Empty, Swept, & Put in Order
Journey Through The Gospels • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 7 viewsJesus teaches on the nature of demon possession
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Unclean Spirits
Unclean Spirits
Luke 11:24–26 (ESV)
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.
44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
First we see Jesus acknowledging the existence and presence of unclean spirits, or demons. In fact He has just cast one out of a man who was blind and mute. A feat thought impossible by the scholars and religionists of the day as interviewing and identifying the demon was a key part of exorcism.
Jesus was not just going along with the popular thinking of the day, nor was He acting in ignorance.
Not only did He acknowledge their existence, He commanded them out of people with immediate perceivable results, and He empowered the Apostles to do the same. Furthermore, He taught about their character and He taught that salvation from death is a far greater victory than any other victory in this life, including victory from demon possession.
He created them and interacted with them and warned us about them and empowered us to cast them out. They are real.
Unclean spirits are demons or fallen angels.
We know from scripture that they were created and present before the Fall of man. Given the presence of Satan as a serpent in the Garden of Eden, we can assume the they had fallen prior to that time, although it is possible that Genesis 3 records the fall of Satan as well, but not likely.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,
8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Satan’s authority and rule on this earth is through influence and deception more than absolute power or control. As we near the end and more and more people, leaders, and nations are deceived and hand over their control, the more he will rule with power.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I want to stress here that as a child of God, Satan has no power over you. In fact, he is subject to you - or more accurately, he is subject to Christ in you! You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Positional-ly, you hold a place that satan has never held!
Don’t forget, you’re still in flesh. The things that made us subject to unclean spirits were desires of the flesh and the deception of lies.
As you yield your bodies as living sacrifices to God - you are not gratifying the flesh but honoring God. As you are transformed with the renewal of your mind with the truth of scripture in you, you are not so susceptible to deceiving lies.
It amazes me, how much of this bears on right relationship with God.
Hearing and receiving and believing and obeying God (God’s Word) puts us and keeps us in right relationship with Him!
The unclean spirits, that’s a contrast to the Holy Spirit.
What is holy is clean and set apart unto God. It’s a relational word. I am holy unto God as I am holy unto my wife!
Unclean spirits are unclean because they have defiled their relationship with God by honoring another.
This is the problem of idol worship.
It is demonic! It is chasing after that which is not God. Or, in modern times, we redefine and rewrite and reinterpret what God said about Himself to satisfy our own ideals and desires.
This is how satan works in people, nations, and generations!
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Thus far, we’ve established the existence of demons, a little of where they came from, the fact that they can occupy a person, and the fact that they can be overpowered and driven out.
These are a given for Jesus, what He is emphasizing here is what happens when they’re driven out?
They go into arid, or waterless places, they wander about, but eventually they will come back.
Clean Houses
Clean Houses
They come back and find the house (aka a person’s body, heart, and mind) swept, clean, and put in order.
It begs the question, how did the person become inhabited by a demon in the first place? We do not have a Biblical answer beyond, without Christ, without His holy Spirit dwelling in you, you become subject and susceptible to demons and your children do to!
My understanding is that trauma, fear, and anxiety, are often avenues of entry to a person’s spirit. Open invitation through the occult, magic, witchcraft, idol worship, and false religion are other ways.
We don’t see a lot of demonic possession in our day to day lives. It’s not because it isn’t present, it’s because we don’t perceive it!
Acts 16:13, 16-18
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
However people become possessed, we can be certain that we have the power in the Name of Jesus to set them free.
I do caution that Paul, in this example, discerned the demonic activity in the Spirit - the gift of discernment - before he cast it out of the girl. In this case, it may not have been the best for the slave girl because she may not have gotten saved (hopefully she did!). In that case it was important that the demon be gone to stop distracting from the words and works of the gospel being preached and performed.
So what good is it to be set free if a person will just end up worse than they were?
The freedom gives them opportunity to be saved and to be occupied by the Holy Spirit.
A clean house should have a clean spirit - not an unclean one!
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
An unclean spirit, or demon, cannot occupy a person if they have the Holy Spirit. I just mean being saved. Full regeneration makes you a new person, there’s no one for the demon to return to!
But they will come back, and they will bring friends.
It is important to yield oneself to the Holy Spirit and to put full faith in God.
It is not enough to be swept and clean and in order.
Who you serve matters!
Who you serve is who you become like!
Matthew 12:45 (ESV)
45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
We see from this last phrase that Jesus was talking about more than just individuals being set free. He was talking about families, heritages, nations, and whole generations!
Israel had been cleaned up by John, but if they reject Christ, it will be worse for them!
Time and time again, God delivered His people from their oppressors, but they ran back after demons. They ran after fun worship. Idols that made them feel good through power, sexual immorality, and forms of religion. Every time, they ended up in a bigger mess.
Do you suppose that there were demons behind it?
Yes they chose evil for themselves, but I can’t help but see what they did and how they invented new ways of doing evil, and thinking there was a lot of demonic influence.
We can easily look at the news and look around and see it today.
No matter how “civilized” we become - no matter how swept and clean and put in order we appear - America and the kingdoms of this world are slipping and sliding faster and faster down a steep slope.
Take a look at what John saw in Revelation 16:13-15
13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.
14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)
We see this truth in individuals, families, nations, and generations.
We also see it in the church!
Many churches have redefined the gospel and preferred the thinking of man over the word of God. It is producing people who are swept, clean, and put in order who do not know Jesus. They are not occupied by the Holy Spirit. They will a house of demons open to every kind of demonic activity if they do not return to their first love.
We must share Jesus.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t just move in because there’s an open door. We must submit ourselves and actively resist our flesh to continually make Him welcome.
We must listen to Him, have faith in Him, and obey Him.
We cannot afford to allow any other in our heart:
not pride, jealousy, idolatry, or unclean spirits.
It is not enough to be swept, clean, and put in order.
We must pursue Christ. We must yield to Him as He pursues us!