The Spirit of Jesus

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We’re in our series: God With Us - (Matthew)

The title of my sermon is The Spirit of Jesus

We are in the second half of Chapter 12

As we studied before - Matthew is very structured

Five “books” within this gospel

Matthew begins with a Preamble (chaps. 1-2) - and ends with an Epilogue (chaps. 26-28)

Each of the five books contain a lengthy discourse of Jesus

Book I - Discipleship

Book II - Apostleship

Book III - Hiding of the Revelation (chaps. 11-13)

Israel is in disarray / dealing with the Pharisees (11-12)

Discourse of Jesus: teaching in Parables (13)

Book IV - Church Administration

Book V - Judgment

Last week, we looked at two stories - Jesus’ first encounters with the Pharisees

Based on their warped / legalistic view of the Sabbath law

We will look at more interaction with the Pharisees

But last week’s stories:

The disciples plucking heads of grain to eat - on the Sabbath

Jesus healing a man’s hand in a synagogue on the Sabbath

We learned that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath

And that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath

The Sabbath law was given to us as an example from the Lord himself

He rested on the Seventh Day - and God’s people were to rest

The purpose of the Sabbath was given as a picture of us resting in Jesus

It was meant to illustrate God’s wonderful grace for us

That we don’t work for our salvation - our salvation has nothing to do with our works

That’s what it means to “rest in Jesus” - we rest in his work on the cross

We are saved by grace

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

This is what the Sabbath means to us - that we now rest in Jesus

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

We find rest from our religious works

Following after religion makes us heavy laden with labor

Religion is all about our works

We find rest from looking to the world for the answer in life

Following Jesus means to rest in his grace - it is not of our doing

Scripture Reading

Matthew 12, beginning in verse 13

English Standard Version Chapter 12

13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

God’s Chosen Servant

15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

18  “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

19  He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

20  a bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory;

(Pray…)

My ESV Bible divides the last half of Matthew 12 into six sections:

1.) God’s Chosen Servant - including a quote from Isaiah

2.) Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

3.) A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit

4.) The Sign of Jonah

5.) Return of an Unclean Spirit

6.) Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

And probably the most shocking , and most controversial part of this chapter: Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Verses 31-32 are the subject of many debates and speculation

The reason why is that Jesus told the Pharisees that there exists one sin which is unforgivable

And as Jesus put it, “either in this age or in the age to come”

Jesus seems to use plain language in this passage, but it’s still hard for us to grasp exactly what he meant

I think this is for obvious reasons: we don’t like to think that it’s possible that we, or anyone else, has the ability to commit a sin which God is either unwilling, or unable to forgive

Let me set the stage

This entire chapter contains intense interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees

After healing the man with the withered hand in the synagogue - the scriptures say in verse 14 that the Pharisees went out and “conspired against him, how to destroy him”

There is a lot of drama in this chapter

The very next verse: Jesus is aware of this and simply withdrew

But as the crowds followed him, the Bible says he healed them all and ordered the crowds to be quiet about it

And verses 18-21 quote Isaiah, as all of this was to fulfill prophesy

So Jesus is healing all of these people - and it mentions one person who Jesus healed:

A demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute

And after Jesus healed him, verse 24 says this

Matthew 12:24 ESV

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

First off - what an evil thing to say about the Lord Jesus Christ

But why do they say this after this man was healed?

It says that when Jesus withdrew, many people followed him - and he healed them all

But when it came to this one man - the one who was blind and mute -

The Pharisees say that horrible thing

But look at the reaction of the crowd in verse 23

Matthew 12:23 ESV

And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”

The Pharisees were jealous - but I think it was more than jealousy

To speculate that Jesus was the Son of David, was to say he was the Messiah

In their minds, that was blasphemy

Let me modernize this scene

How does the world react to the mention of Jesus?

In one sense, the world is okay when we talk about Jesus

We can talk about him - and pray to him - and go to church - as long as we keep it to ourselves

The moment you declare that Jesus is Lord - is when you’ve crossed the line according to the world

If Jesus is Lord - if he really is the Creator of the universe - and if he’s a personal God, then he is to be worshipped

And even the world knows to some extent - that means to repent and give up what they got going on

We’re back to repentance

Remember what Jesus preached?

He preached repentance

That’s really what this is about

If you accept that Jesus is truly Lord - then that means you need to change your ways

If you admit that Jesus is Lord, but you don’t repent - then he’s not your Lord - because you’re fine with what you got going on in your life

See how this works?

The world allows us to have our own “Jesus time” - we can go to church - and have our beliefs

But when we preach that Jesus is Lord of all - the world hates us - not because of us, but because of him

The people were watching Jesus and began to speculate:

Maybe Jesus is the Messiah

Maybe Jesus really is Lord

And the Pharisees weren’t having it

And the Pharisees declared that he was the devil!

But Jesus first called them out on their faulty logic

A kingdom divided doesn’t really make sense

Jesus drove out the demons from this man - but the Pharisees were claiming he did this under the authority of the “prince of demons”

Jesus is saying, “If I am the prince of demons - then why in the world would I heal a man and cast demons out?”

Then Jesus made his second point - verse 31 starts with the word, “therefore”

It means that Jesus is about to make his main point:

Every sin of blasphemy can be forgiven - even against the Son of Man

But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven - not in this age, or in the age to come

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - means to say something against the Spirit

What is the role of the Spirit? Concerning the world: conviction. To blasphemy against him, means to shun that conviction and to not repent

Repenting and agreeing with God means to say something

Romans 10:9 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.

You’re really confessing that Jesus is your Lord

Romans 10:9 has everything:

He’s now your Lord - which assumes you’ve repented of your worldly gods and idols

And if you believe God raised Jesus from the dead - it means you believe everything about Jesus

You believe in his death on the cross - you believe in the resurrection - and you believe in his life

Whenever I do a baptism, I always have them confess “Jesus is Lord” - and I ask if they believe that God raised him from the dead

Where is all of this going?

This is a tough passage

Let me give you some tips for when you come across a passage of Scripture that’s hard to understand

When you come across a tough passage:

1.) Look at it in context

2.) Interpret it with other Scripture

In context:

Verses 31-32 come from the discussion Jesus is having with the Pharisees

He’s responding to their utter blasphemy about their “prince of demons” comment

Notice the author of Matthew inserted “I will put my Spirit upon him” in verse 18

In other words - the Holy Spirit in Jesus represents his purpose

Jesus laid out part of his purpose early on: “Repent”

Therefore the Pharisees are ultimately going against that purpose - and against the Holy Spirit

I have to conclude that to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - is ignoring the his conviction of the sin in your life

In a sense, God is unable to forgive you

You are the only one in the universe who has the power to reject the God of the universe from saving you

If you reject the Holy Spirit’s conviction in your life - then you can never be forgiven

Interpreting with Scripture:

Let’s quickly look at five of those sections in this chapter - they relate because it’s all one scene

We just looked at Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Verses 33-36 A Tree is Known by Its Fruit

These are all the words of Jesus

He calls out the Pharisees because they can’t say anything good because they are evil

“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

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

Verses 38-42 The Sign of Jonah

The Pharisees want a sign from Jesus - his answer is that 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

Verses 43-45 Return of an Unclean Spirit

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

Verses 46-50 Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

Someone mentions that Jesus’ mother and brothers were standing outside

Jesus famously says, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

He points to his disciples and says they are his mother and brothers - and that anyone who does the will of his Father in heaven is his brother and sister and mother

Here is my grand summary of this chapter - you are either for Jesus, or you’re not

You either repent at some point, or you will dig in your heels and never turn to the Lord

It’s all reflective of your heart

Nineveh was full of pagans - they were against Israel - but they repented

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?

Nowhere does the Bible allow for someone to not be saved based on a technicality, or a mere utterance

If you’re worried that you said some things in the past that made God sad - let me ask you

Do you feel love and adoration for Jesus as he is revealed in the Bible?

Do you believe AND trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Even though you make mistakes like all of us, do you desire to live your life to honor him?

Do you affirm Romans 10:9?

Ultimately, we’re saved by grace - but nothing can be done for someone who continually rejects the conviction of the Holy Spirit

My prayer is that this does not describe you

(Pray…)