WEBVTT 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.800 Matthew 12, 43 through 45. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:19.120 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but it finds none. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:23.760 Then it says, I'll return to my house from which I came. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.600 And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and in order. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.719 It goes and brings with seven other spirits, more evil than itself. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:43.600 They enter and dwell there, and the last state of the person is worse than the first, so also will it be with this evil generation. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:50.960 This is the final encounter with Jesus' opponents in Matthew chapter 12. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.359 It really is the crescendo of an avalanche of opposition Jesus has faced. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.200 To understand the significance of this passage, which is a hard passage to understand for sure. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:05.680 There are words in it that are unusual. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:12.879 There are words in it that are used only one or two other places in the whole Bible, and so it is a somewhat of a complicated passage to navigate. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:20.319 In order to get our minds and our arms around it, we have to take a step back and remember what it's doing here in the whole book of Matthew. 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:24.719 Matthew chapter 1 and 2 describes the genealogy of Jesus. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:29.359 It authenticates that he is the Son of God, that he is the Messiah. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:31.280 It describes the virgin birth. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.239 It describes the King Herod trying to put him to death. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:41.120 It really establishes the deity, divinity, and messiahship, the kingship of Jesus Christ. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:49.200 Matthew chapter 3 then enters John the Baptist, who adds his own declaration to the identity of Jesus and baptizes him. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.719 And the Father from heaven says, This is my son. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:55.840 The Holy Spirit descends upon him. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:59.359 There can be no doubt that this is the Messiah. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:05.599 Chapter 4, the devil attacks Jesus, much as he attacked Adam so many years earlier. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:11.439 Jesus withstands temptation, conquers the devil, and at the end of Matthew 4 is declared to be the Messiah. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.000 He's the light of the nations, the light to Galilee. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:22.879 In other words, he's the light, he is a savior, not just of the Jews, but of the whole world, shining through Galilee, which is the Gentile area. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.479 Chapter 5, 6, and 7 is a Sermon on the Mount. 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:33.120 Jesus begins his ministry preaching, and at the end of it, you remember the Jewish people were astonished at his preaching. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.840 They said, Nobody can preach like we've never heard anything like this before. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.120 Our own scribes and religious leaders and Pharisees, they've never taught like this before. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:46.240 And so that's the first sign that there's trouble in paradise. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:55.759 Matthew 8 and 9, Jesus backs up his preaching with miracles and signs and wonders. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.120 The leper comes to him and says, If you're willing, you can heal me. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.159 And Jesus heals him. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.000 The centurion comes and says, If you're able to heal my servant, please do so. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:08.319 Remember, Jesus couldn't enter a Gentile's house, so how is he going to heal the centurion's servant? 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:09.840 But he does anyway. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:12.639 One miracle after another. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:19.199 He casts the demons into the pigs, he calms the storm, he heals Peter's mother-in-law. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.759 It's just one sign and wonder after another. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.759 That's Matthew 8 and 9. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.879 Matthew 10, he establishes his disciples and sends them into the world. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.400 He gives them authority over unclean spirits. 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:35.280 And they return rejoicing. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.000 Matthew 11 is the great invitation. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:48.400 What the message that Jesus' disciples carry to the world, Jesus repeats, come to him, all you who are weak, who are heavy laden, come to him and find rest for your weary souls. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:53.439 When you take that together, it is clear Jesus is the Son of God. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:01.520 He has teaching unparalleled in human history, matched with signs and wonders, followed with a great invitation. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:07.360 So the question then in Matthew 12 is will the Jewish leaders believe? 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:23.680 After all of that, the genealogy, the voice from heaven, the baptism of John, the confrontation with the devil, the sermon on the mount, the signs and wonders and healing, the authority over evil spirits, the invitation to be saved, what will the Jewish leaders do? 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:25.439 And that's what starts Matthew 12. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:33.279 And Matthew 12 becomes one excuse, one objection, one reason to not follow Jesus after another. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.560 We're going to use that as our outline this morning. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.879 Reasons people reject Jesus. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:43.680 Because they just keep growing. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:49.120 And all of these reasons in Matthew 12 help focus our passage this morning. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:05:06.319 When you realize that the evil spirit leaving somebody, it's not just an isolated narrative plopped at the end of Matthew 12, but is really the crescendo of this constant avalanche, a tsunami of objections about Christ are crystallized in this encounter with the demon. 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:22.240 Matthew 12 starts with one of the most sad and pathetic exchanges imaginable. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:29.920 It is the Jewish leaders surrounding Jesus and wanting to know why his disciples are plucking grain on the Sabbath. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:33.519 Again, this would be funny if it weren't so depressing. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:44.000 He has raised the dead, he's given sight to the blind, he has healed lepers, he has done one thing after another, and then he has pleaded with them for their souls. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:51.439 They have seen all of this, and then they say, Yes, but why are you plucking grain on Saturdays? 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.560 I'm telling you, it is outlandish. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:05.519 The Jewish Sabbath is so central to their identity, to their ethnic identity, their religious identity, their national identity. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:14.720 They could not, these religious leaders could not even comprehend a world where the Sabbath and their own religious traditions were not central. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:20.160 Yes, God said Jesus is the Son of God. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:21.839 Yes, he defeated the devil. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.279 Yes, he's raised the dead. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.319 Yes, he's preached with authority and reoriented the law about himself. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:30.800 I know all of that, but he doesn't follow our traditions. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:33.839 That's what they're stuck on. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:44.720 Ultimately, this is about their status and their power, of course, but in that is their long line of faithfulness in their own mind to Sabbath. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:47.519 They cannot get away from it. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.519 This objection still lives on today, of course. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:07:00.720 There are countless people that will not give Jesus a fair hearing because they are, you know, generation after generation in some other religion. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.800 I know Northern Virginia is very transitory. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:04.879 People are here and go all the time. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.439 Before I was here, I was pastoring in Los Angeles. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:21.680 Without a doubt, the most common response to a gospel presentation in Los Angeles was always, like, I understand what you're saying, but you don't understand that my family is Catholic as far back as it goes. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.240 We have been Catholic for generations. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:31.839 They cannot bring themselves to a place where they no longer trust the sacraments to dispense grace for them. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:37.120 They can only imagine a life structured in the shadow of the Catholic Church. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.920 They can't, you know, Jesus says, flee from that. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:44.240 Don't trust works, come to faith in Him entirely, be washed. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:53.360 And they they can't get to the point where they're willing to engage at that level because of the clutches of Catholicism over not just them, but generations. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:57.920 That's true in every nation of the world. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:06.079 People, it's not an objection about is the Bible true, or what about, you know, did Jesus really do these things? 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:06.959 That's not the objection. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.600 The objection isn't I don't understand what the gospel says. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.439 The objection is just it's been in my family for generations. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:18.319 Jesus fulfills their religious tradition, but they don't have ears to hear that. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:22.000 Second objection is their intellectual skepticism. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:31.680 They are Ariadite in their own minds, and they tell Jesus, we would believe in you if you could only do another sign. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.519 These people are so sophisticated in their own minds. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:42.000 They're so educated, sophisticated, that they're not just going to fall for any faith healer that comes along. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:47.519 So they demand in the middle of this chapter, specifically in verse 38, they demand another sign. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:54.240 Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you, as they say in verse 38, which again is ridiculous. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:00.559 He has done sign after sign after sign, he has raised the dead, given signs. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:08.399 Even in this chapter, verse 22, he cast out a demon from a demon-possessed man, he healed a blind and mute man in this very chapter. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:15.679 They have seen so many signs, and that's a little window into intellectual skepticism. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.559 It's not an authentic objection. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:24.879 The irony with the intellectually skeptic person is that their objection is not intellectually honest. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:26.080 That's the irony. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:34.960 Jesus fulfilled religious tradition. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.440 He answers intellectual skepticism. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:46.559 He says there's no other sign you could possibly receive that you haven't already received, except one, I'm gonna die and resurrect from the dead. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:50.639 And of course, he does that and they do not believe. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.320 They reject Jesus because they are spiritually confused. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.840 They're so confused. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:06.879 They look at what Jesus says. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:18.799 If you look up in verse 24, he just cast out the demon, he healed the blind and the mute man, and they say, Oh, it's only because he's the devil that the demons listen to him. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.919 So they just had this is what I mean by spiritual confusion. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.320 They just saw somebody who is demonically afflicted rescued. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.440 And they look at it and they cannot figure out if that's the work of God or the work of the devil. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.360 That's how confused they are. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:40.639 They're looking at something that is objectively good for this person. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.679 And they think, I don't know if that's God doing it or the devil doing it. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:48.480 I forget. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:53.120 Is it the devil who kills and harms and God who gives life, or do I have that backwards? 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.879 That's where they are. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:59.360 You still see this today, all these you see today, these excuses, don't you? 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:11.440 It is very common for people today to reject the gospel because the answer I hear the most often today is I can't be a Christian because of what Christians have done with abortion. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.879 Christians have advocated against abortion, and now look, Roe v. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.200 Wade is overturned, and the Christians are to blame for this. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:23.279 They look at abortion and they're so confused about is that good or evil? 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.879 Is it good or evil to take a baby's life? 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:33.759 Christians are against that, so I think that means they're working with the devil. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.759 It is a dark spiritual confusion. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:43.919 And that in Matthew's 12th chapter here is what Jesus says is the unforgivable sin. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:50.480 Is looking at all of the signs and all of the works of Jesus and concluding, well, that's the devil. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:54.159 Fourth. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:59.840 The fourth objection they have here is demonic oppression. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.360 The fourth reason they don't believe is that they are oppressed by demons. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.720 There are examples of people who are actually oppressed by demons. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:08.799 That is keeping them from faith. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:10.000 It is afflicting them. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:12.320 You've seen them in a few places here. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:18.159 Verse 27, Jesus says he's casting out demons. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:20.399 He asked if I do it by devil. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.399 The devil, who do your sons cast them out by? 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.000 I mean, there are people that are demonically possessed, the demons are being cast out. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.360 That's true. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:33.200 Demons afflict people throughout all of human history. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.399 Remember, the devil saw that God made the world good. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:41.120 The devil wanted to rule the earth. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.960 Instead, God gave the earth to Adam, dirty, stinking Adam made from literal dirt. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:54.559 And the devil sees this and rejects that system and chooses to attack mankind. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:58.240 He attacks Adam and Eve. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.279 Of course, he attacks Eve first because he's trying to subvert the order in marriage here. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.120 He has Eve set from her husband's leadership and protection. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:08.159 He tempts her. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:08.799 She sins. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:12.159 Adam abdicates his responsibility to protect and to lead. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:13.200 He sins as well. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.039 The human race is plunged into sin. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:19.039 Through Eve's sin, the sin is Adam is our representative. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:22.480 Through Adam's failure, all people are born into sin now. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:25.120 That's the devil's work. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:28.000 The devil gets angels to fall with him. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:31.120 At least a third of the angels join the rebellion. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.320 These angels become demons, and they also afflict human beings. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.799 Now, demons are they're spiritual beings. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.080 They don't have a human body. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.639 They can't act out their evil on people unless they take the form of a person. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:48.399 That seems to be the normal way that they operate. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.159 So the devil takes the form of a snake and inhabits a snake in some way. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.039 Demons do this throughout the Old Testament. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:58.240 The demons inspire David to take a census. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:10.799 A lying spirit, a demon, goes in the mouth of Ahab's prophet to call a lie about a war and give a false prophecy to convince Ahab and Jehosaphat he was a godly king to go to war together. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.320 It was all a lie. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:16.159 And God had a demon do that. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:23.840 Demons attacked Job and his family and his health, causing their death. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:25.679 That's the work of demons. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:28.320 And people ask, why doesn't God stop demons? 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.320 And the answer is God is sovereign over demons. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.840 Demons are rebelling against him, but they have to ultimately report to him. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:39.519 They cannot do what he does not allow, and God allows them to do things because it ultimately ends up glorifying himself. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:40.879 You see this in the book of Job. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:45.200 Job's last state is more glorifying the Lord than his first state. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.120 It doesn't make God responsible for evil. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:51.200 And that's so clear with Ahab and Josaphat. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:55.919 Remember, God sent a true prophet then to say, hey, that guy has a demon in him and he's lying. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.039 So you can't say, oh, God is causing them to believe a lie when God sent a prophet to tell them it was a demon. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:02.960 Don't believe him. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:04.960 That happens in the New Testament as well. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:07.840 People are demonically afflicted throughout the New Testament. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:08.799 It happens today. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.279 People are demonically afflicted today. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.960 What does a person in the New Testament look like who has a demon? 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:23.600 He's taking off his clothes, he's wandering around the street, he's cutting himself, he's talking to himself. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:26.799 And people say, I don't know if there's demons today. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:32.879 I would be surprised if there's anybody in this worship center that has never seen a demonically possessed person before. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:37.679 Demons are real. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.039 But the truth of them is that Jesus is stronger than them. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.720 And he says that in the middle of the chapter. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:45.759 He says that he's going to bind the strongman. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:51.519 Verse 29, how can someone enter a strongman's house and plunders goods unless he's first bound? 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.639 So Jesus is the strongman. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:54.480 In other words, Jesus outranks demons. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.159 So we look at these four reasons. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.799 Jesus fulfills their religious tradition, they don't care. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.600 He answers their intellectual skepticism, they don't care. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:05.519 He sorts out their spiritual confusion, sheds light on it, they don't care. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.799 And he's stronger than the demons, again, they don't care. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:13.440 After all of that, they are still stuck on their own rejection of Jesus Christ. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:18.720 That's where the fifth reason comes in in our passages this morning, verses 43 through 45. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.360 The fifth reason is outward discipline. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.120 Outward discipline. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:32.799 They refuse faith because of their religious tradition, their intellectual skepticism, their spiritual confusion, their demonic oppression, but fifth, their outward discipline. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:42.559 Now, outward discipline, by that phrase, I simply mean their own reliance on works, their own reliance on being a good person, on having their life together. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.519 And Jesus illustrates that in verse 43. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.840 When an unclean spirit has gone out of a person. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:53.360 So unclean spirit is an unusual word. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:55.279 It means a demon. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.840 But this word for it has only been used in one other place in the Bible so far. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:06.319 And that place is in Matthew 10, where Jesus sends his disciples out with authority over unclean spirits. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.599 So Jesus sends his disciples into the world to cast out unclean spirits from people. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:12.960 And they do that. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.359 Then you see an unclean spirit leaving a person. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:21.279 This is a jarring passage because it seems like it's coming out of nowhere. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:34.400 The verse before it, for example, was that the Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's wisdom, was drawn to Solomon's wisdom, saw how great God was through Solomon's wisdom, and was converted, and now we'll judge Gentiles and the Jewish leaders. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.119 That's the verse before this next verse, when an unclean spirit has been cast out of someone. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.000 So it seems like you're in a bit of a car crash here. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:52.480 The connection, though, I'll make evident in a second, the unclean spirit is cast out of a person, probably by the disciples a few months earlier. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.720 When that happens, it passes through waterless places. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:02.799 There are some that say waterless places is like a spiritual realm. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:16.079 Back in Genesis, there's a separation of dry land and water, so maybe this is a land between those two, a spiritual realm where demons exist and they don't like to be there, like demon purgatory or something. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:25.759 I think it's probably better to take waterless places just at face value, an arid place, a dry place, a desert land, a place where people don't live. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:27.359 People can only live where there's water. 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:34.319 The demon is cast out of somebody and goes off to the desert somewhere, roaming around because he doesn't have a person to inhabit. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.559 Remember, demons want to cause pain and affliction in human beings. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:44.240 In order to act out or manifest their evil, they need to inhabit a body, if not a person of an animal of some kind. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.759 So this demon is homeless, wandering through the desert. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.000 He's tired of wandering. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:53.119 He seeks rest, it says in verse 43. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.279 My favorite thing I read in a commentary this week is what a question. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.599 What do demons need rest from? 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:06.319 And the answer the commentator said is their normal demonic activities. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.599 I laughed out loud when I read that. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:11.680 It's demon nap time. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:19.920 This demon is tired and wants a place to rest and doesn't have anywhere to go. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:26.960 So it says to itself, verse 44, I will return to my house from which I came. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:30.880 This is in the subjunctive. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:32.319 It's like it's guessing. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:39.279 I wonder what would happen if I went back to the place I got the heave ho from a few months ago. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:40.799 Look what would happen? 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.440 It's just supposing in its mind. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:54.640 This past week I was in Los Angeles and I was driving around and I drove by a house that a bunch of the IBC pastors had stayed in a few years before when we were there for a pastors' conference. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:02.880 It had a nice pool and everything, and and I wondered, did that Airbnb change the code on the door? 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.599 Like, could I get into the pool right now? 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:09.039 That's a nice pool. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:11.359 I didn't do it because that would be wrong. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.319 If you're listening online, I didn't do it. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:17.119 That's what the demon is wondering. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:19.119 Did they change the code? 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.039 Can I get in? 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:23.920 And so the demon comes back. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:27.279 And lo and behold, this is the surprising part of this. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:32.640 He finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.119 It's intentionally ambiguous. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:38.000 Does he mean the guy's house or his own body? 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.200 It's ambiguous. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:40.880 Both are true, of course. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:49.119 This becomes a picture of a man that has got his act together without the gospel and without the demon. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:51.599 He was demonically afflicted. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:21:02.720 He was wandering the street, cutting himself and naked and talking to himself and living out in the graves or living out in the caves, living out in the middle of nowhere, sleeping on the streets, abusing himself. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.000 That was his condition. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:07.759 And now that the demon is gone, he's not those things anymore. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:21.359 Do you remember when Jesus cast a demon out of the demoniac in the Gentile land across the Sea of Galilee when the demoniac came back to his town? 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:22.880 Do you remember what everybody said about him? 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:29.680 The first thing they noticed before they knew he was with Jesus, the first thing they noticed, they said, Oh, he is clothed and in his right mind. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:31.279 They could tell. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:33.680 That's this guy. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.119 The demon is gone. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:41.119 He's got clothes on, he's in his right mind, and more than that, he's got his act together. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:47.200 If this guy had a house before, I'm sure it was damaged and destroyed, and now it's clean. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:49.200 Everything's put away. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.000 If he was in an asylum before, which the Jews had asylums, maybe he was in one of those before. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:55.680 Now he's back at home. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:58.880 If he was homeless before, he's got a house now. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.680 And it's all strange. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:03.599 He's clothed and in his right mind. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:06.960 Beyond that, he's disciplined. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.240 He's going to the gym every morning. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.559 He's eating his vegetables. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.559 Or in the Jewish world, he's keeping Sabbath. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:18.720 He's keeping the Torah. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:22.880 He's no longer a danger to himself and to society. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.240 He's got his act together. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:27.839 That's this guy. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:35.680 One commentator says, Leon Morris, a pleasant moral reformation has taken place. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:43.599 But the man thinks he's still in control of himself and with no reference to the Spirit of God, therefore the man is truly empty. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:47.839 He is open to invitations from all kinds of evil. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.960 In other words, his house is tidy, but it's empty. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:57.839 It's dusty, but there's no furniture in it. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.640 He has things in order, but there's no life there. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:08.240 This is a picture of the Pharisees. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:18.799 And I want you to understand, this is the best case scenario that religion has to offer someone. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:26.960 The best case scenario, if you listen to the Pharisees or bring it present day. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:51.200 If you fall for the sacramental system in Catholicism, if you fall for the pillars of Islam, if you fall for the Eastern religions, if you fall for Mormonism, if you fall for any of that, at the end of the day, their best offer to you, the best they can do, if you do what they say, the best they have to offer is that you have your act together. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:24:10.720 You dress right, you have a job, you go to the gym, you eat healthy, you are not gluttonous, you're not covetous, you're not adulterous, you have your life together in a way that you are a pillar of your community and you function well in society. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.920 That is the Pharisees' best case scenario. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:24.079 That's what they offered people keep the Sabbath, keep the law, straighten out your life, and all will be well for you. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:27.200 This is the picture of works righteousness. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.640 Now, God gives us his law. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.079 There are three uses of God's law. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:39.440 This is a little bit of a theology lesson to help you understand works righteousness here. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:41.200 There's three uses of God's law. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:45.759 The first use of God's law is to reveal to you who God is, that God is holy. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.119 That has the function of, you know, restraining sin. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.799 People don't want to sin because God is holy. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:54.079 That's the first use of the law, to reveal to you who God is. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.640 The second use of the law is to convict you of your sin. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:04.000 And make you realize you need a savior. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:11.279 The third use of the law is to show you how to live in light of your relationship with Christ. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.079 To motivate godly living. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:25.200 You make a very big mistake with the law if you start with the third one, and you make a very big mistake with the law if you ignore the third one. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:27.519 There's an order. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.240 For example, God's law says do not murder. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:33.759 That reveals who God is. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.440 It shows you that God is holy and that God is life-giving. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.720 Second use of the law is to expose you. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:44.720 If you've hated in your heart, you are guilty of murder. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:49.599 And you realize the clearest law possible, don't commit murder. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:51.440 I've broken in my own heart. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.640 I am condemned as a murderer and I need a savior. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:03.039 The third use of the law is so now that I'm forgiven in Christ, I should strive to love my enemies as myself. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:05.680 That's the full circle of that. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.599 If you do that out of order, you break everything. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:20.400 If you start with, I'm going to try hard to not hate people, I'm going to not murder somebody, so that I can be like God. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:26.880 You think I don't need a savior because I'm keeping the law, it makes me like God. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:28.880 It earns me credit with God. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.640 God says, don't commit adultery. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.200 It reveals that God is pure. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:39.680 That God has one bride, his church. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.440 The second function of that is to show you that if you lust, you commit adultery, you're condemned, you need a savior. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:50.880 Third function of that is to motivate personal purity in your life in light of Christ. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.160 But the works righteousness person enters this and says, I'm going to refrain from adultery. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:00.480 I will have rules about adultery to guard adultery so that I can lead a pure life. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:03.599 You're bypassing the need for Christ so that you can be like God. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:04.960 That's works righteousness. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:07.519 This is endemic in Judaism. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.240 That's where the Jews are at the end of chapter 12. 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:14.960 They're going to keep the Sabbath, they're going to keep the law, so they don't need Jesus. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:16.480 Thank you very much. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:21.759 And Jesus rebukes them for it time and time again. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:22.960 I want you to flip, we have a few minutes. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:25.279 I want you to flip over to Matthew chapter 23. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.920 Keep your finger in Matthew 12 because it'll be back there. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:33.279 But Matthew 23, towards the end of Jesus' life, is a very clear rebuke to this. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:37.119 The whole chapter is about this. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:38.720 You could really start anywhere. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.559 But let's start in verse 25. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.480 Matthew 23, verse 25. 00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:47.680 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:55.519 You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:57.680 They clean the outside of the plate. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.839 They washed the big pieces of food off the plate, but they didn't actually wash the plates. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:05.839 There's a difference between scraping the food in the trash and washing the plate, right? 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:13.279 When you're done with dinner, you might scrape the scraps in the trash can, but you don't put the plate back into the cabinet then without washing it. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.079 Amen? 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:16.240 I'm talking to the teenagers here. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:17.200 Amen. 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:23.759 And Jesus says, that's what the Pharisees are like. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:30.480 They're getting rid of the big sins in their life, but they are not cleaned on the inside. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:33.680 Verse 27. 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:36.720 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you're hypocrites. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.880 You're like whitewashed tombs. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:41.039 Outwardly, you're very beautiful. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.319 We don't really have the analogy to this in America. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:51.279 We have like the uh Arlington Cemetery is as close as we get when, you know, winter when the graves are white and they got the wreaths on them. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:52.880 It's a very it can be very pretty there. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:54.480 Still somber but pretty. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:29:00.720 In the Jewish world, the the graves, your body is put in a grave, it's wrapped in cloths and put in a grave. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:03.680 The grave is a cave, it's above ground and it's accessible. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.880 You rot then, your flesh decomposes. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:18.480 At some point years later, a family member comes in and gets your bones and takes the bones and breaks them down, you know, breaks the leg and the femur and all that, and breaks them down and puts them in an ossuary, puts them in a box. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:22.160 The box is then put in a grave that's on top outside of the ground. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:32.400 It's on top of the ground, it's inside of a stone box, it's got a stone slab on the top of it, and the ossuary, the bones go in that box, and there's a slab on the top of it. 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:35.839 And then people will put rocks on top of the graves. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.160 You know, Americans put flowers on graves, the Jews have put rocks on top of the graves. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.559 That's demonstrating that the grave hasn't been moved. 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:47.119 It's in hope of the resurrection, the bodily resurrection, all of that. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:49.759 Well, it's outdoors and it's flat. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:56.400 I mean, birds sit on the rocks, squirrels climb on the rocks, it rains on the rocks, birds poop on the rocks. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:00.079 And so people will come by every few years and wash the graves. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:02.640 Sometimes they'll even paint the graves. 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:09.519 If you go to Jerusalem today and you go to the Mount of Olives, it's covered in these kinds of graves. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.200 And when they're cleaned, it's incredibly pretty. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:19.599 It's the shining white light that shines onto the temple across the hill there. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:21.680 And it's so pretty. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:26.079 At the end of the day, though, inside of the rocks are bones. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:31.200 Yes, it's a very pretty white box with a femur inside of it. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:32.880 That's what you're dealing with there. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.480 This is what Jesus compares the Jewish leaders to. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:47.279 They reject the Spirit of God, they reject the gospel, but they clean themselves on the outside. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:54.079 Verse 28, you appear righteous to others, but inward you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:57.599 You can flip back to Matthew chapter 12. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:01.039 That's what the demon finds. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:06.799 The demon comes back and finds this dude in order. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:10.559 Now, what does the demon think? 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:14.240