Living Behind Enemy Lines [9-14-25]

September 14, 2025

Luke 11:14-36

“Living Behind Enemy Lines”

Are there gray areas in life? I think there are. My wife and I have discovered a gray area between what are and are not desirable plants in our landscaping beds. We could spend all morning coming up with examples of gray areas. But in the interest of avoiding potential marital strife, we shall not.

Essentially, a gray area is a situation, issue, or concept that is unclear, ambiguous, or lacks a cut-and-dry solution. We encounter gray areas all the time. They are situations where it's not obvious whether something is right or wrong, allowed or prohibited, or where the boundaries are not well-defined. {Albino deer and hunting season, for example.} We’ve all had to grapple with them. Sometimes choices or decisions or direction in life lack clarity or certainty. Are you with me on that?

A commentator on CNN once said, “The whole world is gray.” {Larry King}

With that in mind, let’s look at Luke 11:14-23:

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Here's what we’re going to talk about today. It will be driven by a foundational truth of Reformed theology:

"In essentials, unity;

in non-essentials, liberty;

in all things, charity."

We are in the arena of absolute truth. These are the essentials. There is no moral or philosophical uncertainty. No gray area when it comes to the battle between light and dark…good and evil. Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth, and Life. End of discussion. No other option.

Make no mistake. Plenty of people embrace moral and spiritual ambiguity. They live in the gray area between light and dark. There are people – people who consider themselves Christian - who believe that all religions lead to God. They believe that, if you are sincere in your belief system, you will go to heaven. Remember how un-gray Jesus puts it in John 14:6:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Permission to be indelicate here? One has to be a special kind of stupid to

claim belief in Jesus while rejecting this essential truth. In today’s passage, Jesus is telling us there are right and wrong beliefs. Amen?

Have we reached a point in our culture when anything and everything is embraced? Have we come to the point where absolute truth is an illusion? Where nothing is really true in and of itself? It’s like the old exchange:

“There is no absolute truth.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Absolutely.”

The mantra for most people seems to be, “The world is gray.” People celebrate their truth as if it is some kind of virtue.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Could that perspective be any more wrong? Methinks not. Whatever a person believes about life and death; whatever a person believes about sin and righteousness; whatever a person believes about right and wrong; Jesus says there are only two options. To paraphrase verse twenty-three, you are either for him or against him. That’s it. Nothing in-between. No gray area. You are either with Jesus or you are against him.

Jesus also says if you are not gathering with him, you are scattering. In other words, you are either with Jesus, contributing to his kingdom, or you

are against Jesus, fighting his kingdom. That’s about as black-and-white as it can get. And your eternal destiny depends on which side you’re on. There really are only two religions in the world. Those who are with Christ, and those who are against him. That is the unmistakable choice. There is no middle ground. There is no gray area.

Here's something you might want to write down:

IN LIFE, THERE IS ONLY HEAVEN AND HELL. WHICH CHOICE WILL I MAKE?

That’s the decision point Luke has lead us to. Remember, Jesus has set his face for Jerusalem. The first ten chapters are devoted to revealing that Jesus is the Son of God. That is an important part in the trajectory of our salvation history. Luke now brings us to the decision point. He’s laid out the facts for us. So what’s going to be your decision? You’ve heard it all. The message…the call for repentance…the offer of forgiveness…the miracles…the promise of heaven. As someone once said:

“JESUS DIDN’T COME TO MAKE BAD PEOPLE GOOD. JESUS CAME TO MAKE DEAD PEOPLE ALIVE.”

It is decision time.

One thing we notice is that, as the crowds get larger, Jesus gets more confrontational. In verse twenty-nine, we read, “When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” We’re going to hear more of this. These are pivotal moments. Jesus is getting more condemning. The warnings are stronger. More lethal. Why?

Because it’s decision time. The stakes couldn’t be any higher. It’s eternal life or eternal punishment. And the forces of evil know the stakes are high. They’ve line up opposition against Jesus. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right? We see that opposition today. The powers of darkness do not want to lose anyone to the force of the One, True Light.

Again, verses 14-15:

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”

What’s the point? What’s going on here? What does Luke want us to know?

Quite simply, the world is enemy occupied territory. It belongs to God, its Creator, but through sin we are living under the tyranny of Satan. As Jesus points out, we are at war. And it is a battle we cannot fight and we cannot win under our own power. The battle against sin, evil, and death is only won through the power of Christ and Christ alone. People need to know that. People need to see that. We are only freed from the grip of evil through Jesus Christ. Come to Christ, and start living in victory.

Here's what I was thinking about. I was thinking about living behind enemy lines. We know what it’s like living in a world under the tyranny of Satan. The signs are everywhere. Yet in a subtle way, these verses challenge us to be hopeful in the midst of temptation and sin. Wouldn’t it have been nice if the grumblers had instead said, “Let’s rejoice together. The man who couldn’t speak has been healed.” That would have been so refreshing, right? How would it have felt to hear people say you were healed by

Satanic power? How nice it would have been to hear everyone who witnessed the miracle say, “Praise God for this display of power over the kingdom of darkness.”

One of the reasons Jesus pushes back might be because they all could have chosen that response. Here we are, in a sin sick world, and we get to witness a miracle. Praise the Lord. But no, they surrender territory to Satan. I remember what leaders in the former Soviet Union used to call socialist sympathizers in the West…Useful Idiots. Satan has more than enough useful idiots doing his bidding. Rather than celebrate Jesus battling evil on their behalf, they belittle him. They test him with demands for further signs from heaven. Useful idiots.

Here's the reality. Here’s the truth we know. Luke makes clear that, while the final victory has not yet been won, Satan’s demise is inevitable. As Jesus says in verse twenty-two, “But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.” Satan’s domain is crumbling. What side do you want to be on? As Jesus says:

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

To whom do you give all the glory and honor and praise? I love how one woman sums it up:

“WHEN YOU PUT GOD FIRST, EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE.”

Renatta Michelle Oxendine

While all four verses of the classic hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” bolster us in challenging times, I think verse three is especially fitting here:

And though this world, with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God has willed

his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure,

for lo! his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.

In Christ, everything falls into place.

We’ll end on the most sublimely beautiful part of these verses. It’s in how Jesus responds to the negativity and naysayers. His critics are blaspheming the blessed Son of God. And how does Jesus respond? With restraint. With grace and mercy. Jesus could have brought horrible judgment up them. But he does the opposite. He acts graciously and mercifully by patiently reasoning with them. Jesus invites them to rethink their conclusion. That is mercy. He’s not threatened. Jesus simply wants them to abandon their blasphemous folly.

And that is the way. That is how we operate behind enemy lines. We trust our Savior, not our sin. We get our strength from Jesus. The only power Satan has is what we give to him. They only authority Satan has is that

which we surrender. In Christ, we are always going to be okay. It’s always

going to be alright.

Let’s pray:

FATHER, THANK YOU FOR SAVING US ALL FROM THE BLASPHEMY OF UNBELIEF. MAY YOU SAVE MANY MORE FOR YOUR ETERNAL GLORY. WE PRAY IN CHRIST’S NAME. AMEN.