LUKE CHAPTERS 10 & 11

(21j) Sin >> Premeditated sin >> Having no Intensions of loving your brother – This is one of the most revealing statements in the New Testament regarding the transition between the old and the new covenants. We have Jesus who died for our sins advising a lawyer to live by the law, suggesting that with respect to the law there is no difference between old and new covenants, but this is not how Paul explained it; he said, “Through the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal 2-16). If we want to go with Paul, then we can say that the old covenant was about faith just as much as the new covenant. Therefore, we say that new covenant salvation fulfills the law by faith in Jesus. This suggests that people back then believed in God through the promise of His coming Messiah and were commanded through Moses how to behave in the meantime. Jesus approved the lawyer reducing the law to loving God and our neighbor. Loving the Lord our God is an internal exercise, while loving our brother is external. Nothing has changed about that in the new covenant. There is an internal loving of God as a student of His word and as a disciple of prayer; then there is the ministry toward one another, doing nothing to anyone that we wouldn’t want done to ourselves.

(205j) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith versus works >> The faith of God versus the faith of men >> Faith is the law of righteousness – Jesus told the lawyer to mind the old covenant and that would prepare him to receive the new covenant in His blood. This is in reference to Paul’s version of the gospel, who gives us a new way to serve God: instead of keeping the law we walk in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit starts with love just as the law did. The first commandment they fulfilled with their hearts, and all the other commandments they fulfilled with their bodies, and nearly all of them were preceded with the word “don’t.” That is, to fulfill the law they used their bodies to not break it, which is paradoxical. In other words, if they didn't use their bodies at all, they would fulfill the law. In a similar way, the new covenant fruits of the Spirit are all attributes that cannot be performed with the body, but refer to a state of being: love joy, peace patience… (Gal 5-22,23). These are all things we possess in our hearts that change us from the inside-out. For example, we must first have patience before we can be patient with our neighbor. These are all states of being, not commandments to perform, and they accomplish the same thing, fulfilling the law. God wants to change us from the inside-out in the new covenant, while the old covenant wants to change us from the outside-in, but that doesn’t work. Knowing God, it wasn’t intended to work.

(90e) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Law is our tutor >> It leads us to God – The lawyer regurgitated the law in condensed form to show how he should treat his neighbor, probably having heard it from Jesus sometime earlier; however, the Ten Commandments that God wrote on stone tablets for Moses, outlined in Exodus chapter 20, spoke nothing about loving our neighbor, but was implied, for how can we love our neighbor while we are having sex with his wife, or stealing his property or lying to him? Loving our neighbor as ourselves is extrapolated from the law, but Jesus spoke plainly about it through the course of His ministry. If we love our neighbor we will bandage up the man lying along the road, such as in the story of the Good Samaritan. After the lawyer gave a discrete answer Jesus replied, “Do this and you will live.” There must therefore be a connection between the old and new covenants. Paul taught in Gal 3-24,25 that the law is our tutor to lead us to Christ. If we have been living by the law all our lives and someone comes to us with the gospel, there won’t be many hindrances to believing in Jesus (except self-justification of religion), as opposed to unbelievers who have no regard for the law. They are the ones who walked on the other side of the road to avoid the man in need. Inherent in the one who fulfills the law is the recognition that he is a sinner, in that he must fight his flesh to do the works of the law, so when he hears that Christ died to forgive our sins, he immediately believes in the gospel, whereas the one who cares nothing for the law does not acknowledge his sin.

(208bb) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> You can be saved without ever hearing about Jesus – What about the person who never heard the gospel or never knew the law? If he lives like the Good Samaritan, when he dies and meets Jesus will immediately sense he just met his best friend and brother, and Jesus will say to him, ‘If you would have heard about Me, you would have believed in Me.’

(174e) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Justifying yourself – Those who develop an attitude of self-righteousness about the law are usually the ones who fool themselves about following it. These are the ones who invariably ignore the first and foremost commandment to love God; how can they love Him if they don’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them? It turns out that conveying the gospel to the self-righteous and to the sinner is equally difficult, and God views them both as heathen. Jesus could have just as well asked the lawyer, ‘Which one of these do you think would be most receptive to the gospel?’

(200i) Denying Christ >> Excuses for rejecting Christ >> Using irresponsibility as an excuse to reject God >> Trying to talk your way out of accountability

(123c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Compassion >> Compassion is the emotion of the Spirit

(225m) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about generosity of heart

(242j) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >> World pressures you to forsake your neighbor – The Old Testament taught that a brother was his fellow Jew, while neighbor referred to the gentile nations. One reason Jesus refused to minister to anyone but His fellow Jews (with few exceptions, Mk 7,24-31) was so people could properly interpret everything he said and did. Since Jesus was solely devoted to His Jewish brothers, when Jesus answered the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” He used a Samaritan in the story to take care of the man who was beaten and robbed, who was half Jew and half gentile. In the Old Testament when God speaks about a Jew helping another Jew, He refers to them as brothers, which implies being of the same ethnicity, while neighbor implies different ethnicities. When we transpose this idea to the New Testament, the word brother comes to mean our fellow Christian and neighbor means an unbeliever, regardless of nationality. Therefore, Jesus' crossbred parable means that Christians are obligated to help people in the world too, not just their fellow Christian. However, the New Testament teaches that our priority is first to our immediate family members, then to the Church, and last to the world (our neighbors). See also: Brother versus neighbor; Act 3-22,23; 29i

(1h) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> False burden >> Serving God in ignorance >> Not knowing His will – Martha had a false burden, hoping to please the Lord, intending to prepare a nice dinner for Him. Although this had its place, Mary was in a better place, seated at the feet of Jesus, finding favor with Him more than Martha, who merely tended to His temporal needs. What Martha was serving would last maybe a day, but what Jesus was serving would last forever. It’s not what we do for Jesus, but what He does for us that counts the most.  

(4c) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Being accountable to the word of God

(79j) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Listen to the word >> Listen to Jesus

(195b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> You can only serve one at a time – Jesus was not always the greatest servant. For example, Martha loved to serve people; she had a servant’s heart and strove to serve the Lord by cooking Him a nice meal and was doing all the work by herself, while her sister Mary was sitting at His feet listening to the word of God. Martha finally complained that her sister wasn’t helping her. Martha's place should have been at Jesus' feet next to her sister. When Jesus died for the sins of all mankind, this was His greatest act of service. Everything else Jesus did as the son of man, but dying on the cross He did as the Son of God. This was His service to mankind, and if God is willing to serve us to the point of death, even death on a cross, how much more are we to serve one another?

(235ga) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Hospitality (providing a temporary home) >> Being a good guest – Martha had a practical approach to her faith, like the Father who had a practical love for the sinner and sent His Son to save us. The Bible teaches that love is practical. To be willing and able to open her home to others is similar to Jesus’ ministry in heaven, where He will share His home with us. Hospitality is a gift that the Church today needs to rediscover as an environment for God to work among His people in a person’s home.

(248h) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> Valuing God >> Knowing God is more important than serving Him – There were times when Jesus would take a sabbatical and enjoy a few pleasures in life. Other days, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Mat 8-20). Everything was changing all the time, sleeping in a bed one day and sleeping on the ground the next, using a rock for a pillow. Martha’s gift was hospitality, which absolutely has its place in the Church, but plays a secondary role to the word of God. Jesus had no problem with Martha working hard in the kitchen preparing the meal, but neither did He have a problem with Mary sitting at His feet listening to the word of God. He didn’t complain to either one of them, but then Martha came and complained to Jesus that Mary wasn’t helping. Jesus wasn’t one to be an arbitrator; He didn’t want to get involved in people’s disputes, even though He is the judge of all mankind. Rather, He encouraged Martha to sit next to her sister and forget about dinner for now and everyone will have a chance to share their thoughts, then eat later. Jesus was showing the priority of spiritual fellowship. Martha's hospitality was important, but Jesus thought the word of God was more important, so hospitality took a seat next to Mary and enjoyed the fellowship.

(114d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven >> Obeying the revelation of God’s word

(255d) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Jesus is the word of the Spirit >> Jesus is the authority of God’s word

(24f) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Anxiety >> Worrying about the things you need

(247a) Priorities — Key verse for the entire chapter – Scientists struggle to unravel the mysteries of the universe. They often get their priorities backward and it blinds them to the evidence that lay before them. Getting our priorities straight is like turning the tumbler on a combination lock; if we know the right numbers but not the sequence the lock will not open, but if we know both the numbers and sequence, the lock opens for us. Similarly, how can we accurately interpret the Bible or live a godly life without identifying and properly arranging our priorities? There are weights and measures, sequences and prerequisites to nearly everything we do. Therefore, we cannot over-stress the issue of priority. It plays a vital role in molding our value system, defining wealth and ultimately shaping our belief system about our lives and the Bible. The reader will come away from this chapter with a renewed urgency to adjust his life so that significant matters take precedence over things of less importance. We have all heard this colloquialism: Which came first the chicken or the egg? As common and simple this expression, it is no less one of the most important questions we can ask, and if we answer it correctly, we can solve some of the greatest mysteries. Here is another similar figure of speech: Don't put the cart before the horse. In one instance the horse is pulling the cart, and in the other the horse is pushing the cart. One way is practical and the other is not.

(248g) Values (Key verse)

Lk 11,1-8

(83j) Thy kingdom come >> Church has the ministry of intercession >> We prepare ourselves to meet Jesus 

Lk 11,1-4

(120d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> Forgiving your brother >> As God has forgiven you – The Law falters in the Lord’s prayer where is says, “Do not lead us into temptation,” for the Law inadvertently does this very thing, according to the teaching of Paul who dissected the Law and said, “sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Rom 7-11). However, the grace of God delivers us from evil. While John the Baptist taught his disciples to walk in obedience to God’s precepts, Jesus taught us to walk according to the Spirit that he gives, which replaced the Law and inadvertently fulfilled it. Without even trying, the believer in Jesus fulfills the commandments of God as he walks by the Spirit, leading him “in paths of righteousness for His namesake” (Psalm 23-3). He is careful to treat others in ways that he prefers to be treated. In a world like this, being reciprocated in a loving manner is unlikely, but that doesn’t stop the Christian from living out his faith that he received from God, who has loved and blessed him with favor. God has lavished his Spirit on us and introduced His mercy and continually reminds us of His promises (Isaiah 46-11). He gives us His Spirit and calls us to obedience that we might understand these things in a practical way. We don’t use man’s standard to measure out treatment to others, since God was kind enough to adopted us; instead, we have adopted His standard for treating others with kindness and mercy.

(205j) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith versus works >> The faith of God versus the faith of men >> Faith is the law of righteousness – John the Baptist taught His disciples to pray, who was a disciple of the Law. Jesus also taught His disciples to pray according to the grace of God, being also the direction of the Law. Putting the two together, the Lord’s Prayer speaks of fulfilling the Law by faith in God’s righteousness. It is by faith that we worship God, not by the Law, for the Law is not able to worship God.

Lk 11-3

(30a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God knows our needs >> He is our provider – We should ask God for the things we need today, but tomorrow will take care of itself (Mat 6-34). We have no worries about tomorrow, because we intend to pray then too. If Jesus instructed us to pray this way, then it is only fitting that we should live this way. God wants us living in the present; He doesn’t want us living in the future or in the past, though He would have us consider the future when we are tempted to sabotage it, nor does He want us living for today and sacrifice tomorrow. Jesus taught to live in the present with the future in mind, not to jeopardize it for our descendants. We are to leave the world in good condition, not to soak up all the resources and leave our children with nothing, which is basically what the world is doing today. Living in the present is how all the animals live, though there are some rodents in the packrat family that like to stockpile food for the winter. They have their mind in the future; God made them this way, but He has not called us to be like them but like the birds. At certain times of the summer the air is filled with little insects; this is a great time for the birds. They perch on a twig and tweet their songs and flit a few feet to pick off a moth in midair and then return to their twig and continue whistling their song. Storing the moths would not work for them; instead, they enjoy the moment and the day and the season of plenty, and when the season passes and they have to work harder for their meals, they eat other things, expanding and enriching their diet. God wants us to be like them. Just as he helped us when there was plenty, so He will help us when there is less.

(99j) Perseverance

(99l) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to stay in motion) >> Persevere in prayer – Sometimes it seems that God is messing with us when we ask Him for things and He doesn’t give them right away. Why doesn’t He always give us what we ask? God is perfect; He has absolute character, and He wants us to have His attributes. Getting up immediately and giving us whatever we want would not build character, but would turn us into spoiled children and God would become our slave. None of that is in God's interests. It builds character to persevere in prayer, to become determined to receive what was promised. Notice that this parable is not about our needs but our wants. We should not become frustrated with God, for the Bible says He will give us whatever we want, essentially writing us a blank check in Jn 14-14, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it,” with a little persistence as it turns out. God loves us in ways we don’t know; He enjoys us in prayer striving with Him; He loves to see His children walking in faith. The persistence aspect of prayer comes into play when we ask God for things that He is neither opposed nor interested in giving. It is like the child who wants something that his parents don’t think is particularly necessary; he must do extra chores before they will give it. The more we ask from God the things He wants us to have the less persistence we need in order to receive them, and those things will develop character in us, but the things we want that are not on God’s list of priorities, the more we will need to persist in prayer. Persistence itself develops character in us, so either way God gets what He wants, developing character in His children. 

Lk 11,5-10

(70i) Authority >> Sin of familiarity >> There are times when God cannot discern our needs

(225m) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about generosity of heart

Lk 11,5-8

(121k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope based on faithfulness >> Hope based on character – We ask God for things until we become a fully matured Christian who knows the promises and the character of God, but if we give up in prayer we won’t receive anything from Him. The neighbor can’t go home empty-handed, because he has a friend waiting for him who's come from a long journey and is hungry (note that this story is about hospitality). Building character in our lives is the hope of obtaining His promises, the opportunity to bless God through persistence in asking for provisions to feed his guest. Without character we cannot hope for anything, because our inconsistencies will undo all our achievements. We should consider it all joy like James said to persevere in prayer and never get frustrated or question God’s character, or whether He loves us, or whether we love Him, or whether we are His children, because of unanswered prayer. Some people pray for years and eventually receive their quarry, and they don’t just receive their request but also receive maturity in Christ and a heightened understanding of Him that comes only with persistent prayer.

(208f) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God through obedience >> We are His friends if we keep His commandments – The man who went back to bed was God and His neighbor was one of His children whom He had known for many years. Now imagine a total stranger knocking on the door, someone just coming into the faith. What did Jesus say about new converts In Lk 15-7? “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent,” but in this case He said, “Because he is his friend” he would not get up and give him anything. God has certain expectations on a person who has been a Christian for a long time. Had it been a complete stranger, He would have invited him into His house, killed the fattened calf and spontaneously thrown a party till all hours of the night, but because it was a neighbor whom He knew and loved, He was resistant to even get out of bed. Where is the logic in this? He wasn’t afraid of hurting the neighbor’s feelings because they had a good relationship and knew he would understand. He wasn’t worried about offending him or losing his friendship, nor would the neighbor take no for an answer. This is the kind of relationship God wants with His people.

(235g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Hospitality (providing a temporary home) >> Being a good host

(83b) Thy kingdom come >> Receiving from God through prayer >> Ask and it shall be given – We have heard these verses quoted many times; we love to hear the promises of God, but what is the premise of the promise? It originates from a context of perseverance in prayer! He didn’t say ‘Ask once and it will be given, seek a little and you will find, lightly tap on the door and it will be opened.’ If answered prayer is really important to us, then we should ask God for things He wants to give. For example, if we ask God for help glorifying Him, there is a much better chance we will get our prayers answered in a timely manner than if we ask for something intended to glorify ourselves.

(113j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Filled with the Holy Spirit – The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is God’s pledge that we belong to Him and that our destiny is heaven, yet Jesus was not talking about this. Rather, every born-again Christian has an anointing, and every person’s measure is different, and He wants us all to have just as strong an anointing as we can manage. Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit as a measurable quantity. Note that most Evangelicals view the gift of the Holy Spirit as the person who dwells in the believer beginning on the day of his salvation. Hence, Evangelicals tend to drift over verses like this, whereas other denominations, such as the Pentecostals and the Charismatics, have no problem believing this. They think that in addition to the indwelling Holy Spirit there is also an anointing with which God adorns His people as an external manifestation of God’s inward work. It is similar to the version of the old covenant anointing that Samuel used to anoint David by pouring the anointing oil over his head. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the anointing between denominations, some arguing that the dispensation of the anointing has past, others that the concept doesn’t even exist in the Bible, arguing that the few times the anointing is mentioned is metaphorical. Jesus mentioned the Holy Spirit as an example of the things that God wants for us. This suggests that we need to train our minds to desire the will of God so we can ask Him for the right things. This is not the only instance in the Bible that speaks of various measures of the Holy Spirit, referring to the works that He has prepared for us. The more we allow Him to work in us, the more we can manifest His works for all to see.

Lk 11,11-13

(191a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism >> Immersed in His Spirit

(225f) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about wealth >> Parables about a father and his sons

Lk 11-13

(16b) Sin >> Man’s nature is instinctively evil >> Man is an enemy of God

Lk 11,14-20

(184b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> Hiding behind your own imagination >> Hiding behind a false authority – Paul was a Pharisee, but He was different in that He was following his conscience. Plus, he never met Jesus in the flesh. Had he met Him and heard Him speak, he probably would have acted similar to Nicodemus. In contrast, the Pharisees didn’t care about the truth. Jesus was disrupting their business of religion and unraveling their lifestyle. They didn’t have to work for a living; they were clergy, and they were making a lot of money at it. They were honored by society and had a great thing going and didn’t want to lose it. One way to fight against Jesus was to spread rumors about Him.

(186da) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool throws Jesus away for something better >> Israel betrayed the Lord – Most people agree with this as the formal definition of blasphemy: Jesus is the ruler of the demons, meaning the Pharisees accused Him of being Satan. If the blasphemer really believes that Jesus is the leader of the demons, then technically he is not blaspheming; he is just wrong, but this was not the case with the Pharisees. They knew the Scriptures backwards and forewords, and Jesus revealed Himself as the very fulfillment of Scripture. Somewhere in their blackened hearts the Pharisees knew Jesus was their Messiah, probably better than anyone; that is, they knew He was the Son of God. They weren’t just telling a boldfaced lie; they actually believed their own lies! They knew the truth and believed a lie at the same time, distorting their view of Jesus. To make matters worse, they received help believing their own lies through demonic influence. Do you see the hypocrisy in that? Demons led them to believe that Jesus is the ruler of the demons and sealed it into their conscience as with a hot branding iron! It has now become their truth, and no one could dissuade them from it, because it was something they understood by a spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit is greater than any demonic spirit, and that the Holy Spirit delivers people from spiritual bondage, but the Pharisees were different in that they wanted to remain in bondage to their ignorance.

Lk 11-14

(146g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Deaf, dumb and blind spirits – It almost sounded like the demon itself was mute, suggesting that whatever is characteristic of the demon is how it manifests in a person’s life. This particular demon was mute; therefore, it manifested in the man as mute. All demons lie, steal, kill and destroy in one way or another, and on top of these common faults they have personality snags, which define them, and the person who is possessed by them reflect these snags.

Lk 11-17,18

(46i) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Satan falls by his own wickedness – Instead of Jesus getting upset about the Pharisees' accusations (what they said was the ultimate insult), He responded by telling them the truth, probably not for their sake, but for the sake of others listening. He proved that what they said was false, in that Satan would not cast out demons, since Satan would then be fighting against himself. In fact, that will be the case in the last days. One of the causes of Satan’s demise will be that he will turn against himself, and the statement that Jesus made here will prove true. In a way Jesus was prophesying that Satan will in deed be divided against himself when the antichrist comes into power, and will take on human flesh and the same convoluted mindset of the Pharisees, and Satan will destroy Himself by his own wickedness, even as the Pharisees did and the whole religious establishment of Israel.

Lk 11-17

(68l) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving false reasoning

Lk 11-18

(164c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan rules the world >> The world is his kingdom

Lk 11-19

(65f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> Families break up because of faith in Christ – It says that the sons of the Pharisees were casting out demons by none other than the finger of God, suggesting that they believed in Jesus, which couldn’t have made the Pharisees very happy. They must have seen their fathers as cowardly hooligans and wanted no part of them, and saw Jesus as real. It appears they departed from the family business of murdering the prophets.

Lk 11-20

(149h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Authority of the rhema given to evangelism >> Preaching the gospel by the power of God

Lk 11-21,22

(45l) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Satan VS the saints >> Fighting against Satan

(71c) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority over demons – Satan is the strong man; he is fully armored and guarding his house, which is Israel in this case, and his possessions are undisturbed, that is, until Jesus came. Satan’s armor is deception; it is his greatest weapon and his only defense; otherwise he is powerless. If he had power, he would have destroyed the world centuries ago. Satan cannot violate the will of man, for if God will not violate man's will, Satan cannot do it; Satan cannot even influence the physical world, since he is a disembodied spirit. The only real power Satan has is to access to the minds of individuals and societies; in this he is a genius. Using the mind of man as his only tool, he influences man’s worldview, which he uses to change the world, though it is man who makes the changes. The devil is very good at bending man’s thoughts around his worldview to make people agree with his rationale; then he can use man like a puppet however he wishes, but take fear from the equation by reprogramming the mind with the word of God, and the devil is powerless.

(112d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Jesus light in us overcomes darkness >> The light of His power

Lk 11-23

(145k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Their behavior >> Being possessed by demons – When a demon is evicted from a human spirit, it is forced into “waterless places” (a wilderness) looking for new habitation. These are the experiences of demons; if they do not reside in man, they must dwell as dessert nomads. For this reason it is often difficult to cast out demons; they have it pretty good there. Those who find a place in people’s hearts wreak havoc in their lives, doing what they know: steal, kill and destroy. When it finds no other host to possess, it returns to the person from whom it was evicted and finds that person put together and in order. Notice, Jesus never mentioned the person getting saved; this becomes his downfall. The demon wants his house back, so it knocks on the door of the person’s heart and finds him unwilling to let him return, “then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that person becomes worse than the first.” 

(160b) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit spirit

(186e) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool >> The fool does nothing with Christ – If a person was delivered from one or more demons, he is obligated to become a Christian, or else his life will disintegrate under the destructive power of demons. Jesus warned that they will most certainly return with a vengeance. The demons come as a dark, united force, their evil increases; they impose their will on the person who cannot defend himself except to become a Christian by asking the Holy Spirit to come live in His heart and protect him from the demon forces of this world, for the demons have no interest in sharing real estate with the Lord. The person got the demons cast out of him, and made the tragic mistake of returning to his old life, so the demons also returned. It is like the alcoholic who decides to quit drinking but keeps going to the bars and visits with his old drinking buddies. This is an example of a seed that fell among the weeds; it won’t be long before he starts drinking again. He never gave his heart to the Lord and never became a Christian; he needs the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to keep the demons off his back. If he gives his heart to the Lord, his heart better represent fertile soil. Then he will fully recover from his spiritual setback and in the end inherit eternal life, but if his heart represents on rocky soil, he will not maintain his faith. Once he falls away, the demons will return, and his life will end in disaster.  

Lk 11-26

(164e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> Satan’s hierarchy of evil

Lk 11-27,28

(79h) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Practice listening to God’s word so you can hear it

(86k) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word >> Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Do the words of Jesus

(94e) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective >> God’s Perspective on the Church

(173a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Relationship between Jesus and His mother >> Jesus is our savior, not Mary – This is a very serious slam against the Catholic faith. The woman in the crowd was saying, ‘Blessed is Mary,’ being the first to worship the mother of Jesus. Mary indeed bore a Son who was divine, but to say that Mary was divine is to subtract the Father's input in the conception of Jesus Christ. Isn't this what the Catholics do when they worship Mary: diminish the Son of God? Jesus was contrary with this woman, thus with the whole of Catholicism, immediately putting a stop to her regaling and refocused her mind on the word of God saying, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” The woman elevated Mary as blessed, but Jesus elevated all who would come to Him seeking eternal life. Jesus essentially told the woman, ‘Anyone can be just as blessed as My dear mother.’ This passage proves that man had an affinity to fabricate the doctrines of the Catholic faith, that according to the fleshly mind Catholicism was inevitable. Mary was one of the great women in the Bible, but we can all be just as blessed if we listen to Jesus and do what He says, even as Mary did.

(20f) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Seeking a sign – Why was Jesus’ generation evil for seeking a sign? Actually it was ridiculous, because Jesus went around publicly healing people; He raised the dead; He fed thousands of people with a picnic basket of food, and He performed miracles proving He was God in human flesh. Then people wanted a sign on top of that? They wanted a sign to assuage their unbelief! What sign could He possibly do that He hadn’t already given them? Jesus said in Jn 6-36, “You have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”

(141d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ ministry >> Jesus as the savior – Jonah was thrown into the sea, swallowed by the whale and regurgitated on shore, symbolizing a type of death, burial and resurrection that Jesus was about to encounter on the cross. Jonah came out smelling like the wrong end of a fish, and he preached to the Ninevites in fashion and they all repented, and Jonah was the most surprised of all at his success. Had Jonah not gone through the proper channels, the whale’s stomach in this case, Nineveh may not have repented, but coming to them in that condition must have done something to help them repent. They didn't want what happened to him happening to them. God prepared their hearts to receive the words of a man who looked and smelled like the digestive remains of a chump.

Lk 11-29

(221b) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from man’s ignorance >> God hides from those who are looking for Him

Lk 11-31,32

(48i) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your knowledge of God – This reveals one aspect of God’s judgment: it is comparative. Comparing our generation to others, He will bring up examples, perhaps saying, ‘The queen of Sheba “came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,” what’s your excuse for having a hardened heart?’

Lk 11,33-36

(92b) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> Trail of good works >> Ray of light leading to the face of Christ – Our eyes reveal our thoughts and our thoughts determine our behavior. “Watch out that the light in you may not be darkness.” We are to monitor our hearts, unlike the Pharisees, whose twisted minds tainted their perceptions, who believed their own lies. Nevertheless, it was their truth, and it was something they could not exfoliate from their hearts. Watch out that the truth that we believe is not religious deception. May the truth we believe illumine our body in the good works that God has wrought in us, that all things may become light, wholly illumined by His countenance shining upon us (Eph 5-13). May our eye be clear and our thoughts be true, reflected in the good works that God has prepared for us before all eternity that we should walk in them (Eph 2-10).

(112f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Obeying the truth in broad daylight >> Church’s deeds in the light

(117k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Light illumines your spirit

(177f) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Beware of false doctrine – Jesus gives warning that the light within us be not darkness, false light, referring to religious deception. We can tell a lot about a person by his eyes; Jesus called them the lamp of the body. Jesus is talking about what we believe as light, saying that it changes the way we look at things, and it also changes how we appear to others. He says that the truth is clear to those who know it, which makes our eyes clear. Anyone whose eye is clear is an indication that they know the truth, but there are those whose eye is muddy. We look at them and there are clearly things happening in the shadowy background that they don’t want anyone to know; they are walking in darkness. In a person's eyes we can see that their lamp emanates darkness instead of light that they are hiding something. They have skeletons in their closet that cloud their entire bodies and fills their countenance the darkness of sin.

Lk 11,34-36

(74k) Thy kingdom come >> Heart of man is sinful >> The heart determines which light is in you

(129m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Single minded >> Avoid contradicting yourself

(184c) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> Hiding behind your own imagination >> Hiding from the truth

Lk 11-34,35

(19b) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >> Darkness of man’s thinking – They say that the eye is the window of the soul. When we look at people, we look into their eyes, like a window that exposes both the inside and outside of the house, so the eye gives a semblance of what is happening within the mind. We can see the result of what they are seeing and can tell the condition of their conscience. Jesus is saying we can look into a person’s eyes and see either a singleness of purpose or the deception of hypocrisy. Looking into a person's eyes we can see whether he has a good, healthy conscience or one trodden by sin. In today’s world a lack of eye contact is a tell in itself; go into a public setting and note how many people will give you eye contact; it means they have something to hide. To avoid eye contact is like refusing a urine test; they fail by default. Many people don’t like others looking into their windows, synonymous with a peeping tom. They want to remain private, which says something about them. Jesus is saying that when people walk in darkness, their eyes can betray them. Those who do the works of darkness, their countenance is darkened, but if their eye is clear, there is a sparkle, indicating they pay attention to their conscience and live by it.

(20ca) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unbelief >> Having a mind that is unable to receive >> Unbelief cannot distinguish light from darkness – Have you ever looked into a person's eyes and seen the windows of his soul so dirty that the light of God’s truth cannot penetrate because of all the sins he has committed? Doing wickedness has the effect of resisting the truth, but sometimes people’s self-righteousness can do the same, which seems like the opposite of wickedness but is really the other side of the same coin. God sees self-righteousness no better than breaking His laws, for both will keep you from heaven. A self-righteous person doesn’t think he needs God, while the one who practices wickedness is afraid of Him and avoids the light, so which is worse? This was Jesus’ answer to his disciples, "With people this [salvation] is impossible, but with God all things are possible." There is no middle ground between a dirty rotten sinner and a self-righteousness hypocrite. Look at Zaccheus, the chief tax collector who climbed a sycamore tree to get a better look at Jesus as He passed through his area (Lk 19,1-10). He was a miracle of salvation. Probably the greatest miracle of salvation happens to those who are wealthy, for money has a repelling effect on the gospel of Christ. They are the ones who believe the most that they have no need of God, returning to self-righteousness, making them appear above others who have less. The ultimate deception of money is to think that being economically above others makes them better, and therefore having a lesser need of God.

(182a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Believing the darkness within you is light

Lk 11-35

(79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t

(84b) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Keep watch

Lk 11-36

(78i) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind by the word >> Spirit renews as the flesh decays

(64a) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot tolerate sin >> He cannot allow unbelief in His presence

(122m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to rebuke the world for unbelief

(178l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for having no love for God – Jesus was the epitome of boldness to be invited into the Pharisee's house and rebuke him right there at his own table. This was the ultimate insult, but Jesus knew what he was attempting to do. He invited Jesus into his house for supper, thinking it would be a good opportunity to sway Jesus away from His truth and to convince Jesus of the ways of the Pharisees, who were steeped in corruption and debauchery. His plan was to coax Jesus into their gang, but He would have none of it. Instead, Jesus became the alpha male and communicated the message that if he thinks for one minute the Pharisees are going to control Him or He had a shred of weakness, Jesus was there to talk him right out of that idea.

(201d) Denying Christ >> Jesus is an offense >> Truth offends error >> The word offends peoples’ sinful lifestyles

Lk 11,37-44

(171g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Playing the part to be accepted by God – The Pharisee complained that Jesus didn’t wash His hands according to the law; washing your hands is a good idea, and He probably otherwise would have, except He wanted to make the point that He was free, that He was not obligated to wash His hands. The Pharisees were only concerned about appearance. They were the very personification of the reprobate mind. The Pharisees were fooling the general public, but they didn't fool Jesus.

Lk 11,39-52

(180a) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people for sordid gain – Jesus was saying that when faith gets expensive, people like the Pharisees weasel their way into leadership positions and lord themselves over the saints. What was the key word that Jesus used in explaining this? “Neglect!” When we have church in a church building, we tend to neglect the true issues of Christianity, such as justice, mercy and the love of God. The way church was conducted in the first century, all the many issues of Christianity were established in a set of checks and balances, making it less likely for the pastor to exalt himself over the people being that he held an unpaid position, and there were other people surrounding him who had strong ministries, such as deacons and elders, but the way things are run today is more in line with the Pharisees of Jesus' day, where the pastor is the only real minister in the Church. It was never meant to be this way. Every person has a place in the body of Christ and a ministry and a responsibility to fulfill that ministry.

(197e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Fruitlessness >> A fruitless life offends God – The lawyer in verse 45 automatically exempted himself from the rebuke that Jesus leveled against the Pharisees, not expecting Jesus to be critical of him too, being steeped in self-righteousness. He was so convinced that he was doing the will of God that nobody could tell him otherwise. If we compared most ministries in the Church today with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the way the Church operated in the first century, we have almost nothing in common with the Bible or with the first Christians, who knew something about unity in the body of Christ. Someone might say, ‘The world has changed and we have different needs now,’ but the elementary principles of the world have not changed, and the contemporary church has adopted them in place of running the Church according to the kingdom principles of the Bible, foremostly through humility and submission. Many pastors refuse to submit to the word of God and to the Holy Spirit, but are self-determining. When they seek to be independent of God, they have severed themselves from the vine, more dead sticks added to the pile to be one day burned.

Lk 11-39

(16f) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Using sin to achieve your goals

Lk 11-41

(103h) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Cleans yourself – Jesus gave His heart to the people, and He told the Pharisees to do the same, but the Pharisees didn’t have a heart.

(120k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Contentment >> Content with your standard of living >> Free from greed – The Bible teaches that graciousness and giving are all extensions of the heart, but if we have a heart full of greed, how can we give anything? If God has given us a charitable heart, we are able to part with our things and give to those who are in need. If we give our heart to people and it converts to supplying their needs, it says that all things become clean to us, and what did Peter say about this, quoting the Old Testament? “Love covers a multitude of sins” (Proverbs 10-12). It is not manipulating God if we do acts of love trying to make up for past sins we have committed (Act 9,13-16). What’s manipulative is to willfully sin and then do acts of righteousness in effort to counteract it, so that the whole thing is premeditative. That follows the pattern of indulgences of the Catholic Church in the fifteenth century that rightfully enraged Martin Luther to nail his 95 theses on the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

(124b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Acts of love >> Love takes from the rich and gives to the poor >> love is the act of giving to the poor

(192d) Die to self >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Receiving from God by substitution >> Wheeling and dealing in God’s spiritual economy

(250f) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> Natural then the spiritual (obedience then anointing)

KJV    WEB  /  Parallel Gospel  /  Navigation Bar

Lk 11,42-52

(51a) Judgment >> World & church >> Warning of wrath >> Consequences of sin

Lk 11-42

(175c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Wealth gives a false sense of godliness – Tithes and offerings do not fit the description of exploiting people, but then Christianity was never meant to be expensive. If we give thousands of dollars to the Church every year, what can we expect to gain from it? Are we paying for our faith or paying to get into heaven? With all the money we invest in the Church our expectations have been heightened for a matching return, and the things God promises we cannot receive with money. Those who make such exorbitant donations expect things from the Church that money indeed can buy, such as power and control, and this leads the church in the wrong direction.

Lk 11-43

(23d) Sin >> Pride wants to be first

(56b) Paradox >> Lose by gaining >> Lose your place by seeking the first place

Lk 11-44

(183f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Nursery for the Spirit of error >> Ignorance – Jesus was not describing all pastors in the Church today, but His description does apply to a fair number of them, not that they are necessarily evil or exalt themselves over the saints but are ignorant of the truth, and by that they corrupt the Church. Since they have no life in themselves, they have nothing to offer the people and their ministry is dead. Jesus described them as concealed tombs.

Lk 11,46-54

(61i) Paradox >> Two implied meanings God's judgment is prophesied to fall: On the nation of Israel / On Jesus / On the whole world in the last days – Jesus' generation was corrupt, largely due to the religious leaders of His time. It’s true today as it was then that the Church is the salt of the earth, and if we lose our saltiness, how will we be made salty again? The entire generation will be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men! Entire nations are won and lost by the condition of our faith. Jesus accused the Pharisees and the lawyers of approving the murder of their ancient prophets by adorning their tombs, thus in their hearts they played a part in their death, proving that if they had lived in those days, they would have cast their lot against the prophets. Israel hadn’t had a prophet in 400 years, so when Jesus mentioned their fathers, He wasn’t talking about their actual fathers, but their great, great, great grandparents. The Pharisees recognized the historical significance of Israel’s prophets, yet they treated Jesus with as much contempt as all the other prophets who graced Israel. The Pharisees claimed that if they lived in those days they would not have taken part in murdering the prophets, thus claiming to be better than their forefathers, but Jesus disagreed based on the way they were treating Him. The Pharisees believed they were good people serving the Lord, though they were totally devoid of faith. Jesus said that the sins of mankind since the foundation of the world would be charged against His generation, that is, charged against Christ, and it was the Pharisees who would make sure of it. All the wickedness of sin would be heaped upon Jesus, and God would judge mankind through Him. God’s fury was spent on His Son 2000 years ago. He poured out His judgment on His Son, but since then man has continued to sin after God's demonstration of grace, encompassing two world wars, Jesus taking on the full brunt of God’s wrath upon Himself in hope that man would repent, but he would not. Although the price has been paid, yet there is a price yet to pay for sinning in God's face throughout the age of grace. As Jesus paid the price for sin, so at the end of this age this time God will make man pick up the tab. All the sins committed during the 2000-year age of grace will be charged against the last generation, probably our generation.

Lk 11-46

(1l) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Taking on responsibilities that are not yours

(162k) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to religion – These lawyers were ignorant; they just witnessed Jesus pounding the Pharisees into the ground, so they called attention to themselves as though He wouldn’t do the same to them. The lawyers were just as corrupt as the Pharisees, yet they opened their mouths and invited open rebuke. After a lion rips one man to shreds, the lawyers yell at the lion, ‘Hey, I’m over here!’ What did they think would happen? The lawyers did this because they actually believed themselves to be innocent. Israel's lawyers were experts in the Law of Moses; Jesus was saying that they had taken away the key of knowledge from the people and refused to enter themselves. How did they do that? It was for the sake of love that the law was given, but the lawyers taught that it was for the sake of the law that we obey it. There is no hope or blessing in obeying the law for the law's sake. The law was given to guide Israel to the love of God and man, offering purpose and incentive. Love is key to everything. 

Lk 11,47-51

(37b) Judgment >> The cross >> Father slays His son – Jesus was obviously talking about His crucifixion when He warned that all the sins of the world would be charged against this generation, but look what happened to Israel. It appears that Jesus' prophecy had a literal interpretation for them, suggesting a principle of Scripture that proposes both a spiritual and a literal interpretation to many if not all the prophecies written about the last days. The sins of the world were charged against Christ and He paid for them all on the cross, so that anyone who would believe in Him were completely absolved of all wrongdoing, past, present and future; that is the spiritual end of the principle. However, if people don’t repent, they will go the way of Israel, facing the full brunt of God’s judgment; that is the literal end of it. For example, since God has judged Israel and forgiven the gentiles throughout the age of grace, their roles will be reversed during the fulfillment of endtime prophecy; that is, Israel will lead a Great Endtime Revival, while the Church throughout the developed countries of the world will reject this revival as instituted by God and will be thus required to suffer through the great tribulation to possibly lose their salvation if they ever had it. See also: Role reversal; 194c

(194c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God >> Running to meet Jesus prior to His visitation – After WWII the world finally awoke from its delirium of anti-Semitism. The Jews got their nation back, but they still don’t know how to believe in Jesus. The Bible prophesies that in the last days Israel will return to their God and believe in Jesus as their Messiah. The Jews will manage the gospel in the last days, consisting of the 144,000 Jewish witness, two of them leading the way into the Great Endtime Revival of the gentiles (her children). If the Jewish nation were penalized for rejecting their messiah, how much more will God's blessing be upon them when they return to their faith (Romans chapter 11)? Revelation chapter 12 says the woman (the 144,000) will flee into the wilderness for safety and protection from the antichrist, though there will be many martyrs. Through the martyrdom of His saints God will judge the world in the same way that God judged Israel through Christ. He promised that anyone who would believe in Jesus and become part of this Great Endtime Revival would be saved even as martyrs, but those involved in martyring them, casting their vote against them by receiving the mark of the beast, will be thrown into the lake of fire, after they suffer the seals, the trumpets and the bowls of God’s fierce wrath. See also: Role reversal; 37b / Great Endtime Revival (Jews will manage the gospel at the end of the age); Jn 12,20-22; 72h

(199j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Unwilling to receive Christ >> Rejecting Christ as the Messiah – The fact that Jesus paid for the sins of the world means Israel didn’t have to go through judgment; they only needed to repent of their unbelief and receive Christ as their Messiah and God would have forgiven and healed them, just as He prophesied in His Old Testament, but they hardened their hearts against the Lord, as they did throughout their long and speckled past. They lost everything, even their title as a people. All that remained was their Jewish heritage; they were born Jews, and that was all that remained, and even that became a curse to them over the centuries. Many Jewish people have believed in Jesus throughout the age of grace and were saved, but the nation as a whole has not believed. Everything they valued was taken from them; many were killed by the Romans, then disbursed into the nations, where they were heatedly persecuted for the next two millennia, and ultimately wound up in Hitler’s gas chambers and crematoriums. In the last days when they finally repent of their unbelief in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, God will bestow glory on them far greater than all their suffering, for these are the ways of God.