The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.

Luke 11:14-36 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible 

And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶ Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. ²² But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. ²³ He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷ While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” ²⁸ But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

³³ “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴ The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

In today’s text Jesus says:  “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”   This is a vital message and principle that the church today needs to understand and learn to fight against. In just my lifetime, it could certainly be said that the immorality that exists and is accepted and embraced by our society is at least seven times as bad as it was. Things that would not even have been mentioned in private, are now practiced and promoted in public. In Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus says:  “Upon this rock (the revelation and knowledge that Jesus is the Christ) I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  The church that Jesus is building needs to use the keys to the kingdom of heaven in our day. We need to understand the importance both of binding and loosing. When we bind immorality, we need to loose righteousness and morality. When we bind darkness, we need to loose light. We need to stop just fighting battles defensively and begin to fight offensively. We need to stop retreating from the darkness and begin to boldly and unashamedly shine forth light.  In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus says:  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  The church has failed to be salt; to preserve and to be the controlling aspect of the essence of our culture, and so, the church has been thrown out and trampled underfoot by people and our culture. The church has been content to hide the light of Christ within its own walls; concerned more with its right to worship than its commission to preach and make disciples, and so we are dealing with seven times more immorality than we were a generation ago.

The text says:  He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”  In John 13:35 Jesus says:  “By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”  The church has become so divided against itself, that rather than gathering with and for Christ, we are scattering. There is so much division in the church, even accusations of being on the side of the devil, that the world, people, do not know who the disciples of Christ are; nor do they want to be like them. The church needs to stop focusing on what divides and causes disagreements and come together on John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life;”  on Romans 10:9:  That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; on Matthew 28:19-20:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Because, as it says in Revelation 22:12-21:

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely…  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” 

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.