Who is the Master of The House? (Mark 3:20-35) With Pastor Andrew Courtis

Well, do turn with me in your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 3.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

Our reading will be from verse 20 through to the end of the chapter, verse 35.

And I want you to note that as we read this passage of Scripture, inspired by the Spirit of God, this portion of Mark, and we'll see this a number of times, if is written with such literary brilliance.

There are features in here, and we won't be able to draw them all out tonight, but I just want you to appreciate that the way in which Mark writes this, he employs a very special device, a literary device that is designed to highlight his main point.

And I think sometimes these things can so be easily missed.

And I trust that we can do it service tonight as we consider this brilliant and powerful passage of Scripture.

But let us hear from our Lord as I read Mark 3, beginning in verse 20.

The word of the Lord says, Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him.

For they said, He is out of his mind.

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Belzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.

So he called them to himself, and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

If a kingdom is divided against itself, the kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter.

But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said, He has an unclean spirit.

Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside they sent to him, calling him.

And a multitude was sitting around him, and they said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.

But he answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brothers?

And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him, and he said, Here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother.

That is the word of the Lord.

Please join me as we seek the Lord's help.

Let us pray.

Our gracious and loving God, we thank you for what you have provided for us in this passage of Scripture.

As we have had it read, we receive it as the bread of life.

Sustain our souls with it, strengthen us, draw near to us, minister to us, give us the help that we need.

I pray that you give us ears that would listen.

And I pray that we would be able to respond in a love and faithfulness to you.

I pray this now in Christ's name.

Amen.

Being misunderstood is a really frustrating experience, especially when you try to explain yourself and you are still misunderstood.

No one likes being misquoted, no one likes being misunderstood.

No one likes having an understanding being conveyed concerning themselves, what they've said or what they've done that is distorted.

And as I said, it can result in an absolute frustration.

I'm sure you can think of the times where you have been misunderstood.

Sometimes you might think you're deliberately misunderstanding me, and someone might be lovingly stirring the pot, but there are other times it gets more serious, and it can be hard, it can be hurtful.

And in our weakness, in our sinfulness, we can respond to those moments of being misunderstood with frustration and sinfulness, and we will respond with anger and rage.

Well, the passage that we're looking at this evening is a passage where our Lord Jesus is greatly misunderstood.

There is a number of accusations, too, that are leveled toward him.

Both are serious, but one crosses the line.

It goes way too far.

And the amazing thing in this passage is as our Lord is horribly misunderstood, with accusations leveled toward him, you'll notice that our Lord, He isn't frazzled.

He doesn't respond with frustration, he responds with faithfulness.

And this is what you need to see in this passage of Scripture.

This passage of Scripture will certainly provide us with some applications and lessons that we can seek to implement ourselves, but we must not lose sight of the big point, the main point.

This passage tells us about our mighty Savior, our strong Savior.

I mentioned a moment ago that this passage is written with literary brilliance.

And what I want you to note is that this whole passage, which at first sight just seems to have two stories next to each other.

And we could easily read it like that.

We could read one scene in the first section, and then we just simply move on to the next scene, almost making them unrelated and just the next story and the sequence of the Gospel of Mark.

But if we did that, we'll miss the point.

We'll miss the great lesson.

What I want you to see is as we go through verses 20 to 35, I want you to note that this entire passage revolves around a particular word.

And that word is house.

This passage is all about a house.

And if we were to even step back and ask a bigger question, the question would be this: who belongs to this house?

And who is the master of this house?

And the way in which Mark is going to masterfully answer that question, he's going to start off by telling us about the time Jesus' family stood outside of a house.

And as they stood outside of a house, they made an accusation concerning Jesus, their own relative.

Then Mark is going to leave that story hanging.

And he's going to then focus in on the religious leaders who are also outside the house, and they will level a very serious accusation concerning Jesus.

Jesus will answer that accusation, and then Mark will then go back to the family of Jesus, picking up there as they continue to stand outside the house, and then Jesus will then show them who truly belongs inside the house.

But the key to understanding what our Lord is going to teach his own relatives is found right in the middle in what Jesus says to the religious leaders.

And so in the end, what happens right in the middle of this passage, the answer that Jesus gives actually gives light on the family, the relatives of Jesus.

So ultimately, this passage is answering the question who belongs to the house and who is the master of this house?

And I want to answer that this evening by considering four headings.

The first heading is found in verses 20 to 21.

And what I want you to see here is the crowded house.

The crowded house.

Have a look at what the text says.

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.

Here we see a massive crowd gathering around Jesus.

This crowd has been interested in what Jesus is teaching.

They've been intrigued by what Jesus is doing by means of his miracles.

They have witnessed profound miracles, including the expelling of demons from people who were possessed by them.

They have seen some impressive actions done by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

And this crowd are keen.

They're eager.

They are crowding in on Jesus.

And the ministry that Jesus has been undertaking, a ministry that has involved both words and works, has kept him so busy that he hasn't had his lunch.

And this is not uncommon.

When you read through the Gospels, you'll see that our Lord is so consumed in the work of the ministry that he will be skipping meals.

Often he will be very weary and tired at the end of the ministry.

And this ought not to surprise us.

Even the Apostle Paul carries that same mindset into his own ministry.

He even receives some objections from the Corinthians who thought he was an absolute madman by means of the output and the capacity and the devotion in which he just poured himself out for the work of the Lord.

And you read of that in 2 Corinthians 5, and he sort of even makes reference to this in verse 13, saying that you might deem me as mad, but it's for God.

It's for him.

And he experienced and subjected himself to some very difficult times.

Well, this is the context of what's going on here.

This is an intense moment.

People are surrounding Jesus.

Jesus is pouring himself out.

He is teaching, he is proclaiming, he is ministering.

And if all of this happens, all of a sudden we see in verse 21 that his own people heard about this.

That term own people is referring to relatives.

This is his family.

This is his blood relatives, those who are of his own.

His family heard about his busy schedule.

They heard about the hectic output that he had, and the neglect of just the routine and mundane things.

And this was of such a seriousness that they, the text tells us, went out to lay hold of him.

You could also translate this as they sought to bind him, seize him.

I want you to note that.

Why?

They said, He is out of his mind.

Why?

Why is Jesus out of his mind?

Well, in their minds, to spend all these hours at the neglect of meals, to spend all these hours at the neglect of rest is absolute madness.

These relatives did not have spiritual eyes.

They did not value the mission that Jesus is carrying out.

They just simply looked at him through the lens of the world, and they saw that Jesus, in their own estimation, is mad.

He is crazy.

You're gonna skip meals?

You're going to allow these people to consume you?

You're over your head.

So the first thing I want you to see in this passage revolving around this idea of house is that there is a crowded house.

And in this crowded house is Jesus' teaching.

But outside the crowded house is a family, blood relatives, who level the accusation, you are crazy.

You are a madman.

This will not be the first time the Lord Jesus will be misunderstood.

This is not the first time we'll see in the scriptures that those who follow the Lord and seek to honor him will be misunderstood.

All sorts of accusations will be leveled toward our Lord, and many accusations were leveled toward his apostles.

Even the epistles will warn of such things that those who will seek to honor the Lord will experience all sorts of opposition.

But sadly, sometimes that opposition can come from those who were closest.

In this case, here is Jesus, the eternal Son of God.

But in the incarnation, he had blood relatives, half brothers and sisters, of course.

But these relatives who were the closest to him, who got to see him up close and personal, even they misunderstood him and leveled false accusations concerning him.

This is the first scene.

The crowded house.

But let's now come to verse 22.

And what I want you to note in verse 22 is the next scene, and that is Jesus receives a charge of being a part of a demonic house.

A charge of being a part of a demonic house.

Look at verse 22.

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Belzebub, and by the ruler of demons, he casts out demons.

This is different to the relatives of Jesus.

This has escalated at a higher level.

These are the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

These are men who study the law of God for a living.

These are men who are supposed to walk with God, to fear him, be humbled before him.

These were the kind of men who you would want around you because of their engagement with the scriptures.

They should be the kind of people that when shaken scripture pours out.

But they were scribes, they were religious leaders.

These men should know best.

They've come down from Jerusalem and they want to level an accusation to him.

And you see it very clearly, don't you, in verse 22?

They give him a name, he has Belzebub.

Some translations or manuscripts, rather, will have the word Belzebal.

And if we understand Belzebub in connection to Belzebel, but Belzebel just simply means the Lord of the house.

This was a name that implied that Jesus is possessed by Satan.

Jesus belongs to a demonic house.

He has Satan in him.

And it's by means of the ruler of the demons that Jesus is casting out demons.

The religious leaders saw Jesus expel demons from people, but they're charging him saying he belongs to a demonic house.

A house that is ruled by Satan.

A house in which Jesus has been assisted by Satan.

Jesus is on the dark side.

He is a part of these demonic beings.

He is a part of a demonic house.

And this is emphasized again by the name Belzebel.

Lord of the house.

The Lord of the demonic house is in him.

That's what they're saying.

This is a serious charge.

An evil accusation.

It's another thing to say a demon is inside of him.

And the demons inside of him are the reason why demons are being cast out of people.

Jesus was given a charge of belonging to a demonic house.

Now we come to the third scene.

And this is where the text goes deeper and we have some more detail.

It's what we see in verses 23 to 30.

And what we have here is Jesus responds to the accusation.

Now what you need to notice is our Lord says nothing about the first accusation here.

That will come later.

We will come back to the family of Jesus.

Jesus responds to the second accusation.

The accusation that was leveled toward him to say that he belongs to a demonic house.

What does Jesus want the religious leaders to know?

Well, he begins in verse 23 by saying, He called them to himself and said to them in parables, our Lord is going to give them an illustration.

An illustration that is going to reveal who he actually is.

An illustration that is designed to have some punch and some clarity.

After assembling them together to listen, he asks a simple question.

How can Satan cast out Satan?

If I have a demon in me, how is that demon going to just simply cast out the other demons?

He proceeds to say, if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

Simply put, our Lord is saying, the accusation that you're leveling toward me makes no sense.

You're describing a divided kingdom, a divided house.

Satan hasn't set out to just simply divide himself.

The level accusation is incoherent.

It makes no sense.

It's not logical.

But now our Lord is.

Going to show them something very powerful.

We won't turn there, but if you were to read the parallel passage over in Mark 10, and I think it's verse 25, you should note, our Lord makes use of a powerful play of words.

Just as they've accused him of being Belzebal, the master of the house, our Lord simply replies, Why would you call the master of the house the master of the house?

Jesus here is pointing out that I actually am the master.

I am the Lord.

I am the one who has authority.

And our Lord now gives this very powerful illustration.

He says, No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

What our Lord is saying in verse 27 is this that there is a strong man out there.

And that strong man in this context is Satan, the devil.

And this strong man has a house.

The house is his domain, the place in which he rules over and has authority, a house in which he deceives people inside of it.

And he also has goods inside this house.

And those goods are his demonic followers, the demonic beings, but also those that he has captured and deceived and blinded, those who are shackled in the domain of darkness.

And Jesus makes it very clear that I am not a part of a demonic house, but instead I am the one who has plundered the demonic house.

As he says in verse 27, that if that strongman is to be overcome, then it would be necessary for someone to enter into the strongman's house, bind him, and after binding him, then plundering his house and taking his goods.

And what is our Lord teaching here?

He is explaining to those who will listen that this is his mission.

The Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world to enter the strong man's house, to bind the strong man, to seize him, and to shackle him.

And in binding the strong man, he then plunders that man's house and takes his goods for himself.

This is the mission that the Lord Jesus Christ has come to do.

And in context, what our Lord is saying here is when I expel demons from people, that's me plundering the strong man's house.

But before I plundered it, I bound him, I had authority over him, and I am Lord.

And then we will also learn that as a result of his death, burial, and resurrection, that he will be raised up triumphantly.

And in the words of Colossians 2 and verse 15, these powers and principalities of hell have been disarmed and destroyed.

A spectacle has been made of them, and the Lord has triumphed over them at the cross.

That's the point of Colossians chapter 2, verses 11 through to verse 23.

Colossians 2:11

Is we see this triumphant power and the sufficiency of what Christ has accomplished at the cross.

What our Lord is teaching the people here is that he has entered the strong man's house, bound him, and plundered the house, and he's taking the goods now for himself.

And to understand this in different language of a parallel passage, we just simply have to think of Colossians 1 and verse 13 that tells us that there are those who have been removed from the domain of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God's dear son, a kingdom of light.

This is the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The strong man holds the nations captive.

But by means of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's plundered the strong man's house.

This parable, this illustration veils the deep truth that becomes clearer as we read through the New Testament epistles.

But what our Lord is showing the people here is he is not who they think he is.

Jesus is not a part of a divided demonic house.

Jesus has broken down the door of Satan's house.

He has seized him, he has advanced his power, and he is gathering the spoils for himself.

What a glorious truth.

Now this brings me to the final scene.

Well, sorry, as we approach the final scene, we come to a heightened lesson that our Lord gives.

He states in verse 28, Assuredly, truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said he has an unclean spirit.

What our Lord is saying here is what you people have just leveled toward me is crossing the line.

All manner of sin will be forgiven, of course, if someone repents and comes to Christ.

But the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, there is no forgiveness for that.

The sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is to go into such a depth of rejection of Christ that one gets to a place where they've entered a point of no return.

The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is demonstrated by means of what these men did.

They have seen with their very eyes the power of God on display through Jesus Christ.

They have heard with their own ears the clarity of his teaching.

And yet, not out of ignorance, but out of a deliberate hatred and a gender, they have accused him of being Satan.

This deep level of just outright hatred concerning Christ has gone too far, says our Lord.

And that level of unbelief is unpardonable.

They are so hardened by means of their hatred that there is an absolute refusal on their side to even want to come to Christ.

And this will experience eternal condemnation.

This was all because they said he has an unclean spirit.

We now come to the final scene, and that is the true house.

We've seen the crowded house, the charge that Jesus belongs to a demonic house.

We saw our Lord's response that no, he's come to plunder the house, but now we're going to learn what is the true house.

He says in verse 31, then his brothers and his mother came standing outside.

They sent to him, calling him.

Can you picture the scene?

The family's outside, outside the house.

And as they blood relatives of the Lord who've already leveled an accusation, he's crazy, he's mad.

Come home.

They're standing outside and they're calling him.

And again, utilizing the language of verse 21, they're wanting to seize him.

The implication is they they want him bound.

Not literally, but it's sort of the idea here.

They want him bound.

And as they call for him, the multitude who was sitting around Jesus, this big crowd, they said to him, Look, your mother, your brothers are outside seeking you.

It's been emphasized in verse 31 and verse 32, the location of the blood relatives of Jesus.

Where are they?

Outside.

What's the point?

Well, the point is seen in what Jesus says: Look, who is my mother or my brothers?

And he looked around a circle at those who sat about him and said, Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother.

What our Lord is teaching here is not a disregard toward his own family.

We will see later on in this gospel, but we'll also see it in the Gospel of John, that our Lord had a high regard for his family.

But what he's saying here is those who are truly my family, those who truly belong to the house.

And what's the house that he's referring to here?

Well, he's referring to the fact that just as Satan had a house, a domain in which he has authority, our Lord has already made it clear, I have come to bind the strong man, I've come to plunder his house, I've come to take his goods.

And what this is showing here is Jesus is revealing that he ultimately is the actual master of the house.

And those who are in his house are not those who are his blood relatives, nor is it those who were self-professed believers in God by means of their education, the religious leaders, but those who truly belong to the house are those that our Lord has rescued himself.

And he defines them specifically as those who do the will of God.

Because he has saved them, he has granted them life, forgiveness, and in this newness of life, they are able to now do that which is pleasing to their Lord because they've been taken out of darkness and brought into light.

And our Lord says, These are the ones who are my family.

As we step back at this passage as a whole, it's actually really interesting.

Because what we end up with here is it starts off with the relatives of Jesus standing outside of a physical house, wanting to bind Jesus so that he would go home.

Then there are religious leaders saying that Jesus actually is possessed by Belzebal, the master of the house.

He belongs to a demonic house.

But in the end, after the clarity of teaching, what we're left with is Jesus actually inside a house, surrounded by those who are actually his, and those who aren't his are outside of the house.

This is a remarkable picture.

And what's going on here is Christ is the master of the house.

His true family are those who believe and do the will of God.

This is the message of Mark 3, 20 to 35.

Who belongs to this house and who's the master of the house?

To belong to this house, you must be rescued by the Lord Jesus Christ.

You must love him, you must live for him, and he and he alone is Lord.

He is the true master of the house.

And when we take this language and see it spread across Scripture, we start getting a complete picture far more complete, in which we learn that He has been granted all authority in heaven and earth.

And Christ is building something.

He's building his church.

And the gates of Hades will never prevail against it.

And what Christ is building is expanding.

It's growing.

Yes, it's got scaffolding on it, but the day will come in which that will all be torn down.

And the beauty of what Christ is building, the beauty of what Christ is Lord over, will be seen as far as I can see.

She will look beautiful.

She'll be without spot and without blemish.

But the question that we have to answer is this do you belong to that house?

That is the best house.

The house where Christ is the master.

The house where Christ is Lord.

He sets the house rules.

He will clean house.

But it's the best of houses, it has the best of rooms, it has the best of meals, it has the best of fellowship, it's the house in which Christ is Lord over.

Do you belong to that house?

Let's pray.

Our gracious Father, we thank you for the house in which our Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over.

What a master, what a savior.

Help us to live for Him.

Help us to recognize the privilege of belonging to the house in which He rules.

I pray for anyone here tonight who is still in darkness, anyone here tonight who is shackled in their sins, O Lord, we pray that your Son would plunder the house of the evil one, that he would bring in more goods to the house that he is building.

We thank you for our Savior in Christ's name.

Amen.