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There are 4 great themes in our teaching in 2013. The God of Moses; The coming soon Jesus; Faith Works – a study of James letter and The Manual for life. Today we return to Matthew’s gospel .
Matthew’s gospel is considered a discipleship training manual because he brings Jesus’ teaching together into clear section. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5,6 & 7 ; between the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist there another section which deals with his authority and the parables of the kingdom - chapters 11-13 in which is today’s reading ; ch 18 about forgiveness; Then after his entrance into Jerusalem ch 21-25 are full of teaching about being ready for the second coming.
So we are in the middle of this section of teaching on Jesus authority and the parables of the Kingdom
As you can see we continue on this teaching up to Easter and after Easter we on to the actions as Jesus substantiated his claim to be the Messiah.
READ Matthew 12:22-37
The Healing
The accusation
The answer
The challenge
The authority
The divide
The blasphemy
The source of your words
The Healing
Blind and mute.
Analysing this we get that he could hear and smell and feel but the loss of two
out of 5 senses is devastating. In this case it was due to demon-possession.
Let’s be clear that blindness and muteness are not signs of demon-possession.
But in this case Jesus has recognised the demon. But Matthew still uses the
term ‘healed’ rather than ‘cast out’.
When Jesus heals he releases us from sickness, it reminds us of his
saving live and when he casts out demons he heals our spirits and restores them
to a relationship with himself.
The people start
asking whether Jesus is the ‘Son of David’? Why?
God had promised
David, the second king of
When your days are over and you rest with your
fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you,
who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the
one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
This caused the
people to long to see David's greater son – the one who would rule forever. So
it is a Messianic title. In particular a political messianic
title. But healing was recognised as a kingly power because this is a
spiritual as well as political expectation.
Jesus is called the,
"Son of David." in the very first sentence of Matthew’s gospel.
A record of the genealogy of Jesus
Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
Six times in the
gospel of Matthew it records people calling Jesus the, "Son of
David."
1. As Jesus went on from there, two blind men
followed him, crying out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" (Matthew
9:27).
2. Here in Matthew
12
3. And a Canaanite woman from that region came
out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David;
my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed" (Matthew 15:22).
4. In
5. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, The crowds going ahead of him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9).
6. In the temple in
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the
wonderful things that he had done, and the children who were shouting in the
temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant (Matthew 21:5).
The Son of David
was, therefore, a messianic title. Jesus called this to the attention of the
religious rulers.
"What do you think about the Christ Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they
replied. He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the
Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says, "The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit
at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." If then David calls him ‘Lord,' how can he be his son?"
No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him
any more questions (Matthew 22:42-46).
Summary
David was promised
that one of his offspring would rule forever. Jesus was called the "Son of
David" because he had Messianic qualities which were recognised. Here in
his authority over demons.
The accusation
24 But when the
Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
This is
a strange answer but one we must get used to. In these
days when atheists think they know everything, Jesus is demonized. We are told
that all the troubles in the world are caused by religion and Christianity in
particular. We are accused of being anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia,
anti-freedom… Here, the antagonism is played out in terms of accusing Jesus of
demonstrating power over demons because he is their ringleader. In a sense,
this is a possible answer and we need to be cautious at explicit demonstrations
of exorcisms and the like. The Spiritualist church thrives on being able to
‘control spirits’ Have nothing to do with them. There is no white magic and
black magic. They are only evil.
The answer
25 Jesus knew their
thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be
ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan
drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom
stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people
drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
Jesus replies in a gentle way. He points out
first that it does not make sense for him to drive out evil spirits if he is
evil. And this is the key point. C.S.Lewis argues
that in claiming to be the Son of God, Jesus was either mad,
deluded, deceptive or he was the real thing. You read his story and you will
know that he was not mad, and it is evident he was not manipulating his story
to fit the people’s expectations and gain power, so we are left with the
conclusion that he really is who he claimed to be. He is not Beelzebeel because he is clearly against Satan not for him. Just as the Jewish exorcists were.
The challenge
28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of
God, then the
Jesus healed the man because
he had compassion on him. And in doing so he demonstrated that he had the
Spirit of God. If so he was the Messiah and the
The authority
29 "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong
man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong
man? Then he can rob his
house.
It may seem a strange idea that Jesus should use robbery as an
illustration of his authority but you get the idea. Jesus has bound the demonic
forces. Now he can rob the house of its slaves and free them to live the new
life he offers.
Let’s be quite clear Jesus is the triumphant one. He has defeated the
Devil. He is the one who died and rose again from the dead. He has the
authority to drive out demons. If you have received Jesus as Saviour and Lord,
you are on the winning side. So often these days we see Christians defeated, on
the retreat, losing the argument. But that is not the end game. It is a set
back and the call is for godly people to meet together for prayer, to be
renewed so that revival can break out in this country. The gospel which has
been spread throughout the world is transforming lives, releasing captives,
driving out demons and growing. Just not here in
The divide
30 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who
does not gather with me scatters.
There is no sitting on the fence. And that lies at the heart of what he
says next. This is no academic debate and we can all have a drink together
after. Jesus warns us that his words divide and that division has consequences.
Play the devil’s advocate and you are against the Lord of creation and your
only hope of salvation.
The blasphemy
31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be
forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven,
either in this age or in the age to come.
What is often missed in this verse is the first line. We jump to the
unforgiveable sin but ignore And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,
That includes every sin and blasphemy. Christians must
resist this societies shifting patterns of what is forgivable
and what is not. If there is true repentance,
every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven
that includes the most
heinous crimes we know and we seem to have a daily dose of them in our papers
that enrage us for their foulness and the evil and the pain and suffering they
cause. The most righteous upright citizen and the worst of sinners are standing
in the same place, in need of a Savior, in need of forgiveness in the need of
eternal life, in need of a way of escape from hell to heaven. And ALL can be
forgiven if they turn from their sin and accept the forgiveness that God offers
in Jesus. BUT people do go to hell fully aware of the good news of Jesus. Why?
Because they reject him and like the religious leaders of the day, abuse the
giver of life and refuse him. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not mean a
foolish abuse of the divine; it means the stubborn refusal to recognize the
Spirit of God at work. The point that Jesus is making is that the religious
leaders saw an act of rescue and accused Jesus of being the devil. They were
establishing a mind-set that interpreted everything that Jesus did as evil.
They rejected him and they were not going to let the evidence change their
minds. They were putting themselves beyond grace and therefore beyond
forgiveness. Do not play games with God, he is no fool, he knows what is
happening in your heart. When you hear what he says respond in repentance and
faith. Do not establish a mind-set that rejects the goodness of God as evil.
I have met people who believe they have gone beyond
the reach of God’s grace. They are not but if they refuse to listen to words of
hope they are doomed to miss out of the love, joy and peace that God gives.
This is a sobering passage because it is awkward and uncomfortable. The general
rule is that if you are worried about committing the unforgivable sin you
haven’t. Now is the time to turn to Jesus, know his forgiveness and receive his
peace about it.
The source of your words
33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be
good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognised by
its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man
brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings
evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell
you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every
careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Words
matter. They are the output of the heart. And how often do our words reveal the
evil in our hearts. What comes out of our mouths is so often not we want others
to hear but they come from selfishness, anger, hatred, and lust. James wrote
under the influence of the Holy Spirit
James 3:3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn
the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as
an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are
steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the
body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by
a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a
fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body,
sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of
animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed
by mankind, 8 but no human
being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the
tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who
have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out
of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should
not be. 11 Can both fresh water and
salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My
brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?
Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
It is a sober fact that few of us would want our thoughts to be public. We
think we keep our minds and hearts secret and manipulate with words to say what
we think we ought to say. But out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks
and our evidence is a confused mixture of what we know is right and what
actually we think. It is in the heart we
need change and that is a work of the Holy Spirit , which you and I need to
open ourselves up to by seeking to know God’s will and purposes better. That is
why we are passionate about the Bible, it reveals
God’s way of thinking. That is why we are passionate about prayer, it is where
we have a dialogue with Him about how our heart thinks and feels.
Before the throne of God above we will answer
for every word we have spoken. And we would be condemned were it not that Jesus
stands beside us and pleads for us, showing his hands and side and declaring
that he has suffered and died for every thought and word and deed that was evil
in our lives.
In summary then we see that we
have to make a choice about what we think of Jesus. That choice is the most
momentous in our lives because it decides our eternal destiny. If we receive
him as Saviour and Lord, in repentance and faith, he stands with us before the
throne of God our righteousness our advocate our redeemer and our friend. There
is no sin that cannot or will not be forgiven except if we reject him and never
receive his forgiveness. The unforgivable sin is to turn your back on the giver
of life. The words we say do matter, they show our hearts and we need healing
of the heart not just a political correctness of our speech. But there is hope, Jesus is a heart changer, a healer. In him we have
forgiveness of sins and a certainty of the acceptance of God as his sons and
daughters, a welcome into his presence now and for eternity.