Matthew 12:22-32

be in Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 12 verse 22 through 32.

Matthew 12:22–32

This is a awesome section with a bunch of important principles in it.

Let me um read the text to you and then um and then we'll kind of unpack it together.

So it's Matthew 12 22 through 32.

Now again if you're new with us what we do on Sundays and the way I preach is like we just go through books of the Bible.

So last week we were in um the verses before this.

So if you ever want to know what I'm going to preach the following week unless it's like a holiday I'm pretty much going to preach the next and we're going to go into verse 33 into the next section about trees and like bearing good fruit.

So it's really simple and we spend about 35 minutes where I'm just kind of walking through the text and we're seeing what Jesus taught.

And my job is to just help you understand what Jesus is saying and then we want to apply it to our lives.

So what you need and what I need this morning is just to have a soft heart and at least see what Jesus is saying and be like, okay, this is what Jesus is teaching.

How does this apply to my life?

So let's uh here's what we're going to look at today these ten verses.

Then a demon possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to him.

He healed him so that the man could both speak and see.

All the crowds were astonished and they said could this be the son of David?

When the Pharisees heard this they said This man drives out demons only by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons knowing their thoughts, he told them Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

If Satan drives out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand?

And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons drive them out?

For this reason they will be your judges.

If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

How can someone enter a strong man's house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man.

Then he can plunder his house.

Anyone who is not with me is against me.

Anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

Therefore I tell you people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man it will be forgiven him.

But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the one to come.

Lord we pray that you would teach us through your word instruct us.

Lord we ask not just that we would comprehend this with our minds but that your spirit would open up our eyes to see spiritual truths for us.

What do you have?

What wisdom do you have for us in our lives?

God you've been with us from when we were we were put together in our mother's wombs you were there.

You know our story and God we pray that you would speak into our lives through this text.

Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and making it possible for us to have a relationship with you.

We pray that you would instruct us and teach us in the context of that relationship this morning.

Teach us we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen all right so there's some stuff probably that you've heard before as we look at this text and so here's how this breaks down.

So we have the story about Jesus healing this guy who's got this demon that's possessing him.

We'll talk a little bit about that.

The Pharisees who are the religious elite of the day they kind of are threatened by Jesus performing this miracle.

And so they throw out an interpretation on how Jesus healed the guy.

They say hey he's casting out demons by Satan's power by the power of Beelzebub.

And so Jesus responds to this in three ways we're going to look at the three responses from Jesus and then Jesus goes into this section that's like listen he kind of warns and it seems because of the context it seems like he's warning about this unforgivable sin against the Spirit.

This unforgivable sin against the spirit so let's go through we'll unpack this one piece at a time we'll look at the contextual narrative first in other words we're going to look it up at this we're going to look at the story the story that that kind of leads into Jesus' teaching so we see that there is a demon possessed man who was blind and unable to speak.

Now if you're just joining us the ministry so Jesus is traveling around the northern region of Galilee this is this is his hometown region.

This is he knew people in this area he'd go from town to town he would teach in the synagogues and he was healing people and this was causing a bit of a stir in that it was upsetting the Pharisees.

So here's a demon possessed man.

What does it mean for a person to be demon possessed?

Here's what the Bible teaches okay so the Bible doesn't start with demon possession.

This is one of those teachings from the Bible that you have to decide do I trust the Bible?

Because this is weird, right?

Anybody think this is weird?

Like so if you don't believe so you don't well that's good.

I'm glad you don't think it's weird.

I think it's weird.

So um the less you can think it's weird is good.

Okay?

But this is kind of one of those sections where it's just like wow there's demons or spirits what does this mean?

What does it mean for there to be evil spirits or a demon so here is this man who's possessed.

Now if we look through the Bible one of the things that we see is that God created humans and he created humans to be spiritually connected to him.

From the very beginning God was in a relationship with humanity and he said look this is good if you want to be in relationship with me you live in the garden you teal the ground you do the work I gave you but don't eat from that tree the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

And the day you eat that you're going to die.

Well humanity rebels the man and the woman they eat the fruit and they die.

They die um they are on their journey to a physical death but they they face immediate shame a sense of shame so there's psychological death they're in conflict the husband and wife are in conflict so there's relational death there's they are um sensing their nakedness again which goes back to kind of this psychological breach that they don't feel comfortable with their own nakedness any longer.

There is an ecological death that occurs where they're now at war with creation and there's this animosity and this broken relationship or component to their relationship with what had been created.

And but the most important thing is they died spiritually they're cut off from the presence of God on that day and God says like where are you at?

What are you doing?

He's inviting them to confess their sin and to enter back into that relationship with him.

But what I want to the reason I bring that up for you to know is that humanity was designed to be spiritual.

Humanity you and I were designed to be in relationship with God and the Bible says that we are like a vessel or it says you're like a house or you're like a temple that is meant to be filled with the Spirit of God.

But if you're not filled with the Spirit of God there are these cases in the Bible where people are filled with demons and demons need houses basically I don't know why, don't ask me why but it seems like that these demons can go in more than one demon can go in to a person and possess them and they have some control over their physical body Jesus healed a man that was a demoniac on the other side of the Galilee sea of Galilee and the demons before they're cast out they're basically talking through this man's body and they say if you're going to cast us out of this man could you cast us into those pigs that are over there?

There's for some reason demons need um like vessels to be in and so Jesus go and they go and they they jump into the demons and then the pigs jump off of a cliff as demon possessed pigs.

Sounds like a scene from Minecraft to me.

But um so here we have this man who's possessed by a demon I just want you to know that it is important for you to understand that the Bible informs our anthropology like our human existence and how we do humanness and says that there is a spiritual component and it's not just you know Cupids and angels but there are fallen angels now called demons that are at war against you and I and the plan of God.

And those demons are capable of possessing a person.

Now there is the question of can a demon be inside of if you're a follower of Jesus can it possess you and I I personally don't think it can I think a demon cannot reside in somebody that's filled already with the Spirit of God.

But demons still can and it's very clear it happened to Paul the apostle it happened throughout the book of Acts they can still oppose you they can still attack there is this whole section out of Ephesians chapter 6 where Paul says you need to put on spiritual armor because you're in the midst of this spiritual battle where there are demons that oppose you now if you're not a follower of Jesus and this is like and you're kind of like I don't know this is not the core thing you need to believe.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

The first thing you need to understand about what the Bible teaches is that Jesus loves you, died on the cross to pay for your sin and invites you to be reconciled back to God so that you can be in relationship with him so that you can be spiritually at peace.

But it is important to know that these are the things that the Bible teaches and Jesus here is demonstrating his power by healing the man because do you see that the the result of his demon possession is that he's both blind and mute.

He cannot speak and Jesus heals him and he speaks and sees so this is a radical a radical healing that occurs.

Now the next thing that happens is that the crowds those that are witnessing this miracle are astounded and they ask a question.

Now this is a very Jewish question.

This is not a Polish question this is not a Filipino question this is not a white gringo question this is not a Latino question this is a Jewish question.

Could this be the son of David?

Well what are they asking?

Why are they saying that well if you're Jewish you know that David had this promise from God that there would be this eternal ruler that would rule from his throne and there's this promise of this person this Messiah character that would act like a prophet who would act like a priest would act like a king all of those things have been a part of your Jewish heritage and you're anticipating the son of David and so this question here what they're saying is this the guy is this that Messiah the one that like when we read the Psalms like we did at the beginning of our service there's this question like is God coming?

Is he gonna come in the flesh?

They're asking could this be that guy?

We call him the Messiah the anointed one the Christ now there were some others there that were in the crowd and again these are the Pharisees these are the religious elites of the day they heard the crowd asking this question about the Messiah and they say well before you know let me interpret this for you this man Jesus he drives out demons only by Beelzebub.

So they're acknowledging the miracle that happened they're not trying to say that a miracle didn't occur they're just trying to reinterpret it they're spinning it right they're saying Jesus did this only by Beelzebub another name who for the ruler of the demons we call him Satan the devil Lucifer all of those terms the Bible uses to talk about this chief angel that fell and rebelled from heaven probably before humanity was created and God cast him out of the earth.

You've heard me say this before but I I believe that it's very likely that this war between Satan and God existed before humanity was created and that you that God created humanity as a part of his war strategy against Satan.

That you and I are dropped in the middle of that battlefield and this is important for the lesson today you're you and I are dropped into the middle of that battlefield and you are only on one side or the other and that God is demonstrating and working out his victory over Satan through humanity.

In fact he comes as a human right Jesus takes on flesh to ultimately have victory over Satan and he is the victor in Revelation 19 Jesus the human God say again?

That's right exactly man we cannot get to the book of Revelation fast enough.

Yes okay so what you're saying what you're verbalizing is a a theological principle throughout the entire New Testament that is called yes but not but not yet or yes it's true now so you are the temple of the Holy Spirit yes right now but there's even more to come so we're living in in between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ so Jesus has won but it's not actualized yet in every way so you have the Holy Spirit and there's this internal work but this whole idea this whole idea of victory and seeing victory out from you it's still slowly unfolding.

So the kingdom of heaven and the redemptive work of God it starts in you.

So Jesus is winning in your life one of the greatest things to pray is the Lord's prayer because you're just because there's a lot of things outside of our control that we we can't change.

Like Joe was talking about somebody who sideswiped him in his car the other day.

I mean how and this lady was like road raging on him.

Like those things are irritating right that's like horrible when that happens you know Felicia had some guy with dogs trying to attack her last week like we have all these crazy things that are outside of our control that happened to us.

But one of the things that we can control is this prayer of like God I give you permission I want your kingdom your will to be done in me as it is in heaven.

And so there's this internal work that's working itself out into the world and this foreshadowing of victory the ultimate victory over death and sin is seen in our life so we're talking earlier about Mary right Mary you're able to stand and take some steps and we prayed for you a few weeks ago for your healing and now there's this like little bit of healing that's gone on in your life that is the idea in a like a little drop sense like a little dropper of the kingdom of heaven where he's healing us in little ways he's providing for us in little ways he's working but it's just this teaser of the great victory that is to come I love that idea of like working together with him right because God's not expecting us he's not expecting you he's not expecting he's not coming to you and like hey you know I died on the cross for your sins now pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get your act together.

No what does he do?

He saves you and then you're the temple of the he gives you his spirit so if you are a follower of Jesus he places his spirit inside of you and you have this what we call it's the word grace it's this grace to do what he wants us to do and what we aspire to to be loving right and so all of a sudden these things that kind of are flowing out of us this victory of God it's demonstrated in our life it's the kingdom of God coming about in our life as we give him permission as we're working together with him.

That's why I'm always talking about hey let's get up in the morning let's read our Bibles let's pray let's be connected to the vine that's John 15 right let's be in relationship so that the victory we long for is carried out some of you I know I know your stories and you're struggling you're in a place where you're struggling with addiction you're struggling with defeat you're hopeless you're upset and the thing that you need is not to pull yourself up by your bootstrap but you need to you need your relationship what?

Clear your head not just clear your head sometimes you do because you've got to clear your head an objective negativity.

That would help that would help but that's not gonna produce it's not it's not gonna produce the fruit that you need you can have a clear mind but you need the power of God in you.

The Spirit of God is what you need to empower you.

Okay so we have 15 minutes left and I keep going down these bunny trails so you guys gotta like keep keep me on track here okay because we have not really even gotten into much of the story.

Okay so you're dropped into this battle field where there is a war going on between Satan who's rebelled against God and God who is demonstrating his victory over Satan through you which is weird but he's doing it through you.

And so why does Satan hate you?

Because you're a part of the victory of God.

Read Hebrews chapter 2.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

He's placed all things under his feet but we do not yet see all things placed underneath his feet.

Go read that's a good one for you to read Felicia on like we don't see it yet.

Read Hebrews chapter 2 because that's exactly what the writer of Hebrews says.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

Okay now let's go to the first right I told you there's three responses.

This is the first one the first one is the principle of the divided kingdom.

So remember the context here is that the Pharisees are like oh there you go just don't even worry about this this guy he's only has power to cast out demons because he is empowered by Satan to do it.

And so Jesus responds by saying this Knowing their thoughts, he told them every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

So what Jesus is saying here is that this is a principle or we could call it an aphorism right it's it is a simple statement of a principle and it is this that if you have a kingdom and it is divided eventually it's gonna fall eventually it's gonna fall and he gives this example a city or a house divided against itself it will not stand it it's not gonna stand that's the first response that Jesus gives every kingdom divided against itself.

So listen he's gonna apply this he's gonna apply this principle to this idea of being um Accused of being on Satan's side.

And he's saying, Look, that's dumb.

Satan's not casting out himself.

That's not how it works.

Why would if he was casting out himself, he'd be working against himself.

This whole idea of divided it falls is all the way throughout the Old Testament.

You see, Adam and Eve, when they're created, they're fruitful as long as they are obeying God and they're working together.

He takes two and he calls them to become one flesh, and that leads to their fruitfulness.

Literally saying, like, go have babies together.

Your oneness brings about fruitfulness.

But what happens?

They are divided against each other, and they begin, it begins, it's this, it reflects the fall that is going on.

This um disunity leads to death, right?

Just the next chapter over, chapter four, you have the two sons of Adam and Eve.

One murders the other.

Cain murders Abel, right?

When you get further in Genesis, we get to the Tower of Babel.

This is humanity's abandoned God.

They've basically stuck up their middle finger to God, essentially, and they're doing life on their own, and they're trying to build a tower to heaven.

And God looks at that and he says, Look, if we leave humanity unchecked, and we just let humanity continue on in this path, then there's not going to be anything kept from them, and they're going to become more and more evil.

And so it says that God came down and he confused them by giving them different languages.

So God supernaturally gave and created these different languages, and the world becomes divided, and they're not able to work together.

So there's this like dispersion that takes place from the Tower of Babel.

This idea of disunification leading to the downfall of efforts is a principle that Jesus acknowledges, and it's important for you and I because when we get to the book of John and we get into the New Testament, the thing that Jesus emphasizes over and over again is this call to unity.

He wants his followers to love one another.

And so we need to be on guard against a disunity.

We need to be on guard against being unloving towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That doesn't mean we agree with the irritating things that they do or their views at all.

It means that we make as a priority a sense of unity and love and care for the people around us.

Why?

Because no city or house divided against itself will stand.

This is fundamental to progress.

If you think, look, I can be divided up, we can be a divided house, we can be a divided town, we can be a divided institution, and we're still going to be fruitful.

You are kicking against a principle that Jesus lays down.

And that is his first response.

The second response is this, or before we get to the second response, we have to see he takes this first principle and he applies it in this scenario.

See, he tests it out.

I put it here, trying on the principle with the Pharisees' hypothesis.

You want to say that I'm doing this by Satan?

Here's what this would look like.

If Satan drives out Satan, he's divided against himself.

How then will his kingdom stand?

So he's using a very logical argument.

Let's look at the second response.

And he talks about casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub or by the power of the Spirit, God's Spirit.

Verse 27, he says, And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons drive them out?

For this reason, they will be your judges.

Evidently, there were some Pharisees' sons or followers who were casting out demons.

And the question was, like, hey, you're gonna throw that at me.

What is empowering your sons?

That's always a good way to kind of put it back on them.

Is it by the power of Beelzebub?

Or is it by this?

Now this is interesting.

How is a son of the Pharisee, and I'm gonna prime the pump here, how is a son of the Pharisee who maybe is not yet a follower of Jesus, casting out demons?

It's interesting, right?

Well, we got to go further in the text, but keep that one stored away.

Think about somebody, think about a young man who grew up in a religious home, a religious elite home, and somehow he or she is empowered to exercise demons from somebody who's possessed.

And yet maybe Jesus hasn't even come on the scene yet.

How is that going on?

What's going on there?

Well, hold on to that one.

In verse 28, he says, if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

So Jesus is now saying, the other option, there's only two options.

It's either by the power of Satan or it's by the power of God, the Spirit of God.

And if it's the Spirit of God that's driving out these demons, then linked to that is this idea that the kingdom of God has come upon you.

The kingdom of God has come upon you.

When you're looking at what's going on around you, there is what's happening, and then there's the interpretation of what's happening.

And here in this particular story, the Pharisees want to avoid the king.

And so they are manipulating the interpretation.

They're not denying what's happening, but they're telling a different story about the scenario, they're twisting it so that Jesus is not the king.

Now, let's apply that in our world.

We've watched a miracle happen for the last four years as a church when a million dollars worth of food is given to a baby little church, the church this size, every month, month after month after month.

I've heard all kinds of interpretations about what's going on, only to avoid the fact that God is the one who's doing a miracle.

I've heard all kinds of interpretations.

I've heard all kinds of people be like, oh, you know, here, you know, this is because Amazon is so generous in Whole Foods.

And you've seen it, right?

It pretty much is.

But it's funny.

It's funny.

Like I'll tell.

I'll tell people, I'll tell people, I'll be like, listen, here's what's going on, and God's just doing this amazing miracle.

Woohoo! Man, you talk about people feeling uncomfortable when you say that.

It's like, no, no, no, I can find an alternative narrative to back this one up.

Because I'm like, I don't want to keep God in my story.

Like, I want a different way of telling the story.

And it's like we have to find things in the trash.

People don't want, people don't want to include God in the story.

Why?

Because they want to live independent from God.

They would rather live their own life.

But here's what you have to see.

And if we don't, like we got four minutes left, right?

So here's what he says.

If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

When we're watching that truck roll up and unload 12 pallets of like$40,000 worth of groceries, I hope that you guys go, wow, that's the kingdom of God coming upon Fell's Point.

When you walk into this room and you see the fact that we're gathered here, do you know that we're the third attempt at starting a church in this space?

This, the fact that you're here, this is God that got you up this morning.

He knows how much we love to sleep in.

And yet, and so you may look around, and I so this is what I'm saying is, brothers and sisters, as you watch life unfold, give God the credit.

Give the God the credit, that what's due his name, that he's the one that's at work.

And participate, let God keep working, give him permission.

The thing that's gonna quench and take away from what God wants to do in your life is if you're gonna take the credit.

There's this awesome story we don't have time to get into in Acts, where this guy doesn't, he like this king decides to take the credit for himself and he gets eaten by worms.

I'll let you read that one in Acts some other time.

It's pretty awesome.

He gets eaten from the inside out of worms because he takes the credit.

Okay, let's keep going.

Okay, so Jesus' miracles are not just displays of power, but they are signs that God's reign is being established.

We need to see God's work in the world around us as part of this larger kingdom reality.

This is, guys, this is why the kingdom idea is so important.

When there's healing, when there's provision in your life, when the truck rolls up and it unloads all these free pallets, you can draw a straight line from that to the work Jesus did on the cross.

Because Jesus is the king who introduced his kingdom and he said, I want you to come into my kingdom.

I want you invited into my kingdom.

I want my power to be on display through your life.

And then God's working in the midst of the world, and it's his kingdom coming down on our like drops and drips, and it's his kingdom.

So there's people who are like, I don't want to be a follower of Jesus.

I need proof.

You know what?

There's a lot of proof.

There's a lot of proof that God is at work all around us, and yet there's a stubbornness and a hardness of heart, where people are like, nah, I want to be like a Pharisee, I want to tell a different story.

Okay, third response.

Third response, an illustration, stealing from a strong man.

If you're gonna go steal from a strongman, you've got to tie him up, Jesus says, How can someone enter a strong man's house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?

Then he can plunder his house.

In other words, listen, I'm coming to destroy the strongman Satan.

And when I'm casting out demons, I'm tying up the strong man so that I can steal away from him what he has had control over.

Do you know, as God has done his work in your life, that God has been working to defeat the agenda of Satan for you?

Satan had a plan from you from the very beginning, that you would be destroyed, that you would be stolen from the goodness of God, that you would be meager, fruitless, confused, lost, and ultimately reduced to nothing.

And yet Jesus came and he bound the strong man so that you could enter into a relationship with him.

And the work that God is doing this very day is to defend you and to protect you from the agenda of Satan.

You may not see that, you may not know what that looks like entirely, but it is the reality that the Bible bears witness to.

And so that is the third response.

Now, you got to pick a side.

Jesus says, anyone who is not with me is against me.

Anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

This is like you go to a football, you go to a Super Bowl party in in early February, and you're sitting there and your friend says, Hey, who do you want to win?

And what do you say?

Ah, you know, neither of these are my teams.

I just want a good game.

You ever heard that?

Yeah.

That doesn't work with the kingdom of heaven.

It doesn't work in the kingdom of heaven.

Because of this reality that you were created in the middle of a binary war.

There's two sides.

There's Satan's side and there's Jesus' side.

Nobody's watching on the side for a good game.

Jesus doesn't allow it.

He says, You're either with me or you are against me.

Any who, anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

Remember the Pharisees' sons who are casting out demons?

He says essentially, those are on my side.

Those guys are participating in the kingdom of heaven coming on earth.

He says in verse 31, Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the fla blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him.

Buddha, whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or the one to come.

This is an ongoing, Jesus is saying there is this, there are people who live their life and continue to reject the work of the Holy Spirit in their life over and over again.

And ultimately, when they die and they face God's judgment throne, they will not be forgiven because they've rejected the work of the Spirit in their life.

Jesus says, Look, you can say a word against the Son of Man.

How many in that crowd?

How many of the Pharisees were a part of this?

And then after Jesus' death and resurrection, those Pharisees who had spoken a word against the Son of Man repented and turned to the Messiah.

Acts tells us there were many.

There were many priests that came and placed their faith in Jesus, and their sins were forgiven.

But the ones that are not forgiven, and the ones in this room who will not be forgiven, are the ones who live their life rejecting the voice of the Holy Spirit in their life over and over and over again.

The Holy Spirit is at work, and he's saying this to you.

Turn your life back over to him.

You will be saved.

You have freedom, you have absolute freedom to either reject that message or to accept that message.

He's not going to twist your arm.

He's going to demonstrate his goodness right in front of you.

Miracles right in front of you, but he still gives you the autonomy and the agency to decide.

Are you going to accept him or are you going to reject him?

If you reject him, he makes it very clear it will not be forgiven in this age or the age to come.

You've made your decision to reject God.

And what is hell?

It is an eternal existence verifying what you wanted.

You wanted to live your life independent from God, and hell is going to be a place eternally independent from God without his intervention, without his help, without his friendship, without his love.

And that's what you wanted.

He's not mean to you by sending you to hell.

He's given you the freedom to go there.

He said, listen, this is the way, the truth, the life.

It's through me.

But I give you the choice.

You have agency.

You have freedom.

Let's bow our heads.

Lord, thank you for that freedom.

Thank you for your love.

Thank you for your victory.

Thank you for binding the strong man.

For coming and doing your work on the cross, the sacrifice on the cross.

Lord, I pray and ask for just that all of our hearts would be just saying, Yes, God.

We're sorry for our sins.

And we accept you.

We accept what you've done through Jesus, your Son.

We want to confess that we're wrong and we don't even know how to fix ourselves.

But we trust your word that you have your spirit, that you'll put in us, that you'll give us grace, and that you give us like hope and mercy and love.

God, I pray for each person here that that surrender would occur.

And that there would be just a fresh yes, God, we receive Jesus.

Amen.