Mark 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
The Word of God is not like a newspaper. A child can be saved. God’s gift of salvation and eternal life is not complicated. However, there are many things in God’s Word that require careful and diligent study in order to understand them.
II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We do not study God’s Word to impress people with our insights. We study God’s Word to meet His approval. Peter was directed to warn of the danger of misunderstanding God’s Word.
II Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
We notice in our text that the scribes accused Jesus of having Beelzebub, which is another name for Satan. These supposed religious scholars accused Jesus of being possessed by Satan.
These false teachers had managed to gain the respect of the people, even though they were pure liars. There was no truth in these fools. Man is created in the image of God. Man desires to worship. God designed man to worship Him. Due to the fall, that changed for man. Sin corrupted that image. Now man still desires to worship, but he lacks the discernment to know what or who to worship. That is why the “new birth” is so essential.
We notice that God identified false teachers as groups and also as individuals. In our text it speaks of the scribes. In our world we could put in the charismatics or the Catholics or many other groups. They all work together to keep people from the truth.
In verse 23 Jesus asked an important question. People need to think. When people choose not to think, we need to help them to think. Jesus was the best at this. He asked the people, including the scribes, how can Satan cast out Satan?
We know already that Jesus cast out devils. Jesus was not an actor like the charismatic leaders. People were actually set free from oppression and possession by devils. They proved it by their actions. They were no longer violent. They were truly delivered from bondage.
Jesus continued by warning the scribes and others that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. The good news is that we are seeing ungodly religious groups falling apart. The old time false religions are dying off. The newer ones have to keep changing to keep the lost coming to them. The danger is that churches that once stood for the truth are caving in because they have been trained to see numbers as the mark of success.
Jesus made it very clear that if Satan rise up against himself, he cannot stand. It is true that Satan has an end. The Bible says he will be cast into the lake of fire. He will never bother another born again Christian. All his followers will be there with him.
Verse 28 is part of this passage. It is not a stand-alone verse off by itself somewhere. It is a warning to those whom Jesus was talking to. It continues from verse 27. Satan had entered into the hearts of many people and bound them and he was destroying their lives. He was very effective in binding people in their sin. Jesus, through the Holy Ghost, was working in the heart of people to set them free from sin. In order to be free from sin, the sin nature needs to be dealt with. We see here again that the saved person has been fundamentally changed by the work of God in their heart. They are not the same person. They have been cleansed and given a new nature. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart. Mark was directed by God to record that work often. The scribes were stating that this was a work of the devil.
In verse 28 Jesus warned against blasphemy. The scribes and their friends, were accusing Jesus of blasphemy. They threw the idea out there, without any evidence. Jesus now warned them with evidence.
The Godhead is made of three “persons”. It is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost”. All three are God. All three have a specific work to fulfil in the Godhead. In verse 29 we see that the Holy Ghost is a “Spirit”. He is not some spooky thing. The disciples thought they saw a ghost when Jesus came walking to them on the water. They had been taught about “ghosts”. There are no ghosts. There is a Holy Ghost. He is unseen by the human eye. His proof is in His work. He works in the heart of the sinner to show him his need of salvation. He works through the conscience of the individual. He convinces the lost sinner of his need to be saved.
Those who want to resist His work and credit that work to the devil, are in big trouble with God. In John 10 we read that Jesus’ “friends” tried to get at Him because they thought He was “beside Himself”. They thought He was having a mental breakdown. They were not very good friends. People were being healed and people were being set free from bondage, and these “friends” thought Jesus had a problem.
The Holy Spirit will show the lost sinner the need to turn to God for salvation. When someone comes up to that lost person who is troubled because he is under conviction, and suggests that this is nothing to worry about, that is wrong. When they offer that person a beer or turn up the rock music or take them to some distraction or offer them some drug to soothe that guilty conscience, they are blaspheming the work of the Holy Ghost.
I remember back to the first church I pastored. I did not hear the conversation because I was busy with other people. I was told of it later on. There was a visiting couple who were under conviction for their sin. I did not know them and thus I did not know of their sin. I had preached the message and after the service people were leaving. This visiting couple was talking to another couple from our church about their sin. They were under conviction. This other couple, whom I later discovered were involved in the same sin, but claimed to be saved, told this couple not to worry about their sin. That couple was blaspheming the work of the Holy Ghost. They were deceiving that visiting couple into thinking that they should dismiss the convicting work of the Holy Ghost in their life.
Jesus warned of the extreme danger of blaspheming the work of the Holy Ghost. A person who rejects the work of the Holy Ghost in their heart cannot be saved. Verse 30 teaches us that as Jesus was casting out devils, the Holy Ghost was working in the heart of the possessed person to cast out the devil. The Godhead works together. Jesus taught that He and His Father are one. Jesus also taught of sending “another Comforter”. That Comforter is the Holy Ghost.
As we preach the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is working in the heart of the listener. The listener that is under conviction from the Holy Spirit will sense the guilt of their sin. They will be uncomfortable because their sin is being exposed. No one else may know of it, but that person will certainly know of it. There are many ways that a person can be distracted from that work of God in their heart. If a person continues to reject the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart until they die, there is no hope for them. They died lost and it is over. That is the danger spoken of here.
The scribes were accusing Jesus of working under the power of the devil. The scribes were rejecting the work of God in their own hearts. They were trying to keep others from turning to God as well. If those scribes would persist in their wicked ways, they would go to hell. They were also guilty of seeking to keep others from knowing the truth. It is extremely dangerous to interfere with God’s Work in the heart.
In Mark 9:42 we will see that Jesus warned parents and others of the danger of offending a little child. A few days ago I mentioned a young woman (16 years old) who has a very powerful voice, but sings the devil’s music. Her parents and others have been an offence to her since her infancy. They have trained her to love the devil’s ways. Our school systems are the same. Parents who keep their children from a true church and send them to these ungodly schools are equally guilty.
It is a very dangerous thing to interfere with the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person. Life will be very enjoyable, when it is lived for the Lord. Life is also very sobering and needs to be lived for God’s glory. The world is not the friend of God nor of man. There are hundreds of distractions designed to keep people from dealing with the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in a proper manner. We need to be careful not to buy into the world’s system and hinder ourselves from being blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit or by keeping others from being blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit. We are challenged to be sober minded. This is very important in life.
Pastor Bartel
