imagery.

And the second clause

is using agricultural imagery.

Whoever is not with Jesus,

meaning if you're not fighting

on Jesus' side,

you're on the opposite side.

You're against Jesus

and allied with Beelzebul.

And the second clause says,

whoever does not gather

with Jesus scatters.

The word gather is a term

used to refer to

the harvesting of crops.

Luke used it earlier

in chapter 3 verse 17

in the same context

where John the Baptist says

Jesus is the mightier one.

So his winnowing fork

is in his hand

to clear his threshing floor

and to gather the wheat

into his barn.

But the chaff he will burn

with unquenchable fire.

So Jesus is doing

a gathering work.

He is collecting his wheat,

his people.

And those who belong to him,

they gather with him.

They participate in his work

to gather the wheat

into his barn.

But those who reject him,

the chaff, rather,

will be scattered by the wind

and consumed by the fire

of judgment.

Those who do not join Jesus

in gathering the harvest

will instead join Satan

in scattering the harvest

and they will be scattered with it.

There is no neutral middle ground.

And Jesus elaborates

on this reality

in verses 24 to 26.

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 that person

is worse than the first.

So Jesus uses

an illustration

of a demoniac

to highlight the importance

of responding

to Jesus' message

with faith and obedience.

Because when an unclean spirit

is cast out of a person,

it passes through

waterless places.

So a waterless place

is an arid place,

a wilderness.

It's the proverbial abode

of evil spirits.

They wander like nomads

in the wastelands

where there is no life,

where there is no water.

So Jesus was tempted

by the devil earlier

in Luke chapter 4

Luke 4 · chapter mention

in the wilderness.

Likewise,

in Luke 8, 29,

we saw the garrison demoniac

when he was possessed

by a demon

would be driven

to the wilderness.

So that's what we're seeing here,

waterless places

seeking rest.

But as they're roaming

through these waterless places

seeking rest,

they are not satisfied

with their nomadic existence

in the wilderness.

They don't find rest

that they are seeking.

They desire to be housed.

So the exorcised demon says,

I will return

to my house

from which I came.

When it returns,

the person it used

to dwell in

is found,

is to have a sound mind now,

has an ordered life,

but still unoccupied.

So then it recruits

seven other spirits

more evil than itself

so they could together

occupy the person

and dwell inside him

in a much more permanent way.

So the number seven

is a symbol of completeness.

So it refers to

full occupancy,

a total control.

And the last state

of that person

is worse

than the first.

We as human beings

have been created

with the capacity

to house spirits.

If an evil spirit

is cast out

of a person,

that person does not,

and then that person

does not put his faith

in Jesus

and is indwelled

by God's spirit,

the Holy Spirit,

then he is still

vulnerable

to the return

of still more

evil spirits.

We were created

for the spirit's indwelling,

the Holy Spirit's indwelling,

because God

intends to dwell

with us.

That's his ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal

of creation

is that we become

his dwelling place.

And if we do not say

yes to God,

then we are saying

yes to the devil.

There's no neutral zone.

We can't stay

unoccupied

and uninfluenced

by the spiritual realm.

We're either with Christ

or against him.

This principle

is true literally,

but it can also be applied

more broadly

in a figurative sense.

And 2 Peter

seems to be doing that.

2 Peter 2,

2 Peter 2:20–22

verse 20 to 22.

For if,

after they have escaped

the defilements

of the world

through the knowledge

of our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ,

they are again

entangled in them

and overcome,

the last state

has become worse

for them

than the first.

For it would have

been better for them

never to have known

the way of righteousness

than after knowing it

to turn back

from the holy commandment

delivered to them.

what the true proverb

says has happened

to them.

The dog returns

to its own vomit

and the soul,

after washing herself,

returns to wallow

in the mire.

If you encounter

Christ in some way

and come into contact

with his representatives,

the church,

and you experience

a measure of deliverance

from the sins

that made your

former life miserable,

maybe you overcome

addictions

to alcohol

or opioids,

maybe addictions

to gambling

or pornography,

or maybe with the help

of the Christian community

and some biblical teaching

on financial stewardship,

you escape

the vicious cycle

of financial

irresponsibility,

debt,

and poverty.

Or maybe you overcome

anorexia

or you escape

gang involvement.

Whatever it may be,

all of these things happen

in churches,

but if you experience

a measure of that deliverance

but you don't

persevere

and put your faith

in Jesus Christ,

you try to take

the gifts of God

whilst leaving

the giver

of the good gifts

behind.

You have left

yourself unoccupied

and vulnerable

and when you fall away

from the influence

of the evil one,

the last state

will be worse

than the first.

putting off

your sins

is not enough.

You can't do that

without also putting

on the righteousness

of Christ.

Our minds and hearts

are much like our bellies

in the sense that

they always need

to be filled.

The only way

to stop eating

junk food

is to eat healthy food

so you're full

and you don't crave

junk food

because our stomach

needs to be filled

with something.

We need to put it off

and we need to put it on.

Our minds are never

blank slates

and our hearts

are never empty vessels.

They need to be

filled with things

and unless they're filled

with the treasures

of God himself,

they will fill up

with the trinkets

of this world.

An experience

of Jesus

is not enough.

We must believe

in Jesus

and obey Jesus.

We have to repent

and believe in Jesus Christ

because there is

no neutral ground.

That's the first contrast

that Luke sets before us.

The choice between

Jesus and Beelzebul.

The second contrast

Luke sets before us

is between hearing

and seeking signs

in verses 27 to 32.

Having addressed

the slanderers

who were smearing

his ministry,

now he's turning

to address the skeptics

who were trying

to test him,

questioning him

and asking for a sign.

But before he does that,

there's a brief intermission

that kind of sets up

his following teaching.

It says in verse 27,

verse 27,

As Jesus said these things,

a woman in the crowd

raised her voice

and said to him,

Blessed is the womb

that bore you

and the breasts

at which you nursed.

Among a sea of people

who are attributing

Jesus' work

to the work of Beelzebul

and otherwise,

other people

who are questioning him,

there is a faithful woman,

one woman who actually

believes what Jesus

is teaching

and she pronounces

the blessedness

of the mother

who bore Jesus,

which is an indirect way

of praising Jesus himself.

It's like saying,

Hey, I'm so thankful

that you were born.

You're saying,

you're expressing thanks

for that person,

gratefulness to that person.

And what this woman

is saying is quite true.

In fact,

it's confirmed

by Luke himself.

In Luke chapter 1,

Luke 1:42

verse 42,

Elizabeth said of Mary,

mother of Jesus,

Blessed are you among women

and blessed is the fruit

of your womb.

And Mary herself,

after learning

that she will give birth

to the Messiah

and conceive Jesus

by the Holy Spirit,

she said in chapter 1,

verse 47 to 48,

My soul magnifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices

in God my Savior,

for he has looked on

the humble estate

of his servant,

for behold,

from now on,

all generations

will call me blessed.

So what this woman

is saying is very true.

Mary is blessed.

The womb that bore Jesus

is blessed.

But Jesus doesn't want

the people listening to him

to focus on the blessedness

of his blood family.

So he responds in verse 28,

Blessed rather are those

who hear the word of God

and keep it.

This is very similar to

what Jesus said earlier

in chapter 8.

Then his mother

and his brothers came to him,

but they could not reach him

because of the crowd.

And he was told,

Your mother and your brothers

are standing outside.

I desire to see you.

But he answered them,

My mother and my brothers

are those who hear

the word of God

and do it.

Again and again

throughout the Gospel of Luke,

Jesus expresses the priority

of the faith family

over the blood family.

This is not because

caring for our family members

is unimportant.

Scripture in other places

clearly commands that.

We're called to honor

our father and mother.

We're called to care

for relatives

in 1 Timothy 5.8.

But it's because

Jesus is responding

to the word of God

that Jesus repeatedly

hammers home.

It's because these people

are responding

to the word of God

that Jesus proclaimed

that we are to respond

with faith and obedience

because that message

is so urgent.

Jesus doesn't want

the crowd to get caught up

in the VIP status

of his family members.

Oh wow,

that's Jesus' mother

over there.

Wow,

that's his brother.

These things

do not have

eternal consequence.

How you respond

to the proclamation

of the Gospel.

Whether you respond

in faith

and obedience

or not to Jesus,

that has

eternal consequence.

So you should be

concerned about that

instead of being

fascinated

with this.

blessed rather

are those

who hear the word

of God

and keep it.

It is blessed

to be the earthly

mother of Jesus.

Yes,

that's true.

But it is more blessed

to become

an adopted

child of God

by hearing

and keeping

the word of God.

Sometimes we can

get prideful

and give

undue

weight

to our

spiritual pedigree.

some of us

have had

faithful

godly parents,

even

grandparents.

Perhaps

some of us

are descended

from famous

spiritual giants

of ages past

or related

to some

Christian celebrity.

Some of us

have great

training,

theological

education.

having

godly

parents,

having

those

relations

is a

blessing

and a

privilege,

of course.

But what

matters is

whether or

not we

hear the

word of

God

and keep

it.

Being

related to

a godly

person does

not make

us godly.

What matters

is that we

own our

faith

and obey

God

ourselves.

after

emphasizing

the

necessity

of

hearing

and

keeping

God's

word,

Jesus

continues

his

teaching

in

verses

29

to

32.

Here

his

focus

is on

those

others

earlier

that

were

questioning

him

and

testing

him

and

seeking

a

sign

from

heaven.

He

says

in

verses

29

to

30,

this

generation

is

an

evil

generation.

He

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

will

the

son

of

man

be

to

this

generation.

These

people

keep in

mind

just

witnessed

Jesus

heal

a

mute

man

by

casting

out

a

demon

but

they

are

still

seeking

a

sign

from

heaven.

These

are

great

examples

to point

out

whenever

people

ask

for

signs

like

hey

if

God

were

to

prove

himself

to

me

in

this

way

then

I

would

that

they

still

don't

believe

there

is

no

such

proof

that

would

relieve

all

doubts

at

some

point

you

must

take

that

step

of

faith

and

this

betrays

these

people's

doubting

hearts

they

are

faithless

not

because

they

lack

the

sign

but

because

of

the

sinfulness

of

their

hearts

their

skepticism

is

not

a

fair

minded

skepticism

but

a

biased

one

it's

a

settled

skepticism

that

will

admit

no

evidence

that

forces

them

to

change

their

position

so

the

crowd

skepticism

is

similar

to

what

we

saw

with

with

king

herod

early

in

luke

9

herod

too

had

heard

of

jesus

but

instead

of

believing

him

he

sought

to

see

him

because

he

wanted

him

to

perform

some

sign

for

him

as

we

see

later

in

luke

23

8

Romans

10

17

tells

us

clearly

faith

comes

from

hearing

and

hearing

and

keeping

the

word

instead

of

pandering

to

their

presumptuous

demands

for

a

sign

from

heaven

and

jesus

did

throughout

his

ministry

perform

signs

and

wonders

and

he

used

that

to

help

people

who

were

genuinely

seeking

him

and

wanted

to

believe

in

him

but

he

does

not

pander

to

indulge

the

whims

of

people

who

have

a

settled

skepticism

of

faithless

generation

instead

he

rebukes

them

because

following

God

requires

faith

and

humility

to

take

God

at

his

word

and

submit

to

and

those

people

who

will

not

believe

God

on

his

terms

will

not

obey

God

on

his

terms

either

those

who

demand

some

kind

of

miracle

a sign

on

demand

that

will

remove

all

doubt

show

that

they're

not

willing

to

submit

to

God

in

every

aspect

of

their

life

they

will

seek

to

conform

God

to

their

own

purposes

as

even

after

and

to

these

people

Jesus

offers

no

sign

except

the

sign

of

Jonah

in

a

similar

verse

in

Matthew

12

40

Jesus

makes

the

explicit

connection

between

the

sign

of

Jonah

because

Jonah

was

three

days

and

three

nights

in

the

belly

of

a

great

fish

and

Jesus

will

be

three

days

in

the

heart

of

the

earth

so

there

the

connection

is

explicit

to

Jesus

death

and

resurrection

but

here

in

the

gospel

of

Luke

the

focus

is

different

Luke

is

focusing

on

a

different

point

with

the

comparison

to

Jonah

here

the

point

of

contact

between

Jonah

and

Jesus

is

not

Jesus

death

and

resurrection

and

Jonah

sojourn

in

the

belly

of

the

fish

but

it's

their

preaching

Jonah

preached

to

the

people

of

Nineveh

and

he

became

a

sign

to

them

because

that

fish

episode

happens

earlier

before

Jonah

actually

goes

to

Nineveh

and

likewise

Jesus

here

preaches

God's

word

to

this

crowd

and

thereby

becomes

a

sign

to

them

and

we

are

to

respond

to

the

word

of

God

the

preaching

of

the

word

by

hearing

and

keeping

the

word

instead

of

seeking

further

signs

and

this

is

confirmed

by

verses

31

and

32

please

read

with

me

it

says

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

is

here

the

man

of

Nineveh

will

rise

up

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

the

to

hear

the

wisdom

of

Solomon

and

she

heard

it

and

she

received

it

likewise

the

Ninevites

when they

heard

the

preaching

of

Jonah

they

received

it

they

repented

and

Jesus

is

greater

than

both

Solomon

and

Jonah

and

while

the

pagans

the

Gentiles

of

Sheba

and

Nineveh

heard

and

kept

the

word

of

God

that

they

heard

that

were

proclaimed

to

them

these

Jews

who

are

supposed

to

be

the

chosen

people

of

God

are

rejecting

the

word

of

God

proclaimed

by

the

Messiah

himself

the

son

of

God

himself

therefore

Jesus

says

even

that

queen

of

Sheba

even

the

men

of

Nineveh

will

condemn

you

on

the

day

of

judgment

sitting

on

the

fence

under

the

banner

of

skepticism

always

seeking

more

and

more

signs

and

evidence

is

a

dangerous

place

to

be

because

there

is

no

neutral

ground

we

must

hear

the

word

of

God

and

do

it

and

then

in

verses

33

to

36

Luke

gives

us

one

last

contrast

to

illustrate

the

importance

of

responding

to

the

good

news

of

Jesus

in

the

contrast

between

light

and

darkness

it

says

what

Jesus

is

saying

here

about

lighting

a

lamp

is