Jesus is The Stronger Man

Full Sermon text is Matthew 12:22-32

Matthew 12:31-32 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.

So, every sin can be forgiven accept this one then? It’s true. And we have Christians and some unbelievers trying to figure out if they have committed it.

Is it adultery? Sexual sins? Murder? Abortion? And these are among the worst, and the Bible does not downplay any of these…but if we just read through Scripture we see people who have committed these sins, and upon coming to Christ with faith…they are changed and forgiven.

Even consider those who murdered Jesus…what did He say from the cross? Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.

The woman at the well, and the woman caught in adultery by the Jewish leaders…Jesus forgives them, and frees them from their sin because they believe.

King David was both a murderer and an adulterer at one point in his life, and yet God saved Him and forgave him, for he trusted in Messiah to come.

SO I want to begin by just saying how good it is to know that the greatest sinners among us, with the deepest pasts, and deepest offenses against others and against the holiness of God, leaving us ashamed and sorrowful, when placed under the blood of Christ by faith are fully forgiven, made new, adopted into His family forever.

That’s a Christian. And Christians are not the people Jesus is warning about this very unique sin, the blasphemy of the holy spirit.

John MacArthur says it well when commenting on this passage... that this teaching should comfort the fearful, and bring fear to the comfortable.

I agree with this.

And may the Lord do that here today.

If you’ve gotten comfortable, or if you don’t care any more, you need to hear that there is an eternity in which a person is either comforted in presence of the Lord, or tormented in outer darkness. You need to be reminded that a profession of faith never saved a single person.

Salvation is both profession, and faith. Paul says it’s confessing his name, and believing IN YOUR HEART, in order to be saved. Faith alone. Not the right words. Not the right prayer. Not the right church. Not the right family. Faith in Jesus Christ- it is trust in Him alone - PLUS NOTHING and no one else. Apart from this, the comfort or assurance a person feels is false and will fade. You need Christ, and you need to heed these words because no all will be forgiven.

But on the other side of that coin there are genuine Christians who are fearful about their future, and feel as though they are hanging by a thread, barely saved, barely loved, and at the slightest sign of failure in their life wonder if they’ve walked into this realm of the unforgivable....well, if that’s you, and you fear such a thing because you so much want to be with Christ and please him, then let me say emphatically, you have not commited the sin that Jesus is speaking of in this passage, and you, the fearful, should be comforted.

Let me say a few things about this unforgivable sin to help you understand its nature from the context of the passage.

A blasphemy is a sin of the speech.

Notice v32… speaking a word against the Son or the Father will be and can be forgiven through Christ, but speaking against the Holy Spirit in a particular way will not be forgiven. But blasphemy itself is a sin of speech. HOW serious it is what we choose to let come out of our mouths, that a blasphemy can be so detrimental to our souls.

2. Jesus speaking to the Pharisees because of something that they SAID and believed in their heart.

The reason Jesus is addressing this is because the Pharisees must have been getting very close to the territory Jesus is warning them about.

Let’s look at the context again in v22 to 25… 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,

Now, what did they say?

In response to Jesus casting a demon out of a man, and restoring his blindness and muteness, there was amazement on everyone…this could not be denied.

From that amazement, not everyone landed on the same conclusion. Some attributed the miracle to the work of the Messiah - The “Son of David”. The Pharisees quickly jump on the opportunity, and out of Jealousy and pride, they accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan, saying that by the prince of demon, or Beelzebub, He casts out demons.

We know this is not just a mistake on their part. They’re not confused, and Jesus does not misunderstand them…see the detail in v25

“Knowing their thoughts he said to them.”

These words come from the deep dark well of their Pharisaical hearts, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…which is why next week when we look at v33 - 37, Jesus addresses this very thing… “On the day of judgement people will give account for every careless word they speak.”

1. So it’s a sin of the speech, or a sin of the confession of the mouth that is motivated by what the heart believes. 2. He’s speaking to the pharisees because they confessed out of their mouth and believed in their hearts that his good power over darkness was actually that of evil.

And one final detail...

3. The unpardonable sin is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said in v32. that words spoken against the Son of Man himself will be forgiven, but not against the Spirit.

Blasphemy against the Spirit is a kind of sin and hatred against Christ that is not just an insult or misunderstanding, or out of ignorance, but a purposeful, premeditated, and permanent rejection of Christ that denies the Spirit of grace that is at work in the world, and the only power and person to draw men to the Son for salvation.

They were witnessing God’s power on earth before their eyes... manifested through the Son in that exorcism and healing. Seeing the power of God before them, they denied it vehemently, and attributed it to evil, and this is what causes Jesus to give this warning, and thank God he does.

If I were to offer a couple concluding thoughts on just this subject before moving on, I’d say this to you.

If you’re afraid you’ve committed the unforgivable sin, consider whether the Pharisee’s who heard Jesus give this warning show any sign of concern like many genuine believers do today.

A Christian cannot and will not commit this sin, because to be a Christian is to be regenerated by the Spirit of God, given faith as a gift, and through that faith be fully justified and forgiven in the eyes of God. Brothers and sisters, be comforted in that truth today and rest in the Gospel of salvation.

For the few who may be rejecting Christ, and playing the antagonist like these pharisees, whether by word or in thought - Jesus knows your thoughts. Repent of your sins and believe the truth of this message today about who Jesus truly is. Be warned that there is a category of rejecting Christ that goes beyond forgiveness.

He draws a perfectly clear line in v30. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

You might be able to convince yourself and a few others that there’s a middle ground between the world and Jesus, or Apathy and faithfulness, but Jesus knows that there is truly no middle ground. H

Ok, so let’s back up a bit and look at what I believe is actually the main point of this text...

I just want you to notice the clarity and logic Jesus uses to respond to the notion that He is casting out demons by the power of Satan. Which by the way, is a lie that continued to spread in early Judaism, that Jesus was only a sorcerer and a magician. Can that be true? Listen to this again...

v25 “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? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

So we have a house and a kingdom mentioned here. The house of Satan are all those in league with him, those working for Him…that’s his house, and a house is a unified unit (at least it should be). And Satan’s kingdom and rule has a purpose and a mission. Satan rules over the demonic, and has that authority to carry out his mission. And what is that purpose and mission? From the very beginning we can see that the mission of Satan is to oppose God, and God’s good Word, to be worshipped as god, and to draw humanity away from the goodness of God through deception and lie, bringing as many as he can into his lie to think as he thinks.

The Jews of that time had a name for him that was derived from a few different OT passages, but you’ll find it first in 2 Kings Chapter 1. Beelzebub. It literally means God of Flies. He was a false God with a temple set up in the Philistine city of Ekron - worshipped for his supposed ability to protect them from swarms of flies that plagued them. The study and implications of this name certainly goes much deeper than this, but we don’t have the time to get there. The Jews altered the title later to “Lord of Dung” out of their disdain for Baalzebub and the idolatry represented…but without a doubt they were speaking of Satan, the prince of demons, and clearly that’s how Jesus interprets it.

The logic is air tight.

Jesus could not have been casting demons out by the power of Satan, because the kingdom of Satan is not divided, but united in one cause…destroy any chance of a sinner coming to the knowledge of Christ.

Then he turns it back on them… “by whom do your sons cast them out?” Many of these rabbis had students and disciples who were itinerant exorcists, and apparently it worked sometimes by God’s mercy. So then if it’s only possible to cast out demons by satanic power, they just selected their own judge and jury, and found themselves guilty of their own accusations.

And here is what I believe is the very center of this teaching, and the reason Jesus allowed all of this to take place the way it did.

Notice v28.

But if…IF But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

There’s only one logical conclusion as to why Jesus is casting out devils, without tricks and gimmicks, why he’s healing diseases, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead…and it’s because there’s another Kingdom that has come to this earth, and this Kingdom has a King, and he has been anointed with the Spirit of God, and He is in fact God in human flesh come to cast down the works of darkness.

1 John 3:8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Look at v29.  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.

How can Jesus cast our demons?

By being stronger

The man who was blind and mute was in the possession of Satan…his soul and his life were the goods. That demon was a strong man....much stronger then that man or any of us. You cannot in your own strength overcome sin and satan and break yourself free. That strong man will remain in the house tearing up and destroying that life.... until, and only until Jesus, the stronger man, comes into the house of the over which the enemy is influencing and binds him up, can that person be free.

All over this world men and women and youth whether through possession, oppression, or deception are being used as the utensils, and goods, and tools of the devil to do his work - but Jesus is the Creator, and you and I were not created to be used by Satan, but by God!

Oh, how it needs to be the desire of the church that the world comes to know this…that Jesus is the stronger man.

Stronger than any power or experience you seek. Stronger than the Devil himself…and though Satan has some time still…and is a great threat…and the Word tells us to not be ignorant of his devices, brothers and sisters - if this was the work of the Kingdom upon this world before the cross and resurrection, what is the state of Satan’s kingdom now and how are we, the Church, to think about this?

And let me tell you, it is not with timidity that we are to live in this world. Jesus Christ is the stronger man in this story, and though many will hear this proclamation, see the miracle of redemption, and mock, and stumble over the cornerstone saying your message is inspired from evil, just as they did to Christ, the Spirit of God is at work plundering households currently occupied by the Devil. He is plundering goods, and you were those goods, and all of you who are in Christ are testimonies of this mercy!

Let us not be a household divided, but a Kingdom of missionaries and ambassadors telling of this King and Kingdom that has come into this world.

Pray...

Comfort

Disturb

Thank you for forgiving the worst of sinners

Let the fruit of hearts never cause blasphemy to leave our lips.

Thank you for coming to destroy the works of the devil!