Fill the House

Welcome and prayer.

Captain Charles Plumb was a Navy fighter pilot who flew combat missions in Vietnam. Five days before the end of his tour, and after 75 successful missions, his plane was shot down. He ejected and parachuted safely to the ground, only to be captured and taken prisoner. He survived as a P.O.W. for nearly six years before he was released.

One day, a man ran up to him and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

Plumb was confused and asked him how he knew him. The man replied, “I packed your parachute.” Then he shook Plumb’s hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb responded, “If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb thought a lot about that man, considering how the man held the life of someone else in his hands. He wondered how often he had seen the man but didn’t talk with him because he was a pilot and the stranger was only a sailor.

Plumb gives speeches and tells this story. At the end, he asks, “Who’s packing your parachute?”

In life, it is easy to miss those who are involved in “packing your parachute.” It is easy to think that you are on your own, for good or for bad.

Many people, even Christians, live without ever thinking about who is packing their parachute. They may believe in God but live as though He doesn’t exist, practically, in their lives.

In our struggles we often feel as though we have to find the answer for ourselves. We do our best to manage our pain, face our fear, and press on against the tide of darkness that seeks to drown us in despair. We want to be free of bondage. We do not want to be addicted. We do not want to feel alone. We do not want to be depressed or discouraged. We are searching for meaning in life and a way to overcome the seeming onslaught of negativity and adversity.

So we look for ways to overcome these things. According to Viktor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning (p100):

…there are various masks and guises under which the existential vacuum appears. Sometimes the frustrated will to meaning is vicariously compensated for by a will to power, including the most primitive form of the will to power, the will to money. In other cases, the place of frustrated will to meaning is taken by the will to pleasure. This is why existential frustration often eventuates in sexual compensation. We can observe in such cases that the sexual libido becomes rampant in the existential vacuum.

In other words, our efforts to make sense of things when we are overwhelmed and are missing our sense of purpose or meaning are often put to pursuing power, money, and pleasure. These are the things that we chase as an escape from the struggles that we face.

And these things will always fail to deliver us.

One of the major reasons that this fails is because we have an adversary, the devil, who is seeking to keep us in bondage and far from God and His purpose for our lives (cf. 1 Peter 5:8).

We live in a fallen world, and we struggle with a fallen nature. These are marked by sin and carnality (which feeds into those three pursuits of power, money, and pleasure). The world and the flesh at war with God, and us (see Romans 8:7, James 4:4).

So then, how are we to overcome these things. How do we walk in wholeness and peace and the abundant life that Jesus offers those who believe and follow Him (Matthew 11:28, John 10:10)?

As Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

The answer is that we do this, with God. We do life with God. When we trust in God to do what only He can do, and we do what He tells us we are to do, then we begin to truly experience life in the kingdom.

Luke 11:14–28 NKJV

14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” 16 Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. 17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22 But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” 27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” 28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

We Need God to Deliver Us

In this story, we find Jesus delivering someone from demonic oppression. Their voice had been silenced and stolen by a demon. Jesus delivered them and they were made free.

Some attributed His ability to deliver from the power of evil to the devil.

Others, wanting to test Him, demanded that He prove He was from God by giving them a sign.

But Jesus knew their thoughts. He understood their intentions. And He challenged their thinking.

They wanted to know by what authority He operated. They wanted to know where He got His power from.

Jesus answers with key points:

A kingdom divided cannot stand, nor can a house, or a person.

Deliverance from oppression comes when One who is stronger than the oppressor defeats him.

Then, after giving these key points, He provides application:

If you are not with Me, you are against Me. If you do not gather with Me, you scatter.

A demon who is driven from a person will go out into the wilderness (dry, arid places). Eventually, it will try to come back. If it does, and finds the house empty, it will bring back seven more spirits more evil than itself and move back in, making the life worse than it was.

A Divided Life Will Keep You Bound

A kingdom divided will be destroyed. A house divided will fall.

Jesus was making things exceptionally clear to the people who were listening. This was a moment where He was calling them to faith in God alone.

He referred to the Holy Spirit as the “finger of God” calling their minds back to Moses and Pharoah (cf. Exodus 8:19). He told them that the demonstration of the authority and power of God was proof that the kingdom of God had come.

There is only one King. There is only One God who has all power over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

He called the people to trust fully and firmly in God. He was calling them to live completely and wholly unto God. He was challenging their lukewarm hypocrisy.

Illustration: I made coffee earlier and I use a press. I boil water and pour it into the coffee. I was using an electric tea pot and somehow I must have turned off the water before it was done. I poured warm water into my coffee, pressed it, and poured it into my cup. When I went to drink it, it was lukewarm; it was nasty.

If we are going to live free, we can not be lukewarm, wavering between a hot or a cold spiritual life (cf. Revelation 3:16).

A divided life opens the door to the devil to bring havoc and destruction. If you want to be free, truly free, you must love God will all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and be single-focused on Him (cf. Matthew 22:37-38, Luke 11:34).

An Empty House Will Invite Bondage

Jesus said that when a demon is driven out it will go away, out to the dry places seeking rest. But after awhile, it will come back.

Have you ever experienced this? Have you had a time where God came in and moved powerfully in your life and for a time you were free but then it seemed like after some time the enemy came back, temptation came back?

Jesus said that that when the spirit finds the house clean and swept up and empty, it goes out and brings back seven spirits who were worse. Note: this may very well be a continuation of the contrast between the devil’s kingdom and God’s where the “seven Spirits of God” are before His throne (cf. Revelation 3:1, 4:5, 5:6).

Illustration: When I went to Mongolia I was told about a law that had been passed for the citizens of the country. The law stated that every Mongolian citizen was entitled to a free plot of land. City dwellers get 0.17 acres and rural citizens get a little more than half an acre. Wherever the put their yurt, if the land was open, they could claim that land.

This is what the devil wants to do. God delivers us and cleanses us but if the house isn’t filled, the devil will come in and retake that space in our lives. And not only that, he will make things worse than they were before he was driven out.

Is this your experience? Do you know someone who God touched and they truly experienced freedom only to later come under greater bondage and oppression?

God is more than able to deliver you. He is more than able to set you free. And heal you. And forgive you and cleanse you from sin. But you have to fill the house if you want to stay free. You have to live in the grace and freedom of God.

Galatians 5:1 NKJV

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

We Need to Fill the House

We need God to deliver us. This means that we need to fully surrender to Him. We cannot be divided in our devotion.

We need to fill our house. This is how we partner with God and walk in His victory.

The woman said that Jesus mom was totally blessed. Jesus response was critical.

Luke 11:28 NKJV

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

God empties the house. He drives out the devil and cleanses us. But then we have to fill the house if we want to keep the enemy of our souls from coming back.

But we can’t fill it with any old thing.

Illustration: Dr. Phil to people doing their own thing, “How’s that working for you.”

We want to fill it with something, someone, stronger.

We want to fill our lives with the Holy Spirit and keep it filled through spiritual practices (Ephesians 5:18).

We receive the gift of the Father, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and when we do we receive power from God (Acts 2:38, 1:8).

And then we do the things that make our heart God’s home (cf. Romans 8:9). We do this by keeping and obeying God’s word (cf. 2 Timothy 1:14). That’s who Jesus said is the blessed person.

Conclusion

There is a good life that God has for everyone who follows Him. And, there is an enemy who is constantly waging war against us.

We need God to deliver us. If you are struggling to break free, to overcome, to move forward give your life—all of it—to God.

We need to fill the house. Once God delivers us, we need to fill our house. We need to receive the Holy Spirit. We need to put first the kingdom of God and fill our lives with the fruits of the Spirit and righteous works. We need to keep and guard and obey the word of God.

Then, when the enemy comes back, there will be no room for him. This is the way to lasting peace. This is the way to the abundant life.