(Text and Audio)
Title: The Unclean Spirit
Today is a very interesting teaching from Jesus, and it applies on at least two levels. Both are important for us to understand, and today’s message lends itself to conversation even more than usual, so I want us to be ready to contribute thoughts and ideas as well.
- Moral Authority
People (even non believers) have the power to “push” out unclean things from their lives.
Examples: smoking, addiction, anger, etc.
And how to they do this? Support Groups, Therapy, Hypnosis, Acupuncture
The issue is that if nothing powerful fills that void, then those unclean things can and will return, much more powerful than when they began.
There is a parallel here for the believer: to paraphrase John Piper: “You will never defeat sin through sheer discipline. If that is your plan, given time, you will fail. The only way you will conquer sin is if something better takes the place of sin in your life. If your love for joyful obedience to Christ is a great satisfaction to you than what sin can provide, then, and only then, will you defeat sin in your life consistently and over a long period of time.”
II. “…he finds it empty, swept, and put in order…”
What is the most important word in that phrase? (Empty) Why? Because if the house had been filled by something else, there would be no room, no place, for this spirit to return. But finding something swept, and put in order is not enough of a defense against evil.
Think of it this way. If a war broke out in Ashland, and thugs and anarchists were overrunning the local law enforcement. Gangs of people were looting houses and businesses and it was general chaos. If these things happened, how would you prepare to defend your home? By dusting? By vacuuming? Would your hope be that a random gang of looting thugs would show up at your house, kick down the front door and see your polished silver, mopped floors, and washed windows and they’d exclaim, “This house is pristine! We can’t loot this place, it’s just too nice! “Let’s move on!”
Or, would you prepare for the anarchy by filling that house with defenses? Land mines in the front yard. Barbed wire electrified fences? Lookout towers with snipers at the top who could see and shoot for miles. And inside the home, inside the house, you have invited Uncle Rambo (in my case, Zeb) to come on over and stay as long as he’d like…and, oh, yeah, feel free to bring your collection of guns, that’d be nice?
My point: Once the evil spirit has been driven away, we must fill that void with something satisfying and powerful, or the sin with return sevenfold.
III. This was Christ’s observation of “this wicked generation.”
They had the Law, which, if followed even somewhat, could morally, “drive out” the uncleanness. The problem was, what returned in the form of pride, judgmentalism, arrogance, and a lack of mercy was much much worse than where they started! Their last state will be much worse than where they began!
And, if we are to turn our focus a bit, and understand this teaching from Jesus being about literal demon possession (and it very well could be), then the same truth still holds. By definition, something can’t “possess” what is already occupied. For the person that conquers their inner demons and expels them, but doesn’t fill that void with something more powerful than that demon, they are in for a rude awakening when that demon returns with his friends.
Closing thoughts:
What is your plan to defeat sin? Do you drive out the evil? Or do you drive out the evil and fill the void left behind?
What occupies your heart? (The word wants to say, “Nothing! I Occupy my heart!” And that, is simply the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled…convincing the world he didn’t exist.)