Okay, now today, we're going
to try to look at the Scripture that we read in Matthew 12, verse
43 down to verse 45, is given to us in greater detail over
here in Luke chapter 11. So, turn back to the Scripture
we read in Luke chapter 11, and we'll look at verse 21 down through
verse 26. in Luke chapter 11. Let's just
read these verses again, and keep in mind that subject of
what the Lord is teaching here, of what true conversion is, and
then what false conversion, or what just being religious is.
Verse 21, when a strong man armed keeps his palace, His goods were
at peace, or his conscience is at peace. In that palace there
is the heart. But one is stronger than he.
The stronger man here we know is the Lord Jesus Christ. The
stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him. And that's what the grace of
God does. It overcomes. Overcomes our minds, our will,
our thoughts. He taketh from him all of his
armor, his defenses. wherein he trusted in himself
that he was righteous. And then he just divides and
spoils. That's when God overcomes us
and regenerates us and makes us new creatures. And then the
Lord gives this interlude here in verse 23. He that's not with
me is against me. I want to be with the Lord. I want to be one with Him. Gathers
not with me, scatters abroad. He that gathers not. But the
key word there to me is with me, with me. I want to be with
Him. One with Him. And then verse
24, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, and here he's
talking about someone who is religious, and this unclean spirit,
this demon spirit has just left the man alone. And this demon
spirit goes out and he walks through dry places, no moisture,
no water, no life. He's seeking rest, but he never
finds rest. Finding none, he says, and I'll
return to my house. He returns to this fellow's house
that has got religion without Christ. And when he comes to
that man, this demon spirit comes back to this house. He finds
it, as Luke, as it says in Matthew 12, he finds it empty, no life,
no grace, no righteousness, but he finds it swept. It's cleaned
up. It's not only cleaned up, it's
not washed now, it's swept. It's swept. And it's garnished,
it's decorated with all kinds of religious trinkets and different
things. Then goeth he, verse 26, and
taketh to him seven other spirits, more wicked, more wicked, and
they enter in and they dwell there. And the last day of that
man is worse, worse, worse. To have religion without Christ
and being convinced in that person's heart and mind that he is a saved man, and he thinks he
is, but to die without the true and living God, the life state
of that man is worse. He's worse off. Religion without
Christ. Now what we see in these verses This morning is a picture of
true conversion, true salvation of a sinner by the power of the
gospel of Christ, compared to a false conversion of a sinner
that is merely religious, but truly unconverted. That is, unconverted
without Christ, without God. Very religious, but lost. I think the Lord is referring
mainly to those scribes and Pharisees. Remember, they peppered Him and
accused Him and then said, show us some evidence that you're
the Messiah. I think He's talking about these men, these scribes
and these religious Pharisees who were questioning the Lord
about showing some evidence that He was the Messiah. Remember,
the Lord said, there'll be no sign given but the Word of the
Lord. But I think we can also apply
this to our day. And we live in a religious day,
don't we? We live in a, and this particular
part of the country, it seems to be very religious versus other
places. But we can also apply this to
our day, for we see many people who have a religious zeal, they
are, they have a religious zeal, but not according to knowledge.
They're ignorant of the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel.
They're ignorant about what we talked about on the radio program
this morning and last week about, blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputeth righteousness without work, that doctrine of imputation,
of Adam's sin being imputed, and our sin being imputed to
Christ. and then his righteousness being
imputed to us. And you can sum it all up in
one verse. God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
But many people in our day, particularly in this area, are going about
to establish a righteousness of their own by their own doing. And they do so because they're
ignorant of the righteousness of God that's revealed in the
gospel. And that's Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, why would anybody trust
his moral goodness if we could say it that way? A lot of people
do. They think if they pay their
bills, they work hard at their job, they're a good parent, they're
a good citizen, they joined the church, they baptized, they did
all these different right things in their mind. And they count
that for righteousness. My friend, it's nothing but filthy
rags. It's nothing but what Paul called
dung religion. You know what dung is, right?
Manure. Manure religion. It's what we
used to shovel out every morning after we would get through milking
the cows. We'd shovel out the manure and
put it in the manure pile. That's why Paul said, and you
can read Philippians chapter 3, everything that he said he
was as a Pharisee, a Pharisee's zeal and all these things, he
said, according to the law, he said, Saul of Tarsus said, I'm
blameless. But when God taught him the gospel,
he said, that's nothing but dumb, nothing but rubbish. Oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him. So a lot of people have
religion. I don't doubt that. But they
don't have Christ. They don't have the true Christ
of God. Now, in verse 21 of Luke chapter 11, we see here that
the Lord does cast out devils just with His finger work. I
mean, it's just his finger work. You know how little kids used
to have finger paintings? Remember? The Lord just cast
out demon spirits with his fingers. I mean, there's no problem for
him. But he describes this demon spirit, the strong man, armed,
keeps the palace of this unconverted or religious man but lost, his
goods are at peace, his conscience is at peace, he's not bothered.
Now we see here that Satan is a great deceiver, he's a great
destroyer. We see the Lord described Satan
as the devil, as a strong man armed, well-armed, keeping his
palace. They're talking about a sinner's
heart, a heart of a sinner that's unconverted. He keeps him in
peace. As long as Satan can convince him that he has religion and
that his conscience is sabbed, that's his desire, to keep a
man religious without Christ. And that's our state and standing
by nature without God, without hope, and without Christ. We
have peace, but it's a false peace. Our hearts ought to be
a place of the throne for the throne of God and the dominion
of Christ, but because of our fallen Adam and our sin that
has entered into us, it's now a heart being deceived and controlled
by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. and whom the God of this world
had blinded our mind. That's our state by nature. Blinded,
dead, without God and without Christ and without hope. Satan
here in verse 21 is called the strong man. The strong man armed
and he has a lot of devices. Mainly lies. Who can stand against him? We
can't stand against Satan. I hear people and I see people
who claim that they have dominion over Satan. We're no match for
him. We're no match for him. The devil
is strong. He's a strong man, well armed,
fully armed, too strong for us. Unfallen Adam, even in the garden,
Adam and Eve were no match for him. When he came and tempted
them, God said, in the day you eat thereof, you'll die. Satan
added one word and deceived Eve. God says, God said, you'll surely
die and Satan turned that around and said he added one word, you
shall not surely die. Yeah, you will. They ate and
they both died. Satan is a strong man armed with
malice, vengeance, full of fury and hate. Peter describes him
as a roaring lion going about seeking who he may devour and
when The Lord talked to Satan about Job, and the Lord asked
Satan where he had been. He said, going to and fro in
the earth, seeking someone whom he may devour. Satan himself
is the chief deceiver of our own fallen and wicked hearts.
He finds much in us that is allied to his evil. There is much in
our flesh that appeals to the lies of Satan. He's a great tempter. He's a great deceiver. Our evil
lust, our stubborn pride, the hardness of our heart, our wicked
desire. Satan uses our own depraved flesh,
our own depraved heart, our own vain imaginations upon ourselves
and incites us and inflames us. against our God, against the
true and living God. That is, man by himself in his
fallen, sinful self. We're no match for him. That's
why we need a stronger man to come. Satan keeps the unbelieving
heart in peace. It's false peace. It's a refuge
of lies. He has no fear of God. He has
no fear of death. You ever talk to those hardened
sinners? Say, I'm not afraid of God. I'm
not afraid to die. I have no fear of death, no fear
of judgment, no dread of hell. The unbeliever, the rebel is
at peace. It's a false peace. I heard this story the other
day and I think it makes the point of those who say, I'm not
afraid to die. You ever heard a man say that?
A man who has no real hope in Christ? Well, I'm not afraid
to die. I'm not afraid to face God. Well, I heard this story
that makes a good illustration. There was a missionary who met a man, and walking down
the road, this man was an unbeliever, and they were talking about salvation
and different things, and this unbeliever said to this missionary
of the gospel, said, well, I'm not afraid to die. And as they
were walking along, the missionary said, Look over there at field. You see that old mule over there?
That old mule over there, he's not afraid to die either. You've
risen as high in your mentality as that mule in that field. He's not afraid to die either.
You've risen to the level of a thinking of a mule. It's appointed
unto men once to die, and after that, judgment. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. The false
prophet always says, peace, peace, when there is no peace. There
is no peace. You can't have peace with God
based upon your works, or your deeds, or your ceremony, or tradition. One of Satan's chief devices
that he is well armed with is false religion, the lies of Satan
that parade as truth. I mean, these people are absolute
liars, but yet they parade and present themselves as the true
prophet of God. Now remember what our Lord said
about those in John chapter 8. Satan, when he speaks, he speaks
a lie. He speaks of his own, for he
is a liar and the father of it. He's a liar. And no lie, we know
this, no lie is truth. No lie is the truth. God does
not use the lies of false prophets to teach men the truth. God uses
the truth. The truth will set you free,
our Lord said. You should know the truth. The truth shall set
you free. Satan appears as an angel of
light. Did you know that? His ministers
as ministers of righteousness. It says that in 2 Corinthians
11. No marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. and as ministers of righteousness. Oh, it's not the righteousness
revealed in the gospel. It's the righteousness of saying,
do the best you can and everything will be alright. It's based upon
your morality, your goodness. Now, I know a lot about this
business of false religion and false peace. Because I was raised
in false religion. I cut my teeth on works religion. I know about it. I know it when
I see it. I know what it is to have false
religion, a false hope, based upon my works instead of Christ
alone, faith alone, and grace alone, like Martin Luther. and
those reformers, John Calvin, John Hus, John Swingly, and these
men. The work of Satan, it's the work
of Satan to make you religious without the true gospel of Christ,
to make you satisfied with false religion without the true knowledge
of the true and living God. Beware, beware of his deed. Now,
a strong man armed, look at verse 41, keeps his palace, and when
he does, His goods are at peace. But, verse 22, when a stronger
than he shall come upon him, and shall overcome him, overtake
him, he taketh from him all of his armor, he stripped bare naked
before God, wherein he trusted. He no longer trusted in himself
for salvation. Remember our Lord said to those
Pharisees, you are they that trust yourselves. That which
is highly esteemed among men is abomination in sight of God.
God must strip us of everything that we've trusted in and then
divide the spoils. Take everything away from us
that we're trusting and just show us Christ alone. Now here's
what's involved in true conversion and what we call true regeneration. Satan is a great deceiver of
men, that's true. But thanks be to God, the Lord
Jesus Christ is a greater savior. a greater deliverer of men's
souls from the bondage of sin, from the curse of the law, and
from the power of Satan. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew or the Gentile. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from first to
last, from faith to faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is a stronger
man because he's a God-man who is able to overcome all obstacles. He went forth conquering and
to conquer. Having spoiled all principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great captain of our salvation. We're no match for Satan, but
the Lord Jesus Christ conquers him fully, totally, always. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power in heaven and earth. Satan has power, but he's not
all powerful, is he? God Almighty has all power in
heaven and earth. As a matter of fact, Satan himself
is a servant of God. That's right. God controls everything
Satan does and where he goes. He has complete dominion over
him. The devil is God's devil. Our Lord said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. God does according to his will
and the army of heaven among the habitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, Lord God, what doest
thou? None can stay his hand. Our Lord
has all power over our dead, wicked hearts. He has all power. And you know what he does? He
quickens us. You hath he quickened who were dead. He has all power
over all flesh, and He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father gave Him. When the Lord comes upon us in
saving mercy, He takes away from us everything that we would trust
in, divides that, he divides our spoils, or he divides our
righteousness, so called. Remember Isaiah 53, he shall
divide the spoil of a strong, because he had poured out his
soul to death, he was numbered with the transgressor, that is
the Lord Jesus, he bare our sin and his own body on the tree,
and he makes intercession for us. All our treasures of self-worth,
self-righteousness, religious pride, the Lord teaches us that
it's nothing but dung. He overcomes us, you see that
in verse 22, and He takes from us all of our armor that we would
trust in. Everything that we have trusted
in, He takes it away. He strips us and then He clothes
us. He empties us and then He fills
us. He shows us what we are and then
He shows us what He has made us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has all power in heaven and
earth to make us new creatures in Him. Translates us out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. And the Lord
gives us true righteousness and true peace in him. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the good news of the gospel.
And that's the only way sinners are converted. Now you can make,
a religious man can make all the decisions he wants to. He can walk all the aisles and
shake the hands and he can hit the baptismal pool as many times
as he wants to. But the strong man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, must invade his heart, his mind, his will, and
make him a new creature in Christ Jesus. That's what we call, our
Lord said, except a man born again cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven. In verse 23 of Luke 11, we had
this in our study in Matthew chapter 12, so I'm going to just
read it and make a brief comment. Our Lord said, he that's not
with me is against me. He that gathers not with me scatters
abroad. There's no middle ground. Our
Lord said, you're either with me or you're against me. He cannot
serve two masters. Cannot serve two masters. And
what he does in salvation, in regeneration, he makes us one
with him. Union with him. Now, look down
to 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 from whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth
it empty, swept, garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh seven
other spirits, more wicked, than himself, and they enter in and
dwell therein, and the last state of that man is worse than the
first." Now, here is a description of what I believe we see as described
as a false conversion. A false conversion. Here's a
dreadful, awful picture the Lord gives of religion without Christ,
reformation without regeneration. Here's a man to whom the unclean
spirit had just gone out. He's not driven out by the strong
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The unclean spirit departs for
a while and then he returns with vengeance. When the unclean spirit,
the devil, departs from a man, this man will clean up his act,
he will quit bad habits, he will reform, he will join the church,
he will make his religious decision, he'll do all these things, he'll
sweep out, he'll sweep The outside of the cup, but there's no change
within. He finds it empty. Empty. You remember our Lord
said to those Pharisees that they're like whited sepulchers. They look beautiful outwardly,
but within they're full of dead man's bones. Dead man's bones. This religious man who the Spirit
has taken up again with, he sweeps up the outside. There's no washing
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He decorates the outside
of his house as garnished with religious trinkets or church
regulation and rules, but he has no divine nature implanted
in the heart. He's not a partaker of a new
nature in Christ. Then one day, verse 26, then
one day, then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more
wicked than himself. They enter in, they dwell there,
and the last day of that man is worse. He's worse off. One
day something happens to this religious man who has a false
conversion. Some trial comes along, some
heartache comes along, some grief comes along, and he loses his reformation.
He loses what we call man-made religion. You often hear people
say, well, that man had religion and lost it. He never did have
salvation. He never was joined to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Those whom the Lord saves, He
saves with an everlasting salvation. He loses His man-made religion,
His refuge of lives. This serves as a warning to us
about being religious without true conversion by the power
of God, by the stronger man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice
the sad end of this man. That unclean spirit goes out
and the man cleans himself up and then something happens and
this this man becomes totally demon-possessed and demon-controlled. Now I say that man is worse than
his first. He becomes what we call gospel-hardened. He's full of a critical spirit.
These seven spirits, spirit of judgment, self-love, and other
things. He has a critical spirit. He
has a bitter spirit. He's gospel-hardened. He's full
of self-righteousness. He has a covetous spirit. He's
a theologian. but he has no love for Christ.
Remember our Lord said, if you have, if any man loves not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. The Lord says it shall
be, and so shall it be with this wicked generation. The last day
of that man is worse, worse, worse off than the first. This man who is gospel hardened,
who is totally demon-possessed and demon-controlled now, becomes
his own pastor. He has no use for the gospel
ministry, no use for the church where the gospel is preached.
Sad, deplorable state. False conversion. False conversion. Hardness of heart. Hardness of
heart. Now, I want you to turn back
for a moment, and let's end on a positive note over here in
Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. The Lord described his family
of those who were truly converted. While he yet talked to the people,
verse 46, behold his mother and his brothers stood without. These
were his natural family. The mother Mary and the other
children that Mary and Joseph had, desiring to see him, they
couldn't get close to him because of the crowd. Then one said unto
him, Behold, thy mother and thy brother stand without desiring
to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto
him that told him, Well, who is my mother? Who is my brother? Now the Lord knows all things,
but he's asking this question. to make this statement. Then
he stretched forth his hand toward this crowd of people, his disciples,
and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. And then he says,
verse 50, Whosoever shall do the will of my father, which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, the same is my sister,
the same is my mother. Now believers have been made
a part of the family of God. If you turn over here to John
chapter 6, What is this doing the will of the Father? The Lord Jesus describes who
the true family of God really are. Those who are one with Him,
those who are in union with Him. He is the head, we are the body.
He is the true vine, and we are the branches. Look over here
at John chapter 6. Did I tell you to turn there?
John chapter 6 verse 37. He that doeth the will of my
Father, the same is my mother, my brother, my sister, my family.
John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life." Doing the will of the
Father is believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
describes those people, he said, now therefore you're no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the sanctity
of the household of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God." He's made us sons of God. All true believers are counted
as sons of God. As such, He provides for our
every need. He protects us from all evil.
He ever lives to intercede for us. He's our mediator. Are we part of that family? If you believe the gospel, you
are. Are you a family member? Then rejoice. Would you be a
family member? Then trust the Lord Jesus Christ
for all of salvation. This is a record that God has
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Behold, my family. This is my
family. Everyone who believes the gospel,
they're in union with Christ and they're in union with one
another. For there is one body, one head, one Lord, one spirit,
one gospel in him.