Matthew 12:22-42 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way let's pray Lord there's a certain kind of joy that we experience when in worship we abandon our our hearts and express ourselves to you we sing words some of us feel like we can enter in with a full reality to the words that we sing others of us have come and our hearts are weary we've had a difficult week the experiences put us in a different kind of a mood at down mood so singing the songs that we sing to you tonight we've had to sing them by faith and we've had to sing them not because we feel that way but because they're true about who you are and that's really what the essence of worship is declaring the truth of who you are by the songs we sing and by our willingness to listen to your voice in your word we pray father that the questions that we have the issues that we're dealing with and the sorrows that may weigh down hearts we pray father that your spirit the Spirit of the Living God would minister to your people during this time we also know that many are joining us online watching via computer dealing with their own life circumstances and we pray Lord that there would there would be no limitation your spirit would minister to them as well in Jesus name Amen in our day and age atheism agnosticism relativism sort of ruled the day in terms of prevalent philosophies at the same time there is a sense of spirituality among many people but it's the kind of generic spirituality that doesn't tie into one particular religion but open to all things spiritual a USA Today poll revealed that 95 percent of American teenagers believe in at least one supernatural phenomenon of that 95 percent of teenagers that believe that there is some supernatural spiritual force 74 of them seventy four percent of the 95 claim to believe in angels fifty percent of them claim to believe in the power of extrasensory perception twenty nine percent of them believe in witchcraft twenty two percent believe in ghosts and sixteen percent say they believe in the Loch Ness monster I don't know how that fits in but it was in the poll the Bible reveals that there is a natural world we know that to be true but also what's more important it reveals a supernatural world that God initiated it rules over it created the natural world mankind upon it but also behind the scenes there is a real evil called Satan most of the polling that I have read in different books magazines articles when they talk about the beliefs of Americans even most people who believe in God deny the existence of a literal devil or a literal hell you know Satan the devil that's just that's the stuff songs are made out of devil was with the red dress on the devil went down to georgia devil in her heart and so many songs that speak of the devil thus that's all that there really must be it must just be a word to describe the essence of evil that exists in the world the Bible recognizes the reality of Satan on six different occasions in the Gospels Jesus confronts evil and casts demons that are inhabiting human bodies cast the demons out of the person that there was the reality of demon possession controlling the motor functions of a human body sometimes the demons would manifest themselves with an enormous amount of power so that even chains could not hold that person down at other times it was accompanied with physical sickness Jesus would heal the sickness and deliver the person from demons 63 times in the New Testament the word demon appears demony on is the greek word sometimes referred to as an unclean spirit but certainly affirms the reality of in verse 22 we read then one was brought to him who was demon-possessed blind and mute and he healed him so that the blind and the mute man both spoke and saw and all the multitudes were amazed and said could this be the son of David is this the long-awaited Messiah for which our forefathers have longed and waited and told us about the son of David the offspring of King David himself the one who will bring in that Davidic messianic Kingdom and this was the intended response of Jesus miraculous works to get people to ask this question and then follow it through logically could this be the son of David I've had my own experiences with the demonic not only in seeing people who are legitimately demon-possessed and seeing what they're capable of doing and in those cases having to exorcise those demons when I say exercise I mean X or size not exercise I don't have them lift weights and do twenty laps around the church that's not the idea of exercising a demon but having with the authority of Jesus Christ the demon unleash the grip that that Spirit has had upon that life another reason I know it to be real is that before I was a Christian and I've told you my testimony I dabbled myself in the occult I was very very curious and interested in all things demonic I think a lot of kids are they dabble and are curious with the dark side and so I astral projected I was involved in spirit writing asking demons to inhabit my body and give me messages from past lives that I believed that I lived receiving revelations from entities I had no idea even existed before that time and getting really in touch with the powers of darkness for me as I was raised in a church environment but dabbling in these powers that satisfied my curiosity but not enough because it just brought me deeper and deeper and deeper into it one day I thought to myself I thought I'm experiencing such power and I'm fascinated by it but if what I have been taught by my parents that there is a God and a heaven and a hell and a real devil if I am dealing with the wrong side and according to how I was raised this is the wrong side but if there's this much power on the wrong side if I got my life right with God and got in tune and in touch with the right side what kind of power would there be that's what got me thinking now we produced a documentary called shattered some of you have seen it many of you perhaps haven't but we uncover all of the powers of darkness in the media especially because kids are still into this stuff and part of it illustrate smite testimonies just about two minutes so we're gonna roll that clip and then we'll get back into our study [Music] I travel to Mexico with my high school Spanish class we're gonna go down there and immerse ourselves in the culture it was a beautiful setting mazatlán Mexico one night I wanted to do what's called spirit writing spirit writing is where instead of your soul traveling you're just concentrating on other souls of other entities who could give you information and spirit writing is where you ask the spirit world to control your body and to give you messages and I began getting into a trance-like state and all the while asking spirits to control me [Music] [Music] [Music] when I got out of the trance and I read the message the message was legible and clear it told me that indeed I did live before this body that my ancestry went all the way back to the franco-prussian war that I was a soldier in the Prussian army I died in that war my life began several lives back I was somebody else and so I thought that's my history that's my ancestry so I started connecting these little dots whoa wow that's really Who I am skip close the door which is freezing [Music] what are you doing I now know that what I was dealing with was pure deception experiences indeed given to me to feed my curiosity to feed my my lust for experience my lust for power so that that would keep me away from faith in Christ anything that will keep a person away from Jesus Christ Satan will give to a person because he doesn't want them to encounter the truth this feeds into a question we had a couple weeks ago maybe last week about demon possession it was a few weeks ago is how come we don't see demon possession as much today and my answer was well I don't know that we don't see it as much especially in certain parts of the world but my own experience is that the devil is a master deceiver if he can deceive you and keep you away from Christ possession isn't necessary some people would see Pizitz possession and the exorcism of a demon and go whoa that was so powerful I'm gonna believe but the deception part the blinding of the eyes and if you've ever read the book Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis where he writes from a senior tempter really Satan instructing his nephew wormwood on how to ruin people's lives and keep them away from the truth in the book Screwtape who's supposed to be like the devil writes to his nephew and he says the issue really isn't wickedness as much as indifference and he said I will always see to it that there are bad people your job my dear wormwood is to simply provide me with people who don't care if people can marginalize evil Satan the dark side and just say well that's just the dark side of human nature there's not a real entity you know there's no more dangerous and enemy than one that you do not believe exists who is powerfully behind the scenes exercising his own power well here's a man who has been controlled by a demon demon-possessed demonized would be a better term is physically sick Jesus presumably cast the demon out as well as heals the man now when the Pharisees heard it they said this fellow does not cast out demons except by bill Zebub the ruler of demons in other words this Jesus fella he must be in league with the devil himself using supernatural power to do tricks just to get a crowd he wants to get a crowd he has his own lust for power and so he's in league with the devil who's allowed him pert to perform certain tricks in order to get that crowd there was a prevailing belief that Jesus was a magician or a sorcerer and I say prevailing it was a lingering belief that can be found in rabbinic literature even after the New Testament in rabbinic literature and in the pagan writings in greco-roman writings there was the rumor that Jesus was a sorcerer a magician that he he controlled powerful supernatural forces and used those forces to heal people or to control the demonic and so they are making that kind of an accusation now they used the term Beelzebub what does that mean and where does it come from we first read about Beelzebub in the book of 2nd Kings chapter 1 when a king of Israel named a Hosea who was up in Samaria fell through the lattice in his upper room and fell down into the lower courtyard and he got hurt and he wanted to know if he was going to get better so he sent messengers that says down into the Philistine country to inquire of bill Zebub to see if he would get better now Beelzebub or the better the original name was BA all ba al ba'al Zebub and every time you read in the Old Testament Bale or ba all that means the Lord that's a Ugaritic term or a Chaldean term that speaks of the Lord and then it's followed by another word that tells you what domain that Lord is the lord over so but all Zebub it's thought to be originally balls as a bull and since I say that because there are some New Testament translations that don't say bill Zebub but builds a bull so you go what do you what are you talking about the term bills a bull is a word that means the master of the high place or the lord of the heavenly realms but all Zebub or hear Beelzebub means the Lord of the Flies or the lord of the dung that is waste human waste it is believed that the original term was bills Abul and it got retranslated by the jews bill Zebub as a derogatory statement against a false god bills Abul was the god of Ekron a Philistine city down south but the Jews used the term bill Zebub he's not the lord of the high place or the heavenly dwelling he's the Lord of the Flies or the lord of dung and they used that term as a formal term for Satan himself it's just one of their derogatory terms to speak of the devil so the accusation is he's in league with one of the false gods and we call him by name bill Zebub referring to Satan now Jesus responds jesus knew their thoughts and said to them every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand and if I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom - your sons cast them out therefore they shall be your judges carefully observe the crystal clear thinking and the perfect logic of Jesus now boys think this through you're accusing me of being in league with the devil so you're saying that I by Satan's power and casting out an emissary of Satan who's controlling this person's body why would Satan do that why would Satan cast out Satan and he says a kingdom or a family or a city divided against itself cannot stand a civil war always weakens a nation always weakens a city if I am doing this by Satan's power that I'm diminishing Satan's Kingdom how could I be in league with Satan if I'm undermining his kingdom if I'm working for him it's illogical you guys aren't thinking clearly and he continues and he says and if I cast out demons verse twenty seven vials by Beelzebub by whom - your sons cast them out now the word sons refers to their associates or their disciples the ones that are following them around and learning about Judaism through these rabbis so here you are attributing what I'm doing to Satan but you would not attribute what your sons your disciples are doing when they cast out demons you wouldn't say that their power is also from the devil so you are attributing the same power and the same results to two different sources it's illogical crystal clear thinking and perfect logic when you get to the book of Acts in chapter 19 there's a story of Paul being at Ephesus and there were a group of Jewish itinerant exorcists they went around casting demons out of people that was their job I'd hate that job like the world's worst job find people who are demon-possessed it's just like every single day what a drag it would be at the office but this is what they did they were self-proclaimed Jewish itinerant exorcists and there was a man demon-possessed in Ephesus and they heard the name of Jesus as used by Paul the Apostle so these men there were seven of them seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named sceva went into a house where this man was demon-possessed and said these words in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches we command you to come out or we're exercising you and the demon who possessed the man spoke using the human voice of the host that he was occupying the body he was occupying and the demon said well I know Paul and I know who Jesus is but I don't know who you guys are and it says that man controlled by the demon left on those seven sons of sceva and pummeled them like tore them to shreds so that they all ran out of the house I should say streaked out of the house bruised and naked so they underestimated the power of Satan and they underestimated the power of Jesus from the life of a person who's truly in league with Jesus that would be Paul Paul could say in the name of Jesus come out he had a relationship with Christ these were Jewish itinerant evangelists who just borrowed the name but had no relationship if you do a little digging into church history you find out that it's not an isolated event according to Origen in the 3rd century there were people that were using the name of Jesus because they saw that it had were by Christians so they tried to use the name borrow the name as an incantation but without power but verse 28 is a key verse but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God then surely the kingdom of God has come upon you you're attributing my power to satanic origin I'm saying have you considered that my power may not be from the Spirit of the Living God because if that is true then the kingdom of God has come upon you why because three times in the Old Testament book of Isaiah Isaiah predicted the coming Messiah the servant of the Lord is one who would be filled with the spirit controlled by the spirit and do signs and wonders through the Spirit of God Isaiah chapter 11 Isaiah chapter 42 in Isaiah chapter 61 so this is a messianic claim and so he's turning it around on them with clear logic with perspicuity with clear thinking he says I could be doing this by the Spirit of God then what does that mean for you guys which would mean like oh we've just rejected the Messiah we have a text that has been texted in from Santa Fe by the way we didn't welcome Santa Fe but we do welcome you now and we have a text from Santa Fe and it says is there a difference between demon possession and demon oppression it's an excellent question yes there is there's quite a difference anyone can be oppressed hassled by the devil not anyone can be demon possessed to be demonized is to be under the control the total control of a demon you lose power you lose will you're a host Satan has occupied your body is controlling the motor functions of your mind and he is using your body as sort of headquarters to torment that person and to torment people around him as believers we can be oppressed I get oppressed all the time by the devil I get hassled all the time I'm a target you're a target but I cannot be possessed by the devil why because as Paul said since the Spirit of God is in me and I am the Temple of the Holy Spirit God is not going to share the apartment with a demon he's not going to say tell you what Satan come on in and just have this part but I'll do all over here in the corner that doesn't mean that you're a perfect person is your indwelt by the Holy Spirit but he does in dwell you physically you're your physical body he and dwells you you become the base of operations for the Holy Spirit to move God isn't gonna let a demon share the apartment greater is He that is in you John writes than he that is in the world Satan operates in the realm of the world and can possess people who are in league with the world but not in league with the Spirit of God so yes there is quite a difference verse 29 our Lord continues or how can one enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house he who is not with me is against me he who does not gather with me scatters abroad the house that he refers to in that first verse verse 29 is the human body a house is the realm of a person's not only dwelling but power and authority the strongman is Satan the stronger man the one who comes in to bind the strongman is Jesus and so he says how can one enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strongman that's what Jesus is doing with the man who was demon-possessed he's binding the strongman he as an outside force is exercising more authority than the demon who occupied that man before Jesus cast him out so he's going into the house binding the strongman and casting him out and he will plunder his house the Pharisees could not deny the power of Jesus he performed miracles they were able to see or at least hear about that man who was demonized and now he's free they couldn't deny his power but but they had to explain it and the way they explained it illogically and wrong theologically was that it must be the devil Jesus it's impossible the reality is that I am empowered by the Spirit of God proving that I am the Messiah according to the prophet Isaiah and I am a stronger man than the one who is occupying the man and I've come in and I bound him and I've cast him out and I've set the person in it free now there's another way to look at it the binding of the strong man or the binding of Satan on a worldwide scale not in a particularly like we're dealing with it but on a worldwide scale will take place in stages now follow me here the first stage is when Jesus came to this earth and exercised power in his public ministry like we're reading about at stage number one the second stage is death burial resurrection and ascension when Jesus died and us and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven he guaranteed the ultimate binding of Satan by that power the third stage will be a reality staged worldwide in the Millennial Kingdom the thousand year reign of Christ Revelation chapter 20 when Satan is bound in Hades during that period the Bible says and then the ultimate binding of the strongman will be when Satan is cast into the eternal lake of fire Revelation chapter 20 now I'm bringing that out because here is Jesus delivering a person who's demonized from the power of Satan it's a man coming in who is stronger than the strong man of the house but at the same time it sure seems like Satan has a lot of power today that he has a freedom to move around which he does and I'm bringing all this up because I hear people when they pray sometimes they'll say I bind you devil first of all you shouldn't be talking directly to the devil never pray to Satan bad form Satan I bind you stop talk to Jesus about Satan don't talk to Satan about Jesus but they say like they have the authority I am binding Satan will do me a favor if you bind him would you do it once and for all because he keeps coming back it's really a charade we don't bind Satan Jesus bind Satan and until that final binding takes place Satan has a lot of ability to roam around and exercise a degree of power if he didn't we wouldn't see all the evil that is around us in this world it's pretty obvious so if you think you have the power to bind Satan just like go through Society and all the world take a map with you and just cover it cover all your bases get it done with but the fact that you don't see lasting results shows that it's just often a Christian game that has played now go with me to the book of Job for just a moment or I'll just read it to you since I pre marked it again job chapter 1 and you'll see what I mean now there was a day when the sons of God this is job chapter 1 verse 6 there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them here is Satan in the presence of God showing up to give an account now first of all when did Satan become Satan what was he before Satan he was Lucifer he was an angel the highest-ranking angel of worship in the heavenly realm but he said in his heart according to the Prophet I will exalt my stars above the throne of God I will be like the Most High and he was at that point of self-will cast down from the presence of God from the throne room of God and Lucifer became Satan he was expelled as an occupant but according to job 1 and 2 he has access to God as a visitor so Satan is among them and the Lord said to Satan verse 7 from where do you come and so Satan answered the Lord and said from going to and throw on the earth that's his domain he's been cast down to the earth lucky us and from walking back and forth on it then the Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant job that there is none like him on the earth a blameless and upright man one who fears God and shuns evil so Satan answered the Lord and said does job fear God for nothing have you not made a hedge around him around his household and around all that he has on every side you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land what is what is Satan doing as you read on he's accusing Jo before God which is what he does with us Revelation chapter 12 he's called the accuser of the Brethren who accuses us before God day and night he brings an accusation against job here it's a false accusation with many of us it may be a false accusation might be a true accusation he's got the dirt on us right he could say hey God have you looked at skip he's no good he's just using you he's a creep and he could come up with accusations some are false but many of them may be true he's accusing Jo before God's throne Satan is powerful Satan is Mobile Satan has some kind of access today to the throne of God he is not totally bound yet and as Jonathan Edwards reminded us because Satan was Lucifer he was trained in the heaven of heavens he said he's quite an astute theologian who knows the Bible from cover to cover and theology backward and forward and he can even quote scripture and who saw in the temptation of Jesus so the final binding of the strongman is going to be ultimately when Satan is bound during the Millennial Kingdom has no access anymore to the earth he's completely removed from this earthly scene for a thousand literal years and then he'll be thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20 continuing the thought back in Matthew Jesus says in verse 30 he who is not with me is against me he who does not gather with me scatters abroad makes sense here is Jesus trying to do the job of the harvest trying to gather in those he he looked at the people who were who were scattered out on the field in Matthew chapter 9 as sheep having no Shepherd he said pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest he's trying to gather them in and Satan's emissaries who are the religious leaders the scribes and the Pharisees are making the job difficult now we do have another scripture that we have to contend with here Jesus says he who is not with me is against me if you read an account in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9 verse 40 Jesus says almost the reverse of this he well let's read it turn with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 9 look at it I bring it up because if not you'll read it later and it could stumble you and I don't know how long it'll be before we get to the Gospel of Mark chapter 9 verse 38 now John answered him teacher we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name and we forbade him because he doesn't follow us it sounds like some people I know but jesus said do not forbid him for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me for he who is not against us is on our side for whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ as surely I say to you he will by no means lose his reward it seems like a reversal of what we just read in Matthew and so we might just say well you know that persons not against us he must be one of us that's not what he is saying here's something that will help you unravel this mystery in Matthew Jesus is speaking of salvation in Marky's speaking of service in Matthew be speaking about false Proclaimers the Pharisees and the scribes there's no neutrality if you're not for me personally Jesus said if you're not with me personally you are against me you're getting in the way of what I'm all about but mark is talking about service to the Lord here's people using the name of Jesus to cast demons out and evidently it's working I don't know what the circumstance referred to but jesus said let him alone if they're not against us not me personally us what we're doing our work our service then they're for us now these disciples were more concerned about their little way of doing things their sectarianism their if you will denominationalism and less concerned about people who are set free from demons and that's why jesus said let them alone let him go if they're not against us and what we're doing there for us remember the Old Testament when Joshua came to Moses there were two guys in the camp of Israel prophesying named Eldad and Medad do you remember them Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp Joshua goes up to Moses and Moses there's two guys that are like doing your job they're like prophesying and only you're the guy to do that you're the guy filled with the spirit your Moses said go tell them to stop Moses said are you jealous for my sake would that all God's people could prophesy and that all of them were filled with the spirit I wish the whole camp of Israel were prophesying I wish they were all used by God in this capacity that's the spirit that Jesus is getting toward here with his disciples listen as Christian churches as long as we hold to the essentials of the Christian gospel the non-essentials who cares about them who cares about the little non-essential some Christians bicker and fight and divide over the stupidest things I look at it this way as long as you agree on the essentials of the true Christian gospel the person nature and work of Jesus Christ you're my brother or my sister and if you're a part of this church or another church like it we're all branch offices of the same business and if God blesses one branch office we're all blessed together if he blesses another branch office we're all blessed together we're just branch offices of the same international business and that is God's business so Jesus has let them alone but in Matthew he's speaking about his own personal he was not with me is against me he does not gather with me scatters abroad therefore now that's very important word in the next verse because I left you hanging last week with what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit notice Jesus speaks about what the Pharisees have said about him draws the line this is you either for me or against me and then the word therefore connecting the thought therefore I say to you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men but the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven men anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man it will be forgiven but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come there are some people there are some commentators there are some biblical authorities who will say that it's impossible to commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit today the reason they say that as Jesus isn't here in the flash performing miracles he's not he's not in physicality performing the kind of signs and wonders where these people were speaking against him so it's impossible to commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in the same way okay whatever push that aside the word therefore draws for us the context as I mentioned and therefore I say to you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven okay every time there's a therefore you know the rule find out what it's there for right they have just attributed a miraculous work and control over a part of the supernatural world demons they've ascribed that to the work of Satan they've ascribed what Jesus did in his power to Satan and then Jesus is there for talks about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit their sin wasn't and what they said as much as an attitude of their heart they sinned against the Holy Spirit they are blaspheming the holy spirit why because what is the role of the Holy Spirit ask yourself that what did the Holy Spirit come here to do to lead us to Christ to convict the world of sin jesus said righteousness and of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me he said so if the task of the Holy Spirit is to make a person realize their need for Christ who he is as sent from God and to draw a person in relationship with Christ to reject Jesus Christ the person of Christ is to reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit that's the role of the Spirit of God so what these what these Pharisees were saying that Jesus is in league with the devil and is doing this by Satan proves that they have a condition of heart that they have so rejected Christ that they have rejected the testimony of the Spirit of God that has proved to them who Jesus is so it's more than just saying I think that guy did that by Satan's work it's a condition of the heart that they have so rejected Jesus Christ that they're willing to attribute what Jesus did to Satan that's the role of the Holy Spirit I believe that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is what John writes about in first John chapter 5 when he says there is a sin unto death and I do not say that you should pray for it the sin unto death is the deliberate turning one's back and rejection of Jesus Christ and it's that ongoing rejection of Jesus Christ so that if a person dies in that condition of rejecting the very Jesus that the Holy Spirit came to convict you of that that sin can never be forgiven ever all manner of sin can be forgiven but it's the rejection of Christ that's the testimony of the Spirit of God that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit there's an old poem that says there is a time we know not when a line we know not where that marks the destiny of man betwixt sorrow and despair there is a line though by man unseen once it has been crossed even God and all his love has sworn that all is lost it is possible for a person to cross a line to where that human becomes what Paul describes as a reprobate mind beyond feeling beyond the ability to redeem now I got to tell you something I don't know that I've ever met a person like that I may have I didn't probably have but I don't know that I have it's not like they have a little red flag or light reprobate reprobate reprobate and you can say all I have and I've meet people all the time and there's like they're so against Jesus yeah but I've seen people who are so against Jesus today in a few years come up to me and say I'm a believer so I don't write anybody off and I don't thing anybody can be written off until the day they die only God knows who's committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit every now and then I'll meet somebody who is war read that they've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit I've done it you've I've done what that's what a girl said to me I've done it I've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit I said no you have it she goes how do you know said because you're worried about it if you have any inkling that it's a mistake you think you have made and you're worried that you have done it you haven't done it the kind of heart that Jesus describes here that the Pharisees exhibited that's very different than somebody who's tender-hearted and worried that they have transgressed by committing the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit verse 33 either make the tree good and it's fruit good or make the tree bad and it's fruit bad for a tree is known by its fruit he's exposing their inconsistency you guys make up your mind you're willing to say that if somebody is freed from Satan's power that it must be the devil at work and yet you have your own associates and disciples who do it look at the look at the fruit look at what this life has produced I've cured the sick I've raised the dead blind eyes see ears that we're deaf can now hear that's pretty good fruit that must mean there's a good tree behind it you can always tell a tree by its fruit when my wife and I moved here in our early years I rented a home up in the Northeast Heights it was wintertime but I knew that the trees in the backyard were fruit trees I'm not all that bright but I'm bright enough to know they were fruit trees and so my wife said well what kind of fruit trees are they and I said oh those are apple trees she said I don't think they are I think that I think those are peach trees I said no no trust me I I've been around apple trees I grew up with and that's an apple tree I think you're wrong I think that's a peach tree by spring and summer it was beyond doubt because they butted and they bore forth fruit peaches I was dead wrong she was absolutely correct the tree is known by its fruit ah you're right that's a peach tree how do you know it's got peaches that's how I knew she knew before but it took fruit lives produce fruit results effects by the way Jesus calls us to be fruit inspectors people sometimes like to say well you should never judge people yeah you should a lot all the time jesus said judge ye a righteous judgment that's a commandment yeah but didn't Jesus say judge not lest you be judged that's right you can never send seriously judge a person committing that person to everlasting destruction you don't know the heart at that time or you don't know the future of what God will do however you can look into the life of a person what that person produces and by the fruit you can say that person is a child of God or it sure looks like there's no fruit that would indicate that person's a child of God be a fruit inspector but begin with your own tree look in your own backyard look at what your own life is producing because once you have good fruit you'll be able to tell what other good fruit is not because you read about it somewhere but because you lived it verse 34 didn't win Jesus and he points with them brood of vipers he says that's what John the Baptist called them remember he was right Jesus calls them a brood of vipers a brood those are children or offspring here's a modern translation you you sons of slimy snakes now if Jesus says that to you look out how can you being evil that's the kind of tree that they are speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the venomous words that were brought forth from their mouths because of the wicked venomous thoughts of their own hearts the fruit was what they said the real tree was the wicked heart that was against Jesus Christ the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks in other words the bucket of the mouth reveals the wellspring of the heart what you say at least eventually reflects who you are in your heart a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things but I say to you for every idle word men may speak they will give a count of it in the day of judgment for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned now don't misunderstand what he is saying if you're a believer if you have come to Jesus Christ you've come to God by faith in his son then the price for the penalty of your sins no matter what your sins are including the sins of speech are atoned for so it's not like Jesus will say well remember that one day when you said that bad word okay so you got to do like you know five years here before you can get in you are saved by faith by grace through faith so the penalty of that is taking care of however however there is something called the judgment seat of Christ the Baima seat of Christ that he writes at Paul writes about in Corinthians and it talks about the rewards that you will get or the lack of a reward a loss of a reward from the Lord so you're rewarded by your obedience to Christ you lose rewards on your disobedience that is not salvation by works you're saved by God's grace it's free you're going to heaven but in heaven there will be degrees of rewards that are handed out Bible is very clear about that so you may by your own words lose certain rewards that you could have gotten but you are going to be in God's heaven you will be eternally with him this is not an issue of that but these who have indicated that Jesus is being controlled by Satan that's the fruit and so he says by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned our mouths get us into trouble would you agree have you ever said something and as soon as you said it you go oh I want to put it right back in and you can't it's gone it's too late happens to me all the time I talk a lot in Proverbs 6 there's a list of seven things that God hates now just the fact that there is such a list should pique your interest because if you want to find out what God not just dislikes what he hates go read the list not now later find it right now oh just find it later proverbs 6 3 of the 7 things that God hates are sins of the tongue what does that tell you the tongue gets us into trouble James said it's a fire and it sets it is set on fire by Hell James said if a person can control his tongue that same man is a perfect man able to keep his whole body in check and some people some Christian people run off at the mouth there are sins of the mouth lying deceit half-truths ordinary remarks hateful remarks gossip hey have you heard no well you know I just wanted I want to get a lot of people praying for this so there was a woman named Arabella Young who lived in England and she had this problem and I hear that on her tombstone are these words beneath this stone a lump of clay lies Arabella Young who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue it was her death that stopped her mouth she couldn't keep it close she ran off at the mouth that was the one thing that ruined it for her but it was her death that stopped at all so what we say is important and it reflects the kind of heart that we have if you're a negative person and you spout off hurtful vengeful mean things or gossip it reveals the kind of heart that you have keep your heart with all diligence it says in Proverbs four out of it precede the issues of life then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered saying teacher I can't believe it's the time it is all ready I'll make it fast this happened describes the Pharisees answered and saying teacher we want to see a sign from you hello what has he been doing for the last several months sign wonder sign wonder sign wonder excuse me Jesus could we like see a sign I'd say no it reveals our hypocracy because he's been doing sign after sign after sign one more sign is not going to convince them and so Jesus answers an evil and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah is here first of all notice that Jesus believed in a literal man named Jonah who was swallowed by a great fish if you don't believe that you're welcome to believe whatever you want just don't say oh I follow Jesus you don't follow the same Jesus I follow because the Jesus I follow believed it and he wasn't just saying it to accommodate the ignorance of the people of his time as some people say he spoke of it as historical fact and he called them into judgment over he says basically I'm not going to give you any more sign the ultimate sign will be my death burial and resurrection the sign of Jonah was the fact that this man survived after being in a great fish for three days three nights' and he came out alive and spoke to the people of Nineveh you know the story it's very famous in the Old Testament Jonah himself was the sign he was swallowed and disgorged from did you like how he put that instead of vomited out it was disgorged from the great fish now from the accounts that I have read people who have survived similar accounts their hair is completely off of their head their skin is bleached white from the stomach acid so I imagine a guy looking like that a bald prophet bleached white seaweed around his head fish group out of his ear that would be a sign this guy is alive after that the sign of the prophet Jonah is the sign that you're gonna see and that's the really the only sign that's the ultimate sign my resurrection from the dead attest to Who I am when that happens then he says the men of Nineveh will rise up and condemn it because Jonah came all that way to see them and they repented you didn't have to go anywhere I came all the way out of heaven to see you which is greater than what Jonah did and you haven't received my words the queen of the south or the queen of sheba will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it for she came from the ends of the earth a long arduous journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon and indeed a greater than Solomon is here when an unclean spirit goes out of a man he goes through Dry places seeking rest and he finds none and he says I will return to my house from which I came and when he comes he finds it empty swept and put in order then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first so shall also be with this wicked generation that is a heavy verse it seems to be talking about the same thing we started with and that is demon possession Amanda is released from the bondage of Satan and then he finds that that house is not occupied so he brings back other spirits with him what possibly could he mean well once again we're at the breaking point wanted to finish chapter 12 and do all of chapter 13 next week I won't even say it father thank you that we were able to meet again by your grace we know we have a powerful foe we know what his temptations are like we're not ignorant of Satan's devices we experienced his attacks on a daily basis we also know that the Spirit of the Living God dwells within us and you are able to do what we cannot do on our own that is why we declare we desperately need you fill us afresh with your spirit that we might walk in his power and his authority not our own give us your grace Lord and help us to make application of these things to our lives in Jesus name Amen let's all stand

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 4,171

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church, Pharisees, words, Believers, Blasphemy, Holy Spirit, Unpardonable, Sin, harvest, Accuser, Satan, Lucifer, Messianic, Isaiah, Beelzebub, demon possession, Bible, Atheism, agnosticism, relativism

Id: WETc7ZwrgGg

Length: 63min 47sec (3827 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018