I have entitled my message “Misinterpretation and Misapplication.” In a few minutes I will to turn to an exposition and what I believe to be a proper application of these verses….
But let’s begin with a very dangerous misinterpretation.
I have two large sets of books in my library which contain thousands of sermon outlines and illustrations. Both the “Pulpit Commentary” and the “Biblical Illustrator” have 23 volumes, and together they stretch for about ten feet across the shelves in my library. They both contain collections of materials, mostly sermonic, beginning in Genesis and extending into Revelation. When I am short of ideas on a passage under consideration, I turn to one or both of these sets, looking for outlines, interpretations and illustrations. Friday, I turned to the “Biblical Illustrator” hoping that it would supply some background information on these three verses. Half way down the third page there was an outline by a man whose name I didn’t recognize. In my estimation the preacher totally missed our Lord’s intention.
I want to share his message with you as an example of a dangerous misinterpretation of these verses. The man called his sermon “The Dangers of Relapse.” His introduction began honestly enough, talking about someone who was sick, but apparently cured. The preacher pointed out that for the next few weeks that man needed to be especially careful. He had a terrible fever which had weakened him. He had become vulnerable to a relapse or perhaps to the attack of some other disease. His first point was that when people make religious commitments, they are hard to retain or regain. The smoker or drinker may see the value of quitting, but staying quit may be extremely difficult. Or a man may decide to attend church, but he must realize that there will be things said from the pulpit which he might not like. And there will be people at that church, whom he knows to be hypocrites. He may become offended for one reason or another, and his resolve to better himself may not stand. As most of us know, such things are true. Point two was that such a person may grow skeptical of the reality of good religion. I quote, “A religious life gets its vindication and comes to a full proof of its reality, only as it is continuous and lived out to the full. One cannot in a year test the full power of a single Christian quality. A personal vindication of the faith is a life-work, and requires all its years. When men speak of prayer and faith, they speak of realities and powers, though we may be strangers to them. But to doubt them, to disbelieve their existence – that is perdition.” Let me ask you – Is it perdition to doubt prayer and faith – is a man lost because his religion flags a bit? Point number three contained arguments for steadfastness in religion. Again, I quote – “The one true goal of human effort is character.” The man then talks about obedience to the principles of godly religion and the habit of religious thought. He urges consistency, condemning alternations, fluctuations, slothfulness and apathy. Then he concludes with, “When we turn to the Bible, we find all the promises and all the rewards poured out on those who are faithful to the end. The patience of the saints is the burden of this exhortation. The picture of heavenly perfection, is that of constancy – serving God day and night in His temple; and so they reign for ever and ever.”
To summarize what the man was saying – at least as I read him – Religion is the thing. In that summary there is no reference to Christ, saving grace, the new birth – nothing but “religion.” The man seems to say that in order to be saved, sinners must clean house – sweep, garnish, de-clutter and disinfect. But then if he doesn’t diligently clean that house every day and every week for the rest of his life, the devil will return and ultimately the man will be lost.
To be honest, if these three verses were the only verses in the Bible discussing salvation, then I might cautiously commend that sermon. Consistency in godliness is important. But that man has ripped this right out of the Word of God. In fact, I believe that what this scripture teaches is precisely the opposite to what that man preaches. Where the Bible clearly speaks of salvation it says that Christ has taken it out of the hands of man, initiating and maintaining it Himself. Salvation is by grace – not by reformation.
What are realities and truths of this scripture?
Perhaps one of the first things that we must ask is whether we should approach this as a parable or not? If this is an allegory or parable, to what does it apply? “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none” What is the meaning “unclean spirit?” This is the first of eleven times that these two Greek words are used together in this way, and in themselves they don’t have any special significance. But where Mark 5 says that the two men living in the tombs of Gadara were possess with “unclean spirits,” Matthew 8 says that they were possessed by “devils.” And in Luke 9 after His Transfiguration, Christ found the disciples dealing with a father and a possessed child. When the Lord approached “the devil threw (the boy) down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his Father.” I think that there is ample reason to interpret this “unclean spirit” as one of Satan’s devils or demons. And that raises interesting questions for which we may never get answers – Is this a parable or does it describe a universal, theological truth. Are all lost people demon possessed? Is this scripture talking about salvation generally, or is this a special case? Is this merely an illustration illuminating a larger point?
Interpreting this as demon possession, notice the audacity of that evil spirit – “my house.” Why should it think that this human soul was his house? Was it because it created that person, that soul, that heart? Did it at some point buy that house the way that many of you have bought homes during your lives? Was this its house, because it resided their so freely for so many years? Was it invited at some point, through some means to enter and occupy that house. If that was the case, I return to an earlier question – “are all lost people demon possessed?” If they are, how did they get that way?
In our Lord’s illustration, the man becomes temporarily free of his possession. Or if this is merely an illustration, we might say that he, like the prodigal, came to his senses. He recognizes that people are dying of COPD – so he better quit smoking. He sees that his friends who used to smoke marijuana, have all moved on to cocaine and some even into meth. He recognizes the pattern and decides that his only drug from now on is going to be caffeine. He realizes that his pornography addiction is destroying the love that he has for his wife, so he decides to give up that sin as well. He quits going to the bar, cuts down on his drinking generally, and tells that flurty woman at work to leave him alone.
In addition to the things he knows that he should not do, he attempts to replace them with better things. He vows to himself that he will spend more time with his children, teaching them and playing with them. He begins to attend his wife’s church, even though he hates that preacher. He takes the money that he was spending at the bar, and begins to pay down his credit card debt. Maybe he even begins to tithe, hoping for the Lord’s blessings on his finances. He cleans up his appearance, getting his hair cut and wearing the clothes that his wife bought him two years ago. But of course, he will have to exercise and loose a few pounds to that he can fit into those clothes. In other words, he cleans house, sweeping out his life decorating and furnishing it with the best of stuff.
Remembering the context of the paragraph – what is it that the man does not do? “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” Extending the allegory, when the demon left the house of the Queen of Sheba, she took that advantage and made a trip to Jerusalem. Like the Ethiopian Eunuch who years later was going in the opposite direction, this woman emptied her heart, making room for the man who was type of Christ. It wasn’t just a matter of merely emptying and sweeping out the place – it was inviting the Creator to enter. There is no room for seven devils, or even one, when the He who filleth all in all occupies the heart of the humble supplicant.
In that same volume where I found the heretical sermon, there was an extended illustration. Once again, I didn’t recognize the name of the man who was quoted. Don’t worry about the details of the English history, they aren’t important to the point, but I hope that you can see that point. The man said, “I suppose there never was a time in the history of England which equaled in licentiousness and profanity the period ushered in by the Restoration. ( I believe that refers to the restoration of the monarchy after a period of Parliament only.) And doubtless the chief cause of this (licentiousness) is to be found in the endeavour of the Puritans, when they were in power, to force upon the nation both their own theology and their own code of morals. The Puritans, in their intense eagerness to reform the nation, fell into the great mistake of supposing that they could make the people orthodox and virtuous by Acts of Parliament. At least, their deeds were in accordance with some such theory. The Book of Common Prayer was forbidden, under penalty, to be used either in churches or in private houses. Public amusements were attacked. One statute ordered that all the maypoles in England should be cut down. The Long Parliament gave orders that Christmas Day should be strictly observed as a fast – a day of national humiliation. No person was to be admitted into the public service until the House of Legislature should satisfied as to his real godliness. Thus the Puritans set themselves most rigorously to ” sweep” England and to “garnish” it. And it cannot be denied that to some extent they succeeded. The country did present an aspect of greater devoutness and morality. But all such Acts of Parliament could not communicate one spark of religious life; They could ” sweep ” away much visible dust, they could “garnish” the house with external observances, but they could not send away the indwelling tenant. And so, in due time, to the untenanted house came the “seven devils” – First, hypocrisy and all manner of cant, and secret debauchery, even during the Protectorate; and then, at the Restoration, an unblushing profanity and licentiousness, the like of which England had never seen before. The king and his courtiers set the example of profligacy. The statesmen of the land became mere selfish tricksters. Literature draggled itself in the mire of pollution. The stage became utterly corrupt. John Bunyan was only one of many who were sent to prison for preaching the gospel.”
What is it that Christ is saying and what is the point of the illustration that I just read? It is that human reformation has never worked. It didn’t work in religion generally, and it cannot work in the human soul. There is no way that a sinner can clean out his life sufficiently to please the Lord. And there is no way for a sinner to keep out wickedness and the wicked one. The sinner needs to be born again – regenerated – and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. I am not saying that there is no point in trying to quit sin and serve Christ. But if these things are thought to be the means of salvation, that person will be eternally lost. And if reform is not initiated and maintained by the grace and power of God, it will undoubtedly fail. Salvation is by grace through faith, and to live the Christian life is through the blessing and presence of the Lord Himself.
Please do not misinterpret what the Saviour is saying here.