Text: Revelation 2:1-7

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Text: Matthew 12:22-30 Title: “The Kingdom’s Rival” Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 12:22. I’m in a series entitled “Kingdom Come.” Jesus taught us to pray for the Father’s Kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we receive Jesus we receive or enter the Kingdom of God. We can experience it and participate in it. With our thoughts, words, deeds and decisions we can expand the Kingdom of God. We also understand that when Jesus stepped into this world two-thousand years ago it was the Kingdom of God launching a full-out assault on the kingdom of darkness that has ruined and ruled the world since Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden. So now this world is the battleground between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. But also every human heart is a battleground between these two kingdoms in conflict. And we see that in an encounter Jesus had one day. Read Matthew 12:22-30. Just so we’re clear on what is happening here. Someone brought to Jesus a man who was possessed by a demon. Satan had wrecked this man’s life to where he couldn’t see or speak. But Jesus healed him. People were completely astounded at this and began to think maybe Jesus was the Messiah (of course, that’s the reason Jesus performed miracles like this to begin with). But the Pharisees and other religious leaders who were opposed to Jesus could not accept that explanation for the miracle so they use it as an opportunity to attack Jesus. They said that when Jesus drove out the demon He did so through the power of Beelzebub (a name for Satan derived from the old Canaanite god Baal). Well Jesus totally dismantles their argument. It’s a silly notion they have. Why would Satan want to drive himself out? But in the course of Jesus answering their accusation He teaches us that in this world there are kingdoms in conflict. The Kingdom of God has a rival … not an equal, but a rival. We see that in the verses we just read. Matthew 12:26 - If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? Matthew 12:28 - But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. So there are these kingdoms in conflict. But most of the time we don’t have a clue what’s going on in this battle because it’s an invisible battle.

ILLUSTRATION – Now I happen to have in my possession a pair of night vision goggles. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my hands on the real ones used by our Special Ops forces, but these will do. The description on the box says… You see, the Bible teaches us God’s Kingdom is an invisible kingdom but with the eyes of faith guided by the Word of God and illuminated by the Spirit of God we come to understand … to “see” … the Kingdom of God. But we also need help in understanding and seeing the Kingdom’s rival … the kingdom of darkness. The Bible says that Christ-followers are children of the day, not children of the night. But the Word of God and the Spirit of God give us the night vision we need to recognize the evil rival to King Jesus. First, we see… 1. THE ENEMY’S DOMAIN Matthew 12:25 - “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. Remember Jesus has been accused of casting out a demon by the power of Satan. That’s ridiculous. Satan has his kingdom over which he exerts his power and influence. Why would he fight against himself in his own domain? Just like a city has a city limit (boundary) and officials who are in charge within that boundary, Satan has his domain. Just like a household includes a family within the four walls of a house, Satan has his house, his domain, the realm over which he has powerful influence. And the Bible shows us that the enemy’s domain is this world. In John 12:31 Jesus called Satan the prince or ruler of this world. 1 John 5:19 - We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Now when John uses this word “world” he’s referring to the world of human culture organized and opposed to God. And it’s under the control of Satan. This is his domain. ILLUSTRATION – When our youngest daughter Ashley and her family moved to Colorado they bought a house with a couple of acres. They have two Golden Retrievers who need to be outside some of the time but they didn’t want to build a fence. So they installed what is called an “invisible fence.” You’ve probably heard about these. A wire is buried underground around the area where the dogs can go.

They have a special collar they wear. The underground wire emits a signal that causes the dog’s collar to give them a shock when they get close to the boundaries. But it took the dogs awhile to learn the system. So one of them would see a car on the road and take off running full speed to chase it. He would forget about the invisible fence and when he ran across the boundary he got reminded real quick. You’d hear him yelping as he quickly returned to the domain where he belonged. Satan has his domain, his kingdom, that includes people. We saw last week that the Kingdom of God is made up of citizens who enter His Kingdom by being born again through faith in Jesus. And the kingdom of Satan also has citizens … people who are under his reign and rule. Ephesians 2:2 talks about our pre-Christian lifestyle… Ephesians 2:2 - in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. People without Christ are locked in that invisible domain, lost and separated from God. But when we are saved we are rescued from the enemy’s domain. Colossians 1:13 - For he has rescued us from the dominion (domain) of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, But even after we are saved we have to fight the powerful allurement of the world. Turn to I John 2:15. Even though we are saved our sin nature is pulled toward this world, the system of people and ideas inspired and ruled by Satan and set against God. Read I John 2:15-17. This world, Satan’s kingdom, is passing away. One day it will be judged and destroyed. But those of us who are in the Kingdom of God and want His Kingdom to come and His will to be done will live forever because His Kingdom endures forever. So you see what we are up against. This system, this culture, this world, is under the control of Satan. And there isn’t a human being or any human institution that isn’t touched by this … education, politics, entertainment, you name it. Yes, there’s a residue of God’s good creation still evident around us. We see it in nature, in beauty and in other ways. But overall Satan has his hooks in every aspect of the human experience. That’s what makes this world such an evil place to live.

Behind the idolatry of Hinduism in South Asia, and the worldwide evil of abortion, and human trafficking, and racism, and a multi-billion dollar pornography industry, and murderous regimes like the Islamic caliphate … behind all of that is an evil empire controlled by Satan. That’s the enemy’s domain. Now with our spiritual night vision we also see… 2. THE ENEMY’S DEMONS I don’t have time to go into more detail here, but just notice that the kingdom of darkness is infested with demons who are at the command of the prince of demons. This whole episode starts with Jesus casting a demon out of a man. And Jesus encountered demonic spirits everywhere he went. We need to constantly be reminded that… Ephesians 6:12 - Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And with our spiritual night vision we can also recognize… 3. THE ENEMY’S DEVICES This episode begins with Matthew describing a man who is living proof of the evil devices of Satan. He can’t see or speak. Now not all disease and sickness is the result of demonic possession, but the Bible clearly states that in this man’s situation it was a result of demonic activity. Satan has all kinds of tricks up his sleeve. He ruins lives and then he fights with all of his power to keep people from hearing the Gospel that will restore their lives. 2 Corinthians 4:4a – The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Jesus told a parable to illustrate that the Kingdom functions like seed (the Word of God) being sown in soil. He said… Matthew 13:19 - When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

There’s a spiritual battle going on right now as the Word is being preached to you. There’s a spiritual battle going on when you sit down each day to have your quiet time in God’s Word. The Bible says that Satan deceives people in the most hideous ways with all kinds of counterfeit miracles. Sometimes he uses people to keep others from being saved. He’ll do anything to keep people from hearing the Gospel, even to the point of attacking those who proclaim the Gospel. ILLUSTRATION – On one of my last mission trips to India the four of us on the team were talking one day about how every one of us had had some kind of weird thing happen before we came that made it very difficult for us to prepare the trip. That’s Satan’s efforts to keep the Gospel from going out. Back to our text in Matthew 12 there’s a battle going on for the soul of a man. Satan has deployed his evil weapons and devices to ruin this man’s life. But Jesus is greater and more powerful. Remember, Satan is His rival, but not His equal. So the next thing we see with our spiritual night vision is… 4. THE ENEMY’S DEFEAT I love the way Matthew shows how quickly Jesus reversed the work of the enemy. In v.22 Matthew just matter-of-factly said, “and Jesus healed him.” Just like that, the man could talk and see again. And this is evidence that a stronger Kingdom has arrived. Satan’s dark kingdom is a rival to King Jesus, but not an equal. Matthew 12:28 - But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When Jesus drove the demon out of the man it wasn’t by the power of Satan, it was by the power of the Kingdom of God unleashed through the Holy Spirit. That power was resident in the body of Jesus, but also Jesus conferred that power on His disciples as He gave them authority to cast out demons. But the death blow for the kingdom of darkness came at the death and resurrection of Jesus. Colossians 2:15 – (Jesus) disarmed the powers and authorities, (and) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Amen! Look at how Jesus described the enemy’s defeat in…

Matthew 12:29 - “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. Jesus uses a negative image here to describe His positive power. The strong man Satan has a house filled with possessions (like the blind and mute man was demonpossessed) The only way the possessions in the strong man’s house can be taken is for someone stronger and mightier to bind the strong man. And that “Stronger Man” is King Jesus. With the coming of His Kingdom He has assaulted the strong man’s domain and set the captives free. For now Satan still has the whole world under his control, but he’s been mortally wounded by the Stronger Man. One day God will instruct His angels to bind Satan permanently. So as Christ-followers we don’t bind Satan. He already has been, and one day will be completely bound. But we do is we stand fast in the Lord and resist the evil one. James 4:7 - Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. I Peter 5:9 says we are to resist him, standing firm in the faith. But it doesn’t stop there. We’re not just on the defensive. We get to go on the offensive with King Jesus against this evil empire. We get to take part in the enemy’s defeat as we join with Jesus in bringing His Kingdom to come into this world. Matthew 12:30 - “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. “He who is not with Me is against Me?” With Him in what? With him in the work of the Kingdom. “He who does not gather with Me scatters.” Gather with him how? In rescuing souls from the kingdom of darkness and gathering them into the Kingdom of Light. Jesus is drawing a line in the sand here. You are either with the Kingdom of Jesus or against Him in the kingdom of darkness. There’s no middle ground. You’re either gathering with the Kingdom of Jesus or you are scattering with the kingdom of darkness. There’s no middle ground. At any given time I’m either advancing

one kingdom or the other. If I’m not working with Him to gather others into the Kingdom, I’m working against Him to scatter them. I’m either all in or all out. Churches can be just as guilty of this, so we have to be careful. If we’re just sitting around neutral in the conflict we’ve sided with the enemy. If we’re not all-in with Jesus then it is the same as being all-out against Him. If as a church we are not working to expand His Kingdom and gather people into His Kingdom then it’s as if we are scattering and working against King Jesus. So in fact, what some people might call a “good church” may not be a Kingdom church at all. But that will not be the case for us. We are a Kingdom church. We are not fearful religious consumers; we are courageous Kingdom commandos. ILLUSTRATION – Think of our battle against the evil empire of Satan like fighting wildfires. Wildfires in California have been consuming lives and property in a catastrophic way. Heroic firefighters called “hotshots” work tirelessly to contain and ultimately extinguish those destructive fires. With our spiritual night vision we see that the same thing is true about the kingdom of darkness. It is an evil wildfire consuming human lives and society. As citizens of the Kingdom of God we are Spirit-filled “hotshots” fighting the fire by our praying and our proclamation of the Gospel. With every thought, word, deed and decision we are either fighting the fire or fueling it. The King is looking for simple obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He’s does all the heavy lifting. We do the immediate obeying.