The Unclean Spirit Returns Home

Transcript

anyway we're going to uh be looking at this passage here Matthew chapter 12 verses 43 and 45. in my Bible it says an unclean Spirit returns

um

so I'm just going to read it and we're I'm sure we're all very familiar with this it says when an unclean Spirit goes out of a man

he goes through Dry places seeking rest and finds none then he says I will return to my house from which I came and when he comes he finds it empty swept and put in order 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 so shall it also be with this wicked generation

and I would I would think uh traditionally at least from my experience the way I've always taken this parable of Christ is

um there are certain things in our lives that we want to get out of our Lives it might be a habit uh it might be um an addiction it might be a behavior and we want to get that out of our lives and we might go quite a stretch where we've been able to remove it from our lives you know whether it's anger or drinking

um

but we've always sort of take I've always taken this Parable as if we don't put something into our lives

um that habit or behavior is going to come back and it's going to come back with full force and it's going to be worse than it was at the beginning and I don't know if that's the way you've taken it but that's the way I've always thought of this passage

um and I think that's I think there is that lesson there I think that's a good lesson to learn and I think there's a truth there but I also think that there's much more to this Parable that Jesus speaks

and so um

let's just look at the context of this Parable and and just like so much of scripture there's there's all these layers to it and I think that description I gave of the way I've traditionally looked at this that's an example of one layer and and as I said there's there's truth there but then we peel back some of those layers and I think what Christ was getting at was was much deeper and it not only reached the audience who was in front of him but it was also a message for us today and a much more powerful message

so just the context of chapter 12 where Jesus gives this Parable and you can see throughout Matthew chapter 12 Jesus is wrestling with the Pharisees so just open up your Bibles to to Matthew 12. and it starts off with that story we know that um in verse 1 at that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat and when the Pharisees sought they said to him look your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath and so the Pharisees are upset you know the Sabbath laws are being broken there they're grinding that grain in their hands they're doing work on the Sabbath and they're looking at Jesus and they're saying you've got to do something about this these are your disciples

and of course Jesus responds to them

and he gives them some lessons and some examples and he's really working with the Pharisees

you know that's one of the beautiful things and we'll see about the Pharisees is that Jesus doesn't give up on them you know he's working with them for three years and probably before that as well because they were close they were so close and some of them as we know did accept Jesus

um but there's the first example of him wrestling with the Pharisees in this chapter the next one is in verses 9 through 14. where it says uh starting verse 9. now when he had departed from there he went into their synagogue and behold there was a man who had a withered hand and they asked him saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath that they might accuse him

and of course Jesus once again gives them a lesson about this and he works with them and he heals on the Sabbath and so once again the Pharisees are upset you're working on the Sabbath what are you doing you're breaking all the laws

um and it would have been very difficult and you could see the the Pharisees were wrestling with it as well here's this man he can do things that no one else can do he clearly has a power

um but he's he's going against what we we believe is true what we what they would say what we know is true and so what do they do uh in verse 22 they say well he's got these Powers it must be an evil power it must be from Beelzebub that's allowing him to do these things we can't deny he just healed someone but maybe the motives are evil

um we see that in verse 22. then one was brought to him who was demon-possessed blind and mute and he healed him so that the Blind and mute man both spoke and saw and all the multitudes were amazed and said could this be the son of David now in the Pharisees heard it they said this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub the ruler of demons and once again Jesus and we're not getting into how we dis dismantles their arguments uh because that's not the point but we see that he works with them again and he he really does take their argument and show that it's completely foolish

so he continues to wrestle with the Pharisees and they continue to wrestle with him and then we get to uh verse 38 it says then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered saying teacher we want to see a sign from you okay they want to see a sign and and that's quite interesting what he tells them he tells them about Jonah and and the men of Nineveh and he says in verse 41 he says the men of Nineveh will rise up in the Judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah okay so there's a lesson he's teaching the Pharisees

you want to sign look to the men of Nineveh they repented okay that's that's a lesson right there for the Pharisees that he's trying to get across the second one comes in verse 42 because he gives another example you want to sign verse 42 the queen of the South will rise up in the Judgment with this generation and condemn it for she came from the ends of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon

so I think with the another lesson for the Pharisees as he's wrestling with them and they're wrestling with him he says the men of Nineveh repented and secondly the queen of the South thirsted to be filled with wisdom from the ends of the Earth she came she wanted to be filled with the wisdom you know Godly wisdom righteousness

and then he gets into this parable

okay so I believe that this is a parable that was directed to the Pharisees but also there's a lesson for us and what sort of caught my attention

uh back in I think it was January when we were doing the readings is this statement at the very end of it

where he says and the last state of that man is worse than the first so shall it also be with this Wicked generation so this Parable he's giving he's talking to this generation and in the context of chapter 12 as we've seen he's working with the Pharisees he's wrestling with him he's trying to bring them into the light

and so what I want to do is look at this little passage and what was what was he saying to the Pharisees what was he trying to get them to realize

okay um

so let's just let's just take a pause from from that for a second

um and let's think if you were a Jew living around the time of Jesus maybe before Jesus maybe during him or just after

um and you were in history class and they were you know you're in high school and you're paying attention and you're learning about the history of the Jews I think there's two things that would stand out about your history number one you have a very troubled history and so I've just listed some of the things on that slide you know they're in the wilderness and there was there was all that rebellion and they ended up 40 years in the wilderness

there was the judges the cycle of oppressors and then there'd be a judge that came along but then there'd be another oppressor and then there was the Assyrians and then the Babylonians and then the medes and the Persians and the Greeks and now the Romans

and they might ask like why why is our past so troubled why do we keep getting sent out and then we end up sort of coming back and then we get sent out again and why are we so oppressed what's going on here so that's one thing you would probably take away from your history lesson the other is

guys we're still around like this is a miracle that the Jewish people are still around

um but I think that question would be important you know why such a troubled history and so they go to their Bibles

and try to find out the answers and I've written down a number of passages there we're just going to look at two we could turn to Isaiah 5. um

you know why is our our past so troubled clearly because we're still around we're a blessed people God obviously has his eyes on us like go back and and look at those the Assyrians the Babylonians the medes the Persians the Greeks the Romans

and then we can continue on but how come they have not been able to either assimilate us so they there's no sign of us around or absolutely destroy us why is that

but why do we also have such a troubled history and I think the answer that they would come to is in Matthew Chapter 5 or I mean Isaiah chapter five sorry um verse this is just one example verse 24. through 26 where it says therefore as the fire devours the stubble and the Flames consume the cha so their root will be as rottenness and their Blossom will Ascend like dust because here's the why because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel

therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people he is stretched out his hand against them and stricken them and the hills tremble in their their carcasses were as refuge in the midst of the streets

for all his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still

and so they look at this troubled past and they say oh it's

because we've rejected Our God we've rejected his law and in Deuteronomy chapter just one other passage we'll look at is that bottom one Deuteronomy chapter 28 and God told them early on

uh what the curses would be if they were disobedient

um Deuteronomy 28 verse 15 but it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully as Commandments and his statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you then when you read through the curses you know being scattered was one of them

okay

so

go back to the time of Jesus and you're a Pharisee

what would be your response

to realizing the reason we're having this troubled history is we keep abandoning God's laws we we cast them aside we don't consider them we don't live them well I think their response is well if the problem has been rejecting the law the Pharisees would become the strict observers of the law and if we do that if we can be very strict observers of the law because that's been the problem then we'll be blessed and when we're blessed Messiah will come and we won't be cast out the Romans will be cast out

and I think this is the the thinking that's going on um and there was different groups and I think I was listening to a podcast that Jason Hensley was the podcast is a little faith

um and he's talking about a book that he just wrote and in it he said you know the Pharisees for people living at that time if you were trying to be a god believer the Pharisees were probably your best option

um zealots well if you're into violence you could be a zealot a herodian if you're into sort of going with the culture and and living it up you know maybe the herodians

um the essenes if you're okay with living in a cave off in the desert maybe that's your best choice but really the Pharisees

you know we're we're trying

to to to deal with the problem that kept this troubled history uh from continuing

so their thought thinking was obedience this is the key will be strict obedient strictly obedient

and so what was it so if we go back to the that Parable that Jesus is is giving he says an unclean Spirit goes out of a man

he goes through Dry places seeking rest and finds none so what was that spirit that spirit that that was causing all these problems that the Pharisees removed so hopefully you're still in Isaiah chapter 5. we read verses 24 through 25. but right before it

um Isaiah gives seven woes

we're gonna go through those seven woes because I think these are the woes the Pharisees look back and they said the problem is disobedience

um we read that in Isaiah 5 and we also see what the character that God was upset with

so here is in Isaiah 5. we'll go through these fairly quickly in verse 8 the first woe woe to those who join house to house they add field to field Till There is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land and it goes on a little bit but basically you have the spirit of greed

um you know I have a note in my Bible there was no Jubilee restoration things didn't go back to their the rightful heirs they just kept adding to themselves

uh verse 11. woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink who continue until night so wine inflames them the harp and the strings and the so you get this idea of drunkards of of indulgence of partying

and so this is another thing the Pharisees I think we're eager

to to rid themselves of

if we go down to verse 18 woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as as if with a cart rope

let that say let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the Council of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come that we may know it and I remember I gave a Bible class in Boston and I for some reason when I thought of it I thought of it as this self-deception that these people genuinely thought you know what let's let's bring the Messiah because everything's going away can't wait till the Messiah comes and they were they were self-deceived I now look at it as a little bit different I look at it as more scoffing

you know this this greediness this drunkard the this Indulgence and they're sort of unrepentant and they're like yeah sort of like and Peter says scoffers will come in the end days oh yeah bran you know let them make speed hasten his work so I read it with a bit of mocking and sarcasm you know let the Council of the Holy One of Israel draw near

okay so so here's another spirit that they wanted to get rid of in verse 20 woe to those who call evil good and good evil who put Darkness for light and light for Darkness bitter for sweet and Sweet for bitter so there's this corruption there they're twisting truths

uh verse 21. woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight so there's a pride about them and then verse 22 there's two woes there woe to men Mighty at drinking wine woe to men Valiant for mixing intoxicating drink who justify the wicked for a bride and take away the Justice from the righteous man so there's this this drunkenness this lack of discernment and it it's mixed with this uh un uh being unjust

um and so I believe

that the Pharisees looking back

saying okay our history is is troubled because we're disobedient to God and there's this Spirit of disobedience

and the Pharisees were adamant I believe and strict about getting rid of that unclean spirit

so then Along Comes Jesus

and the Pharisees are noticing some things about Jesus you know he's getting quite a following uh around him

but he seems to have this disregard for the law from their perspective

um he has this disregard for Sabbath

you know it mentions that he they notice he's associating with Sinners and with tax collectors uh in Luke 7 verse 34 they they comment that he's a glutton you know an excessive drinker

think about the spirit in Isaiah 5 that they are trying to remove from their lives and there from their perspective they're looking at Jesus and from as I say from their perspective they're saying everything we're trying to to remove from our lives this man seems to be you know cozying up to it and we see in John Chapter 11 sort of their thinking here

in John chapter 11 verse 45 through 48. it says the many of the Jews who had come to Mary

um

sorry

yeah I'm the right spot many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him

okay so that's causing some concern with the Pharisees but some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did

then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered to counsel and said what shall we do for this man Works many signs if we let him alone like this everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation we'll be back where we started you know that that history of that troubled history of being cast out and being you know rejecting God's laws and we're trying to follow his laws so that Messiah will come and this man's wrecking it they saw this Spirit of Disobedience they felt it was in Christ

and they thought they'd be crushed again

Okay so

back in Matthew chapter 12. so Jesus says in verse 43 when an unclean Spirit goes out of a man so he's saying to the Pharisees you remove that unclean spirit

right it went out of a man and it goes through Dry places seeking rest and finds none

then he says I will return to my house from which I came and when he comes he finds it empty swept and put in order

and I think this is one of these situations where Jesus is giving this this Parable to them and later on in Matthew 23 we're going to see some of these things come up again and it's going to Echo their minds hopefully back to this little parable

and once again like I say he's working with the Pharisees he's trying to connect the dots for them but just a couple of of words that come up he says I will return to my house and that that word is Oikos and uh in Matthew 23 and we'll go there in a little bit

um and he's at the temple I believe he says see your house is Left To You desolate

you know that Spirit went back and the house was desolate it also uses the word empty scolazo which which can mean void of Labor and it's interesting in Matthew 23 when he's talking about the Pharisees he says but they themselves will not move he talks about them loading up other people with with

um uh maybe I get the right words he says for they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers you know just this this absence of Labor they're making everybody else work hard but they themselves would not work and so this house is empty of Labor

and he also mentions that it was put in order I think the King James says it was garnished that right and that's the word cosmia which is

referred to uh in the temple when the disciples are looking at the huge stones and he says look at the temple how it was adorned with beautiful stone stones that word adorned is the same word put in order

um cosmeo so I think Jesus is trying to link them

um that your house your temple the things that you're trying to clean out of an unclean spirit it's empty there's nothing here you're not working and I I was sort of thinking it in the context of

the Pharisees seemed to focus on sin management

now let's manage the sin instead of working on character development

and I think about that when I'm teaching you know I'm so busy about okay you can't do this and you can't do that and I'm always trying to manage disobedience in the class you know and having rules for everything and I never really am able to take a lot of time to develop character you know these are the characters we want to employ these are the characters we want to display we want to live and I can spend you know so much time on sort of sin Management in my classroom but it's devoid of building anything and I think that's the situation the Pharisees got themselves in they're so busy with rules and laws and and traditions that they had to follow that they weren't really building anything the house was empty everything looked good it was adorned but there wasn't any growth

I Think Jesus is trying to get them to that point

but then we get to verse 45 and the spirit comes back

it's empty it's swept whether we look at that as the temple or their lives put in order then he goes and takes with them 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 so what is this talking about he goes and takes with him seven other spirits

well I think this is where we go to Matthew chapter 23. where Jesus gives just like Isaiah gave seven woes

Jesus gives

seven woes in Matthew chapter 23. seven with an asterisk which I will explain in a second

so let's go through these in Matthew chapter 23 because yes the Pharisees did seem to remove a certain type of spirit

but eventually because they weren't developing character they weren't developing The Godly character

worse things entered in and the first we see in verse 13 of Matthew 23 but woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites

for you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in so that's the first one they're blind Gatekeepers so you know a gatekeeper has a lot of power they get to decide who comes in and who doesn't come in and so Jesus is saying that there's this abuse of power they were abusing the power that they had

now

some versions have verse 14. woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you devour widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers therefore you will receive greater condemnation now it was funny because then when I was studying this some would say there were seven woes some would say there's eight and it all depends on verse 14 if you include it or you don't include it so it's not in any of the earlier manuscript manuscripts which is why some versions will leave it out but some versions do say well it's in later ones so they put it in

so

here's the two ways you could take it there's seven woes in in Isaiah

and if there's eight what was here you could say well Jesus did say that that Spirit came back with seven so there's eight now so you could you could play the math that way or you could just say well you know these are seven new and they make up a new spirit but I'm going to leave it out we're going to go to the verse 15. where it says woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you travel Land and Sea to win one proselyte and when he is one you make himself twice as much a son of hell as yourselves

okay so we have these blind instructors you know these empty teachings they weren't as we've mentioned a couple times now developing anything in people they were just developing people who could okay can't do this can't do that don't touch this don't touch that this day we don't do anything and there wasn't any development of character uh verse 16. woe to you blind guy to say whoever swears by the temple is nothing but whoever swears by the gold of the temple he's obliged to perform it fools and blind which is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold and whoever swears by the altar it is nothing but whoever swears by the gift that is on it he is obliged to perform it

and he can continues on but it seems like they had this system where they could they could manipulate situations by what they swore on well I don't have to keep that oath because I actually swore on this and I don't have to give uh you know that the gift to the parents korbon because I've already devoted it to this and you know it's all just this manipulation and so it was self-serving

and verse 23 woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you pay tithe of mint and ANSI and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law Justice and mercy and faith

so you see he's saying he's going through and he's listing all these spirits that have entered in now

in verse 25 woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence blind Pharisee first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also

just this inward corruption but this outward look of righteousness

in verse 27 woe two scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you were like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness

even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness

so that once again this outward righteousness but full of death

in the seventh well in verse 29 woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites because you build the tombs of the prophets and Adorn The Monuments of the righteous and say if we had lived in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets so just this idea that we're of a different Spirit we got rid of that Spirit we wouldn't have done those things

um

and so these seven new Spirits which were worse than the first

um uh come along and he mentions over and over hypocrites which

the word means a play actor you know you're playing the part

you know and you think of acting and they play the part but inwardly they don't actually change so if they play a certain part it's not like they're developing their character to become that person it's just it's just a performance

and that's what he saw the Pharisees as being empty of character

okay and so as Jesus says in that Parable and they enter and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first

so the old Spirit the one we read of uh in Isaiah 5. this this Spirit of disobedience of just almost the flippant

you know casting aside the laws of God the Commandments the statutes just saying you know what we're not interested in that we're interested in getting what we can for ourselves we're interested in in drunkenness and pride and mocking and scoffing those who are trying to be righteous there was this

unrepentant attitude

and then Jesus in Matthew chapter 23 is showing the seven spirits that came in because they didn't do anything when they had emptied everything out and this new spirit I'd call it self-righteousness

and in a way it's all the old you know it's still a spirit of disobedience

but it's more deceptive I think this is why it's worse than the first it's deceptive it has an appearance of godliness

but it's still a spirit of disobedience

and so what what I want to look at oh and then of course he ties it up Matthew 23 verse 36. at the end of those seven woes he says surely I say to you all these things will come upon this generation

and maybe that would have echoed in their minds back to that Parable he gave in Matthew chapter 12. where he says so shall it also be with this wicked generation

um

and so what I wanted to look at just because I I don't think it was just a lesson he wasn't just trying to get to the Pharisees and and sort of shaking them by the shoulders saying you know yes

you emptied out a certain type of spirit but you let something in that's far worse

I think he's saying the same things to us beware of self-righteousness because it I don't know I I personally find it can seep in in so many ways and you don't even know you're doing it sometimes you know quite often in school

uh we'll be sitting in the staff room and we'll be talking about a student and some of the things that maybe we see in their lunch or some of the behaviors and we we say things about the parents and it's like just this self-righteousness like we don't know what those parents are going through we don't know what their past has been like the things that they've had to go through what their parents were like the poverty they might be enduring they abuse they like it's just it's so easy to fall into

um and so just a couple of ways

that self-righteousness is so dangerous

uh number one it tricks us into thinking we're healthy when really we're sick and we see that in Luke 5 verse 31 to 32 where Jesus answered and said to them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick I have not come to call the righteous but Sinners to repentance

okay and and as I mentioned one of those messages that Jesus had for them was the men of Nineveh will rise up in the Judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented right and the Pharisees in their self-righteousness wouldn't come to repentance we're healthy we don't need a physician uh and it can happen to us as well we get to a point where we sometimes fail to recognize how sick we are

another danger of self-righteousness

is that it prevents us from Desiring God's righteousness right we become full of ourselves

uh we rely on the Flesh and that's what Paul talks about Philippians 3 verse 9. he says not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God through faith this is what he was Desiring

um just in context I believe that in Philippians 3 he's just gone through you know I had a I had a righteousness that came through the flesh

um where he talks about um

verse 3 for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh the Y also might have confidence in the flesh if anyone thinks he may have confidence in the flesh I am more so circumcised The Eighth Day the stock of Israel of The Tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee concerning Zeal persecuting the church it's like I I had Leslie righteousness righteousness of my own and he's saying it's worthless

but if we have self-righteousness we fail to see that we need God's righteousness

um

we failed to desire it

just the Third Way and there are many others I don't want to go on too long but just self-righteousness creates condemnation instead of compassion and I sort of gave that example of of when we're in the staff room and some of the conversations that go on and it can happen in our meetings it can happen in our families at the dinner table

if if we're cutting people down that's a sure sign where we're

suffering from self-righteousness right it's it just makes it easy to lower people below ourselves

and when Jesus in Luke chapter 7 went into the Pharisees house says now in the Pharisee I believe it was Simon when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he spoke to himself saying this man if he were a prophet would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him for she's a sinner so instead of having compassion for her you know and seeing that she and now has an opportunity to be with Christ it was a it was a spirit of condemnation of lowering people and so those are just three examples of how that that those seven spirits that came in after were much more dangerous having a a

look of being righteous of being Godly but far from it

so what type of spirit is desired

and Jesus leaves No Doubt and what is desired and so I I just stuck in the Book of Luke and I came up with seven because we seem to have a pattern of seven here the seven woes of Isaiah seven woes in Matthew 23. well how about seven blessings right and so here's what we need to develop and there's more than seven but this is just what I came up with the obedience of the Builder on the Rock and Luke 6. The Compassion of the Good Samaritan the faithfulness of the good servant

uh in Luke 12 the humility of the guest at the lowest table

the Gratitude of the leper giving glory to God remember the one leper who came back the persistence and prayer of the Widow the generosity of the Widow with two mites like Jesus leaves no doubt of what we should be filling ourselves with and do you notice it's all character development you know developing obedience and compassion and faithfulness and humility and gratitude and persistence in prayer and generosity when I was discussing the Bible classes with Rachel she suggested that we go to Galatians 5. you know this is the fruit of that kind of a spirit that God desires you know love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control

now these are the things that that we want to develop and if we develop this kind of a spirit we don't have to worry about Sin management so much do we because no longer do we want to do those things you know we don't need a lot for that that's the furthest thing from my mind

uh and I think that's what uh Jesus was getting at

so hopefully

um when you read verses 43 to 45 we can peel back a few more layers and see that Jesus's message

was much more powerful for the Pharisee if they were able to listen to it

you know if they indeed were able to repent and if they were willing to fill themselves

um with the wisdom that comes from God they would be on a much better path

so the conclusions you know getting rid of the unclean Spirit was good the Pharisees were on the right track there

filling it with the spirit of self-righteousness that focused on sin management rather than character development was worse

the new wine the new spirit that we put in requires new wine skins now people who have have died to the flesh people reborn in the newness of Christ then we can begin that development and as we just looked at Jesus clearly illustrates the spirit that is desired