True and False Conversion

I want you to take your Bibles
and open them to the book of Luke chapter 11. I'm going to be using several
verses of scripture so it would be very good if you would take
your Bible and follow along with me as I speak today. Luke chapter
11 beginning with verse 14. Verse 14 through verse 26. Now
there are three important and powerful lessons taught in this
portion of God's Word, and I believe they're especially applicable
to this day. Now the first lesson we'll find
in verse 14 and 15 of Luke 11, and this is the lesson. The Lord
of glory never uses the weapons of Satan and the means of this
world, carnal, fleshly tactics, to accomplish his purpose. Now
let's read this in verse 14 and 15. And he was casting out a
devil. This is our Lord Jesus Christ.
And it was a dumb spirit. And it came to pass when the
devil was gone out, the dumb faked. And the people marveled. But some of them said, now get
this, he casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. He cast out devils by the power
of Satan. Now this crowd was accusing our
Lord of using the power and the means and the weapons of Satan
to cast out evil. And our Lord strongly denied
this and strongly objected to it. The Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, is never in any way in league with Satan. There is a deadly, eternal, infinite
hatred between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil.
There is a deadly hatred between Jesus Christ and Satan, and has
been since his fall. If you take your Bible and turn
in Genesis 3.15, you'll find this recorded in the first part
of God's Word. The Lord is speaking to Satan.
And he said, I will put enmity, hatred, between thee and the
woman, between thy seed and her seed. Her seed here is the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the prophecy of the virgin
birth of the Son of God. And God says to Satan, there
will be enmity, hatred, between you and the woman's seed. Now
look at 1 John 3.8. For this purpose was the Son
of God manifested. that he might destroy, not use,
but destroy the works of Satan. There never can be, there never
has been, is not now, and never can be any compromise between
the kingdom of evil and the kingdom of God Almighty. Our Lord never
uses evil to fight evil. Our Lord never uses carnal means
to accomplish spiritual work. Now this is important, you listen
carefully. Our Lord never allies himself
with Satan to help accomplish God's purposes. Now listen to
the scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4. Paul is writing
to the church at Corinth and he says the weapons of our warfare,
the spiritual warfare in which we engage, the spiritual warfare
with Satan. We wrestle not with flesh and
blood but against principalities and powers the kingdom of darkness,
the rulers of evil, spiritual wickedness and high place, and
our weapons are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but they're mighty
through God through the pulling down of strongholds, casting
down reasonings, imaginations, and every high thing that exalted
itself against the kingdom of God. Our Lord, of glory, is never
in need in any way with Satan, who never uses carnal methods
and carnal means to accomplish spiritual purposes. Now you say,
how are you applying that preacher to this day? Well, now you listen
to me. This wicked and blasphemous philosophy has a grip on religion
and churches today as never before. And here is the philosophy. As
long as our goal is good, bringing people to church, bringing people
to Christ, as long as our goal is good, it does not matter what
means we use. This is the philosophy. Our goal
is to get people in the church, by the thousands. Our goal is
to build great religious organizations, beautiful buildings, temples,
cathedrals, and churches, filled with people. Our goal is to excel
in numbers, And even if we use carnal methods, fleshly entertainment,
fleshly weapons, it does not matter just so long as our goal
is good. Now my friends, I'm shocked and
I'm heart sick. It is not a laughing matter.
It is a serious matter. I am shocked in my heart and
I'm heart sick over the methods that are being used by churches
today to persuade people to come to the house of God. It started
years ago. Years ago, the church started
having contests, contests in the Sunday school, contests with
the youth group, contests giving recognition and prizes to the
crisis for having the largest attendance. That's the way it
started. They wanted numbers, they wanted crowds, so we started
having contests in the church, little innocent contests. If
you have more than we have, then we'll take you on a picnic. If
you have more than we have, you'll get to do this, that, and the
other. And then the churches began to compete with one another.
I remember when I was a boy, when this first started, the
church over across town would compete with the church over
here to see who could have the largest Sunday school, or the
largest training union, or the largest prayer meeting, or the
greatest number. And then we started having what
they call special days. special day. They started having
Roundup Day, and Roll Call Day, and Baby Day, and Mother's Day,
and Father's Day, and Anniversary Day, and all manner of days,
special days, and Ties were given away, and clothes were given
away, and orchids were given away to the oldest mother, the
youngest mother, the one with the most children, the oldest
father, the one with the most descendants. All of these methods
were used to get people to come to the house of God. These are
carnal methods. These are fleshly methods. And
our Lord never is in any way in league with Satan are using
satanic methods and flakishly carnal warfare to accomplish
his purpose. Now today, this is what's said.
And you know what I'm saying is true. Today, nothing is told. Today, children are actually
paid money to ride buses to church. Today, children are promised
hot dogs and Pepsi Colas. They're promised McDonald's hamburgers,
they're promised Kentucky Fried Chicken, they're even giving
away bicycles and ponies and footballs and airplane rides
to the children who will bring the most people to Sunday School.
One church in this area, and this is sad, this is shocking,
this is a heartache to all who really love the Kingdom of God,
the Church of our Lord, and His blessed Word. One pastor promised
his congregation that if they had a certain number in Sunday
school on the Lord's Day, he would eat his dinner on top of
the church. And the next day, the picture
appeared in the paper of the pastor, straddled a steeple on
top of the church, eating his lunch. Can you just imagine,
in your wildest imagination, the Apostle Paul, or Peter, or
James, or John, compromising in this way? Another church in
this area had River Sunday in which one of the deacons, clothes
and all, was thrown into the river. And people came from all
around and attended the church that morning to see the deacon
thrown into the river. This is carnal. It's fleshly. It's the church in league with
entertainment and using satanic methods to try to accomplish
God's purpose. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
not in that in any way. And that's not the only problem.
You say, well, get them to the church to hear the gospel. The
gospel's not being preached. Bible teaching and doctrinal
preaching is a thing of the past. You know it, and I know it. Today,
it's entertainment. Today, it's music. Today, it's
all-night singing. Today, it's plays and movies
and announcements and recognition and flesh. My friends, real heart
worship. of the living God, real heart
prayer, and Bible preaching is all but forgotten. And when people
leave the church buildings today, rather than feeling that they've
been in the presence of God, like those disciples of old who
said, didn't our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us and
as He opened the Word of God to us? Today when people leave
the church, instead of feeling they've been in the presence
of And God has spoken to them, and their burdens have been lifted,
and their hearts have been comforted, and their souls have been convicted,
and their minds have been edified. Rather than feeling that way,
they feel like they've been to a three-ring circus. And that's
just about what it is, a three-ring circus. David said, I was glad
when they said to me, let's go to the house of God. And our
Lord said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. You've
made it a den of thieves. And I believe if our Lord was
on this earth today, he'd enter into these places of amusement,
which call themselves churches, these places of contests and
organizations and socials and everything but preaching, and
he'd drive the money changers out of the pulpit and out of
the pews, crying, my house shall be called the house of God, the
house of prayer, the house of worship, the house of preaching.
You've made it at the end of peace. And I'll tell you something
else. Even the church today is supported
by selling candy door to door. The church is supported by soliciting
money from businessmen. The church is supported by raffles
and and car washes, and rummage sales, and even calling in special
bonding companies from New York, Chicago, and Detroit to raise
money. Selling bonds that are to be
redeemed at eight and ten percent interest to support the kingdom
of God Almighty. Selling books and giving away
records and all manner of gimmicks to raise money. There is but
one viable way There is but one spiritual way, there is but one
scriptural way to support the kingdom of God and that's the
free will loving contributions of God's people that are given
without pressure and without coercion and without pledges
that are given from the heart because they love the Lord. Then
I'll tell you something else. and I'm part sick over it, I'm
part broken over it, I don't laugh about it anymore, I weep
over it, I see the direction we're going. Carnal methods to
accomplish spiritual purposes. Even the gospel is so compromised
and the edge is taken off and the offense of the cross compromised
and watered down to get people to walk down church aisles and
join the church and be baptized so we can have more members in
the church down the street. Why wait for the sowing of the
seed in the hive, the seed of God's Word? This is their reason. Why wait for the humbling, convicting,
convincing work of the Holy Spirit? Why wait for genuine repentance
toward God? Why wait for genuine God-given
faith in Jesus Christ? Get up in the pulpit and entertain
sinners with a few songs and Give them their little trinkets
to play with and their yo-yos to play with and then tell them
a story about mother and country or heaven and hell and promise
them eternal life that they'll walk down there and shake the
preacher's hand and join the church and make a decision for
Jesus and kiss them goodbye and put their names on the roll and
never see them again. This is carnal. This is fleshly. This is deceitful. This is satanic. And God's not in it. And I urge
faithful ministers, I don't know how many ministers hear this
telecast, but I urge faithful ministers, and I urge faithful
deacons, and I urge God's people to stand against this plan, and
to stand against this freshly carved prostitution of the church
of Jesus Christ, and call for some genuine worship. Let's bow
down and worship God. Let's call on the living God
from our hearts. Let's have some preachers who
hibernate to their studies. You know, Peter, James, and John
said, we're going to give ourselves to study and prayer and the preaching
of the word. You fellas take care of the needs
out yonder. Let's have some preachers hibernating
to their study and looking into God's word and coming out into
the pulpit on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night
with a message from God Almighty. These methods are carnal and
they're fleshly. And I urge us to have fellowship
in Christ, not in programs. Fellowship in Christ, and not
in socials. Fellowship in Christ, and not
in methods. Our Lord does not use flesh to
give birth to the spirit. Now here's the second lesson
taught in this scripture. You go back and read that 14th,
15th verse and look at it carefully. Now in verse 21, true conversion
is described. Verse 21, 22. Now listen, this
is true conversion. They had accused the Lord of
casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by the power of
demons. He said, now here's true conversion. Here's the way I
cast out Satan. When a strong man, armed, keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than
he shall come upon him, and overcome him. He taketh from him all his
armor, wherein he trusteth, and divideth his form." You say,
I can't understand that. Well, let me help you with it
a little bit. Now listen to this. Who is the strong man here? When
a strong man, armed, keeps his palace, the strong man here is
Satan. Now he's not almighty, he's mighty. He's not all-powerful, he's powerful. He's not omnipotent. He is strong. If you don't believe Satan's
strong, ask Job how strong he is. He took everything Job had
away from him. If you don't believe Satan is
strong, ask Samson how strong he is. Samson could slay thousands
of Philistines, but he could not cope with Satan, and he was
tricked by Satan. Ask Solomon how strong he is,
the wisest man in the world, and yet he was deceived by Satan.
Asked Peter how strong he is. Peter said, well, Lord, I'll
die for you. I'll never deny you. These other
fellows may, but I won't. He was the one who did. Satan
tricked him. Our Lord said, Satan hath desired
thee that he might sift thee as wheat. Asked the angel Gabriel
how strong he is. Gabriel, when contending with
Lucifer over the body of Moses, said, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan.
The strong man is Satan. He's armed. Now what's he armed
with? He's armed with deceit. That's
what he used on Eve in the garden. He's armed with trickery. His
chief weapon is the lie. He can make sweet appear bitter. He can make bitter appear sweet. And he keeps his palace. Now
a palace is usually the abode of a king. That's where the king
lives in the palace. And since the fall, man's heart
has been the abode of Satan. It's in the palace of Satan.
He has taken possession. We are the subjects and the servants
of Satan. That's what scripture tells us.
We are the servants of Satan. And he's armed and he keeps his
palace and his goods in peace as long as he's in control. And
that's what Christ said about us. We walk according to the
Prince of the Fiery Air, according to the Spirit that now works
in the children of disobedience, having our conversations filled
with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the man and the pride
of life. But, when a stronger than he comes upon him, now who
is this? Well, it's not the man, because
I'm not stronger than Satan, and it's not virtue. Who is this
stronger than Satan that comes upon, not the angel Gabriel,
he turned him over to the Lord. There's the one stronger than
Satan. the Lord of Glory. When the Holy Spirit comes in
power upon Satan's stronghold, he overcomes him. My friend,
conversion is more than just a mental acceptance of facts.
A man doesn't just sit in the pulpit and listen to me preach,
then go hear another fellow preach, then go hear another one preach,
and decide mentally which one he thinks is right. That's not
conversion. And then conversion is more than just the decision
to go to heaven. Weigh the eternal bliss of heaven
and the eternal damnation of hell and say, well, I'd whole
lot rather have that. I sure don't want to go to hell. I'd
whole lot rather walk on streets of gold than coves of fire. I'd
whole lot rather live in a mansion of grass than to live in a ghetto
in hell. That's not what conversion is.
Conversion is more than just the reformation. What is conversion?
Here's what the Lord's saying. It's a struggle. It's a struggle
between Satan and God. It's a warfare between heaven
and hell. God must break Satan's power. God must break Satan's control
over a man's heart and life. God must break his power. He
overcomes him. And what does he do? He takes
from him his armor. When our Lord comes into a sinner's
heart and reveals sin and reveals Christ as a sufficient Savior,
the redeeming Savior, the blood of Calvary that atones for our
guilt, He takes away Satan's armor and drives him out. He takes the sword of rebellion
and breaks it in two. He takes away the hatred and
the prejudice and the jealousy and the dishonesty and the envy,
and He sheds abroad in that man's heart the love of God. Christ
is enthroned. Where Satan was enthroned, now
Christ is Lord. Where Satan was the leader, now
Christ is the king. Where Satan was the strong one
keeping the palace, it's now the abode. Your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit. Christ said, I and my Father
will come in and take up our abode. And salvation is a work
of God for us. It's not a decision we make for
God. It's not a work we do for ourselves.
It's not a work the church does for us. It's not a work we do
for our own self. It's a work God does for us.
Salvations of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of God. That's what the scripture says.
So this is true conversion. Christ said Satan is there. He's
in his palace. He's armed. He keeps his palace.
But when one is that is stronger than he, the power of God, comes
upon him, not using fleshly tactics and carnal methods, but God using
his spirit and his word, he comes and overcomes Satan and drives
him out, and puts in his place the enthroned Redeemer, and puts
in the place of hatred, love, and puts in the place of dishonesty,
honesty, and puts in the place of lies, truth, and puts in the
place of envy and jealousy, a generous, gracious spirit. That's God's
way with him. Then in the next few verses we
have the third lesson. We have false conversion described. Now that's true conversion. And
you don't do that with your carnal message. You don't go out and
give a fella a hot dog and a Pepsi-Cola to come to church and drive Satan
out. God has to do it. But now here is false conversion.
Read verse 24 through 26. When the unclean spirit, when
Satan, is gone out of a man, He walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and finding none. He says, I return to my house
from whence I came out. And when he returned, he found
it, Matthew said, empty, swept, and garnished, or decorated.
Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked
than themselves, and they enter and dwell there, and the last
state of that man is worse than the first. Now here's false conversion. This is the way it happens. When
the unclean spirit is gone out of a man. Now there's no struggle
there. The unclean spirit is not overcome. He is not driven
out. There is no conflict. There is
no conquering by the power of God. There is no overthrowing
of Satan. This unclean spirit went out
of that man of his own will. Of his own free will, he went
out. Not convicted, no power of God,
no repentance, no seeking the Lord, no grieving over sin, just
reformation. He went out. Of course the man
was cleaner. Of course his life was more righteous and more religious. Satan was gone. The evil spirit
was gone. So this evil spirit walks through
dry places seeking rest. He couldn't find any rest out
there because Satan's rest And his delight is to occupy the
human heart. Satan's risk and delight is warfare
against the kingdom of God. So he said, I'll go back to my
house. Notice this, my house. It never ceased to be his house.
It wasn't God's house. It wasn't the temple of God.
It wasn't the home of God. It was his house. It was his
house when he was there. It was his house when he left.
It was his house while he was gone, and it was his house when
he came back. And when he came back, he found
it empty. Now my friend, if God really saves a man, he's not
empty. He's indwelt with the Holy Spirit. But this house was
never occupied by God. It was never occupied by the
Holy Spirit. It was never indwelt by Christ.
It was empty. Empty. And he found it swept,
not washed in the blood, but swept. You know what sweeping
does, don't you? It stirs up the dust. That's all. It just
moves the dust from here over here, or puts it in a different
place. The man of evil is just located in a different place.
It's still there, but it's located in a different place. But when
Christ comes, he washes. He washes. Washes. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses, because it washes away everything. But he found his house, he found
it swept, and he found it, this was garnished, it's decorated.
The fellow was wearing a cross. He had a cross in his lapel,
or a fish, or something. And he had all kind of religious
trinkets. He had pictures all over his house of Jesus in the
garden and Solomon's head of Christ. He had some slogans.
He had some little cliches everywhere. Only one life will soon be passed.
Just what done for Christ will last. All of these decorations,
religious decorations. You know what Satan did? Christ
wasn't there. Just the decorations. Just the
outward show. Appearing beautiful to men. You
know what Satan did? He went and got seven other demons.
And he brought them back with him. And that fella fell from
grace. That's what they say. That fella
departed from the church. And the last state of that reformed
man who was never saved, who never met God. The last state
of that man who made a decision but never met the Lord. The last
state of that man who joined the church but was never regenerated.
It was worse than death. Now, if you want to use your
carnal methods to coerce men into the kingdom of God, you're
welcome to it. But you'll have you some folks on your hands,
one of these days, in a worse shape than they were before you
tampered with them with your fleshly methods and carnal weapons. I'm going to wait on the Lord.
Preach His word, pray unto Him to make it effectual, and depend
on the Holy Spirit to save sinners and bring them to the knowledge
of Christ. If you'd like to have this message on cassette tape,
you can have it for a small charge. You write to the address that
will be given to you at the close of this program. Until next week,
I bid you a very pleasant good day.

True and False Conversion

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

True and False Conversion

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book