Yes, the house is empty, it’s unoccupied; it’s swept clean and put in order. Well, this sounds good, right? There’s no impurity in the house—no dirt, no dust. All the trash has been taken out, and the house has been cleaned. What’s wrong with that?
Well, in actuality, this “house” is now a demon-magnet because it’s empty and unoccupied; it’s a vacuum. And nature abhors a vacuum.
Question 3. According to Matthew 12:45 what happens next to this “house”?
Yes, not only does the same demon return; but it takes seven worse demons than himself, and all eight of them now inhabit the home. Now, “the last state of that person is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:45) as it began with one demon and now has eight.
Consider this possible scenario: a person wants to stop smoking, so they get rid of all cigarettes. Eventually, they are hit with cravings that they used to gratify with cigarettes. They know they shouldn’t smoke, so they turn to food instead, and over time they gain a lot of weight. They don’t like that at all, and they figure they were better off smoking because at least they weren’t so overweight. So, they start smoking again, but they don’t lose weight. Now they feel like a failure because they are both overweight and smoking when they discover that drinking alcohol drowns out the thoughts of failure. Now they are overweight, smoking and drinking alcohol. You see the progression.
In our situation, we can understand that we need to give up pornography and all forms of sexual impurity. We might take some steps toward stopping these behaviors and changing our life. But as the days go by the desire to return grows, and as days turn into weeks, we begin craving to gratify our flesh. We try not to do it, we grit our teeth and white-knuckle it, resisting as best we can, but eventually, temptation overpowers us. We return to it with a vengeance, actually going farther than we ever have before, doing things we’ve never done before. We might even shock ourselves with the extent to which we go.
But God’s Word gives us a solution to this problem that, if applied, eliminates the “nature abhors a vacuum” problem. Notice:
Ephesians 3:17-19 NIV so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, (18) may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (19) and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
First, Jesus Christ comes to dwell in our hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:17). This happens when we come to the cross and see His love for us, and we open our hearts to receive Him, our arms to embrace Him, our souls to cherish Him.
Second, we experience power (Ephesians 3:18). This is the power of love — the power of the Holy Spirit. We see the lengths Jesus went to draw us to Himself. This power infiltrates our hearts, this power of love!
Third, we become full! Notice this, as full as God Himself! "...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). God keeps pouring love out on us every time we visit the cross, and it fills us. David said "my cup overflows," (Psalm 23:5) and we can say "my heart overflows" because Jesus' love washes over us, fills us, makes us as full as God Himself.
Yes, love, power, and fullness! This is what Jesus brings when He invades our hearts.