A Moral Dilemma
Luke 11:24-28
May 12, 2019
Well, as you know we are working through Luke’s gospel
And in our current section Luke has compiled for us
Some of the IMPROMPTU TEACHINGS of Jesus.
They aren’t necessarily scripted sermons,
But rather it is a segment of responses Jesus gave
To what was going on around Him.
It is Jesus addressing life as it happens.
The first we saw regarding prayer.
• The disciples saw Him pray
• The disciples asked Him to teach them to pray
• What resulted was Jesus teaching on prayer.
And last week we began a new segment which deals with AUTHENTICITY
• That is “Being Real”
It is a conversation that began with the Jews questioning Jesus’ authenticity.
• He cast out a demon and the Pharisees attributed His ability to Satan.
• “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons”
They in effect said that Jesus was a messenger of Satan
Who used Satanic power to deceive people by casting out demons.
Jesus turned that notion on its head.
Revealing how illogical, hypocritical, undiscerning, & dangerous their assessment was.
Ultimately Jesus revealed it was not Him who was fake, it was them.
It was not Him who was serving Satan, it was them.
AND THIS MORNING WE FIND THAT JESUS ISN’T FINISHED.
He is about to confront these Jews at their greatest level of deception.
Of all the problems these Jews had, there was one problem that was worse than any.
• It was this one issue that caused them to justify themselves.
• It was this one problem that caused them to scoff at any need of salvation.
• It was this one problem that caused them to reject the Savior of the world.
This one problem ultimately is what condemned them to eternal hell.
It may shock you when I tell you what it was.
IT WAS THEIR MORALITY
(Their human goodness)
Their problem was that they measured themselves by others
And then justified themselves as being good
And therefore not in need of salvation.
Let me give you a few examples of this:
Remember the Pharisee and the Tax Collector?
Luke 18:11-14 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
• Not only do we see the clear appeal to morality as a means to justify himself,
• But we also get from Jesus a definitive declaration of lostness.
• Jesus said that the Pharisee was not justified before God.
• He trusted in his own goodness, and it ultimately condemned him to hell.
Consider the great confrontation of Jesus:
Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
That is such a telling passage.
You have there Jesus pronouncing “Woe” on the Pharisees (OUI in the Greek).
It’s like when you see something painful happen to someone else
And you instantly say, “OOH”
Jesus could see the coming judgment on the Pharisees and He did the same.
And then of course He famously called them “hypocrites!”
HUPOCRATES in the Greek, and it was their for an “actor”
Jesus said they were only actors playing a part,
But they were not real. They were not authentic.
On the outside they looked good.
Why?
• Well, they tithed and prayed and taught in the synagogues and wore big phylacteries, and had those blue tassels on their garments. They looked good.
And the problem was they trusted in that.
But Jesus said the real problem was
That their inside did not match their outside.
Outside they were well adorned,
But inside they were full of all manner of evil.
DO YOU SEE THAT?
Let me tell you what this is.
It is SELF-REFORMATION without SPIRITUAL REGENERATION.
It is morality without salvation.
AND IT IS SO DANGEROUS!
It ultimately leaves men shocked at the judgment
When they don’t get into heaven.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Why were they shocked?
• Because they had done good things.
• Their outward goodness actually worked to deceive them.
And this is a very real problem.
Even in churches today.
People convince themselves that they are saved because they are moral.
• “I’m better than that guy”
• I don’t drink
• I don’t cuss
• I don’t gamble
• I don’t look at pornography
• I go to church
• I give money
• God must certainly be pleased with me.
And because of that confidence
They never throw themselves at the mercy of Christ.
Jesus is their moral guide, their example for living,
But He is not their righteousness and justification.
IT IS SIMPLY THE DANGER OF MORALITY.
AND THAT IS WHAT JESUS IS GOING TO ADDRESS THIS MORNING.
What makes the passage UNIQUE is that
Jesus DOES NOT address the morality problem here externally.
That is to say, that this message is NOT LIKE the one in Matthew 23 where Jesus talks about all the outward good they do and how ineffective it is.
Rather, here Jesus addresses the issue from a spiritual platform.
Jesus looks beyond the physical realm into the spiritual real
And He reveals to us what is actually going on
Inside the life of the unregenerate moral man.
And when we allow Jesus
To show us human morality through spiritual eyes
We come to grips with how dangerous it actually is.
This morning we’ve got 2 main points that contrast each other, let’s look at them this morning.
#1 THE CURSE OF SELF-REFORMATION
Luke 11:24-26
Here we are presented with a man who cleaned himself up.
• We see a man who left a life of immorality and embraced a life of morality.
I do think it is important to say here that we are not opposed to morality.
• Certainly morality is to be chosen over immorality.
• Certainly our culture and nation and churches and families do better if they are
moral as opposed to immoral.
So don’t misunderstand me in this discussion.
Morality, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.
THE DANGER…the moral dilemma…is that humanity is so prone to be content with simply being moral as though morality alone is enough.
And that is the problem.
MORALITY DOES NOT MAKE YOU ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.
Isaiah spelled it out:
Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
You MUST understand that.
If you ask me, “Should I be moral or immoral?”
• Well obviously I’m going to tell you to choose morality.
• But you MUST ALSO KNOW that both the moral and the immoral will go to hell without Jesus.
The REAL DANGER is that most of the time
The immoral seem to know that, but the moral don’t.
But anyway, let’s look at this spiritual situation which Jesus reveals to us.
(24) “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’”
So clearly we are talking about a situation
In which “the unclean spirit goes out of a man”
This man previously had in his life an “unclean spirit”.
AND WE KNOW that this spirit certainly put his life
In disarray and disorder and likely all manner of immorality.
We know that because in a moment when the demon returns he will find that the house where he previously lived is now “swept and put in order”
So that tells us f the work this spirit had done in this man’s life.
IT HAS WRECKED HIS LIFE.
And yet, now, for some reason this “unclean spirit” has gone “out”.
I DON’T THINK it’s best to assume that this is the work of Jesus because the work of Jesus is permanent and this demon will return.
Mark 9:25 “When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”
What is more likely here is that this man was able to clean up his life.
• He was able to moralize himself to the point that his lifestyle was no longer beneficial to the demon’s purposes for his life.
• And so the demon went looking for a new house to use.
And someone would say,
• “Does this sort of thing happen?
• Do people really see demons leave apart from Jesus?”
You do so see this sort of thing happen. In fact, you see it fairly often.
I’ve heard many stories of even unredeemed people
Who made the decision to clean up their life and they succeeded at it.
• Perhaps a man gets married and so he determines to live a faithful life.
• Perhaps a man gets a job that requires new behaviors.
• Perhaps a man has kids and decides to grow up and change some bad
habits.
• Perhaps a man gets a bad diagnosis from the doctor and decides to give up
drinking or smoking or drugs
There are many SELF-HELP GROUPS and forms of REHABILITATION
That do have some success at times.
• NOT EVERYONE who has received help from Alcoholics Anonymous got dry because they GOT SAVED.
• NOT EVERYONE who ever entered a rehab facility got better because they GOT SAVED.
Some just applied principles, saw the danger and the threat,
Enlisted the help of others, and cleaned up their life.
You actually see that sort of thing all the time.
And that is what this man did.
For whatever reason this man was able to clean up his life enough
That the “unclean spirit” no longer found him useful and he left.
After all, even James taught us:
James 4:7b “…Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
This man left a life of immorality
He embraced a cleaner life of morality,
And the demon left.
It LOOKS like a great victory.
• And indeed we on earth applaud men for such a victory.
• We enlist them to speak to others.
• People make movies and TV shows about them.
BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE
THAT IS TYPICALLY NOT PERCEPTABLE TO HUMANITY.
And that is what Jesus wants them to know.
This demon left, but this demon was not idle.
“When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any”
“waterless places” is just a metaphor for barren places; unfavorable places.
Without a human to use this demon was out of place.
• It sought to have “rest”
• It sought a body to use
• It wasn’t content just to free float around in the spirit realm
Peter told us:
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
The devil isn’t happy just sitting on vacation.
He is actively looking for someone to use.
That is the same with this demon.
The problem is that it found no one else. “and not finding any”
So this demon makes a decision.
“I will return to my house from which I came.”
Notice that the demon referred to this man as “my house”.
See, this demon wasn’t made to leave,
It just left because it wasn’t opportune,
But upon frustration it decides to return and give it another go.
It still sees this man as “my house”
It never gave up ownership even though it left for a while.
And it is at this point that
Jesus gives us some VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
(25) “And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order.”
That is to say this house is all cleaned up.
“put in order” is the word KOSMEO
(It’s where we get our word for cosmetic)
It is often translated “adorned”
This man is cleaned up, and this man is proud of it.
• This man is rehabbed and the certificate is hanging on his wall to prove how successful he was in his battle.
• He has put his life back together and he has put his story out for all to see just how successful he was.
It is morality at its best.
Now Matthew actually adds a word here.
Matthew 12:44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.”
Matthew adds the word “unoccupied” which I do think is important.
It reveals to us that while the demon left the Spirit of God did not move in.
This is a Self-Reformed man.
He is NOT a Spiritually Regenerated man.
AND BECAUSE OF THAT, THE DEMON RETURNS.
BUT REMEMBER, this man’s life was not all that useful to this demon in a state of morality; that’s why it left before.
So this demon brings a new strategy.
(26) “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
So this demon takes reinforcements.
And it takes “seven other spirits” that are “more evil”
That is interesting.
That some demons are characterized as more evil than others.
It brings up all types of questions regarding WHAT IS “more evil”?
And I think the Bible answers that.
• THE WORLD would categorize things like pedophilia or murder or greed or
intolerance as the most evil.
• THE CHURCH typically says things like abortion or sexual immorality
drunkenness or whatever is the most evil.
But in reality the Bible seems to single out a sin
Far more evil or dangerous than any of those.
IT IS THE SIN OF PRIDE.
• It comes in the form of self-righteousness or self-assurance.
• It is dangerous and evil because it blinds people from their need of salvation.
Listen to Jesus:
Luke 5:31-32 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
• The people there referred to as “well” were not actually “well”
• Just like the people referred to as “righteous” were not actually “righteous”
• It’s just that they thought they were.
They saw no need for a physician and they saw no need for a Savior.
The sick and sinners on the other hand were actually in a better spiritual state
Because they at least knew they needed salvation.
Adrian Rogers used to say,
“The worst form of badness is human goodness.”
I AGREE WITH HIM.
• Namely because no human goodness is good enough to please God.
• It is only good enough to keep sinners from seeing their need for God.
At least a drunk in the ditch knows he needs saving.
And that explains what Jesus means
When He says, “the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”
In reality he is more moral,
But at the same time he is now further from salvation.
He looks better, but he is actually in a worse condition.
THAT IS THE DANGER OF MORALITY
AND THE CHURCH NEEDS TO LEARN THIS.
We are NEVER called to be an agency of morality,
Though we are so often prone to slip into that mindset.
• The Great Commission is NOT to go and make men moral.
• Our calling is NOT to make men sober or clean or sexually pure.
• Our commission IS to call men to faith in Jesus Christ.
It is to “make disciples” of Jesus.
It is to lead men to trust in the righteousness of Christ, not their own.
Churches fail men when their goal is merely to moralize sinners.
• This is where the social gospel fails.
• This is where the religious right fails.
LISTEN,
• I hate abortion.
• I hate sexual perversion.
• I hate drunkenness.
• Those things are evil and I certainly would love to see them gone.
BUT EVEN IF the church organizes and WINS every political battle regarding abortion and gay marriage and marijuana and alcohol, etc.
PEOPLE WILL STILL BE LOST AND HEADED TO HELL.
Charles Spurgeon said:
“Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he on the left hand of the judge, and if still, “Depart, ye cursed,” shall be his portion?”
THAT IS THE MAN HERE.
• His house is clean
• His house is adorned
• But his soul is now in a far worse condition
Jesus came to save sinners, not moralize them.
Jesus EXPOSED the most moral among them as the worst of sinners.
But that is what you get with Self-Reformation.
YOU GET GOOD LOST PEOPLE.
On the outside they are more agreeable and they look better,
But in the spiritual realm they are actually far worse off.
And Jesus by the way says that to expose the nation of Israel.
That is what they were. They were good lost people.
In fact, Matthew’s gospel adds at the end of this statement:
Matthew 12:45b “…That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
That was the problem of the people Jesus was dealing with.
• They were externally clean but full of evil.
• They were washed on the outside but in horrific condition on the inside.
That is the curse of Self-Reformation
But there is a contrast:
#2 THE BLESSING OF SPIRITUAL REGENERATION
Luke 11:27-28
Here again this mini-sermon is brought on by an event.
• We have a woman here listening to Jesus and the words which He is speaking and she wishes to pay Him a compliment.
(27) “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.”
That is a form of a Jewish compliment.
It is the woman’s way of praising Jesus.
Proverbs 10:1 “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”
Proverbs 15:20 “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish man despises his mother.”
Proverbs 17:25 “A foolish son is a grief to his father And bitterness to her who bore him.”
That is the mentality here.
In effect she says, “Your mom must be so proud!”
• This woman acknowledges the wisdom of Jesus.
• This woman acknowledges the greatness of Jesus.
• She may even be a believer.
But Jesus takes the compliment as an opportunity
To address another important reality.
(28) “But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
If you read the story in Matthew’s gospel, you get more of the story.
After the story about the demon, Matthew reveals:
Matthew 12:46-50 “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
• As Jesus spoke, His mother actually showed up, along with His brothers.
• And Jesus took the opportunity to reveal that we are not looking for external
indicators, but internal ones.
That is, you don’t recognize a child of God outwardly,
You recognize them inwardly.
Isn’t that what He just taught in that story about the demon?
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
But what must have happened is that
• As Jesus preached, His mother and brothers arrived
• Jesus made that statement regarding His true family
• And this woman, thinking about Mary yelled out her compliment
And Jesus reiterates the truth again.
True blessing is not found in human relationships,
It is found in spiritual relationships.
BUT HERE JESUS TAKES IT EVEN FURTHER.
• In fact, He reveals to this woman that she can be even more blessed than His mother was for giving Him birth.
She will be blessed IF she “hear(s) the word of God and observe(s) it”
Now to get the full point of the story
You have to understand what Jesus means by “hear the word”
John 5:24-25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
Hearing there is not simply physical hearing, but rather spiritual hearing.
• I can preach this morning from God’s word, and everyone in here with physical
ears will hear my voice.
• And yet, only those with spiritual ears will really hear what God is saying.
That is what Jesus is talking about.
The ability to really hear is a gift from God.
• It is a gift by which He regenerates a dead soul and grants it life enough to hear the truth.
Let me give you a good illustration.
TURN TO: John 8:31-47
• The setting is the Feast of Booths and Jesus has been preaching about Himself.
The most famous statement of the sermon is:
John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Now, in response to that sermon we see in verse 30
That “many came to believe in Him.”
So it “APPEARS” that we have here many believers.
Jesus moves forward to sort of give the litmus test.
(READ 31-32)
• So Jesus tells them that the proof of their faith will be that they continue in His word and thus find freedom.
But you will notice that the crowd takes great offense to this.
(READ 33)
So you already see in play here the very problem
That Jesus has revealed to us here in Luke’s gospel.
You have people who are slaves and yet convinced that they are free.
You have people who in are in danger, but don’t know it.
(Just like the moral man with all the demons)
But Jesus addresses the issue again:
(READ 34-36)
• So the truth remains.
But listen now as Jesus confronts the problem.
(READ 37-38)
Did you catch that?
You don’t hear Me.
And Jesus even insinuates that Abraham is not their true father.
They don’t like that.
(READ 39-42)
• These are people who claim to believe…
• These are people who claim to not be slaves of sin…
• These are people who are arguing their religious heritage…
But the problem is real.
They are not spiritually alive for the do not hear the words of Christ.
(READ 43-47)
Do you see it?
They can’t hear.
They are not regenerated.
Are they religious? Yes
Are they reformed? Yes
Are they rehabbed? Yes
Are they redecorated? Yes
BUT THEY ARE NOT REGENERATED
They cannot hear the words of God.
Now take that back to what Jesus just said in Luke’s gospel.
(28) “But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God…”
Now do you understand that?
What a blessing to have been made alive by God enough to hear His word.
(and this woman is hearing it, because she recognizes the glory of Jesus)
BUT THERE IS MORE.
Not only to hear it, but also to “observe it”
The word there is PHYLASSO (fu-la-so)
It means “to hold it fast, or protect, or keep from escape”
In other words, they hear it and they value it.
They receive it, they hold it, they obey it, they keep it.
THEY CHERISH IT!
Do you see this woman?
• She had heard what Jesus was saying
• And as a result she saw who the good one was.
• It wasn’t her, it was Jesus.
• And all she could do was announce what a blessing it would be to be associated with Jesus.
• She was cherishing Jesus.
NOW, THAT IS THE BLESSED STATE.
They have been made spiritually alive by God as evidence by their ability to hear and love for God’s word.
So take the contrast here.
• Both of these people are most likely moral.
• Both of these people are likely marked with external goodness.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
• The first did it through human power, without the Spirit’s help, and actually ended up in a worse condition.
• The second received through the Spirit’s regenerating work and therefore is justified and blessed.
The difference is not the outside, it is the inside.
And this is the point of Jesus.
IT’S ALL ABOUT BEING AUTHENTIC.
Does that make sense church?
DO NOT assure yourself of salvation
Because of your morality or religious commitment.
Assurance of salvation comes
With evidence of the Spirit’s work within you.
Romans 8:14-16 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,”
While all saved people should be moral people,
Not all moral people are saved people.
The redeemed are
• Those who have been made alive by the Spirit of God.
• Those who have believed into Christ and are clothed in His righteousness.
• The spiritually alive who hear and obey and love God’s word.
Don’t confuse that with “goodness”
A well swept house is not an indicator of salvation.
The Pharisees were clean.
This woman was real.
The Pharisees saw their own goodness and they were cursed.
This woman saw only the goodness of Jesus and she was blessed.
