Sermon Tone Analysis

Words are powerful things.

That is because they represent concepts.

And kingdoms are often built on concepts.

Our nation began with a concept of “no taxation without representation.”

That concept led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence in which these words were immortalized:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Just as words can be used to promote a positive concept or positive actions, so words can also be used to harm and even destroy.

James, our Lord’s half-brother wrote of this:

For lack of a better title I am calling today’s message OF WORDS AND KINGDOMS.

Please take your Bible and turn with me to .

This morning we continue on with our sermon series that is titled THE RISING TIDE OF TENSION.

During the period of ministry in which these events took place in the life of Christ we have noted that He was questioned by the disciples of John the Baptist as to His true identity.

This led Jesus to speak about John and his place in redemptive history.

Then our Lord denounced the places in Galilee in which most of His works of miracles and His teaching had taken place.

Though they had seen and heard Jesus, ultimately most had rejected Him.

After this rebuke from Christ, tensions began to increase exponentially.

Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at the allegations that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath regulations.

They were indeed breaking the man-made regulations regarding the Sabbath, but they were not breaking God’s regulations.

Please take your Bible and turn with me to .

This morning we continue on with our sermon series that is titled THE RISING TIDE OF TENSION.

During the period of ministry in which these events took place in the life of Christ we have noted that He was questioned by the disciples of John the Baptist as to His true identity.

This led Jesus to speak about John and his place in redemptive history.

Then our Lord denounced the places in Galilee in which most of His works of miracles and His teaching had taken place.

Though they had seen and heard Jesus, ultimately most had rejected Him.

After this rebuke from Christ, tensions began to increase exponentially.

Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at the allegations that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath regulations.

They were indeed breaking the man-made regulations regarding the Sabbath, but they were not breaking God’s regulations.

As we continue on with our study today we will look at the climax of the series of confrontations that are found in .

As we do so we will look at the setting, the two kingdoms, the unpardonable sin, and careless words.

THE SETTING —

Let’s look briefly at the setting.

At some point after the last confrontation ( we are not told how close in time these events were) someone brought a friend to Jesus.

May I stop for a moment and bask in the idea of someone bringing another to Christ?

Oh, that we would care so much for those who are spiritually sick that we would bring them to Christ for healing.

This particular man was demon possessed.

While the text doesn’t state this specifically, it is almost certain that it was the demon who possessed this man that caused him to become blind and mute.

Jesus healed the man, presumably by driving out the demon.

This caused the onlookers to become amazed.

In their amazement they asked, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

Some see in this statement a lack of faith in Jesus as their Messiah.

But I see it as more of a growing intrigue that Jesus may in fact be their long awaited Messiah.

Regardless how the crowds perceived Jesus, the Pharisees made a shocking, careless statement: “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of demons.”

Beelzebul is a nickname, if you will, for Satan.

In a sense these men were claiming that Jesus practiced some form of sorcery or black magic.

That certainly was not unheard of at that time.

We know from that there was a man named Simon Magnus who practiced some form of sorcery which amazed the people.

He even tried to convince the Samaritans that he was the Messiah.

Though Simon was perhaps empowered by a demon, Jesus was the real deal.

In answer to this accusation Jesus launched into a diatribe against these Pharisees in which He refuted the Pharisees notion that He was empowered by the devil.

Let’s look at the first part of this diatribe as we consider the two kingdoms.

TWO KINGDOMS —

The first thing that I want you to see here is that Jesus’ deity comes shining through in as Matthew informs us that knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them … Being God in the flesh Jesus knew what these Pharisees were thinking.

So how did Jesus respond?

He responded by quoting Abraham Lincoln!

Actually Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus’ remarks in this passage.

In 1858 in a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave while he was running against Stephen Douglas for the Senate seat from Illinois he quoted Jesus’ remarks, found in regarding a city or a house divided against itself is laid waste.

Of course he was referring to the division in our country between States which allowed for slave ownership and those States that had outlawed slavery.

Truly any kingdom that is divided against itself cannot endure.

With the division that exists in our government today I truly do fear that our house will fall.

But Jesus was not talking about politics.

He was referring to spiritual kingdoms.

In the spiritual realm there are truly only two kingdoms.

There is the kingdom that is of this world.

This kingdom is presently ruled by Satan, who is described as the ruler of this world, or the prince of the power of the air.

All who do not belong to Jesus are citizens of this evil kingdom.

The second kingdom is that which belongs to Christ.

I love the reference to this kingdom which is found in:

Presently this kingdom is found in the hearts of those who are believers in Jesus Christ — that is the true, universal church.

But there is coming a day when Jesus will return to establish His earthly kingdom — the one in which He will rule with a rod of iron.

What a day that will be!

The Pharisees had made an absurd charge that Satan was casting out Satan.

It is an illogical and fallible argument.

It just doesn’t make sense.

It was a statement that was carelessly made without thinking about the ramifications of what was being said.

Notice the arguments that Jesus made in .

If Satan’s house it divided then it will not stand!

Your own exorcists will be your judge!

The kingdom of God has come upon you — that kingdom which opposes Satan!

I (Jesus) have been restraining Satan!

You are either with Me or against Me — there is no in between!

There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus Christ.

Either we cling to Him in faith, or else we are His enemies.

The good news is that even when were His enemies, we were reconciled to God through Christ.

Before we came to Christ (or if you have not yet come to Christ) we were all His hostile enemies.

I love the way Paul referred to the two kingdoms during his opening comments in his letter to the

Let’s turn our attention now to what is often called the unpardonable sin.

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN —

D.A. Carson defines blasphemy as extreme slander — to speak out against some one with strong intentions.

In the early years of our nation a man named Aaron Burr ran for president against John Adams.

He lost the election in part because Alexander Hamilton campaigned against him.

Blaming Hamilton for his losing the election, Burr charged the statesmen with slander, and challenged him to a duel.

Burr won the duel and Hamilton got his picture on the $10 bill!

There are many theories as to what the unpardonable sin really is.

Some teach that this sin could only have been committed during the time that Jesus was on earth.

Others teach that it is the sin of unbelief (that is what I was taught).

However that does not seem to hold water since at one time even believers were guilty of the sin of unbelief.

Some teach that the unpardonable sin is something that can only be committed by true believers, and therefore it is a reference to a rare instance in which genuine believers can lose their salvation.

Wayne Grudem, in his book title Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994, Grand Rapids, MI, pg.

508-509)gives this helpful statement:

Jesus is speaking about a sin that is not simply unbelief or rejection of Christ, but one that includes (1) a clear knowledge of who Christ is and of the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him, (2) a willful rejection of the facts about Christ that His opponents knew to be true, and (3) slanderously attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ to the power of Satan.