Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on June 1, 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
I invite you to take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 11. If you want to look in the Pew Bible, it is on page nine. 23. Today the message is, what good is reformation without salvation? And we’re going to be talking about demonic activity.
And the passage is about a person that has been demon possessed, and then the demon leaves and then he brings back more. Don’t sit there and say, well, I’m not demon possessed today, so I don’t need to listen to the message, okay? Because we’re going to have some application for how we are to live in light of this and also to have a better understanding of how active evil forces are in this world against us and against those that are not serving the Lord. Let’s read in Luke 11:24, 26, when an unclean spirit comes out of a person. It roams through waterless places looking for rest and not finding rest.
It then says, I’ll go back to my house that I came from returning. It finds the house swept, put in order, then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. And as a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first. May we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the awesome gift that we have in your word.
We thank you not only that you’ve given it to us, but that you have preserved it through the years. That we might understand the way to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, that we also might learn how to live our lives to please you more. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen. The passage is talking about an unclean spirit here that comes out of a person.
It’s kind of a general descriptive term. It’s not called a demon here, but in essence it’s referring to the group of spiritual beings that are around us. And the Bible talks about demons, it talks about fallen angels, it talks about powers and principalities and evil forces. It’s as if we understand there are a multiplicity of spiritual beings that are out there, and all of these are in the category of being unclean, as opposed to the spiritual beings, the cherubim and the seraphim and the angels and the messengers of God that we read of in Scripture that would be on the other side of God’s side here. But we’re looking at unclean spirits.
And what we see here is that these unclean spirits, they have an internal influence on people. They have a nature in us that goes along with our sinfulness. Before we come to faith in Jesus Christ, let’s go to Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Paul says you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. Paul says that we too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts.
There are two kingdoms in this world. There is the kingdom of God, and if you are a child of God, you are in that kingdom. But there is also the kingdom of Satan, the ruler of this present world. And what we read here in Ephesians is that the spirit is now working not just outside of that, but these evil spirits are working in people that have not given their life to the Lord. They’re working in them that they will be disobedient to the Lord.
Jesus told the people that were against him in John 8, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your Father’s desires. We need to be aware that this spiritual world that we do not see is just as real as the world that we do see. And in this world that we live in today, we have three battles. We have the spiritual world that is out there, these evil spirits, so Satan himself that are against us. We also have the battle of just our sinful nature that we’re born with.
Our our flesh causes us to want to do things that are wrong, that are sinful. And we have the physical world. We have society and friends and family that are often telling us to do things that are not godly in nature. And we tend to recognize this physical world and the sinfulness of our flesh. But we must not neglect that there is a spiritual world that is out there and it is trying to lead us to disobedience against the Lord.
And what we see here in the text is we’re talking about a person that is not a believer, and they’re greatly influenced by these unclean spirits. But we’re going to see later on today as we look at it, that we also continue to be affected by them in our world. Let’s go to 2 Corinthians 4, 3, 4. And what we’re going to see here is that these evil beings are trying to distort people’s understanding about God and about his word and salvation. It tells us, in their case, Paul is talking about those that have not come to faith in Jesus Christ, that the God of this age, and that would be Satan, has blinded the minds of Unbelievers.
And he’s doing this to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, to keep them from seeing the image of God in Jesus. And these evil, unclean spirits, they do this by distorting the truth, changing God’s word. But they also do it by deception. And they are liars. And they outright will say, well, God isn’t telling the truth here.
And if we look back to Genesis chapter three, those are some of the things that Satan did with Eve. Doubt God’s word, he told her, doubt God’s goodness. And he questioned, did God really say these things to you? But the intent was to blind her mind to the truth so that she might follow him instead. And these evil spirits are doing this in the minds of, of those that are lost in the world.
But he also continues to try to influence us in the same way. But we can’t blame all of our evil actions on Satan. If you’re old enough. There used to be a TV show and Flip Wilson always said, what many of you remember, the Devil made me do it, okay? Putting the complete blame on him.
It’s not my fault that I just stole that or it’s not my fault I just told that lie. The Devil made me do that. Yes, the Devil is influential in your life, but you still have personal responsibility. God gives you the ability to say, no, I’m not going to do that. But James 1 tells us that each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by whose desires does it say his own desires?
We have this battle of the flesh that we must take under control. And when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, he gives us the ability to do that. Because after Satan tempts people and draws them away is after desire has conceived in these people, it then gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. So yes, Satan, demons, evil forces of the spiritual world are, are trying to tempt us to do wrong.
But we still have a personal responsibility not to go along with that. What is the life of somebody who’s influenced by these evil beings going to look like? What results in a worldly lifestyle? In Mark, we have a list. Evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self indulgence, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
None of these things come from God. None of them originate in God. But when you read the list, you see that Satan has this vast armory of bullets and weapons to leash against us, leading us into all of these different sins. Galatians 5 gives a different list. Now, the works of the flesh are obvious.
Sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing. And as if that list is not long enough, he says, and basically anything else, Paul says, I’m warning you about these things, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is what is prevalent in the mind and in the lives of those that are not faithful following Jesus Christ. And even if we are following Jesus Christ, evil beings, the spiritual world is continually trying to tempt us to do these things. Also Luke chapter 11.
We go back to verse 24. When an unclean spirit comes out of a person. It roams through waterless places looking for rest and not finding rest. It then says, I’ll go back to. And what’s the two letter word there?
My house. I’ll go back to my house that I came from. Unless you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you belong to Satan. You belong to the spiritual world. And these evil beings, they have command.
And they know that you belong to their kingdom. In other words, people that have not followed Jesus Christ are in sin, spiritual slavery to Satan and the demonic forces. That’s what Romans 6 tells us. You are slaves, and you’re slaves of either one thing or another. First, you’re either a slave of sin that’s leading to death, or you are a slave to obedience, leading to righteousness.
In other words, you’re either a slave of the devil or you’ve given your life up to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of your life, he is your master. You are in essence a slave to him. You used to be slaves of sin. He goes on to say, you were slaves of sin.
But praise the Lord, if you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you have been set free from sin. Unbelievers belong to Satan. And the unclean spirit therefore had the right to return. To whose house? To the house that he said was his.
Well, why had the spirit left? It doesn’t tell us in the passage, but in the context of this, Jesus has just been accused of exercising a demon by the powers of Satan. And then he compares himself to the Jewish religious leaders that have also been able to exorcise demons. So we’re talking in the context, context of exorcism here. Jesus had cleaned this person’s house.
He had cleaned the person out when he cast out the mute demon and the Jewish leaders that had cast out demons by their exorcisms had also cleaned out houses. But the key is that they had nothing to offer to put back into the empty house. Whereas Jesus Christ, when he brings salvation to us, he not only cleans house, but he puts new life. And we’re going to look at that in just a minute. Let’s think about how many of you like to come home to a clean house.
How many of you like to rent a hotel room and you walk into it and it’s actually clean. I mean, it’s really nice. Or to go into a restaurant and you sit down and you eat. It’s much more pleasant if everything’s what, Clean. So this is.
This is a wonderful thing here that this house has been cleaned out. But if you’ve ever owned a house and you go in and you clean it out, maybe because your mother died or your grandmother or an aunt or something, and then the house sits there empty week after week after week. Does it get better and better by being empty? Does it get better and better by people not using it? No.
What happens to that house? It just. It goes downhill because it’s a great thing to clean a house, but then you have to put a new occupant in there that will take care of it. That’s what happens to us spiritually. Jesus removes these evil forces from us, but he doesn’t leave us empty like the Jewish exorcisms.
He comes and he fills us with something new. Our spiritual slavery switches to a slavery in a good master who now lives inside of us.
What happened with the Jewish exorcisms is that people were reformed, and that’s the term we’re looking at today, the reformation of the unbeliever. A reformation is the act of improving or changing something for the better, often by removing or correcting faults or problems. Every January 1st, we ask people to make what New Year’s resolution? I’m going to be, what I’m going to do better, I’m going to do more. I’m going to change this thing in my life.
I am going to be reformed, and it’s all about what I’m going to do. Or maybe we go to a counselor, or maybe we read a book or we listen to a speaker, and they tell us that they can help us to reform ourself. And that’s a great thing. It leaves a clean house. But the warning here is if you only reform yourself, your end result is you’re going to be worse than you were to begin with because we cannot have self righteousness in ourselves.
It’s a fallacy, It’s a lie that I can changed my life enough that I can stand in righteousness before Lord Almighty returning. That evil spirit found the house, swept and put it in order. And he was ecstatic. This is wonderful. And now the house is so much better than it was that he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there.
And as a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first. Satan wants to tell us that we can reform ourselves, that we can have self righteousness. And if you believe that lie when you stand before God one day your condition is going to be worse than it was when you started to clean house for yourself. Lacking something, another presence that would keep it from entering allows this demonic force to come back. A person needs a new resident in their life.
And without the living power of Jesus Christ and without his transformation through what we term in generally is salvation, anyone can make a great change in their life.
They can work to overcome sin in their life, they can change their habits, they can do endless amounts of good. But if there is not salvation and a new resident, it doesn’t make an eternal change. Reformation only can last for so long. It does not bring about eternal lasting spiritual heart change in a person. The world is full of ways to reform ourselves.
And Satan lies to us and says that this is sufficient. But the answer is not. Because people don’t just need reformation, they need salvation. So that’s what I’ll look at today. What does it mean when we’re saying that we’re going to be saved?
We have the contrast here, that reformation is the act of improving or changing something for the better, often by removing or correcting faults or problems. But our real need is not reformation, it is salvation. And the definition I have up there is that salvation is the work of God whereby He rescues us from the power and dominion of sin and places us in the safety of his eternal kingdom. Would you just read that with me? Salvation is the work of God whereby He rescues us from the power and dominion of sin and places us in the safety of his eternal kingdom.
It’s simple for God to do this, but it’s a complicated process. God has no difficulty in it. But we have some terms here that we really need to understand so we can appreciate how much God has done for us and saving us and bringing us salvation. And it’s all about how instead of us reforming ourself and having self righteousness it fulfills the need that we have for Christ. Righteousness.
And there are four terms we want to look at when we talk about salvation. There’s justification, there is regeneration, there is sanctification, and there is glorification. We don’t need reformation, we don’t need self righteousness, we need salvation. Let’s understand what that is for us today. First, let’s look at a definition of justification.
I’m going to let you read that with me. Justification is. Next slide. The divine act whereby an infinitely holy God, you judicially declares a believing sinner to be righteous and acceptable before him. Because Christ has borne the sinner’s sin on the cross and it’s become to us righteousness.
It is not a human act. It is what kind of act. It’s a divine act because we have an infinitely holy God that we need to have a relationship with, but we can’t be holy with him in our own strength. That’s why he has to step in with what we call the gracious cure for our deadly condition. And it tells us that he makes this declaration.
And that’s what justification is. It’s a judicial declaration. And what we understand here, it says, if we are standing before not just a judge, but we are standing before the judge, and God says, are you guilty of ever doing anything wrong? And if I ask you to raise your hand, everyone here today would have to say, yes, I am what I’m guilty. And because of that, you are condemned to hell and separation from God eternally.
But God does something for us. And when we are saved, one of the things he does is He. He justifies this. And that means that as a judge, instead of saying, you’re guilty, he declares, no, you are innocent. And when a judge tells somebody that they’re innocent, you don’t have to pay the penalty for running the stop sign.
How many of you say, but why I want to pay the penalty do you do that? You just accept it? Because the judge has the power to do that. And that’s what God does with our sin. He declares that now you are righteous and that you are acceptable.
But it’s not because of what we do. It’s because of what. It’s because of what Jesus Christ has done. It says there that he has borne the sinner’s sin. He’s born my sin on the cross.
And it’s not so much that I’m righteous, but because Jesus is righteous and, and now God sees me in him. That God says, you’re righteous because you are in Christ. Galatians 2 emphasizes the fact that there isn’t anything we can do that brings about justification. A person is not justified by the works of the law, in other words, by obeying the Ten Commandments and what God asks us to do. A person is not justified by the works of the law, but instead by faith.
And that faith has to be in one particular person, that is Jesus Christ. Even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified not by what we do, not by our own reformation, but by faith in Christ, not by the works of the law. Because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. Justification is a declaration of a new standing, that we are righteous in God’s sight.
Let’s look at regeneration. Along with the declaration that God makes, there’s also this new event in our life. Read the definition with me. Regeneration is the spiritual change wrought in a man by the Holy Spirit, by which he becomes the possessor of a new life. This is what Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about in John chapter three where we read.
Jesus said, you must be what, born again Nicodemus. He had all the biblical knowledge in his day. He was trying to follow what God wanted him to do. He was obeying the laws. But Jesus said, that’s not enough.
You’re still dead just doing these things. You need to have new life in you. There has to be this event where something happens. Titus3.5 says, he saved us, not by works of righteousness, not by self reformation that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is now a new creation.
The old has passed away and see, the new has come. We talk about the new creation after we accept God’s gracious cure. For us it’s an event in our life where instead of being dead, we come to life. We aren’t just cleaned up and waxed like an old car. We don’t have to wax new cars.
But back in the 60s, after a couple years, your car started to look pretty dingy. And what did people have to do? We’d rub and rub and rub to polish it, to make it look new and beautiful again. God doesn’t just clean us up, that’s what self reformation can do. God makes us completely new.
We’re born again. And just like when you have a new baby, all of a sudden there’s life, there’s excitement. And how much in your life changes everything. I Often say, you know, you get married and then you realize how selfish you are, and then you have a baby and you realize, oh, I’m even more selfish than I thought. And with each child you have, you realize you’re still having to deal with what?
Selfishness. There’s a change. There’s something new. And the thing about the new birth, it’s not a work that we can do ourselves, but it’s also not a work that we do with God. It’s not like, okay, God, I’m helping you here to bring about life in me.
No, we have to depend on God alone. But Satan’s going to lie. He’s going to tell people that it’s not just what Jesus does. Jesus does this. But you have to do this too.
So a salvation is Jesus plus our own effort, and that’s a lie of Satan. Just as a baby has nothing to do with its birth, we have nothing to do with the birth of that God offers to us. Salvation is not a work done by ourselves. Salvation is not a work done with God. Salvation is a work of God, by God alone.
The declaration is that we are righteous. The event is that we are regenerated. We have life in us now. But the next thing about salvation is that there’s this ongoing process. And here’s a part that now we are to become involved in.
Let’s read the definition of sanctification together. Sanctification is the work of God in developing the new life and bringing it to perfection. Let’s think back to babies. You see a new baby and you say, that baby is perfect. Have you ever said that?
I can’t think of any mom that’s ever looked at her baby and said, that baby is just terrible. You know, there’s something wrong here. That can’t be my baby. My husband must have done something, you know, or whatever. You always look at a baby and you say, the baby’s perfect, but within two years, all of a sudden, that baby isn’t.
So what? They aren’t perfect. There’s perfection, but there still is this growing process where then, as a good parent, disciplines and trains and loves to help that baby to move from this perfection to being what, Mature and perfect in a different way? That’s the process of sanctification. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14 says, by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.
So we’re seeing they’re perfected forever by Jesus offering. But there’s this sanctification that has to happen, and the NIV translates it so we better understand it because by one sacrifice he is made perfect forever. There’s this initial perfection. But then he goes on to say, those who are being made holy, in other words, you’re set apart, but there’s still this ongoing process that you are being made more and more sanctified as you go along.
Sanctification means to be set apart as holy. And in one sense, we are perfect like a newborn baby when we are justified. But in another sense, we are being gradually perfected through the process of sanctification. And what Scripture tells us is we have an active role now in this sanctification because just like a child has to choose to obey their parents, we have to choose daily to allow God to direct our thoughts, to allow him to direct our words and to direct our actions. And we have all of God’s word.
We have the Holy Spirit inside of us. God is not silent on how we are supposed to live. And we are continually asked to be obedient to that so that we can become more and more holy. Justification is a declaration. Sanctification is a process.
Regeneration is a specific event. But then we have what we call glorification, which is the final act of salvation. Let’s read the definition there on the screen. Glorification is the final state of salvation where believers are transformed in the perfect likeness of Jesus Christ.
One day, the new creation that God has begun in us will be complete. We will be completely removed from sin, and we will be just like Jesus.
John writes in his first letter here in what we call chapter three, by the way, John didn’t put chapter one, two, and three in the Bible, okay? He just. He just wrote a letter and he said, dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.
And I’ve put the different terms in there. The first thing is, we are God’s children. Now, there’s been a declaration. You are justified and you have experienced the event of regeneration or new birth that is settled in stone. And then he says, and the end result is that we are going to be just like Jesus.
Now look around the room. Don’t look at your spouses or anybody here today. That’s like Jesus. I mean, we’re trying to be, but we’re not just like him, but that’s how we will be someday. That’s glorification.
It’s the final act. But then John says, but there’s still this ongoing process of sanctification. Everyone who has this hope in himself does what we continually purify ourselves, trying to be more and more like Jesus. All of these things God is doing for us when he brings us to salvation, let’s just look at them briefly again, let’s read together. Justification is a declaration that changes our relation to God from guilty to forgiven.
Regeneration is an event that changes our moral and spiritual nature from death to life. Sanctification is a process that changes our character, thoughts, word and actions from infancy to Christlikeness. And glorification is a final act that completes the work of salvation in us from imperfection to perfection.
Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 11. What does it look like when this new resident comes into the believer? We’ve already read verses about a person that is occupied by an evil spirit or just under the influence. They live like the world. But Romans 8 shows us what a difference Jesus makes in our life when his Spirit comes in to take residence.
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free. We do not walk according to the flesh, but now we walk according to the Spirit. We have our minds set not on things of the world, but things of the Spirit. And that mindset of the Spirit is one not of turmoil and death and fear, but it’s one of life and peace. The Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
That doesn’t come through self reformation. It comes through Jesus. And it tells us that the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us. That’s what Jesus offers us so that our house is now filled with life that prevents the evil forces from coming in again. The spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you, who takes up residence in a person that has experienced salvation. It is the third person of the Trinity. God himself comes to be a closer friend to us than anyone possible in this world. And why can the unclean spirits not return to those that are saved and invade us? It’s because there is now someone there that keeps them from coming in.
The responsibility of the believer. So you can say today, well, I am a believer. You can say, I cannot be indwelt by an unclean spirit because the Spirit of Christ dwells within me. And that would be a true statement. But here’s a false statement that says, satan might want you to think therefore because I’m a Believer I don’t need to be concerned about unclean spirits and Satan.
That’s false. You don’t have to come under his control, but his influence is still strong and it is trying to attack you and lead you away from the Lord. If you are living like you should live. In Galatians 5 we read about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s very different than what the demon controlled person or the demon influenced person lives in a worldly way.
Here we have, it says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. The law is not against such things. And now those who belong to Christ Jesus, it says they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. This life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control comes about by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But it also says that we have a responsibility here, that we have to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. When your mind, your desires, your body, whatever wants to do something wrong, you can’t blame it on Satan. God tells us by the power of the Holy Spirit, now he’s going to help you. But you have to choose not to do these things. And it is our responsibility to do that last phrase there.
To keep in step with the Spirit.
You can live by him, he’s living in you. But you also also need to keep in step with him.
Ephesians, chapter 6. We read about the armor of God and again we see here the armor of God is not just placed on us. It is our responsibility to put it on daily. Paul said, finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Stand there and I will put on the armor.
Is that what it says? No, it’s the command you put on the full armor of God so that you again the emphasis on what you need to do, stand against the schemes of the devil. And you must remember that our struggle isn’t just against flesh and blood, the things that we see and feel and smell, but it’s against these rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of darkness, evil and spiritual forces in the heavens. Satan would love for you to think there’s nothing trying to affect you that you can’t see. And Scripture says that’s where we really need to concentrate our efforts in our battle.
It’s not on what we can see, but it’s on the spiritual forces that we can’t see. I’m going to give you a list of things that help you to stay in step with the Spirit. And we don’t have any time to go over all of these today, but they’re in your bulletin and instead of having questions there this week, I would encourage you go and read these scripture passages. And what you need to do is ask God, which of these am I not doing in my life? That would help me to keep more in step with your spirit that we can work on my sanctification to become more like Jesus.
We just read one put on the full armor of God in Ephesians. It also tells there to pray once a week when you come to church. Is that what it says? No. Pray at all times.
Romans tells us to honor God with our bodies. Take care of your body, make sure that you’re feeding it right and that you’re doing the things with it that all Honor God. Romans 12:2 also says, Be different than the world. John 15 about the vine and the branches abide in Christ. Renew your mind.
That means reading scripture, listening to podcasts, singing songs, whatever can get your mind on the things that are good and true. And lastly, consistently worship with and encourage other believers. These are all commands that we have in scripture that helps us to grow in our sanctification, to stay in step with the Spirit. And this is not a list of everything. There is much more.
But today, in closing, the first thing is, if you do not have salvation in your life, that you would come to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that he would suffer for your sin. And all you have to do is accept that gift so that God can declare you righteous. But for those of us that have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, the question is, are you 100% in step with the Spirit today? And I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand because I can’t raise mine. What do we need to do more of?
Do I need to concentrate on putting on the armor of God? Do I need to spend more time in prayer? Maybe I need to focus on consistently worshiping with and encouraging other believers and not just doing that sporadically. You could look at the list and say, wow, I’m not doing any of those things. I am overwhelmed.
Just ask God to show you one thing to work on this week. Maybe you’re doing all of these things already. Then ask God, well, which thing do I need to move from 50% to 60%? And I will work on that this week. I don’t know how God is speaking to you, but if you ask him to show you what you need to do in response.
He will give you wisdom in that matter. May we close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you what you have done for us, that you have not only cleaned us out, but you have filled us with your loving spirit. We thank you for his constant prayer, presence and compassion and work in our life. Help us to learn how to better come in step with what you are doing in us to make us more like your son.
It’s in his name that we pray. Amen.