Word of Salvation – Vol.12 No.33 – August 1966
Swept Houses And Unclean Tenants
Sermon by Rev. P. H. Pellicaan on Matt.12:43-45
Scripture Reading: Matt.12:38-45
Psalter Hymnal: 124; 272:4; 303; 6; 190; 423:1,2
Beloved Congregation,
Matt.12 is a great chapter. It is a record of the head-on collision between our Saviour and the Pharisees. Things come to a head. It was unavoidable.
And in this conflict the true character of Jesus’ work becomes evident over and against the dead orthodoxy of the Jews. The Pharisees are forced into the open, they have to define their position and I have the impression that they are carried away by their hatred and say things they did not intend to say. They accuse Jesus that He casts out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And when our Lord makes clear that you can say many things about Beelzebub, but not that he is crazy, they have no reply to that.
As a matter of fact, the devil is very much in evidence in this whole chapter. He is opposing Jesus by hook and by crook. He attacks Jesus by slander, ascribing to Him connections with the powers of darkness, he fights Him in the camouflage of an angel of light. We read about a man who was possessed of the devil, and it is also clear that the Pharisees are instruments in his hand. The Prince of darkness had a bridgehead in Israel. On the surface everything seemed to be okay. People lived in decency, they kept the commandments, made a real show of their piety. On the corners of the street people stood praying…! But as a grim warning in this chapter we are told about the unpardonable sin, a sin that does not find its source in our weakness, our egotism, our yearning for pleasure, as it is the case with our usual sins. But this particular sin is motivated by hatred, it is wilfully choosing sides with Satan. It is a sin that can be committed only by people who live in the light of God’s revelation, who know about His grace, His salvation. This sin is Satan’s masterpiece! And so it is possible that behind a nice front utter wickedness is found.
Whitewashed tombs, but inside are dead man’s bones and all uncleanness.
Our Lord is going to penetrate this deceptively pious surface and reveal the darkness that is under it. A shocking thing to do. But He could do it. He looks through our pretences, our outward appearances. The people we hear about in this chapter seemed to be faithful believers, quite orthodox, strict and conservative. They were even converted people! They really were. But this conversion they had experienced was the dangerous conversion from evil to virtue, from unrighteousness to self-righteousness. It may look like a real conversion, but it is counterfeit. “It shall be to this wicked generation” – our Lord said – “as that man who was redeemed from an unclean spirit.”
Is the Lord going to deal now with the case of a man who was possessed of the devil? No, definitely not. He is speaking here about a normal case. There is nothing unusual about it. He is not dealing with an exceptional case, for He said: “this generation”. The whole generation was not possessed. This was the case only with certain individual cases. These things occurred only in the time when our Lord was on earth. It was special revelation of the power of darkness. When the Son of God came down to this world, satan came up. As Luther said: Satan is God’s ape, he tries to imitate Him in everything. And don’t make any mistake about him: he knows every trick, he is very clever. I can’t explain what exactly happened to these people who were possessed, but it looks to me a little bit like hypnosis, that someone’s personality was supplanted by another personality.
However, Jesus is not dealing with that phenomenon here. He speaks about something that is much worse! A person who was possessed could not help it, was a defenceless victim and was not responsible for anything he said or did. But when normal people have an unclean spirit in their heart, that is a different matter altogether. The origin of this sad state of affairs is to be found in paradise where man broke the covenant with God, chose to follow Satan and do his will and in doing so he came into the dominion of the evil one. And that kind of dominion is very tyrannical. It penetrates into the most private and personal spheres. As soon as the first opening was given, with the first sin that was committed, the unclean spirit came in, and made himself at home. And do you know what the sad thing about it is? We like it! We received him as an honoured guest. We listen eagerly to his advices, and follow gladly his commands. And to be sure: he knows how to give good advice. Whenever we want pleasure – he knows all about it. He is an expert and can tell you everything you want to know. In business, or when you have to fill in your taxation-form; he is a great marriage-counsellor, he knows an easy way-out in every predicament. In the Bible he is called the prince of this world. I have often wondered who gave him that title. I’m sure that the Lord did not bestow that honour upon him. Who then gave him that name? Do you know who gave it to him? WE did! We did install him as prince. We wanted him to be our master, and we willingly submitted to his rule. And here is evidence of our total depravity. We have accepted the devil as our prince. And sometimes we feel this honour is even inadequate. Our Lord said to the Pharisees: Ye are of your father, the devil! Men even believe that the devil is our father. There is not only obedience in our hearts toward him there is even the bond of love, as between children and their father!
Does that mean that in man there is no decency left? That we all are criminals, doing the most horrible things? Oh no, I said before, the devil is not crazy. He would not ruin his own dominion. He will try to build a welfare-state! But it does mean that men in his dominion are completely god-less. You are a good servant of the evil one when you live a very decent life, have every virtue in the book, fight crime and behave as a good citizen on condition that God is left out! That you live a god-less life! He does not even object if you then call yourself a Christian, as is done so often. I’m sure he even likes that. Christianity is a great asset in Satan’s dominion as long of course as Christ Himself is left out. He likes decent films where God is not mentioned. He likes nice books where God is ignored. They are perfectly alright with him. Because they are god-less!
If in God’s Kingdom people are converted, then satan also introduces a conversion. Our Heidelberg catechism speaks about a true conversion. Consequently, there is also an false conversion. And that is what happens to the man Jesus tells us about in this parable. That unclean spirit may go out of a man. Now, notice the way this is reported. That spirit is not forced to leave, he is not thrown out on his ear, no he goes willingly. That spirit itself decides to leave. What could be the reason for that? We read that it is seeking rest and not finding it. So evidently that spirit realized at a certain time that life had become a bit uncomfortable. The man in whose heart he lived, was no longer pleased with his tenant. He wanted to be on his own, to be left alone. Maybe he became disgusted with himself, with his way of living and decided to turn a page and make a new start.
It’s nice of course when people realize they need a new start, to do away with their former way of living and begin afresh. Everybody, I reckon, knows these things. Because in the human heart there is still a longing for righteousness, for truth, for peace, for love. Many people are not so self-satisfied as they may appear to be. And if that longing for something better becomes strong enough, then the evil spirit cooperates by going away. Then a drunkard may suddenly become a teetotaller, a thief may become an honest man, someone with a vile temper may show unexpected kindness. Surprising things do happen! And you could say then: this man is a new person, he was converted, the evil spirit is gone!
So far, so good. But it’s not far enough. ONE thing is still wrong. Very wrong. The spirit left, but the house remains unoccupied…! An empty house is not nice to look at. It looks lifeless, unattractive, neglected. An empty soul has that same look. Nobody wants to make a show of his poverty, his lifelessness. And so the man in this parable did the expected thing: he did what he could to make that empty house as nice as possible. It was swept and garnished. The former tenant – that spirit – had evidently left a lot of rubbish behind. What else could you expect? It was all cleaned and redecorated. There is nothing unusual about that. NOBODY wants to admit that their heart is empty that they have no faith, no purpose in life, no future, and that everything is quite meaningless. And so they try to embellish their empty life in all sorts of ways. They may start by putting a nameplate on their door and may put on it: Christian! They may put some flowers behind the windows: do something for charity, you may even have your name on a church roll somewhere. That is not difficult in most cases, and does not oblige you to do anything. All the same: you make a better impression that way. And so from the outside, these empty houses may seem to be quite nice. Inside they are empty and cold. Sometimes these people are very good mixers. They love company… friends around them, because then they do not feel so much their emptiness. They love music, especially very noisy music. It fills up the silence inside…!
Do you realize, brothers and sisters, how serious this warning is? It is a word especially for church members, for covenant-children. The picture of that swept and garnished, empty house with the nameplate and flowers could be your picture! You may be a very decent kind of a person, you may be called a Christian and also call yourself one. And I hope you now understand what is meant by that empty house. It is a kind of Christianity without Christ. He does not dwell in you. If you would meet Him – and you are going to! – you would not know Him. And He would not know you! Your religion may be a matter of having certain convictions, you may follow certain rules and accept certain customs. But that never makes you a Christian! Moreover, this kind of religion does not last. The evil spirit may leave, but he’ll be back! There’s no doubt about that.
The Lord tells us that the evil spirit walks through dry places, seeking rest. We find that several times in Scripture, that the desert is the dwelling place of unclean spirits. Was not our Lord Himself tempted by the devil in the desert? The wilderness, where no life can exist suits the evil one. He feels at home there. But after a while he decides to go back. And now read very carefully what the Saviour said: “That spirit said: I will return into MY house from whence I came out.” He still regards it as his house. Evidently when he left, he still kept the front-door key in his pocket! It also appears that he had no difficulty at all to enter that house once again. Evil spirits have the key to your apartment! They know how to enter without much ado.
And what a surprise the spirit got when he entered into his house! Everything is swept and garnished, done up and decorated. He likes it so much that he reckons it’s a shame to live there on his own. There is room for more! So he goes and takes seven other spirits, more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first… Seven evil spirits – seven in Scripture indicates fullness. Fullness of evil dwells in the heart of this man. And these spirits love that swept and garnished home, with a Christian name on it, with its nice outside appearance, with the worm-eaten furniture of dead prayer, of dutiful church-attendance, with all virtue and decency. They nestle themselves right in the midst of it and wait hopefully for the day to come, when they break everything down, make a big bonfire of it and dance around it in joy and merriment.
That will happen on the day when the owner of the house will die. He will be buried with all honour and there may even be a minister around to say nice things, that he was such a good Christian, such a fine citizen, such a delightful neighbour. And satan will laugh. And God will say: I never knew you…!
The last state of that man will be worse than the first! Now you may think: what a strange sermon. It makes us scared. And is there any gospel in it? Yes, there is! The very fact that you are scared is a result of this gospel. When you are travelling in a district you don’t know very well, you take care not to miss any notice boards alongside the road. You then sometimes will see a notice: no throughway. What is your reaction then? Do you say, what a strange message, what a negative attitude of the council which put that board there? No, I think you will be thankful for that message as it will save you from going astray. It is a great thing if somebody warns us not to take the wrong road. And that is exactly what our Lord is doing in this parable. He is saying to us: this should not happen to you! You should go the other road. And there are plenty of signposts in the Bible to guide us to that road. The tragic thing is that so many countless people ignore the signs, and go the road where they can’t get through. They may have swept and garnished their home and reckon that they are saved by their good behaviour, their virtues, their kindness. And they never want to admit that their heart is empty.
But let’s stop talking about others. That does not bring us anywhere. What about you?
Do you realize that right now someone is knocking at your door? Someone who wants to enter?
May I ask you a personal question? You don’t have to answer me, but please answer it to yourself in all honesty. Who is living in your heart? A strange question, you think?
I want to remind you of Paul who said, I live – but no more I – Christ lives in me. What a wonderful statement! But what if you can’t say that. If you would like to say it, but in all honesty can’t… in that case I have a message for you.
Do you know from the Bible, Mary Magdalene? She used to be a terrible woman. Seven evil spirits lived in her. Fullness of wickedness! You know what happened to her? Something wonderful! She was healed by the Saviour, Who threw out the evil spirits.
Her heart became empty, but then Jesus Himself moved in. And He dwelled there. What a wonderful comfort that is. For in this same chapter of Matthew we read that Jesus said: nobody can enter into a strong man’s house except he first bind the strong man. Let them try to do that to Jesus!! Mary Magdalene is a glorious example of Jesus’ saving grace.
Remember that man in Gadara?
He was even a worse case. He was possessed of a legion of evil spirits. But the Lord came to him, redeemed him, and the man became a missionary! The point I want to make is: YOU ARE NOT A HOPELESS CASE! Whatever the position is, hopeless cases do not exist for Jesus. He will throw out the unclean spirits.
However, you have to realize that He will also throw out something else. Something you may treasure. He will throw out your righteousness, your pride, your self-reliance, your self-satisfaction. It will go out, all of it. Isaiah once said that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Now what can you do with filthy rags? You can’t even clean your car with them. The only thing to do with them is, to throw them out. And don’t make any mistakes: you may not like that at all. All your righteousnesses are gone!
But something else will be given to you. If He came in to dwell with you, He will adorn you with His treasures. Isaiah somewhere speaks about the beauty of holiness. Your heart will become something very wonderful. Not just a swept and garnished home. It will become something splendid. It will become a temple: A temple of the Holy Spirit.
Just ask Him to enter! Then your heart will be no longer empty. It will be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I wished I could find the words to describe that. But I can’t find the words for it. I don’t think there are adequate words for that. The best I can do is to quote Scripture. And you will notice, that even the Bible has to use examples and symbols to express the joy. I read in Isaiah 61: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorned herself with her jewels.”
Someone knocks at the door. What a joy if Jesus enters! The last state of that man will be better than the first!
Amen.