The stronger man

In this message, we explore the vital topic of spiritual freedom as it is presented in the challenging and transformative passage of Luke chapter 11.

In his Alpha talk about resisting evil, Nicky Gumble tells the story of one man’s reaction to the idea that there is a real, literal devil. The man says he’s had a hard enough time believing there’s a God; now you expect me to believe there’s a devil too?! He’s not alone. There are a lot of people who say they believe in God who do not believe there’s a devil.

There are a lot of professing Christians, too, who, though they would acknowledge, yes, there is a devil, yet for all practical purposes ignore the fact of his existence. And if one were to suggest that there are evil spirits, demons, active in the world today you might get a visit from somebody in a white coat.

So let me ask you a question: Was Jesus the omniscient Son of God? Did he really know what he was talking about? These are important questions, because Jesus believed there is a devil and he believed there are evil spirits, demons, at work in the world and at work to bring havoc to human lives. And that’s where we pick up our Bible passage this morning in Luke chapter 11.

“Jesus was driving out (or casting out) a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, ‘By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.’ Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.”

Luke 11:14 (NIV)

Whether the demon itself was mute or not is not the point; the point is that the demon caused the man to be mute and when it was cast out the man could speak. Jesus consistently occupied himself with setting people free from oppressions and anything that put them in bondage or made them captive to something hurtful.

Spiritual freedom was at the heart of his ministry; it was the inevitable result of the Kingdom of God crashing into the domain of darkness. As it says in Acts 10.38, as Peter is preaching in the household of Cornelius, he explains “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he (Jesus) went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

Apparently, Jesus’ accusers didn’t voice their idea because it says in verse 17 that “Jesus knew their thoughts…” and he answered their thoughts.

Here is what he told them.

i) Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and a house divided against itself will fall. So, if Satan (the devil) is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? Can I just paraphrase that like this? Do you think the devil would attack his own forces and deliberately ruin his own kingdom?

Now I want to put this to us: Do we understand how important it is that we as followers of the Lord appreciate and cultivate, even treasure the unity that God has given us? God’s Word is so encouraging along those lines. The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4.1-4 gives us an example:

“As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” What does that life look like? “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called…”

ii) The second thing Jesus suggested was that his accusers think about their own followers before they throw out accusations. “If I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.” It’s always uncomfortable for someone when they ‘condemn’ a thing and get found out being guilty of exactly that thing. So, Jesus says to them, before you accuse me of something, check your own back yard.

Some of your people are driving out demons. They will be the judges of your accusation. But he did not stop there; in fact, he didn’t even pause. He went straight on to the central point: “But, if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come to you.” And he goes on to explain the real situation, which is the third point.

iii) There is a conflict going on. There is a strong man guarding his own house, and his possessions are securely under his control.

That is the picture of Satan exercising his control over the lives of people. He controls people largely by his lies, but also through coddling human selfishness and pride and urging the indulgence of our carnal motives and desires. He afflicts people with all kinds of illnesses and then tells them to blame it on God, which of course is another lie. But Satan’s ultimate means of control over people is through their sin. It was Adam’s sin that gave the evil one his ability to interfere in the lives of people and it is sin that gives the enemy his ongoing ability to exercise control and domination in people’s lives even today.

Jesus is the stronger man

But, Jesus said, if a stronger man comes along and attacks and overpowers the first strong man, he takes away the means by which the strong man held his captives under his control. When he has done that, the stronger man takes away the other’s possessions. So Satan is the strong man, holding people in bondage to himself. And he tries to keep it that way through his arsenal of lies and accusations against God and by urging people to indulge their sinful appetites to the full.

The more people do that, the more tightly bound people become in the chains of the sin that controls them. But Jesus is the stronger man. When he drives out an evil spirit he is mounting a direct attack on the strong man’s house and overpowering it. In doing so he sets a captive free. But something deeper is at work here.

“If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come to you,” Driving out the evil spirit was an indicator of the coming of the Kingdom of God. Satan’s kingdom is about keeping people in bondage. The Kingdom of God is about setting people free. But the Kingdom of God is about much more than setting a person free from an earthly bondage. The Kingdom of God is about setting a person free for eternity.

Luke 10 records Jesus sending out seventy disciples… when they came back, they were pumped that demons were subject to them through Jesus name. The Lord’s response is very revealing. He affirmed their authority over the evil spirits (Luke 10.19) but then he pointed them to the more significant reality.

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10.20). This is the ultimate priority, the ultimate goal and the ultimate source of joy: Eternal life. Our names are written in heaven. It is our position in Christ, our names written in heaven, that gives us authority over any of the power of Satan and his demons. It’s not who we are, but who Christ is in us!

Now, after having said what he said previously, Jesus relates a story immediately after that in verses 24-26 of Luke chapter 11: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places looking for rest. Not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house where I came from. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and garnished. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and settle there. And that man’s last condition becomes worse than the first.”

Two things are at issue here: Ownership and Occupancy.

There is a profound, sobering insight here that we must not overlook. When Jesus describes the house as “empty, swept, and garnished,” he is warning against the dangers of moralism without the Master. It is possible to “clean up” one’s life—to stop the bad habits, to sweep away the visible sins, to garnish the exterior with religious decorum—without ever inviting Christ to take up residence. This is a crucial distinction in the pursuit of spiritual freedom.

Freedom is not merely the absence of bondage; it is the presence of the King. If we only empty the house of sin but fail to fill it with the Holy Spirit, we leave a vacuum that the enemy will inevitably seek to occupy. Real spiritual freedom is found only when the heart transitions from being a house that is simply “cleaned” to a home that is permanently “occupied” by the Spirit of the Living God.

1. First thing. The evil one still claims ownership. The first most important thing anybody can ever do is refute that claim. The way we do that is to surrender the ownership and control of our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6.20). When Jesus died on the cross and he poured out his blood for our salvation, he paid the legal price for every man woman and child who ever lived or ever will. Legally, we belong to him. But the freedom that God has granted to our wills makes it so that until we sign over the title deed of our life to Jesus, we are still under the ownership of the evil one. So, when the evil one comes and says, “This is my house,” we need to declare, emphatically: “No, it’s not your house! I belong to Jesus! Bought and paid for by his blood shed on Calvary’s cross!”
2. The second thing is “In what condition is the house?” Jesus describes it in Matthew 12.44 as being “empty, swept, and garnished”.

The house might be swept; it might be tidy and it might be well decorated. But it’s empty. Sweeping is not enough. We need to be washed from our sins in the blood of Jesus. Tidy and decorated with religious behavior is not enough. There needs to be complete renovation.

“Born again” the Bible calls it. Worst of all — empty. Jesus needs to be inside. He comes by invitation. The Holy Spirit needs to be inside. We need to fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God and we need to ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, so when that unclean spirit comes back he finds not ‘his house’ but a ‘Jesus’ house’ — our lives not only under new ownership, but under new occupancy. Jesus lives here now and this house is full of him!

The unclean spirit might come back and try to claim ownership, but if the house is occupied by Christ in you, then the same stronger man who drove evil out in the first place is present to keep evil out when it returns attempting to make a claim. Satan has one purpose — to steal, kill and destroy. He exercises his power through lies, intimidation, accusation and deception, but ultimately through sin. He is the strong man.

But Jesus is the stronger man. He died for our sins and he rose for our salvation. He defeated sin, Satan, death and hell. And he — Jesus — has the authority and the ability not only to forgive our sins, but also to break every chain that the enemy ever put upon our life.

You can be free. And you can be full. And you can stay that way. The Bible says in I John 3.8, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Jesus is ‘the stronger man’; he is able to do it and he is able to do it for you and me today!

May we pray.