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by Sandy Shaw
In Matthew Chapter 12 at verse 43, we have the picture of a man who had tried to clean up his own life. He attempted a personal self reformation. What could he do? “I need to put my life in order.” The danger was that his life was left empty. Many do this especially on the first of January.
Jesus says something further. When an evil spirit goes out of a man, it goes seeking somewhere to rest, but if it finds nowhere to rest, it will return to the man, finding the man clean and swept, but empty, and it will bring seven others, and the situation is worse than before.
There is something highly significant here. Evil spirits seem to go around in gangs.
Verse 44. What is Jesus meaning? What is He saying here? It is not enough just to be clean. We also have to be filled - filled with the Holy Spirit - with His power - and with God's love and grace - so that there is no room for anything else.
An empty heart is a tragedy. An empty life is in great danger. A negative life is a danger too. It is never enough to say, “You mustn't do that and you mustn't do this”. Jesus has to fill and permeate every room in the house, and every corner of our lives.
Jesus not only saves us from our sins and cleans out what ought not to be there, but He also wants to fills us, and feed us, and satisfy us. There must be both aspects.
Jesus comes across very strongly in this second half of Matthew Chapter 12. These religious leaders had proved unfaithful to God, yet, in his mercy and grace and love, Jesus gave them a sign and it was to be the sign of the resurrection, but not even that changed these men. Jesus pointed out to these Pharisees and the other leaders that people will speak against you and condemn you. Verse 39 is piercing and challenging.
When Jonah preached, even the king repented.
Over these years I have noticed and observed, that when the Word of God is preached, some people come nearer to God, and some people move further away from God. Some, like the Queen of Sheba, will want to find out what this is all about, others will quietly dismiss it, and that dismissal may not be done so quietly at times.
The Queen of the South travelled half way around the known world at that time to discover the truth. She put herself to great inconvenience when she hears of what was going in Israel and she wanted to find out.
This is a salutary section of the Word of God where Jesus speaks of various important topics within a few brief sentences. There are serious and dire consequences when a man refuses and rejects Jesus Christ and His Word and what He is doing.
Some years ago there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God was near and God was real – very real. People felt and sensed a powerful influence not knowing exactly what it was to begin with. There was a presence of God.
You may have had people say to you – “I wish I could be like you. I wish I had what you have.” There is a witness and influence in the lives of others and something of the badness is challenged, but that is never enough, and soon the witness and influence and challenge and memory of that day fades and wanes.
People tell me that they have gone to some place of worship and the atmosphere is different there from what they have been used to. The singing is different. Even the reading of the Bible is different.
It is as if a window has been opened in their lives and there is an influence or a blowing of the wind of the Holy Spirit, and the fresh air takes away the stale air, temporarily. The life was just freshened up a bit, but the person returns to the old former ways.
Verses 43 to 45 speak about reformation, but reformation is never enough. Reformation is not salvation, and not even exorcism is salvation, and that is part of the teaching of this profound Chapter.
That is why I have to ask – “Where are you regarding all this? And if you are still searching and hungry and thirsty for what is real, what are you going to do about it?”
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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