ESCAPE FROM THE EVIL EMPIRE (2): REFORMATION OR

TRANSFORMATION
(Luke 11:24-28)
March 29, 2015
Intro (Read Luke 11:24-28). Last week we saw that in the entire universe
of spiritual reality there are two kingdoms Gods kingdom of light and
Satans kingdom of darkness. Due to the Fall of Adam, we are all born into the
kingdom of darkness Satans evil empire. David says in Psa 51:5, In sin
did my mother conceive me. The tendency toward evil goes back a long
ways in all of us, and it takes Gods grace to remove us from the evil empire
and sustain us in His kingdom. Five principles derive from this passage.
Evil Does Not Cast Out Evil The Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out
demons by the power of the Devil. But Jesus shows the absurdity of that idea.
Evil does not cast out evil, neither before nor after salvation.
II.
Victory Requires a Savior a stronger man Jesus.
III.
Neutrality is Fatal Everyone must choose a side.
Today we look at two more principles. They contrast the two main ways
people try to move from darkness to light. The first is by moral reformation;
the second by spiritual transformation. Moral reformation sounds good, but
it does not work. Its like the ad a woman wrote for a motivational seminar. I
turned my life around 360! She was not aware that a 360 turn would
leave her right back where she started! So does moralism. Moral reformation
is outward. Spiritual transformation starts inward moving outward. Moral
reformation is our work. Spiritual transformation is Gods work. Lets look
more closely.
IV.

Its Not About Moral Reformation

Jesus critics suggest He casts out demons by Satanic power. But Jesus shows
that would mean Satan working against himself not a likely scenario. He
then represents Satan as a strong man, but himself as a stronger man invading
enemy territory and releasing people held captive to demonic possession.
But now He raises a fascinating scenario. He proposes someone might be
freed from demon possession, only to be re-invaded with the result that the
last state of that person is worse than the first (v. 26). That dire warning ought
to capture our undivided attention. What could lead to such a tragedy? Jesus
answer seems a bit bizarre. V. 24, When the unclean spirit has gone out of a
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person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it
says, I will return to my house from which I came. Unclean spirit is a
common NT designation for demons, fallen angels, whose moral character is
unclean perverse in the extreme. Confirmed in sin with no way out.
Jesus pictures the case where a demon has left perhaps voluntarily, perhaps
cast out. Maybe even by Jesus. Now, this demon passes through waterless
places seeking rest. There are as many guesses as commentators on the
meaning of this phrase. My best guess is that waterless places speaks of
arid, dry, desert-like, fruitless locations. Since demons impact our world thru
bodies, I think Jesus is suggesting that the quest of this demon to find
another body from which to exercise its malignancy turns up empty. It
comes up dry -- fails to find a suitable landing place.
So, it decides, I will return to my house from which I came. Note that it
calls the place from which he came MY house. Though it left, it has not
given up ownership. Thats the key. So, it returns. V. 25-26, 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.
Swept and put in order speaks of moral reform. So, the parable depicts a
demon-possessed person from whom the demon is gone on its own or cast
out. The person now goes about cleaning up his or her life. He turns over a
new leaf, puts aside the lying and cheating and bad habits and destructive
addictions. He resolves to live a better. Sweeps out and puts in order.
But theres a problem. While this life has been swept clean of some of the evil
habits and destructive behaviors, nothing has replaced those. There has been
no heart change. The demon is gone, but God was not invited in. This is just
the old selfishness in another guise. This is moral reformation, but it will fail
in the end. Why? Because there has been no change in ownership! This goes
back to the third principle No neutrality. We are either for Christ, having
submitted to His Lordship or we are against him, in which case the demon
can walk right back in. The illusion of personal autonomy is just that an
illusion. We do have a will but it either puts us in Jesus camp or Satans
camp. The Me camp actually is Satans camp. He owns you. Satan does
not need to possess you; all he needs is you to possess you.
Now by way of application, we dont see much demon possession in our
culture. But our enemies are not different the world, the flesh and the devil.
Salvation isnt just about being better; its about having a new owner! Turn to
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Lu 17 Jesus sends 10 lepers to the priest and they find themselves healed on
the way. But look what happens! Lu 17:15, Then one of them, when
he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and
he fell on his face at Jesus feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
17
Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was
no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? 19 And
he said to him, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well. Every
English version translates has made you well. But thats not what the
original says. It says your faith has saved you same as Eph 2:8,
For by grace you have been saved through faith. That man was healed the
moment Jesus sent him to the priest, but of the 10, he was the only one saved
from his sin --the only one cleansed outside and inside. He had a change in
ownership. It was the inward change that drove the outward expression of
thanksgiving.
Some have felt Jesus was speaking to the nation as a whole in Lu 11. Idolatry
was in their DNA for hundreds of years in the OT. God eventually cast that
demon out by sending them into Babylonian captivity. When they returned,
they never again, as a nation, went back to idols. That demon was gone. But
they had never returned to the true God. They were sitting ducks for the
moral reformation of the Pharisees. They assiduously kept their version of
the Law, but never returned to God on His terms. The nation was about to
reject their own Messiah and so the last state was worse than the first. Well,
all of that is an appropriate application, but that is not Jesus main point here.
This parable is aimed at individuals. He is warning that you cannot reform
yourself and escape the power of the Enemy. The stronger man must do that,
do you see? The evil must be replaced, not by good, but by God. Reformed
behavior counts, but must be out of love that we have Him, not in an effort to
get Him. Franz Kafka wrote The Trial. The protagonist, Josef, wakes up happy
on his 30th birthday only to find the police at his door placing him under house
arrest. But no one will tell him whats hes under arrest for. In his mind, there
is nothing; hes innocent. Morally upright. But with nothing else to do, he
begins to examine himself. What has he done? Little by little he remembers
dishonesties, lies he told, times when he cut corners, misrepresented things,
failed to help someone in need. The more he thinks, the more his sense of
anxiety and guilt builds and builds until he has condemned himself.
Eventually, his guard takes him out to a quarry and he looks up. He sees a
figure far in the distance standing on a balcony with arms outstretched. He
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thinks, Finally, someone with open arms instead of closed. Someone with
mercy who will understand. Hes finally at the end of himself. But just as he
reaches his hand up, the guard stabs him through the heart. Kafka says, He
died like a dog. Thats how the book ends. Nice book, huh? But that
represents the end of every effort at moral reformation, Beloved. Death. Even
at our dead level best, we all have enough evil inside to condemn us.
Something someone must replace the evil. We can never escape the empire
of Satan by our own efforts. But the good news, there is someone with arms
outstretched outstretched in death on the cross to pay our penalty and now
outstretched waiting for us to say Yes to his lordship. The stronger one is our
only hope of escape from Satans hold.
The same principle applies to our new life in Christ. We cannot lose our
salvation, and a true believer cannot be demon possessed, but we all give
ourselves inconsistently to our new owner. We have weaknesses of different
kinds that pull us back to the old lifestyle. Addictions and idols weve given
up beckon us. And if we consign our Lord to some corner of our life, trying to
fight it on our own, we will lose. It is only as the Lord becomes more
precious to us than the idol that we will have victory. Ownership has changed,
but we can be renting out space to the old inhabitants!
Well never overcome our addiction to things, drugs, alcohol abuse, worldly
ambition, advancement, whatever until we allow the HS access to every room
in our heart. Paul prays for believers in Eph 3:16, that according to the
riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through
his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith. Doesnt Christ already dwell in the heart of a believer? Yes
but He may be excluded from certain rooms. Victory is Jesus everywhere! We
need a new dose of the gospel every day of our lives.
Heres how it works. Tim Keller tells of a woman in his church who led a hard
life one criminal boyfriend after another. All violent. All abusive. But she
had to have a man. She became a Christian, but realized that she was still
inordinately attracted to men. Without a man she felt worthless. This idol was
had deep roots in her life. She went to a Xn counselor who told her, You need
to get over men. What you need is a job a career. That will make you
independent of men. But Keller says this is where she was brilliant. She told
Keller, Pastor, you know what? What that counselor was saying to me was,
get rid of your typical female idol (men) and go get a male idol (career). I
dont want to be driven by the goal to succeed at a career any more than I
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want to be driven by my need for a man. Thats perceptive, Beloved. Keller

asked, So what are you doing? She said, Col 3. Col 3:3 says your life is
hid with Christ in God. So, when I see a man looking at me, and I start
wanting to go flirt with him, under my breath and in my heart I say, Col
3:3 and I remind myself Id like to have a man, but that is not my life.
Christ is my life. Im not making men my life anymore. Men are the past;
Jesus is the present. This doesnt come overnight, Beloved. But this is how,
even as believers, we move Christ front and center to replace the idols of our
past. You dont replace evil with good; you replace evil with God.
V.

Its About Spiritual Transformation

27

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to
him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you
nursed! Lukes gospel more than any others shows the tenderness, love and
respect with which Jesus treated women and how they responded to Him.
This woman has been taking it all in. She had seen how wisely He answered
the charges of His enemies. She had observed how easily and naturally He
dealt with spiritual realities that are normally beyond human perception. And
in a society where a mother was valued by the accomplishments of her son,
she could not help but blurt out how blessed Jesus mother was what a credit
He was to her. She meant it as a great compliment, and He took it as such.
But He did not leave it there. He takes it to another level. He makes an
amazing observation that teaches a great truth. 28 But he said, Blessed rather
are those who hear the word of God and keep it! Jesus liked what she said.
He did not reprove her speech, but He improved it. There was a higher truth
applicable to all. Yes, it was a privilege to be Jesus mother. Yes, Mary was
greatly blessed by that physical connection and tie with Jesus. But her
blessedness did not consist exclusively in that physical tie. It did not even
consist primarily in that physical relationship. She was blessed primarily in
this she heard the word and did it. She listened to God and surrendered to
His will. And Jesus is saying That is the source of true blessing. Not that
she was my mother but that I am her Savior.
The last words out of Marys mouth after Gabriel announced to her that she
was about to become pregnant while a virgin with all the positive and
negative connotations of that were Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let
it be to me according to your word (Luke 1:38). She heard the word and she
did the Word. And she was far more blessed for that than for the fact that
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Jesus was her physical child. The physical tie was temporary; the spiritual
obedience was permanent. In her great hymn in Lu 1:46-47: My soul
magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Mary was far
more blessed that Jesus was her Savior than that He was her son.
Think of the implications. That means even though we never saw Jesus in the
flesh, we can be more blessed than those who did, if we hear and obey. Thats
how we move from Satans empire to Gods. That leads to permanent change
from the inside transformation rather than temporary change from the
outside reformation. Thats why Jesus says in Lu 8:21 when his mother and
brothers are seeking Him: My mother and my brothers are those who hear
the word of God and do it. The spiritual relationship is closer than the
physical. It is longer-lasting and it represents change from the inside. Paul
describes it in II Cor 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. It is not
reformation we need; its regeneration. That comes from hearing the Word
and doing it from committing to the lordship of Jesus. He tells us in Lu 9:23,
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me. The doing isnt some good work that we do; it is
nothing less than death to self so that He can make us alive to Him.
Conc Robt Morgan is a pastor who invited Mark Sloan, an alcoholic and
cocaine addict, to come and live with his family when he was ready to leave a
rehab center. For months, all went well. Mark got a job, got into church and
stayed sober. But then one morning, out of the blue, Mark disappeared. Years
of despair followed. Robert would find Mark in some despicable place, high,
hurting and spiraling downward. They would talk. Mark would promise to
reform. Then months with no word and the cycle would be repeated. It was a
nightmare, and all that Robert and his wife could do was pray.
One day, Robert found Mark in basement across town. He was in abject
despair hating his life, having tried everything he knew to overcome his
problem without success (moral reformation). His eyes were glazed over,
words slurred, resentful of Roberts presence and hopeless. He said, Theres
enough cocaine in this apartment to kill an elephant. My body cant stand
much more. A day or two, then itll be over. Youll forget about me in a few
weeks; well all be better off. Its meant to be just let it be. Its meant to
be. Further words seemed useless. But God brought a verse to mind. One of
the 31,173 bullets in the Bible. This one had Marks name on it as Robert
quoted II Pet 3:9: God is not wishing that any should perish, but that all
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should reach repentance. No sin is too great; no condition beyond His reach;
no case hopeless. Robert says, A flicker of hope registered in Marks eyes. It
was very faint, but unmistakable. I repeated the verse, and he listened as if
trying to grasp a straw blowing past him. Mark eventually grasped that
straw. He heard the word, and he believed it. God made him a new creation
transformed from the inside out to become the dedicated, long-sober Xn that
he is today. A drug addict as close to Christ as his own mother was.
Its not about moral reformation, Beloved. Thats a 360 turn right back to
where you started. Its about spiritual transformation. Theres got to be a
change in ownership. No one can remain neutral in this warfare. Each of us
must decide. The only way out submission to the greatness and lordship of
Jesus. Lets pray.