Complete Freedom - Luke 11:24-26

Have you ever made a New Year's resolution?

I think we've all have, right?

Maybe you told yourself one year this is the year I'm gonna get in shape.

A lot of people make that resolution.

And you say to yourself, I'm gonna work out, I'm gonna get a gym membership, I'm gonna buy new workout clothes, maybe even buy a new water bottle.

And for the first few weeks, you know, things usually go pretty well.

You exercise, you're committed, you're eating better, you're feeling better, you look in the mirror, you might look in the mirror and think, yeah, I think this is going well.

I'm finally changing.

But then a few months down the road come and eventually that gym membership becomes a monthly donation to a company you no longer visit.

Why does that happen?

Why is that prone to happen?

I think because changing our behavior for a while is not the same as changing who we are.

And today we are going to be looking at what it looks like or what it takes to have true and lasting change, not only in what we do, but change in who we are.

You will see this morning as we look at the passage that true change comes by having complete freedom.

For the past few weeks, we've been looking at the devil and his forces and the way that they attack the Christian, the believer, or even the non-Christian.

We've looked at the devil's strength, we looked at the devil's weapons, and we've contrasted those to the power that we have in Christ.

This all stemmed from the exorcism of the man with a demon who was mute.

Jesus used the opportunity to teach us something that we often find in the attacks of the devil.

And this morning we find one more lesson that he would like to teach us on that.

Before he leaves this subject, there is one more thing he would like to show us as we see in this illustration about the demon who leaves a person and then returns back much stronger.

We hear we have a man who believed that he was free of the demon, only to find out that freedom or the freedom that he thought he had was only temporary.

I titled this sermon, Complete Freedom, and I want to look at some things about the freedom that we truly need to be complete in Jesus Christ.

As we look at this story, not from the demon's perspective, but from the man's perspective, I want to take a look at this freedom.

Looking once more at the passage, I want to point out the following things about freedom.

Number one is that temporary freedom is possible.

Number two, that temporary freedom is deceptive.

And number three, that complete freedom can only come through Christ.

Temporary freedom is possible, temporary freedom is deceptive, and complete freedom can only come through Jesus Christ.

Let's look at that first one.

Temporary freedom is possible.

Look at verse 24.

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none, it says, I will return to my house from which I came.

Let me stop there.

So after the healing of the demon-possessed man, and after the illustration of the strong man that we saw last week, Jesus has one more lesson to teach the people and us about Satan and his bondage.

And he does so by giving an astounding peek into the demonic world.

As he says, as an unclean spirit goes out of a person, seeking a place to rest.

This shows us that the demons or unclean spirits always look for places to reside in.

You may remember the encounter of Jesus and the man with the legion of demons at Garesinet.

When Jesus was commanding the legion of demons to leave this man, they asked for permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs.

And as Jesus indicates in our passage, it seems that the demons don't just like to wander about.

They prefer taking up residence somewhere, which is really not surprising considering the nature of Satan and the demons.

Remember, they are deceivers.

They always want to mimic or attempt to mimic the work of God.

And remember, scripture makes clear that when someone becomes a Christian, God takes up residence in their life, in his or her heart.

Galatians 2.20 speaks of Christ living in me.

In John 14, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit dwells in you and will be in you.

And in 1 Corinthians 6 1 6 19, it says that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So you see, Satan, being the deceiver that he is, wants to mimic what God does.

He wants to dwell in and to live in and to embody people and make their bodies his own temple.

And since he's not omniscient or omnipresent like God is, he sends his many demons out into the world to attempt that.

They're always looking to possess, they're always looking to control something because they know that their time is short.

Remember, back in Luke chapter 4, when the demons saw Christ, they asked him, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Have you come to destroy us?

So they know that one day they will lose all the power that they enjoy today.

They will lose all the access to control people and to possess people and to manipulate people.

So what they're going to do is they're going to do everything they can today, now while they have the time to possess people and to overcome them with their power.

So as Christ says, they seek a place to rest, but when they find none, they say, I will return to my house in which I came.

Notice how they also like to claim ownership.

They say, I will return to my house, as if that person belongs to them.

Again, attempting to mimic God.

We all belong to God.

But again, I want to look at this from the perspective of the person, not necessarily the demon.

I want to look at this from the person's perspective.

Now, we have no reason to believe that Jesus had this man whom he just healed or whom he just freed in mind when giving this short illustration.

But he is using this event to make a point.

Just because a demon has left the man doesn't mean he would never have to face that demon again.

Because the demon can always return.

And as we see in this illustration, sometimes the demon has an intention to return.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that exorcisms weren't unique to Jesus and his ministry.

There were others in the Jewish community who were also exercising the power of God to free people of demonic oppression.

The exorcism would free people from the torments of the demon.

They were a form of healing, if you will.

But that doesn't mean that the demon cannot return.

Just as every healing that Christ did didn't mean the sickness would return.

The freedom that came from these exorcism, exorcisms, were temporary.

Okay, just like the healings were temporary.

There was always a possibility that on this side of eternity the demons or the sickness would return.

Jesus is speaking in this passage specifically about demonic bondage, but the principle that he illustrates has a broader spiritual application.

And it is this external reform without internal transformation cannot produce complete and lasting freedom.

For the past few weeks, we've been looking at Satan and his demons and how they use their power and they use their schemes to attack people.

And as we've noticed, full possession is not the only way that he can grab a hold of someone.

In fact, full possession is probably the rarest way that they grab a hold of someone.

Most of the time, they will use other methods to lead or draw people away from Jesus.

Sometimes it's temptations, other times it's trials, sometimes it's storms of life.

Most of the times it's simply just to leave us to ourselves and let our own sinful nature do the heavy lifting.

As I mentioned before, Satan doesn't have to try hard to get a sinner to sin.

He knows that as long as a sinner is not actively pursuing Jesus, they will pursue their own passions.

So when someone is, for example, short-tempered or an alcoholic or a womanizer or a drug addict, we can rightly say that Satan has them where he wants them.

He probably didn't have to work hard to get them there, but he is pleased to have them there.

Now, we all know people who get a little tired of living that sort of lifestyle.

You don't have to be a Christian to say things like, I need to clean up my act, or I need to clean up my life, or I need to make some changes in my life.

People do this all the time, whether in the church or out of the church.

For example, it's not uncommon for someone who has, again, a drinking problem to say, I need to stop drinking, or someone who has an anger problem to say, I need to stop being angry, or someone who's always a pessimist to say, I need to start having a better outlook on life.

Again, people do this every day.

And there are organizations and various support groups that are happy to help people with these problems.

And they don't necessarily have to be Christian in nature to help them.

In fact, many of them are not.

Furthermore, it's not uncommon to actually see some of them work.

It is possible to see change in people who commit themselves to these programs.

It's possible to see someone stop drinking or stop doing drugs or clean up their attitude by following certain steps.

They have been, or there have been some who have broken free from some of these things without ever stepping foot in a church.

What are we supposed to say to that?

Well, some might say, well, whatever worked for them.

At least they're not struggling anymore.

At least they're happy.

At least they don't have that addiction.

At least they're on the right track.

Whatever path that they chose was their path.

As if Christianity just won a mini paths.

And I don't doubt that there's a real feeling of freedom that the person can experience when following these programs and making the change.

Because remember, we're all created in the image of God.

We're all created in the same likeness, which means that both the Christian and the non-Christian can feel and experience the same things in the body and the soul.

You're going to experience as a Christian, and you're going to feel the same things often that the unbeliever feels.

When something good happens to you, when the birth of your child, when you have the birth of your child, a Christian feels the same way as a non-Christian does.

You don't have to be a Christian to feel the wonderful joy it is to see the birth of your new child.

So some of these non-Christians are going to experience what they feel as true freedom when they decide to make some changes in their life.

But here's the problem.

Again, it's only temporary freedom.

The behavior modification or the training or the recalibrating of the mind helped them break away from that which, to use Christian language, had them bound.

But it didn't buy them lasting freedom.

And this is the problem that we find in the world, right?

People believe that Jesus is just one of many ways to find what they're looking for.

What are people looking for?

They're looking for fulfillment in life.

They're looking for peace.

They're looking to be a good husband.

They're looking to be a good wife, an outstanding citizen, they're looking to be successful at life, and so forth.

And if they can obtain these things, they believe that they would find what they're looking for, that they would be free, that they would achieve true freedom in life.

Colossians 2.20 says, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?

Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human percepts and teachings.

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and aestheticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Paul here in Colossians is making the distinction between outward religion and inward transformation.

During this time, some of the Jews were teaching that Christians needed to do certain things to be true followers of God.

They needed to submit themselves to these various rules and regulations.

Don't eat this, don't eat that, do this and do that, and so forth.

But as Paul said, Paul says, you might look like you are promoting something good when you follow all of these strict rules.

But the truth is they have no power to stop you from indulging in the flesh.

In other words, you're gonna need something a lot stronger than rule keeping and behavior modification and correct thinking to keep you from falling back to the mess that you were once in.

And that's the problem with people who rely on outward means to obtain their freedom.

They may obtain it for a while, but there is no lasting power to keep them from returning back to the cell from which they came.

And that leads to my next point.

Temporary freedom can be deceptive.

Verse 25.

It says, And when it comes, the demon, it finds the house swept and put in order.

So as Jesus says, when this demon or evil spirit leaves, it will find things swept and put in order if it wants to return, meaning it will find a life that is tidy and clean.

And this is a perfect opportunity for the demon to do what he wants to do, which is to make a mess of someone's life, which is to create chaos, which is to disrupt peace.

He wants to put things out of order for this person who put things in order.

The person may have been walking in freedom, but it was only temporary freedom, as the demons soon returned.

And it's the same for those who try to make outward change without an inward transformation.

Sure, a change can happen.

Sure, your life can be put in order, but without transformation, it can quickly be put out of order.

And that's what can be so deceiving about temporary freedom.

You can think that you're out of the woods, you can think that those dark days are behind you, but at any moment, you can fall right back into them.

Some of you may have heard of the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Like many actors, he had a troubled past.

He admitted in various interviews that he became addicted to drugs and alcohol by the age of 20.

But he wanted to get sober and he wanted to enter into this career of acting.

So he got himself, checked himself into rehab, and that did him well.

He was able to live a sober life for nearly 23 years.

And during those years, he became an Oscar-winning actor.

He had a family, he built a very successful career and lifestyle for himself, for himself.

But after some time, he fell back into his old ways and started using again.

He tried to get help, he tried to go back to rehab, but he couldn't break free of his hard drug addiction.

He ended up dying of an accidental overdose at the age of 47.

For 23 years, he believed that he was free of that addiction.

But it eventually came back.

That's what's so deceiving about outward change.

It can get you to believe that you really, that you really don't need supernatural power to change.

But the Christian knows that the Holy Spirit is the true agent of change.

I was having a conversation this a couple weeks ago with someone, and they were talking of raving about this speech that they heard about the having the power to change the way you think, and having the power to be successful or become successful, only if you would change the negative to a positive and start following a better train of thinking.

And all I could think of was, you know, that is good, but where's the Holy Spirit in all of this?

Where's the Holy Spirit that actually has the power to effect true change?

2 Timothy 3 1 says, But understand this that in the last days there will come time of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, avoid such people.

I want you to note something.

Paul is giving this list of how depraved people will be in the last days.

And he gives a long list.

And he points out a lot of people that we would say, yeah, those are some pretty bad people.

There are abusive people in there, they're lovers of money, they're proud people in there, they're people who are disobedient to their parents, unholy, heartless.

But notice what he also adds to the list.

Those who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power.

These are people who look and sound godly, but have not truly been transformed by the power of God.

In the world, this would look like outstanding citizens.

This would look like good husbands and wives and giving and serving people, well-mannered people, honest people.

These are the people you want to live next door to.

These are the people you want to hire at your company.

They might not have Christ, they might not go to church, but these people are what you would call good people.

You want these kind of people.

You want them to be your friends, you want them around you.

But you also find people like this in the church.

People who have this appearance of godliness but deny its power.

These are people who look and sound like Christians, but have never partaken in the graces of God.

They've never been truly transformed by the power of the gospel.

They may come to church, they may know all the songs, they may try to live their best life according to the word of God, but they have never truly been converted.

And I think you know as well as I do that the church is full of people like this.

People who live like Christians without truly being Christians.

And the danger here is not so much that they're fooling us or they're fooling others.

The danger here is that they're fooling themselves.

They have bought into a cultural Christianity, believing that if they do the right things and say the right things and know the right songs and have and express the right feelings, and here's the big one in our country, vote the right way, then they're okay.

Mark Dever, in his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, lists conversion as one of the marks of a healthy church because a healthy church is one that has a clear understanding of conversion.

We want a church that's made up of true converts, not just true churchgoers.

And although those two things, although those two things have much overlap, they're not mutually exclusive.

In other words, a true convert will certainly be a true churchgoer or a faithful churchgoer.

But a faithful churchgoer doesn't always translate into a true convert.

How can we tell the difference?

It's not too easy.

Because again, much of what they say and what they do seems to be very Christ-like, Christian-like.

It takes a person that is willing to be honest with themselves, and a person who's willing to examine their own heart and test the reasoning for why they do what they do.

Why do I go to church?

Why do I read my Bible?

Why do I sing songs?

Is it because I just want to become a better person?

Or is it something else going on?

Is there something else going on in my heart?

Are they doing it for themselves?

Are they doing it for those around them?

That's not true conversion.

True conversion is not merely a change for yourself.

True conversion is a change for God.

Mark Dever puts it this way: it's not adjusting our lives to ourselves and our own desires, it is adjusting our lives to God and his ways.

The real change that we need is this conversion from worshiping ourselves to worshiping God.

And that's the real difference between outward change and inward transformation.

See, outward change usually seeks its own benefit.

It seeks to become a better person for a better outlook on life or a better marriage, or maybe to break free from shame from the way others may perceive you.

Because when your life is a mess or you're not successful, there's always a fear of what others might think of you.

So you might want to make some changes.

You might want to clean up your act and so forth.

So others might think better of you.

Or you might seek a change for the sake of others.

You'll often hear people say, I'm going to make some changes in my life because I need to start being a better husband.

Or I need to start being a better wife.

Or I need to start being a better father for my children, or a better mother for my children.

I need to make some changes for them.

Now, some of those things might actually be good motivation to get you down the right path, to get you down the path of true transformation or true conversion.

Your initial motivation might be to change for yourself or to change for others, but that road must take you to Christ for there to be true conversion.

Because while outward change says, I'm changing some things about me, conversion says Christ is changing some things about me.

Outward change is becoming a better version of yourself.

Conversion is becoming a totally new version of yourself.

Ephesians 2, 1 says, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love in which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you have been saved.

The change that happens to the Christian is not going from bad to good, or good to better, or better to great.

It is going from death to life.

It is not something, nothing to something.

It is as 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, a new creation.

Becoming a new creation in Christ.

Outward transformation might make you a better person, but only Christ can make you a new person.

And that's truly what you need to have complete freedom.

Not let temporary freedom deceive you into thinking that outward change is enough, that a new attitude or a new purpose in life or a break from addiction has you on the right path.

Because there is only one right path, and that is the path that leads to Christ.

And that's my last point.

Complete freedom can only be had in Christ.

Verse 26 says, Then it goes, the evil spirit, then it goes and brings seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.

So after this demon, evil spirit wanders and decides that he wants to return back to the person he left, he realizes that there is an opportunity here to cause even more destruction than the first time.

Again, the devil and the demons want total destruction of a person's life.

So being the opportunist that they are, they find a way to do the worst damage to an individual that they possibly can.

If one demon is not enough, then let's go and grab some others.

Let's really do some damage here.

And here they have a plan.

They're bringing more than just that one to this person who believed he was free.

And as Jesus says, the state of that person will be worse than the first.

Here we get a glimpse of the malicious intentions of Satan and his demons.

They're out for it all.

They want to take everything from you.

They want to take and take until you have nothing left to give.

What kind of person were you before you came to Christ?

Some of you might not even like thinking about that.

It might bring you shame when you think of who you were or what you did and the way you thought.

Well, Satan will have you worse than that if he can.

Whatever you were delivered from, the devil would like to send you back to.

In fact, he would send you back to much worse.

In this illustration, he finds the perfect opportunity.

He comes back to this person and he sees his home swept and put in order.

But it wasn't what the demon found that made for the perfect opportunity.

It's what the demon didn't find.

He didn't find anyone else occupying the home.

When he returned, the home was empty.

Remember in the preceding verses we looked at last week, Jesus was talking about this strong man who was guarding his palace.

Or as the NIV says, guarding his own house.

When someone is in the house protecting his or her goods, we live in Texas, so we know about this, then the likelihood of someone coming in and taking your goods is very low.

Unless, of course, the one who is coming in is much stronger than you and more armed than you and can overpower you.

And here's where this man who had the demon come out of him made the mistake.

He swept up the home, he cleaned up the home, but he didn't have anyone in the home to protect it.

And as we established last week, the devil is a strong man, and he is armed, and so are his demons.

So you need someone stronger than he is to fend him off.

And that's not you.

You're not strong enough.

You're not armed enough.

You can't hold him back on your own.

But there is someone who is.

As we saw last week, there is a stronger man than the devil.

There is one mightier than all of his demons combined.

There is one who has greater armor and one who has greater weapons, and his name is Jesus Christ.

If the demon would have returned to the home and found it occupied by Christ, he would have known that not even seven of his friends would be able to overpower him because he's just too strong to overcome.

Colossians 1:16 says, For by all him things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:16

This is Christ.

Ephesians 6 says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities.

And here in Colossians, Paul calls these satanic and demonic forces that are against us rulers and authorities.

They're thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities.

And all these were created through him and for him, him being, again, Christ.

That he Christ is before these things, that he, Christ, is more powerful than these things.

He is the creator.

We have to remember that Satan and his demons, they are strong and they are mighty and they're powerful, but they are not God.

They're not sovereign.

They're created beings.

They have no assayity, meaning they have no self-existence, which means they are not greater, but lesser than the one who created them.

So when they return to a home and they come back with seven others, and they see the one who is before all things and the one who is above all things residing in the home, they say, That is a home that I will not be able to overtake.

Let me find another home to mess with.

And it's the same for those who try and clean up their act without an inward conversion.

All they have done is swept up the home and put things in order.

But you have not welcomed Christ into your home to protect you.

So there will always be the possibility to fall back into your old ways and into your old habits and to your old addiction because your strength is in your own power and your own will.

Which to be honest, the devil will laugh at.

He might let you think you have found the power to change on your own, but when he wants to prove you wrong, he will come and try and prove you wrong.

And without Christ, you will have nothing strong enough to hold him back.

You know, one of the biggest misconceptions about Christianity is that it is merely about putting off your old self.

This is why, you know, many people come to Christ because, you know, they don't like the person, as I mentioned, they don't like the person that they are, and they don't like the life that they're living.

So they believe that Jesus would help them break free from their past, and that Jesus would help them break free from their old ways.

And he does.

Jesus has the power to change lives.

But he does so not by merely taking something from you, but by also giving something to you.

Ephesians 4 20 says, But that is not the way you learn Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

See, it's not enough to just put off your old self.

You must also put on a new self.

But look what it says.

Look what it says about the new self.

It says, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

We don't just need a new self.

We need a new self who is like Christ.

We need a new person who is much like the Son of God.

Meaning people go through great lengths to change and to become a new person.

But our greatest need is not to become a new person.

Our greatest need is to die to ourselves and to live for Christ.

Your greatest need is not just to put off your old habits and your old desires and your old way of thinking.

Your greatest need is to put on new disciplines and new desires and a new way of thinking.

And that new way of thinking starts by saying, Jesus, I do not have the strength, but I know you do.

I don't have the strength to become a new person.

I don't have the strength to make myself alive when I was dead.

I don't have the power to effect lasting change.

But if you come into my life and if your Holy Spirit resides in me, I know that I will be made a new man or woman forever.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

Those who wish to have the old past and the new come must be in Christ.

True and lasting change will not come by being in a program.

Or even by being in church.

No one can claim victory by saying, I am in church.

Victory only come by those who can truly say, I am in Christ.

JC Rowell says.

Christ must dwell in our hearts by faith.

We must not only be moralized, but spiritualized.

We must not only be reformed, but born again.

As we close.

Let us always remember this enemy that we're dealing with.

He is the great deceiver.

And he is the liar.

And one of his biggest deceptions is to have people content to thinking a house that is swept and a house that is kept in order is enough.

Here's his deception.

He might not ever come back with this vicious plan to get you in a worse condition than you once were.

He might not ever come back and make you whatever you were before you came to Christ.

The drunkard or the womanizer or the liar or the hot-tempered men or woman.

He might not ever try to even bring you close to that.

He might be content to leave you with a swept and ordered house for the rest of your life.

Because he's happy to have people live a moral, virtuous, honorable, and upright life as long as it's Christless.

He has looked through the window of many homes.

And he has seen them clean and swept and put in order.

And rather than coming in and taking over, he simply passes them by.

So that they can live their whole life thinking that they're safe.

But here's the sad thing.

He does plan to come back for those homes.

His hope is to come back and to lay claim to those souls at the moment they take their last breath.

He's okay to not destroy you in this life if he can destroy you in the next.

So he will deceive people into thinking that they got it all together.

They're going to church, they're doing the right things, they're saying the right things.

Their house is clean, swept, put in order.

They're not bad citizens.

They don't get into trouble.

They're good to their husbands.

They're good to their wives.

They're good fathers.

They're good mothers.

Let them be.

As long as Jesus is not the center of their life, he's okay with that.

And his plan is to return the moment they take their last breath.

So the question for us is who resides in our home?

When you examine your life and you examine your heart, can you say, like the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2.20, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

Do not live one more day without the protection of the stronger man.

You never know when the devil might come knocking at that door.

He could come at any time.

And when or if he does come, you want to be able to be sure that you're protected.

You want to be able to be sure that your goods are protected.

You want to have Christ, who is the stronger man, in your home.

So when the devil and his demons come knocking at your door, you can send Jesus to the door to greet him.

Let us pray.