You notice it says in verse 45: “He goes and brings with him seven other spirits more wicked, they enter in, and the man’s state is worse than when he began.” In other words, evil spirits can communicate with one another, and they work together to increase the bondage in the person’s life.
So, here is a conclusion we reach, when we look at that passage: it’s not enough just to cast the demon out; we must deal with the root issues in the person’s life, and they must become established in their walk with God. In other words, they can’t remain just passive, idle; they need to be now active in their spiritual life.
There’s an interesting scripture, where Jesus poses a question; and it says in Ephesians 4:28 – “Let him who stole, steal no longer; but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” So, this is what Jesus is saying: it’s not enough for the thief to stop stealing; he needs to have a change, where he becomes willing to work, and to give. “Let him that stole, stop stealing; rather, work and give.” You notice for the thief, his freedom comes not when he stops stealing; but when he’s giving. Stop lying; but rather, speak the truth and love to one another.
So, it’s not enough to just deal with or confront the negative, the person must move their life to starting to embrace kingdom life. Another way of putting it: there’s no neutral position. We know we’ve passed from death to life, when we love. A clear teaching in this is: once we’ve cast the demons out, the person needs to be established so they’re walking with the Holy Spirit - that there’s real change in their life.
Let’s have a look in Luke 11, and Jesus is again talking about deliverance. Luke 11:20 – “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Now, notice what he says in verse 21-22: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”
So, in this, the context is deliverance. Jesus identifies some things: 1.) A strong man. 2.) Armour. He says : if you want a person to be free, remove the armour. The strong man is a demonic spirit, who prevails over an area of a person’s life. It could be, for example, a stronghold of rejection. The person’s life is dominated by feelings and thoughts of rejection. At some point in their life, a stronghold was established. A stronghold is a mind-set. It’s a way of thinking, and it’s resistant to truth. So, when a person, for example, has got a deep root of rejection in their life, it is a stronghold. It’s a way of thinking about life; and every interaction with life, the person interprets it through the stronghold.
I’ll give you an example – suppose two people are standing talking, and the pastor walks into the church. He’s very busy, preoccupied, thinking about the next thing he must do. The two people say – “Hello pastor”; but he doesn’t hear them, and he just carries on. One of them thinks: “Oh, he’s busy, I’ll catch him later.” The other one thinks: “He doesn’t like me. This man doesn’t like me. I knew it! He doesn’t like me. He’s got something against me.” All through the service, they’re all stewed-up. The more they think about it, the angrier they get; and the whole worship service is ruined for them, because they can’t get it out of their mind – “the pastor rejected me today.”