Luke 11:27-28

If we reflect back on what Jesus just said onto verses 24-26, He is in effect saying that there are people who can look good, they can be cleaned, things can seemingly be in order because they are making a vain show of trifling things—the outward appearance, clothing, church attendance, they might even be able to talk a good fight. In other words, Jesus said in this context here, that people can be prepared for use—that is, unleavened—by an act of God, but the person has remained in a more or less static state. Nothing has been done to embellish the cleansing that God has done through the blood of Jesus Christ. The warning is that this person has allowed himself to become wide open to be worse off after he has gotten rid of the leaven than he was before.

Think about this: What good would it be for a farmer to plow a field—that is, to prepare it for use—and then never plant anything in it? Science teaches us that nature abhors a vacuum. When one thing leaves, it makes the way open for another thing to enter. There is an overall lesson that Jesus is getting at here and that is this: that in Christianity there is no place for neutrality.

If a person tries to straddle the fence, if a person will accept the blood of Jesus Christ and then does nothing on his own to overcome and grow, that person is going to end up worse off than he was before. We have to understand that God has involved us in a process and part of this process is a conflict. It is a conflict that takes place within us internally because there is another spirit that is doing all that it can in order to persuade us to either stand still, do nothing at all, or go back to the way that we have just come out of.

But Christianity involves making effort. We must move on, because if we stay static, because nature abhors a vacuum, we are going to take something else into it. That is not John Ritenbaugh's idea, that is what I have gleaned from this parable that Jesus gave.

There are three things that we need to understand.

Is Peter echoing what Jesus just said in that parable? The latter end of that person out of whom a demon has been cast is worse off than it was if it had never been cast out—if the person does nothing; if he is swept clean and put in order but nothing replaces what left, then that person is worse off.

If a person has not known the right way then they cannot be blamed for not following the right way. But if the person has known the right way, then I think the judgment is going to be that there has been a measure of deliberateness in the person's inactivity. That is, they have actually willed it to try to stand still or, not to do something or, simply to drift with the tide. Or simply to accept the blood of Jesus Christ but then not make the effort that is going to be required in order to do what is right. So there is a measure of deliberateness. It is at least the very beginnings of a willful sin and that is the kind that leads to the Lake of Fire.

So a person who is clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and then decides that they are going to just allow themselves to be distracted by what is going on in the world, allow themselves to be distracted by interests other than the main interest that God has put into their life—just allow themselves to have others impact upon them in a way that is detrimental to their own growth and does not really take control over their own life and go toward the Kingdom of God—that person is showing a measure of willfulness in what they have done.

He is showing these people clearly that sin is far more devastating if it is done with knowledge than with ignorance. In other words, the very fact that Jesus was there and Jesus was teaching them, verbally, and also, Jesus was showing them an example, was putting them into judgment. They then had a choice.

It is obvious from all the confrontations that took place between Jesus and these people, that there was a measure … . . .

Luke 11:24-28

That instruction is so pertinent to the thing about the casting out of a demon. See, blessed more is somebody who hears the Word of God and keeps it, if we relate it right back to the parable of the unclean spirit, than somebody who has been cleaned up but that seems to be as far as they have gone with their Christianity.

This is really an interesting illustration. I think that one of the first conclusions that we can draw from it is that Jesus is saying that it is not good enough just to be clean. And so, we have been cleaned through the Word. We are going to see that a little later. But it is not good enough just to be clean.

We are going to look at some alternate translations from some other Bibles. The Living Bible says "clean and empty." The Amplified Bible says, "swept clean and decorated." The New American Standard Bible says, "clean and put in order." A commentary suggested, "unoccupied and ready to receive a new tenant." Here comes the key. I thought that was a very good comment that he felt it really should be paraphrased, "unoccupied and ready to receive a new tenant."

The Greek indicates, "the appearance of a person who may look good." And, of course, someone who had been swept clean would look good. They were ready for something. But what were they ready for?

People tend to make a vain show of trifling things. That is why Jesus corrected the woman who said, "blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts that nursed You." Well, fine. But Jesus is saying in effect, without really putting the lady down, "What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" Because His mother, who undoubtedly was blessed by God by bearing Him and suckling Him, what if she ended up in hell? She is a free moral agent. She can do with her life what she wants—even though she was an instrument used by God. She is a free moral agent. That is why Jesus said, "Yes, that is fine, BUT blessed is that person who hears the word of God and keeps it."