I invite you to turn with me
to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. The lesson this morning will be taken
from verses 23 through 26. And the subject of the lesson
this morning is before and after. and after. Let's read these verses
together. Luke chapter 11, beginning with
verse 23. He that is not with me is against
me. And he that gathereth not with
me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, He walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and
finding none. And he saith, I will return unto
my house, which 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 in and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Now it is of utmost importance
when we're studying the scriptures to keep what's being said in
its proper context. If you take words of the Bible,
sentences and pieces of verses out of context, you can make
the Bible say anything you want it to. Judas went out and hanged
himself. Go ye and do likewise. Both of
those are accurate according to the Word of God, but they're
taken out of context. We want to study things in their
proper context. And the Lord has already told
us in a parable how sinners are saved. A strong man armed keepeth
his palace, and he's armored, Strong, he holds that place,
he rules over that house until a stronger than he comes and
takes all his armor away from him wherein he trusted and he
spoils his goods. That's how God saves sinners.
He tears down his refuge and kicks out the strong man. He
overcomes the strong man. And he's told us how Sinners
are saved. Those possessed with the influence
of Satan and the spirit of Antichrist must confront one stronger than
they. And now he turns his attention
to those who had opposed his person and work. Those who said
they watched him cast out that devil, that dumb man, that spirit
of dumbness, and he took it from him and that man was able to
talk. But even in the light of what they've seen with their
own eyes that day, they opposed him, rejected him, and ridiculed
him. So he turns his attention now
to them who had opposed his person and work. And this is what he
says. This is how our lesson begins.
Listen to this. He that is not with me is against
me. Now these men were religious
men. These men had a name in Israel. Everybody understood
the Pharisees. If anybody was saved in Israel,
it was a Pharisee. And with them were the scribes. And then another sect of the
Jews who didn't believe in the resurrection. And they were there
also. But our Lord is talking to these
men who totally rejected them and they weren't with Him. They
had not received Him. They had not acknowledged Him.
He was just one of many. He was just a man. And that's what He's telling
them. He that's not with me. He's telling His disciples this.
They're not with me. They're opposed to me. They're
against me. They don't agree with me. They're
against me. And he that gathereth not with
me. He don't preach my gospel. He
don't submit to my means. He doesn't listen to what he's
been told. He doesn't adhere to commandments.
He that gathereth not with me. He's scattering. He ain't gathering
anything. He's scattering. And then he gives us a short
parable declaring who these men are, and why they are, and the
way they are. These are these men who are against
him. This is not about the believer. This is about unbelievers. And
he gives us, if you will, a before and after sense of the religious
rebel. Now let's look at these two things
as he sets them before us in this parable. First of all, He
tells us about their beginning. They began with an unclean spirit
within. Every child of God is born with
an unclean spirit within. Every son of Adam. Every son
of Adam. Now, when we're looking at this
parable, I don't want you to Try to figure it out by looking
at all these different characters. These seven spirits that went
with him and the one spirit. He's talking about one man. One
man. When he gets all done, he said,
and that man. He's talking about one man. There
might be a group of men, but he's pointing to one man. He's
setting a man who has rejected him apart and he's going to tell
you what's going on. Don't imagine a bunch of different
characters, it's about a single man. And the word spirit, when
you read it in the scripture with a small s, you notice that
in the scripture how he uses that spirit with a small s. And
as it's used in the scriptures, it has to do with what one believes,
what one acknowledges, what one knows. That's what he calls the
spirit. In 1 John 4, the apostle writes,
Behold, beloved, believe not every spirit. What's he talking
about? Is he talking about these invisible
forces? No. No, he's talking about these
men who come preaching the gospel. He's talking about their doctrine.
Later on in John, he calls it doctrine. If anybody bring not
the doctrine of Christ, don't receive him in your house. But
here he's calling them spirits. But he said, try the spirits,
whether they be of God. Try their understanding. Look
at what they're saying. Examine what they're saying,
whether they be of God. Because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. And then over in 1 Corinthians
2, Paul uses the word this way. He said, For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
What's he talking about? He's talking about what that
man knows. what he knows in his heart. You don't know what's
on my heart unless I tell you. Unless I tell you. Even so, the
spirit of man which is in him, even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. And we have received not the
spirit of the world, small s, but the spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God, which things also we speak, Not in words, which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. Comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. I have not seen or heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us. And these are the things, Paul
said, we preach. We preach. God has revealed to
us a knowledge of Himself. And all men and women begin the
same. They're all born in sin. Their
house is a house, it's a filthy house. It's a filthy house. They go astray, David said, as
soon as they'd be born, speaking lies. There's nothing holy or
righteous in him. He is, according to Romans 5,
8 through 10, sinners and enemies of God. Christ died for us while
we were yet sinners. Romans 3, verses 10-18 describe
what's in this flesh. None righteous, none that understand
it, none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
No fear of God before their eyes. Destruction and misery in the
way. They're all liars, with their tongues they've used deceit.
Their inward parts are so filled with corruption that they're
likened To an open grave, he said, when a man opens his mouth,
it's like looking in an open grave. There's nothing in there
but corruption, and that's all that's going to come out. By
one man, he said, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Sin is not so much what we do,
it is what we do, but it's not so much that as it is what we
are. That's why we sin, we're sinners. And what possesses the man is
the man. That is the man. And man is totally
depraved. And this is how our Lord paints
his picture here. He has in him a spirit of uncleanness. He's unclean. Isaiah said this. I might as
well tell you the Holy Ghost said this through Isaiah. This
is the Holy Ghost speaking. And he says, all our righteousnesses. This is a prophet talking. This
ain't some wino. This ain't some prophet of Baal. This is God's prophet Isaiah. And here's what he said. All
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we're all together
as an unclean thing. There's a spirit of uncleanness
in man. Now he don't know that. He don't
know that. You don't sense that. You children
here, you don't sense that. You never have. And the reason
is because you're surrounded with it. Everybody's the same. They all have a spirit of uncleanness
in them. So you don't notice it. And especially when you're
small, you don't pay attention to it. Neither does anybody else.
They think it's cute. When you're lying down, it's
cute. But when you get about 19 and start lying, it ain't
cute no more. Now it's sin. Now it's rebellion. But this is how our Lord paints
the picture. Man don't think about it because he's surrounded
by sinners just like himself and compared to others he's at
least average. I walked out my front ditch the
other day to do a little bit of work and there was a dead
possum. There wasn't much left on him. And there was a handful
of maggots. And I stood there and looked
down at him and there was no difference in the maggots. They
all looked the same. They all looked the same. They were about
the same size. I don't see much difference in
them. They're all worms feeding on the corruption of others,
dead flesh. Job talks about man and listen
to what he says. This is Job 25.4. He said, how then can man be
justified with God? Or how can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Behold, even the moon and it
shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much
less man that is a maggot. That's what that word worm there
means. How much less man that is a maggot. And so the sinner begins to grow
up and he don't notice anything wrong. He looks like all the
other maggots. They don't pay no attention to
him. But he begins to grow up a little bit. Pretty soon he
goes off to school and he begins to mingle there with other children,
most from different backgrounds. Some of their parents were Catholic,
some of them were Lutheran, some were Baptist, some Pentecostals,
some this and some that. And he gets little bits and pieces
from them that they got from their parents. It'll be this,
it'll be that, it'll be this, it'll be that. And he begins
to form an opinion about God. That's where it begins. That's
where it begins. And as he does this and he goes
on and he sows his wild oats and he's coming up now of age
He's thinking about getting married and starting to mature a little
bit. And he starts looking around and just with the bits and pieces
that he's learned, he's dissatisfied with his house. His house is filthy. And he knows
it. He knows it. No sense in him
acting like he's all religious and holy. He knows what he is.
He's a sinner. His house is unclean. And so that spirit of understanding,
it leaves him for a little while. Leaves him for a little while. And he begins to look for rest.
And he's walking around everywhere looking for rest, but he ain't
finding no one. He can't find no rest for his soul. The reason
he can't find rest for his soul is because there ain't no rest
out there. They're all unclean just like
he is. The world has nothing to offer,
it's a wilderness. He calls it here dry places. But then Antichrist religion
comes along and they clean up his house. He didn't clean it up, they did. I didn't sit in the pew in false
religion and clean up my house. They did it for me. You believe
this? Will you accept this? Will you
come down here? Will you do this? Will you commit
yourself? They cleaned the house up for
me. You know you need to stop doing this. You need to stop
running around with those guys over at the bar, and you need
to do this, and you need to do that. He begins to clean up the
house. It wasn't as hopeless as he first
thought it was. It just needs remodeled a little
bit. And he starts with a thorough cleaning. Get rid of some bad
habits, get rid of some vulgar language, find some new friends,
put on some new drapes, put on some new clothes, new floor coverings,
cover up the filth a little bit, and then garnish it. What's that
mean? That means he went and got him
a picture. He went down to the art gallery
and got him a picture of the last supper. And he takes it
in there in the dining room and hangs it up. And then he goes
over here. in the living room and he finds
him a picture of the crucifixion and he hangs that up. And then
all around in the living room he begins to set crosses and
little religious sayings and all this kind of stuff and he
puts it up. He garnishes the whole house. The whole house. Crosses and candles and scents
of all kind. Might even Put the Lord's Ascension
in there somewhere with those angels standing on a cloud. I
seen a picture of that one time. And here's what happens. That
unclean spirit. What's that talking about? That
talking about that old fleshly understanding. It sees this new
house and it loves it. I'm going to tell you something.
When God cleans a house, the spirit of the flesh despises
it. It despises it. But when false
religion cleans a house, the spirit of the flesh loves it.
It appeals to it. It's appealing to it. It's what
he's been looking for. He was hunting for rest, and
now he found it. Now he found it. False religion
is geared to appeal to the flesh. Paul, men love darkness, our
Lord said. Here's the condemnation. Men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They love false religion because
it's a lie, and they're liars. Why wouldn't a liar like you?
They love false religion because there's no living God in it,
and they hate God. They love their God, but not
the God of the Bible. They love false religion because
they get all the glory and God just stands there empty-handed. They love antichrist religion
because it feeds their pride. It leaves them there with their
thumbs in the suspenders like old Nebuchadnezzar saying, is
not this great Babylon that I built? That's what Babylon is, false
religion. Oh, look what I built, huh? Oh, my soul. There was a fellow, Henry went
down to Louisville, preached for the pastor down there one
time. That's been years and years and
years ago, back in the 50s. And he was staying at the hotel,
and they'd been out to eat. The pastor was with him. He was
going to take him back up to his room, sit and talk to him
for a little bit. And they got on the elevator, and this old
drunk stumbled onto the elevator. And he looked at the pastor,
and he said, I know you. I know you. He said, you saved
me 10 years ago. The pastor looked at him and
he said, it looks like some of my work. It looks like some of my work. Religion is nothing more than
a moral reform of the sinner. Nothing more than whitewashing
a sinner. He buys some new clothes, makes
a profession, commits to a work, joins a church, and begins what
he thinks is a new life. But the same old spirit that
was born there stays there because he loves it. There's no warfare
going on in his heart because that spirit is satisfied. The
unclean spirit is right at home in that white wolf center. But
the real disaster is this, and this is the second part. I'm
talking about before and after. This is before. But the real
disaster comes along after that. He taketh seven other spirits
with him, more wicked than the first. Seven more influences. Seven more different understandings. Seven more ignorant ideas. He taketh seven more spirits,
more wicked than him, with him. What does he take? Well, he takes
man's free will. Free will was never an issue
to me when I was a kid. First time I ever heard of free
will was when I went to church. And they started talking about
man's free will. And man's righteousness. I didn't go around as a kid thinking
how righteous I was or how much of a sinner I was. I didn't know
anything about it. Not until I got into religion. Man's wisdom. Oh my soul. Man's ways, man's appeal, man's
covetousness, which is idolatry. Seven more spirits went with
that old unclean flesh and they all got along fine in that whitewashed
center. Now listen, the last state of
that man, are you listening, is worse than the first. Now he was bad just like he was. He come forth from the womb speaking
lies. He was bad when he was unclean.
But now it's worse. It's worse. The last state of
that man is worse than the first. The scripture calls the religion
of this world a beast. A beast. It's not of God, it's
an abomination to God. It's not a step up, it's a step
down. Well, at least my kids are going
to church somewhere. That ain't a good thing. That's
nothing to sit back and find any peace in. Those under the influence of
false religion are called in the scripture children of disobedience. He's describing that death from
which we were quickened. You had to quicken who were dead
in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this work. You walked according to
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedient. Disobedient children, they don't
half hear what you say, and when they do, they get mad and pout. Did you hear what I said? Huh? You know exactly what I'm talking
about. And then when they listen, they get mad. Lip comes out. They'd rather be punished than
obey. You think this world is not aware
that the Bible says that sinners are condemned of God? They understand
that. My brother told me one time,
he said, I know I'm going to hell, but I have a lot of company.
And I said, they won't do you any good there. You're not gonna
draw any comfort for them. Disobedient children rather be
punished than obey. Oh, listen to this. Isaiah chapter
one, he said, oh, sinful nation. Talk about Israel, natural Israel. A people laden with iniquity. A seed of evildoers. Children
that are corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord. They've
provoked the Holy One unto anger. Now listen. Why should you be
stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. Why? Because they're disobedient
children. in whom that spirit of Satan
works. Oh, the whole head, he said,
is sick, and the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot
unto the head. There's no soundness in it, just
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that's neither been bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. You're desolate, he said, and
strangers have devoured your inheritance while you stand there
and watch. merchandisers of men's souls
and you stand there and say Amen. Satanic religion is spread across
the globe to deceive men and women about God and about their
sins and about salvation. That's what our Lord is telling.
And because those deceived by false religion will not receive
the love of the truth. Let's take a Thessalonians 2.
Because those deceived by false religion will not receive the
love of the truth that they might be saved, God will send them
strong delusion to believe a lie and be damned. He'll leave them
to themselves. Lord, you offended those Pharisees.
He said, leave them alone. Oh my soul, you don't want God
to leave you alone. You don't want that. If God leaves
you alone, I'll tell you exactly what you're going to do. You're
going to clean up that house, and you're going to take seven
more spirits, worse than the first, and you're going to be
so satisfied that you stay right there, sit on that pew, morning
after morning after morning after morning until you wake up in
hell. Christ came to these sinners
in mercy and love and cast out a devil, and their unbelief was
so grounded in the lies of false religion that they called the
Son of God and His work satanic. And in the last verse of John,
chapter 3, our Lord said this, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son, that's what we're talking about, shall not see life. He's never going to understand
what eternal life is. You can talk to him until you're
blue in the face. Go right in one ear and right
out the other. That man is not going to see life. Why? Because the wrath of God abideth
on him. And the last state of that man,
he said, is worse than the first. And our Lord said this, he that's
not with me is against me. All God's people are with him.
They're with him. They're with Him in an eternal
saving union. With Him. God made us to be with
Him. Made us to be one with Him. Chosen
in Him. Predestinated in Him. Made provision
for in Him. Justified in Him. Interceded
for by Him. And the love of God that can
never be removed from us is in Christ Jesus the Lord. You see
what I'm saying? We're with Him. We're with Him. I've got no hope apart from Christ.
None whatsoever. I don't care what I do or don't
do. I've got no hope apart from Christ. And they're with Him,
and that's what He's telling them. He that's not with me is
against me. We're with Him in all of His
ways and means, and with Him in godly submission, and with
Him being led to repentance, and with Him in the preaching
of the gospel. And all those that aren't are
against Him. I don't care what they put on
the sign. I don't care how much they smile. I don't care how
much they talk about peace, peace. There is no peace. Peace is in
Christ. And He that gathereth not with
me. What's he talking about there? He's talking about gathering
with his ordained means. And by his ordained sacrifice. And by his justification. If
you don't gather with me, you're not gathering. You're scattering. You're scattering. They're just hirelings, he said
over in John 10. And he that is a hireling and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, he sees the wolf
coming. When He comes for real, He sees
the wolf coming, and He leaveth the sheep, and the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. My friend, God has ordained the
gathering of His sheep, and He set in place the means to recover
His banished. Those means are the church in
general, and the presence and power of the Holy Ghost, and
the preaching of the Gospel. Don't ignore God's means. And
this is how his sheep are gathered, and he that gathereth not with
me, he said, scattereth. May the Lord be pleased not to
leave us to ourselves, and to save our souls, for Christ's
sake, any way he wants to, any way he wants to. It's all right
with me.