Matthew 12:43-45

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself 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. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.  Matthew 12:43-45

THE STATE OF THE FALSE RELIGIOUS CONVERT

V. 44 - "he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished."

EMPTY - The man is found devoid of any spirit, including the Holy Spirit.  Now  he is even more susceptible to unclean spirits (cp. v. 29) and to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils (I Timothy 4:1-3), etc.

SWEPT - Cleaned up.  Dusted.  Cleaned off some on the outside but not from within.  Not scrubbed.  Not washed.  Not "white as snow" or "as wool" (Isaiah 1:18); not washed in the Blood of the Lamb.  Not made clean in the eternal record books.  Simply swept.  A few habits temporarily broken, a few disgusting sins temporarily hidden from the view of others.  A few things swept under the rug.

GARNISHED - Decorated.  From the Greek "COSMEO" -->English "Cosmetics."  Well-ordered decoration; well-arranged adornment.  Outward religious trappings added to make the man more attractive in his and others' sight.

Garnished illustration: When I first started working as a waiter, the cook told me that no plate ever leaves that kitchen without garnish - a piece of parsley, a small green onion or some such.  I insisted that it would not be eaten and was therefore of no practical use and a waste of time and money.  The cook said the use was to make the plate of food look more appealing.  I looked at the juicy steak, loaded baked potato and steamed vegetables on the plate and said it looks mighty appealing to me as is.  I was told not to argue, just put the parsley on the plate.  In like manner, the life of one biblically and truly converted to Christ is appealing enough without the useless garnishment of man's religious traditions.  The falsely converted however insist on such garnishment because no inward change has made their life any more appealing than before their false conversion.  Like a well-trained cook in the longstanding tradition of parsley and green onions, the well-trained religious one refuses to hear anything to the contrary against their traditional garnish.

WORSE THAN BEFORE - "the last state of that man is worse than the first."  His false religious conversion has insulated him against the truth.  Not only does the original unclean spirit return, not only do the original habits and wickedness come back with a vengeance, but sooner or later new depths of depravity are sought with the gusto of one convinced of his position.

VM
Developed during daily Bible reading, January 2011