The Unforgivable Sin

Good morning, guys. My name is Ed. If I haven't gotten a chance to meet you, I am a pastoral resident here at Trinity Cambridge.

! It's my joy and honor to preach God's word.

We're going to continue on in our Matthew series as we open up our Bibles.

We're in Matthew 12, verses 22 to 37.

Matthew 12:22–37

Matthew 12, 22 to 37.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father,

it is not lost on me

that someone who was once your enemy

is now seated at your table.

A man that is always running to the far country

is always welcomed back.

That's your mercy.

That's your kindness.

And it is your mercy and kindness to give us your word.

Lord,

and even to give us a passage like this

that has such a weighty

and serious warning for us

that there are consequences to sin.

And you warn us because you love us, Lord.

We pray,

give us soft hearts,

open ears,

teach us,

address us by your word.

May we not reject your Holy Spirit,

but let him move within us today

to cut us to the heart,

to lead us to repentance

for your glory

and for our good.

We look to you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you are able,

please rise for the reading of God's word.

starting from verse 22.

Then a demon oppressed man

who was blind and mute

was brought to him

and he healed him

so that the man spoke and saw.

And all the people were amazed

and said,

can this be the son of David?

But when the Pharisees heard it,

they said,

it is only by Beelzebul,

the prince of demons,

that this man casts out demons.

Knowing their thoughts,

he said to them,

every kingdom divided against itself

is laid waste

and no city or house

divided against itself will stand.

And if Satan casts out Satan,

he is divided against himself.

How then will his kingdom stand?

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul,

by whom do your sons cast them out?

Therefore they will be your judges.

But if it is by the spirit of God

that I cast out demons,

then the kingdom of God

has come upon you.

Or how can someone enter

a strong man's house

and plunder his goods

unless he first binds the strong man

then indeed he may plunder his house.

Whoever is not with me

is against me

and whoever does not gather with me

scatters.

Therefore I tell you,

every sin and blasphemy

will be forgiven people.

But the blasphemy against the spirit

will not be forgiven.

And whoever speaks a word

against the son of man

will be forgiven.

But whoever speaks

against the Holy Spirit

will not be forgiven.

Either in this age

or in the age to come.

Either make the tree good

and its fruit good

or make the tree bad

and its fruit bad

for the tree is known

by its fruit.

You brood of vipers,

how can you speak good

when you are evil?

For out of the abundance

of the heart

the mouth speaks.

The good person

out of his good treasure

brings forth good

and the evil person

out of his evil treasure

brings forth evil.

I tell you,

on the day of judgment

people will give account

for every careless word

they speak.

For by your words

you will be justified

and by your words

you will be condemned.

This is God's holy

and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Growing up,

one of my favorite things to do

was to play video games.

As Mario, Sonic, Mega Man,

you get lost.

You play for hours on end.

You can get stuck.

You can get lost.

You can die.

But rest assured,

because of video games

unique feature,

you can reset.

There is a reset button.

But life is not like video games.

You don't get a reset button

when you make mistakes.

And the longer you live,

the more instances

that you just collect,

you amass of

times you wish

you could hit rewind,

times you wish

you had that reset button.

We feel that most particularly

with our words,

don't we?

Words are easy to say,

but they're hard to hear often.

They're light on our tongue,

but fall heavy on our hearts.

There are a million things

that we wish

in our lifetimes

that we could take back,

but no,

those words are out in the open,

never to return back

to your mouth.

We know the power of words,

don't we?

You've seen this time and time again

in the news.

You can lose your job,

your status,

your friendships,

your marriage,

your ministry,

all because

of your words,

maybe even a single

utterance of words.

But what about

your state

for eternity?

Pastor John Piper,

he recounts a story

about a woman

who sought his counsel

desperately.

And she recounts

the story about

when she was a young teenager,

she got into

a really bad fight

with her mom,

who was a Christian,

and so to try to stick it to her,

she locked herself

in her room,

locked herself

in her closet,

and tried to come up

with every swear word,

every oath

against the Holy Spirit

that she could come up with.

And now,

decades later,

she's coming before Piper,

plagued with that memory.

because of this passage

that we just read

this morning.

Our passage

this morning

speaks about

how blaspheming

against the Holy Spirit

will not

be forgiven

either in this age

or in the age

to come.

Has she committed

the unforgivable

sin

before God?

Has she doomed

herself to

eternal hell fire

because of this

single utterance

of words?

How much

she wished

she could hit

that reset button?

And this woman's

not alone.

Many Christians

have shuddered

from this passage

at the thought

that your eternal destiny

is sealed

because

you may have committed

the unforgivable

sin.

Maybe you feared

that yourself.

but by the grace

of God

I believe

this passage

as weighty

and serious

as it is

it contains

hope.

Hope for all

of us

who repent

in the name

of Jesus Christ

by the power

of the Holy Spirit.

And that's the main

point of my sermon

today is

to respond

in repentance

when the Holy Spirit

points you

to Christ.

to understand

what the

unforgivable sin

is and isn't

we have to

understand it

properly

in its context.

And so we'll

break down

this passage

into the various

stages of this

conflict that Jesus

has with the Pharisees.

And first

we'll look at

the charge

where we see

the Pharisees

charge against

Jesus.

Then Jesus'

counter

against them.

And finally

the pronouncement

of the consequence

that Jesus

makes

against the Pharisees.

Let's

set the scene.

Right before this

Jesus withdraws

from a synagogue

because the Pharisees

decide for

the first time

in the book

of Matthew

to conspire

against him

how to destroy him.

That's what

verse 12 says.

Up to this point

in Matthew

there's tension

there's argument

there's debate

but never

was there

an intent

to cause

bodily harm.

You can see

their tension

their fighting

is only ramping

up now

and it'll

continue to

grow and

grow until

words

turn into

weapons.

And a conflict

that just started

in mere debate

ends up

with someone

dying.

Verse 22

with not much

detail

efficiently

and

effectively

explains

the setting

and the reason

for Jesus'

next clash

with the Pharisees.

A man

oppressed

by a demon

is blind

and mute.

A man

he's crippled

physically

and probably

financially

relationally.

He's brought

before Jesus

and we read

just

when we

just

read

how

Jesus

gentle

and lowly

he will

never

break

a bruised

reed

nor

quench

a smoldering

wick

in verse

20.

So holding

up to

that description

Jesus

looks upon

this poor

pitiful

man

and heals

him from

his blindness

and muteness

by exercising

by casting

out this

demon.

And let

not the

brevity

of this

account

take anything

away from

its

exceptionality.

In fact

I think

the simplicity

of the

description

is to

match

really

the ease

at which

Jesus

casts out

this demon.

As we'll

read later

on the

Jews

they were

familiar

with demon

exorcisms.

They've

heard of

them

they maybe

even have

witnessed

them

but

compared

to these

exorcists

there's

something

in particular

that the

crowd sees

in Jesus.

Something

that sets

him apart

from the

rest.

Because

Jesus

heals

this man

with

great

authority.

Authority

that the

Jews

have

never

seen

before.

And

that's

precisely

why

the

reaction

to

Jesus

is that

they

start

to

wonder

whether

Jesus

could

be

the

long

awaited

foretold

Messiah.

And you

have to

understand

really

the

grand

lofty

prophecy

that they

think

Jesus

is

fulfilling.

The Jews

believed that

David

would

usher

in

eschatological

eternal

everlasting

peace for

the nation

of Israel.

Only the

most

exceptional

extraordinary

man should

ever be

considered

to fit

that bill.

God

But as

crazy as

it is

to think

that this

Galilean

carpenter

this

nobody

could be

the next

David

the Jews

they're the

ones that

are right.

They're

the ones

that are

starting to

connect

the dots.

But

then

directly

compare

the crowd's

reactions

to that

of the

Pharisees

with their

new

founded

resolve

to

destroy

Jesus

they

start

speaking

insidious

lies

into the

ears of

the people

to deceive

them and to

drive them

away from

Jesus.

Crafty

and cunning

they know

that they

can't argue

against the

power of

Jesus.

No that's

too visible

for everyone

to see.

And so

they resort

to the

only line

of attack

that's

available

for them

to question

what is

invisible

the origin

of that

power.

They claim

that Jesus

only performed

this miracle

because he

is endowed

with the

power of

Beelzebul

by the

prince of

demons.

They claim

that he

is a

son and

a servant

of Satan.

This is

an ancient

example of

fear-mongering.

They influence

and manipulate

the crowd

telling them

don't be

swayed.

Jesus is

not the

son of

David but

he is

the son

of Satan

himself.

If you

follow him

he will

lead you

to eternal

hellfire.

Now it

seems like

this line

of accusation

was a

key play

for the

Pharisees

because this

is not the

first time

that you

read this

in the

book of

Matthew

but in

reality

the

third

time

but each

time

before this

Jesus

didn't

address

it

he

let

it

lie

but now

with their

conflict

ramping up

knowing their

malicious

thoughts

and their

wicked

intentions

as the

beginning

of verse

25

says

Jesus

knows

their

intentions

he

addresses

their

claim

head

on

and

he

does

it

without

pulling

any

punches

he

exposes

it

for the

wicked

lie

that it

is

he

does

so

by

countering

with

two

specific

reasons

that we

read

in

verses

25

to

29

first

Jesus

draws

on

common

sense

any

kingdom

city

house

divided

against

itself

cannot

stand

in

1858

Abraham

Lincoln

before he

was

president

he

quoted

this

passage

in a

speech

to warn

that the

United

States

could

not

stand

if it

was

divided

on this

issue

of

slavery

between

the

north

and

the

south

and

we

ourselves

know

in

our

history

the

damage

the

destruction

that the

civil

war

caused

how

much

blood

was

shed

it's

common

sense

this is

an

obvious

argument

it is

absurd

that

Satan

would

sabotage

those

in his

own

household

his

own

kingdom

Satan

isn't

dumb

it

makes

no

sense

that he

would

shoot

himself

in the

foot

like

this

and

then we

move

on to

the

second

reason

verse

27

where

Jesus

points

out

that

their

own

sons

cast

out

demons

again

this

was

a

known

part

of

Jewish

life

you

see

an

example

of

this

in

scripture

in

Acts

19

with

the

sons

of

Sceva

who

are

these

itinerant

Jewish

exorcists

and

they

unsuccessfully

try to

cast out

a demon

there

we

have

evidence

outside

of

the

Bible

in

the

famous

first

century

Jewish

historian

Josephus

when he

testifies

himself

to

witnessing

exorcists

or

exorcisms

If

these

Jewish

exorcists

cast out

demons

and they're

seen

generally

as doing

good

things

and if

Jesus

is

performing

the

exact

same

thing

then

what is

up with

double

standard

here

guys?

why is

what

they're

doing

of

God

and

what

Jesus

is

doing

of

Satan?

A

recent

New York

Times

article

explains

how

in

India

though

the

constitution

should

allow

and give

Christians

the right

to openly

practice

and preach

their

religion

anti-conversion

laws

which

in name

supposedly

ban

the

conversion

efforts

of

all

and

every

religions

in

India

are

specifically

prejudiced

against

Christianity

these

anti-conversion

laws

are so

loosely

written

that

virtually

any

church

activity

could

be

considered

illegal

with

up to

10

years

in

prison

one

Christian

said

you

could

get

thrown

in

jail

for

giving

somebody

ice

cream

these

laws

even

allow

Hindu

extremists

to

storm

and

raid

churches

and

attack

Christians

meanwhile

the

double

standard

in

upholding

these

anti-conversion

laws

allow

Hindu

Gar-Wapsi

campaigns

which

translates

in Hindu

returning

home

these

campaigns

to set

out to

reconvert

Christians

back to

Hinduism

and

it

does

so

without

any

hindrance

from

the

gospel

or

from

the

government

and

the

article

a

Christian

farmer

there

questioned

I

just

don't

get

it

what

is

what

we

do

that

makes

them

hate

us

so

much

and

Jesus

could

have

been

wondering

the

same

exact

thing

here

what

is

it

that

he

did

that

is

so

wrong

their

accusation

makes

no

sense

which

is

why

Jesus

says

here

that

their

exorcists

will

be

their

judge

they

stand

as

a

reminder

that

they

are

operating

under

a

double

standard

and

what

they're

saying

makes

absolutely

no

sense

and

so

if

Jesus

is

not

casting

out

demons

by

demonic

power

then

what

is

actually

happening

Jesus

asked

the

Pharisees

to

consider

a

different

possibility

by

clarifying

it

is

not

by

Satan

but

by

the

spirit

himself

that

he

casts

out

demons

again

last

week

we

read

how

Jesus

fulfilled

this

prophecy

in

Isaiah

42

and

specifically

verse 18

says

I will

put my

spirit

upon him

you

now read

of the

evidence

of that

prophecy

and

again

this

should

have

been

self

evident

what

happened

when

Satan

seized

this

man

his

health

his

well

being

his

life

suffered

dramatically

and that's

what

Satan

does

he

brings

ruin

destruction

to

anything

and

anyone

that he

touches

my

personal

experience

with

exorcisms

!

demonization

is

limited

but

in

every

instance

it is

clear

this

afflicted

person

is

seriously

struggling

it's

plain for

anyone

to see

Christian

non-Christian

that this

person

needs

help

their

families

suffer

their

life

suffers

their

health

suffers

they

can't

hold

a

job

they

can't

go

to

school

but

when

the

spirit

of

God

moves

do

you know

what

he

does

when

he

moves

he

brings

recovery

restoration

renewal

that's

what the

spirit

of

God

is

known

for

this

is

self

evident

and

the

Pharisees

should

have

known

this

and

if

it

is

by

the

spirit

of

God

that

Jesus

is

performing

these

miracles

then

he

explains

how

this

is

evidence

that

the

kingdom

of

God

has

come

the

kingdom

of

God

has

broken

in

Matthew

typically

uses

the

phrase

kingdom

of

heaven

throughout

his

gospel

over

30

times

he

uses

that

particular

phrase

but

on

rare

occasions

he

uses

the

phrase

kingdom

of

God

instead

to

emphasize

God's

personal

rule

over

his

kingdom

and

here

Matthew

is

intentionally

setting

up

a

contrast

between

the

leaders

of

these

two

kingdoms

!

that

you

read

about

on

the

one

hand

you

have

the

kingdom

of

Satan

and

the

other

you

have

the

kingdom

of

God

and

it's

clear

the

old

has

passed

and

the

new

has

come

because

the

kingdom

of

God

has

broken

in

Jesus

explains

that

the

reason

he

can

cast

out

Satan's

servants

is

that

he's

already

stronger

than

Satan

himself

and

if

you're

already

stronger

than

the final

boss

of a

video

game

it's

game

over

there's

nothing

left

to be

played

it's

an

argument

really

from

lesser

to

greater

!

in

his

words

we're

reminded

that

we

need

to

think

rightly

about

Satan

about

this

spiritual

war

that

we

wage

and

when

it

comes

to

thinking

and

dealing

with

Satan

Christians

today

make

one

or

two

errors

the

first

one

is

underestimating

Satan

Jesus

says

clearly

in

verse

26

Satan

has

a

kingdom

Ephesians

2

2

calls

him

the

prince

of

the

power

of

the

air

to

describe

his

spiritual

authority

his

pervasive

influence

over

the

world

the

entire

world

we

often

think

that

spiritual

warfare

demonization

it only

goes

on in

an

overseas

context

and

mission

fields

but at

home

in

the

West

it's

not

something

we need

to

worry

about

it's

not

something

we need

to

concern

ourselves

with

but

nothing

could be

further

from

the

truth

hear

how

Paul

describes

our

enemy

in

Ephesians

6

we

do

not

wrestle

against

flesh

and

blood

but

against

the

rulers

the

authorities

the

cosmic

powers

over

this

present

darkness

over

against

the

spiritual

forces

of

evil

in

the

heavenly

places

these

are

no

easy

light

small

descriptors

brothers

and

sisters

we

have

an

enemy

that

is

active

today

and in

any

battle

we would

be

at a

disadvantage

if we

did not

properly

size up

our

enemy

in the

same way

we ought

to not

flippantly

casually

think of

Satan

our

adversary

the devil

is prowling

around

like a

roaring

lion

looking

for

anyone

to

devour

but

if

the

first

error

is to

underestimate

Satan

the

second

is to

over

estimate

him

it's

clear

that

Satan

does

have

some

power

some

control

over

the

present

age

even

now

but

it

is

a

limited

controlled

authority

it's

like

he's

on

a

leash

he

never

does

anything

apart

from

the

sovereign

will

of

our

heavenly

father

and

while

he

does

wage

war

against

the

church

of

Christ

we

know

and

believe

that

he

who

is

in

us

is

greater

than

he

who

is

in

the

world

so

while

we

take

Satan

and

his

kingdom

seriously

there

is

absolutely

no

reason

to

fear

him

because

Christians

we can

put on

the

full

armor

of

God

and

wage

war

against

the

evil

one

and

have

victory

if

we

stand

firm

against

him

he

will

flee

from

us

German

theologian

Henrik

Schleyer

is quoted

saying

Christ

has

left

the

devil

only

whatever

power

our

unbelief

allows

him

so

we

wage

war

with

the

faith

and

trust

in

the

power

of

Christ

so

the

10,000

foot

overview

we've

now

seen

the

charge

now

the

counter

we'll

look

now

to

the

consequence

there

are

consequences

because

there

is no

neutral

ground

when it

comes

to

Jesus

it

is

entirely

binary

You

either

are

with

Jesus

or

you

are

against

Jesus

and

if

you're

not

with

Jesus

the

implication

is that

you are

on the

other

side

with

Satan

himself