We live in such a horribly perverse
religious age that it is so difficult for us to constantly beware of the deception
and perversity with which we are bombarded constantly. One
of those horrid deceptions by which men and women have their
hearts and minds turned away from Christ is the constant reference
in the media, in the entertainment industry, to the spirit world
and to spiritual things. It's amazing how you hear these
Hollywood folks talk about spiritual experiences. There is a constant
reference in our day to demonism, to the occult, reviving of witchcraft
and such as that. And there are two extremes. There are those who engage in
such and those who laugh at such. And there's the third very foolish
extreme. Those who dare to investigate
such. Now listen carefully to what
I'm saying. I'm going to be preaching to you a little bit from Luke
chapter 11, but I want you to hear what I have to say here.
There are without question things going on in the spirit world
around us about which we know almost nothing. Because we know
so very little about something or nothing about something does
not mean it doesn't exist. We know very little about these
things because God has revealed very little. And where God has
revealed very little, we are very wise to bow to his revelation
and seek no more knowledge. You understand that? In regard
to all things spiritual, where God has revealed little, we are
wise to bow to that little and seek no more knowledge. Any other
knowledge we have would be harmful and not good. These things are
revealed. Angels are real. I've never seen
one. Neither has anyone else. Not
in this day. The only angel men have ever
seen are those angels we feel spoken of in the Old Testament
and in the early days of our Lord on this earth, the angel
of the Lord, or angels who came in the forms of men. But a man's
never seen an angel. Angels are spirit creature. Spirit creature. Hordes of them. Hordes of them. and they are
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those chosen
and ordained of God to be the heirs of salvation. Oh, what
a blessed, wondrous mystery the angels of God watch over His
own. When they are totally unaware of it, before they're ever even
slightly aware of His goodness, from the days of their first
Breathing in this world to the day of their calling the angels
of God watch over them and Continue to while we're in this world
and at last will carry us as the chariot of God like Elijah
up to glory Satan is real too He is not what men imagine him
to be he is not some A fella that looks like a red cat with
a long tail and a fiery pitchfork in his hand. He is not some kind
of a scarecrow demon that you use just to scare other boys
and girls. He's not a boogeyman. Oh no.
But real? I'm convinced we don't have any
idea how real he is. Prince of Darkness. Apollyon. Abaddon. The Destroyer. The dragon, the red dragon of
hell, he's real. Demons are real. We're not told
for certain, but it appears that those demons, the imps of hell,
are that one third of the heavenly angels whom Satan led astray,
who are reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of
the last day, given in Revelation chapter 12. But this much we
know. From the beginning of time, the
Prince of Darkness has been at war with the Son of God. From
the beginning of time. And the Son of God, from the
beginning of time, has been at war with the Prince of Darkness. It is a mutual warfare and a
mutual enmity. In Genesis chapter 1, we read
in verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. And then something happened.
Something happened. I don't know what happened. I
don't know. Perhaps it is that which is described
in Revelation 12. I don't know. But the world became
without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And chaos was in God's creation. And God made the world anew. So it is with us. We were born
in the image of God created that way in our father Adam. But then
something happened, a terrible fall, calamity. And the Lord
God visited us in judgment, but he didn't forsake us. Darkness
was upon the face of the deep and the city of man's soul. And
then the spirit of God moved and God spoke and light came.
And the darkness was dispelled. In Genesis chapter three, Verse
15, we read of the fall of our father Adam and the sin of the
original pair in the garden. And just before God put them
out of the garden, the Lord said concerning the woman's seed and
the serpent. He said, I will put enmity between
thy seed and the woman's seed. And you shall bruise his heel,
but he shall crush your head. And thus the gospel was preached.
in the garden before ever Adam and Eve were driven from the
garden. Isaiah chapter 14 speaks of Lucifer and the fall of Lucifer. Perhaps that too is referring
to Satan. Genesis in Revelation 12 As the
scripture describes the virgin bearing a son, as the man-child
comes, this fiend of hell, this old serpent, this dragon, this
enemy of God and of his people is waiting to consume the man-child,
Christ Jesus. His purpose is to destroy it.
You see, it is ever the purpose of Satan. It always has been
the purpose of the fiend of hell. and all the myriads of the unclean
spirits who are ruled by him to topple God's throne. I will
be God. He can't do it. He can't shake
it. No possibility of success. So
he seeks to usurp God's authority and make a pretense. He seeks
to destroy the souls of men. His principal weapon of warfare.
Now, this you need to get. Read 2 Corinthians 11, Galatians
1. Satan's principal weapon of warfare
is not the bar. It's not the porno shop. It's
not the ABC store. We don't have those in Kentucky,
do we? Not the liquor store, whatever you call it. Not that.
Not that. Oh, now, I don't mean he doesn't
use those. That's not his principal weapon
of warfare. His principal weapon of warfare is not the dope ped
and is not the drug peddler. His principal weapon of warfare
is not the pimp and not the prostitute. Oh, he uses those. Those things
I have, please understand, somebody saw something I'd written along
this line some time ago and said, oh, that's horrible. You can't
say that. I'm not suggesting those things are cool. I'm not
suggesting that. But that's not his principal
weapon of warfare. His principal weapon of warfare, Bobby, is
religion and righteousness. Righteousness. Read 2 Corinthians
11. He sends his ministers and makes
them ministers of righteousness. Not God's, yours. Not true righteousness,
false righteousness. Not the righteousness of God
in Christ, but man's self-righteousness. And if he can make a man righteous
in his own eyes, he has secured the day and secured that man's
soul in peace unless God Almighty invades in almighty grace and
exposes the corruption of his righteousness. But the fiend
of hell, this old serpent, the devil, now listen to me, shall
accomplish nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He shall accomplish
nothing He shall not accomplish one of his designs. He shall
not achieve one of his aims. He shall not gain one point of
victory, not in all the universe. It won't happen. You see, he
is God's creature. He is God's devil. He is under
God's control. And he is now, always has been,
and always shall be the forced servant of the Son of God. Forced by the arm of omnipotence
to do the bidding of God Almighty exactly as God will have it done. Exactly. Oh, are you saying,
Pastor, that God inspires Satan with evil? No. No, no, no. Are you saying God absolutely
controls the evil that's in him? Now you got it. Now you got it. Absolutely. When God gets done
with him and God gets done with this universe, the God of peace
will crush Satan under our feet. Oh, he roars, roars like a raging
lion because that's what he is. He's in a rage, he's in a fit,
he's in a fury because he's been cast out and he knows he has
but a short time. Read the book of God, that's
what it says. And therefore he rages and roars, but all he can
do is roar. He can't do anything else for
he is bound with the chain of divine omnipotence. And the Lord
Jesus Christ has conquered the fiend of hell and made us more
than conquerors in him. In other words, this lion, while
he may terrify, and he does. While he causes great disturbances,
and he does. While he does much that causes
our hearts to break and weep, and he does. He cannot hurt anything or anyone
in God's holy hill of Zion. He can't reach us. He can't touch us. He can't even
breathe upon us with his foul breath. We're gods. You see, there's no competition. There is no rival. There is no
vying between Christ and the Prince of Darkness. Oh, no, no,
no, no. The warfare is real, but the
victory is yours. And Christ is the king just because
some little imp rebels doesn't mean he's not the king and doesn't
mean he's not in charge. And when the time appointed comes,
the fiend of hell and all the hosts led by him shall at last
prove to be for the praise of his glory and serve the interest
of his kingdom. Can't think of anything more
gloriously and humorously blessed than the realization that all
devised by this enemy of our souls, all that he does by which
he would topple God's throne, rob him of his glory and rob
him of his people, shall prove to be but instruments by which
God saves his people and glorifies himself. I'm talking to you about God
Almighty. Now, here in Luke chapter 11, the Lord lifts the veil a little
bit and lets us see something of the conflict that goes on
in the spirit world around us. I've said all that because I
want you to see the picture. But understand this, our Lord's
lifting the corner of this veil is not to give us instruction
about demonology. I still keep a few books on my
shelf about demonology. When I was younger and thought
I had to know everything that God hadn't revealed and thought
I might someday get smart as he is, I would read that kind
of stuff. I recommend that you don't. Don't
play with this. Don't toy with this. Don't investigate
this. Just bow to God's word. This
is how it should be and this is how it is. But the Lord lifts
the corner here not to show us insights and get us intrigued
into the study of demons and darkness and all that stuff.
No, no, no, no, no. He lifts the corner to show us how he
saves sinners in spite of hell, in spite of Satan. and how he
saves sinners by toppling Satan and breaking his power. All right,
the title of the message tonight is The Strong Man Armed, Bound
and Cast Out. Look at verse 21. When a strong man armed keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him, do you see that? He comes upon it. He assails
it. He attacks it. He takes the initiative. He comes upon it and overcome
it. He taketh from him, look at this,
all his armor wherein he trusted and divided his spoil. He that
is not with me is against me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth. Verse 24. When the unclean spirit
is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest
and finding none. He saith, I will return unto
my house whence 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. All right, now let me show you
four things. First, we're confronted here with a great destroyer. In verse 21, Satan is described
as a strong man armed, armed to the destruction of men's souls,
keeping his palace, The palace he keeps is the heart of a man. This is a picture of man in his
natural state and condition. This is a picture of all men
and women by nature dwelling in the darkness of this world,
in the darkness of depravity, in the darkness of satanic delusion. When a strong man arm keeps his
palace, his goods are in peace. I have looked at this and looked
at this and looked at this. Our hearts ought to be the throne
of God. But they've become the palace
of Satan. And that's true of every human being. No exceptions. No exceptions. Every child born in this world
is born under the influence of evil, not only the evil that's
in his heart by nature, by birth, by the fall of Adam, but the
evil that's in his heart by virtue of Satan ascending the throne
of his depraved heart, wherein he finds a willing accomplice. Look in Ephesians 2. When our father Adam was obedient,
the servant of the Most High God, his body was a temple for
God's love. His heart was a shrine for God's
worship. No more. Now, through the fall,
we've become the servants of sin. Our bodies have become Satan's
sweatshops, and we're delighted to be there. Look at Ephesians
2, verse 1. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. That's where God found
us. Walking according to the course
of this world. Some walking in the low road of debauchery and
drunkenness and dope and theft and adultery and fornication
and idolatry. Others walking in the high road
of morality and religion and self-righteousness. But all,
without exception, walking according to the course of this world.
How's that? according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation. This was our manner of life in
time past, every one of us living after the lust of our flesh. Well preaching, now that's talking
about, that's talking about folks who are you know, Ophiander,
those other people. That's not talking about us good
folks. That's not talking about our children. That's not talking
about our sons and daughters. Our boys are good. Our girls
are good. Their goodness is according to
the lust of their flesh, just as surely as another's evil is
according to the lust of his flesh. Every man by nature lives
by his lust. Everyone. And his lust may take
him in many directions. His lust may make him president
of the United States or ruler of the world, but there's still
his lust. His lust may take him to prison.
They make you take him to the death chamber, but there's still
his lust. And all of us live the same way,
by the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and by nature, children of wrath, even as others. sweet, sweet words this, but
God. We ran with our coattails on
fire of hell, making a mad dash toward destruction and would
not hear his voice, would not come to him, would not bow to
him, would not seek his face, would not seek his mercy, would
not seek his grace. We said, no God, no God, no God. But God stepped in our way. And he said, hitherto shalt thou
go and no further. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace, ye are saved. Now that's the biography of every
born again child of God. And if you're one of God's, If
he's chosen you, if he's redeemed you, you may not have yet experienced
it, but that's your biography too. And sooner or later you're
going to find out about it. Satan is here called a strong
man. Sometimes people have the idea
that they can handle it. We can do it. He's been at this
business of destroying men's souls for 6,000 years and there
never been a mortal yet to handle it. You cannot resist his temptations. You cannot resist his strength.
You cannot overcome his power. Samson might slay a thousand
Philistines, but Satan can get him. And Satan can bring him
love. Solomon, with all his wisdom,
wiser than any man who ever lived upon this earth, was no match
for this fiend's wisdom. Satan is so strong that if all
of us should combine against him, he would laugh at us like
a killer whale lashing a grappling hook in a fishbowl. Who are you? But his strength is not just
the possession of force. His strength is his damning cunning,
his fiendish, intense cunning. You see, he is strong with a
vengeance. There's no vengeance, no wrath,
no fury, no cunning to be compared to that which is born of envy,
Satan said. I will take over the throne of
God. God created his angels to be
ministering spirits to serve men, whom he appointed to sit
on his throne in the person of a man, Christ Jesus. And Satan,
the fiend of hell in his pride, said, not me! I'll not serve
men. And God said, we'll see about
that. And so in his envy and malice,
because he has but a short time, in his fiendish cunning, he seeks
to destroy. The strong man, the destroyer,
we're told here is armed. Armed. Armed with what? Deception. Temptations. Armed with the inward lust of
the palace in which he resides. Armed with man's stubborn pride.
Armed with willful compliance. Armed with hardness of heart. Armed with the lie that he invents
of your goodness. The lie he concocts to keep you
from Christ. The lie he concocts to convince
you that you're too young or too old. Too good or too bad. Too smart or too stupid. to know
who God is and trust his son. Always, whatever it is he takes,
while you come into him, he'll cast you down and rend you and
tear you. Now watch this. This strong man,
armed, keeps his palace. The word is guards. He guards. He never sleeps. We preach the
gospel, so to speak, labor in prayer, and then we go to sleep.
And while we're sleeping, he's sewing tags. He never sleeps. Hugh Latimer said he's the busiest
bishop in all of London. He never sleeps. He never sleeps. This strong man arm keeps, he
guards his palace. He takes care to set a watch
around his home to see that none gets in, to see that none destroys
his usurped authority. And he keeps his goods. in peace. Preachers are determined to fix
it, if they can, so that men and women suffer no disturbance
of their peace. And as soon as somebody begins
to get a little uneasy, a little disturbed, mom or daddy calls
the preacher, my little boy, he's only two, he's only four,
he's only six, but he's scared. He needs, he wants to be baptized,
wants to be saved. He's scared. We dare not speak
peace. We dare not pull a man aside
and say, everything's all right. I dare not take those little
children and say, everything's all right. Everything's all right
now. You don't have to worry, it's all right. Oh no, Satan
keeps his palace in peace and everything's secure as long as
you don't have any fear of divine judgment. Long as you don't have
any tormenting guilt or conscience. Long as you don't have any fear
of meeting God Almighty. Long as you don't have any sense
of righteousness and justice. Long as you don't have any sense
of your inward corruption and depravity. Everything's in peace! Woe to the man! Woe to the woman
who's in peace. Would the God I could find somebody
who couldn't sleep at night anymore. Would the God have to meet with
somebody who couldn't find any peace? Would the God have to
find somebody who needs a savior, who needs mercy, who needs help? But such folks are hard to find
because Satan keeps his palace and he keeps it and keeps his
goods in peace. But all his strength is like
a withered arm. All his wisdom is like utter
insanity. All his cunning is nothing. All his armor is just melted
plastic before Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And here we see
him, a great deliverer. The Lord Jesus Christ is one
stronger than he. And when he comes in the saving
operations of omnipotent grace, he comes upon, he assails the
prince of darkness in his palace. and spoils his goods. Look at
this. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him, he'll do his dead level best if he gets a little
cooperation from inside to overcome him. Oh no. He comes upon him and
he overcomes him as soon as he comes on him. He takes taketh from him all
his armor wherein he trusteth, and divideth his spoils." Our
Lord put it this way in Matthew 12, listen, he said, how can
one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except
he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him. Not as long as a strong man sits
on his throne. Is it possible for men and women
held in the clutches of Satan, his willing servants, willing
co-conspirators with him, against their own soul's good, is it
possible that they shall be delivered from this strong man? Oh no,
there's no possibility. Except one come who's stronger
than he. And I'm here to tell you, he
has come, he is coming, and he shall yet come to defeat this
great destroyer. Look in Isaiah 49. Verse 24, the prophet asked the question,
shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Are the lawful captive
delivered? We are both. We are prey held
in the hands of this strong man armed and we are lawful captives
held under the sentence of divine justice because of our sin. Is
there any possibility of deliverance for such captives? Oh yes, oh
yes. Thus saith the Lord, even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contended with thee, and I will save thy children. And so the Lord Jesus came. And
he bound the strong man. They did it at Calvary. And he does it day by day in
the appointed time of love by his almighty grace. And when
he binds the strong man, he overcomes him. And he takes away his armor,
all his armor where he trusted. I'm still not convinced whether
that's talking about Satan and his armor in which he trusted,
or whether it's talking about the man who's represented in
this palace and his armor in which he trusted. Either way,
he takes it away. A man builds up his defenses
against Christ and the gospel of his grace. We start off young,
teaching our boys and girls to build up defenses, teaching them
how good they are, teaching them how good boys go to heaven, bad
boys go to hell, how good little girls are the objects of God's
favor and bad little girls are the objects of God's wrath. We
build up their armor, and they naturally take to it. Look at
me! I'm so good. Now, I'm not perfect, not by
any means, but I'm good. Don't tell me I'm bad. Don't
tell me I've got the heart of a murderer. Don't tell me I've
got the heart of a harlot. Don't tell me I've got the same
heart. Don't tell me I'm like other people. I know I'm not.
I know I'm not. Oh, but when Christ He will cause your goodness to
wither like dried grass in a blast furnace, and you'll cry out for
mercy. He takes away your armor wearing
you trusted. And then he divides the spoils
of the strong man. I read this, come back to Isaiah
53, verse 12. I want you to look at it. If I hadn't known I'd scare the
shell to death, I believe I'd have shouted. About one o'clock this morning
I was looking at this and I just never seen it before. There's
an obvious reference here in Isaiah 53, verse 10. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. By his knowledge of what he has
done, by his knowledge of his people, he'll justify many, for
he shall bear their iniquities. Now look at verse 12. Therefore,
shall I divide him a portion with the grain, and he shall
divide the spoil with the straw. He comes in. to that palace where
Satan sits on his throne in the heart of a man. And he binds
him. And he destroys his armor, takes
it away. And he divides the spoils. What's
that mean? He takes the spoils. He takes
them. Takes them from the strong man.
He comes into the city of Mansoul and sets up in the city of Mansoul
the palace of his own grace. And it takes the mind, vile and
unclean, by which Satan accomplished so much evil. And it takes the
heart, vile, base and corrupt, by which the prince of darkness
gave birth to so many horrid children. And it takes
the heart and strength takes the whole man, all that
he is, and makes his servant out of that one who was Satan's
servant. Divides the spoiled with the
strong. Then in verse 23, our Lord speaks
of a great division. Now you listen to me. There's a great division right
here. There's a great division in your household. There's a
great division in this world. Either you're with Christ or
you're against him. There's no in-between ground.
There's no in-between ground. Either you are his voluntary
servant or you are his malicious enemy. There's no in-between
there. But what it says, he that is not with me is against
me. He that gathereth not scattereth.
But didn't our Lord say just the opposite back in chapter
nine? Yeah, but he was talking about an opposite situation.
Back in chapter nine, he told the disciples, he said, if they're
not fighting us, they're with us. Those fellows were were serving
the same cause as them, they just weren't serving under the
same banner. They were serving the same cause, but they were
just not known to them. They were serving the interest of
Christ's kingdom. But here, he speaks of that division that
exists in the race of men. Either you're with Christ or
you're against him. Either you're serving the interest of his kingdom
and his glory, or you're seeking to scatter and disperse and destroy. Now then, look at verse 24. 25
and 26 for just a minute. These verses describe a great
deception. Satan's greatest weapon of defense, by which he secures his palace
against Christ in the gospel of his grace, is a refuge of lies. An experience of religion with
no experience of grace. A covenant with death, but no
covenant with God. Peace, but no peace from God. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, you see the difference. He's
not cast out, he's gone out. He's made his decision for Jesus.
He said the sinner's prayer. He came down the aisle, he joined
the church, he's baptized. Got a little trouble, we'll get
that taken care of. When he's gone out, he walks
through dry places seeking rest and finds none. He walks about
in the desert, he's gone out, but he's just gone out for a
little while. Then he returns. He says, I will return, look
at it, to my house. It's my house. I just left it
for a little while at my own will, but it's my house. He returns
from whence he came out, and when he comes, he finds it swept. Not washed, just swept. Now, when I clean my car, I clean
it pretty good. When I clean Shelby's house,
I sweep. If I'm cleaning up, I take off
the loose dirt so you don't get it on you when you sit down.
That's all. Swept, not washed. Oh, God, let me not be deceived
with a swept heart, when what I need is a blood-washed heart. A swept soul. For what I need
is a blood-washed soul and garnished. Oh, beautiful, well-garnished
house. He doesn't know anything about
the cross, but he's got one hanging up on the wall. He doesn't know
anything about Christ, but he's got pictures of him everywhere.
He doesn't know anything about prayer, but he's got folded hand
bookends, garnished. Everything looks religious. Everything
looks pious. He says his prayers and reads
his Bible, everything garnished. Garnished! There's no fire in
the fireplace, but there's a beautiful picture of fire. No fire in his
heart! No life in his soul! Just the
garnished trappings of religion. And he finds seven other spirits
more wicked than himself. And he takes them and says, come
on, let's go into my house and dwell there. And the last end of that man is worse than the first. Nothing so secures men and women
against the grace of God and the gospel of God's grace, the
preaching of the gospel. and the Lord Jesus Christ as
religion without Christ. Professed faith, no real faith. Professed conversion, no turning
of heart. Does that mean that the man is
beyond the pale of mercy? Does that mean he's beyond the
reach of grace? Does that mean he's damned for
sure? Oh, no. Most of you that I baptized
have been in just that position. Oh, no. Oh, no. You see, when
Christ, the strong man comes, stronger than this man, the mighty
deliverer comes, with the outstretched arm of his omnipotence. He still
binds the strong man. He still cast him out. He still
takes away his armor. He still spoils his goods and
sets up his reign in the city of Mansoul by omnipotent mercy. Oh, Ephraim may be joined to
his idols so that justice says let him alone. But the Lord says
how? Shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? Ephraim is mine. I will be your
God. I always have been. You're going
to know it soon. Thank God for this heavenly Simpson,
against whom the iron gates of death cannot stand. O mighty
Savior, come. Break the bars that hold men
captive. Set the captive free. Proclaim
liberty, just, righteous liberty by blood atonement to the lawful
captive and bring prisoners of hope into the blessings of life
by your almighty grace. Amen.