The Master Describes Conversion

I imagine that some of you were
wondering as I read that passage of scripture a little while ago if I couldn't find a clearer
description from the sermons of Christ in regard to conversion. I think and I certainly hope
when I get through this morning that you'll be able to say, as
I am strongly convinced that there's no better description
of conversion to be found anywhere in God's Word than the one that
I read a little while ago. Now, in the eleventh chapter
of Luke, our Lord had healed a man who was dumb. He had cast out a demon. That's what he says in his word.
He cast out a demon. And this demon when he left the
body of this individual where he had dwelt, went out and the
man began to speak. And the unbelievers who were
standing about, probably led by the Pharisees, the religious
leaders, accused the Master of casting out devils or demons
by the power of Beelzebub. the chief of demons, and I suppose
that's another name for Satan, or the devil. And our Lord said,
Satan will not cast out Satan. A house divided against itself
tally, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Here's a
man possessed with demons, indwelt by devils. The devil's not going
to cast out the devil. Satan is not against himself and against his
demon powers and demon spirits, and Christ is not in league with
Satan. They are out to destroy one another. Satan is out to destroy Christ,
and Christ is set for the destruction of Satan. Now, first of all,
our Lord then describes a man in his sinful state. He describes
what a sinner is like who is under the power and dominion
of Satan. And then he describes to the
people what it's like for a man to be truly converted, for Satan
to really be cast out by the power of God, for a man really
to be rid of this evil spirit, of this evil one. And then he
describes the condition of a man who is in a state of false religion
and false conversion. A man from whom Satan has departed,
but not being cast out. He departed willingly for some
reason or other. Now, first of all, let's look
at verse 21. And here our Master pictures
a man in his sinful state. Now, get the setting of this
whole thing, why he's dealing with this. This man was possessed
of an evil spirit. This man was possessed of demons.
And Christ, by his power, cast out the evil spirit. And the
man then was free. He spoke. He was free from this
evil spirit. And the people began to say,
why, he's not, he's casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub,
by the power of the devil. And Christ said, now Satan is
not against Satan. Satan is not casting out Satan.
And then he describes a man in his sinful state, and it begins
in verse 21. He says, When a strong man armed
keepeth his palace, his goods are at peace, or in peace. Who is this strong man? This
strong man is Satan. There can be no doubt about this. There can be no question about
it. He's called by the Master a strong man. Is Satan a strong
man? I hear sometimes preachers on
the radio, I think with a little less knowledge than they have
when, and they talk so flippantly about the devil, about Satan. But Satan is strong, and Satan
is powerful, and Satan is mighty. He's not almighty. Only God is
almighty. Satan is not all-powerful. Only
God is all-powerful. Satan is not omnipotent. Only
God is omnipotent. But he is strong. and he is mighty
and he is powerful. And one of the verses of Scripture
that convinced me of that is found in the book of Jude. I
want you to turn over there. I don't know a whole lot about
Satan, but I do know a few things about him. I'm going to point
it out for you this morning. What I do know, in Jude chapter,
well, there's only one chapter in the book of Jude, but verse
9, Jude 9. Now watch this. Yet Michael,
well, look at verse 8 first of all. Likewise, also these filthy
dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, that is, despise authority,
and speak evil of dignities. Speak evil of dignities, of authority. Now, Satan has certain authority
and certain power, and he does have, as Christ said, a kingdom.
And Christ is rebuking people who speak flippantly and carelessly
about those in authority, those who have dominion, God-given
power and authority and dominion. Yet Michael, now watch this,
yet Michael the archangel, and our Lord identifies this angel
Michael, he himself has dominion and authority and power, he's
the archangel. When contending with the devil,
he disputed about the body of Moses. Some people think that's
talking actually about the body of Moses, when Moses was taken
up to the mountain, you know, and Moses died, and God took
him, and nobody ever buried the body of Moses. But they think
maybe he's talking there about the actual body of Moses. Others
say that he's talking about the law. But if you get into too
much conflict about whether he's talking about the flesh of Moses
or the law of Moses, you're going to miss what Christ actually
is talking about here. And that's some more the power
of Satan. He sidetracks individuals. He
sidetracks us with the things that really aren't important
in order that we might be blind to the things that are important.
But here's what he's talking about here. He's talking about
speaking evil of dominion, dignities, those in authority and power.
Yet Michael, the archangel, when disputing or contending with
the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, does, durst
or does not bring against Satan a railing accusation. But he
said, Satan, the Lord will rebuke thee. That's not my place. That's not my position, that's
God's place. And here, when he's speaking
even to Satan, he recognizes Satan's authority, he recognizes
his power, he recognizes his kingdom. And Michael, the archangel,
said, it's not my place, it's not my business, it's not my
position to judge thee. The Lord will rebuke thee, the
Lord will judge thee. Now, is Satan strong? Ask Jude. You see, Is Satan strong? Asked
Paul. Is Satan strong? Asked Peter.
Here the apostle Peter was standing before our Lord was to go to
the cross, and the Lord had said, All of you will be offended because
of me this night. Here's Peter, an apostle, a disciple,
a servant of Christ, devoted, dedicated, with his sword at
his side, ready to defend the Master. Peter said, Master, these
other fellows may deny you, and these other fellows may desert
you, but I won't. I'll go to the death with you."
Is Satan strong? In just a few hours you see this
man who has made this boast, who has bragged that he would
be with Christ even to the death. There he is sitting about a fire
with the very people who arrested the master and took him to trial
and nailed him to a cross. He's sitting there warming his
hand about the very fire that they built. And a little girl
came up and said, while this man's a disciple, I've seen him
with Jesus and I recognize him by his talk. And Peter began
to curse and to swear and began to say, I do not know Jesus Christ. And who's responsible for Peter's
reversal? Who's responsible for this man's
cowardice? Who's responsible for this man's
fall, this man's failure? The Lord Jesus told us, he said,
Peter, Satan hath desired thee, that he may sift thee, that he
may try thee. And Peter left to himself was
no match for Satan. He was no match for Satan. Michael said that himself. Why,
not my place to contend with you. The Lord will take care
of you, the Lord will judge you, the Lord will rebuke you. That's
not my place. And here the Apostle Peter sitting about the fire.
He came to the conclusion that Satan was a pretty difficult
character to deal with. Ask Job. Here Job was sitting
on the mountain of power and possession. and strength and
health. He had everything a man could
want. And because God turned Job over to Satan for a little
while, there Job is sitting on an ash hill, scraping himself
with a piece of glass covered with scales and scabs of balls,
and his whole family gone, his friends gone, his possessions
gone, everything gone. Just like that. Is Satan strong? Ask Job. Is Satan strong? Ask Adam and Eve. They were in
a perfect garden, a paradise, we call it, which God had created
and given to them and told them it was theirs. And they were
living in happiness, they were living in health, they were living
in joy, they were living in perfect bliss, till one fellow came along
and his name was Satan. And he completely, absolutely
annihilated that whole situation. He completely destroyed that
whole situation. He completely destroyed that
man. Now you talk about, you underline
right there verse 21, when a strong man, and that's Satan. And when you go to talking flippantly
and carelessly about Satan and the devil and the demons, you
better be careful. Because you don't know what you're
dealing with. You don't know what you're talking about. He
is a power. He has a kingdom. He has influence. He has strength, second only
to God Almighty. That's right. All right, when
a strong man armed, Satan's armed. He's not armed with swords. And
he's not armed with pistols. And he's not armed with legions
of strong men. He doesn't need them. What is
he armed with? He's armed with lies. That's
what he came to Adam and Eve with, lies. Why, he said, eat
of the tree. Don't you know that God knows
that when you eat that tree you'll be like God? He's armed with
deceit. He's armed with lies. He can
take bad and make it appear good. He can take a lie and make it
look like the truth. He can take bitter and make it
taste sweet. He can take sweet and make it
appear bitter. He can make men think it's to
their advantage to do that which damns their own soul. He can
make a man carry hot coals and think he'll not be burned. He
can make a man dance on the very edge of hell and think at that
very moment he's standing at the gate of heaven. He's a man
armed with deceit. He's a man armed with lies. He's a man armed with falsehood.
He's a man armed with twisted war philosophy. That's his arm. All right, read on. When a strong
man armed, watch it now, he keeps his palace and his goods are
in peace. He keeps his palace and his goods. What is the palace of Satan?
Well, the body is called the body of sin. The palace of Satan,
the dwelling place of Satan, is the body of the unbeliever.
And what are his goods? Well, his goods, first of all,
man's memory. The storehouse of bad words,
the storehouse of evil thoughts, the storehouse of vengeance,
the storehouse of hate, the storehouse of evil. the storehouse of envy,
the storehouse of murder, the storehouse of lust. That's man's
memory. Satan has his goods, and when
he's armed with lies and deceit and falsehood, his goods are
at peace. Nobody disturbs him. And then
man's judgment. Perverted? The scales of man's
judgment, someone said, are thrown out of balance by his own selfishness. How does a man judge a situation?
He judges it by how it will affect him. He judges it by how it will
influence him. He judges it by what it will
cost him. He judges it by what it will
profit him. His scales of justice and judgment
are thrown out of balance by his selfishness. Satan's good,
you see. He controls this kingdom. This
is his kingdom. This is his palace. This is his
house. What's wrong with my memory?
When I'm an unbeliever, my memory is controlled by Satan. What's
wrong with my judgment? My judgment is controlled by
Satan, who's armed with lies, who's armed with deceit, who
makes me think that the bitter is sweet, and the sweet is bitter,
and the good is bad, and the bad is good. He deceives me that
way. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked, but who can know it? You see,
the body of the unbeliever is Satan's palace, and Satan's goods
are man's memory, man's judgment. People think Satan's goods are
the whiskey bottle. He doesn't have to deal in that
trash. That's not his realm at all. People think that Satan's
goods are the whiskey bottle and the gambler's bin and all
of these vices, as we call them. That's not Satan's territory.
Satan lives in a spiritual realm, a realm of spirit. Satan doesn't
live in the gutter. That's where his friends live.
Satan moves in the spiritual realm. He deals in memory, he
deals in justice, he deals in judgment, he deals in affections.
What does man love? He loves the wrong things. What
does man hate? He hates the right things. This
is condemnation, Christ said. Light is coming to this world.
That's the visitation of God. The Son of God is coming to this
world, but men don't love light, they love darkness. They don't
love good, they love evil. They don't love truth, they love
lies. What's wrong with them? Well, Satan lives in that palace,
and Satan's controlling the goods. He's armed with lies and deceit
and perversion and a twisted mind and philosophy, and he's
in control of judgment, he's in control of affections, he's
in control of memory, he's in control of the imagination, and
man is dazzled with the false delusions of personal glory.
He thinks himself to be what he is not and what he never will
be. He thinks himself to be greater than he shall ever be. He thinks
himself to be important. He thinks others to be of less
importance. His whole philosophy, his whole
mind, his whole thinking, his whole being is turned out of
gear and twisted and facing the wrong direction by this person
who lives in him, this strong man. You think he's not strong? I've tried at the first of the
message to take you to some good witnesses. You think he's not
strong? You ask the apostle Paul. When Michael the archangel stood
before Satan, he said, you're not my affair. I'm not fooling
with you. That's God's business. When the
apostle Peter stood before Satan, Peter who had walked with Christ,
lived with Christ, ate with Christ, slept with Christ for eight and
a half years, was like putty in the hands of a boy when Satan
got a hold of him. And Job, Satan stripped him,
Satan crippled him, Satan broke him. and he was the most righteous
man on God's earth. And Adam and Eve, you know what
he did to them? It says here, his goods are at
peace, when that strong man, when that mighty, powerful demon
out of hell, when that one who was at one time the controller
of the whole earth, who ruled over all of God's creation, The
son of the morning, he was called, when that powerful being, when
he keeps his palace, his goods are at peace. And all the evangelists
in this world can't get in that palace or take those goods or
change them. And all of the preachers and missionaries and so-called
soul winners and all of the philosophy and mass psychology and tracts
and everything else can't get into that palace. It's fortified,
it's armed, his goods are at peace, man's mind and will and
heart are not disturbed. Satan won't let them be disturbed.
You say, what about thoughts of death? Why, he can change
himself into a minister of righteousness and have a man who's standing
on the precipice of death talk about he's made his peace with
God. He can make a man who's standing right at the very precipice
of hell say, with hell are we out of grief. It's ruled over by the master.
This palace is controlled by the master, the master of evil,
the master of lies, the master of deceit, and no human being
is a match for it, and no angel of heaven is a match for it. He's sly, he's subtle, he's brilliant,
he's keen, he's sharp, he's powerful, Christ said he is. All right, let's picture a real
conversion now, verse 22. But, but, were they stronger
than he? Where are you going to find one
stronger than he? Where are you going to find one stronger than
he? Ain't Billy Graham stronger than this arch enemy, this superpower,
this supernatural being? You think he can convert a man?
No, sir. You think the Pope, maybe the
Pope is stronger than he? Well, the Pope would be putty
in his hand. Well, who is stronger than he?
There's only one stronger than Satan. There's only one in heaven,
earth, or hell stronger than Satan, and that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, who said, I saw Satan fall as a star from heaven. I watched his downfall. I watched
his sin, and I watched his condemnation, and I watched his fall. Only
the Lord Jesus Christ can challenge Satan. Only Jesus Christ is more
powerful than Satan, and Jesus Christ is not just a man, or
he couldn't challenge Satan either. He's God. It says, one is stronger than
he. the matchless one, the majestic one, the mighty God, the omnipotent
one. We're stronger than Satan, and
he's the only one who is stronger. The Lord rebuked the Jews. Michael said, only the Lord Jesus
can rebuke Satan. Only the Lord Jesus can resist
Satan. Only the Lord Jesus can defeat
Satan. The Lord rebuked when a stronger than he shall
come upon him, shall come upon him. The Holy Spirit, the person
of Christ, must enter the heart of the sinner, must enter the
palace of Satan and come upon Satan and overcome him. And overcoming, and it's not
an easy task. Christ overcame Satan on the
Mount of Temptation when our Lord Jesus became a man. for
forty days he went out there in the wilderness, weak from
hunger and fasting, and he encountered this strong one, Satan. He was
tempted of Satan for a long time, and he was hungry, and Satan
said, you see these stones? You're hungry. Make them into
bread. If you're the Son of God, the Son of God shouldn't have
to be hungry. See how he deals You see, Satan
doesn't come to a man and deal with him as the average person
thinks, with a pitchfork and the horns and the forked tail,
all in a red suit, and come to him with a powerful mean grin
on his face. He suddenly comes and says, You're
hungry, aren't you? Yes, I'm hungry. Well, the Son
of God shouldn't have to be hungry. The Son of God ought to have
what He wants. A child of God shouldn't have
to weep. A child of God shouldn't have to cry. A child of God shouldn't
have to go through the sorrow through which you're going. If
you are a child of God, if you are the Son of God, God wouldn't
let you have to bear this cross and this burden. Look out here
at these other people. They're not sons of God, and
yet they're wealthy. They're not children of God,
and yet they're never hungry. They're not children of God,
and yet they're not sick. Are you a son of God? Well, why
don't you make these stones into bread? If you're the son of God. Prove you're the son of God.
Oh God, prove I'm your child. Lift this burden. Prove I'm your
child. Dry these tears. Prove I'm your
child. Take away this burden. Prove
I'm your... That's right exactly where Satan
wants you. He wants you putting God to the
test. He wants you putting God to the
test. Show me a sign. All right, he said, you say that
you're the Son of God? Cast yourself off this temple.
Cast yourself off this precipice. You want people to believe you're
the Son of God? You want people to believe you're
the Messiah? Jump. They'll believe you. Prove to
them. Jump down there. Why, he said he'd give his angels
charge over you, and you wouldn't as much as stump your toe. You
wouldn't as much as dash your foot against a stone, jump off,
and everybody will believe you! You want the fellas at work to
know you're a Christian? Looks like God'll give you some
kind of sign, doesn't it? Looks like God'll give you a
glow to your face, maybe. Looks like God'll put a halo
up over your head so everybody could tell you're a Christian.
Looks like God would give you a promotion. Looks like God would
give you power. Looks like God would give you
authority. Looks like God would let you walk down the street
and maybe people would sense the holiness about you and the
power about you. Looks like God would make somebody
out of you, if you were really His child, and people would recognize
you and give you the respect you do. Or you can't even get
respect from your own household. You're a son of God. You can't
get respect from your own neighborhood. Make them respect you. Give me
a sign. That's right where Satan wants
you. See how he's armed? How treacherous
he is. And then he said, if you'll worship
me, I'll give you what you want. I'll give you the kingdoms of
this world. Look, you see all the things around? See the popularity? I'll give you popularity. God's
not going to give you popularity. He's already proven that. God's
not going to give you influence and power. God's not going to
give you these things that you want. You serve me, I'll give
them to you. If you can't get that extra money
by prayer, just kind of turn the truth a little bit. I'll
give it to you. If you can't get the burden to
roll away by worshiping God, then you worship me, I'll roll
them away. I'll make you laugh, and I'll make you rejoice, and
I'll give you happiness. Look at my other children, I've
given them happiness." Our Lord said, "...man shall not live
by bread alone. My kingdom is not meet and great, but to do
the will of him that sent me." On that Mount of Temptation,
our Lord whipped Satan. He whipped him. He defeated him. He destroyed him. He made him
tuck his tail between his legs and run the other way. Christ
defeated Satan. I can't do it, you can't do it,
but Christ did it. He overcame him. And then on
the cross, there he overcame him, there he won a complete
victory. And in conversion, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes into
a man's heart, he's the only one who can overcome that strong
man and take away from him his armor, take away the big lie
and give the truth. The preacher can sit down with
his Bible across the table from you, and he can prove you're
a sinner, and prove Christ is the only Savior, and prove heaven's
the only way, and prove righteousness is the proven path, and prove
all these things, and you sit there and agree, and then you
go out and, I don't know. I don't know. It just seemed
so clear when the preacher was proving it, but I can't see it
now. The only one who can come into
your life and drive out that evil one, and drive out that
strong one, and take out of his hand the big lie, and give to
you the truth, is Jesus Christ himself. He's the only one. He's the only one. He's the only
one who can come in and take away the deceit, the envy, the
evil, the doubt, the crookedness, and give sincerity. He's the
only one. He's the only one who can come
in and take out the fear and establish faith. Undisputable
faith. Unwavering faith. Unconquered
faith. He's the only one. Brother, you
can come down the aisle, you can shake the preacher's hand
and you can read doctrines of bodies of divinity and doctrines
of theology and you can get this old mind all logically, logically
established, and you can get your train of thoughts just right,
and old Satan come in with one little wind of temptation, one
little wind of doubt, and blow every bit of it out the window.
Every bit of it. He can tear down that castle
that you've built. He can tear down those dreams
that you've established. He can tear down those professions
you've made. He can tear down those decisions
you've made. He can shake you over hell. and
burn every hair on your head to a crisp and leave you just
dangling, subject to any wind that comes along. The only one
who can come in and establish his kingdom and drive out Satan
is the Son of God, the Son of God. What does he do? He said he comes on him and he
overcomes him. It's a conflict It's not just
easy believism, it's a wrestling, it's a counting of the cost,
it's a battle. He takes from him all his armor,
he takes it away from him and drives him out and divides his
spoil. Christ spoils his house and spoils
his palace and takes away the heart and the mind and the affections
and runs Satan out. And Christ Jesus sits on the
throne and a new king reigns. A new master lives here now.
A new authority is in control. And the old way is gone and can't
get back in. He can't get back in. You see,
when a palace belongs to Satan, and he's got the goods, he's
got the memory and the mind and the affections and the judgment,
they're all his, and nobody can touch him. Nobody can touch him. Nobody's stronger than he on
this earth, and the religious of Seventh-day Adventists come
and knock at the door, and he flips them away, and the Baptists
knock at the door, and he flips them away, and the Catholics
knock at the door, and the Presbyterians, and they all get man to do all
these things. But Christ is stronger than he. By his own authority,
by his own purpose, by his own will, he doesn't knock at the
door, he comes in. And he overcomes Satan. He said,
evil shall not dwell here. This is my child, my house, my
kingdom, my throne. Get out! Christ sits on the throne. Now who's going to drive him
out? There is no stronger than he. That's the reason I believe
in eternal security. That's the reason I believe in
what's saved. It all depends on who saves you.
It all depends on who straightens you out. It all depends on who
conquered you. If the stronger one conquered
you, nobody's stronger than me. Nobody can retake his castle.
Nobody can drive him out of his palace. Nobody can occupy his
territory. He plants his banner, and that's
where it stays. That's where it stays. Now let
me show you something. Well, you say, what's happened
to all these people, brother man, who claim to be converted?
Well, Christ goes on and tells you. He says in verse 24, now
look at this with me. But, watch this now, when the
unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry
places. Now the unclean spirit left.
A stronger than he didn't come in and drive him out, a stronger
than he didn't come in and overcome him, a stronger than he didn't
come in and with him, he just left. You say, why did he leave? I don't know. He doesn't say
why he left. But we just know he left. There's
no presence of Christ, there's just the absence of evil. There's
no indwelling Son of God, there's just the absence of Satan. He
just left. Now, whether or not the man took
up religion and then evil left, or whether evil left and then
he took up religion, we don't know. But evil's gone and now
religion reigns. And this evil spirit, well, look
at the next line. He walketh through dry places.
I had a little wrestling with that, walketh through dry places
and seeking rest, but I didn't want this powerful one to sidetrack
me again, you know. He'll do that. He'll get you
thinking about, well, what does the dry places mean, and lose
the rest of it. But let's try the dry places.
One, I think, the best commentary said this. This dry places is
believers. children of God, really saved
people. Satan leaves this unbeliever,
Satan leaves this unregenerate man, Satan leaves this unsaved
man, and he walks among believers, seeking to distress them, and
to charge them, and to try them, and to tempt them. You say, why
are they called dry places? In them there's the well of living
water. They're dry places because they're dry to him. They're dry
to him. He can't find any nourishment.
He can't find anything to quench his thirst. He can't find any
blasphemy. He can't find any hatred of God.
He can't find any hatred for darkness. These are dry places
to him, because there's nothing to quench his thirst for evil,
blasphemy, and hatred, sacrilegious. You see? He finds no rest. So
he says, I'll go back to my house. I go back to my palace where
a strong man keeps his house, his palace. It never ceased to
be his house. It was his when he was there,
it was his when he decided to leave, it was his when he left,
it was his while he was out there walking around among dry places
seeking some satisfaction and some rest, couldn't find any,
it was his to come back to. You wonder sometimes what happens
when people start thinking about death and heaven and hell and
judgment and religion and they join a church and for a little
while they're faithful and for a little while they're interested
and then after months or years they begin to lose interest.
They begin to drift away. They begin to be unconcerned.
I'll tell you what's happened. The old boys come back home.
The old boys come back home. He came back to his house. All
right, turn to Matthew 12, just a moment. He came back to his
house. Matthew 12, we have this same
story, but one word was added in Matthew 12 that we need desperately. Matthew 12, verse 44. The Lord's
given this same story in Matthew. That's the harmony of the gospel.
And he said, Matthew 12, 44, I will return to my house from
which I came out, and when he returned, he found it empty. Now, brethren, your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit if you're saved. It's not empty.
Your body is the abode of God. Jesus Christ said, I and my Father
will take up our abode in him. Satan won't find it empty. If
Satan comes back to a true redeemed person, a child of God, he's
going to find the King there. He's going to find the Lord there.
He's going to find the Spirit there, and he's going to take
another licking. Now, he might damage some of
the stones and break a few of the windows and cause a little
turmoil, but he ain't coming in, because the Lord lives there,
and he's going to take a whipping. But when Satan came back to this
house, he found it empty. Christ wasn't there. Christ never
was there. Now, the preacher might be there,
but he's no match for Satan. And a few ceremonies might be
there. There might be a jug of wine
for the Lord's table and a few crackers, but that's no match
for Satan. He'd just move it out of the
way. There may be a good, strong declaration of baptism or church
membership there. The fellow may have his books
of theology stacked before the door. Satan'd just move them
out of the way. He found it empty. Now go back
to Luke. He found it empty, and verse 25, he found it swept. swept. It was cleaned up. It was empty of the Spirit, empty
of Christ, empty of faith, but it had been cleaned up. The fellow
had quit drinking, he quit smoking, he quit gambling, he quit stealing,
he quit cheating on the job, you know, he quit all these things.
Satan found it all cleaned up, all swept, and he found it garnished. You know what the word garnished
means? Look it up sometime. It means decorated. The man had
no faith, but he had some fine pictures of Jesus. He didn't
have any faith, but he had some fine pictures of Jesus all around
the house. He didn't have any love for the
substitutionary work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, but
he had a fine crucifix, solid bond. way to go. This man had
no fruit of the Spirit, but he had some good books on how to
be filled with the Spirit. He had no love for Christ, but
he had some good theology books, some good, strong theology books
on how to be a good Baptist, or Methodist, or Presbyterian.
He studied them real well. He had never stood before the
throne of grace in humility, petition, and But he'd never
miss Sunday school. He was there every Sunday. In
fact, he had a perfect attendance record. He had a fireplace of
religion, all built with the best stones of doctrine. But
it didn't have any fire in it. There was no life in it. It was
decorated. It was so pretty. Why, everybody
that passed by talked about the house that the man had built.
Look, now there, there's a man who lives what he preaches. There's
a man who lives what he professes. How can you tell? Well, look
at his house. It's all decorated. But it's empty. Why, you can
tell that that man's wealth in spiritual knowledge because of
his house. It's empty. And so what did he
do? Here's what happens. You want
to know what happens? You want to know what happens
in a false profession? I could stand right here and
give you dozens of illustrations. You can sit right there and give
me dozens of illustrations, too. You've known people who've made
professions of religion. Some of them used to be preachers.
Some of them used to be Sunday school teachers. Some of them
used to be superintendents. Some of them used to be deacons.
Some of them used to go to church every Sunday. Some of them used
to sit and read the Bible out on the front porch so everybody
could see. What happened? They don't care
a thing about God now. What happened? They're not interested
in the things of God now. What happened? They wouldn't
walk across the street to hear the gospel now. What happened?
I'll tell you what happened. The old man came home. And he
found that place all prettied up with theology and all prettied
up with religion and all prettied up with sectarianism and denominationalism
and all prettied up with self-righteousness. and all prettied up with criticism
of everybody but himself, and all prettied up and decorated.
It was so pretty, he said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do.
He went and got him seven other devils more wicked than himself,
and he said, fellows, I've got the nicest place for you all
to live. Let's move in down there. And our Lord said they moved
in, and the last state of that man was worse than the first. Our Lord is saying here that
a man with no profession at all, with no religion at all, with
no faith at all, with no pretense at all, with no decision at all,
with no denomination at all, is far better off than the man
who has tried to clean up without Christ, who has tried to prepare
a way to glory without Christ. That's how strong that fellow
is. That'll drive us to our knees as Christians, that'll drive
us to our knees as preachers, that'll drive us to our knees
as believers, that'll drive a sinner to his knees if he realizes who
he's dealing with. O living God, Lord of heaven
and earth, O mighty One, come upon me and overcome the mighty
One that dwells within me. Give me not a false profession,
but a living dwelling. That's that. I want Christ in
my heart. I don't want an empty heart.
I don't just want the evil. Old Sam Jones used to go up and
down this country. He was a famous Methodist preacher.
Never preached a nickel's worth of nothing. I've read his sermons. Went up and down this country
preaching, quit your meanness and go to heaven. That's what's
happened to most of his converts, too. They quit their meanness
and went to hell. You need Christ. The living Lord
of Globes is going to have to come in and dwell. Make a decision! Make a decision nothing. You
need the living God to do something for us, don't we? We need Christ
to overcome the One who's dwelt within us far too long and give
the truth and take away the big lie. Our Father in Heaven, oh,
speak to these hearts of ours that are so easily deceived,
so twisted and warped by the influence and power of one far
mightier than we, may the stronger one come upon him and drive him
out, and conquer this palace, and conquer this castle for King
Jesus, and set up his kingdom within, and reign and rule forever
and forever. Speak to our hearts, reveal the
word to us, We ask it in his name and for
his sake. Amen.

The Master Describes Conversion

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