The Heart of a Member

ME (A hook):

Anyone here ever watch the movie Forrest Gump?

I remember first watching it as a kid,

I don’t know if I was even 10 years old yet.

So, as a kid,

There was a lot in Forrest Gump that went way over my head.

If you have seen the movie,

You might remember that Forrest’s true love,

Jenny,

Has quite the rough patch.

She starts out on this path of a hippy lifestyle,

Then gets mixed up with a radical group,

Ends up in an abusive relationship,

And begins using some very heavy drugs.

It is actually a really tragic scene.

Where she is strung out one night,

Feeling like she has hit rock bottom.

So, she goes out onto the balcony of her hotel,

Steps over the railing in her high heel shoes,

And is about to jump to commit suicide.

All of this went way over my home.

So, I am confused,

And I ask my mom,

“What is going on?”

“What is Jenny doing?”

She simply said,

“Jenny is thinking about committing suicide.”

Although this was a fictional movie,

This was the first time I was confronted with suicide.

So, I naturally had all sorts of questions.

And I begin having this back and forth with my mom.

Which I look back on now,

And think how comical it was,

That mom was trying to watch Forrest Gump,

When she suddenly has to engage her young child with this existential conversation about life and death,

And heaven and hell.

Mind you,

This was before I was a Christian.

Before I knew the gospel.

So, amid this conversation,

My mom tells me something that is a commonly held belief in our culture,

Even among Christians.

She told me,

That if you commit suicide,

You go straight to hell.

So, for the longest time,

I thought suicide was an unforgivable sin,

And in the years since,

I have come to learn that many others have mistakenly believed that suicide is an unforgivable sin.

Although suicide is a sin,

Because it is murder.

If a person has trusted in Christ as their Lord and Savior,

Then suicide is still forgiven by Christ.

Perhaps you can relate to this,

And you have thought of suicide as the unforgivable sin.

Or perhaps there is another sin that you,

Or someone else,

Deems as unforgivable.

In Matthew 12:22-50, Jesus teaches us that God forgives any and all sins.

But for one exception.

But this exception does not ultimately come down to any one thought, word, or action.

This one exception comes down to the heart.

So, our passage this morning distinguishes The Heart of a Member.

Slide

Our outline this morning is...

Hardened Hearts (vs. 22-37)

Hope For Every Heart (vs. 38-42)

Humble Hearts (vs. 43-50)

Is your heart humbled or hardened by Jesus?

WE - vs. 22-37 (Why does this matter to us?):

Slide

Our passage picks up the narrative of Matthew with Jesus performing,

What becomes a controversial miracle,

That really should not be controversial at all.

It only becomes controversial because of Hardened Hearts.

In vs. 22,

A blind and mute man who was possessed by a demon is brought to Jesus.

And Matthew simply says,

Jesus heals him,

Just like that!

Another demon-possessed person is healed!

The man could now both speak and see.

In vs. 23,

The crowds see this and are astounded!

So, they start to consider that perhaps Jesus is the Son of David.

Is this Jesus our Messiah?

Our Savior?

Slide

The Pharisees hear this question in vs. 24,

And they are enraged!

So, for the second time in Matthew,

They make this outlandish accusation,

That Jesus heals and casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul,

Whom, they say,

Is the prince of demons.

Which is an alternate name for Satan.

This is a ridiculous accusation,

So, Jesus, having an awareness of their thoughts,

Addresses this accusation on two different levels.

Slide

First, He points out how it would be illogical for Him to cast out demons by the power of the Devil.

It would be like kicking yourself out of your own house.

Or destroying your own work.

This is what Jesus is saying when He says in vs. 25,

Every kingdom divided against itself will not stand.

No city,

No house,

No entity,

Nothing divided against itself will stand.

When something is fractured it will not last.

So, Jesus’ point is that if Satan is driving out his own demons,

How would he expect his kingdom to stand?

Jesus knows that Satan is too conniving for that,

He is not going to undermine himself in this way.

So, it would be illogical for Jesus to cast out demons by Beelzebul.

Secondly, it would be inconsistent.

If it took demonic power to cast out demons,

Then why weren’t these Pharisees criticizing their own followers in the same way they are criticizing Jesus?

This is what Jesus asks in vs. 27,

By whom do your sons cast out demons?

So, Jesus first shows how their accusation is both illogical and inconsistent.

Therefore, Jesus draws out three undeniable conclusions.

Slide

First, in vs. 28,

Since Jesus is not doing these miracles by the power of Satan,

The only other possibility is that He is doing them by the power of God.

By casting out demons by the Spirit of God,

Jesus is making it clear that the kingdom of God has come!

Making it clear that the kingdom of God has come!

And if the kingdom has come,

That means the King is here!

And if the King is here,

Then the second conclusion is,

The One Who is stronger than Satan is here!

That is what Jesus claims about Himself in vs. 29,

When He says you must first bind up the strong man before you can steal his possessions.

Make no mistake,

Satan is powerful.

He is the strong man in Jesus’ illustration.

And earth is his house,

He has temporary rule over this world.

But Jesus is staking His claim as being even more powerful than Satan.

He is saying that He has tied up Satan,

Tied up the strong man.

So, He could plunder his house.

And Jesus is not making some empty claim here.

Matthew has made this point clear,

Jesus is more powerful than Satan,

Jesus is victorious over Satan.

Even in Satan’s “home.”

In Matthew 4, Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations in the wilderness.

By the end of it,

Jesus commands Satan to depart.

Since that moment,

Jesus has healed multiple people of their diseases,

Cast out several of Satan’s demons,

And forgiven rebellious people of their sins.

Chapter after chapter,

Matthew is shouting at us,

That the One Who is stronger than Satan is here!

And He has bound up the strong man.

So, Satan sits powerless against Jesus,

Watching as he is unable to stop Jesus from claiming God’s valuable and precious image bearers from this world,

Making us citizens of God’s kingdom.

Which leads into Christ’s third conclusion,

Being citizens of God’s kingdom comes with demands that are polar opposite to the demands of this world.

Therefore, Jesus makes it clear in vs. 30,

You cannot play the middle ground.

There is no neutrality with Jesus.

He plainly states that anyone who is not with Him,

Is against Him.

He was not just saying this to the Pharisees.

This statement applies the same to us today.

We too must decide whether we will harden our hearts toward Jesus,

And pridefully oppose Him.

Or if we will humble our hearts toward Him,

And obediently follow Him.

Because when it comes to Jesus,

These are the only two options,

There is no in-between.

Slide

It is this reality leads right into what is perhaps one of Jesus’ most misunderstood teachings in vs. 31-32.

The weight of Christ’s words cannot be taken lightly.

Therefore, it is imperative we rightly understand what He is teaching.

In this endeavor,

One of the most helpful phrases I have ever learned is letting Scripture interpret Scripture.

This means,

Whenever we seek to understand a part of the Bible,

We must look at the overall biblical context,

And the immediate biblical context.

So, to understand what Jesus means here when He speaks of an unforgivable sin,

We must first understand the big picture of God’s Word.

We know that God is a forgiving God!

For example,

Exodus 34:6-7 says,

Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV)

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

This is the same God who forgave Adam and Eve,

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

Moses and the nation of Israel,

King David,

And on and on the list goes.

God forgives some pretty wicked and rebellious sins.

Even just in Matthew,

We have seen Him forgive tax collectors and sinners,

And in Acts, He forgives a radical anti-Christian terrorist,

Who was breathing threats and murder against the church.

Again and again and again,

God’s grace and compassion and forgiveness appears all throughout the Bible.

So, we cannot discard God’s character as we consider what Jesus says here in Matthew 12.

With that in mind,

Looking now at the immediate context.

These Pharisees have shown themselves to be completely against Jesus,

By accusing Him of being a vessel for Satan.

This helps us to understand why Jesus describes their sin as blasphemy.

Blasphemy is speaking against someone,

It is slanderous.

That is what the Pharisees are doing.

But first,

Jesus says every kind of sin,

Even blasphemy against Him,

Will be forgiven for those who repent.

Jesus demonstrates this even as He is dying,

Praying that God would forgive those who deny, mock, beat, and murder Him.

Even some of those closest to Jesus reject Him,

Peter denied Christ three times that same night,

And Jesus forgave him.

Paul was described as formerly a blasphemer.

So, the reality is,

We all are guilty of blasphemy against Christ.

Whether it is through outright defamation or denial of Him,

Or through doubt in Him.

Yet, Jesus makes it clear,

God graciously offers forgiveness for all these sins.

And all who humble their hearts and repent,

Will receive this forgiveness.

But,

Jesus says,

There is one sin,

The sin of blasphemy against the Spirit of God.

That, He says, is unforgivable.

How could this be?

Because blasphemy of the Spirit,

Expresses a rejection of the avenue to forgiveness.

Again, who is Jesus speaking to here?

The Pharisees.

A few verses ago,

We saw that Jesus knows what is in their heads,

Therefore, He knows what is in their hearts.

Their hearts are hardened toward Him.

So, He implies that they are guilty of blasphemy against the Spirit,

Because they credited the work of the Spirit to Satan.

Which set them in total opposition to the Spirit.

Slide

They demonstrate the three ingredients of a hardened heart:

Unbelief,

Persistent rebellion,

And an ultimate denial.

Think about it,

These Pharisees have seen Jesus healing all kinds of diseases,

Casting out every kind of demon,

Forgiving all kinds of sin,

And yet,

They hardened their hearts,

And chose to accuse Him of demonic activity.

This is unbelief.

In the face of undeniable evidence that Jesus is Lord and Savior,

They reject Him.

They did not reject the Spirit’s work for lack of evidence,

But for lack of humility.

So, their guilt is not some sort of a one-time spur-of-the-moment reaction,

They are guilty of persistent rebellion.

Because they were too proud to repent,

Regardless of what they see and hear from Jesus.

In the end,

The combination of this unbelief and persistent rebellion,

Resulted in an ultimate denial.

Their refusal of the Spirit,

Their blasphemy of the Spirit was a permanently hardened heart.

And the tragically horrific result of a hardened heart is eternal condemnation.

Jesus’ lesson here is of the utmost importance.

This is the sin that Jesus says will not be forgiven.

Slide

William Hendriksen gives a helpful description of the Pharisees in his commentary,

He writes,

“For penitence they substitute hardening, for confession plotting. Thus, by means of their own criminal and completely inexcusable callousness, they are dooming themselves. Their sin is unpardonable because they are unwilling to thread the path that leads to pardon. For a thief, an adulterer, and a murderer there is hope...But when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay any attention to the promptings of the Spirit, not even to listen to His pleading and warning voice, he has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition. He has sinned the sin ‘unto death.’”

The promptings of the Spirit,

His pleading and warning voice that Hendriksen writes about,

Is what the Bible presents as the ministry of the Spirit.

The Spirit draws us to salvation,

The Spirit leads us to repentance,

The Spirit applies God’s forgiveness.

Look at these Scriptures.

Slide

1 Cor. 12:3 says,

1 Corinthians 12:3 ESV

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

Slide

In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul prays...

Ephesians 1:17–18 (ESV)

...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Slide

In John 14:26, Jesus teaches,

John 14:26 (ESV)

...the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name...will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The Scriptures are clear,

The Spirit’s work is to enlighten the hearts and minds of sinners,

To reveal and to teach the gospel,

To persuade hearts and souls to repent and believe the truth of Jesus.

So, the Spirit not only explains God’s Word,

It opens the mind to perceive God’s Word.

Understanding this is vital to understanding why blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable.

Because when this influence of the Spirit is deliberately and knowingly refused,

When we live in willing opposition to the light,

Then this irreversible sin is a voluntary and informed act of malice against God.

This resolute and permanent rejection is the product of a hardened heart.

And when our hearts are hardened,

God further hardens our hearts in a way that rules out repentance and faith.

Slide

Hebrews 3:12-13 says,

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

So, in the case of the unforgivable sin,

God seems to permit the decision of the human will to become permanent.

This idea of an unforgivable sin is understandably frightening.

But dear friends,

You do not need to burden yourselves with anxiety from the unforgivable sin.

If you struggle,

Fearful that you may be guilty of the unforgivable sin.

Your concern alone is evidence enough that you have not blasphemed the Spirit.

Because if we are convicted of our sin by the Spirit,

If we believe in Jesus,

Then we can never be guilty of the unforgivable sin.

There is no sin we can commit that God will not forgive us of.

Jesus makes this distinction,

Because blasphemy of the Spirit is an expression of a hardened heart.

If a person wants to repent,

They do not have a permanently hardened heart.

This means, anyone who has been born again,

Who has truly trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,

Will not-

No-no-

Cannot commit this sin.

Why?

Because the Spirit is already living in that person.

Therefore, as Jesus just said,

God cannot be divided against Himself.

On the flip side,

Let me caution us against labeling anyone as being guilty of the unforgivable sin.

Again, the reality is that all of our hearts,

One time or another,

Were hardened toward Christ.

Yet, God patiently pursued us.

Jesus knew the minds and the hearts of these Pharisees.

So, He knows all our hearts in ways that we do not.

Therefore, none of can make pronouncements regarding anyone’s spiritual condition in the way Christ does.

Who are we to say if anyone has all the ingredients of a hardened heart?

God has not given us the power to know a person’s heart.

But He has given us His Word to know Him.

And as we already discussed,

He is merciful and gracious.

So, instead of writing off others,

We pray,

And hope God will soften their hearts.

Slide

Because Jesus teaches in the following verses,

That the unforgivable sin is not a word problem or an action problem,

It is a heart problem.

Yes, blasphemy involves speaking.

But as Jesus teaches here,

Our words reveal our hearts.

So, the unforgivable sin is not ultimately about what is spoken,

It is about the heart.

A heart that rejects humble repentance will sound an awful lot like the Pharisees.

What we say and what we don’t say reflects what is in our hearts.

As Jesus says,

A good tree bears good fruit,

And a bad tree bears bad fruit.

The mouth will speak whatever lies within our hearts.

Slide

Jesus continues in vs. 36 that on the day of judgment,

We will give an account for every careless word we have spoken.

This means even our careless words,

Have an eternal importance.

Every word we speak that lacks attention, consideration, forethought, or thoroughness.

Words that we describe as little white lies,

Harmless gossip,

Or lighthearted insults,

All these words are condemned by God in the same breath with things like adultery and murder.

Therefore, Jesus says,

By our words,

We will be justified or condemned.

Not so much because of the words themselves,

But because our words reveal our hearts.

So, the most important words we can say,

That reveal the only hope for our hearts,

Slide

Come in Romans 10:9-10,

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

GOD - vs. 38-42 (Teach the text):

Slide

Romans is clear that Jesus is the Hope for Every Heart.

And Jesus teaches this same truth in vs. 38-42,

By warning about judgment.

Remember,

This back and forth between Jesus and the Pharisees began in response to a miraculous healing Jesus had done.

Yet, here in vs. 38,

The Pharisees and scribes have the audacity to petition for Jesus to show them a sign,

As if they have not seen enough miracles already!

They somehow wanting something else,

Something sensational!

But Jesus does not do miracles on demand.

So, He does not comply with their request.

Instead, He calls them out for being an evil and adulterous generation.

Referring to their spiritual state,

Exhibited by their rejection of Jesus.

So, He shows how He knows,

Not even His death and resurrection will convince their hardened hearts.

So, He tells them,

The only sign they will be given,

Is the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Jesus is making a parallel between Himself and Jonah.

Slide

Jonah was swallowed by a giant fish for three whole days!

Jonah was as good as dead.

Yet, after those three days,

He emerged from the fish alive.

So, Jesus says the Son of Man will be swallowed by the grave,

And lay in a tomb for three whole days.

Yet, after those three days,

He will emerge from the grave alive!

After Jonah emerged from the fish,

He went on to preach repentance to Nineveh.

And the Ninevites humbled their hearts and responded with repentance.

The Pharisees, however, hardened their hearts and responded to the Son of Man with rejection.

Jesus was predicting how even in the face of His resurrection,

This hardened rejection would continue.

And Acts shows how He predicted rightly.

But Jesus is still not done.

Slide

In vs. 42,

Similar to the Ninevites,

The queen of the south represents a pagan Gentile.

But she is also an actual reference to the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9.

She had come to visit Solomon,

And she saw his wealth,

But more importantly she saw how wise he was.

So, with a humbled heart,

She marveled that God would give such wisdom to a human.

Now here in Matthew,

Wisdom as a human is standing right in front of the Pharisees,

Teaching them the wisdom of God,

But with hardened hearts,

They reject Him.

So, Jesus’ point with the Ninevites and the queen of the South,

Is to point these Pharisees back to the history of their own people,

And show them how these pagan Gentiles heard and obeyed the words of Jonah and Solomon.

But now,

One Who is greater than Jonah and Solomon is here.

And He is the Hope for Every Heart.

YOU - vs. 43-50 (Response):

So, Jesus closes this passage with a precious teaching for Humble Hearts.

But to lead into it,

He gives a somewhat strange lesson about casting out demons.

So, to try and understand it,

Simply picture yourself,

Or your heart,

As a house.

Jesus is saying,

You don’t need an empty house that looks neat and put together on the outside.

Remember who He is talking to,

Super religious, works-based, legalistic Pharisees.

So, to rephrase His point a little more bluntly,

You don’t need to consume yourself with religious works that look good on the outside.

Jesus has been casting out evil spirits from afflicted people,

And the Pharisees,

The religious people,

Were telling those people not to trust Jesus.

Therefore, Jesus is drilling into the Pharisees the dangers of empty religiousness.

Because it is the religious people who not only harden their hearts toward Jesus,

But end up leading others away from Jesus.

So, Jesus is painting this picture for you:

You are trying to get your house in order by following God’s law,

Trying to clean it up with your rules and regulations and constitutions.

You are trying to pick up your broom of morality,

And sweep all the evil out of your heart,

All by your own strength.

But what happens when you do this?

Slide

Jesus teaches that your devotion to religion and morality and legalism will leave your hearts empty,

Cold,

And hardened.

And Jesus is warning you that you will be even more vulnerable than before.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking,

Those Pharisees,

They do sacrifices and purification rituals,

I am nothing like them!

Though it looks different today,

The heart of religiousness, legalism, and morality is just as alive today.

You think that living a moral life will clean you up and put your life in order.

But Jesus says,

Not so!

That will leave you empty,

Feed into a prideful self-righteousness,

Move you even further away from God,

And harden your heart.

To put it bluntly,

Jesus warns that relying on your morals will damn you to hell.

Because what inevitable happens,

Is legalism slowly and subtly gets progressively worse year after year.

The more you convince yourself that your morals will get your life in order,

The harder and harder you try.

“I can more!”

You think.

But this approach is a recipe for hopeless living and eventual condemnation.

So, Jesus is clear.

Legalism is demonic.

We need something other than legalism!

That something,

Jesus says,

Is the Holy Spirit!

If you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart,

Then there is no vacancy for the demon of legalism!

No vacancy?

No worries!

No Holy Spirit?

Well, then you are wide open for all kinds of evil.

But I am sure they will appreciate you sweeping the house clean,

And putting it in order for them to settle down in.

But if you are a member of Christ’s body,

Slide

Romans 8:9 is a great comfort here.

Because Paul says,

Romans 8:9 ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

No amount of legalism, morality, or religiousness will prepare your heart for Jesus.

Only the Holy Spirit humbles your heart.

If you commit yourself to your own moral efforts,

Your heart will harden,

And your final state will be worse than when you started.

Slide

But if your heart is humbled toward Christ,

Then you get a precious relationship with Christ.

Beginning in vs. 46,

He reveals how His members are His family!

The Bible clearly presents Jesus as fully God.

But it also clearly presents Him as fully human.

So, it is only by His death and resurrection,

That sinful human beings like us,

Get to become a part of His family!

This intimate familial relationship with Jesus does not happen by legalism, morality, or religiousness.

It is compelled by an inner transformation.

The family of Jesus is transcends physical family lines.

Here, we see,

His biological family members want to speak to Him,

But Jesus points to His disciples,

His members,

And says His family are the people who do God’s will.

Make no mistake,

He is not saying that only those who perfectly obey God’s law are His family.

God’s will is that all would humble their hearts,

Trust in Jesus,

Repent,

And be saved!

When we do,

Then we are adopted into Christ’s family.

A family united around the gospel!

With God as our Father,

And the Son as our brother.

Like a perfect older brother,

Hebrews 4:15 says that He is like us in every way,

Yet, without sin!

WE (Paint a picture of the future):

Christ alone is righteous!

Christ alone perfectly obeyed God’s law.

Christ alone has the power to bind up Satan.

Christ alone overcomes sin by His life, death, and resurrection.

Trusting in this good news,

Is the basis upon which we are adopted into His family.

Only Jesus makes it possible for us to be called sons and daughters of God.

So, when we humble our hearts,

Turn away from sin and self and legalism and moralism and religiousness,

And instead, simply trust in Jesus,

We are adopted into God’s family by the power of His Spirit.

This relationship is what brings about the inner transformation we need.

So, Jesus invites us all to this relationship.

He invites us all to humble our hearts.

There are a variety of people in this passage that we can relate to,

And Jesus invites us all!

If you have worked hard to try and make yourself righteous,

Rest in the One Who is righteous for you.

If you are bruised or broken,

If you feel like damaged goods,

As the demon-possessed man at the start of our passage,

Humble yourself before the One Who brings hope to the hurting,

Ask Him to heal you.

If you are struggling under the weight of your sin,

Fearing that what you have done is unforgivable,

Come to the One Who is stronger than the enemy,

To the One Who is even stronger than death!

If you want wisdom,

Come to the One Who is Wisdom.

And if you simply long to be loved,

Come to the One Who invites you to be adopted into the family of God.

He is inviting you to Himself.

He is inviting you to humble your heart.

This the the Heart of His members.

The only question is,

Will you humble your heart toward Jesus?

Or will you harden your heart toward Him?

Pray.