This is the prepared text - what I actually said was slightly different (check out the .wma file). Hope you find it helpful - David Heath-Whyte.
At first sight, we might think all this Satan stuff in today's reading is a bit old-fashioned: it's mumbo-jumbo, and has no relevance today in our world of shiny fast computers and mobile phones.
But we know very well that people are still fascinated with the dark side of spiritual things - Halloween is a massive money-spinner; Harry Potter is about to break box-office records again; Ouija boards are still experimented with at parties; and from time to time people who dabble with the occult suffer dangerous psychological problems.
As well as that, the events of Jesus' life, which we take very seriously, are littered with references to evil spirits, demon-possession, and Satan.
What's going on? Is there such a thing as Satan, Evil Spirits? What has it got to do with our Lord Jesus Christ - what has it got to do with you, and me?
Let me just read a verse from our passage again, v.27: Jesus said: "In fact, no-one can 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."
This passage in Mark raises a classic question about Jesus: is he Mad, Bad, or God?
Think about what's happened so far - he's come proclaiming that he's the King of the Kingdom of God.
His teaching stops people in their tracks.
His healing brings them flocking in droves.
He claims to be able to forgive sins - that is, to cancel the debt that separates people from God - it's a claim to be God himself.
And he claims to be Lord over the law of God (we had the example of the Sabbath law from the 10 commandments).
He's incredibly popular, he has immense authority.
And of course people are going to react to that in different ways.
Here in today's passage we see two popular reactions, and the alternative:
1st reaction: he's Mad! v 20-21
2nd reaction: hes Bad! v.22
And the alternative: v.23-35, he's God.
Have a look at v20: - another big crowd, so that there's not even time to eat - his family hear about it, and Mary says: v.21: "This is wonderful, the prophesies about my Son are being fulfilled, he is Yeshua the Saviour, he is a light to the world"
Nope - she says: he's mad - v. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
And we know this includes Mary, because we're told when they get to Jesus - v.31 "Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived"
Mary is not sinless. Yes, she was humble and obedient in the face of God's grace - but here her motherly instincts override her understanding of God's will.
He's Mad!
No, say the teachers of the Law, he's Bad - v.22 "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
Jesus is Satanic, they're saying, that's how he does all these things, it's Satan's power - people are being entangled by Satan in his snare.
He's Bad!
And we can understand how they react like this, because that's how we react to recent Messiah's.
Take David Ike - the TV Sport's commentator who claimed to be some kind of new Messiah. People said: 'he's mad' - and whatever he is, he certainly isn't the Messiah.
Or take that Japanese cult, Aum Shinrikyo, that gassed the Tokyo underground with nerve gas.
This is how their leader, Shoko Asahara, had been previously described by Time Magazine: " Bushy- bearded and usually pictured wearing satiny pajamas, Asahara, admires Hitler, boasts that he can levitate and offers to bestow superhuman powers on his disciples. Yet a look at his life reveals a rather pathetic figure at war with the world because he could not find an easy place in it."
12 people died, and thousands were injured. Shoko Asahara is still on trial - other members of the cult have been sentenced to death for their part in the gassing.
Mad, and very Bad.
People who claim to be the Messiah, with superhuman powers, and draw followers to themselves are either Mad - because they clearly aren't divine or anything like it; or they're Bad. - because they're deliberately manipulating people for their own ends.
And that's what some people were saying about Jesus - his family heard reports of what was going on, and they said: he's flipped his lid, let's go and help.
The authorities on God said: he's claiming to forgive, he reinterprets the law, he casts out demons - he's demonic himself.
He's mad, or he's bad.
But isn't that what many people think about Jesus today?
"Surely not" you say: "people have a very positive attitude towards Jesus."
Well they do, but when you show them the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, you'll find that many people react very strongly against him.
And that's because most people's idea of Jesus is a Jesus stripped of his teaching and stripped of his power.
When you see what Jesus says in the Bible, when you see what he does - it's very challenging. And it's especially challenging if we don't want to face up to the idea that God thinks we're sinful.
And so people say:
Jesus must be mad to suggest that he's the only way to God - John 14
Jesus must be bad to teach that the human heart is instinctively sinful - Mark 7
Jesus must be mad to think he could really heal people
Jesus must be bad to say that God will judge people and send them to hell
Jesus must be mad to say that he alone can bring us the forgiveness and love we need.
Jesus must be bad to suggest that his life was given on the cross as a ransom for our sin.
But the real Jesus did say and did do all of that - and we praise God that he did, because he is our way to God, and that's wonderful good news when we realise how much we need him.
But so-called liberal Christians sadly want to deny it all, and strip Jesus of his teaching and his power. Is he Mad? Is he Bad?
There is an alternative - v.23-35.
The alternative is that he really is God.
And that's what Jesus sets about explaining to them.
First of all, v. 23-26, he can't be demon-possesses himself, that makes no sense: "How can Satan drive out Satan?
It just can't happen - v.24: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand."
It's obvious: if a football team's players are arguing with each other and fighting each other, they'll lose every match.
No - Satan is not fighting Satan.
Here's what's really going on: v.27 "In fact, no-one can 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."
Satan is the strong man, and he has possessions - people under his control.
How can you rescue people from that? How can you rob Satan of his possessions?
Only if you tie him up. Only if somehow you remove his power.
And that is precisely Jesus' mission: to bind the strong man: to make Satan powerless over people, so that people can come under Jesus' lordship.
And who can bind the strong man? Only a stronger man.
Jesus can do this "driving out of demons" thing not because he is a demon - but the opposite - because he is God the Son whose mission is to take away Satan's power.
So how does Jesus tie up Satan?
Supremely by dying on the cross, as a sacrifice, to take away God's anger at our sin.
This is part of the teaching of Jesus that makes some people think he's mad or bad.
Jesus teaches that we need to be forgiven.
Take that paralysed man back in chapter 2: Jesus made it clear that what he needed most of all was to be put right with God. "Son, your sins are forgiven". His disability was just a coincidence, that put him right in front of Jesus.
And we need to be forgiven too - because, as Jesus puts it, we're unclean before God - God is perfecty clean: he's holy and just, but: Jesus tells us, Mark 7:20 "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean'. 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean'."
And no one of us is free from all those things. They're in our hearts, making us unclean before God.
This matters to God, and because he is clean - in his judgement, he will separate us from him forever.
It's our fault - because we're responsible for our hearts.
It's God's justice - he gives us what we want - we say: "I'll do things my way without God" - and that's the way it will be, but it's terrible.
It's Satan's victory - all he has to do is to keep on persuading us that our ways are better than God's - which, amazingly, is very easy to do.
There was a story in the news this week about a local council that was having to let people off their parking fines in a particular place, because the double yellow lines had been painted so badly - they were wobbly, they crossed over, and they didn't have the regulation bars at the end. So a whole load of people were let off their parking fines.
Now God doesn't offer to let us off, but he does offer to pay the fine for us.
And that's what Jesus does, on the cross.
Here's what he said about it later in Mark: " 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus pays the ransom - on the cross he payed the price for our rejection of God - he died our death - he himself took our punishment in his body on the cross.
And if he has taken it, we don't have to - and we are put right with God.
And so on the cross, Jesus binds Satan, and robs him of his possessions - you and me - as long as we receive God's offer by faith: by turning to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Its' brilliant.
Look at v.28: "I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them."
When we trust in Jesus, there is complete forgiveness - no matter how far we've been from God, how self-satisfied we've been before him - Jesus deals with it completely.
By him we can be completely put right with God - and have eternal life, that goes through death to be with God forever.
But we do need to trust Jesus.
We have to receive this offer from God, by receiving Jesus as Lord.
And that's like saying: you must eat Ben & Jerry's creamy toffee cookie-dough ice-cream: it's the most wonderful and obvious thing to do!
Isn't it?
To accept that he is the Son of God, the King of the Kingdom.
To let him rule our lives.
To live as his servants, under his love.
To believe that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.
If, on the other hand, we reject that, then we're rejecting what the Holy Spirit is saying to us about Jesus:
and Jesus continues, v. 29 "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to say, by our words or our actions: Jesus is not Lord. It is to reject his offer of salvation.
And if we reject Jesus, we remain unforgiven.
So is he Mad, Bad, or he is God who pays the price for our sin, binds Satan, and calls us to trust him for salvation and life?
When Jesus' mother and brothers eventually do turn up, v.31, we're forced to ask ourselves: whose side are we on?
v.33 ""Who are my mother and my brothers?" Jesus asked... 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
Some people think that Mary can help you. That you can trust in Mary, pray to Mary, and she will help.
But those people have something to learn - something that Mary herself had to learn here: Jesus is not mad, not bad, he's God, and we become his family, his forgiven family, by trusting him.
Three questions to end with.
So, how seriously do we take Satan?
He's no laughing matter, is he?
Halloween is not just a harmless joke. It's treating things that are related to evil as if evil wasn't a problem. That's why HotShots are having a heroes and heroines party a week tomorrow - encouraging the children to think about more positive role models - including Jesus.
Harry Potter needs handling with care, too. There is a helpful distinction between good and evil in the stories. There is a large element of childhood fantasy that's just fun. But the evil is evil, and it's not a joke. It might encourage our children to dabble in real occult - so we need to discuss the issues with them if they're going to read it. (If you want to think more about this - there's a sermon on my website about it)
If we trust Jesus, we take Satan seriously.
In that case, what does Jesus binding Satan mean for me?
First and foremost, it means that your every sin and blasphemy is forgiven. And that is amazing, isn't it?
Perhaps you've been a Christian for 50 years - but still you know that there have been unclean thoughts in your heart over the last few days - all forgiven, wiped away, by our Lord Jesus.
Perhaps you haven't yet turned to Christ - well he really is offering you complete freedom from your past: all of it, wiped clean, and forgotten by God as he looks at you, and loves you in Jesus his only Son. Yes, he calls you to change, with him alongside, to live a new life, walking his ways - and if you make mistakes? trust him - every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven.
That's what Jesus binding Satan means.
And secondly, it means that with Jesus' help, mediated by the Holy Spirit, we can successfully fight Satan's influence in our lives - whether that's addictions, bad habits, wrong desires.
Here's what the Apostles wrote:
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (NIV)
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ... 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
To resist the spiritual influence of evil like this is a real fight, and it's not an easy victory for us, even though Jesus has won the final victory. We need to pray hard, find out God's will from his word, spend that time alone with him. We may need to involve Christian friends who we can trust.
Above all we need to trust Jesus.
So the final question is this:
What do you think of Jesus?
Was he mad, bad? or is he God?