WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:24.800 Good morning and welcome. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:32.240 Please, if you have a Bible or a device, take your Bible and open it with me to the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.320 If you are visiting with us this morning, we are glad to have you. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.280 We've been working our way through Matthew's Gospel together. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.799 We're nearing the end of chapter 12. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:47.759 If you have a Bible or device, it'd be good if you would follow along with us. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:53.520 Going to be looking at chapter 12, beginning in verse 22 this morning. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.719 Familiar passage to you in one sense or another. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:03.039 You've heard it twisted and abused in many kinds of ways. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:04.480 We all have. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:10.000 It's about what we often call the unforgivable or the unpardonable sin. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:19.359 So you've heard it, I'm sure, used to show that taking one's life is an unforgivable sin. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:30.719 I've heard it referenced that sexuality issues of immorality of all kinds is an unforgivable sin. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:37.920 I even heard one preacher one time say that not coming to church is an unforgivable sin. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:41.519 Been used and abused in all kinds of ways. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:51.920 And this morning, I trust as we work our way through this, it will become clear to you what is and what is not an unforgivable sin. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:59.599 So if you have your device or your Bible, please follow along as I read from Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse 22. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:14.639 It says, then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:22.560 And all the people were amazed and said, Can this be the son of David? 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:34.960 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, Yeah, no, it's only by Beelzebub or Beelzebub, your translation might say, the Prince of Dems, that this man casts out demons. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:45.199 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.800 And if Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.719 How then will his kingdom stand? 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:56.719 If I cast out demons by Beelzebubel, by whom do your sons cast them out? 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.879 Therefore they will be your judges. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:12.800 But if, here's his thesis statement, if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:22.000 Or how can how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong men? 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.280 Then indeed he may plunder his house. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.159 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:34.879 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, people. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.840 But the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:49.840 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. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:04:01.680 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. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:07.840 You brood of vipers, you pack of rattlesnakes. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.879 How can you speak good when you are evil? 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.800 For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:24.160 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:39.040 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. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:41.040 Amen. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:52.160 How is it that the scriptures say that we are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:59.759 And yet Jesus says you will be justified by what you say. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:02.800 How does that make sense? 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:03.920 How does that fit together? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.639 Seems like there might be a potential contradiction there. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:15.279 Have you ever played with fire? 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:17.680 Literally. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:19.759 I'm asking a genuine question. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:21.680 Have you ever played with fire? 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:23.759 Thank you. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.279 I'm not alone. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:37.600 Now some of you are are cautious people who have an innate uncertainty about things that keeps you from doing things like playing with fire. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:46.639 But then there are people like me that possess a curiosity about things, and we like to play with fire. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.800 I remember backpacking in the mountains as a kid, maybe five or six years old, and I remember just being fascinated by the campfire. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:01.120 I always had a stick in my hand when we were sitting around the campfire at night, and that stick, you know where the end of it always ended up? 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:02.639 Right in the fire. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:21.360 So I'd get the tip of the stick lit on fire and pull it out of the fire and watch it until the flame died out and stick it back in and get it lit again and pull it out and blow it out and stick it back in and get it lit on fire and pull it out and dig it in the ground a little bit, stick it back in and see how long it takes to get lit. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:28.639 A few years later, when my dad let me learn how to start the campfire, a whole new world started. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:35.519 Yeah, I was just fascinated by how to start fires. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.720 You know, how much wood would it take? 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:43.759 Um, could you start a fire with moss taken off of a tree? 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.279 Um could you start a fire with wet wood? 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:56.560 It was it was incredibly difficult for me to realize as an adult I had missed something my entire childhood. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:00.240 I wasn't one that participated in Boy Scouts. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:18.560 So I was an adult taking other kids backpacking when I finally learned that this trick of taking a cotton ball and rubbing it with Vaseline so that it became like a portable candle to start fires. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.600 I missed out on so much. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:33.120 There's a reason, isn't there, why we have a saying about playing with fire? 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.519 Something about getting burned. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:52.240 You might be familiar with with James in the New Testament talking about how dangerous the tongue is, that it can be so dangerous that it's like starting a forest fire. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:54.319 Just by what you say. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:02.560 But the Bible has far more to say about the tongue and speech and fires than just James. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.079 It starts far before that. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:14.480 I'd like you to consider with me just for a minute here, before we get into Matthew, what Solomon, the wisest man to have ever walked this earth other than the Lord Jesus, had to say about fires. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:19.040 I'm convinced that Solomon was somebody who liked to play with fire. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:30.639 He said in Proverbs 16, 27, a worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like scorching fire. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:33.519 Speech is like scorching fire. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.039 Notice the flow of thought here from Solomon. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:43.679 Evil comes from, out of a worthless person. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:50.480 Now, in Proverbs, in the context of the whole book of Proverbs, that's someone who does not fear the Lord. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:55.440 That's someone who is not wise, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right? 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:04.159 And so an evil person, a worthless person, is someone who does not have faith in God, who has not come to the place of trusting in God alone. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:09.519 And so evil comes from within a person who's not wise in understanding through faith in God. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:20.240 And Solomon says that we can notice, we can have a perception about the worthlessness or the evil of a person by their speech. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:38.639 If what a person says is destructive and terrible and scorching and burning, then it's generally true that he or she is going to be like that on the inside as well. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:50.080 Now, as we consider this passage in Matthew, we need to first understand that it is not about primarily this unforgivable sin. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:59.759 We get caught on that often in our American culture, especially, and so we get distracted from everything else that's going on around it. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:04.240 And we get focused, too focused, on this unforgivable sin element. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.039 But this is not about the unforgivable sin. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:13.759 This passage is about people whose speech is like a scorching fire that comes from an evil heart. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:24.960 And that evil heart is evil because it rejects Christ as Lord by refusing the light of revelation given by the Spirit of the Living God. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:33.360 This passage is not about what you do, it's about what you say. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:38.879 Even better, it's about your heart. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:44.000 Because out of the heart flow all kinds of words. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:46.320 Look with me at this passage. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.279 There are several kinds of words that are detailed here. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.279 First, in verse 22, there are words of healing. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:00.320 We have this then word that tells us that this follows what comes before, right? 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:01.679 And we know what that is. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:10.960 If you were with us last time in verses 15 through 21, Matthew has detailed for us from Isaiah 42 how Jesus has come to fulfill scripture. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:20.240 Then a demon-oppressed man comes to Jesus, who was blind and mute and was brought to him, and Jesus healed him so that the man spoke and saw. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.639 Notice that there's no emphasis at all about how Jesus healed this man. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.360 We don't know if Jesus touched him. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.080 We don't know if Jesus spoke to him. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:32.879 We don't know if Jesus had him do something. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:40.399 All we know is that this man who is blind and unable to speak is brought to Jesus and suddenly he is healed. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.039 What is the evidence of his healing? 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:48.080 He speaks and he sees. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:06.000 But when the kindness of God reached out to him to free him, he spoke. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.399 Those are words of healing. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.919 My friends, these words of healing are not from the mouth of Jesus. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:15.840 These words of healing are from the mouth of the man who could not speak. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.320 Those words indicate that there is healing, that there is freedom, that there is rescue. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:25.679 But even more, they lead us to the greater issue. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:30.399 How does Jesus have the power over the demons that could do this to a man? 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:35.919 And again, we're drawn into this account from the previous verses. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:44.320 Those verses where Matthew laid out for us from Isaiah 42 all of the reasons that Jesus fulfills Isaiah 42. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.679 They were shown to us that Jesus is the one that we should expect. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:58.879 Jesus is the one who would come not taking a bent reed and snapping it off, but treating it with care and compassion. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:09.840 Jesus is the one who would come to a smoldering wick, not to snuff it completely out, but to care for it and to revive it. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:14.000 Jesus is the one who came to bring hope to the nations. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:18.159 And so Jesus is now then approached by this demon-oppressed man. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:19.200 And what does he do? 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:20.159 He cares. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:21.919 He cares for the bent. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:23.120 Read. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:30.799 He gives life to the snuffed out wick and hope to the one imprisoned by the demon. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.600 What do we do with that? 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.600 Verse 23, well, we find words of searching. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:42.480 All the people around him were amazed. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:44.080 They were astonished. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.600 That carries the idea of being overwhelmed. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:53.840 So much so that the people around who watch this began to ask questions. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:57.279 Is Jesus the one? 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:04.000 Could this be the Jesus, the Messiah, the hope that we've been looking for? 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:10.720 Now, for a person of the first century in Judaism, the natural thinking would lead to God's promised Messiah. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:17.360 So they begin to murmur, wondering out loud, even, could this be the promised son of David? 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:20.399 It's their way of saying, is Jesus the Messiah? 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:29.919 And Matthew saying, Yes! Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell you from the beginning. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:37.039 This is why he has the name Jesus, because he came to save his people from their sins. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:43.200 This is why he's called Emmanuel, because he is God with us. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:48.320 This is why I've been telling you again and again and again that he came to fulfill the scriptures. 00:14:49.279 --> 00:15:03.440 This is why I've shown you just before this in Isaiah 42, not one time, not two times, not three times, not four times, not five times, not six times, not seven times, but eight times just in Isaiah 42, he came to fulfill the scriptures. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.080 Yes, this is Jesus, the Son of David. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:07.919 Yes. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.600 He's the answer to your searching. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:14.399 It's exactly Matthew's point. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.559 Jesus is the Messiah. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.480 In fact, he's not merely a human descendant of King David, he's Emmanuel. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.639 He is God who is with us. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:34.639 And Matthew wants us to know and to understand that everything Jesus did, everything he said, everything that he was, pointed to the fact that he is indeed God veiled in human flesh. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.080 Don't forget that. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:40.399 Don't miss that. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:45.519 So what do we do with that? 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.240 Well, the Pharisees show us words of unbelief. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.480 Pharisees heard it and they said it's don't get caught up in that. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.799 Yeah, he puts on a good show, doesn't he? 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:03.519 It's because Satan's helping him. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:10.720 Be alzebowl or be alzebub, depending on your translation, it's just another term for Satan, the ruler of demons. 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:22.320 See, the Pharisees believed that Jesus had authority over demons and could bring about this dramatic change in this man because Satan was empowering Jesus to do it. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:24.639 He gave him the authority and the right to do that. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:29.039 So for some odd reason, they think that Jesus and the devil are in cahoots. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:40.639 They're working together, they're partners in crime, and so somehow it serves Satan's purpose to have Jesus remove the demonic influence from this man. 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:47.039 What they're claiming is that Satan has greater authority than Jesus. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:55.679 That tells us they do not understand who Jesus is, nor did they believe in him. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:02.480 But there's one potential situation in which this might have been true. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.759 Where this might have been a reality. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:09.119 It's a hint back to chapter 4 of Matthew. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:10.720 We've been there. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:11.680 You remember that? 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:14.559 It's where Jesus was tempted by Satan. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:22.559 In the last temptation, Satan took Jesus up on top of a high mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:31.119 Sort of reminiscent of God taking Moses up on top of Mount Nebo to look at all of the promised land and say, this is all that I'm going to give you. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.160 Satan says to Jesus, this can all be yours. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:36.960 You can indeed be the ruler of the kingdoms of the earth. 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:38.720 If only you will do what? 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:41.279 Worship me. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:47.920 If Jesus would have worshiped Satan, then there might have been a chance that this would be true. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.440 But Jesus said, No, that can't be. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.640 Look at, though, the blindness of this unbelief. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:01.519 The blind man saw and spoke. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:11.680 But those who could already see somehow become blind and unbelieving in the light of God's power and grace. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:18.319 Now, as we often do, we see hints here of chapter 5 repeating itself. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:19.839 The Beatitudes. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:29.599 It's the poor in spirit, it's those humbled by their sin that receive the gift of faith and come to see who Jesus really is. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:35.519 While everyone else is confirmed in their blindness. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.799 That brings us then to verse 25. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:45.599 And verse 25, all the way through verse 37, is one extended statement by Jesus. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:51.920 And so we can see that this is words of instruction, then, from the Word of God Himself. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:58.400 And it begins with Jesus, Jesus in his omniscience, knowing their thoughts. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.640 That's important to understand in the context of this passage. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.400 Jesus knows what's going on inside of you without it even coming out. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:16.880 He knows in great detail, in all detail, what you have thought, what you are thinking, and what you will think, even if it never comes out of your lips. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.920 This is his omniscience coming into play. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:25.680 It is no secret to him what is going on in the hearts of these Pharisees. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.960 It's no secret what's going on in the searching of the people. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:34.000 It's no secret to him what the man is experiencing as he begins to speak and to see. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:42.079 And Jesus reacts then, responds to these challenges by the Pharisees with some very logical words. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:47.920 He just says, hey, let's think about this and begin to make some sense out of what you're saying. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:20:08.880 If Jesus casts out demons, reversing the effect of the demonic oppression, and if he does that under the influence of Satan himself, that means that Satan is undoing what Satan's already done. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.039 My children are not in the service, and hopefully they won't be listening to this later. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:25.519 But do you know how often I turn off lights and suddenly the lights are turned back on? 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:31.200 And I come back and I turn off the lights and suddenly they're turned back on. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.440 Or a door is shut and then it's open and then it's shut. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.599 Nobody wants to redo something. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:52.160 And if you put that onto a global scale of Satan trying to take over the world and wrest it from the hands of God, why would he want to undo what he has done? 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.240 It's utter nonsense. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.960 But the principle, though, is that Satan is the ruler of his own kingdom. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.759 Satan is strong, he is powerful, and he has a kingdom. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:09.039 Scripture calls him the ruler of this dark world. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:19.200 And if there is someone on his own side, on his own team, working against him to undo what was done, then his kingdom isn't unified. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:21.279 There's somebody working against him. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.400 And a divided kingdom isn't going to last long. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:30.400 So when Jesus asks, how long will this kingdom stand, we're going to answer, well, yeah, it's not going to last. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:32.079 That's very logical. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.680 Jesus says, listen, if you're fighting against one another, it's not going to last. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:46.720 Case in point, perhaps the greatest human leader of men this world has ever known, Alexander the Great, conquered the known world at the time by the age of 33. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.480 Makes me feel worthless. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:55.519 33 years old, he'd conquered everything there was to conquer, and then he died. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:01.440 After he died, his empire was divided amongst As four generals. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.319 It was every general for himself. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.400 Then it all went downhill. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:13.759 Pretty soon the Greek Empire was gone because the Roman Empire came in and conquered them. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:22.000 See, the unified whole under Alexander was strong, was powerful, was mighty, but when you divide it, it begins to fall to pieces. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.920 So too, Jesus says, in the spiritual realm. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.160 Doesn't make logical sense for Jesus to be working for Satan. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.480 If the devil is divided, then his work is going to be against himself and his kingdom's going to fall. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.839 But here's the way things really are. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:46.000 We move to some words of reality. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:51.599 Jesus says, let me tell you what is actually happening here. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:56.559 Jesus' kingdom is greater than Satan's kingdom. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:06.000 And Jesus is stronger than Satan, and he has bound him, he's tied him up, he's rendered him useless. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:15.680 If Jesus' power is through the power of the Holy Spirit, then it is proof, Jesus says, that the kingdom of God and its king is present. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:18.240 That's his thesis statement in verse 28. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:34.079 But if, if the reality is that I have the power of God through his spirit to cast out demons, then it is also true that God's kingdom is present, and if God's kingdom is present, then the king is here. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:37.039 What are you going to do about that? 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:40.799 It's really very simple logic. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:43.680 It's going back to verse 18. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:24:03.680 If Jesus is, as Matthew wrote there in referring to Isaiah 42, if Jesus is the prophesied servant of God, if he is the promised Messiah, if he is the one upon whom God's spirit rests and remains, and the one who is Emmanuel, God in the flesh, then this is not a work of Satan, but a demonstration that the kingdom of God is here. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.480 Not only that, but its divine king is here too. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:15.119 And he's beginning to cast out the thief who would seek to steal from God. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:21.279 He's binding the strong men who wants to take control. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:23.599 So Jesus gives an illustration. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:29.200 If you're going to go in and plunder someone's home, you first must disarm the security system. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:36.799 Now they didn't have those noisy security systems that we have today that call the police automatically for you. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.480 This time you would have a strong man. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:43.359 Maybe it's referring to the owner of the home himself, maybe it's a hired hand who is going to be there to defend. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:47.440 We don't know the situation, but either way, you have to get him out of the way if you're going to rob the home. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.799 So you tie him up. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:52.319 That enables you to go in and plunder the home. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.880 Now, no, please understand, Jesus is not addressing the morality of plundering. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:00.079 He's simply using this as an illustration. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:08.240 He's using it as an illustration of being for Jesus or against Jesus. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:10.799 There's no middle ground. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:14.480 You are either for him or you're against him. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:17.039 There's no place for Switzerland in Jesus' plan. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:20.640 There's no place for compromise. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:25.839 You are with him or you are against him. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:31.599 And in the language of the illustration, Jesus says that he is in the process of plundering Satan's house. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:41.680 He has exerted greater power and greater authority than the strong man of the house, so that he is going to go in and take for himself what Satan has in his grasp. 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:44.880 And what has Satan had in his grasp? 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.160 A child of God. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:53.279 Jesus says, I'm going to go in. 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.039 I'm going to take him back. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:04.799 So these words of truth that Jesus expresses is that there's no middle ground when it comes to Jesus. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.519 He uses a shepherding illustration. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:16.079 Shepherd goes out and he gathers in the sheep, and he gathers them in to protect them, to feed them, to care for them, to heal them. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:20.799 He says, I come and I come to gather my sheep in. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.759 John chapter 10, Jesus says, I bring them in. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:24.960 They hear my voice. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.480 I gather them in. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:31.599 The thief comes only to steal and plunder and destroy. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:35.759 So Jesus says, You're either gathering with me or you're scattering. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:40.079 There's no middle ground, there's no middle place. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:43.440 And Jesus is speaking pointedly to the Pharisees. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:48.960 When they said that they believed that Jesus had power from Satan, they were declaring their allegiance. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:51.680 They are scattering with Satan. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:58.960 And that brings us then to the point we're familiar with, and that is the condemning words. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:12.160 Therefore, based on all of this, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:15.359 And in case that wasn't strong enough, he repeats it in verse 32. 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:17.519 Will not be forgiven. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:19.359 Will not be. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:20.240 Will not be. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:26.079 What is Matthew trying to do? 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:33.680 What is God trying to demonstrate, to illustrate for us through this book that Matthew has written? 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:35.759 It's very simple. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:38.799 Jesus is the one. 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:56.000 So everything that we've seen, everything that he does, points to who he is, the power of the Holy Spirit at work in Jesus, undoing what Satan has done is a perfectly clear demonstration of who Jesus is. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:08.799 So it's blasphemy then against the Holy Spirit to believe that the power of Jesus to heal a demon-oppressed man is actually the power of Satan instead of the power of God. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:15.759 And in the specific sense of this account, that exact situation can't be repeated. 00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:18.319 Jesus is not present with us. 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:24.960 He's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, so he's not here to relieve people of their oppression of demons or to heal them. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:34.319 And so we are not able in today's time to see Jesus present physically, demonstrate the power of God and to ascribe that to the work of Satan. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:36.319 There's no way for us to do that. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:44.640 We cannot look at him and see what he says, hear what he says, see what he does, and say that work is done by the power of Satan. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:50.079 But what's the point? 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:54.240 What does it prove, Jesus says in verse 28? 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:55.839 What does it say? 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.839 What does it declare? 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:02.799 If indeed Jesus does these things by the power of the Holy Spirit? 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.920 What if it's God and not Satan? 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.119 Are you willing to consider that? 00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:18.319 Matthew tells us, it proves that he is indeed the Messiah. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.960 See, the miracles of Jesus are designed to prove his identity. 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:29.599 The work of the Holy Spirit, as Scripture says, is to convict the world of what? 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.880 Sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.960 The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:50.880 In other words, the work of the Holy Spirit is to separate the world into those who gather with Jesus or those who scatter with Satan. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:30:02.559 That means that it is blasphemy to reject the powerful demonstration of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus as the Son of God. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:09.200 If you reject the Spirit's work to show Christ to you, you will not be forgiven. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:23.039 The unforgivable sin, then, according to the context of this account, is a settled, determined, willful rejection of the work of God's Spirit to show you Jesus. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:35.359 If someone completely and willfully and finally rejects that revelation, as these Pharisees did, they will remain forever unforgiven. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:50.160 Now there are three categories of people then among those who have heard the word of God, who have seen Jesus in his time, who have who have received through even the proclamation of God's word the Spirit's revealing work. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:59.599 There are those with faith in Jesus who have heard this opening of God's word to reveal Jesus and who have said, Yes, I believe in him. 00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:05.440 I place my trust in him and who receive forgiveness based on Jesus' payment for their sin. 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:15.519 There are those who still may come to Christ, but are as of yet unforgiven. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:23.519 They've not completely or finally rejected the light of revelation of the Holy Spirit. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:25.279 They may still come to Christ. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:33.279 They may still be given faith and have new life and forgiveness of sins, and then there are those who are unforgivable. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:42.960 Those are the ones who have permanently set themselves against God, completely rejecting his grace. 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:52.000 And that final group, the unforgivable, remain in their sin. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:56.240 God doesn't reach out and draw them to himself. 00:31:56.799 --> 00:32:05.680 Instead, he takes away from them, as it were, any light that might bring them out of darkness to him. 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:08.160 Here's the deal, folks. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:11.359 We don't know who's in which group. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:17.759 It's not for you, it's not for me to make a determination that so-and-so is unforgivable. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:19.440 Only God knows. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.519 Only God knows that. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:28.960 Now that leads us then in verse 33 to some eternally impactful words. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:37.759 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:41.680 For the tree is known by its fruit. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:45.119 I have a couple of plum trees in my yard. 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:49.680 Produces small plums, tasty, but not very many of them. 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:55.119 I'm still in the process of figuring out what's wrong with my trees because it doesn't produce very many of them. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:01.039 But I know that something's not quite right about those trees because it doesn't produce much fruit. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.400 It's a very basic principle, right? 00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:09.119 Now fruit in this context is equated with speech. 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:18.799 You brood of vipers, you, you, you, you den of rattlesnakes, how can you speak good when you are evil? 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:24.079 So your heart contains an entire library. 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:31.039 Some of you don't like to go to the library, but you don't know that you carry a library. 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:39.279 Your heart contains an entire library, and your mouth expresses in words what that library contains. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:52.400 If we want to obtain a good evaluation of the tree itself, of its health, of its vitality, of its nutrients, of its water level, you look at the fruit. 00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:56.079 The fruit can tell you a lot about the tree. 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:04.000 Whether it's good or whether it's healthy is determined, though, by the internal essence of the tree. 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:06.880 It's what's inside the tree. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:11.039 If the tree itself is in good shape, so too generally will be the fruit. 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:14.400 If the tree is in bad shape, so too will be the fruit. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:20.320 But the Pharisees are unable to speak good things because their hearts are evil. 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:24.400 In other words, you can expect venom from a rattlesnake. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:29.679 Shouldn't be a surprise. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:35.199 There are many reasons why I probably shouldn't be alive today. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:39.519 One of them is because of rattlesnakes. 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:43.360 I remember a time, it was probably six, seven, eight, nine years old. 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:48.400 I don't remember exactly when it was, but it was one of those times when dad let me skip school to go hunting. 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:49.599 It was fabulous. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:54.480 It was in the fall, early in the fall, and probably late September, we were bow hunting. 00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:04.639 It was just right out of town in Marmouth, North Dakota, and we were we were climbing up this hill, stalking up this hill, and there was a little bit of a ridge at the top of the hill. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:15.280 So we were slowly climbing this hill, and there was a bit of a ridge at the top, and as we got to the top, we slowed down and we peeked over the other side of the ridge to see if there were any deer on the other side of the hill. 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:20.320 I'm a little guy still, so I'm desperately trying to keep up with my dad, and I'm exhausted. 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.559 So I'm just looking for a place to sit down, right? 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:32.159 So that we find there's no deer on the other side, and we walk along this little ridge until we get even with it, or to the point where we can turn around and sit down, and so I'm just I'm just beat by this point. 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:35.599 And I turn around and start to sit down, and my dad says, Jason. 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:40.800 It's the only time I've ever heard my dad speak like that. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.039 Just one word, and I even can't repeat it. 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:48.639 But I just knew I needed to stop. 00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:51.519 So I'm half crouching, right? 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:53.280 Half half ready to sit down. 00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.599 And my dad, I don't think he said anything else after that. 00:35:57.679 --> 00:35:58.719 I don't quite remember. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:05.840 But I remember the next thing is I see his bow come out like this and come behind me and do this. 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:15.760 And then he turned me around, and right there were about a half a dozen baby rattlesnakes about a foot long that I was about to sit on. 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:20.880 Lots of reasons I shouldn't be alive right now. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.760 Now, why is that a little scary? 00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:32.239 Because we know that venom is in rattlesnakes. 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:36.400 You brood of vipers. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:40.719 Every time that Matthew refers to the brood of vipers is he's talking about the Pharisees. 00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:45.599 Jesus is saying, You Pharisees, you're like a den of rattlesnakes. 00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:47.599 You're poison. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:49.920 You have poison in you. 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:51.280 How can you speak good? 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:52.800 How can you bear good fruit? 00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:59.760 How can you say righteous things when all that's inside of the tree, when all that's inside of the snake is venom? 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:06.559 These Pharisees are unable to speak good things because their hearts are evil. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:08.880 You can expect venom from a rattlesnake. 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:14.559 And when it comes to people, you can only expect from them what is already in their heart. 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:20.000 Jesus says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:27.360 The word abundance here means a condition of great plenty, such that it overflows. 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:29.360 It's just going to overflow. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:33.199 Whatever is in the heart is there in such quantity. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:42.000 The library is so vast that there has no other choice but to overflow out of a person in its speech. 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:56.320 To use another illustration, each of us is a reservoir holding within us either good or bad, sinful or righteous, changed by the Spirit of God or molded by the Spirit of Satan to pour out of us. 00:37:56.400 --> 00:38:01.760 And Jesus uses a word here that you know it's it's that dinosaur of words, thesaurus. 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:07.280 You have a treasury, a thesaurus inside of you. 00:38:09.280 --> 00:38:11.440 It's a treasury of words. 00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:18.960 And the treasury that Jesus is speaking of is that which is accumulated inside the heart of each person. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.480 Everyone has a treasure inside of you. 00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:26.320 And that treasure is going to overflow. 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:28.639 It's going to pour out of you. 00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:36.639 And when it does, if it's a good treasure, if it's the opposite of the Pharisees, in other words, it's going to result in good. 00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:38.400 It's going to have good fruit. 00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:43.679 It's going to be good and gracious and affirming and praiseworthy and trusting of the Lord Jesus. 00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:48.880