"This Evil Generation" Matthew 12c Aug 4 2024
God With Us - Discovering the Gospel of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro and Scripture
Intro and Scripture
Good morning
Today, we’re going to look at how Jesus spoke to the Pharisees
We’re still in Matthew 12
It’s a long chapter and I don’t want to skip over large portions
We’ll be looking at verses 33-45
This last part is divided into three parts
A Tree is Known by Its Fruit The Sign of Jonah Return of an Unclean Spirit
To begin with, let’s look at the first section, A Tree is Known by its Fruit
Keep in mind, Jesus is still talking directly to the Pharisees after they uttered blasphemies
“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. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 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.”
(Pray…)
A Tree is Known by its Fruit
A Tree is Known by its Fruit
Let me ask this - why did Jesus spend so much time in conflict with the Pharisees?
When we talk about the Pharisees, we understand that they were the at the height of religious legalism
They were all about the Mosaic law and they thought that they were the true law followers
They even added their own rules to the law that God gave to his people
We talked about this before - they added their own 39 rules about the Sabbath
That didn’t come from God
They came from the Pharisees
The Pharisees thought that if they could be perfect in following the Mosaic law, then they would be in good favor with God
They took following the law to the extreme - to the point that they were self-righteous and arrogant about it
But why does the Bible outline the conflict so much between Jesus and the Pharisees?
Think about this - who is the biggest enemy against the Church today?
The world
The media, and secular society
Those who trust science, instead of trusting Jesus
Back then, it was different
In Jesus’ time, you didn’t have atheists so much like we do
You didn’t have secular, scientifically oriented atheists and agnostics
In fact, the Gentile pagans, by and large, worshipped various idols
Rome back then, encouraged its people to worship pagan gods
Back then, politics and religion were intertwined
Rome tolerated the Jews
And the Pharisees kept in line with Rome - and they thought that they were impressing God with their legalism
They thought that by following a set of rules that they were pleasing to God
The more they sacrificed and the more they walked the thin line of obedience, the more they thought they were close to God
They had all of their own ideas of how to obey the Sabbath
But they ignored what God really wanted
That’s why earlier in Matt 12 Jesus quoted Hosea:
“I (meaning God)…I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
Please don’t think that the God of the OT was about following the law
But the NT God is about grace and compassion
God has always been about grace, and compassion, and mercy
He is the one who delivered Israel - and chased after them - even when they were unfaithful
The Pharisees, on the other hand, thought Jesus and his disciples were breaking the Sabbath by walking through a grainfield and helping themselves to some grain
In their minds, Jesus broke the Sabbath by healing a man’s withered hand
Jesus was informing them that’s it’s okay to do good on the Sabbath
It’s okay to show love and mercy on the Sabbath
They were so strict in following the Law that they missed the whole point
They said that Jesus was operating on the authority of the “prince of demons”
One of the overarching themes in the Bible is Covenant
This theme is about God who keeps his covenant with his people
God established this when he promised that Jesus would come - back in Gen 3
Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””
God promised that Jesus would come and destroy the devil back in Genesis
Here’s how Jesus bruised the head of the devil -
He died on cross - nailing our sins on that cross - and then he rose from the dead - so that we now walk in newness of life - so says Paul in Romans 6
Paul said that we were “baptized into his death” - and that our “old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Rom 6:6
The devil’s hold on us vanquished on the cross - and someday soon the devil and all evil will be vanquished when Christ returns
The overarching theme in the Bible is that we are unfaithful, but God is faithful
The Pharisees missed this by thinking they could be the faithful ones
They thought that through legalism - they could overcome the devil
“Just do a bunch of things for God and you’ll become righteous,” that was their campaign for the Jews
They missed it completely
Only God is righteous
I say that because of what God said our righteousness is like
Remember, in Isaiah? [64]
God said that our righteousness is like filthy rags
“No God, let us show you how good our righteousness is. Just watch how good we are at following the law.”
All the law did was to reveal our sinfulness
In Rom 7 Paul says that the commandment, “You shall not covet...produced in me all kinds of covetousness”
Paul said that apart from the law, he was alive. But when the commandment came, “sin came alive and I died.”
Christianity is not about good people learning to be more righteous
Christianity is about a righteous God who took dead people and made them alive
The only righteousness we have comes from Jesus
He took our sins and gave us his righteousness
Through him, we have a new covenant
A covenant of grace
Based on the shed blood of Jesus
That’s why we have communion - we are celebrating our new covenant with Jesus
It wasn’t the world that went up against Jesus - it was the Pharisees
That’s why they’re mentioned so much in the Gospels when Jesus walked the Earth
But the Church today goes up against the world
So I used to think that the Pharisees were nothing like the world today
But now I realize there are a lot of similarities
What were the Pharisees basically saying?
“We don’t need Jesus because of our righteousness.”
And what does the world say today?
“I’m basically a good person - why do I need Jesus?”
All atheists that I know think they’re good people
Many of them are good people
But, we live in a society that provides relative comfort, modern medical treatments, jet plane travel, the Internet, etc.
If someone wrongs you - don’t work it out with them, sue them
If you owe the IRS, hire an attorney
And everything we need is all contained in our modern cell phones
Our cars have leather, and tinted windows, and AC, and surround sound, and all the amenities of a nice hotel room
Some have refrigerators
If I think I’m basically a good person, and I have all the good stuff in life, why should I think I need Jesus?
So, I just read the first section - A Tree is Known by its Fruit
Last week, we just looked at Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit because of what the Pharisees said to Jesus
And Jesus responds to them
He calls out the Pharisees because they can’t say anything good because they are evil
Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
This section is about the heart - good treasure comes from good people - evil treasure comes from evil people
Jesus is saying all of this about the ones who were so-called experts in the law
And he makes the point that they will be judged and condemned by careless words
Not merely because of the words - but because of the heart
The Sign of Jonah
The Sign of Jonah
Let’s look at the next section - The Sign of Jonah
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Jesus calls them an “evil and adulterous generation”
Then, in verse 45, he calls them, “this evil generation”
In fact, Jesus uses the word “evil” seven times in this chapter
The Pharisees want a sign from Jesus - the world seems to always want some sign
If only they can just see a sign, then they’ll believe
The problem is that the Pharisees already saw the signs of Jesus because he was healing everyone!
The world claims that they will believe if they just saw a sign
But for one, they’re ignoring the sign of God’s marvelous creation
Which they call “evolution”
It’s all an effort to make fun of Christianity and to justify themselves why they don’t think they need Jesus
Jesus answers the Pharisees by saying they will witness the sign of Jonah
In other words, just like Jonah was in the belly of a fish - the Son of Man will be in the earth three days
Then he makes a reference to Nineveh - they repented at Jonah’s preaching - and they will be present at the day of judgment to condemn that generation
If you can’t believe in the preaching of the Bible, then a sign won’t work on you
Return of an Unclean Spirit
Return of an Unclean Spirit
Next, is the last section for today
The Return of an Unclean Spirit
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
Jesus seems to be making his first point - that it’s illogical to say that he cast out demons by the prince of demons
Then he equates his generation with the evilness of those demons
Conclusion
Conclusion
Here is my grand summary of this chapter - you are either for Jesus, or you’re not
God is the keeper of promises, not us
God is the one who is faithful, not us
We are the ones who are in need of Jesus
But now, we are no longer enslaved to sin
We are set free from sin
Paul said we “must consider ourselves dead to sin”
We’re free from sin - our old life was crucified with Jesus - and our sin was brought to nothing
You either repent at some point and depend on Jesus, or you will depend on your good works, thinking you don’t need him
It’s all reflective of your heart
Nineveh was full of pagans - they were against Israel - but they repented and turned to God
Jesus put them in a higher position than these religious leaders because they did the will of the Lord
This passage demands that you decide where you stand :
Do you stand with Jesus?
Or with the world?
(Pray…)
Communion
Communion
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
