Intelligent Service
Luke 11:23‑26 • 1 min. read • grade level: 6
"He that gathereth not with Me scattereth" (Luke 11:2323He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. (Luke 11:23)); that is, he that does not work according to Christ's purpose is really making bad worse. It is not enough to work with the name of Christ; no saint would consent to work without that, but if he does not work according to the purpose of Christ, he is scattering abroad. Many a saint is now engaged in rectifying and adorning the world—getting Christendom as a swept and garnished house. But, this not being Christ's purpose, it is aiding and furthering the advance of evil. Christ has not expelled the unclean spirit out of the world. He has no such present purpose. The enemy may change his way but he is as much "the god" and "prince of this world" as ever he was. The house is his still, as in the parable (see Luke 11:24-2624When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. (Luke 11:24‑26)). The unclean spirit has gone out; that was all; he had not been sent out by the stronger man, so that his title to it is clear; and he returns, and all that he finds there had only made it more an object with him. He finds it clean and ornamented, so that he returns with many a kindred spirit and thus makes its last state worse that its first.