Matthew 12, 43. 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 whence 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,
They enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this wicked generation." Maybe you're thinking that's kind of
a depressing passage of scripture. How are we going to see the gospel
in this? Well, when our Lord cast the
devil out of that man in verse 22 in the same chapter, he cast
the devil out of a man that was blind and dumb and healed him
insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And as you'll
recall in the context, if you've been here for this study, but
the Pharisees, Right after that, in response to him doing that,
accused him of casting out Satan by the power of Satan, which
accusation our Lord showed to be ridiculous on the very surface
of it, and warned them of the consequences
of blaspheming in that manner. In verses 33 through 35, keeping
to this same conversation, He taught them something about
trees and their fruit in the same context of talking about
the casting out of that devil and in response to what they
said that he casted out devils by the prince of devils Beelzebub. He said an evil tree can't bring
forth good fruit and a good tree won't bring forth evil fruit. showing again that what they
said about him is inconsistent with obvious reality. No one
would argue that casting a demon out of a man is a bad thing.
What that would be saying in effect is it's good for that
demon to be in him. Let's put him back in there.
No one, no one would be found on that side of the argument
to say that that was a bad thing. But what they're saying is that
that good fruit came from an evil tree. It doesn't work that
way. So our Lord proved them wrong
again. Then he warns them that the very
words that they spoke would be their condemnation. And he used
this phrase, every idle word that you say. And again, he's
talking about what they said in response to his casting out
of that demon. They said, Oh, you're casting
out demons by the power of the prince of demons. And our Lord
said, every idle word you say, you'll give an account of it
before God in the day of judgment. This word idle is interesting. It has the same meaning as it
would if it were used to describe a person, an idle person. The word means lazy. Think with
me. It means not doing work that
should be done. Think about this with regard
to words and what these Pharisees said to our Lord. The Lord showed
them in his response to their accusation that if they had done
due diligence with regard to the subject of which they spoke,
if they had done the work that should be done, in other words,
finding out what God said, finding out the truth concerning this
type of thing, the things of God, then they wouldn't have
said what they did. They were lazy words. They just
threw them out there without real serious, reasonable thought
or study or knowledge of what they were talking about. It was
an idle word. How many this morning are standing
behind pulpits and speaking for God in quotations or at least
that's their claim, that have not done the work that should
be done before you say something about God. Idle words, lazy words. 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman, not lazy, a workman, that needeth
not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of
truth if you're gonna speak truth, and if you're gonna say I'm speaking
for God You're gonna have to rightly divide the word and that
takes work. It takes study not lazy words
People are just throwing out words from behind the pulpit
that they came up with on a wheel stories and tales and illustrations
that have nothing to do with the Word of God. They'll take
one scripture or one part of a scripture and take it completely
out of its scriptural context and tell all kinds of tales about
it and expound all kinds of opinions. Those are lazy words. You haven't
done the work of the ministry. Isn't this the very way that
our Lord rebuked these Pharisees in verses three through five
of this same chapter? regarding something else that
they said, regarding some other idle words, some other lazy words. They spoke without having looked
into what they're talking about, without doing the work that should
be done. In verses 3 through 5, they made
another accusation there. And our Lord said, haven't you
read the word of God? You can't be talking about God.
You can't be condemning people on behalf of God. without reading
the Word of God. That's lazy words. That's just
throwing something out there without doing the work that should
be done. You haven't bothered to find out what God said. And
this is true of most in our generation, I fear. Don't you? They love
to talk about the things of God, but they haven't read the Bible,
and it's evident when they open their mouths. Have you not read? And I'm not speaking from some
pedestal here. This is our nature. We're prone
to speak lazy words. All of us. Speaking lazy words
about me is one thing. Perhaps you accused me of something
without taking the trouble to find out what actually happened.
That's one thing. That's a shame. But speaking
idle words about God is unthinkable. To say God loves everybody, that's
just lazy words. You haven't done the work that
needs to be done, if you say that. You haven't found out what
God said. To say that Christ died to save
everybody, even those who were in hell before he ever shed his
precious blood, is to speak idle words. To say salvation is up
to the free will of man is speaking idle words. Haven't you read?
Haven't you studied the word of God? Everything else is secondary. Do I understand this? If I am
the most successful, most highly looked up to man in this world
and I'm so stupid that God has given me his word and I haven't
bothered to read it, what in the world am I? What a vile reprobate
I am. Everything else is secondary
to this. Do we understand that? God put us here to glorify him,
not to promote ourselves and become anything. We must. Man doesn't live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's
how you're gonna live. If you're gonna live, truly live. And then now, and then I'm talking
about, we're reviewing some because the context here is so important
of the words that we've taken as our text this morning, verses
43 through 45. Then, when the Lord does that,
He talks about, watch your idle word, watch your lazy word. Don't
say something unless you know what you're talking about, especially
with regard to God. And then He's interrupted in
His response to their accusation that He's casting out devils
by the power of Satan. He's interrupted in His response
to them by some of them asking for a sign. They said we would
see a sign from you. Follow this narrative with me
now because this is important in understanding what he's saying
in our text. He was interrupted by them in his response to them. They asked him for a sign and
that's when he spoke. He responded to that request
for a sign first. having been interrupted from
the main subject of what he was talking about. And that's when
he spoke about Jonas and the Queen of the South rising up
in judgment against this wicked and adulterous generation that
seeks a sign. But then having rebuked that,
after answering what they said about seeing a sign, he goes
right back to the conversation about Satan. In verse 43, when
an unclean spirit leaves a man, This is what happens, okay? Let's
review it again very briefly. He had, first of all, shown how
foolish their accusation was. Satan destroying Satan? Does
that make sense to you? Yeah, me neither. By God's grace. And then secondly, he warned
them about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. If someone is counted
guilty of doing this, they will never be forgiven. Well, how
are you guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? I'm not real
sure and nobody else is either. They've argued about it for centuries
and there's a reason why you're not sure about that. Because
you ought not to be speaking anything against the Holy Spirit
or any of the other persons of the Godhead. And if you need
to know how far you can go with that, you're already in big trouble.
It's not defined, as many would say, by what they did. What they
did is an example of speaking a word against the Holy Ghost.
Many define this unpardonable sin as attributing to Satan what
the Holy Spirit has done. No, that's just an example of
what our Lord said the unpardonable sin was. What he said was much
broader than that. The example doesn't define the
thing. Our Lord defined it. He said
if you say a word against the Holy Spirit, they won't be forgiving
you. Attributing to Satan what the
Holy Spirit has done is one example of that. So he warned them, didn't
he? Very solemnly. And then thirdly,
he told them what actually did happen when he cast that devil
out of that man. They said what happened was you
used the power of Satan to cast out Satan. What really happened,
in contrast to their foolish accusation, Our Lord reveals
to them next, and this is what happened. Our omnipotent Lord
Jesus Christ had bound Satan and spoiled him of his prey.
The Lord came and claimed one of his own, and in doing so,
bound Satan and cast him out. And there wasn't any struggle.
There wasn't any conflict. There was just some house cleaning.
That's all it was. The Lord just came and cleaned
house. And then fourthly, he talked to them about the tree
and its fruit. showing that if he was a bad
tree, as they said, he wouldn't have borne good fruit, as was
evident to all. Then he's interrupted by these
asking for a sign and answers them pretty harshly. We would
see a sign of the wicked and adulterous sign-seeking generation. What are you looking for a sign
for when you have the word of God? You have what the prophet
Jonas spoke and wrote that the Ninevites heard and repented. They didn't need a sign. They
just heard what God's prophet said and repented. What do you
need a sign for? He'll rise up in judgment against
you. And the Queen of the South, she didn't come to Solomon looking
for a sign. She came asking him about God.
about his Lord. And when she saw how God had
blessed Solomon and put him over his people, she said, bless the
most high God, not look what a great man Solomon is or what he's able to do. She
blessed God and she'll rise up in judgment, he said against
you. And then now here in verses 43 through 45, he goes back to
this original conversation and he shows them their own relationship
to Satan. He told them what happened when
Satan possesses one of his own. Now he's going to tell them what
happens when Satan possesses one who
is not one of his. In other words, them. He's talking
about the Pharisees now. What will happen to the Pharisees,
or has already happened, with regard to Satan. Having shown
what happens when Satan is cast out of one of his own, now he
shows what happens when Satan claims a Pharisee and all the
religious Christless pretenders like them under any name. And
that he is talking about the Pharisees is evident because
of what he said in verse 45. This wicked generation. This
is how it is, he said in verse 45, This, it shall be also unto
this wicked generation. And that's exactly what he called
the Pharisees to their face in verse 39. Are you following me? Are you following the word of
God this morning? He told the Pharisees to their face, you're
a wicked and adulterous generation. And then he refers to them again
in verse 45. So we know who he's talking about, don't we? Them
and everybody like them. who rejects and despises the
Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of saving grace in, by, through,
and because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to this entire
generation of religious Christ haters, but clearly includes
these Pharisees in that number. And so we know who the subjects
are. We know who he's talking about. We know who the house
is. in this brief passage of scripture.
There could be no doubt about that. Now look at verse 43 again.
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through
dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Now why did the unclean
spirit go out of this man? We know why the unclean spirit
went out of the man described earlier in this chapter, don't
we? Because the Lord came and threw
him out. there was a stronger than the strong man that overcame
him and bound him and threw him out. But why? There's no mention
of that here. There's no mention of a stronger
here throwing this one out. He just goes out. There's a difference
already in there, an important one. He just goes out. Why did he go out of him? Well,
it really doesn't matter. I'm going to answer what I think
is right about that, but it really doesn't matter Why this one went
out? Because there's only one way
to get rid of an unclean spirit and everything else is the other.
The only way that an unclean spirit can be cast out ultimately
and completely and irreversibly is by the grace and power of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the teaching here.
If he just goes out on his own, he coming back. sooner or later.
Isn't that right? That's the first thing we see
here. If the Lord doesn't cast him out, it's not going to end
well for you. The Lord's going to have to cast
the demon out of you. Or it's not going to end well
for you. You see that simple lesson here.
So don't get distracted by why. But here's what I think, for
whatever that's worth. It's likely because the Pharisees
had a form of godliness. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3.5, they
have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
And in Romans 10.2, he said they have a zeal of God. The Jews,
the religious Jews, they have a zeal of God. Not according
to knowledge, but Satan's not on mission. And he may be uncomfortable
at first with the scripture reading and the praying that they did,
undoubtedly, and he may not perceive the emptiness of their religion
at first. But as I said, this is speculation.
The truth is simply that he went out on his own. He came back
because there wasn't a stronger that cast him out. The real lesson
here is that if Christ does not take you over, if he does not
possess you, if he does not claim you as his own, then you're Satan's
pawn, period. Satan is going to claim everybody
he can and that's everybody except the ones that the Lord Jesus
Christ says this one's mine You got to go verse 44 Then he saith
I will return into my house from which I came out and when he
has come he findeth it empty swept and garnished What's this
talking about notice first of all the words of My house. Did you see that there? This
demon, this unclean spirit said, I'm going to go back to my house.
That's my house. That's you. If you have not the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I admit that my reason for
the unclean spirit leaving to begin with is somewhat speculative,
but not entirely because when this unclean spirit comes back,
it says he finds the place swept and garnished. Religious man,
though without an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, and without
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ having done for them what they
can't do for themselves, that religious man likes to do some
cleaning up and some decorating. They like to sweep and they like
to garnish, don't they? We're the promise keepers. We've
done some sweeping. They sweep out some of their
former bad habits. They hang a copy of the Ten Commandments
on the living room wall. They do a little garnishing.
And everybody says, oh, so-and-so got saved. Look at the change.
Look at the difference. But there hadn't been any change
on the inside. Satan says, he's still my house.
Be mine. They've cleaned the outside of
the cup. But most importantly, there's one more word that describes
how the devil finds this religious pretender. Swept and garnished,
but empty. Empty. James 2.19, you believe
that there is one God. You do well. The devils also
believe and tremble. You've done some sweeping, that's
good. You have a A zeal of God? That's good. But is it according
to knowledge? You have a form of godliness?
That's good. But do you deny the power of Christ? Do you deny
the authority of Christ? Do you have Him waiting on you,
or are you waiting on Him? Do you have salvation of the
Lord, or salvation of the will of man? Do you deny the power? the authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you deny that he is the sovereign
Christ who gives life to whom he will? Not who measures up,
not who decides something, to whom he will. You do well. The devils also believe in tremor,
but wilt thou know, and here's why I quoted this verse here,
O vain man. You know what vain means? Empty. The devil came back and found
him What's an empty man? It's one
who believes some truth, but does not have God-given faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Wilt thou know, oh empty man,
that faith without works, what our brother taught this morning,
is dead. You're empty, if that's where
you are. And when Satan comes back and finds you empty, he'll
say, that's my house. That's where I'm gonna live.
You know some things, you say you're a believer, you made decisions,
changed some things outwardly, but there's no God-given, saving,
working faith. You're still empty until God
does something inside of you. That's what it boils down to,
you're empty. You see, Christ in you, Paul said in Colossians
127, Christ in you is the hope of glory. not turning over a
new leaf. You can sweep and decorate quite
thoroughly so that all of your peers will believe you to be
a believer. But there's one hope for a sinner.
And here it is, and look at John 17 with me. Just a few pages
over. The book of John, chapter 17,
and verse 26. This is our Lord's high priestly
prayer on behalf of His people unto the Father. He's praying
to His Father now. In verse 26, He said, I have
declared unto them. Who's the them? He said it several
times in this prayer. Those that you gave me, Father.
Those that the Father gave Him in eternity. His elect, His sheep
that He laid down His life for. Those that He prayed for. Those
that He interceded for here. He said, I don't pray for the
world. I'm not interceding on behalf
of this whole world, but for those that you've given me out
of this world. That's who he's talking about. I have declared
unto them your name, your name. And the word declared there means
made known. I've revealed your name and not
just the word God or Jehovah, but who he is, the character,
the person of God. He said, I've revealed you to
them. I've revealed you to them. No man knoweth the father save
the son, and who? He to whomsoever the son will
reveal him. If you know God this morning,
it's because Jesus Christ made him known unto you. That's what
he's saying right here. I've made known unto them thy
name, and will declare it." He's going to reveal who God is to
us as long as we live in this world, and one day, perfectly. That the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them. There's only one way the love
of God is going to be shed abroad in your heart, and that's if
Christ Jesus reveals God unto you. And then look at these last,
and the last three words of our Lord's high priestly prayer on
behalf of His own. I in them. There's salvation right there.
There's salvation right there. Turn to Colossians 1. We're gonna
turn to a few passages of scripture. Look at first, we look at Colossians
1, 25. whereof, he said, I made a minister,
talking about the church, those last words of verse 24 there,
he said, the church of God, whereof, I made a minister, verse 25,
according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me
for you, to fulfill the word of God. God's given me for you
to preach the word. Even what word? That mystery
which has been hid from ages and from generations but now
is made manifest to his saints. That gospel message that's made
manifest in the preaching of the gospel to whom God would
make known. To who? To his saints. Who are
they? The ones to whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles. The Lord has been pleased to
make known to you the truth. It's given to you to know the
mysteries, and to them it is not given. Which is? What's your
message, Paul? Christ in you is your hope. That's
the message we preach. Christ in you is your hope. Christ
in you is the hope of glory whom we preach, warning every man
and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus. What condescension and grace
that the Son of God would for you bind Satan, throw him out
and take up residence in such as you and in such as I. That's what he's done for us.
And that's what He's teaching here in our text. Turn to Galatians now, 2.20.
I want you to see these verses with me. This is a brief passage
we take up this morning, but a beautiful one, though frightening
in a sense. But for the people of God, we
rejoice to see what we would be were we empty of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His grace. Galatians 2 20 I am crucified
with Christ nevertheless, I live Yet not I But Christ liveth in
me Do you understand that do you know in what sense can you
talk really intelligently about Christ living in you how he takes
up residence in his sheep it's mysterious and but no less wonderful
for the mystery of it. The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me.
And he gave himself in order to do this for me. He gave himself
that he might live in me. Christ liveth in me. He is my life before God. This is what quickening is. He
said, you have he quickened which were dead. That's what quickening
is. Christ liveth in me. This flesh
has always been flesh and never going to be anything but flesh,
but Christ liveth in me. This is what regeneration is.
He who is life dwelleth in me. Ah, but what happens to this
one who is religious but empty? He's swept and he's garnished,
but he's empty. Look at verse 45 in our text.
And then goeth he and taketh with 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, Even
so shall it be also unto you. He's talking to the Pharisees,
and everyone liked them. That wicked generation, this
wicked generation, those who hate Christ and reject His truth,
who reject the gospel of God, revealed in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, dying for sinners in their stead, washing
away their sins in His precious blood. and living for them as
well as dying for them. Those who reject the grace of
God and insist upon recommending themselves to God by their own
works. This wicked generation. What a contrast between this
verse, verse 45, and what happened to that old demon-possessed,
dumb, and blind man. when the Lord came and cast that
devil out of him. And he described to those Pharisees
what happened when he did that. He said somebody stronger came
along. Somebody stronger than Satan, against whom we have no
power whatsoever. Satan took Job and wrung him
plum out, just as far as God would let him go, and no further. But somebody stronger came along,
and bound Satan and cast him out of me. And what a contrast
between what happened there and what we see here in this last
verse that we'll consider this morning. What's the difference? There's just one difference.
Christ. Christ. This is what happens without
Christ. And the Lord said he would have been better off if
he had never gotten religious to begin with. These devils find
him now a delightful place to live. They say, oh, he's religious,
but empty. That's my house there. What a
delightful place they find this man to live because not only
is he lost and depraved now, but also utterly deceived. And he has access now to the
church. He can creep in unawares. We
can use him now, sure enough. The church wouldn't tolerate
an openly unrepentant person who's godless to the point of
being a distraction to the gospel, but this man's swept and garnished.
He can creep in unawares. What a playground for devils
he is. He can be used to whisper and
subtly suggest things and sow discord. Seventh thing on God's
hate list. He that soweth discord among
brethren. Jude wrote in Jude 4 that these
who creep in unawares will turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. That is, they corrupt and pervert
the gospel of God's free grace to sinners by the Lord Jesus
and His effectual blood redemption. They'll pervert it. They'll talk
about contingencies, and yes, it's Christ but. Listen to Peter's
description of them in 2 Peter 2. D gets into my message a little
bit every once in a while. I'm going to turn the tables
on him this morning 2nd Peter 2 12 Listen to this We see now
we'll see in the language here That Peter's speaking of the
same people that Christ is speaking of in our text of Matthew. You'll
see it in the language look at verse 12, but these as natural
brute beasts are made, now listen to this, made to be taken and
destroyed. Speak evil of the things that
they understand not. There's those Pharisees again,
they speak idle things. They don't know what they're
talking about and don't bother to find out. Don't care. And shall utterly perish in their
own corruption. and shall receive the reward
of unrighteousness as they that counted pleasure to riot in the
daytime, spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their
own deceivings while they feast with you. That's their sport,
is to deceive people, to cause trouble. Having eyes full of
adultery, and that cannot cease from sin. That's spiritual adultery,
primarily. What did our Lord call the Pharisee?
Adulterous generation. For seeking a sign. That's spiritual
now. And that cannot cease from sin,
beguiling unstable souls, and heart they have exercised with
covetous practices, cursed children, which have forsaken the right
way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of
Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked
for his iniquity, the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbade
the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water.
We talked about that the other night. A well promises to have
water in it. They look religious, you know.
They say they can bless you. Teach you how to be all you can
be. They got no water in them. They can't deliver on their promises.
We'll get you saved. They can't save a flea, much
less you. Clouds that are carried with
a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure
through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, Those
that were clean escaped from them, who live in error, while
they promise them liberty. They say, peace, peace, but there's
no peace under that. There's no peace in the words
that they speak. They promise liberty, but they can't deliver.
They themselves neither can their God. They themselves are the
servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome of the
same as he brought into bondage. They're in the bondage of Satan.
They're overcome by Satan, and unless a stronger comes along,
that's where they'll stay. For if, after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they've gotten some knowledge in their
head, and they've escaped the pollutions of the world, they've
cleaned up their act, they've swept, but they are again entangled
therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. You reckon he talking about the
same ones that our Lord was talking about when he said the latter
end of them is worse than the former? For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto
them But it has happened unto them, according to the true proverb,
the dog is turned to his own vomit again. I can't even hardly
read that. My mother gave us a dog one time,
and I had it in a little crate on the seat beside me and was
carrying it home, and it threw up, and it got car sick. And
sure enough, after a minute or two, It went after it and I said,
no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. But it did. And I was mad at that dog for
that for years. It took me years. I have not
since then ever let a dog lick my face again. It took me years
to forgive that dog. But the Lord Jesus forgives dogs
more readily than I do. And this is all of us by nature
now. We're repulsive. If he doesn't overcome the strong
man, and take possession of us, and dwell sweetly within, and
make us what we're not. Paul said, I live, but it's not
me. Aren't you glad it's not you? It's not you. But Christ
liveth in me. And the sow that was washed,
swept and garnished. But that mud still looks good
to him. Because nothing happened on the inside. Nothing eternal, nothing of any
lasting nature. No work of grace in the heart.
May this not be true of anyone here, is my prayer. For us this morning. And I pray this, listen to Hebrews
10, 38. Paul said, now the just shall live by faith. But if any
man draw back, God said, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. And Paul said, we are not of
them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. I pray this is true of all who
can hear my voice right now. For Christ's sake. Amen.