Let's look back a little bit into the chapter from where we are now. We're in verse 43 now, in Matthew 12, 43, but we need to refer back a little bit because of the way the chapter is structured here.

When our Lord cast the devil out of the man in verse 22, remember verse 22, that was brought unto him, one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw, and all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David? So they're saying, you know, how's this man that we know, seen him grow up around here and uh... how's he have this kind of power the pharisees accused him of casting out satan by the power of satan and our lord showed him how ridiculous that accusation is on the very face of it and he warned them of the consequences of blaspheming the holy spirit

and then in verses thirty three through thirty five look what it says either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mount speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

and then he speaks of idle words and being justified by your word, but then he's interrupted, you notice in verse 38, certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. In other words, they completely changed the subject. They interrupted him by not hearing a word he said before that, apparently, because they were only interested in the entertainment or impressing the flesh.

But he warns them there just before that, that every idle word, verse 36, that men shall speak, they shall give an account. And that word idle is interesting. It has the same meaning as it would if it were used to describe a person. And the word is lazy. Every lazy word that you speak. I thought that was interesting because It means you haven't done your homework. It has to do with work not being done that should have been done. It has that word lazy, the connotation of that thought.

And so the Lord showed them that if they had studied the scripture as they claimed to, if they had looked into the scripture, they would know, even just in their head, at least, that they were lying. And whether they did or not, it doesn't matter, because he's just flat out telling them, that's lazy. Your lazy words, you give an account of those. And that's still... Such a thing today that men that presume to speak for God, their words are lazy words. You can see that they haven't done any work studying the Bible. They say things that on the very face of them are foolish.

And the scriptures teach us this, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not Be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study to show thyself approved unto God. You're not gonna be approved unto men in general if you preach the truth. We know that only by those who also have been taught of God. But that word was interesting, I thought. It's lazy is what it is because you're not even you're not even bothering to study what you're talking about and you claim to be an expert on the things of God.

And he rebuked them this way in verses three through five, something else that they said, have you not read what David did when he was in hungered and they that were with him, how he entered into the house of God and did eat of the showbread You're speaking lazy words, you didn't even bother to read, apparently, to find out what the Word of God says on this. You claim to be an expert on the law, you're talking about this is against the law, this is not lawful for them to do this, and you haven't even read, you don't even know what you're talking about.

And boy, not only is that something that's evident in our day, but something we ought to be careful about. If we're gonna say something for God, if we're gonna answer a question about the things of God, make sure it's God answering and not you. Make sure we answer with this word, this Bible, this word, because it's consequential, isn't it? It's life or death to tell the truth about the Savior. To say that God loves everybody, that's lazy talk. You haven't read, have you not read? To say Christ died to save everybody, that's just lazy words. And people will give an account of themselves in that.

And then, as I said, the Lord's interrupted in his response to them about what they had said about Satan and him being of the spirit of Satan. So he's interrupted and asked about seeing a sign, but look at what happens next in our text where we began tonight. And he spoke about Jonas and the Queen of the South, we saw that this morning, rising up in judgment. against this wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign."

But then, after answering what they said about seeing a sign, he goes right back to his conversation about Satan, in verse 43. So you see, this is not something to be taken lightly. Our Lord was interrupted for a time, and He orchestrated that, of course. He needed to teach them about that, too, about this thing of always wanting to see some outward Something that will impress the flesh outwardly, but he goes right back to this conversation. And so that, that seems to lend great weight to this subject.

He showed them how foolish their accusation was. He warned them about blaspheming the Holy spirit. He told them what actually did happen. You'll remember when he cast the devil out of that man, it was the stronger binding, the strong man and freeing the man. from that devil. And then he talked to him about the tree and the fruit of a tree will show you what kind of tree it is. And now here, after being interrupted, he returns right back and shows them their own relationship to Satan. He brings it home to their heart, to them individually, to them specifically.

And the Lord will do that with you sooner or later. One day, by His grace, I pray, you won't just believe in the sovereignty of God, but you'll bow to it yourself. You see the difference? You won't just believe in grace. You'll cast yourself on His grace. You'll utterly depend on His grace and find Him to be gracious yourself. And so that's what He's doing here. He's shown what happens when Satan is cast out but now He's showing what happens when he's not when the stronger doesn't come along so let's look at verse 43 again

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man He walketh through dry places seeking rest and find the none. I Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

So he's speaking to them and he's speaking of them. He's talking about what happens when a man gets religion but is not indwelt by Christ, is not saved by the stronger. He refers to the entire generation.

Now notice in verse 39, I want you to see how that he's talking to them. He answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. What did they just got through doing? Asking for a sign. And no question about who he's talking about. This is not a theoretical. It's not just a general subject that he just happens to be teaching on. He's calling them the wicked and adulterous generation.

And he said in the verse we just read, This is what happens in this adulterous, to verse 45, the end of it, even so shall it also be unto this wicked generation. So he's talking about the religious Jews, talking to the Pharisees and of the Pharisees and those like them, who are religious but don't know Christ.

So let's start with verse 43 and talk about this and answer some questions from the scriptures about this subject. When the unclean spirit, verse 43, has gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none.

Now, why did the unclean spirit go out of this man? We can't say for sure, but We know why the unclean spirit went out of the man described earlier in the chapter. The Lord Jesus Christ came along and bound him and threw him out, tossed him out. But there's no mention of a stronger here throwing this one out in verses 43 through 45. That doesn't happen. Christ doesn't do anything for this man. He just goes out. He goes out on his own. And we don't know for sure why, but I think I know why, and I think it's not complete speculation.

And we know that there's only one way to truly get rid of the evil, and that's Christ. Only he can do that. Only he can overrule our evil hearts and give us a heart of love for him and belief in him. But the Pharisees are said in 2 Timothy 3, 5, Paul says they have a form of godliness. They read the Bible, they went to their synagogue, and they were very outwardly religious, In verse 2 of Romans 10, it says they have a zeal of God, though it's not according to knowledge.

And Satan is not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. And so this devil may go out because of just the habitual reading of scripture and the way that these people talk and act and presume to be believers, but they just don't believe on the Christ of the Bible. They have their own Savior. They have their own hope, false hope. But maybe he goes out because of that. This is just speculation. Don't take it any other way. But for some reason, he goes out of the man for a while.

But the real lesson here is that if Christ doesn't bind him and throw him out, he's coming back. It's not over. It's not over until Christ does something for you.

Verse 44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out. He doesn't find any rest. Satan. That teaches us one thing that we probably ought to think about just for a second. Satan is not just floating around in the air. He makes himself at home in people. He doesn't have any rest, just He's not just a force for evil like people talk about. He's in people. He manipulates people. The Lord said that his will will overpower yours. You will be manipulated by him at his will. and a sinner, that's the truth, isn't it? Isn't our very nature, the birthplace of us in spiritual terms, as well as physical, in the garden? What happened? Satan manipulated us. We invited it, can't blame it on him, because we were willing participants in it, and we still are by nature, people still are. It's not the devil made me do it. The devil may have tempted you, but you're the one that did it. Nobody made you do it. You did it. Your evil nature made you do it.

But this is weighty truth. I think that we need to be conscious of and be aware of. He couldn't rest until he was inside somebody. So he said, I'll return into my house from which I came out, and when he's come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. It's nice, it's clean, and it's garnished, it's decorated. It seems like a nice place, you know. Now I admit that My reason for the unclean spirit leaving to begin with is speculation, but notice that when this unclean spirit comes back, it says he finds the place swept and garnished. Maybe that's why he left to begin with, because the man began to sweep up, he began to clean up, he began to get religious. Again, I don't know that for sure, but we see that here. He cleaned the place up. Religious men, though they're without Christ, they like to do some cleaning up, don't they? They like to do some decorating. They sweep out some of their bad habits, you know. Their former bad habits, they sweep them away, and they hang up a copy of the Ten Commandments in the living room, you know, because that's their rule of life. They live or die before God by those commandments. The thing is, there's no living before God by those commandments. They just die by them. They die by them.

And then everybody says, oh, so-and-so got saved. Look, he's different now. He got saved. Swept and garnished, but empty. Satan finds no rival there. Empty. Vain. Man, oh, vain man, that word means empty, oh, empty man. And that's us by nature now.

James 219, thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, oh, vain man, That faith without works is dead. You think James was referring to this when he wrote that? Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O empty man, that faith without works, boasting of your religion, cleaning the outside of the cup, that on the inside is corruption and evil. It's dead, it's dead. So that man is empty, he's vain in his religion. You know some things, you've cleaned house a little bit, you say you're a believer, but there's no work of God in the soul. There's no work of Christ on the inside. Salvation is not some things that you do. It's not turning over a new leaf. It's not getting religious. It's a miracle of Christ creating within you a clean heart, a new heart, and you're never empty after that. You're never empty after that. Paul said, I live, but not I, but Christ liveth in me. And you're not ever empty after that. Christ in you, Paul said in Colossians 127, is the hope of glory. Christ in you. Not sweeping and decorating. You might decorate very elaborately, but there's one hope for a sinner.

Listen to John 17, 26. John 17, 26, I have declared, I have made known unto them, this is our Lord's high priestly prayer, he's speaking to his father, praying to his father. He said, I've declared unto them, I've made known unto them your name, your character, your attributes, who you are. I've revealed to them who you are. No man knoweth a father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him." He's saying right here, I revealed you to him. I revealed you to him. And we'll declare it. I'll remind them of it. I'll have it preached.

That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. This is what's going on in this world. This is what's going on. You got to have the Savior.

Look with me at Colossians chapter one. I think we might've read this passage this morning or some of it. There's some key words around it that I want us to emphasize as well. Colossians 1.25, whereof I am made a minister, The gospel, I made a minister of the gospel according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. There's a lot in that right there, according to God's doing, the dispensation of God, according to God's purpose and his implementation of that purpose, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. In other words, God said he's going to save his sheep. How's he going to do that? He's going to give a man his word, his gospel, and he's going to preach it. And it's going to please God by the foolishness of that preaching to save them that believe. He's going to fulfill the Word of God. Preaching the Word of God and fulfilling it in that preaching.

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages, verse 26, and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. It's made manifest to his saints. It's made manifest to everybody in the sense that it wasn't done in a corner. And it's not complicated. It's not something to argue about. It's simple and clear and plain, but it's only made manifest to his saints in spiritual power and in transformational, life-giving work of the Holy Spirit in the heart, to whom God would make known. You see that? Religion has him hoping and waiting and he sure wants you to He did he wanted to make it known and so he made it no to his saints

What is the riches of the glory of this mystery Among the Gentiles even even the dogs. He's gonna give him a crumb off of his table No, he's gonna feed them fully feed them from his table. And here's the riches of the glory of that mystery of the gospel, Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only way we're going to enter into his glory or know anything about his glory or experience his glory is if Christ comes and he cleans everything out, you see. It needs to be cleaned out, but not by us. We can't do it. Christ has got to cast out the strong man, and he's got to cast out every false hope from our hearts, every trust in our own works, in our own so-called imaginary goodness, and take up residence in you. That's the hope of glory.

So the Lord gets in this passage in our text in Matthew 12. They talked about. They brought up the subject, didn't they? By his design, of course, by his orchestration. But he, in effect, said, you want to know something about Satan and what's going on, what that's all about. And he told him flat out, he told him, didn't he? Mysterious. Unless God reveals it. But here's what he reveals. I just cast this devil out. Here's what happened. Here's what really happened. And here's what's going to happen to you. I don't know if they bargained for that. You reckon? I'm not sure that's the answer they expected. And I pray that we can enter into this and realize what's going on around us. Because this world is empty. This world is vain. This is what's really going on. The Lord is saving his people, and that's how he does it. And we're in dire need of his salvation. We are helpless in it. The Lord's going to come along and save us, or he's not. Christ in you, the hope of glory. What condescension and grace that Christ would come to us and bind Satan and throw him out and take up residence in a sinner like me.

I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me." Why would he take up residence in me? Why would he have anything to do with me? He loved me. And, it's always and, isn't it? He didn't stand off over there loving me and wishing me the best. He loved me indeed. And herein is love. He gave himself for me. That's what love is. He gave himself for me. What a wonderful mystery. Christ lives in me and in you, if you're his. And he is my life before God. This is what quickening is. It's what regeneration is. If we have life, it's the life of Christ in us.

He who is life dwelleth and us, but this one who is religious but empty, swept and garnished but empty. You want to talk about Satan, Pharisees? You want to talk about casting Satan out by the power of Satan? Let's talk about Satan. Then goeth he, this devil, this evil spirit, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. His religion didn't help him. It just sunk him deeper and deeper in sin. And he's more wicked and evil now after having gotten hold of some religion than he ever was before. That's sobering, isn't it? That's sobering. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation, which is what he just called them. He would have been better off if he had never gotten religious.

These devils find him a wonderful place to live in because not only is he lost and depraved now, but he's completely deceived. And you know what? Now he has access to the church. He's inside the church. And they can have all kinds of fun in there, can't they? The devil's delight in deception and destruction and pain and misery. They delight in ripping you apart. Look what Satan did to Job. That's what Satan likes. He desired to break Job's faith. That was his declared goal. He'll curse you to your face. Instead of believing on you and trusting you and looking to you and being thankful to you, he'll curse you to your face if you let me have him for just a little while. And that's what he's interested in in the church.

This man's religious now. Everybody sees him as a religious man, as a saved man, as whatever you want to call him, a Christian. And the devils, they've got a whole new access now through this man. They've got it through so many. And they creep in unawares. The church wouldn't tolerate an openly unrepentant person. If he hadn't cleaned up a little bit and garnished a little bit, he wouldn't be able to get in. If he's evil openly and in the very face of God to the point where you can't even sit in a room with him and worship, and he's a goner. The church wouldn't do that, but now he's a playground for devils. He can be used to whisper and subtly suggest things and sow discord, the seventh thing on God's hate list. He that soweth discord among brethren, Proverbs 6.19. Jude wrote in Jude 4 that these who creep in unawares will turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. That's this man. He's religious. He's a Pharisee. Everybody looks up to him. He's the standard of godliness in this world. Look at him. He's impressive. He talks about God all the time. He uses the same Bible that I grew up with.

But they turn the grace of God into lascivious, that is, they corrupt and pervert the gospel of God's free grace to sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on Calvary. They pervert that, they twist it, they corrupt it, they pervert it.

Look at 2 Peter 2, let's see his description of it. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 12. He's speaking of these same people now that the Lord is speaking to in our text. But these, verse 12, but these as natural brute beasts, natural, There's not anything different about them than what we are naturally. Natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of the unrighteous as they that counted pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are and blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.

while they sit on this pew right next to you, or right across from you, sporting themselves with their own deceivings. It's a game. Verse 14, having eyes full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. At heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right way or have gone astray following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

" In other words, he liked what his evil, his deception, he liked what all of his perversion of the Word of God, he liked what resulted from that. He liked what that paid. but was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet.

These are wells without water. That's a religious Pharisee. You look at him and you think, God, truth, the gospel. But it's like coming up on a well, it looks great, yeah, water, water, but there's no water. They have nothing that'll help you. They have nothing that you need.

Clouds that are carried with a tippist to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escape from them, who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.

Remember the Pharisees said, we've never been in bondage to anybody. They tell everybody, listen to us, there's freedom, you'll be free. But they themselves are captives to the devil. Talk about their free will, exercise your free will and you'll be free. for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage.

" You see how it's so similar to what we see in our text, where if after verse 20, they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein. They swept up. They cleaned up. but they're entangled again therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with them than the beginning." That's our Lord's words in our text. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them, according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again in the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

You can wash a pig. You can sweep out a sinner and make him religious, clean him up, garnish him. still a sinner until Christ does something. And we're still sinners, but you know what I'm saying. Until Christ overcomes our sin, puts away our sin, and restrains our sin in our outward manner in life to such a great degree that we must be thankful for that

May this not be true of anybody that we even know. This is my prayer for us, Hebrews 10, 38. Now the just shall live by faith. The just shall trust Christ. The just shall look to Christ for everything, for righteousness, for forgiveness of sin, for life. The just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. May that be true of us by the grace of our God. For Christ's sake, amen.

Thank you again, Lord, for this time, precious time. We don't know how much of it you've given us, Lord, on this earth, but may we, with what time we have, may we now, moment by moment, honor you by your grace. May we honor you and worship you and serve you, follow you and magnify you in this world. If we have many years or a few, if we have minutes, may you be glorified in them.

Thank you for the blessed privilege it is to have membership in your church, to be part of your body, to hear your gospel, Lord, and truth, and to rest in all of your glories. Be with us this week, Lord, let this world deliver us from the evil of our own hearts and the evils of this world. Cause us to rest in you every moment and glorify your name. In Christ's name we ask these things, amen.