Now we're turning again to Luke
chapter 11. I want to bring the message from
verse 21 down through verse 26. Luke 11, 21 through verse 26. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 23. And I've been thinking much about
what is said in verse 23. The Lord declares, he that is
not with me, is against me. Now you think about that a while.
Those who are not with the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, they are
against me. And he that gathers not with
me, now the key there is with me. I want to be with him. He is eternal life. He is salvation. He that gathers not with me just
scatters. All he's doing is just scattering
the people, not gathering them, just scattering them. So the
title of the message will be, He that's not with Christ is
against Him. He that is not with Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is not against Him. Now what the Lord is giving
here in these verses, found in verse 21 down through verse 26,
is a description, first of all, of true conversion with Christ
and by the power of God Almighty that is found or called the stronger
man, verse 22. Christ is called the power of
God. Christ is called the wisdom of
God, the power of God unto salvation. We see true conversion described
by the stronger man that shall come upon him and overtake him. That's what happens when God
saves us. The Lord Jesus Christ is a stronger man who overcomes
us, who overwhelms us, and who convicts us and converts us and
makes us new creatures in Christ. And then the second thing we
see in these verses is a description of false conversion. False conversion
in verse 24 down through verse 26. That is conversion without
Christ. That is religion without the
true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion by the deceiving
lies of Satan or by the lies of men. We are warned in Scripture
to be sober, be vigilant because your adversary seeks to deceive
us. The Apostle Paul writes this,
he said, now, let us not be ignorant of the wiles of the devil, lest
Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant
of his devices. Now, in verse 21, we read these words, verse 21, when
a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace. Now here's a description of what
we are by nature. We see the Lord describe Satan
here, the devil, as a strong man armed, a strong man armed,
well armed, keeping his palace. And the palace here he's talking
about is the heart of the sinner, the heart of the unbeliever.
The palace here. And this strong man armed keeps
the sinner in a false peace. He keeps his goods in peace.
He gives him a false refuge. He gives him a false hope. He
gives him false peace. This is our state and standing
by nature, without God, without hope, and without Christ. Our
hearts ought to be a place for the throne of God and the dominion
of Christ, but because of sin entering in, because of the guilt
of sin entering in, and Adam all died, and the sin that has
entered into us, and the sin that has dominion over us, Now
our fallen wicked heart, being deceived, is controlled by the
prince of the power of the air, the prince of darkness he is
called." Now, we read in Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2, verse 2, a moment
ago, "...the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
In 2 Corinthians 4, 4 we read, "...and whom the God of this
world, or the prince of this world, hath blinded their minds,
of them who believe not." Now, you can be under a lost man,
an unbeliever, can be under the influence and dominion of Satan
and not even know it, and thinks that he has peace. And all he
has is false peace. Satan is called here in verse
21, a strong man, armed. who can stand against a strong
man armed. You're no match for him. I'm
no match for him. The devil is a strong man, well
armed, fully armed, and unfallen Sinner, like you and me, are
no match for Him. Even unfallen Adam, or fallen
man, is no match for Him. Unfallen Adam, before he sinned,
and before Eve sinned. When Satan came upon them, the
strong man, he overcame them, and they both sinned against
God. Satan is a strong man armed with
malice, Vengeance full of fury and hate. That's what Luther
wrote about in that song. He's a chief deceiver of our
own fallen and wicked heart. He finds much in us that's allied
to his evil. There is much in our flesh that
appeals to the lies of the devil. What are the lies of the devil?
Do the best you can, everything will be all right. Our evil lust, our stubborn pride,
and the hardness of our heart, our wicked desire, Satan, the
strong man, he preys upon them and incites them to act out. Our own wicked flesh appeals
to the lies of the devil. Satan keeps the unbelieving heart
in peace. Oh, it's a false peace. It's
a refuge of lies. And the man who has a false peace
has no fear of God, no fear of death, no fear of judgment, no
dread of hell. The unbeliever, as it says here,
he's at peace. The strong man, armed, keepeth
his palace and his goods, his conscience, is at peace. He's
not afraid to die. He's not afraid of God. An unbeliever
is not disturbed. even though he's vile and wretched
and guilty before God. They often say, well, I'm not
afraid to die. Jeremiah calls this a false peace. He said, peace, peace. The false
prophet cries, peace, peace. Where there is no peace, it's
a false peace based upon a lie. One of Satan's chief devices
that he is well armed with is false religion, man-centered
religion. Hold your place there and find
2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13. 2 Corinthians 11, 13. For such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. You see that? Therefore it's no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness. Now whose righteousness do they
prop up and promote? Self-righteousness, whose end
shall be according to their deeds, according to their works. Satan is a strong man, and he
is armed, and he keeps those who are unbelievers under his
dominion, and they in their conscience seem to be at peace. It's a false
peace. But they have peace for a while,
and they're undisturbed about the things of God, the truth
of God, and the gospel of God. Here's the second thing we see,
and here is what we see, what must take place to break the
rule of that strong man over our heart. Verse 22, "...when
it's stronger than he." Now, Satan is a strong man. He's described
as a strong man, but who can overcome him? You? Me? No. The stronger than he, who is
that? The Lord Jesus Christ. He shall
come upon him, and this is what happens when God saves a sinner,
he overcomes him. He conquers him. And he taketh
from him all his armor, his armor of self-glory, self-righteousness,
the things that you would trust in, wherein he trusted, and then
he divides or divideth his spoils. Now, here we see what is involved
in true conversion, true regeneration of the sinner. And this is the
work of God. It's not something that we do
or the church does or the preacher does. This is solely and totally
the work of God making us new creatures. Satan is a great deceiver
of men. That is true. He's a strong man. That is true. Thanks be to God,
the Lord Jesus Christ is much greater. He is a greater Savior,
a greater Deliverer of men's souls from the bondage of sin
and from the clutches of Satan. Thank God He is, a stronger than
He. The Lord Jesus Christ is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. He is
able to deliver us, is He not? He gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God our Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is described
here as the stronger than he. Now Satan has power but he doesn't
have all power. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power in heaven and in earth. You see, the one here that's
a stronger man is the one who is the God-man mediator, who
is able to overcome all obstacles to our salvation. The law of
God has to be honored. Who can do that? The strong man,
the stronger man, the Lord Jesus Christ did that. Sin has to be
put away. Who did that? The stronger man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, we are no match for Satan, but not so with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has all power in heaven and
in earth, and none can stay his hand, or none can say unto him,
Lord God Almighty, what doest thou?" Now think with me, and
I'm not trying to be overcritical or overthink this thing, but
if you listen to most preaching that's going on today, they give
more credit and power to Satan than they do to God Almighty.
They exalt the power of Satan, And they diminish the power of
God. And it's just the opposite. The devil, as I said this morning
on the radio program, the devil is God's devil. He has no power. He is not a rogue spirit doing
his own thing. He's under the dominion of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has all power in heaven and
in earth. The Lord our God has all power
over our dead and wicked hearts. Who can raise a dead man up?
You have he quickened who were dead. Satan has no power to raise
up dead sinners and make them new creatures in Christ. you
hath he quickened who were dead." Our Lord prayed that in John
17, Father you've given me power over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given to me. When
the Lord comes upon us in saving mercy, He takes everything away
from us, He takes away from us everything that we would trust
in, and He divides our spoils. Look what it says there in verse
22, When the Lord Jesus Christ shall come upon the sinner, He
taketh from him all his armor. He strips him. He leaves him
naked and exposes him to the holy law of God and shows him
that he is guilty. He takes away all of his armor
of pride, all of his armor of righteousness wherein the sinner
trusted, and then the Lord destroys that. It destroys any false hope. When the Lord comes in saving
mercy, He takes everything away from us that we by nature would
hope in. We would hope in that we've been
a pretty good boy. We would hope in that we've done
some righteousness in our flesh. But we know when God comes and
shows us who we are and who He is, He gives us the only hope
that a sinner can have, which is Christ alone, Christ always,
Christ in all of salvation. And the Lord Jesus Christ divide
the spoil. It reminds me of the verse found
in Isaiah 53, 12, where it says, He shall divide the spoil of
the strong, remember? Because He hath poured out His
soul to death, He was numbered with the transgressor, He bare
the sin of many, and He made intercession for transgressors. All our treasures of self worth,
self-righteousness, religious pride, the Lord teaches us, as
He taught Saul of Tarsus, to count them all but dung, that
we might win Christ and be found in Him." You see, when the Lord
comes upon us, the stronger man, And He conquers our pride, He
conquers our will, He causes us to bow in submission, He convicts
us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, what
I am, of righteousness, what I need, and of judgment, what
I deserve. And the Lord gives us mercy in
Christ Jesus. He makes to know that all of
our righteousness are as filthy rags. The Lord has all power
in making us new creatures in Christ. The Lord has all power
to translate us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of His dear Son. And then the Lord gives us a
true righteousness and true peace. What is true righteousness? Do
you have a righteousness before God? Yes, I do. And it is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness. The Lord strips us and then He
clothes us. Thank God. He makes us empty
and then He fills us with Himself. That's true conversion. And thank
God He has all power. in salvation. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. And then secondly,
He has all power over all demons and devils. They obey Him and
do His will. Listen to this scripture, 1 John
3.8. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. The devil is not an independent
rogue spirit operating and doing his own thing. He is a defeated
foe. When the Lord commanded that
demon spirit to come out of this deaf man, this blind man, the
unclean spirit came out. That is the all-conquering power
of God Almighty. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the seed of woman in Genesis 3.15 that crushed Satan's power
and he did so at Calvary. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Now the power of sin to damn
us is gone because the Lord Jesus Christ put an end of sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Satan is under the absolute control
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read a moment ago, Ephesians
chapter 1 that he's exalted to the right hand of God seated
in the heavenly far above all Principality in power might and
dominion and every name that is named Not only in this world,
but also in that which is to come and I put all things under
his feet All things are under his feet and he gave him to be
head over all things to the church. The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord
of all things. He's Lord in creation, He's Lord
in providence, He's Lord in salvation, and He's Lord over every demon
spirit. The devil is not a competitor
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil is God's servant who
does only as God wills and as God permits. We read in Colossians
2, the Lord Jesus Christ by himself at Calvary's tree spoiled principalities
and powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them himself. Now, there's true conversion.
Verse 22. Now, here's an interlude in verse
23. The Lord says this, He that is
not with me is against me. He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me does
nothing but scatter. Scatters everything. Confuses
everything. Now here's the point. You're
either a believer of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ or you're
not. You're either saved or you're
lost. That's right. You either have
life in Christ or you do not. You see, there is no middle ground. There is no neutral ground. To be with Christ is to be one
with Him and in union with Him by faith. He that is with me. I want to be with Him. With Him
by union of faith. I want to be found in Him which
is salvation. He that is not with me is against
me. I want to be found with him.
And the point is that the Lord is making here there's no middle
ground or neutral ground when it comes to the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's either total sell-out, unconditional
surrender unto the gospel of God, submitting to His absolute
Lordship, or you stand in opposition to Him. One or the other. You've either bowed unto Christ
and submitted all salvation unto him or you stand in opposition
to him. There's no middle ground. There's
no middle ground. Neutrality is impossible. The
last words of Joshua, you remember what he said? As for me and my
house, we're going to serve the Lord. We're going to serve the
Lord. Then Elijah said this on Mount
Carmel, Elijah came to all the people and said, How long halt
you between two opinions? If the Lord be God, you follow
him. But if Baal be Baal, now you
follow him. There's no neutral ground. You're
either with God or you're against him. There's no middle line.
You see, you cannot remain silent or indifferent on the gospel
of Christ once you've heard it. You remember the old saying,
well, he's trying to straddle a fence. He's trying to be on
both sides of the fence. You can't straddle this fence.
You're either with God in the gospel of Christ or you stand
in opposition to it. It's either salvation all by
the grace of God or works. It will not mix. It cannot be
both. It's either salvation all received
by faith or by the doing of the law. It can't be both. It will not mix. See what the
Lord is saying? He that's not with me is against
me. You either believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ or you don't. You're either saved by
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ or you're condemned by
it. See, that's a big statement here. It's a big saying, isn't
it? You either serve the Lord Jesus Christ or you stand in
opposition to Him. And notice the second part of
that. He that gathereth not with me With me is the key. He that gathers not with me,
all he does is scatter abroad. Now, turn to this Scripture.
Hold your place there and find Luke 16. And what he's saying
is the same thing that's found here in Luke 16, 13. Luke 16,
13. You see, no servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and self. For you either hate the one or
you love the other, else you hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And you can put in there self
or self-glory or self-righteousness. And the Pharisees who were covetous
heard these things and they derided him. Now what the Lord is doing
here, He is describing these people. And He said unto them,
You are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your
hearts. That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
God. If you don't gather with the
Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him, all you do is scatter abroad.
Scatter abroad. Now I thought about this. Those
who gather not with Christ, with the gospel of Christ, in the
preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, all they do
is scatter the people. God does not use the lives of
men to call his people out of darkness into light and to make
them new creatures. Those who do not lift up the
Lord Jesus Christ in the preaching of the gospel, all they do when
they preach is make a loud noise and they scatter people. No salvation. It pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out His people. You see, there's no truth
in their message. Those who do not preach the gospel
of God's grace in Christ. There's no life in their message.
There's no peace in their message. There's no righteousness. There's
no pardon. There's no salvation. All they
do is scatter things. Confuse people. So much so that
the fault preacher makes those people that sit under their ministry
to trust themselves for salvation. Think about it. You hear what
the Lord is saying here? He that is not with me is against
me. He that gathereth not with me, with the gospel of Christ,
all they do is scatter. All they do is scatter like a
shotgun. They just scatter things. Scatters everywhere. Now, the
second thing, or the third thing, fourth thing, we see in verse
24, 25, and 26, the Lord gives us a fit description of reformation
without regeneration. He gives us a fit description
of a false conversion. A false conversion. Now here's
a dreadful, awful picture the Lord gives religion without Christ
and reformation without regeneration. Let's read these verses one more
time. Luke 11, 24. When the unclean
spirit is gone out of a man. Now notice here, he's not driven
out. He's not driven out by the stronger
man. The unclean spirit just decides
to leave this man alone. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, He walketh through dry places, there's no water
of life. Seeking rest, there's no rest. Our rest is only in Christ. He
finds none, and then he saith, I will return unto my house. You remember that palace? The
heart of the sinner, unconverted? He said, it's my house when I
left, it's my house when I return. Verse 25, when he cometh, he
finds it swept and garnished. Over in Matthew 12, he says there
that it's also, he adds, empty, empty, swept and garnished. Then
he goeth, this unclean spirit, and he taketh with him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter in and
dwell there. And the last state of that man
is much worse than the first." Now that's a good description
of what false conversion is. A dreadful, awful picture. The
Lord gives us religion here without Christ, reformation without regeneration. Here is a man to whom the unclean
spirit has simply departed. He's not driven out by God the
Holy Spirit. He's not driven out by the strong
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The unclean spirit simply departs
for a while, and then returns with a sevenfold vengeance. Did you notice that? Seven other
spirits. He departs from that man for
a while, and the man takes up reformation. He cleans up his
house. He sweeps it out. He decorates
it. He garnishes it. When the unclean
and the devil departs from the man, you know what the man does?
He cleans up his act. He cleans up his act. He becomes
moral. He becomes reformed. He takes
up the God of morality. He gets religion. He gets full
of self-righteousness. He sweeps the outside of the
cup, but within there's no change. Now, the Lord gives us another
good description of that self-righteous religion. If you find Matthew
23, it's exactly describing the same thing. Verse 25 of Matthew
23, "...Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. A hypocrite means
a play actor, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within you're full of excess and extortion.
He finds a house swept and clean, you blind Pharisees, cleanse
first that which is in the cup and the platter and the outside
may be clean also. Wrong do you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you're like a whited sepulcher, a gravestone, which
indeed appear beautiful outward, marble shiny, but within you're
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so outwardly
you appear righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy
and iniquity." You see, this man, when the unclean spirit
went out, he got religion, he got morality, he cleaned up his
act, he became a reformed man. But there was no change within. It was all veneer, all outside. The strong man didn't come in
and conquer him. These spirits, when they come
back, he finds the man, verse 25, when he cometh, he finds
it swept and garnished and cleaned, empty, cleaned on the outside. There's no washing of the blood
by the power of Christ. He decorated the outside, the
house is garnished with religious trinkets, church regulation,
rule, but He has no divine nature implanted in the heart. He's
not a partaker of a divine nature in regenerating grace. He's not
made a new creature in Christ. He just simply cleaned up the
outside. Peter said, put on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, look at verse 26. Luke 11,
26. Then he goeth, that is, his unclean
spirit, and he takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked
than himself, and they enter in, and they stay there, they
dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. One day, something happened to
this man. who is experiencing this false
conversion. Some trial or some heartache
comes his way. Some grief is sent his way. He
loses his reformation. He loses his man-made religion
and his refuge of lies. 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. Now look
at the last part of verse 26. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Better never to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ than to hear it and not believe it.
That's right. Notice this sad end of this man
who has this false conversion. He becomes gospel hardened. He's full of a critical, bitter
spirit. He's full of self-righteousness
and a covetous spirit. He's worse off than he was before. He's a theologian, but he has
no love. The Apostle writes this, though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
knowledge, though I have all faith so I can remove mountains
and have not love, I'm nothing. You see, this man's state is
worse than it was at first. This man who's experienced a
false conversion, who has lost Any hope of salvation at all? The last state of that man is
worse than the first. He becomes his own pastor. He
has no use for the gospel ministry. No use for the church where the
gospel is preached. How sad is the state of this
man! Peter describes this same thing.
Turn over here to 2 Peter chapter 2. Talking about a fault conversion. And I'm warning me and I'm warning
you. Seek salvation in Christ. Rest in Him. Find II Peter 2
verse 20. 2 Peter 2.20, For if after they
have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled
therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the
beginning. Better never to hear the gospel
of Christ than to hear it and depart from it. For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness," now
this is the way of righteousness revealed in the gospel, "...then
after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment,"
that is the gospel, "...delivered unto them. But it is happening
to them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to
his own vomit, and the sow that was washed in her wallowing back
to the mud, back to the mire. Then he goeth," look back at
Luke 11, "...then he goeth, goeth he, and taketh with him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter therein,
and dwell therein, and the last state of that man is worse than
the first." Here's a lesson for us and a
warning for us we find in Holy Scripture. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Now, I don't want to rest in
a false conversion. I don't want to rest in an experience.
I want to rest in Christ to His salvation. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves, know you're
not your own self, how that Jesus Christ is in you, accept you
be a Reprobate. Now, I don't want to miss the
Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in Him, and I don't want you
to miss Christ. I want you to look to Him and
rest in Him. As the Apostle Peter said, let
us make our calling and election sure. You see, true faith, when
trials come, true faith does not quit. True faith does not
melt away. True faith perseveres in the
faith. True faith perseveres in a way,
does not quit, does not turn back. Now, a couple of scriptures. Let's turn and read these. Turn
to the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews gives us
warnings about these things of false conversion rather than
true conversion. In Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12,
"...take heed therefore, brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." But exhort
one another daily what is called today, lest any of you be hardened
to the deceitfulness of sin. Look at verse 14. For we are
made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Now what is the beginning
of our confidence? Christ. What is the middle part
of our confidence? Christ. What is the end of our
confidence? The Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Now, one other scripture in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Now, verse 38. The just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw
back. Now here again is true conversion and false conversion.
We are not of them that draw back unto condemnation, perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Look at Hebrews 11 verse 6, But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh
to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him." Now, I trust the Lord will give
us much grace. And I pray that the stronger
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, will conquer us and have dominion
over us and reveal Himself unto us anew and afresh again and
again and again.