Embedded Files
Matthew 12
NIV
43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
The Message
43-45 “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.
“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”
Other passages referenced in the sermon: Romans 8:1-4, 10-17; Titus 2:11-14; John 15:4-5; Proverbs 3:32.
A House in Order . . .
Who doesn't like to have an orderly house? In fact there are some who just seem to thrive on cleaning out and throwing things away. Others, perhaps not so much. We have probably lived with both at one time or another - or been one of those people. Nothing quite like an orderly house! Nothing like moving into a new house. You know that new house feeling! Or that newly cleaned house feeling! A place for everything and everything in its place. But the truth is, it is sometimes not so much what you take out of the house (though that is a good thing), but who moves in, that makes the greatest difference.
What moves in? What is it like to live there? What Kingdom reigns in this new home? Jesus talks to a group of people who had moved into a new house following the exile. The temple had been rebuilt. The religious leaders were all about cleaning out and keeping it clean. But they had not allowed the Kingdom to move in. In fact, when he King came, they had no place for Him. It's not just what you take out, and keep out, that matters - but who or what moves in.
That's what Pastor Jon explores with us this morning as he explores with us these words of Jesus. The problem of working hard to look good and take things out, but never getting around to letting God move in. Maybe the good news is not as much about having a clean house as much as it is about Who lives there?
If you would like to listen to the sermon once again, or maybe for the first time, you can access our sermon library here. Or, if you prefer, access our livestream version of the entire service here.
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