Christ’s statements are not inconsistent, but they complement each other. Please understand that Christ was addressing two different sets of circumstances.
In the passage in Mark 9:40, we read the following, beginning with verse 38: “Now John answered Him, saying, ‘Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.’ (verse 39) But Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. (verse 40) For he who is not against us is on our side.'” Compare, too, Luke 9:49-50.
On the other hand, in the passage in Luke 11:23, Christ responds to an accusation against Him to the effect that He was casting out demons by Satan the devil, the ruler of the demons. He states, beginning in verse 20: “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you… (verse 23) He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” Compare, too, Matthew 12:30.
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