Read with me verses 43-45. Matthew 12, 43-45. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
and says, When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh
through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith,
I will return into my house from which I came out. And when he
is 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 day of that man
is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this wicked generation." The Lord just cast out a devil and
he was addressing these Pharisees who, among themselves, accused
him of casting out Satan by Satan. Remember that? They didn't confront
him because they were afraid of him. But he knew their thoughts
and he addressed their thoughts. And he said several things about
this generation. This generation. Look at verse
34. He said, O generation of vipers, The generation of vipers. And verse 39, he said, this is
an evil and idolatrous generation. It seeks after a sign. Verse
41 says, Nineveh, the men of Nineveh and Jonah will rise up
in the judgment with this generation. And verse 42, the queen of Sheba
will rise up in the judgment with this generation. And then
he just said in verse 45, this is a wicked generation. A generation
full of empty, swept, and garnished souls. A people, religious generation,
like the Pharisees, but empty. A generation that knows nothing
about regeneration. Now, before we go any further,
when we read this, every believer who reads God's word and trembles
at it. Our Lord said that to this man,
when I look, he is a poor, a contrite spirit and trembles at my word.
God's people read God's word and they take it. It goes to
their heart. It convicts them. And when you read this, you applied
it to yourself. I'm talking to the believers.
Every believer is convicted by sin and feels at times as though
they were worse than they were in the beginning. Like the Lord
said about this fellow. Don't you? Everybody in here
who has been convicted of sin, righteousness
and judgment knows that. Well, that's an evidence that
the Spirit of God does dwell within you. You're not empty,
but you must have the Spirit of God dwelling in you or else
you would not be convicted of sin. The Word of God has no place
in you. But if it does convict you, That
means the Holy Spirit is convincing you of sin, righteousness, that
Christ is your righteousness, and judgment, that there will
be one. But if Christ was judged for you, then you can rejoin. That's what he said in John 16.
He says when the Spirit comes, he'll convince. the world, not
every person in the world, mind you, but a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
And that's evidence that the Spirit dwells in you, so you
can't be empty. Here the Lord is talking about
a soul that is empty, that has been swept and garnished. You
can't be empty. If the Spirit of God dwells in
you, and we'll see that a little bit more in a little bit, and
swept, people in religion try to sweep
their sins under the rug, sort of, or try to clean up themselves,
don't they? No believer does that. They're
like Peter, who the Lord was washing his feet. He said, don't
just wash my feet, wash me all over. God's people don't try
to sweep their sins under the rug, but they go to the fountain
filled with blood to wash daily. Nor garnished. This man decorated
his house. You know, decoration, you try
to make something appear to be beautiful, don't you? The people
of God don't do that. They come naked. They feel like
they're naked. And they come to Christ to be
clothed with that robe of righteousness. So you see, this is not talking
to you. But it's good and it warns us
and it's preventative. But verse 43, it says, the unclean
spirit goes out of a man. Now, everyone is possessed either
by the Holy Spirit or by an unclean spirit. There's no gray area. There's no middle ground. Nobody's
a free moral agent. No, no, no, no. You know the
truth that when Adam fell, he fell, the father of lies, Satan
tempted and caused him to fall. Well, then Satan became the god
of this world. who holds men and women captive.
He holds them all captive until a stronger than he comes. This
is salvation. The captain of our salvation
is Jesus Christ. And he must come and take from
the God of this world, take his people from him, lead captivity
captive. And that's what he does. The
unclean spirit was in this fellow, and he goes out of a man. See that? In verse 43 it says,
when he's gone out of a man, he goes out willingly, he goes
out purposely, he goes out of his own will. He's not cast out. He just goes
out for a season, briefly. All right? Openly wicked people in this
world who get religion. And this is what our Lord is
speaking of here. Openly wicked people who live
openly wicked lives, immoral lives, who get religion. Some in here are like that. And
it seems like a miracle has occurred when a notorious fellow or woman,
goes through a change. Something happens. Here's a typical
scenario. A fellow is a hard-living, hard-drinking
fellow, wild and mean, and somehow or another he ends up at one
of these revivals, you know. And through a slick-talking,
devil-filled preacher, a charismatic fellow, a preacher who warns
about the dangers of hell and tells how much God loves everybody
and wants to save them, and your life's a mess, and you want to
change your life, don't you? And the man is somewhat convicted
about his hard life, and he wants to do better, and he's just made
a mess of things all his life. He wants to live right, and so
they start playing music and singing hymns, and he feels something
come over him. He just feels something. And
he's compelled to go down front and give his heart to Jesus,
like the preacher said. And everybody's crying and so
happy. And a good feeling goes over
him. And the preacher tells him he's
born again. And he never heard one message
about Christ and Him crucified. He never heard a message about
the sovereign God and holy God. and how God hates sin and all
workers of iniquity, and doesn't have one clue why Jesus Christ
came, what He did when He came, who He did it for. He just believes
God loves him and has been trying to save him for all these years,
and now God is so happy that He's finally let him into His
heart. And he just feels real good about himself, and everybody
makes him feel that way. And now he's so happy, and he
cleans up his life. He cleans up his life. He quits
his drinking. He starts going to church. He starts witnessing
to people. And they make him a Sunday school
teacher in about 30 days because he's so zealous, you know. And
then he gets so self-righteous. And he starts coming down on
his fellow sinners. But he's empty. He's empty. He's void of any true understanding
of who God is, what he is, what sin is, who Christ is, what the
gospel is, what the truth is. Void. He's empty of any understanding
at all. If you'll ask the average religious
person any question concerning the truth, they can't really
say anything. They're empty. They're ignorant.
They're ignorant. Ask them any question. about
God's will, God's purpose, who Christ is, why He came, what
He did. Ask them a question. They're empty and so shallow,
so ignorant. They cannot tell you. They cannot
give you a reason for the hope that lies within them. Not a
scriptural one, right? It's all based on feelings in
it. It's all based on an experience. Everything that happened to them
was, well, I used to be this way, and now I'm not. Or so-and-so,
you know, a miracle happened to my child, and I just know
it was of the Lord, and you can't tell me I'm not a Christian.
And on and on it goes. Couldn't it? That's so typical.
That's the typical scenario. And swept? Swept? They clean up their lives? Swept? You ladies before vacuum cleaners. You know, we used to use a broom.
Did a broom ever really clean anything? You just move dirt
from one place to another. Huh? Don't you? I go out in my
shop every now and then. It gets covered with sawdust
or whatever. And take that big broom and start
sweeping. And it's all over. And it looks
pretty good for a while. And you come back in a little
while and it all settles right back down on the floor again.
You don't move it anywhere. Or they used to literally sweep
it under the rug. Sweats. That doesn't clean anything.
Garnish. Decorated like dead flowers on
a grave. And like I said in the beginning,
a true child of God who has the Holy Spirit of God, Christ dwelling
in him and her, is not emptied, but of his fullness have all
we received. Grace for granted. Full of the
Spirit. Everyone that trusts Christ is
full of the Spirit. And because religion has so corrupted the truth, they make
being filled with the Spirit out to be just all this hoopla,
you know, all this wildfire and all this talking in tongues and,
you know, cleaning up your life and living right and all that.
That's not the Spirit of God. Our Lord went into great depth
about what the Spirit of God does when He comes into a person,
doesn't He? In John 14 through 16, three
chapters, the Spirit, when He has come, whom you know, He said,
who is in you, whom the world doesn't know. What He does, the Spirit of God
fills a person, a child of God, with the knowledge of Christ.
Fills them with a knowledge of Christ. You cut into the heart
of a believer. You cut down into the heart of
a believer and you'll find their heart full of Christ. You get to the heart and soul
of a believer and everything they believe, all their hopes,
all their peace, all their salvation, everything they know, all they
know about the Scripture is Christ. They're full of understanding
of Him. Paul even said that. We know this. Christ is all. And in Him dwelleth all the fullness. They know that. That's what it
means to be full of faith in Christ. If I ask you any question, you'll answer it concerning Christ,
won't you? They're full of love to Christ.
You say, oh, hold on now. Hold on now. Do you love Christ
being sovereign Lord? Do you want to be? Aren't you glad He's the Lord
and sovereign over all? Huh? Don't you love Him being
Lord? The world doesn't want Him being
Lord. They like thinking that they made Him Lord. They like
thinking they let Him be Lord. Don't you love that He is Lord?
That your soul is in His hands? Everything and everyone is in
His hand. Don't you love that? King, Savior, don't you love
the salvation that's of the Lord? That salvation is of the Lord?
That it's His? Because if He gives it, He won't
take it away. When the Lord asked Simon, old
Simon Peter, not a worse sinner in the book, is he? I can relate
to Simon. In the end, the Lord said, sitting
around that fire, And Simon was so ashamed of himself. He was
doubting his salvation. He had no hope in himself. None
whatsoever. He thought, I'm the worst disciple
here. If I'm a disciple at all, I'm
the worst one here. I'm no better than Judas. That's
what he thought. I'm no better than Judas. I did
what Judas did. That's what he thought. And the
Lord looked at him and said, Lovest thou me? Did he have to stop and examine
himself? Did he have to stop and think? Out of the heart,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, Yea, the Lord!
Thou knowest. You know I do. You put it there.
You know I didn't before. I had no thoughts of you whatsoever.
You came to me. You chose me. That was my hope
then. It's my hope now. That you love
me. But yes, I do. Forgive me how
I act like I don't love you, but I do. If I asked you that,
wouldn't you answer it from the heart? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Now I know it. They're full of
love. How do you know? How do you know someone loves
Christ? How do you know they're full of Christ? Well, those that are
full of love to Christ, you let a man stand up day in and day
out and preach Christ. Keep preaching Christ. He doesn't
preach anything else. You just keep preaching Christ.
Sunday, Wednesday. Sunday, Wednesday. 10 years, 20 years, 30 years.
You just keep preaching Christ. Huh? Who's going to keep listening
to that? One that loves Christ. One that
loves Christ. Religion is empty. The people
are empty of the knowledge of Christ, the love for Christ,
the love for God. Their religion is empty. The
people in it are empty, and they need many things to make them
feel fulfilled, to fill them. They need music. Don't they? The better the music, the better
they feel. Drama. We need somebody to act
this out, because they're all... When the Word of God doesn't
enter into them and touch their hearts, they need somebody to
act it out for them. Entertainment. They need to be
entertained. The Word of God is not enough. Preaching of Christ is not enough.
That doesn't strike their fancy. They need programs. They need
activities to keep them busy. A child of God doesn't want to
keep busy. He wants to sit still and hear
the salvation of the Lord. Keep people interested. Empty
people need things to keep them coming. Keep them coming. You've
got to keep coming up with all different kinds of things to
keep them coming, because they're empty. So is there anything wrong with
these things? Music and entertainment and programs and activities,
anything wrong with it? Yes, there is. It's not in the
Scriptures. They didn't do it in the early
church. Besides, it's wood, hay, and
stubble, and there's not time enough for that stuff. There's
not enough time to preach the gospel as it is. Time is short,
so we buy the truth and sell it not. And if there's no gospel
being preached, it's an abomination to God. If we're meeting to hear
from God, then if anything else is done, it's an abomination. But those who love Christ, those
who are full of Him and full of love to Him, they keep coming
back to hear Him. That's how you know. And I have
to conclude, people who come here and go away, and can go somewhere else and
sit and listen and go through all of that stuff that I just
mentioned, that really appeals to them, I have to conclude that
Christ is not enough to them. We've heard, and I'm not talking
about myself here, but we've heard from this pulpit some of
the best messages ever been preached by man. This man and other men, Christ
high and lifted up. God exalted. Christ exalted. That's glory. It doesn't get
any better than that. And those who have truly heard
His voice, those who have seen His glory, can't go back to that. Many of you came out of fleshly
religion. Those very things I was talking
about. You came out of that. And you were empty, weren't you?
And when you heard Christ preached, it filled your heart with joy
gladness and peace and rest. And from then on, that's all
you want to hear. That's who you want to hear.
And you couldn't possibly go back to that. Like Peter Simon
again said, to whom shall we go? We'll go back to that. Well, this is what this fellow
did. The unclean spirit in verse 44 said, I'll return to my house.
He walks through dry places, first of all, dry places. Religion
is dry, isn't it? Oh, it has all this outward show,
but it's really dry. Of the water of life, dry places
make a lot of noise. Dry places make a lot of noise,
don't they? So Brother Scott used to say,
this false gospel is like a dog walking through dry leaves. He
had a way with words. dry places, seeking rest. You
are not going to find rest in religion. They are going to keep
you active. You are not going to find rest.
I know. And he says, I will return into
my house. You see who owns this place?
Our Lord said a strong man's house is secure. He has his good. That is his good. Satan has hold of people And when he
keeps his goods, his house is in peace, the Lord said in Luke
11. It's in peace. And he has it. But now for stronger than he
comes, there's going to be a battle. And this is what we're going
to talk about in the next hour, a warfare. But he keeps his house and there's
no struggle. But sometimes Satan, to make
a mockery of God, to try to, to make a mockery of religion
in general, to show that there's nothing in this religion and
this Bible and God and Jesus and all that, he has a fellow
go back to his wild and wicked ways. He's got religion, but
he lets them go back into that. Sometimes he keeps them in self-righteous
religion, empty religion. And sometimes he lets them go
back and says in verse 45, he takes with him seven other spirits
more wicked than himself and enters in and dwells there and
stays there. And the last day of that man
is worse than the first. That's the way it is with this
generation. That's the way it is with this
generation. Now, it's true. And if you're like me, when you
read passages like this, if you tremble, 2 Peter 2 says, if after
escaping the pollution of the world through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein
and overcome, the latter end is worse than them in the beginning.
It had been better not to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it, they've known it, they've turned from
the holy commandment delivered unto them. And it has happened,
according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to be wallowing in
the mire. There's probably not a believer
in here that that doesn't greatly convict them. Right? That is true. And in Hebrews
6, it says this, and it should convict us. It warns us. But
Hebrews 6 says it's impossible. For those who were once enlightened
and tasted the heavenly gift, made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to
come, if they should fall away, to renew them again. They crucified
to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. Are you convicted of that? But
now listen, I told you on the end, good. But he says, beloved,
we're persuaded better things of you. Things that accompany
salvation. If those passages convict you,
be of good cheer. A stronger than he who said sin
shall not have dominion over you. I do. Be of good cheer. In Hebrews 11, listen to this. These passages, oh my, listen
to this. He says, well, in one place it
says, if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But he says, we are not of them that draw back, but of
them that believe to the saving of the soul. And then he says,
God has provided some better thing for us. It's good to be
convicted. It really is. And here's the
scripture that I keep turning to. None that trust in the Lord
shall ever be disillusioned. None of them that trust in the
Lord shall ever be forsaken. He that believeth on me, Christ
said, hath, not shall have, but hath everlasting life. If you
really do, that will keep you coming. Brethren, one writer
said, keep yourselves in the love of God. That doesn't mean
keep yourself lovely to God. Make yourself loved. It means
keep coming back under the sound of the gospel that tells you
that God loves sinners. Keep coming back to the city
of refuge. Keep coming back to that fountain
filled with blood. We don't want swept. We want
washed. We don't want to be empty. We don't want to be filled with
this spirit. We don't want to be garnished, but we want to be robed, don't
we? We want to be robed. We really do. So what are these
seven spirits? I don't know. Nobody does. Nobody does. There are 20 things
listed in Romans 1. There are 17 mentioned in Galatians
5. So I don't know. But I believe
it means this, that seven is a number for perfection. Seven
has reference to our God and His perfect holiness. Well, that
implies that man is as perfect as God is in holiness, man is
just as wicked and evil and sin. Whatever it is, man is full of
it. This old man in us is evil. Seven spirits, perfectly wicked
in every way. But our hope is built on nothing
less. Can you finish it? In Jesus Christ's
blood and righteousness, dare not trust. See, religion is trust
in a sweet frame, feeling and experience. We wholly lean on the Lord Jesus
Christ's name, His Word. I love what Martin Luther, and
I'll quit with it, Martin Luther said this, he said, feelings
come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. One day
you feel like you believe, the next day you feel like you don't.
One day you feel rotten to the core, the next day you don't
feel rotten to the core. One day you feel hot, one day
you feel cold. Up, down, in, out. Feel like
a believer, feel like a devil. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings
are deceiving. Luther said, my hope is in the Word of God. Nothing
else is worth believing. And you can trust him. You can
trust him. He that believeth on the Son
hath life.