Matthew 12:22-37 - Unforgivable

Pastoral Prayer

Pray for Fathers - Thank God for good men

Physical and Spiritual

Introduction

Turn in your bibles to Matthew 12:22

We are continuing our studies in Matthew’s Gospel account and we have come to one of the more difficult passages to interpret (and let’s be honest, there have been some tough ones!).

This particular section of Matthew 11-13 has been focused on the different reactions people have to JEsus and the response Jesus gives. We’re now in a large section that focuses on the Pharisees.

Matthew 12:22–37 ESV

22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 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. 33 “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. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I. Jesus Heals a Demoniac (12:22–23)

A. The healing and exorcism (v. 22)

B. The people wonder whether Jesus is the Promised Son of David (v. 23)

II. The Pharisees accuse and Jesus responds (12:24–30)

A. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being in league with the prince of demons, Beelzebul (or Satan) (v. 24)

1. “If Jesus controls demons, he must be their commander.”

B. Jesus’ response (vv. 25–30)

1. Two Arguments as to why the accusation is inherently false

a. It is illogical. (25-26)

i. Why would Satan want his own minions cast out?

ii. That would be like casting himself out and that would be unimaginably counter-productive

iii. “A Kingdom divided against itself will fall.”

b. It is inconsistent. (27)

i. Why criticize Jesus, but not their own followers (“sons”) who cast out demons?

ii. What hypocrisy!

2. Three Undeniable Conclusions(vv. 28-30)

a. If this is not from Satan, then, it must be from God. (28)

b. The one stronger than Satan is here (29)

Jesus has come to plunder the “strong man!”

Every healing, every exorcism, every resurrection, and every sin forgiven is Jesus taking back treasure from the wicked one!

The one who can bind the strong man is here!

Matthew 12:29 ESV

29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

c. Neutrality toward Jesus is impossible (30)

Matthew 12:30 ESV

30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

III. The Unforgivable Sin (12:31–32)

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

1 John 5:16 ESV

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

A. One of the most misinterpreted and misapplied verses of the whole Bible

1. It is something that has caused anxiety in many peoples’ lives, including mine

a. What if I committed the unforgivable sin?

b. Have I somehow made myself go outside the ability to be saved?

2. We must start by remembering how God has revealed himself throughout the Old and New Testaments

a. We know that all through the Scriptures we see God’s promises of forgiveness for all sorts of sins

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

1. This is the God who forgave Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and the nation of Israel, King David and countless others throughout the Old Testament and they certainly had some doozies of sins!

2. This is the God who forgave heinous sins by Israel

3. This is also the God who forgave a traitorous tax collector in Matthew, other sinners, and even an anti-Christian terrorist in Paul.

4. God’s willingness to forgive cannot possibly be in question here

b. So then we should also look at the immediate context of this passage

1. Jesus is speaking to Pharisees who are standing completely opposed to him

2. They accuse Jesus of not working in the power and authority of God, but through the power of Satan

3. This is why Jesus uses the term blasphemy here instead of sin

i. to blaspheme is to speak against or to slander

ii. Jesus is warning them that they are coming dangerously close to straying past forgiveness because of their accusations.

4. Jesus gives two aspects to consider here

B. Two blasphemies (31-32)

1. Blasphemy against the Son is forgivable, and the way to forgiveness is repentance

2. Blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable, because the way to forgiveness is rejected.

i. Persistent Rebellion, willful disbelief

Permanent refutation leads to permanent condemnation

Quote from 164

C. Two Truths

1. We must not label anyone as guilty of committing the unforgivable sin

2. The unforgivable sin is primarily about the position of the heart, not the lips

IV. Our lips reveal our hearts (33–37)

Matthew 12:33–37 ESV

33 “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. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

A. Faith results in good works and good words

1. Jesus tells them, “A tree is known by its fruit. If the tree is good the fruit will be good. If it is bad then the fruit will be bad. (33)

a. “How can you claim to be of the good tree, the family of Abraham when your fruit is evil?”

2. Jesus then flips their accusation back at them. “You brood of vipers!” (34)

a. Brood means offspring, a viper is a snake

b. What is Satan often depicted as because of the form he took in the Garden of Eden? A snake.

c. They are not the children of Abraham as they claim, but rather the fruit is showing that they are actually the children of Satan!

i. They are the ones who are in league with Beelzebul!

d. Their words are revealing the condition of their hearts, no matter how hard they try to hide it!

3. The treasure we have hidden away is the only thing we have to bring out when we are upset! (35)

a. Is what you bring forth a good treasure or an evil treasure?

4. And Jesus ends with perhaps the most terrifying verse of this entire passage (36-37)

Matthew 12:36–37 ESV

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

a. People will give an account for every careless word they speak.

1. Upon our death, when we are standing before our Creator and God, we must give an account

i. For every false accusation we have made toward someone else

ii. For every time we have “vented” and ranted in a sinful way about someone

iii. For every time we have sought out to complain to someone about someone else’s actions instead of seeking restoration to the relationship, whether that is with people we barely know or with our family and friends

iv. For every time we gossiped instead of addressing rumors and frustrations directly

v. For every careless word about our God and his purposes

vi. For every time we have claimed to know the will of God without even knowing his word

2. We must give an account because God knows all of it.

3. I think we forget the weight of this pretty much all the time!

i. We don’t tremble when we get careless with our words!

ii. In fact, we tend to get smug in our feeling of self-vindication, completely forgetting that it is God who will vindicate us if we truly deserve it and our careless smug words are proof that we need to be forgiven just as much as the person we’re complaining about!

b. We must justify our words at the end of our lives and if we’re being honest, we say a lot of things that have no justification.

1. When we look at Christ and look at our careless words, we have no acceptable justification for our speech.

2.

Conclusion

1. This passage warns us to not assume that just because someone is a religious leader that they are worth following.

a. Countless pastors have fallen to sin (and were deep in their sin while they were beginning their ministries

From lying about their credentials, to being sexual predators, to being arrogant in their teaching and leadership.

I mean, just this week we had reports on Tony Evans confessing to moral failure and Robert Morris confessing to illegal actions.

In the past decade we have had dozens of churches close their doors because of arrogant and bullying leadership.

And these are just the massive mega churches with popular pastors

There are countless more who are average small churches who have gone unnoticed because they don’t draw attention the same way.

Is it any wonder why people are leaving the church and are unwilling to just trust us anymore?

This is one of the massive reasons why it is so important to look at the biblical qualifications for leadership in the church. Talent is not enough.

2. Speech and Action

This passage also warns us that what we say shows the kind of person we are.

Jesus shows how the mouth reflects who the true person is within us. James 1:19 states this well: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

In other words, “watch your mouth,”

Because the tongue is a small spark that sets a great forest ablaze.

We must weigh our words carefully, avoid rudeness, and make certain that we edify rather than tear down others.

Now James is primarily talking about slander

but gossip is just passive slander and is actually worse

because slander at least is honest about wanting to hurt another person.

Gossip doesn’t care enough to worry who is hurt but instead turns slander into entertainment!

Matthew (6. Answering to God for Every Careless Word)

There is much in the NT on the sin of the tongue, beginning with the major section of Jas 3:1–4:12 and including Eph 4:29; 5:4; Col 3:8. The basic principle is that We must weigh our words carefully and make sure they help others rather than tear them down, that they glorify God rather than self, and that they have worth rather than being worthless.

This passage makes it clear that we will answer to God for every careless word

But this passage does not only warn us, it also offers us great hope!

3. Comfort in Christ

We all have deep regrets that eat away at us and make us feel unforgivable

Maybe you were a less than stellar parent, and your children, whether warranted or not, hold some bitterness and resentment toward you

Maybe you look on a day like Father’s Day and you regret the lack of relationship you had with your father, no matter whose fault that is.

Maybe you have been arrogant and a jerk to the people who mean the most to you

Maybe you have stepped into the role of creator and tried to change some fundamental parts of you that you have no authority to change

Maybe you are realizing you have a long history of careless words and actions.

Or maybe someone else has done something to you and you believe they could be past forgiveness.

The idea that we or anyone else has done something unforgivable and so must turn away from God is terribly untrue and it is a lie from the pit of hell designed to pull you away from God

Jesus will even forgive those who deny him, I mean just look at Peter.

The only unforgivable sin is looking at the things of God and ultimately deciding that it is wickedness, and rejecting it for all of your life, thereby rejecting the one avenue through which you may find restoration.

God wants restoration, not separation.

If there is even a sliver of desire to be right with God in your soul, then you are not unforgivable.

And how sweet that is!

Each of us have so much that we need to be forgiven of, and Jesus invites us to find forgiveness in him! We can turn to him, trusting in his perfect life and his substitutionary suffering and death on the cross, knowing that he was raised to life again and is now sitting in heaven interceding on our behalf!

It is through Jesus and him alone that we can be restored to the Father!

And the only thing that will keep us from this glorious gift is our own arrogance in denying his gift of life!

You are not unforgivable, you can even yet know true restoration!

And this is possible because

4. Jesus conquers satan!

The strong man is bound and Jesus is plundering his house!

He is calling his sheep home to himself and if you’re here this morning, Jesus is calling out to you as well!

Time of Confession and response

Scriptural Assurance

Isaiah 55:6–7 (ESV)

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

7 let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.