Open your Bibles with me to the
book of Luke chapter 11. Last week, I preached
from this passage, beginning at verse 14, going down to verse
20, on the Kingdom of God is come. Christ, the Lord Jesus,
had just cast out a demon. is recorded here in this passage
as the spirit of dumbness, where when possessed of this demon,
one of Satan's minions, Satan's agents, one of the fallen angels,
who kept not their first estate, had entered into this man so
that he couldn't speak, and then Christ cast him out, and then
the Pharisees come along, the religious leaders, who stood
in opposition to our Savior, to our Lord, stood in opposition
to the gospel of God's grace in Him. They accused Him of casting
out devils, as they said by Beelzebub, which is just an old pagan name
for demons and it became a common name used at that time for Satan. And so they were accusing Him
of casting out demons. Cahoots with Satan, basically.
And he told them, he says in verse 17, he knew their thoughts.
He said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation. And a house divided against a
house falleth. If Satan, verse 18, if Satan
also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?
Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub, and
if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, By whom do your sons cast them
out?" Talking about the Jewish exorcist who claimed to be casting
out demons by the Spirit of God. He says, therefore, shall they
be your judges. In other words, you claim they
cast out devils by the Spirit of God. Now how can you upon
your own volition, just turn and judge him to be casting it
out by Satan. So he says in verse 20, he says,
but if I with the finger of God, that's the power of God, cast
out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you. Which
means the Messiah has come. The one who was preached and
prophesied and promised all through the Old Testament. The Savior
of his people. The Lamb. slain from the foundation
of the world, the great king of kings, the Lord our righteousness,
all that Moses wrote, all that the prophets spoke is fulfilled
in their very eyes, before their very eyes, the kingdom of God. And this kingdom of God coming
upon them means the kingdom of God established through the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, we looked at
several scriptures there where he talked about casting out Satan.
And it always applied to his death. The death of Christ. You see, the death of Christ
was not a defeat. It was not a failure. It was
an accomplishment. Luke said that when he recorded
that episode on the Mount of Transfiguration It says that
Moses and Elijah appeared in a vision before the disciples
and they spoke with Christ. And they spoke of his decease,
that word means exodus, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
His death was not a defeat, it was an exodus. Just like referring
back to the exodus out of Egypt, when God brought the Hebrew children
out of the bondage of Egypt, Christ, when he died on the cross,
He brought the children of God, God's elect people, chosen before
the foundation. He brought them out of the bondage
of sin, the bondage of Satan, the bondage of the law. And how
did He do it? By the shedding of His precious blood to put
away our sins. By the establishment of an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value whereby God could be just to
justify the ungodly. And that's the defeat of Satan.
We looked at several scriptures. Look at verse 21. Now, he speaks
here, he says, 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 divided his spoils. Now the title of
this message this morning is One Stronger Than Satan. one stronger than Satan. Now first of all, as we've said
and we've read in these passages, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God incarnate, is never, never in league with Satan
to accomplish his purposes. He never compromises with Satan
to do anything. There's always, it's been established
from back in Genesis chapter 3, that there always has been
an enmity That word enmity is opposition and hatred. There's
always been an enmity between the seed of woman, that's Christ,
and the serpent seed, Satan, and his followers. Christ came
to destroy the works of Satan. And as I said, he did that by
his obedience unto death on the cross as the representative and
substitute of his people. He put away our sins. He established
righteousness. And that's what his answer is
all about. But then he begins to demonstrate the establishment
of the kingdom, the kingdom of God, by setting forth the truth
of true conversion, true conversion as opposed to false conversion. Now why is that important? Well,
we know, and I want to emphasize this in this message, There are
two things that are necessary for the salvation of a sinner.
Number one is that sinner must be delivered from the condemnation
of sin. The sentence of condemnation
and guilt. That's what is called our justification
by the blood of Christ. What is it to be justified? It
means to be cleared of all guilt. It means to be declared righteous
in the sight of God. How was that accomplished? By
the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross when He was made sin. When sin was charged, accounted,
imputed to Him. He took the debt. He became responsible
for the sin debt of His people. And He paid that debt in full.
Jesus paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. He
paid it in full. There's no more punishment because
He was punished. You see what I'm saying? There's
no more condemnation because He was condemned. Justly so under
the justice of God for the sins of His people charged to Him.
He was made guilty. Christ on that cross, listen
to me, Christ on that cross was actually guilty It wasn't a fake. It wasn't a pretend. He was guilty. Why? Because he owed a debt to
God's law and justice. He didn't incur the debt. We
did. He didn't run up the tab. We did. He didn't commit the
sin. He wasn't contaminated by the
sin. The sin was not infused or imparted
into him. But it was his nonetheless. Why? Because he said so. It's
like Paul said to Philemon about the runaway slave Onesimus who
had stolen from him. He said, if he owes you anything,
Philemon, put it on my account. Christ said to the Father in
the everlasting covenant of grace, as it were, if they owe you anything,
Father, put it on my account. I'll pay it. It's my debt, he
said. And that's why in the Messianic
Psalms and in other places, you see the Messiah speaking through
David, the type of the Messiah. saying, My sins, My sins, how
are they His sins? They were laid to His charge,
to His account. And He died for them. He was
made a curse, the Scripture says. He was cursed. And that curse
went to the point of alienation from the Father by which He said,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And I cannot explain
that to you in some kind of a theological term or phrase. I can't. But I know it happened. And I
know we stand amazed at it, don't we? Now that is the ground of
the salvation of a sinner. And there's no other ground.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
On Christ the solid rock I stand. That's the ground of salvation.
That's the justification of a sinner before God. He was made sin and
all who are in Him were made the righteousness of God. So
that God would save us, bless us and receive us into His communion
and fellowship based on righteousness charged to us. That's the ground
of salvation. But now that's not all of salvation.
There's more to it. You see that which is the ground
of salvation results in the fruit of salvation. What comes out
of what Christ did on that cross? Well, we read it last week and
I'll just quote it to you in John 12 and verse 32. He said,
And I, if I be lifted up, that's on the cross, will draw all unto
me. Now what is that drawing? That's the work of the Holy Spirit
in the new birth. Regeneration and conversion You
see life by the spirit is the fruit of the death of Christ
So his death is the ground of salvation the holy spirits work
in us that Necessary work that brings a dead spiritually dead
sinner to life. That's the fruit of Salvation
that's the result of what Christ accomplished and we're never
to get those two confused And I'll tell you why, because the
Holy Spirit Himself points you where for all salvation? To Christ. And that's the glory of the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit. When a sinner is pointed to Christ
for all salvation, for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, for all
glory, that's the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Now how's that? Well, in Him dwelleth all the
fullness of the what? The Godhead bodily. And you're
complete in Him. That shows us that through Christ
what the Father purposed, what the Son purchased, and what the
Spirit applies is effectual to the salvation of all His people. And the Godhead is glorified.
The one God in three persons is glorified through the Son. Now what Christ is speaking of
here is the results of this kingdom that's come upon you. This kingdom
of God established by the cross. And here's how he puts it. Here
he talks about the truth of true conversions. Listen to it, verse
21. When a strong man armed keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. Now who is this strong
man here? Well this strong man is Satan. Now Satan is strong. Satan is, now listen, Satan is
not omnipotent. He is not all powerful. But he's
strong. He's strong. And it says he's
armed. What is Satan armed with? What
are Satan's weapons? Let me give you these. Number
one, deception. He's deceitful. Lies. Remember in John 8, verse 44,
when Christ looked at the Pharisees, He says, You are of your father
the devil, and the lust of your father you do. He was a liar
from the beginning. What lie did He tell you? Remember
the lie that He told? I can tell you His message. You shall not surely die. That's what He told Eve. What?
That was His message. And that's what false preachers
are telling people all the time. People who are seeking salvation
by works, false preachers are telling them, well, you're okay.
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. You see, that's what they
say. Anybody who speaks peace based upon any other ground but
Christ and Him crucified is preaching Satan's message. You shall not
surely die. And I'm telling you, according
to the Word of God, if you seek salvation or any part of it based
on anything but Christ and His blood and righteousness alone,
you're in danger. You're in danger of condemnation
and death. There's no peace there. There's
only peace by the blood of His cross. Peace doesn't come any
other way. And then accusation. Satan is armed with accusation. He loves to accuse. Boy, I tell
you what, you can see people's connection with Satan there.
Don't we all love to accuse? We love to point the finger,
don't we? That's why we turn his accusations back by the blood
of the Lamb, Revelation chapter 12. Because if we're washed in
the blood of Christ, if we're clothed in His righteousness
imputed to us, Satan's accusations cannot stick. They fall flat. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again. Seated at the right hand of the
Father. Satan is subtle, he's crafty, he's wily. And it says
here in verse 21, it says he keepeth his palace. Now what
is his palace? Well some commentators say that's
just a general term for his kingdom, but I believe it goes further
than that. I believe what he is talking about here is the
heart of the natural man. The heart of the natural man.
Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want to show you what I am
talking about. The heart of the natural man
is the palace of Satan himself. That doesn't mean that every
one of us are as such demon possessed. You know one thing we find out
from the scriptures is man by nature doesn't need to be demon
possessed to sin. We do that quite well without
them. Don't we? Now there is demon
possession. I told you last week, I don't
know that I've ever witnessed such. And I know this, Hollywood
has it wrong. Don't get fooled by that. That's
one of just Satan's tools to deceive people. But the thing
about it is, Satan's goal is stated out right here. Look at
2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. If our gospel be hid, now that
gospel is the good news of salvation by the grace of God in Christ.
That brings a sinner to see, as Paul said, commit everything
that he is and everything that he desires in salvation to Christ. So if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, that's
Satan, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. Anything that Satan can do to
keep a sinner from seeing the glory of God in Christ, that's
his deception. That heart is his palace. And I'll tell you what, it can
be anything. False religion is one of Satan's greatest tools
to fool people. You may have an idea in your
head right now that you're fine when you're not. And you may
be so ensconced into that, you may look up here and say, well
that guy doesn't know what he's talking about. But I'm just simply
preaching the word of God to you. I know people, I know, because
I've been there. You may look back on some episode
in your life where you did this or did that, walked an aisle,
got baptized, and you may hold on to that for dear life. My
friend, if that keeps you from looking to Christ for all salvation,
for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, your heart is
the palace of Satan. I'm telling you the truth. Look
back at Luke 11. The heart, Jeremiah said it,
Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? And then he
tells us after that only God can know it. Our only hope of
not being deceived is to go by the word of God and not by our
feelings. Who was it, I wrote that poem,
feelings come, feelings go, feelings can be deceiving. And that's
the way it is. But Satan reigns and rules within
the hearts of men. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. I'm
sorry. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. He rules and reigns in the
heart of the natural man. Now that doesn't mean that Satan
is everywhere. He's not omnipresent either.
But he is a powerful being. Look at verse 1 of Ephesians
2. It says, and you hath he quickened.
That's made alive. who were dead in trespasses and
sins. That's our state by nature. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. That's Satan. The spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience. In the New Testament,
a child of disobedience is an unbeliever. Among whom also we
all had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh.
Now when you think of lust of the flesh, it would include sexual
lust, unlawful sexual but it also includes false religion. Cain, when he approached God
on the basis of his works, was operating in the lust of his
flesh. When the Apostle Paul spoke of
himself in the past as one who was unregenerate, as Saul of
Tarsus, And he listed all of his religious accomplishments
in Philippians chapter 3. He called them the flesh, the
works of the flesh. That's what man can do by nature. And he can be religious, and
you know what I'm saying is true. And he says, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature, that's as
we're born, the children of wrath, even as others. That's the heart
of man. Now go back to Luke 11. It says
here that in verse 21, when a strong man armed keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace. In other words, he feels fine. Peace, peace, when there is no
peace. And then in verse 22, now here's the truth of true
conversion. Here's the work of the Holy Spirit
in a sinner to bring that sinner to his senses, conviction. Faith
in Christ and repentance verse 22, but when a stronger than
he shall come one who is stronger than Satan now let me tell you
something There's only one who is stronger than Satan And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God himself But when a
stronger than than he shall come upon him and overcome him He
taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted and he divideth
his spoils. That's conversion. Christ, stronger
than Satan. He told his disciples, he said,
the prince of this world is coming and he hath nothing in me. What do you mean by that? It
means that Satan is going to attack, but Satan had no ally
in Christ. In Christ, the God-man, there
was no sin. In Christ, the God-man, there
was no ignorance. In Christ, the God-man, there
was no sin nature. He was born of the seed of woman.
He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit.
He wasn't born like you and me, dead in trespasses and sins.
He was the perfect God-man, that holy thing. He's the only one
that could be said of. Satan had no ally in Christ. He was tempted, like as we are,
yet without sin. That's the difference. And I
explain this to people this way, just like when he was on the
Mount of Temptation and Satan tempted him, Christ, the God-man,
had not eaten food for 40 days and 40 nights. Well, how hungry
would you be if you hadn't eaten for 40 days and 40 nights? How
hungry would I be? Well, you know something? In
His humanity, He was just as hungry as you and I. The only
difference is in him there was no sinful spirit or desire that
would even entertain a notion of compromising or denying the
glory of his father to relieve that hunger. In you and me there
is. You see, Satan had no ally in
him. He conquered Satan. 1 John 4
verse 4, Christ told the disciples, He says, You are of God, little
children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is
in you than he that is in the world. He is stronger than Satan. And what He is talking about
here is the preaching of Christ, His gospel, in the power of the
Holy Spirit, that will set sinners free. Christ told them, He said,
the truth will set you free. And by that gospel, which is
the power of God unto salvation in the hands of the Holy Spirit,
in the work of the Holy Spirit, a sovereign, invincible, irresistible
work, Christ overcomes Satan within
our hearts. He overcame Satan on the cross
and cast him out. Now he is talking about overcoming
Satan within the hearts of his people. How does he do that?
Well, there are several ways that it is described in the Scriptures.
In Ezekiel chapter 36 he says, I'll give them a new heart. That's
regeneration, isn't it? That's the giving and imparting
of spiritual life to a dead sinner. Another place he says, I'll sprinkle
their hearts. What is that? That's the application
of the truth and knowledge by the Spirit of the blood of Christ
to the conscience. My sins, oh the thought. My sins ever before me. David prayed that in the passage
that brother Joe read. My sin is ever before me. What
did he pray? Look over at Psalm 51. Listen
to it here. David said, I have sinned against
Thee, O Lord. He said, I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me. I can't
get away from it. But listen to me. Look at verse
7. He says, purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. What David is doing there is
he is admitting the recognition that his sins must be put away
by Christ. That is justification. David
had already been justified. He is just being reminded of
it here. You know that purged with hyssop, that hyssop was
a brush made from a plant which the blood of the lamb, it was
dipped in the blood of the lamb and sprinkled on the mercy seat.
That's where God puts away the sins of His people. That's a
type, you see, of Christ on the cross. Christ our mercy seat. Washing us whiter than snow in
the way of justifying us before God. And then, verse 8, he begins
to talk about regeneration, the work of the Spirit, the new birth.
Make me to hear joy and gladness. You see, until the Spirit gives
us ears to hear, the Gospel is not joy and gladness. It's an
offense to us. You mean to tell me that all
my religion means nothing? All my works mean nothing? Natural
man hateth the things of the Spirit of God. He cannot see
them or understand them. But when you hear it with joy
and gladness, you know what's happened? The Spirit's given
you ears to hear. Eyes to see. That the bones which
thou hast broken may rejoice. What does he mean bones which
you have broken? That's conviction. What does God do to a sinner
in regeneration? He brings us down into the dust. He breaks our pride. He breaks
our self-righteousness and brings us down like that old publican,
God be merciful to me the sinner. What happens? He makes us rejoice
in Christ. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. He says in verse 9, hide thy
face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities, create in
me a clean heart, the cleansed heart. That's the heart purified
by the blood of Christ. That's the heart purified by
faith, looking to Christ, and renew a right spirit within me. Isn't that something? Go back
to Luke 11. And then in verse 23, listen
to what he says here. Listen to how he concludes this.
Christ says in verse 23, now He's talking about the stronger
coming in and driving out the strong. Christ coming in by His
Spirit and by His Word in the new birth, you must be born again,
Christ said it, or you cannot see or enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
and driving out Satan. So that Satan no longer has the
power to keep his people from seeing the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. And then he says this, he says
in verse 28, he that is not with me is against me, he that gathereth
not with me scattereth. What's he saying there? He's
simply saying this, in this matter of true conversion, it's all
Christ or nothing. That's what it is. You say, well,
I know I've been converted, how do you know? Well, I got baptized
when I was 14. Well, my friend, that's a wrong
ground. That's a wrong claim. I hope when people get baptized
in their youth that they do know Christ. But I'm going to tell
you something. If they do know Christ, they won't be bragging
about their baptism. They'll be bragging about Him.
Is that the difference? You say, preacher, that's just
too simple for me. I know it. That's why Satan got
a hold of you. He wants to take you away from
that simplicity that's in Christ. Get your mind on other things.
Confuse it. That's his goal. You see, if
the Holy Spirit truly brings a sinner to conviction of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment, and drives that sinner to Christ,
I'll tell you what, that sinner will be bragging on Christ. He's
all or nothing at all. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me is
against me. Now, beginning at verse 24, He
gives us an example of false, false religion. And this is where
I come to reformation without regeneration. Now you know something,
we talk about reformation. People mean a lot of different
things by that. Some talk about the time of reformation in history,
talking about John Calvin and Zwingli and John Huss and people
like that, Martin Luther, the reformation. Some people talk
about reformation when they talk about changed lives. Here's a
drunk who puts down the bottle, never picks it up again. In and
of itself, that's a good thing, isn't it? Here's somebody who
smoked all their life, they don't smoke anymore, or whatever. Here's
somebody who was just an out-and-out scoundrel, and then they get
right, as people see that, however they mean it, and they turn over
a new leaf, and they reform. I've told you before that I'm
an advocate of strong morality. I hope and pray that our world
becomes more moral, more responsible, our country, our courts, our
government. I'll tell you, if there's anything
that needs reforming, it is. It's that, isn't it? We do not
promote sin and immorality in any way. We deal with it, we
recognize it, we admit it, but we don't promote it. But here's
the thing. Do not fall into Satan's deception of claiming that reformation
itself is regeneration and that reformation is righteousness. A drunk can quit drinking, and
he should, But he can still be just as lost as he was when he
was laying in the gutter. Now if he uses that to say, well
I might as well just stay drunk, then that's up to him. I say
no. But that doesn't save you. Outward
moral reformation will not save a sinner. It will not make a
sinner righteous. Now look here at verse 24. He
says, When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, Now notice
it says the unclean spirit went out. There was no conflict, there
was no struggle here, he simply went out. And it says, he walketh
through dry places seeking rest. Now Satan finds no rest or joy
but when he's at home in the unregenerate heart, one old writer
said. In opposition to God. And then
he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. Satan
returning. Verse 25. And when he cometh,
he findeth it swept and garnished. You notice the terms there? He
finds it swept out. Now, what is that? It's swept.
It's not washed in the blood. But settled in a false religious
or moral refuge. And you see it says he's swept
and he's garnished, and notice here, empty. You know, true conversion
fills a man with Christ, the Spirit of God. But here, Reformation
does what? It leaves him empty. He's swept,
and then he's garnished. What does that mean? That means
he's decorated. Not clothed with the imputed righteousness of
Christ, but he's decorated with the trappings of religion. What
he's done? What he's trying to do. What
he gives. What he's accomplished. It's
like Paul in Philippians 3 that I mentioned before. He was decorated
up when he was sold of Tarsus. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews.
I was circumcised the eighth day. Born of the stock of Abraham. Born of the tribe of Benjamin.
That's touching the law of Pharaoh. See that's the decoration. That's
the garnishments. That's the trappings of reformed
religion which will burn away when tested by the fires of God's
judgment. You see, don't confuse morality
and reformation with godliness and salvation. But then look
at verse 26, it says, Then go with he, and taketh to 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." He is worse off, not better off. Let me tell you
something, when the Spirit of God comes in, and a sinner is
born again by the Spirit, that sinner is better off. This one
is not. He is worse off. Seven devils. What does that mean? Well, the
number seven is the number of completeness of finished work. I've seen preachers try to delineate
this. This devil, that devil, that
and go down seven. That's not what it's talking
about. What he's simply saying is that man, here's a man who
being found empty and then swept and garnished with the trappings
of false religion is now worse off than before because he's
finished off. He's sealed into a false refuge
of religion. Now that's so. Turn over to Matthew chapter
23. Here the Lord is talking to the Pharisees who were doing
their best to gain converts. Gain converts. And look at verse
15. Matthew 23. This is what He's
talking about. He says, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass, that means you go
around, sea and land, to make one proselyte, one convert to
your way of thinking, your religion, and when he's made, when you've
got him, you make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. Now he's sealed, finished off
in a false refuge of religion. That's what he's talking about.
This seven devils back here in Luke 11 now is a complete severe
possession by the devil. A complete severe deception that
seals a sinner into condemnation. You see, the need for regeneration
is not mere reformation. You know, the history of man
teaches that mere outward reformation does not work. It may bring temporary
success and may even some temporary peace, but it will not bring
a permanent solution. It will not save mankind. It
will not destroy or cure the disease of sin. It will not make
a sinner righteous before God. Only Christ. Now why is that? Because man is ruined by the
fall. Spiritually dead and trespasses
in sin. And that refers to the best of
men and the worst of men. Without redemption, where do
we stand? Condemned in Adam. We must be
redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must stand
before God in the righteousness of Christ. That's our only hope. We must be made alive by the
Spirit of God in the new birth. We need regeneration, not reformation. And this regeneration is the
fruit of the redemption by the blood. It's the invincible work
of God the Holy Spirit. And this is the new birth. It's
the impartation of spiritual life within us that brings us
to have no confidence in the flesh. but to rejoice, to glory
in Christ and His cross. You know, God provided for this
from the beginning. This is the way of God. This
is the way of His grace. It's the way of His mercy in
Christ. All right. We're going to sing as a closing
hymn, My Faith Looks Up To Thee, hymn number 350.