The Demon and His Seven Friends
HanMee Church of Christ
March 1, 2009
Matthew 12:42-45
Ever been to a ghost town before? We have several in my country. They are the former mining communities, or old western towns, that were once booming, now empty, deserted and just a hollow eerie shell. It is a place you can go to and your imagination will be stirred. As you walk down those empty streets, if you listen very carefully, you can almost hear: the echo of a boot heel on the wooden sidewalk, the neigh of a horse hungry for its evening meal, the clink of a blacksmith’s hammer against the anvil, pounding out a red-hot horseshoe. You can almost hear the heartfelt sound of gospel singing that once echoed from humble walls. These saloons…the homes…the theaters…the general store – all of these stand quietly as testimony – to life that once lived here – to shattered dreams – to unfulfilled purposes – to abandoned hope.
You see, when the reason for its existence was gone, the town had to die, like a dried up oasis. And since then, nature has begun to work on that former city. Every winter, heavy snow collapses another roof or two. When the roof goes, walls are quick to follow. A spring flood sweeps away a cluster of frame buildings. A desert twister (tornado) crumbles mud walls. Fire is always a constant danger. Slowly, the weeds and the earth begin to reclaim what once was their own. Ghost towns all have same message - Once something has been emptied, death and destruction will follow unless something new comes in to replace it.
We live in a time now in the 21st century when all around there is shallowness, emptiness and hollowness. Ours is a time of uncertainty. No one knows where we’re headed or even why we are headed. Dan Folgerberg had a great song last century with words that said,
We tried to reach beyond the emptiness, but neither one of us knew how.
It is an age of loneliness, where sometimes it is difficult for two people, or two races to get along, to talk with each other. Every place we turn, we find people that are like ghost towns – just empty, lonely, hollow shells.
I am convinced that was also a major concern in the life of Jesus. One time he told a story, a little parable, a picture of truth that warns about the danger of emptiness. Find it in Matthew 12:43. Let’s read it.
When Jesus lived, one of the greatest fears people had was the invisible foe. The unseen enemy of unclean spirits. Most sicknesses were believed to have been caused by demons. Now in our time, there has been a renewed interest and there’s a growing Satan cult in several countries, involving devil worship. We see it in movies, exorcisms and read about them in magazines and newspapers. So, this parable of the empty house can have as much impact in our time as it did in the time of Jesus.
In this story, the demon was exorcised. It doesn’t mean that he was told to do pushups (exercised), but “exorcised” (cast out) – the demon was commanded to leave the individuals. When it leaves, he wanders around aimlessly. It was “unclean” because it had defiled the life of the one it had controlled.
Now, it is a grisly, spooky presence, restlessly seeking someplace else to rest, to live. It’s roaming through deserts, waterless places. There was a popular belief that spirits liked water. So it is seeking that, and cannot find any. There is no place to rest. It could only be satisfied where it could bring about destruction. There is no new home. Finally, it goes back to the former residence, the former house. That “house” is a life that has been put in order. Swept. Dusted. Cleaned off inside. And the demon is just ecstatic. Overjoyed. Because the house is still empty. Nothing good or strong has come in to take the demon’s place. There is no better tenant. So once again, he recaptures the house, taking renewed possession. And this time, to insure that he won’t lose his occupancy again, he calls for help of some allies – 7 friends, 7 more demons to live with him. And each, Jesus tells us, is worse than the other ones. The house, the man, the life falls again as easy prey. “And the final condition of the man becomes worse than the first.”
Now, what does this strange parable about an empty house or haunted house have to say about my life? Your life?
Three things:
1) In this time in which we live, before Jesus comes again, evil can be conquered, but never destroyed.
Notice what happened. The unclean spirit is driven away, but not destroyed. It is not exterminated. It won’t be until the final judgment when that will take place. That will be when in Revelation 20:10, John says “The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
But we are not there yet. It has not happened. Our age is still the age of 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” That’s our time. We know it’s true, don’t we? It doesn’t let up. We conquer some temptation in a certain area of our life. Then before we know it, here’s another one coming at us. It is just a never-ending struggle, battle. Thanks be to God that through Jesus we’re assured of the victory, but there’s still all kinds of skirmishes along the way. So, in our age, we can conquer evil and even banish it, but we cannot destroy it. God will do that later!
2. Negative religion can never be enough. If your religion is only a system of “Don’t do that” or Don’t do this,” it is doomed to fail. If all you think about is Christianity is a religion that says “Thou shalt not,” and “Don’t do this,” your following a religion that is not of the Bible. People try to live it that way, and have a miserable time at it. They spend their whole life following negative commands. Who wants a parent that the only word the child ever hears is “No. No.” What if for 21 years of your life, as you are growing up, the only word from your father’s lips was “No!”? What kind of father would that be? What kind of life would you have? (I know some of you teenagers think that’s the only word you hear. But if you listen again, you’ll hear some other ones.) Why is it that a religion of just “You shall not” won’t work?
Well. “You shall not” prevents action, but gives nothing to take its place. For example, take an alcoholic. He’s reformed. He decides that he will never again visit the local tavern. But now he must find something else to do. He needs something else to fill up his time, to fill up an empty house. If he doesn’t, he’ll slide so quick back to the old ways.
A negative religion, or a negative faith cannot work. It won’t last. That’s what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 1:19, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus, Timothy and I, was not ‘Yes and No,” but in Him it is always “YES.” Christianity is always giving us things to do. That brings us to the third and last point.
3. The only permanent cure for evil is to find the proper replacement. Empty houses never stay empty. The dust will gather in the corners. Rats will gnaw at the floorboards. A ghost slams the door. You see, evil spirits look in the window of an empty house and laugh!
What do you do when there’s time on your hands? How do you spend your free time? How did you spend it this past week? What do you do when you’re alone, with nothing to do? Do you seek out something encouraging for yourself, for someone else? Do you spend those moments with God? Or are you like a man in Detroit. He had retired at age 65. Then from 65 to 71, he spent every day playing the card game Solitaire. He played 132,000 games and had kept records of all of them. He proudly would show any visitor to his home 6 ledger books where he kept all the figures. What do you do when you’re bored? Let me tell you what Diana did. She was 16 years old. Lived in Houston, Texas. One day she ambushed and killed her 14 year old brother Robert with a .22 rifle. Why? Why such a crazy action from a pretty little 16 year old blond girl? She gave the answer, “Because nothing exciting ever happens around here.” Then, during the trial, it was brought out that she had also planned to kill her father, her mother and then herself. She was tired of the boredom. She was tired of the weariness and dreariness of life. She could find nothing to fill up the emptiness.
What’s been filling up your life lately? Is it the bread of life given to those who are spiritually hungry? Is the way, the truth and the life given to those who are truly seeking? Is it the ‘resurrection and the life’ given to the one who never wants to die? Is it the “true light that enlightens every man” given to the one who is afraid of true darkness?
What do you place in those hours, those moments, in that time that only passes your way once, and then you’ll never see it again? Not one of us was made to be self-sufficient, or independent, or master of our own soul. We were created to belong to someone. We are restless until we find Him. There’s only one that satisfies, that fits – Jesus, from Nazareth, Son of God, God in the flesh. He wants to come into your life this morning. He wants to become the center of your existence. He wants you to repent. “Repentance” is something like exorcism. We allow God to expel the demon of self-centeredness. It is a turning away. But it is also a turning to.
If this parable of the haunted house says anything at all, it is saying, “It is not enough to be freed from the power of Satan. You must also come under the rule of God. That’s where you confess Jesus as Lord, and you’re buried with him in baptism, and you then allow him to call the shots. He’s the coach. He’s the Master. Gertrude Stein went to Paris. She met some intellectuals there, and wrote about them later. She said, “They seemed to suffer from a nothingness.” We could have also put in there the word “Emptiness.” Theirs was a house that was perhaps well furnished with nice things. Maybe it was even swept and put in order. But inside there was no occupant. No Spirit of God is living there. Is that your house this morning? If it is, there may be some unclean spirits peering in through the window. Maybe they are already inside. Won’t you come to Jesus today? Let’s stand and sing.