All right, so we're in Luke chapter
11. And when we began this passage
a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at it, our Lord
had healed a man by casting out a devil that was dumb. And Matthew
tells us this devil was also blind. He couldn't see. And these diseases are a picture
of what we are by nature. They describe our blindness,
our inability to see the things of God. to see spiritual things
and to understand spiritual things. They describe our inability to
even speak of these things except it be given to us by the spirit
and grace of God. But these things speak of our
fall, our depravity. It speaks of just how ruined,
how defiled, how corrupt we are by nature and that we cannot
save or free ourselves from this bondage and this destruction
and this death. We just, we can't heal ourselves. We need the great physician. And so our Lord demonstrates
here by this miracle that he is the great physician. He's
the healer. He's the savior. He's Lord of
all. And he is the promised seed spoken
of in the garden who comes and saves his people, crushes the
head of our enemy and delivers us from his hand and from his
armor. from his palace and brings us
into the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So this
account is speaking of that destruction by Christ of the Kingdom of Satan. And especially now, that kingdom
that's in our hearts by nature, it's to destroy that, it's to
tear down those bulwarks and strongholds of the enemy and
deliver us out of that kingdom into the kingdom of light, into
his kingdom where the walls are salvation and are bulwarks. We are gathered as one body in
that kingdom behind walls of salvation, not a geographical
location, but one that's more transcendent than that, mightier
than that, Christ's kingdom. So beginning in verse 21, let's
read that verse in 22. When a strong man armed keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than
he shall come upon him and overcome him, He taketh from him all his
armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. Now Satan
is the strong man. He is the one described here
as the strong man who is armed. and who has power, he usurped
power over Adam. And he employs cunning deceptions
and temptations that allure and snare us so that we're under
his power by nature. In that bondage to sin, we're
under his power. We're told that there is a course
to this world. There is a way of this world
and things just work the way they do. We go after the things
that we go after and we feel we need the things that we feel
we need because of the course of this world. And now it all
just informs our understanding and we think this is how it's
supposed to be. This is life and this is just
how things work. But it describes a carnal mind,
an enmity that's in us by nature. It speaks to our fallen nature,
our fightings and wars and the works of this flesh that are
manifest in us and in others, taking and getting what we want
to get for ourselves and provide for ourselves. That's sin. That's not the new creation of
God. That's the works of man. That's
the natural man. And our Lord tells us that we're
all under darkness. We're all under darkness, we're
deceived, deceiving one another. He describes our heart as being
fat with corruption and lies so that we do not understand,
we do not receive his word, we do not believe him, and we will
not believe these things and convert that we may be healed
of him. Not on our own. That armor is
too strong for us. And such is the palace of this
strong man armed. Under his armor, his goods are
at peace. They're in peace and we're just
dead in trespasses and sins under the careful guard of the strong
man who has an armor so impenetrable that all of our devices cannot
free us of him. That's the picture that our Lord
is giving us here. He's so mighty, this foe, that
we, even if we all united together to come against him, we could
not defeat him. His armor is that tight, that
strong against us. Now the scriptures reveal to
us that this enemy of our souls, this dragon, the serpent, the
devil, and him that is called Satan, he deceived at Eve and
he brought down Adam by transgression. He brought down Adam by transgression
and all his posterity in him. We're not going to defeat him.
The scriptures call him the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And so just understand, we can't
defeat him. You're not gonna, don't try to
face him. Don't try any foolish such thing. You and I can't defeat him. And our Lord isn't calling us
to try and defeat him. He's telling us, you and I cannot
defeat him. He's too mighty for us. And the
scriptures say in 1 John 3,8, he that commiteth sin is of the
devil. for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. scathing remark on on on us because
we're sinners every one of us and he's telling us he that committed
sin is of the devil you're in his kingdom you're bound by him
you're you're under his under his hand but here's the good
news for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he
might destroy the works of the devil that's why the Lord is
telling us this it so that we wouldn't come against him, that
we would go to Christ. Because Christ is the one who
was given to save us. Now I want to give you three
points that show how Christ defeated this great and mighty foe of
ours. how He delivered us from our
bondage and how He gives us a glorious inheritance in Christ. First, Christ defeated the power
of Satan over us by conquering our foe at the cross. He went
to the cross to defeat, to crush the head of the serpent, to spoil
him of his goods, to take off his armor and remove that armor
that he was trusting in. The devil had a mighty case against
us, a very tight armor. There was no chinks in it, no
way to get at him, to defeat him. It's a tight, tight case
of armor. so strong that we cannot defeat
it, but our Lord, the devil is no match for him. He can't defeat
Christ. Christ defeats him. Christ is
mightier than him. He's our man of war. He's our
champion. He's the captain of our salvation. We look to him. He's the one
who defeats him. You picture David and Goliath. Goliath, to all of Israel, was
a fierce, mighty warrior. Not one of them dared to go out
there to face him. If you were fighting on battle,
you didn't want to back up to him and turn around and see him
standing there because he would defeat us easily. But David,
though he appeared weak and small, goes out there for us, our champion,
and defeats the mighty Goliath, so delivering all his people. He's the champion. He's the man
of war. And Christ, when he came, he
assailed the enemy and just struck him blow after blow after blow,
just beat him down. Christ said, when a stronger
than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from
him all his armor wherein he trusted and divided his spoils. So this is what the scriptures
tell us about Christ. First, and it would be good to
try and follow along with me in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews
chapter 2. In verse 14 and 15 it says that
for as much them as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
Christ also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. And so this speaks of
Christ, the Son of God. who took upon him this flesh,
who came in this flesh. He's God in order that He would
provide an eternal, sufficient atonement to save His people. He must be God. Only God could provide this great
salvation. Only He could do it. Only He
can save His people to the uttermost, and so God became a man in the
flesh. He took upon him flesh to be
made like us that he might suffer. And he became a man to suffer
and to die in the room instead of his people. He came and fulfilled
all our righteousness as a man. He came and fulfilled the law
perfectly. Not one jot or one tittle fell
to the earth without being fulfilled by Christ. He said it would not
pass away until it was all fulfilled. Well, he fulfilled it perfectly,
perfectly for his people. And having done that, he went
to that cross to suffer and die, because God can't die, but a
man can. And so he suffered and died for
his people and so obtained our eternal redemption and obtained
our life, gives us life and salvation in him. Now let me show you this
in Colossians chapter 2. And let me read in verse 13 through
15. being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary
to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly. And what that means is he made
a public spectacle of them. He embarrassed them. He whooped
them. He destroyed them in front of everybody. A public spectacle,
triumphing over them in it. Now turn to Isaiah, Isaiah 49.
This is spoken of by the prophets, Isaiah 49. Verse 24 and 25, the question is asked, shall
the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered?
Is that going to happen? Not by our power, not by us saving
ourselves, but by Christ, yes. Thus saith the Lord, even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contended with thee, and I will save thy children. The devil
contends with us, and we can't beat him. We cannot defeat him.
But the Lord says, I'll deal with him. I'll contend with him.
I'll fight him for you. And I'll deliver you. I'll save
you. And so our deliverance, what
the Lord is showing us, is our deliverance isn't wrought by
our hand. It's not by our works of righteousness
that we've done. It's not by our sacrifices. It's
not by our trying to follow the law the best we can and hoping
that God accepts it. No. Our salvation is by Christ,
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Savior. God is not like
us. He is holy, holy, holy, perfect
in all his ways. And his eyes sees all. He knows
our hearts. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our deeds. What we do in secret and think
no one sees us, he sees it. He knows it. We're not hiding
anything from him. And so we're not going to come
to him in our righteousness. He tells us of Christ. He's the
righteousness that we need. Perfect righteousness who's fulfilled
all the law of God perfectly without fail. We come through
Christ and the Lord reveals himself to us in that name, Jehovah Jireh,
and which means the Lord shall provide. He'll provide. He provides
what he needs through the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what he did. He provided himself a lamb to
save us from our sins. Now look at Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53, verses 10 through 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand." A declaration that he is the successful Savior. He did not fail. He cannot fail. He's almighty God. He cannot
fail. Verse 11, he shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. He knows exactly
for whom he's laying down his life. He knows exactly for whom
he sheds his blood. And he's well pleased. He is
satisfied. Because he's accomplished the
work. He knows it. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. What a picture there. We don't
know how to defeat this foe. We can't defeat this foe. But
he knows, God knows, he knows exactly what's necessary to save
his people and to provide for us. For he shall bear their iniquities. And that's how he did it. And
in doing that, In doing that, he stripped away the armor that
the enemy was trusting in, that which was holding us in. He stripped
away that armor. He deals the fatal blow, crushing
his head by the eternal sacrifice of himself for his people, and
we are redeemed. by his blood. The Lord's people
are redeemed by the blood of Christ. He is the ransom by whom
we, the sinner, goes free because Christ paid it all for that sinner,
for his people. Therefore, God is now just and
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And verse 12 says,
therefore, Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. He's obtained
for us the spoils of life. He's obtained that spoil of forgiveness,
of reconciliation, of fellowship with the true and living God,
of knowledge and understanding of these things, of his Holy
Spirit that bears fruits of righteousness in his people. He divides the
spoil with his people, those that he's bought, those that
he's saved with his precious blood. because he hath poured
out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors,
and he bared the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors. That's why we say Christ saves
sinners. And now we moan how impossible
it is to find a sinner. No one's a sinner. Everyone's
righteous, everyone's good, everyone's okay. It's almost impossible. It's impossible to find a sinner
except God visit a people and show them that they are the transgressors,
that we're the sinners, and makes us to see that He's the Savior,
that His blood cleanses us. It's not about us trying to make
ourselves improved to be accepted of God. It's coming in Christ. And he gives his spirit and he
bears fruits of righteousness in his people. He divides the
spoils to them. We don't get the spoils for ourselves,
he divides them unto us. His life, his grace, his power. And so when it says that he will
divide the spoils with the strong, that's in reference to our text
in verse 22. In Luke 11, verse 22, when a
stronger than he shall come upon him, shall come upon him, and
overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he
trusted, and divideth the spoils." It's his victory. It's all his
victory. All the blessings that he's obtained
for us by his work on the cross. He's the one that's obtained
it. It's through his grace and power. It's by him defeating
our enemy on the tree, at the cross, and so he divides these
spoils of life unto us. He gives them. It says there in John 12, 31,
well, this is why our Lord said this in
John 12, 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the
prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up,
will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what
death he should die. He's talking about where he defeated
the enemy at the cross. That's where he defeated him.
Second, having accomplished our redemption on the cross, it pleases
him to make it known to you. It pleases our God to reveal
this to you, to call you out of darkness, to not let you keep
going on in dead religion and dead things that cannot save
and speaking about what you've done for the Lord. No, He turns,
He gives us, He makes us new creatures and turns us from boasting
in self and living in fear and in bondage, afraid to die, wondering
if we've done enough to save ourselves, he delivers us from
that and reveals what Christ has done, manifesting it in our
hearts, by faith, through the giving of his Spirit. And so
this, it's witnessed, he witnesses with regeneration, with conversion
from dead things to trust Christ. It's through faith, the gift
of faith, so that these things are witnessed and understood
by us and in one another. We see those who confess Christ. They rejoice in Christ. They
testify of what he's done for them. He says in John 16, verses
seven through 11, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, It's expedient
for you that I go away. It's good for you. It's necessary
that I go away because if I don't go away, the Comforter will not
come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. That's the spoils which he's
obtained for us through his death and by his defeating the enemy
of our souls at the cross. He blesses us with these spoils.
He sends the Holy Ghost. And when he's come, he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because
they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and
ye see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. And so he sends the Holy Spirit
that takes the things of God and makes them known to us by
separating us unto these things. It's the things that you've done
in life and where you've gone or where you've been. It seems like we're all doing
it, but it's because he brings us under the gospel and blesses
this word to our hearing, to our hearts, because he's done
it. He's led us. He's turned us from
dead things and brought us under the preaching of the gospel.
And he gives us a new birth of Christ's seed, removing fleshly
things, fleshly things that blind us, fleshly things that keep
us talking of what we've done, and turns us to worship Christ
in spirit and in truth. Not in the letter of the law,
but as new creatures wrought by the power of Christ. And so
it says in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 and 14, that we're bound to
give thanks always to God for you brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath chosen you unto salvation. From the
beginning, he chose you to this salvation. And then he speaks
of the giving of the Spirit. When he says, through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, the spirit carved you
out. The spirit turned you this way
and turned you that way and brought you under the gospel and then
made that gospel effectual in your hearts. It's not because
you did it, it's because He did it, to the glory and praise of
His name. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining, the successful obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. This regeneration wrought in
us is the witness and the testimony of God that Christ has shed his
blood for you. Otherwise, you would not believe.
You would not hear the voice of Christ. You would not follow
him. You would not desire him. You
would go the course of this world and be happy and content in those
things. But by his grace, he takes the
spoils of his resurrection and divides them unto his people
severally as he will. As it says in Ephesians 4.8,
when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and
gave gifts unto men. And so he's providing these spoils
to you, blessing your souls, blessing your hearts, blessing
your understanding, bearing fruits of righteousness in you. And
so the scriptures teach us that when Christ saves a soul, they're
brought out of that kingdom of darkness and brought into the
body of Christ, made a member of Christ's body. That's why
we don't just seek to sit at home individually doing our own
thing. We come, we come to the body
and fellowship with one another. Sheep are not meant to be alone.
Sheep are happy when they're with other sheep. Sheep, that's
how we learn and begin to bear these fruits of righteousness.
Otherwise, it's just a thing of theory, right? It's theory,
but when we're with one another, and when someone mourns, we mourn
with them. When someone rejoices, we rejoice
with them. Sometimes conflicts come, but
he bears his fruits of righteousness, of love and forgiveness, of understanding,
of patience, of goodness, of temperance, of desiring that
which is good for our brethren. And it's because he puts us in
the body for that purpose. For that purpose. That's where
he teaches us and shows us these things. That's where we experience
them. Otherwise, if we're at home on the couch, trying to
catch a sermon on TV or something like that, I mean, it's nice,
it's good to hear it, but it's meant to be heard. among the brethren, giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. He sent his Son, and spared
him not, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. He gave us into the hand of one
mightier than the one that was mightier than us. He gave us
into the hand of his darling son, who has all power and authority
over all kingdoms here on earth and all things in heaven, brethren,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, the spoils of his victory. We have it all in Him. And so
by His grace and power, we're being conformed to His image. We're being turned from the dead
things of this world to Christ. And He's feeding us with the
bread of heaven. Again, in measure. He doesn't
give us these things all at once. He grows us the same way we grow
from children. When we're born, we're a man-child. We're either a man or a woman
when we're born. And then we grow up into that,
but we're still a man, or a woman, we're still a son or daughter
of Adam, right then and there, and then we grow up. And you
just see it more and more. And same thing with spiritual
children. We're children, we're infants,
we desire that sincere milk of the word, we feed upon it, we
taste it as grace, and we desire that more and more, and he grows
us together with one another. And then he makes it a clear
distinction here in them that are his. It says in. In verse
23, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth
not with me scattereth. In other words, he reveals, again,
through these spoils distributed to his people, he reveals them
that are his. He manifests it by his grace. And so we're drawn to Christ. Yes, there's still temptations
in this flesh. Peter tells us, abstain from
fleshly lusts because this flesh is still sinful. This flesh is
still broken. This flesh is still weak and
tried. But in the new man, the new man's
perfect. The new man sinneth not. Sinneth
not. And so, in the new man, we're
committed to Christ. We follow Christ. We want to
hear Christ. We desire Christ. We confess
that this Jesus is the Christ. And when we say He's the Christ,
like John said in 1 John 2.22, Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? Well, we don't deny that Jesus
is the Christ, but it's more than just saying Jesus is the
Christ. We're confessing all that the
scripture declares who Christ is, who we are, and what he accomplished
for us by the death and resurrection of himself, what he's done in
working the salvation in his people. We confess that it's
all of him. We're confessing, we believe.
that he is salvation, we're not coming in our own righteousness.
I don't want to be found in my own righteousness, which is of
the law, like Paul said. I want to be found in his righteousness,
his perfect righteousness, in that garment, that spotless,
without holes, that covers my nakedness and enables me to stand
before God accepted of Him, and so we're confessing who Christ
is. We're confessing that we cannot
save ourselves, but that He is the champion, the Savior of His
people, that He did it successfully. And this faith that we have,
we confess it's of God, it's not of this flesh. If your faith
is of the flesh, it's not the faith of God because it's the
fruit of the spirit. Faith is in our contribution
to the engine of salvation. That's the gasoline we pour in,
pull that engine and start it up and make it effectual to us.
No, faith is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should
boast. And so we're His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works by Him. And so we're boasting of Christ. He's our boast, He's our all.
And we confess that He's coming again to pick up that which He's
purchased, just like He said He is. He's our King, and we
seek to glorify Him and serve Him in thought, word, and deed. because he's given us that desire,
he's given us that new man, he's made us partakers of his grace
and it's his power. And then third, there's a day
coming when all things, even this creation, shall be made
new and the enemy of our souls will be cast into the lake of
eternal fire. The enemy, his palace, his armor
that he trusted, all that stuff will be thrown into the lake
of fire and brimstone where the beast, the false prophet are,
and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And so
the Lord gives us these comforting words. The God of peace shall
bruise Satan under your feet shortly. You keep looking to
Christ. You come to the father in Christ
and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And so he's
assuring us that that day is coming and he's given us a desire
for him. He's given us his spirit. Christ
also had sealed us and given us the earnest. That's the down
payment, the earnest. that is given to us of the Spirit
in our hearts, to testify unto us those that are with Christ
and those that are against Him. Those that are with Christ have
the Spirit, those that are against Him do not have the Spirit. They
may be spiritual people, they may be religious people, they
may put on a good show, but without the Spirit, we're not His. But
with the Spirit, that's how we're rooted in Christ and bearing
fruits of righteousness by Him. Now in closing, let me just say
a word about these final verses here in verses 24 through 26. Let's read it. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and
finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I
came out. And when he cometh, he findeth
it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to
him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they
enter him, and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first." Now there's two ways that we understand
this. There's a very general sense
there in which this is speaking of what our Lord did in his ministry
on the earth there in Israel and how they rejected him, how
they threw him out. And so for a while there, when
he came in there, that place was swept clean. The devils were cast out. His
word went forth and a lot of good was done. Peter said when
he was there, he went about doing much good for the people, much
good. A lot of people were healed,
a lot of people were helped, a lot of people heard the word
explained to them, and it looked like a good, well-cleaned place. The devil went out there. The
problem is that they didn't believe. They rejected him. They threw
him out. Matthew tells us that when that
spirit returns, when they rejected Christ and he was there no more,
this is a description of Israel there. And he says there, Matthew
tells us that when the spirit returns, he finds it empty. It's
empty. It's cleaned up there, but it's
empty. In other words, the Holy Ghost is not there. Christ is
not there. He's not in the heart. He doesn't dwell there in the
heart by faith. There's no life of Christ present. The place is swept up. The filth
is removed. The layers of dust is swept up,
and it's cleaned up, and it looks good. He says that it's swept,
but it's not washed in the blood of Christ. There's no blood there. purge them of their sins. The
place is garnished. It looks presentable. It looks
pleasing to the eye. It looks like it's all cleaned
up. But notice, it's not made new
by the grace and power of Christ. And so, in that sense there,
we see when they rejected Christ, it's an empty place. And there
was nothing there. And they were ultimately destroyed
by God in 70 A.D. And God left them desolate. He left them desolate. And then
it's also a picture of us though, right? When a man makes a profession
of religion and he cleans things up for a while, things settle
down and that profession takes hold, that reformation takes
hold in that person. But without being made a new
creature, without the Holy Ghost, there's no life present in them.
It's empty. And they may have swept up the
place and cleaned it, but we need to be washed in the blood.
And it may be garnished and look presentable and clean on the
outside, a nice whitewashed suppaker or a whited cup, cleaned cup
and dish, but without Christ, without being made a new creature,
without the circumcision of our hearts, all we are is just a
work of the flesh and have nothing in us. And so, the Lord is saying,
that one, right? Because now, if all we are is
just a reformed creature, right, by our own works, the last state
of that person is worse than the first, because now they have
this profession, right? Now they're going around like
the Pharisees who thought that their works were their righteousness,
and this is their hope. And he says, now they're sealed
up, and they're twice as much a son of hell than they were before. They're more fit
for hell now than they were before. And so we need Christ. We need the Lord Jesus Christ
to save us, to deliver us. We need to be new creatures.
And so the Lord is showing us that he is our peace and our
salvation, and I pray the Lord Visit us in truth. We need that
salvation. We need his spirit. We need his
his we need the spoils of Christ And we don't make them or manufacture
them or get them ourselves We need him He did the work and
so look to him go to Christ believe him seek him knock on that door
like the shameless beggar begging bread who has nothing of himself
to satisfy the law of God and has nothing of himself to satisfy
the justice of God. Beg on that door, begging for
that bread until Christ open the door and give you all that
you need. to the satisfaction of your soul
in Him. Seek Him. Stay upon Him. Beg
Him for mercy. If you do beg Him, if you do
knock, if you do seek Him, give Him all the thanks, praise, and
honor because we only seek Him in spirit and in truth by His
grace and power. And He does it, brethren. He
does it. Amen.