Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7: 25, NIV (Emphasis provided).
Heavenly Father, as we approach Your throne of grace, may Your Holy Spirit meet us there, and lead us into all truth. In the name of Jesus we pray!
Yesterday, at the beginning of our study, I said that we would be looking at the power of our thoughts, but we did not reach that far in our conversation. Instead, we talked about the mind coming under the control of evil spirits, and then we commented briefly, on Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ accusation that He had cast out the “mute” demon through the power of Beelzebub. Today, let us begin by continuing to look at Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, and the parable He told in order to illustrate His point.
Jesus showed them how illogical it was for the kingdom of darkness, or any other kingdom, to be divided against itself. Division weakens a household, a church, a kingdom. Casting a demon out of someone was in direct opposition to the evil one, and therefore, would weaken the kingdom of darkness! Then He goes on to tell them the parable of the evil spirit, who, when he is cast out from one dwelling place, wanders around seeking another. When he finds none, he returns, and re-enters the same dwelling, only this time, with seven others who are worse than He is. Now the condition of the person is worse than before! It is interesting to notice how, “Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before” – while, every day with the evil one, is worse than the day before!
Now let us look at Jesus’ words in their context. After showing them how illogical their accusation was, Jesus reasons with them: “When a strongman keeps watch over his household, those under his protection are safe; but when someone who is stronger than he is, comes, and disarms him, and takes away the power in which he trusted; he loses what he had, to the one who overpowered him.” The prince of darkness held sway over humanity, until Jesus, the only One who ever met and overpowered the Adversary in battle arrived, and rescued from under his evil spell, those whom he had held captive (21)!
Now, if it is “by the finger of God,” that I am setting these captives free, “then the kingdom of God has come to you” (20, NRSV)! Hallelujah! But their minds were so darkened by envy, and hatred, and evil surmising, that they were attributing to the prince of darkness, the works of the Holy Spirit, wrought through the Son of God! The kingdom of God was in their midst, and they could not recognize it! “A mind is a terrible thing to [lose]!” In Matthew’s account of this incident, after Jesus utters the words, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12: 30), He goes on to tell them, “Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (31).
They were going too far! They were against Jesus, and through their evil influence they would scatter many of the precious souls who could have been garnered into the kingdom of God! How true are the words of Jesus, “…How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (34). For those who make a distinction between the mind and the heart, where does the heart get its thoughts? All our emotions, thoughts, and sensations, are triggered by the mind! May God help us to guard well the entrance to our minds!
We will continue tomorrow!