Crazy Jesus, Satanic Jesus, Stealing Jesus (Mark 3:20-30)

My message this morning is about the most important question that you can ask: Who was Jesus really?

The Christian answer to that question is that Jesus is the Son of God; that Jesus is the perfect Savior of mankind; that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Jesus is the God-man—perfectly man and perfectly God—who was sent to do what we cannot do: Live a perfect life and die in our place to pay for our sins. The Bible teaches that Jesus showed power over demons, power over sickness, and finally, power over death. That’s the biblical Jesus.

But if you were to do one of those “man on the street” interviews so popular today and just asked random people who Jesus was, what answer would you get? Put another way: If you were to ask people to answer the question honestly with no pretense, what would they say?

The stock answer in the world is that Jesus was a good man. He was a great human teacher. Some would say He was a political revolutionary that went too far but had a lot of good ideas. The world puts Jesus on the same footing as people like Marcus Aurelius, the great stoic philosopher and Roman Emperor, or they put him in the same category of a Buddha, a Gandhi, or a Confucius. In other words, He was a great teacher and a wise man.

I want to tell you that is an absolutely absurd position. C.S. Lewis said it this way:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic - on a level with a man who believes he is a poached egg - or else he’d be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But don’t let us come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.

Jesus has to be either God, a crazy man, or the devil. He didn’t give us much of a fourth option.

In our text this morning, we are going to look at two very different groups of people that both rejected Jesus as Messiah, and we are also going to talk about one of the most troubling and misunderstood ideas in the Christian faith—the unpardonable sin. The main thing I want you to settle this morning—if you haven’t already—is the question I started with: “Who is Jesus, really?” Was He a madman? Was He Satan? Was He some good human teacher? Or was He and is He whom He claims to be?

Let’s read Mark 3:20-30 this morning:

”20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard [of it], they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. 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.”

I’m going to give you four points this morning as we walk through this text:

• The intervention
• The accusation
• The explanation
• The admonition

Let’s pray and we’ll look at those.

The first point thing we see in this passage is...

1. The Intervention (20-21)

In verse 20, it tells us that Jesus was so busy healing people that he couldn’t even eat bread. In other words, He was too busy to eat.

Have you been there? Have you ever been so consumed with what you are doing that you skip meals? I know what this is like.

Anyway, in the middle of this verse 21, it says:

”And when his friends heard [of it], they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.”

There is actually a lot going on in this verse. The word “friends” here actually refers to Jesus’ people. He’s back near his hometown here, and it was probably His family and the people Jesus grew up around. Remember that they aren’t believers yet. They see the way that Jesus is living, and they think, “We have to do something. We have to stage an intervention. He’s beside Himself. He’s lost His mind.”

So they are coming into this story to try to take Jesus by force, bring Him home, and straighten Him out somehow.

Why would they do this? They did it because they loved Jesus. They did it because, in their mind, Jesus was acting like a crazy man. He gave up His business to be homeless. He surrounded Himself with this ragtag group of nobodies. He spent all night out in prayer under the skies. He’s too busy to even eat. It’s time for an intervention.

Several times I’ve had people who love me come and try to stage an intervention. When I announced to my family I was going to be a preacher, there were interventions galore. Suddenly, more family members wanted to take me out to breakfast than I could handle. They all said the same thing: “It’s crazy for you to throw your life away and be a preacher.”

Even today, I get occasional interventions from family who say, “Come home, and get a job as a web developer here. Make good money. Be near your family.”

So I know what this is like. Maybe you’ve had some of these well-meaning interventions in your life. Maybe you’ve had your parents or your siblings say, “It’s crazy to be so into church,” or, “It’s crazy for you to put your kids in a Christian school.” Maybe coworkers think it’s crazy that you don’t party, that you don’t drink or that you don’t cuss and tell dirty jokes, and they genuinely want to “help” you by pulling you aside and telling you to lighten up.

So Jesus had His family and friends come to Him to try to stage an intervention because they thought He was losing it. They thought He was crazy.

That’s the first thing that we see here: The intervention. The second thing is...

2. The Accusation (22)

In verse 22, it tells us...

”And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.”

So these scribes and Pharisees (Matthew tells us it was Pharisees, too) make the journey north from Jerusalem to see Jesus, and they make a public accusation. Their public accusation was this: Jesus is possessed by the devil, and the only way Jesus has the power He has is because He Himself is demon-possessed.

So Jesus’ people think He’s crazy, and the powers that be think He’s Satan. Notice that they aren’t denying that Jesus had power. They couldn’t. It was on public display, but they are saying that Jesus’ power comes from Satan and that Jesus is Satanic.

Now that is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because Jesus’ entire character is pure. It’s ridiculous because Jesus is going around living in the exact opposite way that Satan would live and doing the exact opposite things Satan would do.

But that’s not Jesus’ answer. Look at the next point...

3. The Explanation (23-27)

To answer these scribes and Pharisees Jesus makes two points:

First, no group can undermine itself and survive.

That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” If a nation descends into a civil war, the end is near. If a church starts infighting, it’s probably going to be closing soon. If a family is bickering and arguing all the time, divorce is probably on the way.

What Jesus was saying was that this is ridiculous. Why would Satan undermine himself? Why would Satan fight against Satan?

The second point Jesus made is actually awesome, He said:

I came to spoil Satan, and in order to do that I have to bind the strong man first.

Look at verse 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.”

Let me explain this verse a little because it teaches an awesome truth. Jesus is comparing himself to a robber here—a robber that wants to enter into someone else’s castle or someone else’s mansion and take their valuables. Jesus says that the first step is beating the security and tying them up.

Now get this. Here is what this means.

This world is the devil’s house. He is the “prince of the power of the air” and the “ruler of the darkness of this world.” People who aren’t saved people are under the power of Satan. This is his house.

Jesus came to spoil Satan. Jesus came to take what belongs to Satan. Do you know what that is? It’s you! If you are a saved person today, then you are living spoils. You belonged to Satan, but Jesus came in and took you back by force.

Now in order for Jesus to steal from Satan, Jesus has to bind up the security. He has to tie up the strong man. In other words, Jesus has to show His power over the forces of the devil.

Now here is why I love this verse so much. This verse teaches us that if you are a saved person, Jesus has already tied up the devil’s demons. He’s already bound the strongman, and you are living spoil.

Another way to look at it—maybe a more flattering way—is to say that Jesus mounted an awesome ninja rescue mission and took you back from the kidnapper. He had to go in there and beat up the bad guys and tie them up so He could walk out with the spoil, which is you.

So remember this next time you are feeling like you are under the forces of the devil and evil: You are Jesus’ spoil! Jesus has already tied up the bad guys for you. You don’t have to do it because Jesus already did. Isn’t that awesome?

So we’ve seen the intervention, the accusation, and the explanation. The last thing I want you to see here is...

4. The Admonition (28-30)

Jesus doesn’t just give these guys an explanation of how He isn’t working for Satan. Jesus gives them a warning.

Look at verses 28-30 again:

”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.”

Jesus warns these scribes and Pharisees that they are in the danger zone of committing the one sin that God won’t forgive: ”Blaspheming against the Holy Ghost.”

There is probably more confusion about this sin than anything. Sometimes good Christian people get all bent out of shape worrying that they have committed this unpardonable sin and that they have blasphemed the Holy Ghost.

So what is this sin? It super important for us to understand this.

Let me tell you what it is up front, and then I’ll explain it from the text. The one sin that will not be forgiven is rejecting Jesus.

That’s it. It is looking at Jesus and what Jesus is doing, and saying finally and forcefully, “He’s wicked. He’s crazy. I want nothing to do with that Jesus.”

You see, Jesus was talking to Jews here. They didn’t have the New Testament teaching about the Holy Ghost. They had a very limited understanding of what the Holy Ghost does, so we have to bear that in mind. Jewish people saw two jobs of the Holy Ghost:

• The Holy Ghost reveals God’s truth.
• The Holy Ghost enables men to recognize God’s truth when they see it.

So for these people to blaspheme the Holy Ghost, what they were doing is rejecting the truth that the Holy Ghost was revealing to them about Jesus. They were rejecting Jesus.

Kent Hughes explains it this way:

The unforgivable sin is very simply the ongoing continual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the divinity and saviorhood of Christ. It is continuing rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether that witness be a quiet witness in the conscience, the rational witness of the Word, or even miracles and wonders.

Let me read you what another preacher said:

It isn’t that God gets especially angry with one sin in particular. It’s rather that if you decide firmly that the doctor who is offering to perform a life-saving operation on you is in fact a sadistic murderer, you will never give consent to the operation.

So put simply: The unforgivable sin is the ongoing rejection of Jesus. That’s it.

Now here is what that means. That means if you are a Christian—if you’ve trusted Jesus—you absolutely cannot commit this unforgivable sin. It’s impossible, so you need to push this worry from your mind. You are saved and safe in Jesus.

But if you aren’t a Christian—if you haven’t trusted Jesus—it means you are in the danger zone. If you are hearing the gospel over and over and saying to yourself, “That’s crazy,” and, “I want no part in that,” and you don’t change your mind, you will commit the one sin that Jesus won’t forgive. That sin is ultimately and finally rejecting His offer of salvation. As a result, you will face your Maker outside of Jesus and be judged for your sins.

Now let me be clear. This doesn’t mean that if you reject the gospel once, twice, twenty, or a thousand times, you’ve committed the unforgivable sin. The apostle Paul no doubt heard the gospel many times as he was persecuting Christians, and yet God still saved Him. I don’t even think these scribes and Pharisees had committed this sin yet, or else Jesus wouldn’t be warning them.

But they were in the danger zone. And folks, if you’ve never trusted Christ, you are in the danger zone. You are on thin ice. You aren’t promised a tomorrow. People die suddenly and tragically every day. No man knows the day or the hour. If you don’t accept Christ—if you continue to reject Him—our text says you are:

”in danger of eternal damnation”

Conclusion

So who is Jesus? He couldn’t have been just a moral teacher. His own family and his contemporaries got it right. He was either mad, Satanic, or He is who He says He is. He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Who do you say that He is? If He isn’t your Savior—if you are still rejecting Him—you are in danger of committing the one sin God won’t forgive, which is saying no to the offer of salvation one last and final time.

Why not trust Jesus as your Savior today? Why not recognize Him for who He really is?