This sermon was preached on Sunday
evening, August 9th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in
Montville, New Jersey. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles, please, to the 11th chapter of Luke's Gospel? Luke's Gospel,
Chapter 11. And for the next thirty or so
minutes, I want to speak to you from the very pointed, the very
terse and searching words of our Lord Jesus Christ, recorded
in Luke's Gospel, chapter 11, and verse 23. A verse so brief,
so simple in the words contained in it, that I'm sure we could
conduct an exercise in Bible memory and have the entire congregation,
from the youngest to the oldest, memorize the verse and its reference
in a matter of just a minute and a half. He that is not with
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Our blessed Lord speaking said
to the multitudes in whose presence He spoke, He that is not with
me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. And I trust that the Spirit of
God will so illuminate these words and our minds in the presence
of these words that we shall feel the impingement of this
simple, this pointed, this terse and searching word of God, that
we all may feel the pressure of it upon our own consciences. Now, first of all, notice with
me the setting in which our Lord spoke these words. They were
not spoken in a historical vacuum. they grew out of a very specific
set of circumstances. According to verse 14, he had
just cast out a demon from a man, a demon that, in its influence
over this man, made him unable to speak. And when this demon
was cast out of him, the text says, verse 14, that the multitudes
marveled. So get the picture. In the midst
of a vast throng of people, here is a man who seems to have all
of the faculties with which to form words, but when he would
open his mouth to speak, and try as he would, nothing
would come out. But suddenly, Streams, cataracts
of words flow out of his mouth, and the multitude who had seen
him, no doubt, on other occasions, and at least on this occasion,
Unable to speak, now with his tongue loosed, they are amazed
at the mighty power that has been manifested in this act of
the Lord Jesus. Well, you see, an act like that
in the midst of a crowd will immediately create a reaction,
and Luke tells us that there was a reaction. On the part of
some, they gave an interpretation to this mighty work which could
not have been further from the truth. They said, by Beelzebub,
the prince of the demons, he is casting out demons. They said, now it's obvious that
the demon which made this man speechless has been cast out,
but the only reason Jesus has been able to do that is that
he is in cahoots with the prince of the demons, and so because
he's in cahoots with the prince of the demons, they recognize
their prince, and they are obeying him, and the demon has left him. But now there's another group
who say, no, we do not put that interpretation upon the evidence.
In fact, we say the evidence is inconclusive. And so we read
in the following verse, and others, tempting him, sought of him a
sign from heaven. They said, now granted a demon
has been cast out, but this evidence is inconclusive as to the identity
of Jesus. And so they put into the test
and say, if you will now make the moon play hopscotch, not
hopscotch, but leapfrog with the sun, and if we see some of
the heavenly bodies jumping around at your word, then we believe
we'll have sufficient evidence to believe that you are the Messiah. Well, our Lord reads their thoughts
in all of this, according to verse 17, but He, knowing their
thoughts, said unto them, and the first thing He does is to
expose the fallacy of the first crowd, and in verses 17 and 18
He says, No, it is impossible that I should be casting out
demons by the power of the demons, for a kingdom divided against
itself cannot stand. So in verses 17 and 18, he exposes
the fallacy of the first opinion, and then in verses 20 to 22,
he demonstrates the non-necessity of the second opinion. He said,
and if I have done this by the power of God, then you have all
the evidence you need that the kingdom of God has come among
you, and you do not need a sign in the heavens. And it is in
that setting that our Lord then speaks in the most graphic language
of this tremendous spiritual conflict that is going on between
the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, between God Himself
and between Satan himself. and his language comes to a climax
in this description of a strong man who is armed to the teeth
and he's guarding his house and all of his goods are safe until
a man stronger than he and more powerful than he can come and
conquer him and spoil his goods. And in that story, our Lord is
saying that what you have seen in the casting out of this demon
is the activity of God's strongman, the Lord Jesus. And He says,
I have come as the one stronger than the devil, and I have bound
the strongman, I have spoiled his goods. In other words, the
setting of the words of our text as a setting in which that ancient
warfare prophesied in Genesis 3.15 comes to a very concrete
expression that warfare between the seed of the woman and the
seed of the serpent. And here we see the Lord Jesus,
the seed of the woman, as the one who is stronger than the
strong man and is spoiling his goods. And in that context, he
says, he that is not with me, the mighty strong man who has
come to bind that one, the devil, and spoil his goods, he that
is not with me is against me, and he that does not gather with
me scatters. So much then for the setting
of the words. Now consider briefly the plain
meaning of these words of our Lord Jesus. And the plain and
obvious meaning is right there on the face of the text. Wherever
and whenever Christ comes in grace by his word and his power,
a great divide is erected. And on the one hand of that divide,
there are those who are with Him and who gather with Him. Probably the picture of Christ
as the Great Shepherd gathering His sheep. Other sheep I have
that are not of this fold, them also I must bring. On the one hand, those who are
with Him and who gather with Him. And on the other hand, those
who are against Him and who scatter from Him. And the words given
their plain sense can draw us to no other conclusion than this
simple conclusion that wherever Christ comes in grace, by His
word and His power, a great divide is erected. On the one side,
those who are with Him and who gather with Him. On the other
side, those who are against Him and those who scatter. And therefore, in this building
tonight, as surely as every single person but one mother who is
sitting a little bit right of center of the center aisle at
the back, With that one exception, everyone in this building is
found in this right-hand section, right to me and left to you.
Right to you and left to me. Every person in this building,
barring that one woman and this preacher, are found neatly divided
into the left and to the right segment. So this text says, look
at it, he that is not with me, He that is not on the left side
of the congregation is on the right side of the congregation.
He that does not gather with me is one that scatters. Now this includes all ages, all
backgrounds, all varying degrees of privilege, all varying degrees
of light. But wherever and whenever, and
for some of you this may be the first time, but it is the first
time, and therefore you fit the category, wherever and whenever
Christ comes in grace by His word and His power, this divide
is created. Those who are with Him and gather
with Him. Those who are against Him and
who scatter. Now, in the light of the setting
of our Lord's words and the plain meaning of His words, consider
with me what is really the heart of the exhortation for the final
part of our meditation tonight—your present duty based upon these
words. What is your duty sitting here
tonight as a man, a woman, a boy or a girl? Someone who has been
under the gracious Word and power of Christ times without number. Or someone who perhaps for the
first time has come under the gracious Word and power of Christ
in this very meeting tonight. What is your great and present
duty? Well, surely it is this. to resolve
with accuracy this question, on which side of the divide am
I? On which side of the great divide
do I stand? Am I truly with Him? And am I gathering with Him? Or am I against Him? and do I scatter, and there is
no neutral position. Our Lord Himself does not recognize
anyone sitting midway in the aisle, with me, against me, gathering
scattering, and that with reference to the great issues, not of political
kingdoms which rise and fall. not with reference to economic
kingdoms which rise and fall, and intellectual kingdoms which
rise and fall, but with reference to the kingdom of God which is
eternal in its bliss and glory, and the kingdom of darkness which
shall be banished with its head to the lake of fire, and all
who are part of that kingdom. Oh, dear children, dear men and
women, friends and visitors, I say the pressing duty raised
by these words is clear and it is incumbent upon all of us to
ask, on which side of this divide am I? Well, you say, Pastor Martin,
how can I answer that question? with the kind of accuracy commensurate
with the weightiness of the issue. And thank God we need not look
far for the answer. For here, in this very passage,
the answer is given to us. To be with Him is to have nothing
less than a heart-transforming experience of His grace and Spirit
which makes you a loving, believing, obedient recipient of His Word. For you will notice as the passage
continues, our Lord gives this strange statement in verse 24
that we'll consider presently. about an unclean spirit that
goes out of a man and then comes back and finds his house all
furnished and brings seven worst demons with him. But now notice
verse 27. There's no break in the narrative.
And it came to pass as he said these things, as he spoke these
very words, he that is not with me is against me. As he said these things, A certain
woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice and said unto him,
Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which you
did suck. It's difficult to understand
what may have been in the mind of this woman. whether it was
a surface enthusiasm, whether it was a true recognition of
the nobility of Mary, whatever it was, our Lord turns aside
her statement as being relatively irrelevant in terms of what He
has said. He has said, He that is not with
me is against me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth. The issue is not the blessedness
of the one through whom I was brought into the world as to
a human vehicle. No, no. True blessedness is to
be found here. But He said, Yea, rather blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. How are we to
identify those who are with Christ? What does it mean to be with
Christ? Does it mean to have some attachment
to Him in a gossamer web of sentimental, gushy, religious feelings about
Jesus? Does it mean that I have some
external bond to him and to his church by virtue of the fact
that I was born a son or daughter, in that sense, of the church
and of its ministry? No, no, our Lord says, those
who are truly blessed Those who are the recipients of the life
of blessedness, that life of blessedness which I as the strong
man have come to give to needy sinners who were the slaves of
the devil, is a life in which I spoil his goods. I break in
them the power of ignorance that sees no glory in my person. I break in them the power of
rebellion that has no desire to obey my word. break in them
the power and the chains that bind them to their sins, so that
though they may hear and conscience may judge my word to be true,
they are such slaves to their sin that they cannot do what
I command them. Those who are blessed," he says,
are those who hear the word of God and keep it. There is our
Lord's blessedly simple description of what it means to be with Him. It means that I have been brought
by the Spirit into an attachment to the person of Jesus Christ
that has made me His willing bond slave. that has given me
those two great marks of his sheep. According to John 10 and
verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me. To be with him is to enter into
such a relationship of faith of love and of obedience, that
His Word, His Word of pardon, His Word of gracious forgiveness,
becomes the Word upon which I stake all the concerns of my sin-sick,
sin-weary soul. To be with Him means that I hear
His Word calling me to turn my back upon every rival affection
and for His sake to forsake all that I might be His loving disciple. To hear His Word means that I
receive not only the gracious Word of pardon and stake the
well-being of my soul upon it, But I hear the Word calling me
to deny myself, to take up a cross, to forsake all and utterly, unreservedly
abandon myself to Him so that I am bound to Him in bonds of
faith and bonds of love. bonds that find constant expression
in a practical obedience to His revealed will. Look again at
verse 28. Blessed are those who hear the
Word of God and are keeping it. They do not merely hear and are
temporarily moved and drop a tear or two and shake the pastor's
hand and give him thanks for his ministry. But what they hear
from a gospel pulpit makes its way into shoe leather Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and up to the
next Sunday. It makes its way into fingertips
in terms of what channel is tuned in and when and for how long
on the TV. It makes its way into fingertips
that dispense money for what commodities, for what ends. Keeping the Word of God is something
that touches every faculty of our redeemed humanity. And Jesus
said, That's what it means to be with me. Now I ask you, my
friend, are you with Him? If that's what it means to be
with Him, are you with Him? I didn't ask you to believe Jesus
is the Son of God. I'm not asking you to believe
He died on the cross and rose from the dead and will come again
in glory and power at the last day. I hope you do believe all
of that. But are you with Him? Are you
staking the whole weight of your sin-sick soul upon His promises
of mercy to needy sinners? In the beautiful imagery Dr.
Ferguson set before us this morning, have you, like that woman that
came from a pagan land, have you sought shelter under the
shadow of the Almighty? Have you embraced His word demanding
total abnegation of all desire to rule your own life? And have
you joyfully capitulated the government of all that you are
to Him? I am not asking you have you
perfectly worked out the implications of being with Him. I'm not asking,
do you flawlessly work out the demands of being with Him? But I'm asking you, are you with
Him? Are you with Him? Well, if so,
then Jesus assumes you gather with Him. And the analogy is
probably that of the influence of a life that is with Christ
being used of Christ to draw others to Christ. And you see,
you cannot be with him and not gather with him. He assumes that
the two will always be found together. He that is not with
me is against me. He that gathereth not scattereth. And if we are with him, regardless
of how non-vocal and non-visible may be the externals of our witness,
There is exuded from us an influence, however imperceptible to men,
that is part of the gathering process of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, to be with Him is to
have something more than a surface change, and that's where these
strange words fit in. And I want to close by pressing
those words on your conscience tonight. Look at the passage
again. After saying, he that is not with me is against me,
and he that gathereth not scattereth. Saying that in the setting of
this great conflict between the strong man and the stronger than
the strong, our Lord says, the unclean spirit, verse 24, The
unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through
waterless places seeking rest, and finding none, he says, I
will turn and go back to my house whence I came out. And when he
is come, he finds it swept and garnished. Then goeth he and
takes to him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they
enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man
becomes worse than the first. Now there are mysteries in this
passage which I cannot unravel, and there is no doubt, according
to the parallel passage in Matthew, a peculiar reference to the generation
in which our Lord lived, a generation that under the ministry of John
the Baptist went through great surface changes, many of them
but they fell short of a true work of grace. But whatever mysteries
may be here that I would not attempt to unravel, whatever
application or direct interpretation envisions a more exclusive reference
to Israel, surely there is a broader principle, and it is this. To
be with Christ is to have something more than a mere external change
that leaves you unpossessed by God the Holy Spirit, and the
devil is not at all concerned. to leave you, as it were, to
leave you in the form of His own influence, of some gross
manifestation of immorality and wickedness and godlessness, just
so long as the house is empty and furnished so that he can
come back with seven worse demons, the demons of self-deception,
of self-righteousness, the demons of spiritual smugness, these
foul things that leave us short of being truly with Christ and
leave us something other than being gatherers with Christ. One of the most frightening realities
of pastoral ministry over the long haul is to see people who
seem to undergo a change as real as that man described in verse
14. He was dumb. He couldn't talk. Words wouldn't come out. Suddenly
there is a torrent of words. There are those whose transformation
seems to be as marked as his, but time reveals that the Spirit
never came to inhabit them. For where he comes, he implants
a principle of internal holiness, a principle of likeness to Christ,
a principle of obedience, a principle of antipathy to the world, a
principle of antagonism to the flesh and to this present age. And I fear that sitting here
in Trinity Church, are people who fit this description. For if I have any discernment
in at least observing the patterns of your external life, you're
right where you were five and ten years ago. No progress in
tenderness of conscience, no real progress in hatred of the
world, no real progress in conformity to Christ, in usefulness in gathering
with Christ? Could it be that out went the
demon of an openly irreligious life, and in have come the demons
of religious smugness and self-deception and self-satisfaction? My friend, the only evidence
that you are with Him is that you hear the Word of God and
you keep it. That Word in all the freeness
of its gracious promise, yes, and surely that is the foundation
and the fountainhead and the mainspring of all other forms
of obedience. But in the love of free grace,
Then we keep that word, that word which says he that loves
son or daughter, father, mother more than me is not worthy of
me. That word which says, Whosoever
he be of you that renounces not all that he hath cannot be my
disciple. That word which says, Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? I leave you with that simple
text tonight. I press it upon your conscience. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me scattereth. On which side of the great divide
are you, you dear children? Are you with Christ? I'm not
asking you, are you near him? Near him because mommy and daddy
carry you to church? and sit on your bedside and read
and pray with you. You're near Him, yes! But, oh,
dear children, are you with Him? Have you said, Lord Jesus, I
want to be Yours? You died for sinners like me. What else can I do, Lord Jesus,
but give myself to You? Oh, dear children, are you with
Him? With Him? With Him? Not near Him? But with
Him, if not, you're against Him. You're His enemy. He said it. I didn't. I didn't draw that
line. He did. He drew it. If you're not with
Him, you're against Him. And dear children, if you're
against Him, then if He cuts you off in your present state,
you'll go to the same hell that the Hitlers and the Mussolinis
go to. There's nothing in the Bible that says God's got a kiddie
hell. There may be kiddie parks and
kiddie rides and kiddie schools, but there's no kiddie hell. And some of you children need
to face that realistically. Are you with Him? Are you against
Him? No middle ground! And if you're
not with Him, then flee to Him. Lay hold of Him in His promise,
for He said, Suffer the little children to come unto me. Jesus
welcomes children who come as sinners. who come saying, Lord
Jesus, I've got a filthy heart and I can't cleanse it of myself. I've broken your law and I can't
forgive myself and change the record books of heaven. But Lord
Jesus, I believe you died. I believe you rose again. I believe
your promises to sinners are real. Lord Jesus, will you take
a sinner like me? And he will take you, dear children,
and you'll be with him. And then you begin to gather
when you don't enter into the dirty words down at the playground. And when you're determined to
be honest in school and polite and respectful to mom and dad,
all because you love Jesus, you begin to gather with him as your
life speaks of the power of his grace. What about you teenagers? Are you with him? With all that
pressure to conform? With all that pressure upon you
young people to conform, are you with Him? Have you faced
realistically bearing the reproach of Christ? I don't mean being
recognized as a nice religious person who was a little bit overboard
in your religion. Most of us can take that without
too much trouble. But to be laughed at and mocked
because you're really with Him. identified with him, going outside
the camp, bearing his reproach. Are you with him? Older man,
older woman, are you with him? If not, you are against him. May God help us to answer that
question with Judgment Day honesty, because in the Day of Judgment,
if we are not with him now, He will not be with us then to plead
our cause, and you've had it. But whoever is against us now,
let him try to do their thing in that day when he steps forward
to say, that one's mine. And he claims us as his own. And it's all heading to that
day, friend, and nothing matters but what comes out in the wash
then. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth. Let us pray. Our Father, we are so thankful
that our Lord Jesus Though he often spoke of profound mysteries
that baffled the minds of the world's most brilliant theologians,
we thank you that he often spoke in such simple, terse, plain
language. We thank you for this text.